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the detailed description set forth below in connection with the appended drawings is intended as a description of the presently preferred embodiments of the modular display rack in accordance with the present invention and is not intended to represent the only forms in which the present invention may be constructed or utilized . the description sets forth the features and the steps for constructing and using the modular display rack of the present invention in connection with the illustrated embodiments . it is to be understood , however , that the same or equivalent functions and structures may be accomplished by different embodiments that are also intended to be encompassed within the spirit and scope of the invention . also , as denoted elsewhere herein , like element numbers are intended to indicate like or similar elements or features . referring now to fig2 , there is shown an embodiment of a triple tower or a three - ladder modular display rack ( hereinafter “ display rack ”), generally designated 10 . according to one embodiment , the modular display rack 10 may be disassembled into smaller components , allowing it to be portable and modular than prior art systems . the modular architecture of the display rack 10 allows it to be boxed up in small packages , assembled into a single ladder rack or multiple ladder racks , and inventoried by components instead of rack configurations since the single , double , and triple ladder racks do not have to be kept separately . the display rack 10 according to the embodiment illustrated in fig2 includes an upper rack portion 12 and a lower base portion 14 . for a three - ladder rack system 10 , the upper rack portion 12 includes two end ladders 16 and a center ladder 18 . assuming the vertical direction is the lengthwise direction and the horizontal direction is the direction of width of the ladder , the end and center ladders 16 , 18 are interconnected by a plurality of removable lateral support bars 20 along the horizontal direction and to the base in the vertical direction , by a plurality of fasteners 21 . in an exemplary embodiment , there is an upper pair of lateral support bars 22 and a lower pair of lateral support bars 24 . these lateral support bars 22 , 24 are removeably connected to the ladders by a detent - like arrangement . each individual pairs of lateral support bars permit hangrail brackets 11 and shelf brackets ( not shown ) to be hung on either a first side 26 and / or a second side 28 . the lower base portion 14 includes two end stabilizer bars 30 , a center stabilizer bar 32 , and two removable cross - bars 34 used to removeably connect the two end stabilizer bars 30 with the center stabilizer bar 32 . each stabilizer bar 30 , 32 is also equipped with casters 36 , which may be fixed or rail type casters . however , other casters may be used such as swivel stem style casters with breaks and locks . if used , these swivel stem style casters prevent the display rack 10 from moving when pushed accidentally . the stem style casters may screw or thread directly into the stabilizer bars 30 , 32 , or , alternatively , thread into corresponding nuts ( not shown ) welded to the base of the stabilizer bars . other casters and methods for installing the same are conventional in the art and may also be used as will be apparent to one skilled in the art . referring now to fig3 , there is shown a double tower or a two - ladder modular display rack 31 . like the display rack of fig2 , the modular display rack 31 comprises an upper rack portion 12 and a lower base portion 14 . the upper rack portion 12 includes two end ladders 16 removeably secured to the base in the vertical direction by several fasteners 21 . the two removable end ladders 16 are attached to each other by an upper and a lower pair of lateral support bars 22 , 24 . the lower base portion 14 includes two end stabilizer bars 30 removeably secured to each other by a single cross - bar 34 . the lower base portion 14 also includes a plurality of casters 36 , which may be fixed or rail type casters . however , as discussed above , other casters may be used such as swivel stem style casters with breaks and locks . as readily apparent to a person of ordinary skill in the art , the double tower display rack 31 is a subcombination of the triple tower display rack shown in fig2 . to create the double tower display rack 31 from the triple tower display rack 10 , the center ladder 18 , the two pair of lateral support bars 22 , 24 , the center stabilizer bar 32 , and one of the removable cross - bars 34 are removed from the triple tower rack 10 . conversely , to assemble a multiple tower rack , such as a four tower rack or higher , additional center ladders 18 , cross - bars 34 , and lateral support bars 20 , collectively referred to as rack components , are added . this eliminates the need for the advance production and storage of pre - welded multiple tower racks . racks of different configurations may now be created via the addition or the removal of the rack components . referring now to fig4 , there is shown and described a single tower or a single ladder display rack 38 in accordance with practice of the present invention . the single ladder display rack 38 comprises an upper rack portion 12 and a lower base portion 14 . the upper rack portion 12 includes a slightly modified single unit ladder 40 . it is slightly modified with respect to the end ladder 16 and the center ladder 18 of fig2 and 3 . as further discussed below , the single unit ladder 40 may be similar to the end and center ladders 16 , 18 except for the lack of side mounted u - shape brackets . however , for ease of inventory or the minimization of components , an end ladder 16 or a center ladder 18 may be used in place of the single unit ladder 40 to provide the same overall functionality . the lower base portion 14 of the single ladder display rack 38 includes a single cross - style base 42 . to minimize the number of different components , the cross - style base 42 may be assembled by removeably securing two half - bars 44 onto the center stabilizer bar 32 . accordingly , one component used for the single tower that may not be present in the double tower and the triple tower rack is the half - bars 44 used in the single cross - style base 42 . the cross - style base 42 also utilizes a plurality of casters 36 . as discussed above , these casters may be a fixed type , a flanged type , a swivel type and the like . accordingly , minor changes between caster types are contemplated to fall within the spirit and scope of the present invention . fig5 - 19 are now referred for a detailed description of the various components embodied in the display racks of fig2 - 4 . specifically , fig5 is a semi - schematic diagram of the end ladder 16 of fig2 and 3 . according to one embodiment of the invention , the end ladder 16 includes a pair of u - shape brackets 46 . the end ladder 16 also includes a pair of vertical braces 48 taking the form of rectangular tubing pieces . the upper end 50 of each vertical brace 48 may be machined , rolled , or extruded ( collectively “ machined ”) with a smooth finish for aesthetic appeal and for eliminating sharp edges . this upper end 50 may be shaped in a half - dome , half arrow , or any other shapes helping to eliminate sharp edges and providing a minimum aesthetic appeal . the lower end 52 , because it braces onto a stabilizer bar , is machined with a flat finish . the pair of vertical braces 48 is fixedly secured together by a plurality of cross - braces 54 . the number of cross - braces in the ladder 16 depends on the length of the ladder . the vertical braces 48 and the cross braces 54 have the following configuration : l × w × d , where l is the length , w is the width , and d is the depth of the rectangular tubing ( fig5 a ). in an embodiment where each vertical brace 48 has a width x , each of the cross - braces 54 , which may also be made from rectangular tubing pieces , have a depth that is less than half x . this provides , at each cross - brace to vertical brace welded location , space for accommodating a pair of cross - braces 54 . in other words , at the top cross - brace location 56 , two cross - braces 54 , one superimposed over the other but separated by a small gap , are welded to the pair of vertical braces 48 . thus , two times the depth of the cross - brace plus the small gap should be the same as or slightly less than the width of the vertical brace 48 . exemplary dimensions are further discussed below . referring now to fig6 , there is shown and described a center ladder 18 in accordance with practice of the present invention . the center ladder 18 may be similar to the end ladder 16 except that the center ladder includes two sets of u - shape brackets 46 on each side of the vertical brace 48 . this allows the center brace 18 to be used in the center of any multiple ladder arrangements and be used to join adjacent ladders together by way of removeably securing lateral support bars to the u - shape brackets 46 . referring now to fig7 , a single unit ladder 40 is shown and described . the single unit ladder 40 may be similar to the end ladder except for the lack of u - shape brackets welded to the vertical braces 48 . the u - shape brackets are not included in the single unit ladder 40 since it is used as a stand - alone tower rack , and not contemplated to be expanded into other configurations . although the end , center , and single unit ladders of fig5 , 6 , and 7 are shown having a particular dimension with a particular number of cross - braces , a person skilled in the art should recognize that alternative dimensions and alternative number of cross - braces may also be used . the dimensions and number of cross - braces may also be customizable based on needs and requests of merchants and customers . similarly , instead of welding a pair of cross - braces at each of the cross - brace to vertical brace location or using a u - shape bracket ( for allowing hangrail brackets 11 and shelf brackets ( not shown ) to be mounted on either a first side 26 and / or a second side 28 of the rack ), a single cross - brace and / or a single u - shape bracket may be used . if so , for a particular attachment location , only a single hangrail , a single shelf bracket , or a single removable lateral support bar may be used . referring now to fig8 , there is shown and described a base bracket 58 , which is a blown up view of detail a indicated in fig5 . according to one embodiment , the base bracket 58 is a flat steel plate having two through holes 60 machined therein . the base bracket 58 is fixedly secured to the vertical braces 48 by any number of known welding methods , including arc welding , brazing , and resistance welding . the two through holes 60 allow a pair of fasteners 21 to be inserted therethrough and to tighten the ladder against a stabilizer bar such as , stabilizer 30 or 32 . it is understood that any number of welding methods apply whenever the term “ weld ”, “ welded ”, or “ welding ” is used . referring to fig9 and 10 , there is shown and described an exemplary lateral support bar 20 , which can be the upper 22 or the lower lateral support bar 24 . the lateral support bar can be made from a rectangular tubing piece and is welded on each end by a flange 62 . the flange 62 includes an engagement tip 64 configured to engage a u - shape bracket 46 in a detent - like fashion . the flange 62 may be made from a flat steel plate . referring now to fig1 and 12 , there is shown and described an exemplary u - shape bracket 46 , which is a blown up view of detail b indicated in fig6 . according to one embodiment , the u - shape bracket 46 is a steel channel having two sides 66 and a base 68 . each of the two sides 66 comprises a square finish 70 or a rounded finish , a first open face 72 , and a rear attachment face 74 . the open face 72 allows a lateral support bar 20 , when set in position , to slide in - between the two sides 66 and rest on top of the base 68 . conversely , the rear attachment face 74 is configured to be welded to a main vertical brace 48 by its two end surfaces 76 ( fig1 ). as indicated , the base 68 terminates short of the rear attachment face 74 to form a receiving channel 78 . accordingly , when a lateral support bar 20 is set in position inside the u - shape bracket 46 , the receiving channel 78 provides an opening or a gap for the engagement tip 64 located on the flange 62 , which , as discussed , is located on each of the ends of the lateral support bar 20 ( fig9 ). accordingly , the engagement tip 64 and the receiving channel 78 interact to removeably secure one ladder with another ladder ( such as securing one end ladder 16 to a center ladder 18 ). in an exemplary embodiment , two u - shape brackets 46 are welded , side - by - side , to the main vertical brace 48 . in this fashion , the two u - shape brackets 48 may accommodate two lateral support bars 20 in a side - by - side fashion to provide two hanging surfaces for hangrails 11 and the like . in order to allow sufficient space for the engagement end of the hangrail to engage the lateral support bar 20 , the two u - shape brackets 46 may be welded with a flat plate ( not shown ) disposed therebetween . according to one embodiment , this plate serves to not only add structural rigidity to the two u - shape brackets , but also fix or define a gap in - between the u - shape brackets to enable the engagement end of the hangrail 11 to grab onto . referring now to fig1 and 14 , there is shown and described an end stabilizer bar 30 , also referred to as a base bar , in accordance with practice of the present invention . the end stabilizer bar 30 includes two leg extension pieces 82 welded to a center load - bearing piece 80 . again , all three pieces , the two leg extension pieces 82 and the center load - bearing piece 80 , may be made from rectangular tubing . in an exemplary embodiment , at the end 84 of each leg extension 82 , a tapered or slanted finish 84 is provided . this serves to both beautify the ends of the stabilizer bar 30 and eliminate sharp edges . in the illustrated embodiment , the center load - bearing piece 80 includes two through holes 86 . these through holes 86 , which extend the entire width of the center load bearing piece , are positioned so that when an end ladder 16 is mounted to the end stabilizer bar 30 by , for example , positioning the base bracket 58 directly over the center load bearing piece 80 , the through holes 86 align with the through holes 60 on the base bracket 58 . after the through holes 60 , 86 are aligned , a pair of fasteners 21 , such as a pair of bolt and nut combination , may be inserted therethrough and tightened . a person skilled in the art should recognize that any other number of through holes may be used depending on the width of the center load bearing piece and the dimension of the holes . a joining bracket 88 is provided which is welded to one of the axial ends of the center load - bearing piece 80 . a pair of nuts 90 are also provided and welded onto the joining bracket 88 to serve as gripping points for a pair of bolts ( not shown ). thus , to join two end stabilizer bars 30 ( or one end stabilizer bar 30 and one center stabilizer bar 32 ) together , a removable cross - bar 34 is placed over the joining bracket 88 in a telescoping fashion . a pair of bolts ( not shown ) are then inserted and tightened against the pair of nuts 90 to thereby removeably secure the cross - bar 34 to the end stabilizer bar 30 . as discussed above , the lower base portion 14 may be practiced with swivel type casters . when that is the case , the two leg extensions 82 are fitted or welded with a pair of swivel nuts 92 . the swivel type casters can then thread or screw directly into the swivel nuts 92 to be removeably secured the casters thereto . referring now to fig1 and 16 , there is shown and described the joining bracket 88 discussed in reference with fig1 and 14 , which are blown up drawings of detail c in fig1 . in the illustrated embodiment , the joining bracket 88 is an extended l - shape bracket that includes a first tall side 94 and a second short side 96 . the second short side 96 allows access to the central portion where the nuts 90 can be welded to the bracket . in addition , because the joining bracket 88 is designed to fit into one of the ends of a removable cross - bar 34 in a telescoping fashion , the second shorter side 96 has the effect of reducing drag or friction as the removable cross - bar 34 engages the joining bracket 88 . thus , because of the telescoping style arrangement , it is understood that the joining bracket 88 has a smaller cross - sectional area than the cross - sectional area of the cross - bar . a person skilled in the art should recognize , however , that instead of a tall side and a short side , two tall sides may be used to render a u - shape bracket . referring now to fig1 , there shown and described a top plan view of the center stabilizer bar 32 of fig2 . the center stabilizer bar 32 may be similar to the end stabilizer bar 30 except that the center stabilizer bar includes two joining brackets 88 instead of one . this enables the center stabilizer bar 32 to be used in - between two end stabilizer bars 30 and be connected on each side by a removable cross - bar 34 . referring now to fig1 , there is shown and described a removable cross - bar 34 taken along reference line x — x of fig2 . according to one embodiment , the removable cross - bar 34 is made from rectangular tubing and is drilled on both ends with a pair of holes 98 . the holes are configured so that they align with the pair of nuts 90 welded to the joining bracket 88 ( fig1 ). accordingly , when the removable cross - bar 34 is slid over the joining bracket 88 in a telescoping fashion , the holes 98 align with the nuts 90 on the joining bracket 88 . in this fashion , a pair of bolts may then be inserted to removeably secure the cross - bar 34 with one of the end stabilizer bars 30 or one of the center stabilizer bars 32 . referring now to fig1 , there is shown and described a top plan view of the cross - style base 42 of fig4 . the cross - style base 42 may be a center stabilizer bar 32 with two half - bars 44 mounted in a telescoping fashion with the two joining brackets 88 . alternatively , the joining brackets 88 may be eliminated altogether by welding two half - bars 44 directly onto the center stabilizer bar 32 . this alternative method will produce a cross - style base 42 that is permanently fixed . in general terms , a multi - tower rack may be assembled in the following fashion with reference to fig2 - 4 . in assembling the lower base portion 14 , two end stabilizer bars 30 are fastened with one center stabilizer bar 32 for creating a three - tower rack . a cross - bar 34 is slid over the joining bracket 88 of the end stabilizer bar 30 and tightened with a pair of bolts at the cross - bar holes 98 . the other end of the cross - bar 34 is then slid over the joining bracket 88 of the center stabilizer bar 30 and then tightened with another pair of bolts . this is then repeated on the other side with another end stabilizer bar 30 and another cross - bar 34 to form the base . after the lower base portion 14 is assembled , it may be disassembled by reversing the steps . in assembling the upper rack portion 12 , two end ladders 16 are fastened on the two end stabilizer bars 30 by inserting a pair of bolts at the base bracket 58 through the through holes 86 of each end ladder 16 . the u - shape brackets 46 on each of the end ladders 16 are turned so that they face inward , toward the center stabilizer bar 32 . in the same fashion , a center ladder 18 is mounted over the center stabilizer bar 32 . eight lateral support bars 20 are then used to removeably secure the two end ladders 16 with the center ladder 18 . this is done by lowering the flange ends 62 of the lateral support bars into corresponding pair of u - shape brackets 46 . the engagement tips 64 of the various flanges 62 should slide into their respective receiving channels 78 . once the upper rack portion 12 is assembled , it may be disassembled by reversing the steps . a modular display rack system 100 provided in accordance with other aspects of the present is shown in fig2 , which includes a lower base portion 14 having a quick connect / disconnect mechanism 102 , and an upper base portion 12 having an attachment mechanism 104 . the display rack system 100 is similar to the display rack system shown in fig2 - 4 in that it also includes end ladders 106 removeably secured to one another by a plurality of lateral support bars 20 . the end ladders 106 are each formed by connecting a plurality of cross - braces 54 to two vertical braces 48 . as before , peripheral connecting devices 105 , 108 for hanging and displaying merchandise items may be attached to the display rack system 100 along a first side 26 , a second side 28 , or even a third side 110 , which is perpendicular to the first and the second sides . referring now to fig2 a , a semi - schematic partial exploded view of the modular display rack system 100 of fig2 is shown . the lower end section 112 of one of the end ladder racks 106 include a joining bracket 114 for joining one end of a cross bar 34 , which then joins to another joining bracket of another end ladder rack 106 ( or a center ladder rack ) to form a display rack system ( fig2 ). in one exemplary embodiment , the joining bracket 114 is sized to be received in the opening 115 of the cross - bar 34 , which telescopically mounts over the joining bracket 114 to engage therewith . the joining bracket 114 may comprise a rectangular tubing welded to a lower exterior surface 116 of the vertical brace 48 , or to both vertical braces 48 for a center ladder rack , as further discussed below . alternatively , a c - channel , an angle or l - channel , or other equivalent brackets may be used instead of the rectangular tubing for implementing the joining bracket 114 . referring to fig2 b in addition to fig2 a , a fastener 118 is threadedly engaged to a first surface 120 of the joining bracket 114 . more preferably , the fastener 118 projects through an opening on the first surface 120 of the joining bracket 114 and fastens to a nut ( not shown ). the nut may be welded subjacent the opening on an underside surface of the first surface 120 . the cross - bar 34 may be joined to the joining bracket 114 by sliding the opening 115 of the cross - brace over the joining bracket and aligning a slot 122 positioned proximate the opening 115 around the fastener 118 . the fastener 118 may then be fastened against the to suface of the cross bar 34 to secure the cross - bar with the joining bracket 114 . for reference purposes , the lateral support bars 20 may be referred to herein as upper horizontal bars and the cross - bars 34 may be referred to herein as lower horizontal bars . referring now to fig2 c in addition to fig2 a , a quick connect / disconnect mechanism 102 is shown for securing a stabilizer bar 124 to an end ladder rack 106 ( or to a center ladder rack ). the quick connect / disconnect mechanism 102 comprises a locking pin 126 , a locking flange 128 , and a resilient member 130 . in one exemplary embodiment , the locking pin 126 includes a longitudinal planar surface 132 extending the entire length of the locking pin and an optional pair of spaced part position locators or notches 134 a , 134 b . a pair of spring clips , c - clips , or hairpin clips 135 a , 135 b may be utilized to engage the notches 134 a , 134 b if incorporated , or directly to the locking pin to frictionally grip the surface of the locking pin , if not incorporated . the locking flange 128 includes a chamfered opening 136 sized to receive the locking pin 126 and may incorporate any number of shapes , including a rectangle , a rhombus , a square , etc . the chamfered opening 136 includes a planar section 138 sized to abut the longitudinal planar surface 132 of the locking pin 126 to eliminate relative rotation between the locking pin and the flange 128 . the locking flange 128 further includes a pair of male detents or tabs 140 for engaging a pair of locking apertures 142 of the stabilizer bar or base bar 124 . the locking apertures 142 are positioned adjacent a central opening 144 of the stabilizer bar , which is adapted to receive the locking pin 126 . the locking apertures 142 and the central opening 144 may extend the width of the stabilizer bar , i . e ., are present on both surfaces of the stabilizer bar . the stabilizer bar 124 may include a pair of stationary or rotatable casters 36 for facilitating moving the modular display rack . as previously discussed , the vertical braces 48 of the end ladder rack 106 ( and of the center ladder rack , as further discussed below ) may generally be made from rectangular tubing . the vertical braces 48 each comprises an inwardly facing surface 146 and an outwardly facing surface 148 . for reference purposes , inwardly facing surfaces of a pair of adjacent vertical braces 48 ( of either a center ladder rack or an end ladder rack ) face one another . a retaining aperture 150 may be located at or near the lower end section 112 of each inwardly facing surface 146 of each vertical brace 48 , but not on the outwardly facing surface 148 of the same vertical brace . the retaining aperture 150 comprises a chamfered opening and includes a planar section 152 sized to abut with the longitudinal planar surface 132 of the locking pin 126 to eliminate rotation of the locking pin relative to the vertical brace 48 . however , it is envisioned that alternative quick connect / disconnect mechanisms may be made to operate with retaining apertures 150 positioned on the outwardly facing surfaces instead of or in addition to the inwardly facing surfaces of the vertical braces . for example , such retaining apertures may be incorporated to enable the locking pins to extend through the vertical braces . the quick connect / disconnect mechanism 102 is mounted to the stabilizer bar 124 and the end ladder rack 106 by first inserting the locking pin 126 through the central opening 144 of the stabilizer bar 124 . the locking pin 126 should be inserted so that the notches 134 a , 134 b on the locking pin 126 straddle either side ( on the outside surface ) of the stabilizer bar 124 . the clips 135 a , 135 b are then engaged with the notches 134 a , 134 b on the locking pin 126 to confine the stabilizer bar 124 to an area between the two notches 134 a , 134 b , i . e ., the stabilizer bar should be fixed axially along the locking pin between the notches . the opening 136 on the flange 128 is then mounted over the locking pin 126 , on either end of the locking pin until the male detents 140 on the flange engage the locking apertures 142 of the stabilizer bar 124 . the resilient member 130 is now assembled over the end of the locking pin 126 on the end where the flange 128 is positioned . the quick connect / disconnect mechanism 102 and the stabilizer bar 124 are now assembled to the end ladder rack 106 by forcing the two ends of the locking pin into the retaining apertures 150 of the inwardly facing surfaces 146 of the vertical braces 48 . the vertical braces 48 will momentarily and reversibly deflect or bend to enable the pin of the quick connect / disconnect mechanism 102 to be received by the retaining apertures 150 of the inwardly facing surfaces 146 . alternatively , a spring bias telescopic rod may be used for the locking pin 126 , two or more resilient members 130 may be used instead of one , and a tongue and groove arrangement instead of a chamfered surface for rotational control of the components of the quick connect / disconnect mechanism may be used . other variations for implementing a quick connect / disconnect mechanism are also contemplated and are deemed to fall within the scope of the present invention . another modular display rack system 101 provided in accordance with aspects of the present invention is shown in fig2 , which incorporates the quick connect / disconnect mechanism 102 of fig2 a - 21 c . the display rack system 101 comprises an end ladder rack 106 joined to a center ladder rack 154 by a plurality of lateral support bars 20 and a cross bar 34 . the center ladder rack 154 is then connected to either an end ladder rack or another center ladder rack ( not shown ) via another set of lateral support bars 20 ( partially shown ) and cross bar 34 ( partially shown ). an end stabilizer bar 124 is connected to the lower end section 112 of the end ladder rack 106 and to the center ladder rack 154 using the quick connect / disconnect mechanism 102 of the present invention . the center ladder rack 154 differs from the end ladder rack 106 in that it has joining brackets 114 and u - shaped brackets 46 on the exterior surfaces 116 of both of its vertical braces 48 . as previously discussed , there may be one or two u - shaped brackets 46 at each u - shaped bracket location . in one embodiment , the end stabilizer bar 124 may be rotated from a first normal support position ( fig2 ) to a second folded upright position ( fig2 ). the rotation of the end stabilizer bar 124 from the first normal support position to the second folded upright position may be accomplished by moving the flange 128 to compress the resilient member 130 . a finger gripping portion may be incorporated on the flange to facilitate manipulating the flange to compress the resilient member . the compression action causes the tabs 140 of the flange 128 to disengage from the locking apertures 142 of the stabilizer bar 124 . the stabilizer bar 124 is then free to rotate about the locking pin , which acts as a pivot pin , until a bar end 156 is positioned in the folded space 158 of the end ladder rack 106 ( or center ladder rack 154 ). the folded space 158 is defined by the lower most cross brace 54 and portions of the two vertical braces 48 near the lower end section 112 of either the end ladder rack or center ladder rack . the flange 128 may then be released and when released is urged by the resilient member 30 against the end stabilizer bar 124 . the two tabs 140 of the flange now engage with the edges of end stabilizer bar 124 to maintain the end stabilizer bar in the second folded upright position . alternatively , if the stabilizer bar 124 is in a first normal support position ( fig2 ), it may be moved to a second folded upright position ( fig2 ) in a reversed manner as discussed above . the end stabilizer bar 124 may be attached to either the end ladder rack 106 and / or the center ladder rack 154 at the manufacturing plant and shipped to a retailer , a department store , or an end user in the folded upright position . alternatively , the end stabilizer bar 124 and the quick connect / disconnect mechanism 102 may be shipped separately and assembled on site to use in the manner and fashion described in the foregoing paragraphs . to form the modular display rack system 101 of fig2 , a cross bar 34 may be mounted over a joining bracket 114 ( fig2 a and 21 b ) of the end ladder rack 106 and to one or more center ladder racks 154 to form a three or more modular tower display rack system . lateral support bars 20 are then attached to adjacent u - shaped brackets 46 of adjacent ladder racks to provide lateral support to two adjacent ladder racks ( i . e ., to either two end ladder racks , two center ladder racks , or one end ladder and one center ladder rack ). fig2 shows a semi - schematic exploded perspective view of a three tower modular display rack system 160 provided in accordance with aspects of the present invention . the modular display rack system 160 comprises two end ladder racks 106 and one center ladder rack 154 . the two end ladder racks 106 may be removably joined to the center ladder rack 154 using two cross bars 34 to connect with the joining brackets 114 located near the lower end 112 of each of the ladder racks . four sets of lateral support bars 20 are used to engage with 8 sets of u - shape brackets to support the ladder racks laterally , i . e ., perpendicular to the height of the ladder racks . each set of lateral support bars and u - shape brackets may comprise two lateral support bars and two u - shaped brackets or just one of each . end stabilizer bars 124 may be mounted to the lower end of the ladder racks 106 , 154 to support the modular display rack system 160 . the ladder racks 106 , 154 may be supplied with the end stabilizer bars 124 mounted at the factory or separately installed on site , as previously discussed . in either scenario , the end stabilizer bars 124 must be rotated to the normal support position ( fig2 ) before the modular display rack may be used to display merchandise items . a semi - schematic perspective view of another modular display rack system 162 provided in accordance with aspects of the present invention is shown in fig2 . the display rack system 162 is similar to the display rack system 160 of fig2 except that three additional center ladder racks 154 and corresponding number of cross bars 34 , lateral support bars 20 , and end stabilizer bars 124 are added to form the six ladder rack modular display rack system 162 . alternatively , fewer or more center ladder racks 154 may be added to decrease or increase the size of the modular display rack system . the display rack system 160 of fig2 is again shown in fig2 along with several peripheral devices 105 , 108 , 164 . one peripheral device can be a straight arm hangrail 105 having an engagement bracket 166 for engaging a vertical brace 48 , a lateral support bar 20 , or a cross brace 54 . the straight arm hangrail 105 comprises a beam surface for hangers , hooks , and the like to hang on . another peripheral device is a u - shaped hanging bracket 108 . the u - shape hanging bracket 108 comprises two outwardly extending arms 168 connected to one another by a connecting arm 170 to form a u - shaped surface for hangers and the like to hang from . the ends of the outwardly extending arms 168 each comprises an engagement bracket 166 for engaging with a vertical brace 48 , a lateral support bar 20 , or a cross brace 54 . the engaging brackets 166 may comprise c - channels and c - channels with notches and slots cut out in the walls of the channels to engage with the vertical brace 48 , the lateral support bar 20 , or the cross brace 54 , or any combination thereof . a peripheral device comprising a shelf 164 may also be used with the modular display rack system 160 of the present invention . the shelf 164 may comprise two or more engaging brackets 166 formed on the underside of the top shelf surface 170 to engage with either the vertical brace 48 , the lateral support bar 20 , or the cross brace 54 . once mounted , the shelf 164 may function as display surface for merchandise items , such as clothes , toys , food , etc . the shelf 164 may be made from steel , wood , thermoplastic , fiberglass , or other materials having sufficient hardness and rigidity to provide support for merchandise items . a semi - schematic perspective view of the modular display rack 160 of fig2 is again shown in fig2 with alternative peripheral devices . in one embodiment , the modular display rack system 160 may include one or more t - hangrails 172 , one or more rising hangrails 178 , one or more sloping arm hangrails 180 , and one or more display boxes 182 . the t - hangrail 172 shown comprises a first arm section 174 having an engaging bracket 166 attached to one end thereof and a second arm section 176 attached to the end opposite the engaging bracket . the ends of the second arm section 176 may include flanges 62 ( see , e . g ., fig9 and 10 ) to shield sharp edges of the second arm section and to provide a stop ledge for clothe hangers and hooks , i . e ., to prevent the same from sliding off of the second arm section . the rising hang rails 178 shown include a first arm section 174 having an axis attached to an engagement bracket 184 having a different axis . the axis of the first arm section 174 is offset from the axis of the engagement bracket 184 to enable the rising hangrail 178 to be hung from the second set of cross brace 54 a , third set of cross brace 54 b , and so forth . this offset configuration allows the rising hangrail 178 to be hung without the first arm section 174 or the second arm section 178 of the rising hangrail hitting or abutting any part of the tower rack or any part of the display tower , i . e ., the offset provides clearance for the rising hangrail to be hung on any of the cross braces along the height of a particular ladder rack . a sloping arm hangrail 180 may also be used with the modular display rack system 160 of the present invention . the sloping arm hangrail 180 comprises an arm section 186 attached to an engagement bracket 166 , and more particularly to a side of the c - channel of the engagement bracket at an angle . the arm section 186 comprises a plurality of spaced apart bumps 188 , which act to distribute hangers or hooks that are hung on the sloping arm hangrail 180 to prevent them from collecting together . display boxes 182 having a width w , a height h , and a depth d may also be used with the modular display rack system 160 of the present invention . the display boxes 182 may be made from wood , thermoplastic , thin sheet metal , and the like and attached to one or more stabilizer bars 124 to provide shelf space for merchandise items . the width d , height h , and depth d of the display boxes 182 may vary depending on needs and aesthetic appeal of the end user . a semi - schematic perspective view of the modular display rack 162 of fig2 is shown in fig2 with a plurality of peripheral devices mounted thereto for providing surfaces for displaying merchandise items . although the plurality of peripheral devices are shown concentrated on the first three ladder racks , they may be mounted anywhere on the modular display rack system 162 in any fashion a user desires . for example , the peripheral devices may be spaced apart along the first side 26 , the second side 28 , or the third side 110 of the modular display rack and along all six tower racks 106 , 154 . as shown , a u - shaped hanging bracket 108 is hung on a first side 26 of the modular display rack 162 . the u - shaped hanging bracket 108 may also include a wire meshed basket hung on the frame of the u - shaped bracket to provide a pocket , such as a drawer , for displaying items , such as socks , packaged food , etc . another peripheral device shown is a shelf hangrail 190 comprising a shelf surface 192 hung to either the cross braces 54 or lateral support bars 20 of the modular display rack system 162 . an angled shelf hangrail 194 comprising a shelf surface 196 positioned at an angle to two or more engagement brackets ( not shown ) is also shown . as readily apparent , the particular peripheral devices shown are exemplary only and variations in the structures and the manner and fashion in which peripheral devices are used with the modular display racks of the present invention to display merchandise items are contemplated . listed below are exemplary rectangular tubing and bracket dimensions . however , it is understood that these are exemplary only and that other dimensions , thickness , etc . may be altered without changing the scope of the invention . accordingly , a mere change in size or dimension is contemplated within the present invention . main vertical brace 48 — 1338 mm l × 38 mm w × 12 . 7 mm d cross - brace 54 — 102 mm l × 34 mm w × 12 . 7 mm d base bracket 58 — 4 ″ l × 1 . 5 ″ w × 1 / 16 ″ - ⅛ ″ thick u - shape bracket 46 — 25 . 4 mm l × 40 mm w × 17 . 2 mm d × 2 mm thick lateral support bar 20 — 508 mm l × 35 . 6 mm w × 12 . 7 mm d flange 62 — 47 . 6 mm l × 12 . 7 mm w × 1 / 16 ″ to ⅛ ″ thick extended l - shape bracket 88 — 50 . 8 mm l × 54 . 5 mm w ( tall side )× 36 . 6 mm d × 19 mm w ( short side )× 1 / 16 ″ to ⅛ ″ thick leg extension piece 82 — 282 . 5 mm l × 60 . 2 mm w × 40 . 6 mm d center load bearing piece 80 — 127 mm l × 60 . 2 mm w × 406 mm d tubing can have a range of 11 — 20 gauge , and where necessary 3 / 16 ″ or even ¼ ″ although the preferred embodiments of the invention have been described with some specificity , the description and drawings set forth herein are not intended to be delimiting , and persons of ordinary skill in the art will understand that various modifications may be made to the embodiments discussed herein without departing from the scope of the invention , and all such changes and modifications are intended to be encompassed within the appended claims . various changes to the modular display rack may be made including manufacturing the entire rack out of square tubing , changing the dimension of the tubing pieces , adding more or fewer cross - braces and u - shape brackets , changing the metallurgy , changing the finish ( from nickel to grinded steel finish or brush steel finish ), using posts instead of casters , and changing the type of casters . other changes may also include using different means to practice the quick connect / disconnect mechanism disclosed herein , including using a spring loaded telescopic pivot pin , using two resilient members , using fewer or more clamps , etc . accordingly , many alterations and modifications may be made by those having ordinary skill in the art without deviating from the spirit and scope of the invention . | 0 |
examples of the hydrocarbon residues of the optionally substituted hydrocarbon residues shown by r 2 or r 3 include aliphatic hydrocarbon residues ( straight - chained or branched alkyl groups , alkenyl groups , alkynyl groups or cycloaliphatic hydrocarbon residues ) and aromatic hydrocarbon residues ( e . g . aryl groups ), and , among others , alkyl groups or aryl groups are especially preferable . examples of the acyl groups of the optionally substituted acyl groups - shown by r 2 or r 3 include various organic or inorganic residual groups bonded via carbonyl group or sulfonyl group ( e . g . alkanoyl group , aroyl group , aromatic heterocyclic carbonyl group , carbamoyl group , benzenesulfonyl group , alkyl sulfonyl group , thiocarbamoyl group , alkoxy carbonyl , phenoxy carbonyl group , etc .). above all , preferable examples of r 2 are hydrogen atom , optionally substituted alkyl group or aryl group , and those of r 3 are hydrogen atom , optionally substituted acyl group groups or alkyl groups as above . preferable embodiments of the above - mentioned r 2 and r 3 are as follows . examples of optionally substituted alkanoyl groups shown by r 3 include amino , lower alkyl amino ( e . g . methylamino , ethylamino , isopropylamino , etc . ), di - lower alkyl amino ( e . g . dimethylamino , diethylamino , etc . ), nitro , halogen ( e . g . fluorine , chlorine , bromine , iodine , etc . ), hydroxyl , lower alkylthio , lower alkoxy ( e . g . methoxy , ethoxy , etc . ), cyano , carbamoyl , carboxyl , lower alkoxycarbonyl ( e . g . methoxycarbonyl , ethoxycarbonyl , etc . ), carboxy lower alkoxy ( carboxymethoxy , 2 - carboxyethoxy , etc . ), optionally substituted phenyl , aromatic heterocyclic groups ( preferably 5 - 6 membered aromatic heterocyclic groups containing 1 - 4 hetero - atoms such as nitrogen , oxygen , sulfur , etc ., such as 2 - furyl , 2 - thienyl , 4 - thiazolyl , 4 - imidazolyl , 4 - pyridyl , etc . ), and , preferably , alkanoyl groups having 1 - 4 substituents ( preferably , unsubstituted alkanoyl groups having 2 to 20 carbon atoms , such as formyl , acetyl , propionyl , isopropionyl , butyryl , pentanoyl , hexanoyl , heptanoyl , octanoyl , nonanoyl , lauroyl , undecanoyl , myristoyl , palmitoyl , stearoyl , arachinoyl , etc .). among them , acetyl , butyryl , octanoyl , 3 - carboxylpropionyl and 4 - carboxybutyryl are preferable . examples of the optionally substituted aroyl groups shown by r 3 include benzoyl , 1 - naphthoyl , 2 - naphthoyl , etc . optionally having 1 to 3 substituents such as c 2 - 6 lower alkyl such as ethyl , propyl etc ., amino , halogen ( e . g . fluorine , chlorine , bromine , etc . ), hydroxyl , lower alkoxy ( e . g . methoxy , ethoxy , etc . ), cyano , carbamoyl , carboxyl , etc . among them , benzoyl and 2 - carboxybenzoyl are preferable . examples of the substituents in the optionally substituted aromatic heterocyclic carbonyl groups shown by r 3 include the same substituents as those of the above - mentioned substituted aroyl group . as the aromatic heterocyclic carbonyl groups , use is made of 5 - or 6 - membered ones containing 1 to 4 hetero atoms such as nitrogen , oxygen , sulfur , etc ., and , among them , 2 - furoyl , 2 - thenoyl , nicotinoyl and isonicotinoyl are preferable . the optionally substituted carbamoyl groups shown by r 3 include carbamoyl group , mono - substituted carbamoyl group and di - substituted carbamoyl group , and substituents of them are exemplified by lower alkyl ( e g . methyl , ethyl , propyl , butyl , etc . ), lower alkanoyl ( preferably c 1 - 6 , e . g . acetyl , propionyl , etc . ), lower halogenoalkanoyl ( e . g . chloroacetyl , trichloroacetyl ), lower alkoxy carbonyl methyl ( e . g . methoxy carbonyl methyl , ethoxy carbonyl methyl , etc . ), carboxy methyl , optionally substituted phenyl , naphthyl , benzoyl , substituents forming cyclic amino group ( e . g . pyrrolidino , piperidino , morpholino , piperazino , 4 - methylpiperazino , 4 - phenylpiperazino , etc . ), taken together with the nitrogen atom of the carbamoyl group . among them , chloroacetyl , phenyl and benzoyl are preferable . as the optionally substituted alkyl group shown by r 2 and r 3 , mention is made of c 1 - 20 straight - chain or branched alkyl groups , which may optionally be substituted with 1 to 3 substituents same as those in the above - mentioned optionally substituted alkanoyl groups , and the said alkyl group may be epoxidated at an optional position . among them , methyl , ethyl and benzyl are preferable . examples of substituents of the optionally substituted benzenesulfonyl group shown by r 3 include lower alkyl ( e . g . methyl , ethyl , etc . ), halogen ( fluorine , chlorine , bromine , etc . ), and one to three of these substituents may be located at optional positions of the benzene ring . examples of optionally substituted alkylsulfonyl groups shown by r 3 include c 1 - 6 lower alkyl sulfonyl groups optionally having one to three of the same substituents as those of the above - mentioned optionally substituted alkanoyl groups . among them , methyl sulfonyl and ethyl sulfonyl are preferable . the optionally substituted thiocarbamoyl groups shown by r 3 include thiocarbamoyl group , mono - substituted thiocarbamoyl group and di - substituted carbamoyl group . as the substituents , mention is made of the same substituents as those of the above - mentioned optionally substituted carbamoyl groups . as the optionally substituted alkoxycarbonyl groups shown by r 3 , mention is made of , for example , straight - chain or branched lower ( c 1 - 6 ) alkoxycarbonyl groups which may have 1 to 3 substituents which are the same as those of the above - mentioned optionally substituted alkanoyl groups . among them , are preferable methoxy carbonyl ethoxy carbonyl , propoxy carbonyl , butoxy carbonyl , isobutoxy carbonyl and 1 - chloroethoxy carbonyl . examples of the substituents of optionally substituted phenoxycarbonyl groups shown by r 3 include the same substituents of the above - mentioned optionally substituted benzenesulfonyl groups , and one to three of these substituents may be substituted at optionally positions of phenoxy group . examples of the optionally substituted aryl groups shown by r 2 include phenyl , 1 - naphthyl and 2 - naphthyl , which are optionally substituted with one to three of the same substituents as those of the above - mentioned optionally substituted aroyl groups . in the present specification , examples of the substituents of optionally substituted phenyl groups include lower alkyl ( e . g . methyl , ethyl , propyl , butyl , etc . ), lower alkoxy ( e . g . methoxy , ethoxy , propoxy , etc . ), halogen ( e . g . fluorine , chlorine , bromine , etc . ), halogenated alkyl ( e . g . trifluoromethyl , chloromethyl , etc . ), nitro , etc ., and one to five of these substituents may be substituted at optional positions of the phenyl ring . and , in the present specification , unless otherwise specified , the lower alkyl group means c 1 - 6 straight - chain or branched alkyl groups , and the lower alkoxy group means c 1 - 6 alkoxy groups . when the compound ( i ) of this invention has in its molecule an acidic substituent ( e . g . carboxyl or the like ) or a basic substituent ( e . g . amino , lower alkylamino , di - lower alkylamino or the like ), it can be used as a pharmacologically acceptable salt . as the pharmacologically acceptable salts , use is made of salts with inorganic bases , salts with organic bases , salts with basic or acid amino acid , or the like . as inorganic bases capable of forming these salts , use is made of , for example , an alkali metal ( e . g . sodium , potassium , etc . ), an alkaline earth metal ( e . g . calcium , magnesium , etc . ), etc . ; as organic bases , use is made of trimethylamine , triethylamine , pyridine , picoline , n , n - dibenzylethylenediamine , ethanolamine , diethanolamine , tris - hydroxymethylaminomethane , dicyclohexylamine , etc . ; as inorganic acids , use is made of , for example , hydrochloric acid , hydrobromic acid , sulfuric acid , nitric acid , phosphoric acid , etc . ; as organic acids , use is made of , for example , formic acid , acetic acid , trifluoroacetic acid , oxalic acid , tartaric acid , fumaric acid , maleic acid , methanesulfonic acid , benzenesulfonic acid , p - toluenesulfonic acid , etc . ; and , as basic or acid amino acids , use is made of , for example , arginine , lysine , ornithine , aspartic acid , glutamic acid , etc . of these salts , those with bases ( i . e . salts with inorganic bases , salts with organic bases , salts with basic amino acids ) mean salts which can be formed with the carboxyl group in the substituents of compound ( i ), and , salts with acids ( i . e . salts with inorganic acids , salts with organic acids , salts with acid amino acids ) mean salts which can be formed with the amino group , lower alkylamino group , di - lower alkylamino group , etc . in the substituents of the compound ( i ). the salts also include quaternary ammonium salts in which the -- nr 2 r 3 portion is in the following formula : -- nr 2 r 3 r 8 . x - wherein r 8 is lower alkyl or phenyl - lower alkyl , such as methyl , ethyl and x is an anion , such as halogen . a compound of the general formula ( i ), wherein r 1 is 2 - methyl - 1 - propenyl group , and r 2 and r 3 are both hydrogen atom , i . e . 6 - amino - 6 - desoxyfumagillol is the compound derived from fumagillol which is the hydrolysate of fumagillin produced by a microorganism [ tarbell , d . s . et al ., journal of american chemical society , 83 , 3096 ( 1961 )], and , as shown by the formulae ( ii ) and ( iii ), it exists as two types of compounds , i . e . 6α - amino - desoxyfumagillol and 6β - amino - 6 - desoxyfumagillol . these two types of compounds are different from each other in the absolute structure of 6 - position amino group , and the 6 - position amino group of 6α - amino - 6 - desoxyfumagillol shown by the formula ( ii ) has the same absolute structure as the 6 - position hydroxyl group of fumagillol . the object compound ( i ) of the present application include compounds shown by the formulae ( ii ) and ( iii ) and their related compounds . ## str3 ## and , the compound ( i ) has , in its molecule , besides the above - mentioned 6 - position , asymmetric center at 3 - position , 4 - position , 5 - position and 1 &# 39 ;- position and 2 &# 39 ;- position on the side chain at 4 - position , but its absolute structure is based on the starting fumagillol and in agreement with the absolute structure of fumagillol . 6α - amino - 6 - desoxyfumagillol ( ii ) is can be obtained by subjecting fumagillol to oxidation by the method described in publication of jp - a - 476 / 1987 to give 6 - oxo - 6 - desoxyfumagillol ( 6 - dehydrofumagillol ), which is then subjecting to reduction with a metal hydride such as sodium cyanoborohydride in the presence of ammonium acetate . and , using primary amine instead of ammonium acetate , the reduction is conducted while keeping the ph of the reaction mixture neutral to weakly acidic to give directly an n - mono - substituted derivative of the compound ( ii ). on the other hand , by employing catalytic reduction using , for example , palladium - carbon as the catalyst , in place of the reduction using metal hydride , the double bond on the side chain at 4 - position is also reduced at the same time , and 4 &# 39 ;, 5 &# 39 ;- dihydro compound of the compound ( ii ) can be obtained . 6β - amino - 6 - desoxyfumagillol ( iii ) is obtained by subjecting fumagillol to mitsunobu reaction using diethyl azodicarboxylate and triphenylphosphine and phthalimide or succinimide [ mitsunobu , o ., synthesis , 1981 , p . 1 ] to give 6β - imido compound , then allowing hydrazine or methyl hydrazine to react with the 6β - imido compound , followed by processing with an acid . production of the compound ( i ), wherein r 1 is isobutyl group , r 2 and r 3 are both hydrogen atom , can be accomplished by subjecting 4 &# 39 ;, 5 &# 39 ;- dihydro compound obtained by catalytic reduction of fumagillol under usual conditions ( e . g . using 5 % palladium - carbon in a methanol solution ) to the same reaction as described above . the compound ( i ), wherein r 2 or r 3 is , both or either one , a substituent other than hydrogen atom , can be produced , using a compound ( ii ) or its n - mono - substituted compound , a compound ( iii ), and 4 &# 39 ;, 5 &# 39 ;- dihydro compounds of them as starting materials , by subjecting them to acylation , carbamoylation , thiocarbamoylation , alkylation or sulfonylation by , for example , the method described below , or by isolating the intermediates in those reactions . and , when r 2 or r 3 is a group which does not change by catalytic reduction , 6 -( n - substituted amino )- 6 - desoxyfumagillol is subjected to catalytic reduction to convert into 6 -( n - substituted amino )- 4 &# 39 ;, 5 &# 39 ; dihydro - 6 - desoxyfumagillols . when the acylating agent , carbamoylating agent , thiocarbamoylating agent , acylating agent and sulfonylating agent have a substituent such as amino , hydroxyl , carboxyl etc ., these substituents are preferably protected , and the protecting groups are selected in accordance with the stability of the product . preferable examples of the protecting groups are , in the case of amino , 4 - nitrobenzyloxycarbonyl , 2 - trimethylsilylethoxycarbonyl , etc ., and in case of hydroxyl , 4 - nitrobenzyl , are t - butyl dimethylsilyl , etc ., and , in case of carboxyl , are 4 - nitrobenzyl , etc . for deprotection , a conventional means such as catalytic reduction or use of fluoride ion is employed . additionally stating , in cases of carbamoylation and alkylation , it is possible that a lower alkyl such as methyl , ethyl , etc . is used as the protecting group of the carboxyl group , then , after the reaction , the protecting group is removed by hydrolysis under mild alkaline conditions . this acylation is conducted by allowing a reactive derivative of activated carboxylic acid such as acid anhydride , acid halide , active amide , active ester , active thioester , etc . to react with 6 - amino - 6 - desoxyfumagillol , 6 - amino - 4 &# 39 ;, 5 &# 39 ;- dihydro - 6 - desoxyfumagillol or their n - alkyl or n - monoaryl substituted compounds ( hereinafter referred to simply as starting amine ). namely , the acylation is usually conducted by such reaction as shown by the following scheme : ## str4 ## ( wherein r 5 stands for ( 1 ) optionally substituted alkanoyl group , ( 2 ) optionally substituted aroyl group and ( 3 ) optionally substituted aromatic heterocyclic carbonyl group defined for r 2 and r 3 ). for example , mono - lower alkyl carbonate mixed acid anhydride or the like is employed . amides with , for example , pyrazole , imidazole , 4 - substituted imidazole , dimethyl pyrazole , benzotriazole , or the like are employed . besides such esters as methoxymethyl ester , benzotriazol ester , 4 - nitrophenyl ester , 2 , 4 - dinitrophenyl ester , trichlorophenyl ester and pentachlorophenyl ester , esters with , for example , 1 - hydroxy - 1h - 2 - pyridone , n - hydroxysuccinimide or n - hydroxyphthalimide . thioesters with a heterocyclic thiol such as 2 - pyridyl thiol , 2 - benzothiazolyl thiol , etc . are employed . said reactive derivative of carboxylic acid is used usually in an amount of about 1 to 10 times mol ., preferably 1 to 5 times mol ., relative to 1 mol . of the starting amine . and , in a case of using the carboxylic acid in the free state , the reaction is conducted preferably in the presence of a condensing agent . examples of the condensing agent to be used include n , n &# 39 ;- dicyclohexylcarbodiimide , n - cyclohexyl - n &# 39 ;- morpholinoethylcarbodiimide , n - cyclohexyl - n &# 39 ;-( 4 - diethylaminocyclohexyl ) carbodiimide , n - ethyl - n &# 39 ;-( 3 - dimethylaminopropyl ) carbodiimide , etc . this reaction is carried out usually in the presence of a base . examples of the base include tertiary amine such as diisopropylethylamine , tributylamine , triethylamine , pyridine , picoline , n , n - dimethylaminopyridine , n - methylmorpholine , n - methylpiperidine , etc ., alkali metal hydrogencarbonates such as sodium hydrogencarbonate , potassium hydrogencarbonate , etc ., alkali metal carbonates such as potassium carbonate , sodium carbonate , etc ., alkali metal hydrides such as sodium hydride , potassium hydride , etc ., organic metals such as butyl lithium , lithium diisopropylamide , etc ., and the amount of the base to be added usually ranges from about 1 mol . to 10 times mol . relative to 1 mol . of the starting amine . this reaction is conducted usually in an organic solvent which does not exert undesirable effects on the reaction . examples of the organic solvent which does not exert undesirable effects on the reaction include amides such as dimethylformamide , dimethylacetamide , etc ., halogenated hydrocarbons such as dichloromethane , chloroform , 1 , 2 - dichloroethane , etc ., ethers such as diethylether , tetrahydrofuran , dioxane , etc ., esters such as methyl acetate , ethyl acetate , isobutyl acetate , methyl propionate , etc ., nitriles such as acetonitrile , propionitrile , etc ., nitro compounds such as nitromethane , nitroethane , etc ., ketones such as acetone , methyl ethyl ketone , etc ., aromatic hydrocarbons such as benzene , toluene , etc ., and these may be used singly or as a mixture of two or more species in a suitable ratio . and , the tertiary amine employed as the base may be used as the solvent simultaneously . the reaction temperature varies with the amounts , kinds , etc . of carboxylic derivatives , bases and solvents , and ranges from - 80 ° c . to 100 ° c ., preferably from 0 ° c . to room temperatures ( in this specification , room temperatures mean temperatures ranging from about 20 ° to about 35 ° c ., unless otherwise specified ). the reaction time ranges from about 30 minutes to about 5 days . this alkylation is conducted by allowing a starting amine to react with an alkylating agent , for example alkyl halide represented by the formula r 6 y [ wherein r 6 stands for an optionally substituted alkyl groups in the definition of r 3 and y stands for a leaving group ( e . g . halogen ( chlorine , bromine , iodine , etc . ))], dialkyl sulfate ( e . g . methyl sulfate , diethyl sulfate , etc .). this alkylating agent is used in an amount of usually about 1 to 5 times mol . relative to the starting amine . this reaction is conducted usually in the presence of a base . as the base , use is made of afore - mentioned alkali metal hydrogencarbonates , alkali metal carbonates , alkali metal hydrides , organic metals , etc ., and the amount to be added ranges from about 1 to 5 times mol . relative to the starting amine . this reaction is carried out usually in an organic solvent which does not exert undesirable influence on the reaction . examples of such organic solvents include afore - mentioned amides , halogenated hydrocarbons , ethers , esters , nitriles , nitro - compounds , ketones and aromatic hydrocarbons , and these solvents can be used singly or as a mixture of two or more species of them in a suitable ratio . the reaction temperature varies with the amounts , kinds etc ., of alkylating agents , bases and solvents , and it ranges from - 80 to 100 ° c ., preferably from 0 ° c . to room temperatures . the reaction time ranges from about 20 minutes to about 5 days . use of alkyl dihalide as the alkylating agent affords 6 -( cyclic amino )- 6 - desoxyfumagillols . thus obtained product can be led to an ammonium type derivative by further allowing to react with alkyl halide ( cf . example 20 ). the said alkylation is also conducted by allowing 6 - amino - 6 - desoxyfumagillol or its 4 &# 39 ;, 5 &# 39 ;- dihydro compound to react with ketone or aldehydes under reductive conditions , i . e . catalytic reduction . preferable catalysts for the reduction are exemplified by palladium - carbon , palladium black , raney nickel , etc . the reaction is conducted in an alcohol ( e . g . methanol , ethanol , etc . ), ether ( e . g . tetrahydrofuran , dimethoxyethane , etc .) or a mixture of such a solvent as above with water in the presence of hydrogen gas , at temperatures ranging from ice - cooling to about 80 ° c ., preferably around room temperatures . the reduction can be conducted by using a metal halide , preferably sodium borohydride or sodium cyano borohydride . the reaction is carried out preferably in a solvent , for example alcohol ( e . g . methanol , ethanol ), ether ( tetrahydrofuran , dimethoxyethane ), nitrile ( e . g . acetonitrile ) or an aqueous mixture thereof , and , more desirably , the reaction is conducted while maintaininq the ph of the reaction mixture at weakly acid side , ( about ph 3 to 6 ), and , for adjusting the ph , a buffer solution or a mineral acid ( e . g . hdyrochloric acid ), an organic acid ( e . g . acetic acid ) or an aqueous solution thereof is added . the amount of a metal halide to be used varies with the starting material and kinds of carbonyl compounds employed , and it ranges from a little excess to about 100 times relative to the theoretical amount , preferably a little excess to about 10 times , and , depending on cases , as the reaction proceeds , it may be supplemented in a suitable amount . the reaction temperature ranges from about - 20 ° c . to 80 ° c , preferably from about 0 ° c . to 30 ° c . carbamoylation for introducing a mono - substituted carbamoyl group is carried out by usually allowing isocyanate to react with the starting amine , as , for example , shown by the following reaction scheme . ## str5 ## ( wherein r 7 stands for a substituent of the optionally substituted carbamoyl group shown by r 3 such as lower alkyl , lower alkanoyl chloroacetyl , etc .). the isocyanate is used in an amount of usually about 1 mol to 5 times mol . relative to 1 mol . of the starting amine . this reaction is carried out usually in the presence of a base . as the base , use is made of above - mentioned tertiary amine , alkali metal hydrogencarbonates , alkali metal carbonates , alkali metal hydrides , organic metals , etc ., and the amount of such a base as above to be added ranges from about 1 mol . to 5 times mol . relative to the starting amine . this reaction is carried out usually in an organic solvent which does not exert undesirable influence on the reaction . examples of such organic solvents as above include afore - mentioned amides , halogenated hydrocarbons , ethers , esters , nitriles , nitro - compounds , ketones and aromatic hydrocarbons , and these solvents can be used singly or as a mixture of two or more species of them in a suitable ratio . the tertiary amine employed as the base may be used as the solvent simultaneously . the reaction temperature varies with the amounts and kinds of isocyanate , the base and the solvent then employed , and usually ranges from about - 80 ° c . to 100 ° c ., preferably from 0 ° c . to room temperatures . the reaction time ranges from about one hour to about five days . among the compounds having mono - substituted carbamoyl group thus obtained , compounds having , for example , chloroacetylcarbamoyl , trichloroacetylcarbamoyl , etc ., can be converted to compounds having carbamoyl group by removing chloroacetyl group or trichloroacetyl group by a conventional process ( e . g . at room temperatures or an elevated temperatures under basic conditions ). the said carbamoylation can also be conducted by allowing the starting amine to react with carbamoyl halide . the said carbamoyl halide is used in an amount of usually 1 mol . to 5 times mol . relative to 1 mol . of the starting amine . this reaction is carried out usually in the presence of a base . as the base , use is made of the above - mentioned tertiary amine , alkali metal hydrogencarbonates , alkali metal carbonates , alkali metal hydrides , organic alkali metals , etc ., and the amount of the base to be added ranges from about 1 mol . to 5 times mol . relative to the starting amine . this reaction is carried out usually in an organic solvent which does not exert undesirable influence on the reaction . examples of such organic solvents as above include afore - mentioned amides , halogenated hydrocarbons , ethers , esters , nitriles , nitro - compounds , ketones and aromatic hydrocarbons , and these solvents can be used singly or as a mixture of two or more species of them in a suitable ratio . the tertiary amine employed as the base may be used as the solvent simultaneously . the reaction temperature varies with the amounts and kinds of carbamoyl halide , bases and solvents , and it ranges from about 0 ° c . to around reflux temperatures of the reaction medium , preferably from about 25 ° c . to reflux temperature . the said carbamoylation can also be carried out by allowing the starting amine to react with chloroformic ester ( e . g . phenyl chloroformate , ethyl chloroformate , isobutyl chloroformate , chloroformic acid 1 - chloroethyl , etc .) or 1 , 1 &# 39 ;- carbonyl diimidazole to give an active ester , followed by allowing the ester to react with primary or secondary amine . the said chloroformic esters or 1 , 1 &# 39 ;- carbonyl diimidazole and amines are used in an amount of usually ranging from 1 mol . to 5 times mol . relative to one mol . of the starting amine . in this reaction , the reaction between the starting amine and chloroformic ester is carried out in the presence of a base . as the said base , use is made of the above - mentioned tertiary amine , alkali metal hydrogencarbonates , alkali metal carbonates , alkali metal hydrides , organic alkali metals , etc . the amount of the base to be added ranges usually from about 1 mol . to 5 times mol . relative to 1 mol . of the starting amine . this reaction is carried out usually in an organic solvent which does not exert undesirable influence on the reaction . examples of such organic solvents as above include afore - mentioned amides , halogenated hydrocarbons , ethers , esters , nitriles , nitro - compounds , ketones and aromatic hydrocarbons , and these solvents can be used singly or as a mixture of two or more species of them in a suitable ratio . the reaction temperature varies with the amounts and kinds of the chloroformic esters , bases , amines and solvents , and it ranges from - 20 ° c . to the reflux temperature of the reaction medium , preferably from 0 ° c . to 50 ° c . incidentally , the active esters obtained as intermediates are also included in the compounds ( i ) which are the object compounds of the present application . in the above carbamoylation , by using isothiocyanate in place of isocyanate , a derivative into which a mono - substituted thiocarbamate group is introduced can be synthesized by the same reaction as mentioned above . the reaction is shown by , for example , the following scheme . ## str6 ## [ wherein r 8 stands for a substituent of optionally substituted thiocarbamoyl group , which is the same as in the definition of r 3 ]. the sulfonylation is conducted by allowing an activated sulfonic acid derivative , for example , sulfonic anhydride , sulfonic halide ( e . g . sulfonyl chloride , sulfonyl bromide , etc .) to react with the starting amine . more specifically , the reaction is performed as shown by the following scheme . ## str7 ## [ wherein r 9 stands for an optionally substituted benzene sulfonyl group , which is the same as in the definition of r 3 , or an optionally substituted alkyl sulfonyl group , which is the same as in the definition of r 3 ]. the reactive derivative of the sulfonic acid is , generally , used in an amount of about 1 to 5 times mol . relative to 1 mol . of the starting amine . this reaction is usually conducted in the presence of a base . as the base , use is made of the aforementioned tertiary amine , alkali metal hydrogencarbonates , alkali metal carbonates , alkali metal hydrides , organic metals , etc ., and the amount thereof to be added is , generally , about 1 to 10 times mol . relative to 1 mol . of fumagillol . this reaction is conducted usually in an organic solvent which does not exert an undesirable effect on the reaction . examples of organic solvents exerting no undesirable effect on the reaction include the aforementioned amides , halogenated hydrocarbons , ethers , esters , nitriles , nitro compounds , ketones , and aromatic hydrocarbons , and these can be employed singly or as a mixture of two or more species of them in a suitable ratio . and , the tertiary amine employed as the base can be used also as the solvent . the reaction temperature varies with amounts and kinds of the sulfonic acid derivative , base and solvent then employed , but it usually ranges from - 80 ° c . to 100 ° c ., preferably from 0 ° c . to room temperatures . the reaction time ranges from one hour to about 5 days . thus - produced 6 - amino - 6 - desoxy fumagillol and related compounds ( i ) can be isolated by known separating and refining means ( e . g . chromatography , crystallization ), etc . the compounds of this invention show actions of , among others , inhibiting angiogenesis , cell - proliferation and immune reactions , and are useful as therapeutic and prophylactic agents of various inflammatory diseases ( rheumatic diseases , psoriasis ), diabetic retinopathy , arteriosclerosis , tumors and rejection symptoms in the case of internal organ transplantation . and , they can be safely administered orally or non - orally as they are or a pharmaceutical composition prepared by mixing with known [ pharmaceutically acceptable carriers , excipients , etc . e . g . tablets , capsules ( including soft capsules , microcapsules ), liquids , injections , suppositories ]. the dosage varies with , among others , subjects , routes and symptoms , but , usually , it ranges , in adults , from about 0 . 1 mg / kg to about 40 mg / kg body weight , preferably from about 0 . 5 mg / kg to about 20 mg / kg body weight per day . the object compounds ( i ) obtained in the working examples given below were evaluated for angiogenesis inhibitory activity by the rat cornea micropocket method . the data obtained are summarized in table 1 . method of evaluation essentially the same method of gimbrone et al . [ j . national cancer institute , 52 , 413 - 419 ( 1974 )] was followed . thus , adult male sprague - dawley rats 11 to 16 week old ) were anesthetized with nembutal and locally anesthetized by instillation of xylocaine eyedrops onto the eyeball . the cornea was incised to a length of about 2 mm at about 2 mm inside from the corneal circumference by means of an injection needle , and a sustained release pellet containing basic fibroblast growth growth factor ( bfgf ; bovine brain - derived , purified product ; r & amp ; d inc .) and a sustained release pellet containing the test sample were inserted side by side into the incision so that the bfgf pellet was located on the central side in the cornea . in the control group , the bfgf pellet and a sample - free pellet were inserted into the cornea . after 10 days , the cornea was observed under a stereoscopic microscope . when the sample administration resulted in retardation or reduction of bfgf - induced angiogenesis , the sample was judged to have inhibitory activity . the sustained release pellets were prepared in the following manner . an ethylene - vinyl acetate copolymer ( takeda chemical industries , ltd .) was dissolved in dichloromethane to a concentration of 8 %. a 3 μl portion of the solution was air - dried on a glass dish , an aqueous solution of bfgf ( 250 ng ) was then placed thereon and air - dried and , finally 3 μl of the above ethylene - vinyl acetate copolymer solution was placed further thereon and air - dried to give a sandwich sheet . this sandwich sheet was made round into a bfgf pellet . the test sample pellets were prepared by dissolving each sample in ethanol in a concentration of 20 μg / 2 μl , mixing the solution with 6 μl of an ethylene - vinyl acetate copolymer solution , air - drying the mixed solution in a glass dish and making the thus - obtained sheet round . in the table 1 below , the inhibitory rate means the number of rats on which angiogenesis inhibitory activity was observed relative to the number of rats tested . table 1______________________________________angiogenesis inhibitory activityexample no . inhibitory rate judgment______________________________________ 2 5 / 8 ± 3 3 / 6 ± 5 4 / 7 ± 6 3 / 4 + 7 7 / 7 + 8 6 / 7 + 9 5 / 5 + 10 2 / 5 ± 11 8 / 8 + 13 6 / 6 + 14 5 / 5 + 16 4 / 8 ± 19 4 / 6 ± 20 3 / 7 ± ______________________________________ human umbilical vein endothelial cells were isolated by perfusion of an umbilical vein with a trypsin - containing medium . the cells were cultured in sequence in git medium ( nihon pharm . in .) supplemented with 2 . 5 % fetal bovine serum and 2 . 0 ng / ml or recombinant human fibroblast growth factor ( hereinafter simply referred to rfgf , prepared at biotechnology research laboratories , takeda chemical industries , ltd .). a suspension of human vein endothelial cells at the cell density of 2 × 10 3 ( 100 μl ) was seeded on 96 - well incubation plate ( nunc , 1 - 67008 ), and incubation was conducted in a gas - controlled thermostat vessel . the following day , 100 μl of medium containing rfgf ( 2 ng / ml at the final concentration ) and samples of various concentrations were added . the samples were dissolved in dimethylsulfoxide ( dmso ) and then diluted with culture medium so that the final dmso concentration did not exceed 0 . 25 %. after 5 - day culture , the medium was removed by suction , 100 μl of 1 mg / ml of mtt solution [ 3 -( 4 , 5 - dimethyl - 2 - thiazolyl )- 2 , 5 - diphenyl - 2h - tetrazolium bromide was dissolved in the medium ] was added and kept warming for 4 hours . then , 100 μl of a 10 % sds solution ( aqueous solution of sodium dodecyl sulfate ) was added , and the mixture was kept warming for 5 - 6 hours . the cells and mtt pigment were solubilized , and the optical density ( 590 μm ) was measured using a spectrophotometer . the od value of the control group to which no test sample was added was set as 100 %, and the activity of each test sample for inhibiting endothelial cell growth was shown in table 2 by the concentration of the test compound giving 50 % od value , i . e . ic 50 value . table 2______________________________________activity of inhibiting endothelial cell growthexample no . ic . sub . 50 ( ng / ml ) ______________________________________ 1 7 . 92 3 3 . 21 5 0 . 06 6 7 . 04 7 0 . 17 8 0 . 2 9 0 . 05710 8 . 1311 0 . 3412 1 . 1613 0 . 1014 0 . 1416 9 . 49______________________________________ by the following examples , the present invention will be described in more detail , but the present invention is by no means limited to these examples . the elution in the column chromatography in the following examples ( bracketed terms are solvents used for elution ) was conducted under observation by means of thin layer chromatography ( tlc ). in the tlc observation , as the tlc plate , kieselgel 60f 250 ( 70 to 230 mesh , merck ) was employed , as the method of detection , a uv detector , a color - development method with phosphorus molybdate , etc . were employed . as the silica gel for the column , kieselgel 60 ( 60 to 230 mesh , merck ) was employed . nmr spectrum shows proton nmr ( 1 h - nmr ), and , as interior or exterior standard tetramethylsilane was employed , and the measurement was carried out by using gemini 200 ( varian ) showing the 8 value in terms of ppm . s : singlet , br : broad , d : doublet , dd : double doublet , ddd : doublet doublet doublet , t : triplet , q quartet , m : multiplet , abq : ab quartet , j : coupling constant , hz : hertz , cdcl 3 : heavy chloroform , d 6 - dmso : heavy dimethyl sulfoxide , % : weight % in the examples , &# 34 ; room temperatures &# 34 ; means temperatures ranging form about 15 ° to 25 ° c . melting points and temperatures are all shown by centigrade . in methanol ( 15 ml ) were dissolved 6 - oxo - 6 - desoxyfumagillol ( 4 -( 1 , 2 - epoxy - 1 , 5 - dimethyl - 4 - hexenyl )- 5 - methoxy - 1 - oxaspiro [ 2 , 5 ] octan - 6 - one : 0 . 50 g ) and ammonium acetate ( 1 . 4 g ). to the solution was added sodium cyanoborohydride ( 0 . 11 g ), and the mixture was stirred for one hour . the solvent was distilled off under reduced pressure , and the residue was dissolved in ethyl acetate ( 100 ml ). the solution was washed with a saturated aqueous solution of sodium hydrogencarbonate and a saturated aqueous solution of sodium chloride , which was then dried , and the solvent was distilled off under reduced pressure . the residue was purified by means of a silica gel column chromatography ( developing solvent : chloroform - methanol - conc . ammoniacal water = 20 : 1 : 0 . 1 ) to afford 6α - amino - 6 - desoxyfumagillol ( 0 . 20 g ). nmr spectrum ( cdcl 3 , δ value ) : 1 . 05 ( 1h , m ), 1 . 24 ( 3h , s ), 1 . 66 ( 3h , s ), 1 . 75 ( 3h , s ), 1 . 80 ( 1h , m ), 1 . 97 ( 1h , d , 10hz ), 2 . 08 to 2 . 47 ( 3h , m ), 2 . 51 ( 1h , d , 4hz ), 2 . 59 ( 1h , t , 6hz ), 2 . 90 ( 1h , d , 4hz ), 3 . 44 ( 3h , s ), 3 . 60 ( 1h , dd , 3hz , 10hz ), 3 . 66 ( 1h , m ), 5 . 21 ( 1h , m ). 6 - oxo - 6 - desoxyfumagillol ( 0 . 30 g ), aniline ( 0 . 11 ml ) and acetic acid ( 0 . 12 ml ) were dissolved in methanol ( 10 ml ). to the solution was added molecular sieves 3a ( 0 . 20 g ). to the mixture was added sodium cyanoborohydride ( 67 mg ), which was stirred for one hour . the solvent was distilled off under reduced pressure , and the residue was dissolved in ethyl acetate ( 50 ml ). the solution was washed with a saturated aqueous solution of sodium hydrogencarbonate and a saturated aqueous solution of sodium chloride . the solution was dried over anhydrous magnesium sulfate , and the solvent was distilled off under reduced pressure . the residue was purified by means of a silica gel column chromatography ( developing solvent : ethyl acetate - hexane = 1 : 9 ) to give 6α - phenylamino - 6 - desoxyfumagillol ( 0 . 20 g ). nmr spectrum ( cdcl 3 , δ value ) : 1 . 25 ( 1h , m ), 1 . 31 ( 3h , s ), 1 . 66 ( 3h , s ), 1 . 75 ( 3h , s ), 1 . 80 ( 3h , s ), 1 . 80 to 2 . 47 ( 6h , m ), 2 . 55 ( 1h , d , 4hz ), 2 . 66 ( 1h , t , 6hz ), 2 . 88 ( 1h , d , 4hz ), 3 . 44 ( 3h , s ), 3 . 78 ( 1h , dd , 3hz , 10hz ), 4 . 02 ( 1h , m ), 5 . 21 ( 1h , m ), 6 . 73 ( 3h , m ), 7 . 19 ( 2h , m ). 6 - oxo - 6 - desoxyfumagillol ( 0 . 30 g ), methylamine ( 40 % methanol solution : 1 . 4 ml ) and acetic acid ( 1 . 1 ml ) were dissolved in methanol ( 15 ml ). to the solution was added sodium cyanoborohydride ( 0 . 11 g ), and the mixture was stirred for 2 hours . the solvent was distilled off under reduced pressure . the residue was dissolved in chloroform ( 50 ml ), which was washed with a saturated aqueous solution of sodium hydrogencarbonate . the solution was dried over anhydrous magnesium sulfate , then the solvent was distilled off under reduced pressure . the residue was dissolved in dichloromethane ( 2 ml ), to which were added pyridine ( 0 . 26 ml ) and anhydruos acetic acid ( 0 . 30 ml ). the mixture was stirred for 20 minutes , which was diluted with ethyl acetate ( 30 ml ), followed by washing with a saturated aqueous solution of sodium chloride . the resultant solution was dried over anhydrous magnesium sulfate , then the solvent was distilled off under reduced pressure . the residue was purified by means of a silica gel column chromatography ( developing solvent : ethyl acetate ) to give n , n - 6α -( acetyl ) methylamino - 6 - desoxyfumagillol ( 0 . 34 g ). nmr spectrum ( cdcl 3 , δ value ) : 1 . 28 ( 1h , m ), 1 . 52 ( 3h , s ), 1 . 65 ( 3h , s ), 1 . 73 ( 3h , s ), 1 . 50 to 1 . 90 ( 3h , m ), 2 . 00 to 2 . 86 ( 7h , m ), 2 . 95 ( 0 . 9h , s ), 3 . 01 ( 2 . 1h , s ), 3 . 20 to 3 . 30 ( 4h , m ), 4 . 20 ( 0 . 3h , m ), 4 . 68 ( 0 . 7h , m ), 5 . 08 to 5 . 30 ( 1h , m ). in substantially the same manner as example 3 , the compound 4 was obtained . nmr spectrum ( cdcl 3 , δ value ) : 1 . 28 ( 1h , m ), 1 . 50 ( 1 . 5h , s ), 1 . 51 ( 1 . 5h , s ), 1 . 65 ( 3h , s ), 1 . 73 ( 3h , s ), 1 . 60 to 1 . 90 ( 3h , m ), 2 . 00 to 2 . 86 ( 14h , m ), 3 . 25 ( 3h , s ), 3 . 19 to 3 . 65 ( 3h , m ), 4 . 20 ( 0 . 5h , m ), 4 . 68 ( 0 . 5h , m ), 5 . 08 to 5 . 30 ( 1h , m ). 6 - oxo - 6 - desoxyfumagillol ( 0 . 30 acetate ( 0 . 8 g ) were dissolved in methanol ( 10 ml ). to the solution was added sodium cyanoborohydride ( 67 mg ), which was stirred for one hour . the solvent was distilled off under reduced pressure , and the residue was dissolved in ethyl acetate ( 50 ml ). the solution was washed with a saturated aqueous solution of sodium hydrogencarbonate and a saturated aqueous solution of sodium chloride , followed by drying over anhydrous magnesium sulfate . the solvent was distilled off under reduced pressure , and the residue was dissolved in dichloromethane ( 2 ml ). to the solution were added pyridine ( 0 . 26 ml ) and anhydrous acetic acid ( 0 . 30 ml ). the mixture was stirred for 30 minutes , which was diluted with ethyl acetate ( 50 ml ). the resultant was washed with a saturated aqueous solution of sodium chloride , a saturated aqueous solution of sodium hydrogencarbonate , and further a saturated aqueous solution of sodium chloride . the resultant was dried over anhydrous magnesium sulfate , and the solvent was distilled off under reduced pressure . the residue was purified by means of a silica gel column chromatography ( developing solvent : chloroform - methanol - conc . aqueous ammonia = 30 : 1 : 0 . 1 ) to afford 6α - acetylamino - 6 - desoxyfumagillol ( 0 . 31 g ). nmr spectrum ( cdcl 3 , δ value ) : 1 . 28 ( 3h , s ), 1 . 32 ( 1h , m ), 1 . 66 ( 3h , s ), 1 . 74 ( 3h , s ), 1 . 60 to 1 . 90 ( 3h , m ), 2 . 00 ( 3h , s ), 2 . 00 to 2 . 47 ( 3h , m ), 2 . 54 ( 1h , d , 4hz ), 2 . 66 ( 1h , t , 6hz ), 2 . 85 ( 1h , d , 4hz ), 3 . 84 ( 3h , s ), 3 . 70 ( 1h , dd , 4hz , 9hz ), 4 . 46 ( 1h , m ), 5 . 20 ( 1h , m ), 5 . 79 ( 1h , m ). 6 - oxo - 6 - desoxyfumagillol ( 0 . 20 g ) and ammonium acetate ( 0 . 6 g ) were dissolved in methanol ( 10 ml ). to the solution was added sodium cyanoborohydride ( 45 mg ), and the mixture was stirred for one hour . the solvent was distilled off under reduced pressure , and the residue was dissolved in chloroform ( 2 ml ), to which was added a saturated aqueous solution of sodium hydrogencarbonate ( 1 ml ). to the mixture was added p - toluenesulfonyl chloride ( 93 mg ), which was stirred for 30 minutes , followed by adding water to suspend the reaction . the reaction product was extracted with chloroform , and the extract solution was washed with a saturated aqueous solution of sodium chloride . the resultant was dried over anhydrous magnesium sulfate , then the solvent was distilled off under reduced pressure . the residue was purified by means of a silica gel column chromatography ( developing solvent : ethyl acetate - hexane = 1 : 2 ) to obtain 6α -( p - toluenesulfonylamino )- 6 - desoxyfumagillol ( 0 . 19 g ). nmr spectrum ( cdcl 3 , δ value ) : 1 . 17 ( 3h , s ), 1 . 18 ( 1h , m ), 1 . 65 ( 3h , s ), 1 . 75 ( 3h , s ), 1 . 60 to 1 . 80 ( 3h , m ), 2 . 00 to 2 . 47 ( 3h , m ), 2 . 44 ( 3h , s ), 2 . 53 ( 1h , d , 4hz ), 2 . 55 ( 1h , t , 6hz ), 2 . 86 ( 1h , d , 4hz ), 3 . 92 ( 3h , s ), 3 . 50 ( 1h , dd , 4hz , 10hz ), 3 . 62 ( 1h , m ), 4 . 83 ( 1h , m ), 5 . 27 ( 1h , m ), 7 . 33 ( 2h , d , 8hz ), 7 . 79 ( 2h , d , 8hz ). in substantially the same manner as example 6 , the compound 7 was obtained . nmr spectrum ( cdcl 3 , δ value ) : 0 . 91 ( 3h , s ), 0 . 95 ( 3h , s ), 1 . 29 ( 3h , s ), 1 . 32 ( 1h , m ), 1 . 66 ( 3h , s ), 1 . 74 ( 3h , s ), 1 . 60 to 2 . 00 ( 4h , m ), 2 . 00 to 2 . 47 ( 3h , m ), 2 . 54 ( 1h , d , 4hz ), 2 . 65 ( 1h , t , 6hz ), 2 . 84 ( 1h , d , 4hz ), 3 . 40 ( 3h , s ), 3 . 68 ( 1h , dd , 4hz , 9hz ), 3 . 84 ( 2h , d , 7hz ), 4 . 22 ( 1h , m ), 5 . 04 ( 1h , m ), 5 . 20 ( 1h , m ). in substantially the same manner as example 6 , the compound 8 was obtained . nmr spectrum ( cdcl 3 , δ value ) : 1 . 35 ( 3h , s ), 1 . 51 ( 1 . 51 ( 1h , m ), 1 . 66 ( 3h , s ), 1 . 75 ( 3h , s ), 1 . 60 to 1 . 80 ( 3h , m ), 2 . 10 to 2 . 47 ( 3h , m ), 2 . 57 ( 1h , d , 4hz ), 2 . 74 ( 1h , t , 6hz ), 2 . 85 ( 1h , d , 4hz ), 3 . 41 ( 3h , s ), 3 . 79 ( 1h , dd , 4hz , 8hz ), 4 . 63 ( 1h , m ), 4 . 83 ( 1h , m ), 5 . 22 ( 1h , m ), 6 . 44 ( 1h , m ), 7 . 45 ( 2h , d , 8hz ), 7 . 78 ( 2h , d , 8hz ). 6 - oxo - 6 - desoxyfumagillol ( 0 . 50 g ) and ammonium acetate ( 1 . 4 g ) were dissolved in methanol ( 15 ml ). to the solution was added sodium cyanoborohydride ( 0 . 11 mg ), and the mixture was stirred for one hour . the solvent was distilled off under reduced pressure . the residue was dissolved in ethyl acetate ( 50 ml ), and the solution was washed with a saturated aqueous solution of sodium hydrogencarbonate and a saturated aqueous solution of sodium chloride . the resultant was dried over anhydrous magnesium sulfate , then the solvent was distilled off under reduced pressure . the residue was dissolved in dichloromethane ( 5 ml ). to the solution was added dropwise chloroacetylisocyanate ( 0 . 3 ml ) at 0 ° c . the mixture was stirred at the same temperature for 30 minutes , which was diluted with ethyl acetate ( 50 ml ), followed by washing with a saturated aqueous solution of sodium hydrogencarbonate and a saturated aqueous solution of sodium chloride . the resultant was dried over anhydrous magnesium sulfate , then the solvent was distilled off under reduced pressure . the residue was purified by means of a silica gel column chromatography ( developing solvent : ethyl acetate - hexane = 1 : 1 ) to afford 6α -( n &# 39 ;- chloroacetylureido )- 6 - desoxyfumagillol ( 0 . 42 g ). ( 0 . 42 g ). nmr spectrum ( cdcl 3 , δ value ) : 1 . 31 ( 3h , s ), 1 . 32 ( 1h , m ), 1 . 45 to 2 . 00 ( 4h , m ), 1 . 66 ( 3h , s ), 1 . 75 ( 3h , s ), 2 . 10 to 2 . 47 ( 2h , m ), 2 . 55 ( 1h , d , 4hz ), 2 . 68 ( 1h , t , 6hz ), 2 . 84 ( 1h , d , 4hz ), 3 . 43 ( 3h , s ), 3 . 63 ( 1h , dd , 4hz , 8hz ), 4 . 12 ( 2h , s ), 4 . 57 ( 1h , m ), 5 . 20 ( 1h , m ). in substantially the same manner as example 9 , the compound 10 was obtained . nmr spectrum ( cdcl 3 , δ value ) : 1 . 20 ( 1h , m ), 1 . 41 ( 3h , s ), 1 . 38 ( 1h , d , 2hz ), 1 . 55 to 1 . 75 ( 1h , m ), 1 . 65 ( 3h , s ), 1 . 74 ( 3h , s ), 1 . 85 to 2 . 50 ( 4h , m ), 2 . 42 ( 1h , d , 5hz ), 2 . 47 ( 1h , d , 5hz ), 2 . 83 ( 1h , t , 6hz ), 2 . 93 ( 3h , s ), 3 . 52 ( 1h , m ), 4 . 76 ( 1h , m ), 5 . 20 ( 1h , m ), 6 . 10 ( 1h , m ), 7 . 42 to 7 . 65 ( 4h , m ), 7 . 80 to 8 . 05 ( 4h , m ). in substantially the same manner as example 9 , the compound 11 was obtained . nmr spectrum ( cdcl 3 , δ value ) : 1 . 26 ( 3h , s ), 1 . 30 to 1 . 85 ( 4h , m ), 1 . 63 ( 3h , s ), 1 . 73 ( 3h , s ), 2 . 00 to 2 . 47 ( 3h , m ), 2 . 48 ( 1h , d , 4hz ), 2 . 61 ( 1h , t , 6hz ), 2 . 73 ( 1h , d , 4hz ), 3 . 27 ( 3h , s ), 3 . 65 ( 1h , dd , 4hz , 8hz ), 4 . 43 ( 1h , m ), 5 . 17 ( 1h , m ), 5 . 39 ( 1h , m ), 7 . 02 ( 1h , m ), 7 . 50 ( 3h , m ), 7 . 71 ( 2h , m ), 7 . 87 ( 1h , m ), 8 . 04 ( 1h , m ). in substantially the same manner as example 9 , the compound 12 was obtained . nmr spectrum ( cdcl 3 , δ value ) : 1 . 20 ( 1h , m ), 1 . 28 ( 3h , s ), 1 . 65 ( 3h , s ), 1 . 74 ( 3h , s ), 1 . 60 to 1 . 98 ( 3h , m ), 2 . 10 to 2 . 45 ( 3h , m ), 2 . 53 ( 1h , d , 4hz ), 2 . 54 ( 1h , t , 6hz ), 2 . 84 ( 1h , d , 4hz ), 3 . 37 ( 3h , s ), 3 . 40 to 3 . 70 ( 4h , m ), 3 . 72 ( 1h , dd , 4hz , 10hz ), 4 . 31 ( 1h , m ), 5 . 10 to 5 . 42 ( 3h , m ). the compound 9 ( 0 . 17 g ) was dissolved in tetrahydrofuran ( thf , 2 ml ). to the solution was added sodium n - methyl dithiocarbamate ( 0 . 11 g ), and the mixture was stirred for 15 minutes . the reaction mixture was diluted with ethyl acetate ( 30 ml ), which was washed with a saturated aqueous solution of sodium hydrogencarbonate and a saturated aqueous solution of sodium chloride . the resultant was dried over anhydrous magnesium sulfate , then the solvent was distilled off under reduced pressure . the residue was purified by means of a silica gel column chromatography ( developing solvent : chloroform - methanol - conc . ammoniacal water = 20 : 1 : 0 . 1 ), followed by recrystallization from benzene to give 6α - ureido - 6 - desoxyfumagillol ( 86 mg ), m . p . 124 ° to 125 ° c . nmr spectrum ( cdcl 3 , δ value ) : 1 . 23 ( 1h , m ), 1 . 26 ( 3h , s ), 1 . 65 ( 3h , s ), 1 . 65 ( 3h , s ), 1 . 78 ( 3h , s ), 1 . 65 to 1 . 96 ( 3h , m ), 2 . 10 to 2 . 45 ( 3h , m ), 2 . 54 ( 1h , d , 4hz ), 2 . 59 ( 1h , t , 6hz ), 2 . 85 ( 1h , d , 4hz ), 3 . 93 ( 3h , s ), 3 . 71 ( 1h , dd , 4hz ), 4 . 32 ( 1h , m ), 4 . 58 ( 2h , m ), 5 . 19 ( 2h , m ). the compound 9 ( 0 . 30 g ) was dissolved in methanol ( 10 ml ). to the solution was added 10 % palladium - carbon ( 30 mg ), and the mixture was stirred for one hour under hydrogen atmosphere . the catalyst was filtered off , then the solvent was distilled off under reduced pressure . the residue was purified by means of a silica gel column chromatography ( developing solvent : ethyl acetate - hexane = 1 : 2 ) to afford 6β -( n &# 39 ;- chloroacetylureido )- 4 &# 39 ;, 5 &# 39 ; dihydro - 6 - desoxyfumagillol ( 0 . 19 g ). nmr spectrum ( cdcl 3 , δ value ) : 0 . 89 ( 3h , s ), 0 . 82 ( 3h , s ), 1 . 30 ( 3h , s ), 1 . 20 to 1 . 70 ( 1h , m ), 1 . 93 ( 2h , m ), 2 . 59 ( 1h , d , 4hz ), 2 . 65 ( 1h , dd , 5hz , 7hz ), 2 . 75 ( 1h , d , 4hz ), 3 . 43 ( 3h , s ), 3 . 63 ( 1h , dd , 4hz , 8hz ), 4 . 12 ( 2hz ), 4 . 54 ( 1h , m ). in tetrahydrofuran ( thf , 30 ml ) were dissolved fumagillol ( 1 . 0 g ), triphenylphosphine ( 1 . 22 g ) and phthalimide ( 0 . 57 mg ). to the solution was added dropwise a solution of diethyl azodicarboxylate ( 0 . 88 g ) in thf ( 5 ml ), and the mixture was stirred for 30 minutes . the reaction mixture was diluted with ethyl acetate ( 100 ml ), followed by washing with a saturated aqueous solution of sodium chloride , then with a saturated aqueous solution of sodium hydrogencarbonate and further with a saturated aqueous solution of sodium chloride . the resultant was dried over anhydrous magnesium sulfate , then the solvent was distilled off under reduced pressure . the residue was purified by means of a silica gel column chromatography ( developing solvent : ethyl acetate - hexane = 1 : 3 ) to afford 6β - phthalimido - 6 - desoxyfumagillol ( 0 . 99 g ). nmr spectrum ( cdcl 3 , δ value ) : 1 . 27 ( 1h , m ), 1 . 32 ( 3h , s ), 1 . 65 to 2 . 70 ( 7h , m ), 1 . 67 ( 3h , s ), 1 . 73 ( 3h , m ), 2 . 58 ( 1h , d , 4hz ), 2 . 99 ( 1h , d , 4hz ), 3 . 33 ( 3h , s ), 4 . 36 ( 1h , t , 10hz ), 5 . 23 ( 1h , m ), 7 . 73 ( 2h , m ), 7 . 88 ( 2h , m ). the compound 15 ( 2 . 0 g ) was dissolved in methanol ( 40 ml ). to the solution was added hydrazine - hydrate ( 1 . 4 g ), and the mixture was stirred for 20 minutes . the solvent was distilled off under reduced pressure . the residue was subjected to azeotropic distillation with ethanol to eliminate excess amount of the hydrazine - hydrate . the residue was dissolved in water ( 20 ml ), to which was added acetic acid ( 1 . 5 ml ). the mixture was stirred overnight . the precipitates were filtered off . to the filtrate was added a conc . ammoniacal water ( 4 ml ), and the reaction product was extracted with chloroform . the extract solution was dried over anhydrous magnesium sulfate . the solvent was distilled off , and the residue was purified by means of a silica gel column chromatography ( developing solvent : chloroform - methanol - conc . ammoniacal water = 30 : 1 : 0 . 03 ) to afford 6β - amino - 6 - desoxyfumagillol ( 0 . 90 g ). nmr spectrum ( cdcl 3 , δ value ) : 1 . 17 ( 1h , m ), 1 . 29 ( 3h , s ), 1 . 50 to 1 . 95 ( 4h , m ), 1 . 66 ( 3h , s ), 1 . 79 ( 3h , m ), 2 . 27 ( 1h , m ), 2 . 37 ( 1h , m ), 2 . 52 ( 1h , d , 4hz ), 2 . 55 ( 1h , t , 6hz ), 2 . 90 ( 1h , m ), 2 . 92 ( 1h , d , 4hz ), 3 . 47 ( 1h , dd , 9hz , 11hz ), 3 . 56 ( 3h , s ), 5 . 22 ( 1h , m ). the compound 16 ( 0 . 50 g ) and triethylamine ( 10 ml ) were dissolved in dichloromethane ( 10 ml ). to the solution was added dropwise at 0 ° c . benzyloxycarbonylchloride ( 0 . 51 ml ). the mixture was stirred for one hour at the same temperature . the reaction mixture was diluted with ethyl acetate ( 50 ml ), which was washed with a saturated aqueous solution of sodium chloride . the resultant was dried over magnesium sulfate , then the solvent was distilled off under reduced pressure . the residue was purified by means of a silica gel column chromatography ( developing solvent : ethyl acetate - hexane = 1 : 2 ) to afford 6β - benzyloxycarbonylamino - 6 - desoxyfumagillol ( 0 . 06 g ). nmr spectrum ( cdcl 3 , δ value ) : 1 . 19 ( 1h , m ), 1 . 26 ( 3h , s ), 1 . 45 to 1 . 95 ( 3h , m ), 1 . 65 ( 3h , s ), 1 . 75 ( 3h , m ), 2 . 17 ( 2h , m ), 2 . 37 ( 1h , m ), 2 . 55 ( 1h , d , 4hz ), 2 . 57 ( 1h , t , 6hz ), 2 . 95 ( 1h , d , 4hz ), 3 . 37 ( 3h , s ), 3 . 60 to 3 . 90 ( 2h , m ), 5 . 13 ( 2h , s ), 5 . 21 ( 1h , m ). the compound 16 ( 0 . 28 g ) was dissolved in dichloromethane ( 3 ml ). to the solution was added dropwise at 0 ° c . chloroacetyl isocyanate ( 0 . 10 ml ). the mixture was stirred for 15 minutes at the temperature as it stood . the reaction mixture was then diluted with ethyl acetate ( 50 ml ), followed by washing with a saturated aqueous solution of sodium hydrogencarbonate then with a saturated aqueous solution of sodium chloride . the resultant was dried over anhydrous magnesium sulfate , then the solvent was distilled off . the residue was purified by means of a silica gel column chromatography ( developing solvent : ethyl acetate - hexane = 1 : 1 ), followed by crystallization from isopropylether to afford 6β -( n &# 39 ;- chloroacetylureido )- 6 - desoxyfumagillol ( 0 . 18 g ), m . p . 130 ° to 131 ° c . nmr spectrum ( cdcl 3 , δ value ) : 1 . 20 ( 1h , m ), 1 . 28 ( 3h , s ), 1 . 55 to 2 . 00 ( 3h , m ), 1 . 66 ( 3h , s ), 1 . 75 ( 3h , m ), 2 . 17 ( 2h , m ), 2 . 37 ( 1h , m ), 2 . 52 ( 1h , d , 4hz ), 2 . 58 ( 1h , t , 6hz ), 2 . 97 ( 1h , d , 4hz ), 3 . 44 ( 3h , s ), 3 . 79 ( 1h , t , 10hz ), 4 . 03 ( 1h , m ), 4 . 14 ( 2h , s ), 5 . 21 ( 1h , m ). the compound 16 ( 0 . 43 g ) was dissolved in dimethylformamide ( 2 ml ). to the solution were added anhydrous potassium carbonate ( 0 . 52 g ) and then 1 , 4 - dibromobutane ( 0 . 32 ml ). the mixture was stirred for 7 hours . the reaction mixture was diluted with ether ( 50 ml ), which was washed with water , a saturated aqueous solution of sodium hydrogencarbonate and , further , with a saturated aqueous solution of sodium chloride . the resultant was dried over anhydrous magnesium sulfate , then the solvent was distilled off . the residue was purified by means of a silica gel column chromatography ( developing solvent : chloroform - methanol - conc . ammoniacal water = 30 : 1 : 0 . 03 ) to afford 6β - pyrrolidino - 6 - desoxyfumagillol ( 0 . 23 g ). nmr spectrum ( cdcl 3 , δ value ) : 1 . 27 ( 1h , m ), 1 . 29 ( 3h , s ), 1 . 50 to 2 . 00 ( 7h , m ), 1 . 57 ( 1h , d , 10hz ), 1 . 66 ( 3h , s ), 1 . 75 ( 3h , m ), 2 . 17 ( 1h , m ), 2 . 37 ( 1h , m ), 2 . 53 ( 1h , d , 4hz ), 2 . 54 ( 1h , t , 6hz ), 2 . 75 ( 4h , m ), 2 . 83 ( 1h , m ), 2 . 92 ( 1h , d , 4hz ), 3 . 55 ( 3h , s ), 3 . 71 ( 1h , t , 10hz ), 5 . 21 ( 1h , m ). the compound 19 ( 0 . 12 g ) was dissolved in chloroform ( 1 ml ). to the solution were added anhydrous potassium carbonate ( 49 mg ) and then methyl iodide ( 0 . 5 ml ). the mixture was stirred for 3 . 5 hours , then insolubles were filtered off . the solvent was distilled off under reduced pressure . the residue was reprecipitated with chloroform - ether to afford 6β - pyrrolidino - 6 - desoxyfumagillol methyl iodide ( 0 . 10 g ). nmr spectrum ( cdcl 3 , δ value ) : 1 . 35 ( 3h , s ), 1 . 37 ( 1h , m ), 1 . 55 to 2 . 45 ( 10h , m ), 1 . 68 ( 3h , s ), 1 . 76 ( 3h , m ), 2 . 65 ( 1h , d , 4hz ), 2 . 72 ( 1h , t , 6hz ), 2 . 99 ( 1h , d , 4hz ), 3 . 02 ( 3h , s ), 3 . 40 to 4 . 05 ( 5h , m ), 3 . 57 ( 3h , s ), 4 . 29 ( 1h , t , 10hz ), 5 . 26 ( 1h , m ). the compound 16 ( 3 . 0 g ), hexanal ( 1 . 4 ml ) and acetic acid ( 1 . 5 ml ) were dissolved in methanol ( 60 ml ). to the solution was added sodium cyanoborohydride ( 0 . 67 g ), and the mixture was stirred for one hour . the reaction mixture was diluted with ethyl acetate ( 100 ml ), followed by washing with a saturated aqueous solution of sodium hydrogencarbonate and a saturated aqueous solution of sodium chloride . the resultant was dried over anhydrous magnesium sulfate , then the solvent was distilled off under reduced pressure . the residue was purified by means of a silica gel column chromatography ( developing solvent : chloroform - methanol - conc . ammoniacal water = 30 : 1 : 0 . 03 ) to afford 6β - hexylamino - 6 - desoxyfumagillol ( 2 . 35 g ). nmr spectrum ( cdcl 3 , δ value ) : 0 . 89 ( 3h , m ), 1 . 10 to 2 . 35 ( 12h , m ), 1 . 66 ( 3h , s ), 1 . 74 ( 3h , m ), 2 . 51 ( 1h , d , 4hz ), 2 . 92 ( 1h , d , 4hz ), 3 . 50 ( 3h , s ), 3 . 69 ( 1h , dd , 9hz , 11hz ), 5 . 22 ( 1h , m ). the compound 21 ( 0 . 50 g ) and triethylamine ( 0 . 38 ml ) were dissolved in dichloromethane ( 5 ml ). to the solution was added dropwise at 0 ° c . methanesulfonyl chloride ( 0 . 13 ml ). the mixture was stirred for 15 minutes at the temperature as it stands . the reaction mixture was diluted with ethyl acetate ( 50 ml ), followed by washing with a saturated aqueous solution of sodium hydrogencarbonate and a saturated aqueous solution of sodium chloride . the resultant was dried over anhydrous magnesium sulfate , then the solvent was distilled off under reduced pressure . the residue was purified by means of a silica gel column chromatography ( developing solvent : ethyl acetate - hexane = 1 : 3 ) to afford n , n - 6β -( methanesulfonylhexylamino )- 6 - desoxyfumagillol ( 0 . 12 g ). nmr spectrum ( cdcl 3 , δ value ) : 0 . 85 ( 3h , m ), 1 . 31 ( 12h , s ), 1 . 50 to 2 . 00 ( 6h , m ), 1 . 66 ( 3h , s ), 1 . 75 ( 3h , m ), 2 . 17 ( 1h , m ), 2 . 56 ( 1h , d , 4hz ), 2 . 68 ( 1h , t , 6hz ), 2 . 93 ( 1h , d , 4hz ), 2 . 97 ( 3h , s ), 3 . 19 ( 2h , m ), 3 . 59 ( 3h , s ), 5 . 21 ( 1h , m ). 6 - oxo - 6 - desoxyfumagillol ( 0 . 51 g ) and ammonium acetate ( 1 . 43 g ) were dissolved in methanol ( 15 ml ). to the solution was added sodium cyanoborohydride ( 0 . 12 g ) and stirred for 1 hour . the solvent was distilled off under reduced pressure . the residue was dissolved in ethyl acetate ( 70 ml ), followed by washing with a saturated aqueous solution of sodium hydrogen carbonate and a saturated aqueous solution of sodium chloride . the resultant was dried over anhydrous magnesium sulfate , then the solvent was distilled off under reduced pressure . the residue was dissolved in dichloromethane ( 5 ml ) and dimethylaminopyridine ( 0 . 44 g ) was added . phenyl chloroformate ( 0 . 43 g ) was added dropwise to the solution and stirred for 1 hour . the resultant was diluted by addition of ethyl acetate ( 70 ml ), followed by washing with an aqueous solution of 1 m citric acid , a saturated aqueous solution of sodium hydrogen carbonate and a saturated aqueous solution of sodium chloride . the resultant was dried over anhydrous magnesium sulfate , then the solvent was distilled off under reduced pressure . the residue was purified by means of a silica gel column chromatography ( developing solvent : ethyl acetate - hexane = 1 : 3 ) to obtain 6α - phenoxycarbonylamino - 6 - desoxyfumagillol ( 0 . 21 g ). nmr spectrum ( cdcl 3 , δ value ) : 1 . 31 ( 3h , s ), 1 . 2 ˜ 1 . 6 ( 1h , m ), 1 . 66 ( 3h , s ), 1 . 74 ( 3h , s ), 1 . 6 ˜ 1 . 9 ( 3h , m ), 2 . 1 ˜ 2 . 45 ( 3h , m ), 2 . 56 ( 1h , d , 4hz ), 2 . 69 ( 1h , t , 6hz ), 2 . 85 ( 1h , d , 4hz ), 3 . 44 ( 3h , s ), 3 . 72 ( 1h , dd , 9hz , 4hz ), 4 . 32 ( 1h , m ), 5 . 20 ( 1h , m ), 5 . 45 ( 1h , brd , 4hz ), 7 . 1 ˜ 7 . 25 ( 3h , m ), 7 . 3 ˜ 7 . 45 ( 2h , m ). | 2 |
the following describes a magnetic card transaction apparatus using the present invention in reference to drawings . fig1 is a schematic configuration of major parts of a magnetic card reader which is attached to a magnetic card transaction apparatus , such as an atm . magnetic card reader 1 of this embodiment is fixed to the back side of card slot opening 4 formed at front panel 3 of magnetic card transaction apparatus 2 . magnetic card reader 1 comprises : card slot 5 for insertion and ejection of a magnetic card ; magnetic head 7 as a card insertion detector which detects magnetic card 6 inserted from card slot 5 ; guiding path 8 which guides magnetic card 6 , inserted from card slot 5 , to the inside of the apparatus ; and shutter 9 which opens and closes guiding path 8 . these parts are placed in the above order in the direction of a card to be inserted . a pair of card transferring rollers 11 is placed inward of shutter 9 . magnetic card 6 is taken in by rollers 11 and is transferred along a transferring path defined by a plurality of pairs of transferring rollers 12 , 13 which are placed with a given distance . the spacing between rollers 11 and 12 is slightly less than the length of the card 6 . likewise , the spacing between rollers 12 and 13 is slightly less than the length of the card 6 . each pair of rollers 11 through 13 are rotated by drive motor 14 . magnetic head 15 is placed at a position of rollers 12 for reading a magnetic strip on magnetic card 6 which passes thereby . drive control circuit 16 is to control the drive of each part and is configured of a microcomputer . it controls operations of taking in magnetic card 6 and reading out by magnetic head 15 according to a control program stored in a rom thereof . also , photo sensors 17 , 18 are to detect positions of magnetic card 6 described later . the following describes operations of taking in and ejection of a magnetic card in this embodiment of magnetic card reader 1 in reference to a flowchart in fig2 and a configuration in fig3 . first , the operation of taking in magnetic card 6 is described herein according to a flowchart in fig2 ( a ). when a user inserts magnetic card 6 through card slot 5 , magnetic head 7 or a sensor ( not shown in the figure ) detects a magnetic strip formed on inserted magnetic card 6 ( st 1 ). based on detection signals from magnetic head 7 , drive control circuit 16 rotates ( starts ) motor 14 to drive a transferring system including transferring rollers 11 ; shutter 9 is opened at the same time ( st 2 ). as a result , magnetic card 6 can be taken in . when it passes the shutter position while being taken in , the end of the card is engaged by a pair of rollers 11 such that taking in of magnetic card 6 is started . in this embodiment , when the back end of magnetic card 6 projects from card slot 5 after motor 14 is rotated ( started ), motor 14 is temporarily suspended to suspend operation of taking in magnetic card 6 . time of suspending motor 14 can be controlled based on a period of time after detection of the card by photo sensors 18 . also , it can be controlled based on a period of time after detection of magnetic head 7 for detecting insertion of a card . suspension of taking in magnetic card 6 is set to be 100 ms to 500 ms in this embodiment ( st 3 ). thereafter , motor 14 is activated ( st 4 ) to restart taking in magnetic card 6 . after magnetic card 6 is taken in to the position of magnetic head 15 , formed in the card reader ( st 5 ), magnetic head 15 performs reading from or writing onto magnetic card 6 ( st 6 ). in the operation of taking in magnetic card 6 of this embodiment , the operation is temporarily suspended while the back end of magnetic card 6 projects from card slot 5 and is continued after a given period of time . as a result , if an illegal magnetic head 20 is attached to the outside of card slot 5 , such as on the surface of front panel 3 , as indicated with an imaginary line in fig3 ( a ), magnetic card 6 is temporarily stopped and therefore that magnetic head 20 cannot completely read out magnetically recorded information of inserted magnetic card 6 . therefore , illegal reading out of magnetically recorded information by magnetic head 20 can be prevented . it should be noted , however , that the apparatus is arranged so that stopping the card in this way to prevent illegal reading thereof does not effect the authorized reading of the card by the magnetic head 15 . the following describes ejection of magnetic card 6 in magnetic card reader 1 of this embodiment in reference to a flowchart of fig2 ( b ). herein , pairs of rollers 11 through 13 start ejection of magnetic card 6 ( st 11 ). when photo sensor 17 detects the back end of magnetic card 6 in the direction of ejection ( st 12 ), the ejection operation is temporarily suspended ( st 13 ). as shown in fig3 ( b ), when photo sensor 17 detects the back end of magnetic card 6 , the front end of magnetic card in the direction of ejection projects out of card slot 5 by a given amount . also , suspension of ejection of the card is established to be between 100 ms to 500 ms . after the period of suspension passes , motor 14 is started to restart ejection of magnetic card 6 ( st 14 ). thereafter , photo sensor 18 , located on the side closer to card slot 5 than photo sensor 17 , detects the back end of magnetic card 6 ( st 15 ); then , motor 14 is stopped ( st 16 ). this completes the motorized ejection of the card . upon completion of motorized ejection of the card , the back end of magnetic card 6 is still held in rollers 11 . as a user lightly pulls magnetic card 6 , it can be removed from card slot 5 . also , when the user forgets to remove magnetic card 6 , magnetic card 6 can be retrieved to the inside after a given period of time by driving the pair of transferring rollers 11 . in magnetic card reader 1 of this embodiment , when a magnetic card is ejected , the operation of ejection is suspended while the end of the card to be ejected projects from card slot 5 . therefore , even though illegal magnetic head 20 is attached to the front panel as indicated with an imaginary line in fig3 ( b ), the break in motion prevents magnetically recorded information of magnetic card 6 from being read out by magnetic head 20 as the card 6 is being ejected . according to magnetic card reader 1 of this embodiment , transferring of the card is suspended only once during taking in and once during ejection of the card . however ,, one may modify it such that suspension of transferring the card can be repeated twice or more . in other words , one can repeat st 3 , st 4 or st 13 , st 14 of fig2 . also , time for suspension of transferring the card is established to be 100 ms to 500 ms in this embodiment . this range of time allows a user to insert a magnetic card without sensing undesired sensations , such as the card being stuck . however , the range of time can be either shorter or longer than the time indicated above . to prevent reading out of magnetic card 6 , which is inserted or ejected from card slot 5 , by a magnetic head ( illegally ) attached to the outside of card slot 5 , the following operation to control operation of taking in and ejection of magnetic card can be performed . a first method of control is to temporarily change the movement of magnetic card 6 to the reverse direction during taking in or during ejection of the card . when magnetic card 6 is taken in , a motor is rotated in the reverse direction to temporarily move magnetic card 6 in the reverse direction . instead of performing st 3 ( suspending the motor ) of fig2 ( a ); then , operation of taking in the card is restarted . this reverse motion can be repeated for a plurality of times . when magnetic card 6 is ejected , motor 14 is rotated to temporarily change the direction of motion of magnetic card 6 for a given period of time . instead of performing st 13 ( suspending the motor ) of fig2 ( b ); then , operation of ejection is restarted . the reversal of motion for a short period of time ( e . g . 200 ms ) can be repeated for a plurality of times . a second method of control is to rotate ( start ) motor 14 for transferring the card not at the same time of opening of shutter 9 , but after a given period of time such that transferring of magnetic card 6 is temporarily suspended . in this case , as shown in fig4 after shutter 9 is opened in st 22 , a given period of time is counted in st 23 ; thereafter , motor 15 is rotated ( started ) in st 24 . the rest of the process , st 21 , st 25 , st 26 are identical to st 1 , st 5 , st 6 of fig2 ( a ). by delaying rotation ( start ) of the motor , magnetic card 6 inserted from card slot 5 is temporarily stopped while being inserted between transferring rollers 11 since rollers 11 have not started rotating . hence , one may prevent recorded information on the magnetic card , which is inserted via the magnetic head illegally attached to the outside of card slot 5 , from being read out . a third method of control is to open shutter 9 after detecting that the end of inserted magnetic card 6 comes in contact with shutter 9 during insertion of the card . whether magnetic card 6 comes in contact with shutter 9 is detected by detecting a decrease in the output from magnetic head 7 for detecting insertion of a card . when card 6 comes in contact with shutter 9 , the speed of the card to be inserted is lowered wherein the output from magnetic head 7 is lowered or disappears . also , one may mount detector 30 , such as a micro switch , to detect that magnetic card 6 comes in contact with shutter 9 as indicated with an imaginary line in fig1 . fig5 shows a flowchart for operation of taking in a magnetic card in the above establishment . when insertion of magnetic card 6 is detected by magnetic head 7 , motor 15 is rotated ( started ) ( st 31 , st 32 ). then , the output from magnetic head 7 for detecting insertion of a card is lowered or disappears when magnetic card 6 starts to stop or completely stops while being in contact with shutter 9 . by monitoring the output , whether the end of inserted magnetic card 6 comes in contact with shutter 9 can be detected . when it is in contact , the process proceeds from st 33 to st 34 wherein shutter 9 is opened . thereafter , the user pushes in magnetic card 6 further such that the end of magnetic card 6 is held between transferring rollers 11 to start the operation of taking in of the magnetic card ( st 35 ). then , reading out and writing from / onto magnetic card 6 begins ( st 36 ). in this method of control , magnetic card 6 inserted from card slot 5 is temporary stopped when coming in contact with shutter 9 . therefore , one can prevent a magnetic head , which is illegally attached to the outside of the card slot , from reading information of the inserted magnetic card . in the above embodiments , one can prevent an illegally attached magnetic head from reading information on a magnetic card by controlling motion of the magnetic card . one may employ the following configuration with or without the above control of card movement . in the first configuration , a configuration at the outside od card slot opening 4 of front panel 3 is altered such that magneic head 20 cannot be mounted threat . in this case , as shown in fig6 ( a ) and 6 ( b ), a part of slot frame 60 , which defines card slot 5 of magnetic card reader 1 , is projected from opening 4 of front panel 3 . projection 61 faces a magnetic strip of inserted magnetic card 6 ; it is preferable 61 on both top and bottom thereat in the case of handling a magnetic card having magnetic strips on both sides . this configuration makes illegal mounting of a magnetic head to the outside of card slot 5 difficult or impossible . therefore , one may prevent a magnetic head from illegal reading out of information on a magnetic card . in a second configuration , illegal reading out can be prevented by detecting whether a foreign object , such as a magnetic head , is illegally attached to card slot opening 4 of the front panel . as shown in fig7 detector 70 is attached on the back side of the front panel at a position in the vicinity of card slot 5 ; detector 70 detects whether a foreign object , such as magnetic head 20 , is illegally attached to the front surface of the front panel . as detector 70 , for example , one may employ a optical reflective sensor shown in fig7 ; a foreign object on the front surface can be detected forming detection opening 71 on front panel 3 . instead of a reflective sensor , one may employ a microwave sensor , a metal detecting sensor , or a mechanical sensor such as a micro switch . in a third configuration , even though a magnetic head is illegally mounted at card slot opening 4 of front panel 3 , reading of a magnetic card can be disabled by a disturbance magnetic field generator . as shown in fig8 disturbance magnetic field generator 80 , in which coil 82 is wound around iron core 81 , is attached in the vicinity of card slot 5 to prevent magnetic head 20 , illegally attached to the outside of the front panel , from reading of a magnetic card by generating a disturbance magnetic field . a current in coil 82 can be either direct or alternating . the above describes the present invention in reference to embodiments ; however , the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments . for example , in the above embodiments , the direction of transferring a magnetic card is reversed when the transferring operation is temporarily suspended . however , one may alter the card transferring speed such that it is difficult to read a magnetic strip with a magnetic head . as described above , in a magnetic card transaction apparatus of the present invention , transferring of a magnetic card is either temporarily suspended or the direction of transferring is reversed during the operation of taking in or ejecting the card from a card slot . therefore , one can prevent reading of a magnetic card by a magnetic head , which is illegally mounted on the outside of the card slot . | 6 |
the numeral 1 denotes a barbecue grill bottom portion or fire box having a horizontal bottom wall 3 , and upright side and end walls 5 and 7 . a gas burner unit 9 is positioned in the lower part of fire box 1 and has a plurality of upwardly facing burners 11 . along the top of side and end walls 5 and 7 fire box 1 is formed with an outward peripheral flange 13 and a meat - supporting grate 15 is suitably supported therefrom . the grill is provided with a suitable lid or cover 14 which may be hinged to one of the fire box side walls 5 and has a peripheral flange 16 along its lower rim matingly engageable with fire box flange 13 . in order to prevent juices from meat cooking on grate 15 from dripping onto flames emanating from burners 11 , an insert 17 of refractory ceramic or other fireproof material of the same plan as fire box 1 , but of slightly less length and width , rests on a subgrate 19 supported from side and end walls 5 and 7 at a level intermediate burners 11 and meat - supporting grate 15 . insert 17 preferably has a slab - like base 21 , internally reinforced with wire mesh 23 such as hardware cloth , and a plurality of closely spaced lumps 25 ( also of refractory or other fireproof material similar in shape and size to charcoal or coke briquettes ) are bonded to the upper surface of base 21 preferably by refractory cement . for best results , the adjacent areas of base 21 are approximately one - half to one - third the thickness of the simulated briquettes 25 . for the simulated briquettes 25 any refractory material may be used , as well as natural stone , lava rock , man - made rock or other fireproof material of similar characteristics . for ease of commercial manufacture it is conceivable and desirable that the base 21 of insert 17 and the simulated briquettes 25 could be made in one piece of the same type of material from either naturally or synthetically castable or machinable elements . from the top , the insert resembles a bed of coals and it functions similarly to a bed of real coals such that meat juices dripping down on heated lumps 25 will smolder , but not flame , and will produce smoke rising through meat - supporting grate 15 to contact meat pieces thereon and impart additional aroma and flavor to the latter . to facilitate upward movement of the smoke and provide a vent for it , lid 14 is formed with a plurality of vent holes 27 and a disk - shaped valve member 29 formed with similarly spaced holes 31 is rotatably mounted on a pivot member 32 affixed to lid 14 in a central position with respect to holes 27 to permit selective rotation of valve member 29 , thus permitting variations from full registry of its holes 31 with lid holes 27 to nonregistry . this makes possible intermittent draft adjustment during cooking . during the initial heat - up period , valve member 29 is closed and thereafter opened as the smoking action continues . while the flame receives its primary supply of air for combustion through the burner unit , for supplying a secondary supply of air for combustion , two parallel sets of aligned holes 33 are formed in fire box bottom wall 3 and each set of holes is provided with an adjustable closure in the form of a flapper valve consisting of a pair of resilient metal strips 35 , each anchored at its center intermediate the ends of the set of holes 33 , to bottom wall 3 by a bolt 37 and biased by its resiliency toward sealing engagement with the inner rims of holes 33 . for adjusting the opening of strips 35 , adjacent the extreme end holes 33 of each set , jack screws 39 threadably received in bottom wall 3 with their heads protruding outwardly therefrom and their tips abutting the end portions of the metal strip 35 . it is contemplated that a one - time permanent adjustment would be made with this valve to provide the optimum secondary air supply . openings 33 also serve as a safety vent for unlighted gas to permit its escape from the grill and dispersion into the atmosphere . it will be understood that other types of adjustable dampers may be substituted for rotary valve 29 and flapper the details of the structure may be varied substantially without departing from the spirit of the invention and the exclusive use of such modifications as come within the scope of the appended claims is contemplated . | 0 |
a variable gain amplifier according to a first preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to fig1 . in the variable gain amplifier shown in fig1 between an input terminal 1 to which a high - frequency signal is applied and an output terminal 2 from which a high - frequency signal is output , common - source fets 3 , 4 , and 6 are provided as amplifiers . the gate of the fet 3 is connected to the input terminal 1 via a capacitor 7 , the drain of the fet 3 is connected to the gate of the fet 4 via a capacitor 8 , the drain of the fet 4 is connected to the gate of the fet 6 via a capacitor 9 , and the drain of the fet 6 is connected to the output terminal 2 via a capacitor 10 . furthermore , the drain of the fet 3 is connected to a drain power supply terminal 11 via an inductor 18 so that a voltage is applied from the drain power supply terminal 11 to the drain of the fet 3 . the gate of the fet 3 is connected to a gate power supply terminal 12 via a resistor 19 so that a voltage is applied from the gate power supply terminal 12 to the gate of the fet 3 . the drain of the fet 4 is connected to a drain power supply terminal 14 via an inductor 21 so that a voltage is applied from the drain power supply terminal 14 to the drain of the fet 4 . the gate of the fet 4 is connected to a gate power supply terminal 15 via a resistor 22 so that a voltage is applied from the gate power supply terminal 15 to the gate of the fet 4 . the drain of the fet 6 is connected to a drain power supply terminal 16 via an inductor 23 so that a voltage is applied from the drain power supply terminal 16 to the drain of the fet 6 . the gate of the fet 6 is connected to a gate power supply terminal 17 via a resistor 24 so that a voltage is applied from the gate power supply terminal 17 to the gate of the fet 6 . furthermore , between the drain of the fet 3 and the drain of the fet 4 , a fet 5 is provided as a variable resistor which negatively feeds back output from the drain of the fet 4 to the drain of the fet 3 . the drain of the fet 5 is connected to the drain of the fet 4 , and the source of the fet 5 is connected to the drain of the fet 3 . furthermore , the gate of the fet 5 is connected to a control terminal 13 via a resistor 20 so that a voltage is applied from the control terminal 13 to the gate of the fet 5 via the resistor 20 . when the voltage applied to the control terminal 13 is changed , the gate voltage of the fet 5 changes accordingly , and in accordance therewith , the resistance between the source and the drain of the fet 5 changes , with the fet 5 thus functioning as a variable resistor . when the gate voltage of the fet 5 increases , the resistance between the source and the drain of the fet 5 decreases . as a result , the amount of negative feedback from the drain of the fet 4 to the drain of the fet 3 increases , thereby decreasing the combined gain of the fet 3 and the fet 4 . on the other hand , when the gate voltage of the fet 5 decreases , the resistance between the source and the drain of the fet 5 increases . as a result , the amount of negative feedback from the drain of the fet 4 to the drain of the fet 3 decreases , increasing the combined gain of the fet 3 and the fet 4 . the variable gain amplifier is thus implemented as a three - stage variable gain amplifier . in the three - stage variable gain amplifier according to the present preferred embodiment of the present invention , the dc - cutoff capacitor connected in series with the source of the fet used as a variable resistor , which has been required in the conventional variable gain amplifiers , is eliminated . thus , the three - stage variable gain amplifier is free from the drawbacks due to the dc - cutoff capacitor , i . e ., oscillations , and limitations on gain control with respect to lower frequencies . furthermore , when the three - stage variable gain amplifier is implemented in an mmic , the dc - cutoff capacitor connected to the source of the fet used as a variable resistor , and the resistor for equalizing the source voltage and the drain voltage of the fet used as a variable resistor , which have been required in the conventional variable gain amplifiers , are eliminated . in addition , the testing terminal , also required in the conventional variable gain amplifiers , can also be eliminated because the source of the fet 5 used as a variable resistor is connected to the drain power supply terminal 11 for dc voltage . accordingly , the size of the mmic according to other preferred embodiments of the present invention is greatly reduced compared with the conventional mmic . although the arrangement is such in the first preferred embodiment that the fet 5 used as a variable resistor is preferably connected between the drain of the fet 3 and the drain of the fet 4 having the opposite output phases from each other , other arrangements are possible as long as a variable resistor is connected between the drains of two fets having the opposite output phases from each other . for example , the fet 5 may be connected between the drain of the fet 4 and the drain of the fet 6 . furthermore , since the fet 5 is used as a variable resistor , the fet 5 may be connected with the drain and the source thereof being reversed . furthermore , although the variable gain amplifier according to the first preferred embodiment has been described as a three - stage variable gain amplifier , the variable gain amplifier may be implemented with two amplification stages , or four or more amplification stages , and the variable range of gain can be increased by connecting the outputs of non - adjacent fets having the opposite output phases from each other . a variable gain amplifier according to a second preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to fig2 . the variable gain amplifier according to the second preferred embodiment , shown in fig2 is implemented as a four - stage variable gain amplifier by connecting a common - source fet 31 , used as an amplifier , to the three - stage variable gain amplifier according to the first preferred embodiment . in the four - stage variable gain amplifier , between an input terminal 1 to which a high - frequency signal is applied and an output terminal 2 from which a high - frequency signal is output , common - source fets 3 , 4 , 6 , and 31 are provided as amplifiers . the gate of the fet 3 is connected to the input terminal 1 via a capacitor 7 , the drain of the fet 3 is connected to the gate of the fet 4 via a capacitor 8 , the drain of the fet 4 is connected to the gate of the fet 6 via a capacitor 9 , the drain of the fet 6 is connected to the gate of the fet 31 via a capacitor 10 , and the drain of the fet 31 is connected to the output terminal 2 via a capacitor 34 . furthermore , the drain of the fet 31 is connected to a drain power supply terminal 32 via an inductor 35 so that a voltage is applied from the drain power supply terminal 32 to the drain of the fet 31 . the gate of the fet 31 is connected to a gate power supply terminal 33 via a resistor 36 so that a voltage is applied from the gate power supply terminal 33 to the gate of the fet 31 . the voltages applied to the drains and the gates of the fets 3 , 4 , and 6 are the same as in the variable gain amplifier shown in fig1 . furthermore , between the drain of the fet 3 and the drain of the fet 31 , a fet 5 is provided as a variable resistor that negatively feeds back output from the drain of the fet 31 to the drain of the fet 3 . the drain of the fet 5 is connected to the drain of the fet 31 , and the source of the fet 5 is connected to the drain of the fet 3 . the gate of the fet 5 is connected to a control terminal 13 via a resistor 20 so that a voltage is applied from the control terminal 13 to the gate of the fet 5 via the resistor 20 . when the gate voltage of the fet 5 increases , the resistance between the source and the drain of the fet 5 decreases . as a result , the amount of negative feedback from the drain of the fet 31 to the drain of the fet 3 increases , decreasing the combined gain of the fet 3 to the fet 31 . when the gate voltage of the fet 5 decreases , the resistance between the source and the drain of the fet increases . consequently , the amount of negative feedback from the drain of the fet 31 to the drain of the fet 3 decreases , increasing the combined gain of the fet 3 to the fet 31 . the variable gain amplifier is thus implemented as a four - stage variable gain amplifier . in a variable gain amplifier with an even number of amplification stages , such as the one described above , the amplifier in the first stage ( the fet 3 ) and the amplifier in the final stage ( fet 31 ) have opposite output phases from each other , allowing variation of the combined gain of the amplifiers from the first stage to the final stage . accordingly , even if the number of stages is smaller than the variable gain amplifier according to the first preferred embodiment , a larger variable range of gain can be provided . obviously , the advantages of the first preferred embodiment are also achieved by the second preferred embodiment . when a smaller variable range of gain suffices , such a variable range can be provided by connecting a variable resistor between the outputs of adjacent fets having the opposite output phases from each other , similarly to the first preferred embodiment . a variable gain amplifier according to a third preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to fig3 . the variable gain amplifier according to the third preferred embodiment differs from the three - stage variable gain amplifier according to the first preferred embodiment only with respect to the point at which the fet 5 used as a variable resistor is connected . more specifically , between the gate of the fet 4 and the gate of the fet 6 , the fet 5 is provided as a variable resistor that negatively feeds back a portion of input to the gate of the fet 6 to the gate of the fet 4 . the drain of the fet 5 is connected to the gate of the fet 6 , and the source of the fet 5 is connected to the gate of the fet 4 . furthermore , the gate of the fet 5 is connected to the control terminal 13 via the resistor 20 so that a voltage is applied from the control terminal 13 to the gate of the fet 5 via the resistor 20 . the variable gain amplifier according to the third preferred embodiment is equally advantageous as the variable gain amplifier according to the first preferred embodiment . although the arrangement is such in the third preferred embodiment that the fet 5 used as a variable resistor is connected between the gate of the fet 4 and the gate of the fet 6 having the opposite input phases from each other , other arrangements are possible as long as a variable resistor is connected between the gates of two fets having the opposite input phases from each other . for example , the fet 5 may be connected between the gate of the fet 3 and the gate of the fet 4 . similarly , in the variable gain amplifier according to the second preferred embodiment , having an even number of amplification stages , the variable resistor may be connected between the inputs , not between the outputs , of the amplifiers in the first stage and the last stage having the opposite input phases from each other , which is equally advantageous as the variable gain amplifier according to the second preferred embodiment . a variable gain amplifier according to a fourth preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to fig4 . referring to fig4 the variable gain amplifier according to the fourth preferred embodiment includes an input matching unit 51 and an output matching unit 52 , and matching capacitors 45 and 46 for improving gain , in addition to the three - stage variable gain amplifier according to the first preferred embodiment . between the input terminal 1 and the three - stage variable gain amplifier shown in fig1 the input matching unit 51 including an inductor 41 and a capacitor 42 is connected . one end of the inductor 41 is connected to the input terminal 1 , and the other end thereof is connected to the capacitor 7 of the variable gain amplifier shown in fig1 . one end of the capacitor 42 is connected to the input terminal 1 , and the other end thereof is connected to the ground . thus , the input matching unit 51 matches the impedance on the side of the input terminal 1 to which the variable gain amplifier is connected and the input impedance of the variable gain amplifier . furthermore , between the output terminal 2 and the three - stage variable gain amplifier shown in fig1 the output matching unit 52 including an inductor 43 and a capacitor 44 is connected . one end of the inductor 43 is connected to the output terminal 2 , and the other end thereof is connected to the capacitor 10 of the variable gain amplifier shown in fig1 . one end of the capacitor 44 is connected to the output terminal 2 , and the other end thereof is connected to the ground . thus , the output matching unit 52 matches the impedance on the side of the output terminal to which the variable gain amplifier is connected and the output impedance of the variable gain amplifier . furthermore , one end of the matching capacitor 45 is connected to the drain power supply terminal 11 , and the other end thereof is connected to the ground . the matching capacitor 45 defines a matching circuit in association with the inductor 18 connected between the drain of the fet 3 and the drain power supply terminal 11 , increasing the gain of the fet 3 in a desired frequency band . furthermore , one end of the matching capacitor 46 is connected to the drain power supply terminal 14 , and the other end thereof is connected to the ground . the matching capacitor 46 defines a matching circuit in association with the inductor 21 connected between the drain of the fet 4 and the drain power supply terminal 14 , increasing the gain of the fet 4 in a desired frequency band . obviously , it is equally advantageous as the fourth preferred embodiment to add an input matching unit , an output matching unit , and matching capacitors to the variable gain amplifiers according to the second and the third preferred embodiments . although the amplifiers are implemented by fets in the above - described preferred embodiments , alternatively , other types of amplifiers such as transistors may be used , and also , variable resistors other than fets may be used . furthermore , when a variable gain amplifier according to various preferred embodiments of the present invention is implemented in an mmic , the capacitors may be implemented by mim capacitors , and the inductors may be implemented by thin - film coils or microstrip lines . while preferred embodiments of the invention have been described above , it is to be understood that variations and modifications will be apparent to those skilled in the art without departing the scope and spirit of the invention . the scope of the invention , therefore , is to be determined solely by the following claims . | 7 |
it is well known that the f - p ld shows a multi - mode output and the mode power is proportional to the spontaneous emission coupled to the mode . the output spectral distribution of the f - p ld can be changed by externally injecting a strong light into the f - p ld . then , a mode that is the nearest from the peak wavelength of the injected light is locked by the injected light and the other modes may be suppressed . namely , the output wavelength of f - p ld coincides with the peak wavelength injected light . as a result we can obtain a wavelength - selective output from multi - mode laser , f - p ld . hereinafter , referring to appended drawings , desirable embodiments of the present invention are described in detail . fig2 is a schematic diagram of the light source according to the embodiment of the present invention . the light source comprises : an incoherent light source ( ils ); a tunable optical filter ( tf ) connected to said incoherent light source ; an optical circulator ( cir ) connected to said tunable optical filter ; and a f - p ld without optical isolator connected to said optical circulator . optionally , the light source according to the embodiment of the present invention further comprises : a polarization controllers ( pc ) connected between said optical circulator and said f - p ld ; and a polarizer ( pol ) connected at the output end of said optical circulator . in the embodiment , the incoherent light source is any one of an optical fiber amplifier generating ase , an led , or a sld . the operation principles of the light source according to the present embodiment are as follows : the broadband incoherent light generated from the incoherent light source is sliced by the tunable optical filter to produce a narrow - band incoherent light . the narrow - band incoherent light is injected into the f - p ld through the optical circulator . the optical circulator separates the narrow - band incoherent light and the output of f - p ld . thus the output of the light source according to the present embodiment comes out through the output end of the optical circulator . when the f - p ld is biased above the threshold current , the output of the f - p ld is multi - mode . however , it becomes wavelength - selective after injection of the narrow - band incoherent light since a strong light is coupled to a specific mode of the f - p ld . the output wavelength of f - p ld is locked to the injected incoherent light and thus can be tuned by changing the pass - band of the tunable optical filter . the output power of the f - p ld can be changed by controlling the bias current applied to the f - p ld . thus , we can modulate the light source directly . when the bias current is lower than the threshold current , the output of the light source is a reflected incoherent light at the interface of the pig - tailing fiber and the air . the output of f - p ld is polarized but reflected incoherent light is unpolarized . using this characteristics , the extinction ratio of the modulated signal can be improved by further comprising a polarization controller ( pc ) and a polarizer ( pol ). in the light source according to the present embodiment , an optical circulator ( cir ) can be replaced by an optical power splitter . using the same principles as that of the embodiments described above , multi - channel wdm light source can be implemented . fig3 shows schematic diagram of the multi - channel wdm light source in accordance with the embodiment of the present invention . the multi - channel wdm light source comprises : an incoherent light source ( ils ); an optical circulator ( cir ) connected to said incoherent light source ; a ( de ) multiplexer (( d ) mux ) connected to said optical circulator ; and plurality of f - p lds without optical isolator connected at the output end of the said ( de ) multiplexer . if the bandwidth of the incoherent light generated said incoherent light source is larger than the free spectral range ( fsr ) of said ( de ) multiplexer , the light source further comprises a band - pass filter ( bpf ) that is connected between said optical circulator ( cir ) and said ( de ) multiplexer . the band - pass filter restricts the bandwidth of the incoherent light entering the ( de ) multiplexer within the free spectral range ( fsr ) of an the ( de ) multiplexer . optionally , the light source further comprises : plurality of polarization controllers ( pc ) connected between the output ends of the said ( de ) multiplexer and said f - p lds ; and a polarizer ( pol ) connected at the output end of said optical circulator . in the embodiment , the incoherent light source is any one of an optical fiber amplifier generating ase , an led , or a sld . the operation principles of the multi - channel wdm light source in the present embodiment is as follows : the broadband incoherent light generated from the incoherent light source is transmitted to the ( de ) multiplexer through the optical circulator . the ( de ) multiplexer receives and slices the broadband incoherent light . then , the sliced narrow - band incoherent light with different wavelengths are injected simultaneously into the plurality of f - p lds . after injection of incoherent light , the output of each f - p ld becomes wavelength - selective and is locked by the injected narrow - band incoherent light . namely , the output wavelength of each f - p ld coincides with the peak wavelength of the ( de ) multiplexer pass - band . the outputs of the f - p lds are multiplexed by the ( de ) multiplexer . then , the multi - channel wdm signals come out through the output end of the optical circulator . the output power of multi - channel wdm light source can be controlled independently and thus multi - channel wdm light source can be modulated directly . we can increase the extinction ratio of the modulated signal by further comprising a polarizer ( pol ) and plurality of polarization controllers ( pc ). in the multi - channel wdm light source according to the present embodiment , an optical circulator ( cir ) can be replaced by an optical power splitter . fig4 a shows a schematic diagram the optical transmission system for upstream signal transmission in a passive optical network using the multi - channel wdm light source in accordance with the present invention . the passive optical network of the present embodiment comprises a central office , a remote node connected to the central office with a single optical fiber , and plurality of optical network units connected to the remote node with plurality of optical fibers ; wherein the central office comprises : an incoherent light source ( ils ); a demultiplexer ( dmux ); an optical circulator that route the output of said incoherent light source to the optical fiber connecting said central office and said remote and the upstream signal transmitted from said remote through said optical fiber to said demultiplexer ; and plurality of receivers ( rx ) connected at the output ends of the said demultiplexer , the remote node comprises : an ( de ) multiplexer that receives the broadband incoherent light transmitted from said central offices , slices said incoherent light spectrally to produce plurality of narrow - band incoherent lights and multiplexes the upstream signals from said optical network units , and the plurality of optical network units comprise a f - p ld that is connected to the output ends of the ( de ) multiplexer in the remote node with said plurality of optical fibers . under this configuration , the upstream signals generated from the optical network units have different wavelengths and multi - channel wdm signal is transmitted from the remote node to the central office . in the passive optical network , electric power is not supplied to the remote node to save the maintenance cost , and thereby the pass - band of the ( de ) multiplexer in remote node can drift with the temperature change . therefore , it is important to control the wavelength of the light sources in the optical network units . in case of the passive optical network using the multi - channel wdm light source according to the present invention , the output wavelength of each f - p ld is automatically aligned to the pass - band of the ( de ) multiplexer in remote node since the output wavelength of the f - p ld is locked by the injected incoherent light . in the passive optical network described above , the broadband incoherent light transmitted from the central office to the remote node may be reflected to the central office due to the rayleigh back - scattering of the optical fiber . the reflected light can degrade the signal quality . fig4 b shows a schematic diagram of the optical transmission system for upstream signal transmission in a passive optical network to reduce the signal degradation described above . as described in the figure , by installing an optical circulator ( cir ) at the remote node and separating the optical fiber that delivers the incoherent light from the optical fiber that deliver the upstream signal , the signal degradation caused by the reflection of the incoherent light can be reduced . in other words , the passive optical network of the present embodiment comprises a central office , a remote node connected said central office with two optical fibers , and plurality of optical network units connected to said remote node with plurality of optical fibers ; wherein the central office comprises : an incoherent light source ( ils ) connected to said remote node with an optical fiber ; a demultiplexer ( dmux ) connected to said remote with the other optical fiber and plurality of receivers ( rx ) connected at the output ends of the said demultiplexer , the remote node comprises : a ( de ) multiplexer that receives the broadband incoherent light transmitted from the central offices , slices said incoherent light spectrally to produce plurality of narrow - band incoherent lights , and multiplexes the upstream signals from said optical network units ; and an optical circulator that route the broad - band incoherent light transmitted from said central office to said ( de ) multiplexer and the upstream signals from said ( de ) multiplexer to the central office , and the plurality of optical network units comprise f - p lds connected to the output ends of the ( de ) multiplexer in the remote node with said plurality optical fibers . under this configuration , the upstream signals generated from the optical network units have different wavelengths and multi - channel wdm signal is transmitted from the remote node to the central office . in optical transmission system for upstream signal transmission in a passive optical network described in fig4 a and fig4 b , an optical circulator ( cir ) can be replaced by an optical power splitter . fig5 shows the experimental set - up to demonstrate the feasibility of the light source in accordance with the present invention . the ase source was two - stage erbium - doped fiber amplifier ( edfa ) pumped counter - directionally with laser diode at 1480 nm . the pump power for the first and the second stage of edfa were 50 mw and 100 mw , respectively . a band pass filter ( bpf ) with a bandwidth of 9 nm was used at the output end of the edfa to limit the spectral width of the ase within one free spectral range ( fsr ) of the waveguide grating router ( wgr ). an optical amplifier ( amp 1 ) and an optical variable attenuator ( att . 1 ) were used to control the ase power injected into the f - p ld . an optical circulator with insertion loss of 0 . 7 db separated the injected broadband ase and the output of the f - p ld . the broadband ase was sliced spectrally by an wgr with a bandwidth of 0 . 24 nm and injected into the f - p ld . a conventional f - p ld without an optical isolator was locked by the externally injected narrow - band ase . the threshold current of the f - p ld was 20 ma . the coupling efficiency of the f - p ld , the rate of power transferred from laser to pig - tailing fiber or vice versa , was approximately 8 %. the f - p ld was modulated directly by pseudorandom nonreturn - to - zero data with a length of 2 7 − 1 at 155 mb / s and its output was transmitted through conventional single mode fiber ( smf ). the transmitted data was amplified by an optical amplfier ( amp 2 ), demultiplexed by another wgr with a bandwidth of 0 . 32 nm , and received by a pin photo - detector based receiver to measure the bit error rate ( ber ) characteristics . the receiver input power was controlled by an optical variable attenuator ( att . 2 ) and measured by an optical power meter ( pm ). a polarization controller ( pc ) and a polarizing fiber ( pzf ) with about 47 db of polarization extinction ratio are used to improve the extinction ratio of the modulated optical signal . fig6 shows ( a ) the output spectrum of the f - p ld without ase injection and ( b ) the spectrum of the narrow - band ase to be injected into the f - p ld . the bias current was 30 ma and the output power of the f - p ld measured at the output end of the optical circulator was about − 10 dbm . the side mode suppression ratio ( smsr ) was less than 6 db . the peak wavelength of narrow - band ase was about 1551 . 72 nm . fig7 shows the measured output spectra of the f - p ld after injection of a narrow - band ase when the injected ase power were ( a ) − 2 dbm and ( b ) 2 dbm , respectively . after ase injection , the f - p ld was wavelength - locked by the injected ase . the measured side mode suppression ratio were 25 db and 27 . 3 db for the injection ase power of − 2 dbm and 2 dbm , respectively . fig8 shows the measured side mode suppression ratio ( smsr ) of the light source in accordance with the present invention . the side mode suppression ratios increases as the injected ase power increases . however , it decreases as the bias current increases . to measure the modulation characteristics of the light source in accordance with the present invention , we measured optical spectra for different bias currents at the fixed injection ase power of 2 dbm . fig9 shows the results when the bias current were 30 ma ( dotted line ) and 0 ma ( solid line ), respectively . the measured peak power difference between two bias states , here called as extinction ratio , was about 5 . 8 db . fig1 shows the measured the extinction ratio of the light source in accordance with the present invention . the extinction ratio decreases as the injection ase power increases while it increases the as the bias current increases . we also measured optical spectra by inserting a polarization controller and a polarizer ( in the present experiment , a polarizing fiber : pzf ) under the same measurement conditions with the fig9 . fig1 shows the results . the extinction ratio increases about 2 . 5 db from 5 . 8 db to 8 . 3 db . this means that the output of the light source according to the present invention is polarized . fig1 shows the measured bit error rate curves . the f - p ld was modulated directly at 155 mb / s . the amplitudes of dc bias and modulation current were both 20 ma . before we use the light source according to the present invention , we measured ber characteristics of the directly modulated f - p ld itself , i . e ., without ase injection . the measured power penalty at the ber of 10 − 9 was about 2 db after transmission over 20 km of smf as shown in fig1 ( a ). the ber characteristics were improved dramatically when we inject a narrow - band ase into the f - p ld . the power and the peak wavelength of the injected ase were 1 dbm and 1551 . 72 nm , respectively . we achieved error free transmission over 120 km of smf with negligible power penalty as shown in fig1 ( b ). we also measured ber characteristics by changing the peak wavelength of the injected narrow - band ase and observed very similar results . as an example , we show the measured ber curves in fig1 ( c ) when the peak wavelength of the injected narrow - band ase was 1550 . 92 nm . this result implies that the output wavelength of the light according to the present invention can be tuned by changing the wavelength of the injected ase . since those having ordinary knowledge and skill in the art of the present invention will recognize additional modifications and applications within the scope thereof , the present invention is not limited to the embodiments and drawings described above . | 7 |
a first embodiment of an inventive process used during the formation of a semiconductor device is depicted in fig1 - 5 . fig1 depicts a wafer substrate assembly 10 including a semiconductor wafer 12 having doped regions ( active areas ) therein 14 , at least one transistor , and preferably a plurality of transistors , with each transistor comprising gate oxide 16 and a conductive transistor control gate portion 18 . each transistor further comprises dielectric spacers 20 , for example formed from silicon nitride , and a capping layer 22 , for example formed from tetraethyl orthosilicate ( teos ) or another undoped silicon dioxide layer . a teos layer from about 300 å to about 800 å thick would be sufficient . fig1 further includes a planar dielectric layer 24 , for example a borophosphosilicate glass ( bpsg ) layer from about 4 , 000 å to about 8 , 000 å thick , having a mask 26 formed thereupon . alternatively , borosilicate glass ( bsg ), phosphosilicate glass ( psg ), or another doped silicon dioxide layer may be used . the mask layer leaves various areas of the bpsg exposed 28 , for example regions between various transistors , and areas between a transistor array 30 and a periphery 32 of a semiconductor device as depicted . a shallow trench isolation area 34 separates the array 30 from the periphery . next , the exposed bpsg 24 is removed using an etch selective to the teos caps 22 and nitride spacers 20 ( i . e . an etch which minimizes etching of teos and nitride and maximizes etching of bpsg ). the exposed bpsg is removed to expose the underlying layer ( in the instant case , the silicon wafer 12 ) as depicted in fig2 . a wet etch such as a hydrofluoric acid ( hf ) dip , or a dry etch would remove the bpsg selective to nitride and teos . regarding the dry ( plasma ) bpsg etch selective to nitride and teos , one factor that affects the etch rate and the etch selectivity of the process is pressure . the total pressure has a preferred range of from about 1 millitorr to about 400 millitorr . a more preferred pressure range for a plasma etch is in a pressure range of from about 1 millitorr to about 100 millitorr . the most preferred pressure range for a plasma etch is from about 1 millitorr to about 75 millitorr . the pressure may be increased , however , above the most preferred ranges . for example the rie etch may be performed at about 100 millitorr . selectivity of the bpsg to the teos and nitride can be optimized at a pressure range between about 10 millitorr and about 75 millitorr . pressure increases may result in a loss in selectivity . the range in selectivity , however , can be adjusted to accommodate different pressures . as such , selectivity and pressure are inversely related . temperature is another factor that affects the selectivity of the etching process used . a preferable temperature range of the reactor cathode during the plasma etch has a range of about 10 ° c . to about 80 ° c ., and more preferably about 20 ° c . to about 40 ° c . this is the temperature of a bottom electrode adjacent to the semiconductor substrate 12 during the etching process . the preferable range of the semiconductor materials is between about 40 ° c . and about 120 ° c ., and more preferably between about 40 ° c . and about 90 ° c . undoped silicon dioxide layer 22 and nitride spacers 20 seen in fig1 and 2 protect underlying layers from the fluorinated chemical etch . as illustrated in fig2 , the etch will anisotropically remove the exposed portions 28 of doped bpsg layer 24 . the etch removes material from the bpsg layer 24 at a higher material removal rate than that of undoped teos layer 22 and nitride spacers 20 . preferably , the etch has a material removal rate for substantially doped silicon dioxide ( bpsg 24 ) that is at least 10 times higher than that of substantially undoped silicon dioxide ( teos 22 ) or silicon nitride 20 . preferably , etching as conducted according to this invention involves an anisotropic plasma etch with a fluorinated chemistry that etches through bpsg ( or bsg or psg or doped silicon dioxide in general ). the etch is preferably selective to undoped silicon dioxide , silicon , and silicon nitride . the fluorinated chemical etch uses a type of carbon fluorine gas that is preferably selected from the group consisting of c 2 f 6 , cf 4 , c 3 f 8 , c 4 f 10 , c 2 f 8 , ch 2 f 2 , chf 3 , c 2 hf 5 , ch 3 f and combinations thereof . there are other fluorinated etchants in a substantially gas phase that can be employed during the etching of the structure . an inert gas is often used in combination with the fluorinated etchant . argon , nitrogen , and helium are examples of such an inert gas . the preferred gases , however , are cf 4 , ch 2 f 2 , chf 3 and ar . alternatively , ch 3 f may be used in place of ch 2 f 2 . in particular , the preferred etchant is a fluorine deficient gas which is defined as a gas where there are not enough fluorine atoms to saturate the bonding for the carbon atoms . next , as depicted in fig2 , a blanket layer of polycrystalline silicon 40 ( poly ) from about 1 , 000 å to about 4 , 000 å thick is formed over the wafer substrate assembly 10 to contact the silicon wafer 12 . the poly 40 and , optionally , the bpsg 24 are planarized to remove the poly 40 from horizontal surfaces of the bpsg layer 24 , for example using chemical mechanical planarization ( cmp ) to result in the structure of fig3 having poly plugs 44 which contact the silicon wafer 12 . the plugs as depicted comprise a horizontal top and a substantially vertical sidewall which intersect at about 90 °. subsequently , the bpsg 24 is removed , for example using an hf dip , to expose the teos caps 22 from the transistor gates 18 , but a portion of the bpsg 50 remains over the areas where the bpsg contacts the wafer as depicted in fig4 . further , the exposed teos 22 is etched from the transistor gates 18 to expose the poly gates 18 , for example using tetramethylammonium hydroxide ( tmah ) and hf . alternately , the bpsg and teos can be removed using a single etch which is selective to nitride and poly . a wet etch , for example using tmah / hf , superq ( 3 % phosphoric acid , 37 % ammonium fluoride ), qetch ii ( 1 % phosphoric acid , 39 % ammonium fluoride ), or a dry etch , for example using chf 3 , cf 4 , or argon would be sufficient . a portion of the teos 52 may remain , which is dependent on the alignment of the mask 26 in fig1 . the removal of the bpsg 24 between fig3 and 4 requires no mask , but the etch must be timed to clear the bpsg 24 from the teos caps 22 but to leave a portion of the bpsg 50 where the bpsg contacts the semiconductor wafer 12 . further , the teos 22 must be cleared to expose the gates 18 . a blanket refractory metal layer such as titanium , chromium , tantalum , platinum , tungsten , zirconium , and molybdenum , and preferably a titanium layer 54 from about 100 å to about 400 å thick is formed over the exposed surfaces of the assembly as depicted in fig4 . this includes forming the titanium over poly 18 and wafer 12 and over various dielectrics 20 , 50 as depicted . a cvd deposition of titanium can be performed at a temperature between about 400 ° c . and 700 ° c . using ticl 4 as a source . using this process the titanium reacts with exposed silicon structures and remains unreacted over the dielectric structures . next , a titanium nitride layer 56 can be formed using a cvd or pvd process to a thickness of between about 100 å to about 500 å . a rapid thermal anneal ( rta ) step is performed to decrease the resistance of the titanium silicide , for example using a temperature between about 650 ° c . and about 800 ° c . for between about 20 seconds to about 90 seconds in a nitrogen ambient . during this step , the tin protects the silicide from exposure to , and possible reaction with , oxygen . finally , the titanium nitride 56 and the unreacted titanium 54 overlying the dielectric is removed , for example using a solution of nh 4 oh , h 2 o 2 , and water . the remaining exposed bpsg 50 over the active areas are removed using an hf dip to result in the structure of fig5 . as depicted in fig5 , the instant process results in poly plugs 44 or other poly structures having a silicided sidewall . this results in a structure having reduced resistance compared to structures of equal size and shape having silicide only over the upper surface . further , silicide over two or more types of structures , for example a transistor gate 18 and a poly plug 44 , can be formed simultaneously which reduces manufacturing steps compared to processes which form silicide over the gate and over the plug using two or more separate steps . while this invention has been described with reference to illustrative embodiments , this description is not meant to be construed in a limiting sense . various modifications of the illustrative embodiments , as well as additional embodiments of the invention , will be apparent to persons skilled in the art upon reference to this description . it is therefore contemplated that the appended claims will cover any such modifications or embodiments as fall within the true scope of the invention . | 7 |
referring to fig1 two single pumps 1a , 1b comprise displacing members 2a , 2b which are connected to pistons 3a , 3b of hydraulic cylinders 4a , 4b , such that a movement of the hydraulic pistons 3a , 3b is transferred to the displacing members 2a , 2b . when the pistons 3a , 3b are moved , because oil is supplied to the cylinder chambers 5a , 5b , the supply medium in the pump chambers 6a , 6b is compressed , and after having reached a pressure present in a duct 8 to the user , is pressed into the duct 8 through an outlet valve 7a , 7b . the hydraulic oil is supplied to the cylinder chambers 5a , 5b through ducts 9a , 9b . for accomplishing the suction stroke , the hydraulic oil is supplied to the cylinder chambers 10a , 10b . the control of the oil streams to the cylinder chambers is accomplished by means of valves 11a , 11b . each of the two displacing member piston combinations 2a , 3a and 2b , 3b oscillate between an upper and a lower dead point . switches or sensors 18a , 18b and 19a , 19b sense the dead points of the corresponding displacing member piston combination and control the oil streams , such that the stroke is reversed by switching the corresponding hydraulic valves 11a , 11b . the downwards stroke is the pressure or supply stroke , respectively . the upwards stroke is the suction stroke . closely preceding the switch 19a , 19b , enacting the switch from the supply stroke to the suction stroke , there is a further switch 20a , 20b . it is the object of this switch 20a , 20b , to accomplish a discontinuation of the oil stream through the ducts 12a or 12b , respectively , to the oil reservoir , and that in the correspondingly other pump standing still at the end of the pre - compression stroke . therefore the switch 20a is dedicated for the discontinuation of the oil stream through the duct 12b , and the switch 20b is dedicated for the discontinuation of the oil stream through the duct 12a . ducts 12a , 12b are connected to the ducts 9a , 9b . the ducts 12a , 12b lead to the pressure controllers 14a , 14b , and therefrom with a common duct 15 through connecting ducts 15a , 15b back to the hydraulic oil reservoir . the pressure controllers 14a , 14b are designed such that an oil stream is passed only when a certain pressure is reached , which pressure is defined by the pressure in the cylinder chambers 5a or 5b , respectively , of the pump 1a or 1b , respectively , supplying into the duct 8 . for this reason , the pressure controllers 14a , 14b are connected to the cylinder chambers 5a , 5b with control pressure ducts 17a , 17b . the pressure controller 14a associated with the single pump 1 a is connected with the cylinder chamber 5b of the single pump 1b through the duct 17a , and the pressure controller 14b of the pump 1b is connected with the cylinder chamber 5a of the single pump 1a through the duct 17b . the pump 1b is illustrated in the supply situation , which means the pump supplies medium through the opened outlet valve 7b into the duct 8 to the user . the pressure pre - sent in the cylinder chamber 5b and in the ducts 9b , 17a , and 17b depends on the pressure of the supply medium in the pump chamber 6b . the pump 1a is illustrated in the stand still position after the pre - compression stroke has ended . the pressure controller 14a is in the opened position , such that the hydraulic oil flowing into the duct 9a is discharged through the duct 12a to the duct 15 . therein the pressure in the duct 9a , and in the cylinder chamber 5a , and in the pump chamber 6a , is maintained at a level by the pressure controller 14a , which is defined by the geometrical conditions in the pressure controller 14a , and the pressure present in the cylinder chamber 5b of the pump 1b acting as a control pressure through the duct 17b onto the pressure controller . when the displacing member 2b performing the supply stroke reaches the switch or sensor 20b , the discontinuation of the oil stream through the duct 12a is performed by the switch or sensor . this may be accomplished in different ways . in the example illustrated , the discontinuation is enacted by supplying an additional force onto the valve slider of the pressure controller 14a , whereupon the pressure controller is closed . thereupon the displacing member 2a will continue with the pressure stroke , now as a supply stroke , wherein supply medium is pressed through the opening outlet valve 7a into the duct 8 to the user . when the displacing member at the end of its supply stroke reaches the lower dead point , the suction stroke is triggered by the switch 19b , whereupon the outlet valve 7b will close , and the supply medium flows into the chamber 6b through an opening inlet valve 21b . while the displacing member 2a now is in its supply stroke , the displacing member 2b performs the suction stroke because hydraulic oil is supplied into the cylinder chamber i ob , with the velocity of the suction stroke greater than that of the pressure stroke . the switch or sensor , respectively , 18b enacts the termination of the suction stroke and a transfer to the pressure stroke beginning with the pre - compression of the supply medium . the oil pressure present in the duct 9b to the cylinder chamber 5b also acts upon the pressure controller 14b through the duct 12b . because of the oil pressure acting as a control pressure on this pressure controller through the duct 17b , with the oil pressure generated in the cylinder chamber 5a of the single pump 1 a performing the supply stroke , the pressure controller remains closed until reaching the opening pressure . as mentioned before , this value is defined by the geometrical conditions in the pressure controller , and of the control pressure . after opening the pressure controller 14b , the hydraulic oil supplied to the duct 9b flows through the duct 15 to the oil reservoir while maintaining the opening pressure . in fig2 one of the two pressure controllers , in this case the pressure controller 14a , is illustrated as an example . both pressure controllers in function the same . in a housing 25a there is a slider 26a comprising at one end a closing member 27a with a cone - shaped projection . this cone will close an aperture 28a with a cross section a 2 connected with the duct 12a and the hydraulic cylinder chamber 5a . towards the closing member 27a , the aperture 28a is enlarged to a chamber 29a . the chamber 29a is connected with the duct 15 leading to the hydraulic oil reservoir . the end of the slider 26a facing away from the closing member 27a has an effective area a 1 and , together with the housing 25a , forms a chamber 30a which is connected with the duct 17a and with the hydraulic cylinder chamber 5b of the single pump 1b supplying medium into the duct 8 to the user . furthermore , the housing 25a comprises a chamber 31a with a piston 32a . this piston is connected with a piston rod 33a which sealingly projects into the chamber 30a , and presses upon the front face of the slider 26a when the chamber 31a is put under pressure . the pressure medium is supplied to the chamber 31a through a duct 34a . because of the oil pressure in the chamber 30a , the force f 1 equaling a 1 × p ( 5b ) acts upon the slider 26a , wherein p ( 5b ) is the hydraulic pressure of the cylinder chamber 5b . in the aperture 28a a force f 2 equaling a 2 × p ( 5a ) and opposite to the force f 1 acts upon the slider , wherein p ( 5a ) is the hydraulic pressure of the cylinder chamber 5a of the pump 1a performing the pre - compression stroke . while the force f 2 increases from zero with growing pre - compression in the pump chamber 6a , and therefore with correspondingly growing hydraulic pressure p ( 5a ), the force f 1 is constant . when the forces f 2 and f 2 are equal , the closing force for the aperture 28 becomes zero and hydraulic oil begins to flow from the aperture 28a through the chamber 29a to the duct 15 while the closing member 27a is lifting . the oil pressure reached corresponds with the final pressure of the pre - compression of the supply medium in the pump chamber 6a . at that point the piston displacing member combination 3a , 2a comes to a stand still . the oil still flowing through the duct 9a will flow through the pressure controller 14a to the duct 15 , wherein the oil pressure in the aperture 28a is maintained at a constant value by the force f 1 acting upon the aperture . the ratio of the pre - compression final pressure of pump 1a to the supply pressure of the pump 1b is defined by the area ratio a 1 to a 2 and is independent of the value of the supply pressure . when the oil stream through the aperture 28a is to be stopped , the pressure controller chamber 31a is presented with pressure through the duct 34a upon action of the switch 19b or 20b , respectively , such that the additional force necessary for closing the aperture 28a is generated . the piston - displacing member combination 3a , 2a then performs its pressure stroke from the stand still situation as a supply stroke . by a control not illustrated , the pressure impingement of the pressure controller chamber 31a is maintained at least until the end of the supply stroke . when the outlet valves 7a are designed as automatically opening valves , in the example illustrated as check valves , by means of the area ratio a 1 to a 2 the pre - compression final pressure has to be selected smaller than the supply pressure . in the other case , the valves 7a , 7b would remain open as a result of the pre - compression pressure raising over the supply pressure in the duct 8 . this would mean that now both single pumps would supply into the duct 8 . when the outlet valves 7a , 7b are designed as valves positively controlled with an auxiliary energy , or with an additional close force generated by an auxiliary energy , than the pre - compression final pressure may be selected equal to or larger then the supply pressure . as is apparent from the foregoing specification , the invention is susceptible of being embodied with various alterations and modifications which may differ particularly from those that have been described in the preceding specification and description . it should be understood that i wish to embody within the scope of the patent warranted hereon all such modifications as reasonably and properly come within the scope of my contribution to the art . | 5 |
a preferred embodiment using an 8 pixel × 8 pixel sensor system is shown in fig1 and described below . the left hand portion of fig1 indicates a system having an 8 × 8 pixel array 7 and devices to control and acquire date from the pixel array , such as : a ram bank ( rolling buffer ) 8 , cds colum buffers 10 , a data conversion interface 11 , a sensory front end ( for amplification ) 12 , and an inductor controller 9 . the embodiment provides a versatile platform for applications requiring magnetic manipulation of biological samples , such as cell movement , dna hybridisation , extension and sequencing , as well as opto - chemical imaging of ongoing chemical reactions . fabricated in a commercially available 0 . 35 μm cmos process , the system is scaled to form an 8 × 8 array capable of calibrating out sensor non - idealities including drift , spatial ( static ) noise and gain mismatch . furthermore , the system provides a programmable spatial field generator for magnetic manipulation . the system can be intrinsically used for both optical imaging and ph sensing a sensor pixel is shown in the right hand portion of fig1 . as can be seen the sensor pixel has a photodiode 2 adjacent an isfet 4 , both surrounded by an inductor 3 . in use , chemical or biological substances may be brought into proximity with the sensor surface , whereby a combination of magnetic stimulation and chemical and / or optical data can be used to determine a property of the substance . the top level system architecture is shown in fig2 . the array combines three sub - systems for sensory acquisition ( i . e . optical and chemical imaging ) and generation of magnetic stimulus . the system uses a common programming / calibration interface based on the spi protocol to load data serially . this data includes 8 × 8 × 10 - bit words for the chemical / optical calibration , 64 10 - bit words to define the magnetic temporal pattern , and one additional word to control the amplifier gains . master reference circuits are also common to the pixels , providing a 1 μa ptat generated current bias , a 1 . 21v bandgap voltage reference , and power - on reset signals to the various circuits . the outputs are sampled using a single 10 - bit successive approximation analogue - to - digital converter by interleaving the chemical and optical image data . in one embodiment more than one electrochemical or more than one optical sensor is integrated into a single sensor pixel , the sensors preferably being designed to detect different properties or having different sensitivities . for example , there may be several optical sensors , each designed to detect different wavelength . the magnetic pattern generator may be provided by a 64 × 10 - bit rolling buffer that cycles a 10 - bit instruction onto the magnetic controller . the 10 - bit instruction is defined as follows : bits 9 - 7 = x - coordinate , bits 6 - 4 = y - coordinate , bit 3 = polarity and bits 2 - 0 = magnitude . the current is first generated using a 3 - bit digital - to - analogue converter ( based on a binary - weighted current mirror ) and the polarity can then be reversed using a n h - bridge configuration . the coordinate bits are then used to control two demultiplexers ( for x and y ) that current steer the generated stimulus towards the active pixel . the current passes through a microcoil that generates a magnetic field at the pixel , the strength decreasing rapidly at pixels further from the active pixel . the magnetic manipulation of fluidic ( e . g . biological ) substances may be achieved by attaching magnetic micro - beads to components of the substance and then generating a large enough magnetic force to attract the micro - beads to a pixel . this magnetic trapping force [ 6 ] is given by : where , v and x are the volume and magnetic susceptibility of the magnetic bead , μ 0 is the magnetic permeability in vacuum and b is the magnetic field magnitude . the micro - coil demonstrates a magnetic field distribution , dictated by the magnitude and direction of the biasing - current in accordance with the biot - savart law : where i is the current - bias , dl is a vector , whose magnitude is the length of the micro - coil windings , and whose direction is the same as l , and r is the displacement unit vector . a timing generator based on a state - machine first defines the different phases and array control signals ( eg . x and y - pixel select signals ) to poll through the sensory pixel array . the chemical pixel sensors are sampled during the second half clock period ( during the phase a pixel is active ) and the optical pixel sensors are sampled during the first half clock period ( with one period latency - due to the correlated double sampling ). the schematic of the integrated pixel is shown in fig2 . the electro - chemical sensor may be any sensor capable of measuring electrical or chemical property . in the present embodiment it is based on a pg - isfet ( programmable gate ion sensitive field effect transistor ) chemical sensor that is biased using a unity - gain buffer interface at pixel - level . the outputs are switched ( i . e . the rows are selected ) into a shared column bus at the pixel level and output column selected at the column header . the output signal is then buffered through a programmable gain amplifier ( pga ) and passed to the converter for data acquisition . the pg - isfet floating gate voltage v fg is established by a weighted sum of the voltages applied to the reference electrode ( typically ag / agcl ), through and the control gate , through v cg : when the isfet is biased , ions in solution bind to the passivation causing an accumulation of charge which in turn modulates the floating gate voltage of the device creating a dependance on ph according to : whereby v tc is the non - ideal effects of trapped charge , v ref is the bias voltage of the reference electrode , kt / q = u t is the thermal voltage of the device ( where k is the boltzmann constant , t is temperature , and q is the magnitude of the electrical charge on an electron ), y is a grouping of ph - independent chemical potentials and α is a number ranging from 0 - 1 , describing the reduction in sensitivity from the nernstian response , typically 59 mv / ph at 25 ° c . the programmable gate input is fed from a dac to provide a variable gate bias . the bias is loaded at initialization from a ram - based lookup table . this is implemented to calibrate and remove sensor non - idealities including drift , spatial ( static ) noise and gain mismatch . the initial look - up table values can be determined by reading the sensor output of each sensor in a initial state . the initial state may be , for example , a control substance provided to the array or the absence of a sample on the array . the sensor outputs are then compared to a global parameter such as a normalised output voltage or some desired state . the gate bias voltage is then estimated ( for example using equation 3 ) to establish the normalised output voltage or desired state . this measurement and calculation may be performed iteratively until the result is achieved . one desired state may be that all the output voltages are the same in the absence of a sample . another desired state may be that a predetermined output pattern is established . yet another desired state may be that the sensors &# 39 ; non - idealities are minimised . prior to reading the sensor array , the look - up values are loaded to calibrate each sensor so that the sensor output voltages are more useful . the optical sensor may implement a standard active pixel sensor ( aps ) architecture utilising a standard 3 - transistor pixel ( x - reset , common drain buffer and y - switch ). the aps circuit 5 controls the photodiode 2 ( see fig1 ) the photodiode 2 is based on an n - well / p - substrate parasitic pn - junction of dimensions 16 μm × 36 μm . the shared column bus lines are fed into column - level correlated double sampling ( cds ) buffers and differential signal switched ( i . e . column selected ) into an array - level difference amplifier ( also a pga for adjusting imager sensitivity ). the sensor platform may be designed and fabricated in a commercially - available 0 . 35 μm cmos technology . using a four - metal layer process , a multi - layer spiral micro - coil can be implemented having 5 turns to achieve a higher magnetic field profile for the given biasing scheme . a split padring may be implemented to achieve an isolated power supply for the analogue and digital sections . this allows for planar manipulation of the sensing surface , which allows subsequent post - processing for encapsulating the system . mircofluidic channels may be provided to the sensor array in order to bring the sample of interest into contact with the sensor pixels in a predefined pattern . the pattern of the channels will depend on the type of application . the channel may be fabricated using microfluidic dies based on polydimethylsiloxane ( pdms ) membranes , which are bonded to microscope glass slides with inlet and outlet capillaries via an plasma treatment . the channels may be photolithographically patterned on a 100 m thick negative photoresist ( su - 8 ) layer , which is spin - coated on a si - wafer and essentially serves as the mold for the pdms casting . other photo - curable material can be used to pattern channels on to the array . alternatively channels drilled or etched into a manifold sealed to the chip surface could be used . the sample may be subject to reagents / treatments before entering the channel or may encounter reagents / treatments as it passes over the sensor array . fig6 illustrates a meander channel which allows a single sample to flow past all pixels in the array . fig5 illustrates an 8 - lane channel which allows eight samples to flow past columns of pixels in the array . the sample may be manipulated and measured at different pixels and at different times to generate a spatiotemporal understanding of the reaction . the circuit was simulated using the cadence spectre ( 5 . 1 . 41isr1 ) simulator with foundry supplied bsim3 models . transient simulation results illustrating the timing controller for the sensor array , imager ( i . e . chemical and optical ) outputs and acquisition timing are shown in fig4 . this simulation shows the timing and sensory acquisition cycle from pixel ( 8 , 8 ) bottom - right through pixel ( 1 , 1 ) to pixel ( 3 , 1 ). below this is shown the output of the isfet bus before and after the pga stage for two rows of different simulated sinusoidal ph responses . a reference electrode voltage of 3 . 3v and control gate voltage of 1v is used to program the pixels to be mid range of the supply to maximise the nd resolution . in fig4 , the output of the cds bus ( reset and sample lines ) and the array output after the pga stage can be seen . consider the magnetic field distribution on the si 3 n 4 passivation layer above the 8 × 8 array , when the micro - coil of pixel ( 1 , 1 ) is biased with i = 20 ma . although there is coupling between adjacent pixels , a single excitation is not strong enough to distract micro - bead movement . specifically , in the vicinity of the biased pixel , the magnetic field strength is approximately 17 g which decays to 1 g in the neighbouring pixels and 1 mg at the far corner of the array . whilst known methods of transcranial magnetic stimulation ( tms ) utilize arrays of large coils to stimulate and measure neural activity , the embodiment described below may provide for detection of neural activity at a much smaller scale . a sensor array may be used to measure with the may be used to observe neural activity in neural tissue . in particular , neural action potentials may be sensed through electrostatic coupling between a neuron and the floating gate of the isfet . this allows applications such as determining if a neuron is active . for example , neurons may be grown on a sensor array . the electrochemical output from a pixel can be compared to the optical sensor output . if a neuron &# 39 ; s existance can be confirmed optically but not detected chemically , one might conclude that the neuron is ‘ dead ’. using cmos technology , exploiting thick top metal process options adopted for rf applications , microcoils can be provided on sensor platforms . used in an array , these microcoils can generate a spatiotemporal magnetic field to facilitate neural stimulation at a micro scale . suitable embodiments of the above described sensor array may be used to provide non - contact interfacing to neural tissue using magnetic stimulation combined with electrochemical and optical sensing . the magnetic stimulation of neural tissue is achieved by employing a large enough field from the micro - coils to evoke action potentials in the neurons . appropriate biasing of the micro - coils will cause a varying magnetic field that in turn causes circulating eddy currents within the substance attached to the coils . the strength of these currents is typically calculated through the encountered loss , which under the assumptions of a uniform material and magnetic field distribution can be expressed as : where d is the thickness of the medium in which the eddy currents are deployed , f is the frequency of magnetic field change , ρ is the resistivity , and d is the density of the material . the isfet may be used in this application as a neurochemical sensor . when the isfet is biased , action potentials evoked from neural tissue on the surface cause a change in the charge distribution , which in turn modulates the floating gate voltage of the device creating according to : whereby v tc is the non - ideal effects of trapped charge , v ref is the bias voltage of the reference electrode , and v neuro is the contribution of the evoked action potential . an added benefit of the array comes with applications that necessitate the combined use of inductive elements with beam - forming algorithms for attaining multiple neuron stimulation or single neurons that exist in deeper regions of the brain . embodiments of a neural sensing system can accommodate a time - varying magnetic field by programming individual pixel biases as a sequence of current pulses of various amplitudes and pulse duration . depending on the magnetic field distribution , a number of eddy currents will be circulated within the neural tissue that is in direct contact with the platform &# 39 ; s surface . based on the strength of these currents ( equation 2 ) neuron activation may occur , which will result in the release of ions ( for example , neurotransmitters ) that will be subsequently sensed by the isfets . there is thus potential to use this platform with brain slice applications , where smaller field intensities are required . when compared with traditional electrical stimulation , this method provides certain advantages such as non - invasiveness , improved biocompatibility and bio - resistance matching . the lack of a metal - electrolyte interface , which often posses challenges such as modification of the electrode surface , corrosion and bio - fouling is alleviated , resulting in improved robustness and system stability . recent advancements in transcranial magnetic stimulation ( tms ) utilize arrays of coils , which offer the added benefits of spatial - temporal in addition to focused magnetic stimulation . it will be apparent to the skilled person that the sensor and array may be modified beyond what has be described above by way of example . for example , the array may extend in one dimension or two and contain as many sensor pixels as is desired for the application . an electrochemical sensor , other than an isfet , may be employed such as capacitive , potentiometric , amperometric , chemiresistive or other technologies as they develop . similarly , different optical sensors may be used . preferably the sensors are solid state and capable of being integrated into a semiconductor chip . furthermore , resistive or other types of heating element may be included within the array , as well as temperature sensors provided by diodes , resistors or temperature - sensitive circuits , for applications requiring thermal control or heating . the inventors have appreciated that prior array - based methods for nucleic acid analysis are lab intensive requiring skilled personnel and excessive steps to prepare and process the sample . these methods also suffer from read errors such as false positive and false negative results . the advantage of an array combining several sensors over existing microarray techniques is the combination of electrical , optical and electromagnetic capability to provide flexibility and a universal platform for multiple applications , including multiple , multianalyte arrays combining one or more of dna , rna , protein , enzyme or chemical compound detection , all of which can be detected optically or electrochemically , or by changes in resonant frequency of dna attached to a magnetic bead or temperature . the ability to magnetically stimulate specific locations or regions of the array gives the additional ability to move reagents or target which are attached to beads , which is a significant advance automation and usability and allows assays steps which would normally have to be performed offline prior to introduction to the array , to happen on - chip . examples of such assay steps include mixing , bead capture during washing , and selective movement of certain reagents within the array . the ability to automate in this way makes this a platform suitable for use outside a laboratory , potentially removing the need for cumbersome off - chip sample preparation , nucleic acid extraction and amplification steps . a further benefit is the increased signal - to - noise potential provided . for example , the ability to perform orthogonal measurements on a single target using both fluorescent and electrochemcial signals . furthermore , the optical and electrochemical signals can be correlated , and used to reduce the rate of false positives or false negatives if there is not good correlation between the two signals . another way of reducing detection errors in an assay performed on the array described herein is to use the photodiodes as a form of quality control in an electrochemical assay , and to discard results for electrochemical sensors in the array where there is for example , non - uniform mixing of sample , bubbles , clogging of microchannels or reaction chambers , misalignment , or other non - ideal assay conditions which can be observed optically . furthermore , in assays where uniform reagent distribution or uniform “ packing density ” of beads is required , this can be observed optically . the design specification of a preferred embodiment of the sensor platform are given in table 1 . | 6 |
a database is described as an example of a resource manager although , as stated above , other non - database resource managers may also use the method and system of the present invention . referring to fig1 a database 10 is shown which has a datastore 11 in which the data held in the database is stored . the database 10 includes a database controller 12 , a query processor 13 and a buffer 14 . the controller 12 includes a locking control 15 for locking areas of the datastore 11 and areas of the buffer 14 during accesses . applications 16 , 17 , 18 which wish to access data in the database 10 make queries via the query processor 13 . in conventional systems , an application 16 , 17 , 18 accesses data in the database 10 by issuing an operation . an operation is implemented by the database 10 using the following simplified flow : in the described method , a database operation has a different flow which can be shown as follows : the above flow is the simple case , for more complex queries there may be more iteration over the read data into buffers , lock and update buffers especially if an update triggers other updates or in the case of cascaded deletes etc . databases and other resource managers typically implement the concept of transaction . this traditionally covers four areas ( so called acid properties ), atomicity , consistency , isolation and durability ( see for example http :// www . cbbrowne . com / info / tpmonitor . html ). the most important feature in this case is atomicity . the application marks the beginning and end of a transaction using special calls . the resource manager then ensures that either ( a ) all the operations carried out by the application during this transaction are applied , or ( b ) none of the operations applied during this transaction are applied . during the life of a transaction , the application may request the resource manager to abort the transaction , in which case the operations applied so far are ‘ backed out ’ as if they never happened . also , the resource manager may inform the application that it is impossible to complete the transaction , for example because of deadlock or some failure situation . again , the operations applied so far are backed out . it is up to the application to reapply the operations of the transaction , or some suitable variant thereof , if deemed appropriate . a transaction may involve a single database or other resource manager source , known as single phase . it may have more than one source , known as coordinated or two phase ; this requires a transaction coordinator in addition to the coordinated set of resource mangers . this invention operates in either of these situations . the described method takes advantage of the application defined transaction boundaries , and uses them as asynchrony boundaries to control the parallelism . this is natural for the application programmer used to transactions . also , the normal transactional controls implemented by the resource manager ( and transaction coordinator if applicable ) are used with the modifications described below . these modifications are mainly involved with the extra consistency issues of assuring logical ordering while implementing physical parallelism . the implementation of other atomicity , consistency , isolation and durability properties carries through unchanged . each transaction on the database has an identification ( id ). in the described method the notation xid is used for an identification of a transaction . if a transaction wants to read data from a database , the transaction applies a read lock to the relevant data in the database . a read lock prevents any other transactions from updating the data until the transaction with the lock has finished . more than one transaction can read the same data simultaneously and each transaction applies its own read lock . if a transaction wants to write data to a database , the transaction applies a write lock to the relevant data . a write lock prevents any other transaction from reading or writing to the locked data until the lock is removed by the locking transaction . each lock is owned by a transaction . when the transaction completes , the lock is released . if a conflict arises between transactions due to locks , there are known methods in the prior art for resolving such conflicts . in the described method , an application sends a sequence of operations in a single transaction . each operation is assigned a sequence number within the transaction identification , so that each operation is labeled as to its sequence within a transaction . this helps control internal parallelism in the database . in the described example , an operation has an identifier of xid / seq #— which means that the operation has sequence number # in transaction x . if another transaction has a lock on data which needs to be accessed by an operation , then existing methods of dealing with conflicts between locks of transactions are used . however , if an operation of a different sequence number but the same transaction has a lock on the data , the following described method is used to resolve the conflict . the following options work on the assumption that for the majority of accesses conflict will not occur . if a conflict occurs , the database backs out and reruns the operations in the correct order . this form of parallelism in which operations run in parallel until a conflict arises , then the conflict is dealt with only at that time , results in a more time efficient method than both serial and application controlled parallel methods . in option 1 , locking is extended using each operation xid / seq # as an ‘ owner ’ of a lock where there may be more than one parallel operation in a transaction . interactions between different transactions , xid1 and xid2 , are handled as known from conventional systems . the following are options of actions to take when xid / seqx already holds lock and xid / seqy requests lock . 1a . if y & lt ; x there is a problem as seqy should have been carried out before seqx . the choice is as follows : 1a1 . back out database work for seqx , let y run , and rerun x . this requires much more new work in database implementation . so it would be beneficial to keep track of the information to be able to do a partial back out for seqx . 1a2 . back out all database work , and rerun automatically within the database , making sure seqy is completed before seqx starts . this is probably the preferred option . everything in the transaction is wound back . databases are always set up to be able to do this and therefore the method invokes existing database code . the back out is not too expensive , as most of required reading will now be in buffers . the database does not need to go back to the application , the database can just rerun the backed up data . the rerun makes sure that the operations are in the correct sequence . parallelism has the aim of avoiding waiting for reading into buffers to complete . the reading to the buffers in this option has already been done before the need to back out . therefore , the time expensive work has already been done and the backing out is not too time expensive . 1a3 . back out the complete transaction and warn application , it is then the application &# 39 ; s responsibility to rerun the transaction . this option may be simpler to implement , but slower and more work for the application . the database tells the application that it has got the sequence order wrong and that the application needs to re - instruct . this uses the conventional processing of a deadlock in which two applications try to do conflicting things and one must back out . 1ax . this is an extension to any 1a option , where repeated conflicts are found . this option automatically decreases parallelism in future . this option can be used if back outs are being detected too often and time is being wasted . the system automatically reduces the degree of parallelism that the database attempts . the proportion of time spent in options 1a is very low which means the overall system benefits from the parallelism of the cases in which conflict does not arise . 1b . if y & gt ; x . if the sequence is correct , the database must make sure that the first operation finishes its work before the second operation starts . this is the same effect as running sequentially . in this case there is a choice : typically a database holds a lock until the end of the transaction , but this cannot be done in this case as there are other operations in the transaction . if the lock held by x and x is completely finished , then the database knows it can safely run y . the code running x in the database does not need to be changed . 1b2 . have x do ‘ unlock local ’ [ change lock owner from xid / seqx to xid / 0 ] when x has finished with the lock . as soon as x knows its finished with a particular resource , it releases lock locally so that operations in the same transaction can start . this option requires changes in the database to effect the local unlock but more parallelism is obtained . 2 . parallelise read , but not update . this is an option that is cheaper to implement than option 1 but is less beneficial . reads are the main time consumers in database operations so a lot of time can be saved by parallelising the reads only . the database will not allow any operation to move onto the next processing steps until the previous operation is complete . in other words , the reads are carried out in parallel , but the remainder of the components of an operation are carried out serially . this may result in iterations in the remaining components of operations which have a conflict . 2b . change internals to read as much as possible before any update . this option guesses that data is not going to be updated and reads it in advance . when the operations are carried out in parallel , a double check is made as to whether the read was right . in other words , this requires a double check before using preread data , and some reread . ( for example using the embodiment given below , move dot to sales , deductdotsalary , the wrong department may have been preread for deductdotsalary .) this option involves more work to implement but has performance benefits over 2a . embodiments of the described options are given using an example of a simple database shown in tables 1 and 2 of employee &# 39 ; s salaries and departments . it will be readily noted that some of the above update queries conflict with each other and some are completely independent . for example : u2 and u5 do not conflict . logically u2 and u5 can be carried out in parallel . this is the case also at the physical level if row locking is used . however , if page locking is used , it is possible that a lock of information on a page for u2 will cause a conflict and force u5 to back out and to try again . this needs to be avoided for optimization of the process . u1 and u2 are logically independent . they will be independent at the physical level if field locking is used . however , they will conflict at the physical level even with row locking : they cannot be done in parallel as the same row for dot is needed for both updates . u2 and u3 are dependent on each other and this would be noticed logically from outside the database system . in the case of u1 and u4 it is difficult to resolve the conflict as the two updates are order dependent . if u1 is carried out first and dot is moved to sales , then u4 results in an update of the sales department balance . if u4 is carried out first , the development department balance will be changed before dot is moved . as seen from the above examples , conflict between operations is not easy to predict and therefore an application controlled parallel system may make erroneous predictions . in the described method , conflicts in parallel operations are handled by the database as they occur as detailed in the options above . code using the described method will run inside the database and automatically respond to the actual physical locking of the database . in the following diagrams , examples are shown for the prior art and the options of the described method detailed above . prior art shown in these diagrams is ‘ simple ’, non - parallel prior art . the prior art of application controlled parallelism is not shown , as this is very dependent on implementation details of said application the performance of the prior art of application controlled parallelism depends very much on how much knowledge the application has of database locking details , and can thus permit ‘ suitable ’ parallelism . the performance of application controlled parallelism will usually be close to that of the describe method , but : a ) it will never be better than the described method and will not always be close , for example , when it guesses wrong about locking . b ) the complex dependency analysis coding in the application in the prior art , at best , mimics the correctness achieved by the described method . c ) if incomplete dependency analysis is used in the prior art , there is a risk of the wrong answer being generated . for simplicity , all the following diagrams assume row locking . as indicated in the examples above , there may be enhanced parallelism if field locking is used or worse parallelism if page locking is used , but the principle is not changed . 5 w . dot — start lazy write of dot &# 39 ; s record ( or page containing dot &# 39 ; s record ) the above notation is given for “ dot ”. it will be appreciated that similar notation applies to the other records , for example , r . dick , w . sales , etc etc each row of timing diagram is a separate command on the list . time moves from left to right . the final row t of each diagram indicates transaction . this shows the general behaviour of serial prior art and options 1 and 2 in the simplest and commonest case . command list : u2 ( change dot &# 39 ; s salary to 95 , 000 ), u5 ( change sam &# 39 ; s salary to 85 , 000 ). ex1 / pa : with prior art see ex1 / 1 : with parallelism , option 1 { close oversize parenthesis } appendix ex1 / 2 : with parallelism , option 2 a physical conflict ( due to row locking , even though no logical conflict ). this shows the effect of conflict in the serial prior art , and options 1 and 2 . in this case , the second command does not try to jump over the first command . ( eg option 1b ). command list : u1 ( move dot to sales ), u2 ( change dot &# 39 ; s salary to 95 , 000 ). ex2 / pa : with prior art see ex2 / 1b1 : with parallelism , option 1b1 appendix ex2 / 1b2 : with parallelism , option 1b2 { close oversize parenthesis } b ex2 / 2 : with parallelism , option 2 note reduced waiting for r . dot for u2 in all parallel cases as the buffer is already being fetched with parallelism . ex2 / pa is very similar to ex1 / pa , and ex2 / 2 is very similar to ex1 / 2 . these cases were not attempting enough parallelism to be impacted by the conflict . ex2 / 1b1 and ex2 / 1b2 are still better than ex2 / pa and ex2 / 2 , but because of the conflict the improvement is not as marked as in example 1 . the benefits of 1b2 over 1b1 do not show up on this illustration , but see example 5 . this example shows the effect of conflict in serial prior art , and options 1 and 2 . in this case the second command does not try to jump over first command ( eg , option 1b ). command list : u2 ( change dot &# 39 ; s salary to 95 ), u3 ( increase dot &# 39 ; s salary by 5 %). the picture will look exactly the same as example 2 . it is not important at the implementation level that the conflict was logical as well as physical . once there is a conflict , it must be resolved . it should be noted that unless there is a but in the database physical locking implementation , it is impossible to get a logical conflict with no physical conflict this case shows the effect of conflict in 1a1 , 1a2 , 1a3 , where second command does try to jump over first command ( eg , option 1a ). because of the strict serial behaviour of the prior art , and stricter serial behaviour of option 2 , there is no equivalent case . the comparable behaviour of prior art and option 2 is exactly as for examples 2 and 3 . command list : u2 ( change dot &# 39 ; s salary to 95 , 000 ), u3 ( increase dot &# 39 ; s salary by 5 %) this is a simple but artificial case . random thread switching lets u2 get behind u3 . the problem is more likely to occur where the first command is more complex than the second , and has more initial r . xxx work to do . this is not illustrated as such illustration would be more complex and confusing and would not clarify the point any better . the sooner the u2 thread gets control after the ?? ?, the sooner it will detect the problem #. in this example , u2 got control after u . dot . similar pictures are possible where : a ) u3 gets the lock , but it is detected almost at once ( before performing u . dot ). the lock must be taken from u3 and given to u2 , but there is no significant undo to be performed on u3 . b ) u3 also initiates w . dot before detection . w . dot has to be undone as well as undoing u . dot . ex4 / 1a2 : with parallelism , option 1a2 see { close oversize parenthesis } ex4 / 1a3 : with parallelism , option 1a3 appendix d the first transaction dies completely , and a second transaction takes over ( with help from the application , which resubmits the command list ). a similar scenario to all three cases above would apply even if there was no logical conflict , e . g . u1 ( move dot to sales ), u2 ( change dot &# 39 ; s salary to 95 , 000 ). even though these could safely be applied in the ‘ wrong ’ order , the physical locking of the system is too course to recognize this . it will perform back out / retry processing as in ex4 / 1a1 , ex4 / 1a2 and ex4 / 1a3 , even though this processing is not strictly necessary . this case shows the effect of the difference of 1b1 and 1b2 . these are sub - cases of 1b , where the second command does not try to jump over first command . command list : u6 ( increase dot and sam &# 39 ; s salary by 5 %), u2 ( change dot &# 39 ; s salary to 95 , 000 ) ex5 / 1b1 : with parallelism , option 1b1 see { close oversize parenthesis } ex5 / 1b2 : with parallelism , option 1b2 appendix e the difference between 1b1 and 1b2 is clearer than in example 2 . in particular , u2 is completed much earlier if both u6 and u2 were more complicated but slightly conflicting , ( eg u6 ( update dot and sam ), u7 ( update dot and dick )) there would be much more parallelism in 1b2 than 1b1 . this is not shown , because the illustrations ( especially the 1b1 case ) would be too wide . an example of an implementation of the described method in sql code is given below . // ----------------------------------------- // new options defined by sql header files : // ----------------------------------------- typedef enum { sql_running , sql_complete_ok , sql_failed } sqlstatus ; typedef struct ssqlasynccb { sqlint32 sqicode ; // sqlcode for final completion sqlstatus asyncstate ; // asynchronous state } sqlasynccb ; # define sqlasynccb_default { 0 , sql_unset } sqlsynccb * sql_firstcomplete ; // pointer to the first complete operation // ( probably held as a member of sqlca ) // ----------------------------------------- // ----------------------------------------- // new exec sql calls // ----------------------------------------- exec sql async ( cb ) sqlcall ; // this will perform sqlcall asynchronously exec sql waitall ( cb1 , . . . ); // this will wait till all listed operations complete exec sql waitany ( cb1 , . . . ); // this will wait until any listed operations complete exec sql waitany ; // this will wait until any outstanding operation on connection complete // ----------------------------------------- example : void test () { sqlasynccb cb1 = sqlasynccb_default , cb2 = sqlasynccb_default , cb3 = sqlasynccb_default ; exec sql async ( cb1 ) update1 . . . ; exec sql async ( cb2 ) update2 . . . ; exec sql async ( cb3 ) update3 . . . ; exec sql waitall ; if ( cb1 . sqlcode ) . . . error handling if ( cb2 . sqlcode ) . . . error handling if ( cb3 . sqlcode ) . . . error handling exec sql commit ; }; to save the client programming scanning for completed tasks , the server could produce information on each call about other , asynchronous call completed . for example , the number of such calls , a list of such calls , and a return code summary for such calls . add struct ssqlasunccb * pnextcomplete ; // pointer to the next complete to sqlasynccb ; # define sqlasynccb_default { 0 , sql_unset , null } and include as statically available data from each call ( eg in sqlca ) sqlint32 sql_asyncnumcomplete ; // number of async calls completed during execution of last call bool sql_asyncok ; // true if all async calls completed were ok sqlasynccb * sql_asyncfirstcomplete ; // pointer to control block for the first complete async call it will be clear to one skilled in the art that there are many other mechanisms to report back asynchronous completion to the application . for example , a specific interface may be provided for the application to poll , or a callback mechanism may be implemented . in many cases the application will not be interested in details , and will be content with the ( normal ) successful return of the transaction completion operation , with ( occasional ) error returns such as rollback , in any case , the details by which the status of parallel operations is reported back to the application will not significantly impact the implementation detail of the parallel operation . the above description relates to resource managers in the form of database systems . the described method can also be applied in other areas such as messaging systems . in a messaging system , it may be desirable to write several messages in parallel . in messaging systems , updates of messages are not carried out , a new message is simply written . so there is no reading step before an update and therefore no reading delay . messaging systems are also different in that messages are usually read from the beginning or end of a queue . in database systems , it cannot be anticipated where a read will happen . therefore , in messaging systems the beginning or end of the queue can already be in the buffer ready for reading . for these reasons , the invention is likely to be more advantageous to database systems than to messaging systems . the method described above of dealing with conflicts between operations in a database system , could be applied to operations in the form of messages in a messaging system , as both use similar underlying locking techniques . there are some differences . for example , messaging systems do not typically make detailed assurances about the ordering of messages written by different parallel transactions , but require that messages written within a transaction are saved and ( subsequently returned to other transactions ) in the order written . messaging systems do not therefore typically need to hold locks on queues between one write operation and another ; the operations within one transaction occur sequentially and fall naturally into order , and there is no ordering between transactions . however , it will be necessary to hold such write locks in order to support this invention , to assure appropriate sequencing between operations implemented in parallel by a single transaction . these locks will behave as for databases when potential conflicts occur within a transaction ( xid / seqx and xid / seqy ), but no action will be taken for potential conflicts between transactions ( xid1 / seqx and xid2 / seqy ). improvements and modifications can be made to the foregoing without departing from the scope of the present invention . | 6 |
referring to fig1 there is shown one embodiment of a system 10 for enhancing electronic audio signals according to the principles of the present invention . system 10 includes an input stage 12 having power supply 14 , input amplifier 16 , and electromagnetic field inducing coil 18 through which multiple frequency electronic audio signals are driven by amplifier 16 to generate a field signal correlated to the original electronic audio signal from a source 20 of electronic audio signals , such as a cassette player , compact disc ( cd ) player , radio receiver or the like . system 10 also includes an output stage 22 for converting the generated field signals from input stage 12 into enhanced electronic audio signals which may be aurally reproduced into audible sound by conventional sound processing equipment 24 such as speakers , and the like . output stage 22 includes a field receptor 26 connected to output amplifier 28 which is powered by power supply 30 . field receptor 26 is positioned to receive very weak portions of the field signal created by coil 18 without inducing undesirable distortion and other effects in coil 18 . input amplifier 16 is a power amplifier which greatly amplifies the electronic audio signal from source 20 to drive the audio signal through coil 18 of input stage 12 with sufficient strength to be received by receptor 26 for conversion into an enhanced electronic audio signal . the original electronic audio signal from source 20 is driven through coil 18 which induces the field signal correlated to the audio signal but , it is believed , including enhancement signals such as missing harmonics . the field signal thus induced at coil 18 is weakly or loosely coupled to field receptor 26 of output stage 22 . that is , the receptor 26 is placed within the field created by coil 18 but at a sufficient distance electromagnetically so as to receive the enhanced signals without introducing undesirable distortion and other effects therein . weakly coupled coil 18 and receptor 26 form a magnetic coil audio energy transfer system 54 . while it is believed that coil 18 may be a single - turn coil of insulated wire 34 wound on a core 36 , it is desirable for coil 18 to be a multi - turn coil of wire 34 . field receptor 26 in fig1 is desirably a multi - turn coil of wire 44 with the same number of turns as coil 18 . receptor coil 26 is wound on a core 46 which may form part of the same core as core 36 . receptor coil 26 generates an enhanced electronic audio signal in response to the field from coil 18 but , because of the weak coupling , that generated audio signal is at a very low amplitude compared to the signal driven through coil 18 . consequently , a field signal induced by the generated signal passing through coil 26 , if any , is very weak . the output of coil 26 is connected to output amplifier 28 in order to amplify the enhanced signal for use by the subsequent sound reproduction equipment 24 . it will be appreciated that the field signal induced by coil 18 may be weaker for lower frequencies than for higher frequencies . therefore , the lower frequencies of the enhanced audio signal generated by receptor coil 26 may be weaker than the higher frequency components . in other words , before it is amplified , the high frequency end of the enhanced audio signal has a higher amplitude ( i . e ., power level ) than its low frequency end as compared to the original audio signal driving coil 18 . output amplifier 28 may include a frequency shaping network 109 ( see fig3 ) which favors the low frequencies and attenuates the high frequencies so that the net result is a fairly flat frequency response relative the input audio signal . as seen in fig2 cores 36 and 46 may form part of a single core member 52 such that coils 18 and 26 are coaxial along central axis 48 and spaced apart by a distance g . although shown as a tube of cardboard with a circular cross - section , core 52 could have other cross - sections , such as rectangular , and may be a solid bar of acrylic or other polymeric material . by being wound on a single core 52 , it may be seen that coils 18 and 26 of energy transfer system 54 appear as the primary and secondary , respectively , of a lossy transformer , i . e ., the coupling between the coils is deliberately weak so that there is little , if any , actual transformer action between the coils . rather , coil 26 is believed to act primarily as a receptor of the field induced by coil 18 and is thus positioned relative to coil 18 so as not to introduce undesired distortion to the enhancement of the signal induced by coil 18 . the use of low permeability cores is desired and contributes to the weak coupling between the coils as is advantageous in the present invention . also , by using low permeability core ( s ), such as with a permeability of approximately 1 or unity , the input and output stages 12 and 22 may be housed together in a relatively small package . use of higher permeability cores , and perhaps even a ferromagnetic core , may suffice although the spacing between the coils will likely become large to maintain the weak coupling . additionally , other than a coil , it is believed that receptor 26 may instead be a metallic plate , a length of wire , a tube or other structure which will receive the field induced by coil 18 and convert same to a new and enhanced electronic audio signal . to enhance operation of system 10 , it is desired that the input stage 12 and output stage 22 be well isolated , electrically and electromagnetically ( except for the weak field coupling through system 54 , such as at the interface of coils 18 and 26 ). to this end , separate power supplies 14 and 30 are provided in the respective stages 12 and 22 , each with a separate ground . also , each of the power supplies 14 , 30 is kept physically remote front both stages 12 , 22 or shielded from stages 12 , 22 such as with shielding techniques and materials well known in the art . a typical audio system may include an audio source 20 ( such as a cassette tape player ) connected directly to sound processing equipment 24 such as a speaker . when that typical system reproduces the sound stored on the cassette tape ( not shown ) in player 20 , there is a certain richness and fullness ( i . e ., quality ) of the sound produced that may be missing compared to the original sound before being recorded . the quality of the audio sound produced by source 20 may be substantially enhanced by introduction of system 10 of the present invention between , for example , tape player 20 and speaker 24 . in this regard , the electronic audio signal output from player 20 is connected through input stage 12 and the output of output stage 22 is connected to speaker 24 so as to pass the electronic audio signal through magnetic coil audio energy transfer system 54 . when the audio sound from player 20 is heard by a listener ( not shown ), the quality of sound is enhanced to the point of sounding as if the original performance were being played live and in an acoustically superior environment . preferably , two systems 10 ( i . e ., dual channels ) are used , one for each respective channel of a stereo sound reproduction system . one dual channel version of system 10 was built with the following off - the - shelf ( i . e ., commercially available ) electronic components : ( a ) dual channel input amplifier ( 16 )-- realistic s - 20 solid state stereo 12 watt amplifier , model no . 31 - b ( b ) two input coils ( 18 )-- each a standard speaker coil , rated at 8 ohms and 2 watts ( c ) two receptor coils ( 26 )-- each a standard speaker coil , rated at 8 ohms and 2 watts ( d ) dual channel output amplifier ( 28 )-- realistic stereo 1 . 5 watt pre - amplifier , model no . 42 - 2109 the above speaker coils 18 , 26 were taken from 3 inch diameter speakers manufactured by the tandy corporation , model no . 40 - 248 . each winding 18 , 26 had a width w ( see fig2 ) of about 0 . 15 inches , an inside diameter of approximately 0 . 52 inches , and was formed by two layers of about 30 turns ( i . e ., about 60 turns total ) of magnet wire having a length of approximately 105 inches and a diameter of about 0 . 005 inches , including its insulation . each pair of windings 18 , 26 were mounted coaxially on a single core 50 of solid acrylic having a rectangular cross section of approximately 3 / 4 by 1 / 4 of an inch and passing completely through both coils 18 , 26 . the gap g between the coils 18 , 26 was on the order of approximately 0 . 060 inches . the realistic amplifiers are also manufactured by the tandy corporation . generally , the degree of amplification of the audio signal from the input amplifier and the optimum gap g between the windings 18 , 26 ( see fig2 ) are directly related . for example , with all other variables remaining the same , as the amplification of the audio signal by the input amplifier 16 increases , it is believed that the gap g will eventually need to be increased . as previously noted , the gap g is believed to also vary directly with the permeability of the core 52 . this early embodiment of the present invention produced enhanced sound but also exhibited some undesirable characteristics . to overcome these problems , another dual channel embodiment of system 10 was built as now will be described with reference to fig3 . turning now to fig3 there is shown a detailed schematic illustration of a dual channel or stereo version 100 of system 10 including a left side system 10a and an identical right side system 10b . systems 10a and 10b share common input stage power supply 14 and common output stage power supply 30 as will be described . the input and output stages 12a , 12b and 22a , 22b of the two systems 10a , 10b are identical and therefore only the circuitry of system 10a will be described in any detail , it being understood that system 10b is the same . more specifically , input stage 12a includes a first pair of electronic audio inputs 70 , 72 connected respectively to the ground ( gnd1 ) of power supply 14 and of input stage 12a , and to 10 kohm potentiometer 74 . the wiper of potentiometer 74 is connected via 10 μf capacitor 76 to the non - inverting input of an lm383 operational amplifier 78 . the output 80 of amplifier 78 is fed back to its inverting input from the junction of 1 / 2 watt grounded series resistors 84 , 85 ( 200 ohm and 10 ohm , respectively ), through 470 μf capacitor 86 . output 80 of amplifier 78 is further connected to gnd1 via the series branch of 1 ohm , 1 / 2 watt resistor 88 and 0 . 2 μf capacitor 90 . output 80 is next connected to the inducing coil 18 of magnetic coil audio energy transfer system 54 through 2 , 200 μf capacitor 92 to drive the electronic audio signal front inputs 70 , 72 through coil 18 and induce the field signal as previously described . energy transfer system 54 includes field receptor 26 which is connected to a 1 kohm potentiometer 96 , the wiper of which is connected through 10 kohm resistor 98 and 1 μf capacitor 101 to the non - inverting input of a lm1458n operational amplifier 102 . the coil 18 and receptor 26 are each the same standard 8 ohm , 2 watt speaker coil used in off - the - shelf version of system 10 previously described . energy transfer system 54 , both coil 18 and receptor 26 , may be fully encapsulated with a low permeability polymeric potting material . dp - 270 , a black epoxy potting compound / adhesive manufactured by 3m , st . paul , minn ., has provided sufficient structural strength and low permeability . both coils 18 and 26 are potted in their original cylindrical configuration and in the coaxial orientation shown in fig2 with a gap g of approximately 0 . 025 inches . output 104 of amplifier 102 is connected to enhanced audio output port 106 which , in cooperation with grounded output port 108 , provides the enhanced electronic audio signal to reproducing equipment 24 as previously described . the junction of resistor 98 and capacitor 101 is connected to the output stage power supply ground ( gnd2 ) through a shaping circuit 109 comprised of three parallel circuit branches as follows : the series circuit of 5 . 1 kohm resistor 110 , 0 . 05 μf capacitor 111 , and open ended 50 kohm potentiometer 112 ; 0 . 002 μf capacitor 114 ; and the series circuit of 5 . 1 kohm resistor 116 and 0 . 1 μf capacitor 117 . the output 104 of amplifier 102 is connected back to its inverting input via the series circuit of : parallel 499 kohm resistor 122 and 0 . 005 μf capacitor 123 ; parallel 49 . 9 kohm resistor 124 and 0 . 01 μf capacitor 125 ; parallel 10 . 0 kohm resistor 126 and 0 . 005 μf capacitor 127 ; and 10 . 0 kohm resistor 128 . the inverting input of output amplifier 102 ( as well as the inverting input of the comparable output amplifier in system 10b ) is connected to a regulated voltage from regulator 129 of power supply 30 via 1 . 5 kohm resistor 130 to the junction of 510 ohm resistor 132 and 5 volt zener diode 134 and 10 μf capacitor 136 which , at node 137 , is at 5 volts . the non - inverting input of output amplifier 102 is similarly coupled to the 5 volt reference 137 via 100 kohm resistor 138 . with respect to the power supplies 14 , 30 , a dual transformer 140 provides about 14 volts to the balance of each supply 14 and 30 , as will now be described . input stage power supply 14 includes a diode bridge 142 which produces a full - wave rectified out : put from one 14 volt output of dual transformer 140 . the full - wave rectified output is smoothed ( i . e ., filtered ) by the circuit comprised of 1 ohm , 1 / 2 watt resistor 144 , 2200 μf capacitor 145 , 10 kohm , 1 / 2 watt resistor 146 and 1 μf capacitor 147 to provide a nominal 18 volt unregulated supply and ground ( gnd1 ) for each of the input stages 12a and 12b . similarly , the output stage power supply 30 includes a full - wave rectifier diode bridge 150 connected to the other 14 volt output of dual transformer 140 . the output of bridge 150 is smoothed by the circuit comprised of 100 ohm , 1 / 2 watt resistor 151 , 470 μf capacitor 152 , 10 kohm , 1 / 2 watt resistor 153 and 1 μf capacitor 154 to provide a nominal unregulated 18 volts to voltage regulator 129 . the output of the voltage regulator 129 is bypassed to ground ( gnd2 ) via 10 μf smoothing capacitor 158 and 0 . 01 μf smoothing capacitor 160 and provides a regulated 12 volt supply and ground ( gnd2 ) for each of the output stages 22a and 22b . capacitor 158 provides filtering for lower frequencies and capacitor 160 provides filtering for higher frequencies . note that the input amplifiers 78 of each system 10a and 10b have been provided in separate integrated circuit packages and independently powered from supply 14 whereas output amplifiers 102 of each output stage 22a and 22b have been provided in a single integrated circuit package and powered in common from power supply 30 . to prevent interference with the respective audio signals , it is desirable for that portion of power supplies 14 , 30 before respective capacitors 147 and 154 to be kept remote from the input and output stages or , as previously discussed , shielded . in addition , the energy transfer system 54 , coils 18 and 26 , for each channel may also need to be shielded to protect system 54 from any unwanted interference . in operation , the electronic audio signal for each channel is connected , via a jack or the like ( not shown ), to the respective input ports 70 , 72 . as will be appreciated , the electronic audio signal will normally include a wide range of audio frequencies . the respective input levels are adjusted at potentiometers 74 so that the input signal levels of the two channels are about equal and to allow input amplifiers 78 to amplify the input signals to the maximum extent possible without clipping or otherwise distorting the input signals . the audio signals are then enhanced through energy transfer system 54 and the enhanced signals adjusted in level via respective potentiometers 96 and for the desired flat frequency response via respective potentiometers 112 which may also be used to alter the shaping networks 109 somewhat to adjust the tonal quality as desired for the listener . the enhanced audio signals are then amplified by amplifier 102 and connected through outputs 106 , 108 ( such as by a jack , not shown ) to sound reproduction equipment 24 , such as another amplifier or speaker system , and is converted into audible sound . alternatively , equipment 24 may be another recorder of electronic audio signals for recording the enhanced audio signals onto some form of recording medium ( e . g ., magnetic tape , optical disk , etc .). while the present invention has been described and illustrated with reference to a number of embodiments , and while these embodiments have been described in considerable detail , it is not the intention of applicant to restrict or in any way limit the scope of the appended claims to such detail . additional advantages and modifications will readily appear to those skilled in the art . for instance , if music ( i . e ., electronic audio signals ) from a compact disc player is transmitted through system 100 of the present invention and the resulting enhanced electronic audio signal re - recorded onto a cassette tape using a cassette player / recorder , the quality of the music produced from the enhanced electronic audio signal recorded onto the cassette tape has been found to be perceptibly better than the same music produced from the compact disc . this is so even though the compact disc format is widely recognized as producing superior sound quality compared to the cassette tape format . it is envisioned to use an enhancing system according to the present invention to enhance electronic audio signals from sound converting equipment , such as a microphone , etc ., before being either recorded onto a recording medium ( e . g ., magnetic tape , optical disk , etc .) or converted into audible sound . the invention in its broader aspects is therefore not limited to the specific details , representative apparatus and method , and illustrative examples shown and described . accordingly , departures may be made from such details without departing from the spirit or scope of the general inventive concept of the present invention . | 7 |
the laser - active medium of a disk laser , which is shown exemplarily in fig1 is a thin disk 1 , of a laser - active crystal , which is attached to a heat sink 2 . yttrium - aluminum - garnet ( yag ) is preferably used as the laser - active crystal , this being preferably 8 to 13 % ytterbium - doped and representing a “ quasi - three - level ” system . due to its relatively large fluorescence bandwidth , this material offers optimal conditions for the generation of ultra - short laser pulses in the femtosecond range . in a utilization as an active end mirror , as in fig1 this disk 1 is provided with an antireflection coating on the front side and a highly reflective coating on the back . the heat sink preferably consists of copper with an indium film as heat contact , with which the disk 1 is mounted thereon , said disk having a diameter of about 7 mm and a thickness of between about 200 and 400 μm . the pump laser light is generated via fiber - coupled high - power diode lasers , whereby the end of the fiber bundle 3 is arranged near the disk 1 , and the pump laser light images onto a first spherical mirror 4 . the problem that the absorption length is significantly larger than the disk thickness is eliminated by four doubled passes of the pump laser light through the disk 1 , realized by mirrors 4 to 7 . finally , the resonator end mirror , which also represents the output coupler for the exit of the laser light from the resonator , is referenced 8 . the advantages of the disk laser are known with respect to its power scaleability by means of an alteration of the diameter of the pump light beam or by means of the utilization of a plurality of disks in series , as are the advantages with respect to the optical degree of effectiveness of about 50 to 65 % and the beam quality . a first inventive embodiment , which is schematically depicted in fig2 and in which the laser - active crystal 1 in the shape of a disk is mounted as an active end mirror on a heat sink , is used for the generation of ultra - short pulses of the laser light . the laser resonator has a conventional x - shape for the beam path , and the pump laser light is fed via one of the two concave mirrors 9 or 10 , as described above . since the thickness of this laser medium does not offer sufficient self - focusing , another focal spot is advantageously arranged within the laser resonator , typically between the two mirrors 9 and 10 , a transparent optical material of a suitable non - linearity 11 being arranged in this focal spot purely for purposes of self - focusing . the power scaleability is thus obtained , and sufficient non - linearity for phase coupling of the laser modes can always be achieved by appropriate focusing . since there is no absorption , there is no need to fear thermal problems given high energies inside the resonator , and because of the lack of any sort of power - limiting components , this arrangement is suitable for the generation of pulses with essentially arbitrarily high powers . a diaphragm 12 is preferably attached upstream to the output coupler 8 . the diaphragm 12 can be realized in the form of a real diaphragm or by what is known as a “ soft diaphragm ”, which is defined by the pumping zone in the medium . with the inventive construction , the power limits of approximately 10 w in the laser resonator ( corresponding to 700 mw output power ) for semiconductor - based saturable absorbers ( sesams ) can be far exceeded without danger . at least one means for dispersion control is not depicted . fig3 depicts another exemplifying embodiment of an inventive laser system in which two laser - active disks 1 , 13 are provided and are used simultaneously as a folding mirror in the doubled x - shaped laser resonator . of course , the second laser - active disk 13 is mounted on a heat sink 14 . to achieve sufficient non - linearity for the kerr lens phase coupling of the laser modes , the transparent , non - linear platelet 11 is again arranged between two concave mirrors 15 and 16 . as can be seen clearly , this modular construction of the laser system represents a preferred possibility of power scaling in that additional laser - active media can be inserted , according to the desired output power . besides the described kerr lens phase coupling , it is also possible to use other non - linear optical phase couplers , particularly apm devices , i . e . devices for “ additive pulse mode - locking ”, as well as different non - linear mirror arrangements which are based on second - order non - linearity . it is common to all these methods that they are passive , non - linear optical methods of phase modulation and they thus permit a power - scaling by means of beam diameter adjustment . as a preferred solution for dispersion control , the two mirrors 15 and 16 are designed as gires - turnois interferometer mirrors , it being possible to thereby realize an advantageous prismless dispersion control . the end mirror 17 of the laser resonator is also advantageously designed as a gires - tumois mirror . their internal optical field approaches that of highly reflective standard reflectors ; they comprise low losses of less than 0 . 1 % per reflection ; and , due to their typical bandwidth of 20 to 30 nm , such gires - turnois mirrors can be inserted to down to pulses of 40 fs . gires - tumois mirrors consist of an upper reflector , a spacer region and a practically 100 % lower reflector . the dispersion of the group transit time of the arrangement of gires - turnois mirrors is more intensely negative over a specific bandwidth than in other mirror structures , such as in dispersive mirrors (“ chirped mirrors ”), so that fewer reflections are required for the dispersion correction . since a lower penetration depth given the utilization of gires - turnois mirrors also means less lost material of the mirror , there is the additional advantage that the losses inside the laser resonator are significantly reduced . since the pulse energies emanating directly from the laser oscillator are not sufficient for many applications in science and technology , an amplification of the laser pulse , which , due to high repetition rate , originally lies only under 1 μj , is advantageously provided . to this end , according to a preferred embodiment of the invention , a regenerative amplifier as depicted schematically in fig4 is connected downstream to the laser resonator described above . a linearly polarized seed pulse enters into the amplifier through the polarizer 18 ( beam expansion optic and pulse selector not depicted ), which can be a thin film or a high - power die . the pulse then traverses a 45 ° faraday rotator 19 and a half - wave plate 20 , which jointly rotate the polarization plane 90 ° relative to the entry and which reciprocally cancel out each other &# 39 ; s effect . the seed pulse then reaches an electro - optical cell 22 with static quarter - wave dislocation or a separate quarter - wave plate , such as a bragg or pockels cell , via another polarizer 21 , passing through said cell again subsequent to the first pass , on the basis of reflection at the highly reflective mirror 23 . the confocal lens pair 24 , which can potentially be replaced by a confocal mirror pair , brings the beam to a fitting size for the laser - active element , which is again advantageously constructed as disk 25 on a heat sink 26 , and simultaneously acts as a spatial filtering element for filtering out small wave - front disturbances . the laser - active element 25 is again provided as a folding mirror in front of the end mirror 27 . this amplifier arrangement is traveled until a saturation occurs in the amplification . pulse energies in the range of 1 mj are achieved with this construction . if still higher pulse energies are to be achieved , it is necessary to apply the cpa concept ( chirped pulse amplification ), and to provide means for dispersive elongation of the laser pulse at the input side and means for recompressing the laser pulse at the output side . of course , it is also possible to provide a plurality of amplifier elements for the achievement of higher powers . in all the cited exemplifying embodiments , the diaphragm which is required in the laser resonator , particularly for the kerr lens phase coupling arrangement , can be realized in the form of a real diaphragm , or by the pumping zone in the laser - active medium itself , i . e . what is known as a “ soft filter ”. the inventive laser system with ultra - short pulses can be employed for many applications . direct plasma formation and direct material deposition without melting of the material are very desirable in many areas of material processing . a low repetition rate per surface element is necessary , depending on the focus diameter . given a focus diameter of approximately 50 to 100 μm , the repetition rate should not exceed 10 khz . this can be achieved by conventional q - circuits , or respectively , by regenerative amplification ( in the range of approximately 50 to 100 passes ), with simultaneous amplification of the single pulse . higher laser repetition rates in the mhz range , such as are generated by means of cavity dumping of the oscillator , can be utilized by smaller focuses , potentially together with a spatial scanning , whereby the repetition rate per surface element is sharply reduced again . for example , the smallest micro - pores can be bored in plastic films . medical utilization can also be offered , for example , particularly in the dental field , and specifically the application of systems with decelerated pulse sequence ( from approximately 100 mhz to approximately 10 khz ) and thus increased single - pulse energy , of up to 0 . 5 mj given a pulse period of approximately 200 fs . rapid prototyping would be another example of an application , in which the uv or laser light used for the hardening of the polymer that forms the prototype currently only reaches its surface and thus entails long processing times . in contrast , a focused high - power laser with pulses in the femtosecond range penetrates even under the surface and leads to a considerably shortened time of the rapid prototyping . as is apparent from the foregoing specification , the invention is susceptible of being embodied with various alterations and modifications which may differ particularly from those that have been described in the preceding specification and description . it should be understood that we wish to embody within the scope of the patent warranted hereon all such modifications as reasonably and properly come within the scope of our contribution to the art . | 7 |
fig1 and 2 generally depict the method and apparatus according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention . the present method includes the step of transmitting 10 a plurality of data packets . at least a portion of the data packets are packets 12 having a predetermined identifier , as will be set forth in detail below . the remainder of the data packets are packets 14 not having the predetermined identifier . in the preferred embodiment , as shown in fig2 , the packets 12 , 14 are transmitted over a local area network 50 to a wireless access point 52 , for subsequent forwarding . after the step of transmitting , a step is performed of selecting the data packets 12 having the predetermined identifiers . the selected packets 12 are then forwarded to a recipient 24 . in the preferred embodiment shown in fig2 , the selected packets 12 are forwarded from the wireless access point 52 using an antenna 54 to send a wireless transmission that is received on an antenna 56 of a mobile client 58 or other similar - type recipient 24 . as shown in fig1 , the step of selecting 20 includes a step of comparing the data packets 12 , 14 with a membership table 30 for tabulating each predetermined identifier respectively associated with each of the recipients 24 . any data packets 14 not having a predetermined identifier included in the membership table 30 are discarded so as to give priority to the identified throughput . it should be understood that , except insofar as specifically stipulated , the means for selecting and the membership table and any other functional implementation can be realized as software , firmware , hardware or any combination thereof , and can reside within the access point 52 or other implementation , or be a separate component , all without departing from the invention . in the preferred embodiment , the identified data packets 12 are multicast packets each having a multicast address in conformity with the ieee 802 protocols . ip multicast addresses ( i . e . class d addressed ) map directly to 48 - bit addresses under the ieee 802 standards ( i . e . ethernet or 802 . 11 wireless protocols ). the low - order 23 bits of the ip address are used as the low - order 23 bits of the corresponding 802 address . the high - order 24 bits of an 802 address contain an “ organization unique identifier ” or oui . ( the low - order and high - order bits are separated by an unused bit that always has the value of “ zero .”) the oui of an 802 address that corresponds to a class d ip multicast address is hexadecimal 01005e . any ieee 802 packet having this multicast address corresponds to an ip multicast address . it should be noted that a number of ip addresses can map to a single 802 multicast address . in the preferred embodiments , an access point 52 can employ the present method to determine the set of group ip addresses that are active on its wireless 802 . 11 links , in order to intelligently “ filter ” the packets . in so doing , the access point 52 can reliably and automatically determine which ip multicast packets are “ useful ” so as to discard the “ useless ” ip multicast packets without inadvertently discarding “ useful ” packets . the present invention can be implemented to provide an 802 multicast address filter . the access point 52 maintains a membership table 30 for multicast addresses for each station or recipient that accesses the network via its 802 . 11 link ( either directly or indirectly via another wireless access point ). in accordance with the defined multicast registration protocol , ip hosts must register to participate in an ip multicast group by sending an igmp ( internet group management protocol ) “ membership report ” message , as defined in rfc 2236 . the access point 52 monitors the igmp reports periodically received from stations on its 802 . 11 link . the igmp report is a membership report 60 that is used in a step of maintaining 32 the membership table 30 . as shown in fig3 , the membership table 30 includes an entry 40 for each multicast address of an associated station . each entry 40 includes a plurality of fields . each entry 40 can also include an id field 44 for indicating the predetermined identifier , which can be the 802 multicast address that corresponds to a respective ip address in an igmp report received from a station or other recipient 24 on the access point &# 39 ; s 802 . 11 link . of course , it is to be understood that any other identifier could also be used without departing from the invention . each entry in the table 30 can also include an “ age ” field 46 that corresponds to a received time when a membership report was received from the respective station for the corresponding address . an entry 40 is discarded if and when a new igmp membership report is not received within a threshold time period , e . g . a period greater than the maximum allotted interval between igmp reports for the respective address . this indicates that a member of the multicast group is no longer associated with the access point 52 . other fields can be added to the entry 40 to satisfy any particular needs . as set forth above , the membership table 30 maintains identifier information for associated recipients 24 . in this way , the identifier field 44 for each entry is correlated with the “ destination ” of the selected data packets 12 . this information can also be maintained in a separate table , maintained on the access point , the network , or in another location . to this end , the membership table 30 maintained on the access point 52 can also comprise an “ active multicast address table ” that contains the 802 multicast addresses that are active on the link . this active table contains an entry or field for each address in the membership table 30 . an ap 52 will not forward a multicast frame having an oui equal to hexadecimal 01005e , in an “ outbound ” direction on the link unless its multicast destination corresponds with an authorized recipient 24 indicated as active over the link . for example , if an ap 52 receives a multicast from over its ethernet link to the lan 50 , it will first check the oui . if the oui is 01005e , then the access point 52 will determine if the destination address is on its “ active table .” if it is not , the frame is not forwarded over the ap &# 39 ; s 802 . 11 link . as wireless clients “ roam ” between access points , the multicast membership table 30 and all its respective entries can be transferred from an “ old parent access point ” to a “ new parent access point ” 62 . in this event the new parent ap 62 updates its “ active ” multicast table to reflect the newly - associated station &# 39 ; s multicast membership . the “ old parent ap ” would then delete the respective entry for that station . it may not always be possible to transfer group membership information from the “ old ap ” to the “ new ap ” when a station roams . in that case , the new ap can send an igmp “ general query ” message to a station when it first roams to the new ap . an igmp query is used to solicit igmp membership report messages from the station . the solicited igmp report messages update the group membership information in the new ap and update group membership information in any associated ethernet bridges and switches in the path to the station . it should be noted that with the present invention , ethernet switches may also implement “ igmp snooping ” by “ sniffing ” igmp messages received on a switch port . simple igmp snooping will not work correctly in such a switch , because a roaming cleint will not transmit igmp reports each time it roams into an ap in a “ new switch ort .” the problem can be resolved if a new parent ap sends an igmp general query to reestablish group membership information in both the ap and the switch . also , a new parent ap may generate “ proxy igmp membership report ” messages for a station , when the station first roams to the ap , to update group membership information in any ethernet bridges or switches that use igmp snooping on the path to the station . it should also be noted that the “ age ” of group membership is also transferred when a client roams to a new ap . an “ active ” entry is deleted when the number of stations associated with a given active multicast address reaches zero . the active entry count is decremented when a station in the multicast group roams to a different ap . an entry is also “ aged ” and discarded if a new igmp membership report is not received within some time period . the present method offers certain benefits over a previous - type statistically configured filter . with the present method , the network manager does need advance notice of all multicast addresses that may be used . also , the addresses need to be enabled only for the period they are in use . this improves efficiency by removing uncertainty . also , the present solution does not require enhancements or changes to an existing 802 . 11 client or other recipient . the present solution also distinguishes between types of ip multicast frames . a standard membership registration protocol is used to define membership information , to distinguish between multicast frames where the membership is not known . as described hereinabove , the present invention solves many problems associated with previous type devices . however , it will be appreciated that various changes in the details , materials and arrangements of parts which have been herein described and illustrated in order to explain the nature of the invention may be made by those skilled in the area within the principle and scope of the invention will be expressed in the appended claims . | 7 |
reference will now be made in detail to the presently preferred embodiments of the invention , examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings , wherein like reference numerals refer to like elements throughout . the present inventive concept relates to a gear reduction unit ( or “ gear box ”) for use with an electric motorcycle ( a motorcycle powered by an electric , not combustion , engine ). while electric motors themselves do not make very much noise , the gear box is designed to give audio feedback which changes pitch , volume , and tone at different speeds . fig1 is a drawing of an entire electric motorcycle , according to an embodiment . an electric motorcycle 100 is shown which has a gear box 102 , a chain 101 , and a foot rest 103 . the gear box will receive power from an electronic motor and output that power to the chain 101 . the electric motorcycle has a motorcycle frame 109 and a rear wheel 110 . the electric motorcycle 100 can be a brutus electric motorcycle or any other kind . aside from the fact that the electric motorcycle uses an electric motor , gear box , and chain configuration as described herein , the electric motorcycle otherwise operates and is structured as a standard combustion driven motorcycle . note that an electric motorcycle does not need a transmission because electric motors generate all of their torque at low speeds . fig2 is a drawing of a gear box mounted to the electric motorcycle , according to an embodiment . the gear box 102 comprises a cover plate 201 attached to a main body 202 . the main body 202 is attached to the motorcycle 100 . fill bolt 210 ( through a washer ) is screwed into a gear oil level check hole 211 . when fill bolt 210 is removed , the oil level can be checked through the gear oil level check hole 211 ( also referred to as “ check hole ”). when the fill bolt 210 is removed , if oil leaks out of the hole 211 then the gear box does not need more oil . if no oil leaks out of the hole 211 , then oil should be added to the hole 211 until it leaks out . fig3 is a drawing showing how the gear box is mounted onto the electric motorcycle , according to an embodiment . an electric motor 302 is mounted to the motorcycle 100 . the electric motor 302 drives ( turns ) a motor shaft 303 . note that the power ( rotation ) input to the motor shaft 303 will pass through the gear box ( as described herein ) and is output to a sprocket 304 which has a chain mounted on it . bolts 300 pass through washers 301 which attach the main body 202 to the motorcycle 100 and the electric motor 302 ( nuts on the opposite side which seal the bolts 300 are not shown ). fig4 is a drawing showing the inside of the gear box , according to an embodiment . the cover plate 201 is connected to the main body 202 via bolts 420 ( while only two such bolts are illustrated there are many such bolts 420 which are used in the holes around the perimeter of the cover plate 201 and the main body 202 ). the cooperating nuts sealing the bolts 420 are not shown . the motor shaft 303 passes through a motor gear 400 and attaches inside a third outer bearing 412 ( e . g ., a ball bearing or other such bearing ). all bearings described herein can be ball bearings or other suitable bearings . the motor shaft 303 has a key seat 407 which is a notch through the motor shaft 303 which is adapted to snugly receive a key 405 . the motor gear 400 has a keyway 406 which is also adapted to snugly receive the key 405 . thus , when assembled , the key 405 fits inside the key seat 407 and the keyway 406 which serves to firmly connect the motor shaft 303 through the motor gear 400 ( and hence the motor shaft 303 turns the motor gear 400 ). a keyway shaft clamp 408 ( has two halves ) fits inside a hole 421 which allows the motor shaft 303 to pass therethrough . a first end of an idle shaft 404 fits inside a second inner bearing 414 . the idle shaft 414 fits through ( and turns ) an idle gear 401 . a second end of the idle shaft 404 ( opposite the first end ) fits inside a second outer bearing 411 . a first end of an output shaft 403 fits inside a first inner bearing 413 . the output shaft 403 fits through ( and turns ) an output gear 402 . a second end of the output shaft 403 ( opposite the first end ) fits inside a first outer bearing 410 . all bearings herein ( e . g ., the first inner bearing 413 , the second inner bearing 414 , the first outer bearing 410 , the second outer bearing 411 , the third outer bearing 412 ) can be ball bearings or any other suitable type of bearing . also shown in fig4 is a gasket 430 that fits between the cover plate 201 and the main body 202 . the gasket 430 can be made out of rubber and cushions the seal between the cover plate 201 and the main body 202 preventing a metal to metal seal . fig5 is a drawing showing a shaft seal plate , according to an embodiment . a shaft seal plate 500 has a shaft seal 501 and an o - ring seal 502 . the seals ( e . g ., shaft seal 501 , o - ring seal 502 ) can be made of rubber and serve to seal the shaft seal plate so no fluid ( such as oil ) leaks therethrough . the seals fit in respective notches in the round cover plate . fig6 is a drawing showing how a sprocket is mounted , according to an embodiment . the first end of the output shaft 403 fits through the shaft seal plate 500 . note that in fig6 the opposite side of the shaft seal plate 500 is shown from the side shown in fig5 . the shaft seal plate 500 is attached directly to the main body 202 using four screws ( or bolts ). the sprocket 304 fits onto the first end of the output shaft 403 but cannot pass past where teeth on the first end of the output shaft 403 end . a bolt 600 ( or screw ) fits through one or more washers , through the sprocket , through the shaft seal plate 500 , and screws into the first end of the output shaft 403 thereby completing a sprocket assembly . in other words , the sprocket 304 fits tightly onto the first end of the output shaft 403 . thus , when the output shaft 403 turns , it turns the sprocket 304 . fig7 is a drawing showing the rotation of gears inside the gear box , according to an embodiment . the gear box operates as follows . the motor shaft 303 turns the motor gear 400 . the motor gear 400 turns the idle gear 401 ( hence turning the idle shaft 404 ). the idle gear 401 turns the output gear 402 ( hence turning the output shaft 403 ). note that all of the gears in the gear box ( the motor gear 400 , the idle gear 401 , the output gear 402 ) are all straight cut gears ( as opposed to helical gears ). the straight cut gears provide for an enhanced audio feedback ( vs . using helical cut gears ). the output shaft 403 turns the sprocket ( not visible in fig7 ) which turns the chain 101 which propels the motorcycle 100 . note that all three gears are adjacent to each other and in communication with each other , in other words one gear cannot turn without turning its neighbor ( s ). note that in an embodiment , the motor gear 400 can have a diameter of 2 and 5 / 16 inches , the idle gear 401 has a diameter of 4 . 25 inches , and the output gear 402 has a diameter of 4 . 25 inches . the motor gear 400 can have 20 teeth , the idle gear 401 can have 41 teeth , and the output gear 402 can have 41 teeth . note that the idle shaft 404 can be 6 spline which fits into the idle gear 401 which can also be a corresponding 6 spline and hence the configuration of both enables a tight fit . the output shaft 403 can be 6 spline which fits into the output gear 402 which can also be a corresponding 6 spline and hence the configuration of both enables a tight fit . the opposite side of the output shaft 403 that fits onto the sprocket 304 can be 13 spline ( which fits onto a corresponding 13 spline sprocket 304 ). note that there are two different sizes of bearings used . a small bearing is 2 and 1 / 16 inches in diameter and has a center hole ¾ inches in diameter . a large bearing is 2 . 5 inches in diameter and has a center hole 1⅛ inches in diameter . the small bearing is used on both sides of the idle shaft 404 ( the second outer bearing 411 and the second inner bearing 414 ) and on the cover plate 201 side of the output shaft 403 . the large bearing is used on the main body 202 side of the output shaft 403 and the cover plate 201 side of the motor shaft 303 . the center holes on both bearing types ( the small bearing and the large bearing ) allow for a slip fit on their respective shafts . note that “ small ” and “ large ” are relative terms and basically refer to the large bearing being larger in diameter than the small bearing , but otherwise any sizes can be used for the small bearing and large bearing no matter how large or small . note that the particular parameters described herein ( e . g ., gear diameters , number of teeth , bearing sizes , spline numbers , etc .) merely represent one example of an embodiment of the inventive concept , and one of ordinary skill in the art would appreciate that numerous different parameters of the parts ( e . g ., different sizes , etc .) can be applied to the inventive concept which can still achieve the advantages of the inventive concept . fig8 is a drawing showing a cross section of the gear box from the view indicated in fig2 , according to an embodiment . note that the motor shaft 303 is parallel to the output shaft 403 . referring back to fig2 , because of the configuration of the gear box ( including the motor shaft 303 and the output shaft 403 ), the chain 101 passes behind the foot rest 103 . therefore , there is little or no danger of the rider getting his / her foot caught in the chain since the chain is behind where the rider &# 39 ; s legs and feet will be . the chain 101 also connects to a final drive gear on the rear wheel 110 of the motorcycle , thereby turning the rear wheel when the sprocket 304 is rotated . of course the sprocket 304 is rotated whenever the motor shaft 303 is rotated , although at different speeds . note that the connection between the sprocket 304 and the final drive gear on the rear wheel 110 takes advantage of being inboard and parallel to the motor for extra safety in the event of a chain break . because the sprocket 304 is located where it is ( inside the motorcycle frame 109 and away from the foot rest 103 ) the rider is much safer in the event of an incident or accident . the main body 202 itself acts as a chain guard when mounted to a motorcycle with rearset style footrest positioning . this eliminates the need for a special additional chain guard on a complete motorcycle which is required by dot / nhtsa standards . the gear box can give a gear reduction ratio of 2 . 05 : 1 ( or any other ratio ). the sealed unit can also use gear oil for lubrication and cooling , and the main body can also act as a heat sink for the electric motor . any type of chain can be used , such as # 520 , # 525 , # 530 . with the addition of a standard adapter , the output shaft can be hooked up to a driveshaft , thus enabling the gear box to be used in other applications as well ( e . g ., cars , boats , watercraft , etc .) the cover plate 201 and main body 202 can all be made of aluminum . all of the shafts and gears can be made of chromemoly steel . the bearings and seals are industry standard parts ( e . g ., bearings can be made out of metal or any other material standard bearings are made out of , and the seals can be made out of rubber or any other material standard seals are made out of ). although it can be appreciated , that any part described herein can be made out of any suitable material ( e . g ., steel , aluminum , any type of metal , plastic , rubber , etc ., depending on the part .) note that the absence of a part from the figures does not imply that such part does not exist . for example , all bolts can have a cooperating nut which may or may not be shown . all bolts and screws can also have a washer . any such construction which is standard in the art can be applied to all constructs described and / or illustrated herein whether explicitly illustrated / described or not . if any aspect of the invention is not shown in the figures , then common sense can be applied to determine the structure of the non - illustrated portion utilizing the description herein and / or what is commonly known in the art . the many features and advantages of the invention are apparent from the detailed specification and , thus , it is intended by the appended claims to cover all such features and advantages of the invention that fall within the true spirit and scope of the invention . further , since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art , it is not desired to limit the invention to the exact construction and operation illustrated and described , and accordingly all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to , falling within the scope of the invention . | 5 |
drill a predetermined hole through upper portion of a conventional spark plug tip , install compressible spring over plug tip , put thrust washer on top of said spring , insert a predetermined slot - pin or cotter - pin through the hole to hold said washer and spring in place . the said assemblage can also be put together with built - in slot - pins in manufacturing process of spark plugs . the spring clip in conventional plug wire metal clamp will be omitted , predetermined slots are built in metal clamp , recommend material for modified metal clamps be superior than excisting counterpart . rubber boot will be made to slide along plug wire instead of stationary , same modification can be applied to hemi style long - reached plug wire and distributorless individual ignition coil design . an adaptor can be built with conventional plug tip at one end , which will fit conventional plug wire metal clamp , while the other end with predetermined slots will fit in spring - loaded plug tip . the advantage here is no modification needed for conventional plug wires , but non locking character still exists . the invention provides simple steps to connect and disconnect spark plug wires from spark plugs . for removal , slide rubber boot 18 ( fig7 ) upward to expose enough metal clamp of plug wire 20 ( fig8 ) press said metal clamp down , turn counter clockwise to release , since plug tip is spring - loaded , said metal clamp will be pushed out after it clears the slot - pins . compare to what mechanics are doing these days like twisting , pulling and yanking , this self - pop - up is a phenomenon . for installation , hold said metal clamp against matching slot - pins ( can be felt easily ), once metal clamp clears said slot - pins , press down and turn clockwise to lock , the spring will urge upon said metal clamp , forming a positive locking position , slide down said rubber boot firmly . with conventional snap and pull connections , even experienced mechanic can &# 39 ; t be certain said connections are secured or just being snug , now they are black and white ! | 7 |
fig1 shows a view of an exemplary timepiece , namely a watch , in accordance with the invention . watch 100 has a watchband 110 and a fixed time indicator 120 . a section 3 — 3 along the centerline of the watch is shown more in detail in fig3 . watch 100 has an object 130 removably attached thereto as described more hereinafter . fig2 is a side view of exemplary watch 100 . an object , in this example an ornamental sculpture 130 , is removably mounted on the top of the watch . in the illustrated embodiment , the watch has two concentric conical time display bands or rings which rotate about the center of the watch . the bottom one 200 , in this example , shows the hour as a location under time indicator 120 . the top one 210 shows the minutes . other bands or rings could be implemented as well . a watch base 230 serves as a mechanical base for the timepiece and permits the connection 240 of a watchband 110 . fig3 is a section view of watch 100 along section lines 3 — 3 in fig1 . a watch base 230 and platform 320 are mounted together by connection to shaft 220 . in this example , the shaft can be press fit or snap fit into the base and into the platform although other techniques for attachment could be used as well . the platform 320 serves as a mounting base for an object such as an ornament or sculpture . the conical time display band or rings 200 and 210 mount to cylinders 310 and 300 respectively , shown in more detail in fig4 . one exemplary technique for mounting includes soldering or welding the time display rings to the cylinders . other techniques may be used as well . cylinders 300 and 310 are mounted to the shaft 220 concentrically , so as to permit independent rotation , and cylinder 300 fits within cylinder 310 . motor mechanism 330 is coupled to a gear arrangement at the bottom of each cylinder 300 and 310 by one or more gear trains , indicated as dashed lines . a battery 340 may be conveniently mounted to the watch base . the gear train could , of course , be driven by a mechanical drive mechanism of the type used in timepieces for hundreds of years , rather than by an electrical motor . fig4 a , 4 b and 4 c show exemplary cylinders 300 and 310 . a gear or gear teeth are mounted to or formed in the bottom of the cylinder . these engage the gear arrangement driven by the motor . in the implementation of cylinder 300 , a notch 410 is provided into which a split c ring may be fitted to keep cylinder 310 from sliding down and interfering with the engagement of the cylinder 300 with the gear arrangement of cylinder 300 driven by the motor . fig5 is an illustration of shaft 220 . it too has a notch ( 500 ) provided into which a split c ring may be fitted to keep cylinder 300 from sliding down and engaging the watch base which might interfere with the rotation of the cylinder . the preferred technique for mounting an object to platform 320 is shown in fig6 and 7 . there are two basic parts to this system , a wishbone shaped spring ( fig6 ) and a stud ( fig7 ). in general the spring is secured to the piece that it is to be attached to the watch and the stud is secured to platform 320 , preferably at the top and center of the watch . the wishbone spring 600 is preferably made of spring steel . in an exemplary embodiment , the dimensions of this spring would be approximately 20 mm long , 5 mm wide , and 0 . 5 mm thick . there is a drilled hole 610 at one end to facilitate a screw for securing to the object to be removably attached . a drilled hole 620 in the middle of the spring , slightly smaller than the pilot diameter of the stud , 710 , facilitates easy attachment of the spring mounted object to the stud . the stud is preferably made of hardened and polished steel . this piece has three distinct features , namely , the base 720 ( preferably about 5 mm in diameter ), the square 730 , and the pilot diameter ( each about 2 mm in diameter ). the total height from bottom of base to top of the pilot diameter of this part is about 5 mm . the pilot diameter has a tapered end 740 which tapers down from the diameter of pilot diameter to a minor diameter smaller than the size of hole 620 in the wishbone spring . in this embodiment , it is important that the diameter of the hole 620 , in the center of the wishbone spring , be smaller than the diameter of the pilot diameter of the stud . about 25 % smaller would be preferable . in this embodiment , it is also important that the apex of the square be the same size as the pilot diameter to facilitate easy removal . for assembly , a object , such as sculpture 130 is attached to the wishbone spring 600 , using , for example , a screw that passes through hole 610 in the spring and into the body of the object . the wishbone spring is pressed over the tapered ( conical ) end of the stud and forced open until it opens enough to pass over the pilot diameter until it snaps into place on the square section of the stud . the square section of the stud allows several important advantages . first , the object can be positioned in any 90 degree increment . second , the object will be easily removed by a simple turn of 45 degrees and lifting away from the watch . although the present invention has been described and illustrated in detail , it is clearly understood that the same is by way of illustration and example only and is not to be taken by way of limitation , the spirit and scope of the present invention being limited only by the terms of the appended claims and their equivalents . | 6 |
referring now specifically to the drawings , and the illustrative embodiments depicted therein , a combine or harvester 10 , according to the invention , includes a laser assembly 11 having at least one laser source 12 projecting a laser in the nature of a beam of photons “ b ” positioned to intersect the stalk of a plant “ p ” ( fig1 and 2 ). laser assembly 11 is supported by a vehicle 14 . vehicle 14 may be a conventional harvester of the type disclosed in u . s . pat . no . 4 , 408 , 441 , the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference . as such , laser assembly 14 may be a retrofit kit to replace the mechanical cutters of the harvester while utilizing the propulsion system and gathering arms of the combine . alternatively , laser assembly 11 may be supported by a vehicle 14 having pneumatic tires 18 and a lightweight frame to reduce compaction of the soil . wheels 18 may be mounted with hydraulic lifts ( not shown ) and a control to keep the body of vehicle 14 level , notwithstanding variation in terrain . pneumatic tires 18 are less likely to loosen the upper surface of the soil . moreover , support 14 has a weight that is significantly less than that of mechanical combines . accordingly , the tendency for tires 18 to compact the soil is significantly reduced over mechanical combines . a generator 16 , which may be supported by vehicle 14 , is provided to supply electrical energy to power laser assembly 11 . preferably , assembly 11 is a plurality of lasers 12 laterally arranged in a laser , as illustrated in fig2 . most preferably , the plurality of lasers is moved , such as by scanning , or the like , laterally from the solid line position illustrated in fig2 to the phantom position illustrated in fig2 . this allows a fewer number of lasers to be utilized to cut the stalks of plants “ p .” in the illustrated embodiment , lasers 12 cover a cutting distance “ d ” laterally of the movement of support 14 . preferably , distance “ d ” is on the order of one foot and is , most preferably , in the range of 12 inches to 14 inches . generator 16 is sized to supply the power requirements of lasers 12 . by way of example , if eight laser assemblies are utilized , and each require 1 kilowatt of power , then generator 16 would be at least 8 kilowatts in size . in the illustrated embodiment , support 14 scans lasers 12 at a rate of on the order of one cycle per second . however , other rates may be appropriate for the application . the lasers 12 may be moved by a purely lateral motion , as illustrated in fig2 . alternatively , they can be swept in a fan shape motion as would be suggested to the skilled artisan . laser 12 has a focal length that is less than one foot in length , and may be less than one - half of a foot in length , and may be four inches or less . this reduces the necessity for shielding around lasers 12 to protect individuals in the area in which combine 10 is operating from damage resulting from contact with beam “ b ,” such as by the beam contacting the eyes of the individual . it is advantageous to reduce the necessity for any special shielding around laser 12 because such shield may reduce the effectiveness of its operation in cutting the stalks of plants “ p .” an advantage of combine 10 is that it cauterizes the stalk , as seen in fig5 in which the surface of the cut is relatively uniform and exposes channels in the stalk . this is an advantage over the cut produced by mechanical cutting of the stalk , as illustrated in fig4 in which glucose may ooze from the many exposed channels ch in the cut thereby reducing the yield of sugar . advantageously , by cauterizing the cut , the present invention facilitates the cutting of the stalk into multiple short pieces , or segments , s , as illustrated in fig3 by a series of cuts c to each stalk p . combine 10 may cut the sugarcane into lengths of less than one foot , less than one - half of a foot , and even as low as approximately four inches or less without concern from glucose weeping from each cut c . as seen in fig3 the producing of multiple short pieces of stalk results in a cutting of the foliage f thereby cutting excess lengths of foliage f from the stalk . this allows the foliage to be removed at the site , such as by tumbling the stack while passing the stalk and foliage through a fluid jet , such as a jet of compressed air . an example of an apparatus that may discharge the separated excess foliage is as disclosed in u . s . pat . no . 5 , 092 , 110 , the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference . this separates the foliage from the stalk such that the foliage may be immediately returned to the soil without being hauled to and from the processing plant . this reduces the cost of processing the foliage . furthermore , the stalk can be more quickly processed without the necessity for a separate stalk - removing procedure at the processing plant . this further increases the yield of sugar because of the initiation of conversion of glucose to sugar begins as soon as the plant is cut . in the illustrated embodiment , combine 10 initially cuts the stalk close to the ground with the remaining cuts that divide the stalk into small pieces being performed when the stalk is supported by support 14 . in order to control the height of the initial cut “ c ,” a height control mechanism 20 may be provided to control the height of laser assembly 11 . height control mechanism 20 is a non - contact sensor that senses distance to the soil and a control that adjusts to that level selected by an operator . height control mechanism 20 may be a laser - based control , a camera - based control , an ultrasonic - based control , a radar - based control , a mechanical sensor , or the like , which are known in the art . by way of example , such height control mechanism may be of the type disclosed in u . s . pat . no . 5 , 327 , 345 , the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference . because height control mechanism 20 is capable of guiding position of laser assembly 1 without constant intervention by an operator , it is no longer necessary to burn the foliage around plants to allow an operator to view the interface between the soil and the sugarcane . this avoids the problems created by burning in the past . another laser assembly ( not shown ) may be supported by vehicle 14 in a position to cut off tops of the sugarcane stalks . this additional laser assembly may be manually controlled in vertical height by an operator , which is feasible because sugarcane stalk tops are somewhat consistent in height . however , a height control similar to mechanism 20 could also be used to control a laser assembly to cut sugarcane stalk tops . thus , it is seen that the present invention provides a unique combine and method of harvesting a plant having a stalk , which is more efficient at processing the stalks , as set forth above . in addition to facilitating the removal of foliage at the site , wherein the foliage can be immediately returned to the soil , the present invention produces less soil compaction and less disturbing of the top layer of the soil . this reduces the need for subsequent aeration of the soil and the likelihood that the trucks hauling the sugarcane to the processing plant will transfer loose soil from the field to the road . furthermore , the necessity for hauling only the stalk , and not the foliage , to the processing plant reduces the number of loads that must be hauled for each unit of output . furthermore , the need to burn foliage is advantageously removed . the present invention makes use of commercially available lasers , which are capable of having their photon beam focused in response to an output from a control . however , the invention may also be used with a laser whose photon beam is permanently focused at a focal length “ f ” selected in the manner set forth above . although the invention is most advantageous in harvesting sugarcane , its use in other stalk - based crops , such as corn , will be apparent to those skilled in the art . furthermore , as set forth above , the invention may be applied to other uses , such as a bush hog , or the like . changes and modifications in the specifically described embodiments can be carried out without departing from the principles of the invention , which is intended to be , limited only by the scope of the appended claims , as interpreted according to the principles of patent law including the doctrine of equivalents . | 0 |
the foregoing aspects and many of the attendant advantages of this present disclosure will become more readily appreciated and better understood by reference to the following detailed description of preferred embodiment as a method for fabricating a led device , when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings . it should be appreciated that the features and present disclosure concepts may be applied on other light emitting semiconductor device , such as an ultra - high efficiency led or a laser diode . fig2 a illustrates a vertical view of a light emitting semiconductor wafer and partial magnitude in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present disclosure . fig2 b to 2h illustrate a series of partial cross - sectional views of a manufacture process for fabricating a light emitting semiconductor device along the line s shown in fig2 a . first a light emitting semiconductor wafer 200 having a plurality of die units 201 is provided ( referring to fig2 b ). in the preferred embodiment of the present disclosure , the light emitting semiconductor wafer 200 comprises a p type semiconductor epitaxy layer 203 , an active layer 204 and an n type semiconductor epitaxy layer 205 piled in sequence to form a semiconductor epitaxy structure 206 . at least one trench 207 that is formed in the light emitting semiconductor wafer 200 vertically extending from the top surface of the p type semiconductor epitaxy layer 203 into the active layer 204 and the n type semiconductor epitaxy layer 205 is used to identify the die units 201 on the light emitting semiconductor wafer 200 . in the preferred embodiment of the present disclosure , each of the die units 201 further comprises a first electrode 208 , formed on the n type semiconductor epitaxy layer 205 , and a second electrode 209 that is consisted of a portion of a conductive substrate 202 used to grow the semiconductor epitaxy structure 206 . the first electrode 208 is electrically connected to the second electrode 209 via the p type semiconductor epitaxy layer 203 , the active layer 204 , and the p type semiconductor epitaxy layer 205 . fig2 c illustrates a cross - sectional view of a portion of the light emitting semiconductor wafer 200 shown in fig2 b , after a photoresist 210 is formed thereon . a screen - printing or a thick film process is applied to form the photoresist layer 210 for blanketing over the die units 201 . a mask ( not shown ) is then applied to conduct an exposure and developing process for forming a plurality of openings 211 in the photoresist layer 210 associated with the die units 201 . fig2 d and fig2 e respectively illustrate a cross - sectional view and a vertical view of a portion of the light emitting semiconductor wafer 200 , after the pattern process is conducted on the photoresist 210 , wherein each opening 211 aligns with one of the die units 201 , and each opening 211 has a size greater than the size of the corresponding die unit 201 for exposing thereof . thus the portion of the patterned photoresist 210 used to identify the openings 211 may be remained on a portion of the trench 207 to serve as a plurality of revetments ( hereinafter referred to as revetments 210 a ), and each opening 211 can expose a corresponding die unit 201 and the other portion of the trench 207 so as to separate the die unit 201 from the revetments 210 a . in some embodiments of the present disclosure , each of the revetments 210 a has a level higher than or equal to the level of the corresponding die unit 201 . in the embodiments of the present disclosure , the shape and size of each opening 211 may be designed according to the predetermined shape and size of the corresponding die unit 201 . in some embodiments of the present disclosure , another portion of the patterned photoresist 210 , denoted as 210 b , may be remained in each of the openings 211 to cover the first electrode 208 of each corresponding die unit 201 . after the photoresist 210 is patterned , a compound 212 mixed with phosphor is filled into the openings 211 via a compound filler 213 . since the size of each opening 211 is greater than the size of the corresponding die unit 201 , and each of the revetments 210 a has a level higher than or equal to the level of the corresponding die unit 201 . the phosphor compound 212 filled in these openings 211 not only blankets over the top surface of the n type semiconductor epitaxy layer 205 of each die unit 201 , but also fills in the gap between the revetment 210 a and the side wall 201 a of the die unit 201 perpendicular with the top surface of the n type semiconductor epitaxy layer 205 . thus the phosphor compound 212 can be accurately filled into each of the opening 211 in a predetermined volume . in some embodiments of the present disclosure , the phosphor compound 212 is consisted of organic polymers mixed by phosphoric materials . light emitting from the die units 201 can activate the phosphoric materials from which some visible light with red , yellow , green , blue or other colors may be derived . in the preferred embodiment of the present disclosure , the phosphor compound 212 is consisted of organic polymers or silica gel mixed by phosphoric materials . the openings 211 are filled with phosphor compound 212 by a continuous filling step or by a discontinuous filling step adjusted according to the design of the patterned photoresist 210 a to entirely encapsulate the die units 201 without causing any voids . subsequently , a baking process is conducted to solidify the phosphor compound 212 so as to form a phosphor - encapsulating layer 214 in each of the openings 211 ( referring to fig2 f ). the remaining portions of the photoresist 210 a and 210 b are then removed to form the structure shown in fig2 g to complete the phosphor coating process . in some embodiments of the present disclosure , an exposure - development process or a plasma - etching process is applied to remove the remaining portions of the photoresist 210 a and 210 b . after the remaining portions of the photoresist 210 a are removed , the resultant trench 207 a can be exposed to separate each of the die units 201 by a certain distance d and serve as a cutting street during a subsequent dicing process . after the remaining portions of the photoresist 210 b are removed , a plurality of openings 216 are formed in each of the phosphor encapsulating layers 214 used to encapsulate one of the die unites 211 , so as to expose a portion of the corresponding first electrode 208 and to provide a bonding area for a subsequent wire bonding process . subsequently , a dicing process is conducted to separate the die units 201 from the light emitting semiconductor wafer 200 coated with phosphor along the cutting street . each of the separated die units 201 having a phosphor - encapsulating layer 214 thereon is then subjected to a bonding process and a packaging process to form a light emitting semiconductor device having a die unit 201 electrically connected to a chip carrier 215 ( referring to fig2 h ). fig3 a to 3e illustrate a series of partial cross - sectional views of a manufacturing process for fabricating a light emitting semiconductor device in accordance with another embodiment of the present disclosure . first a light emitting semiconductor wafer 300 having a plurality of die units 301 is provided ( referring to fig3 a ). in the preferred embodiment of the present disclosure , the light emitting semiconductor wafer 300 comprises a p type semiconductor epitaxy layer 303 , an active layer 304 and an n type semiconductor epitaxy layer 305 piled in sequence to form a semiconductor epitaxy structure 306 . at least one trench 307 that is formed in the light emitting semiconductor wafer 300 vertically extending from the top surface of the p type semiconductor epitaxy layer 303 into the active layer 304 and the n type semiconductor epitaxy layer 305 is used to identify the die units 301 on the light emitting semiconductor wafer 300 . in the preferred embodiment of the present disclosure , each of the die units 301 further comprises a first electrode 308 , formed on the n type semiconductor epitaxy layer 305 , and a second electrode 309 , formed on the p type semiconductor epitaxy layer 303 . the first electrode 308 is electrically connected to the second electrode 309 via the p type semiconductor epitaxy layer 303 , the active layer 304 , and the p type semiconductor epitaxy layer 305 . fig3 b illustrates a cross - sectional view of a portion of the light emitting semiconductor wafer 300 shown in fig3 a , after a photoresist 310 is formed thereon . a screen - printing or a spin - coating process is applied to form the photoresist layer 310 for blanketing over the die units 301 . a mask ( not shown ) is then applied to conduct an exposure and developing process for forming a plurality of openings 311 in the photoresist layer 310 in associate with the die units 301 , wherein each opening 311 aligns with a corresponding die units 301 , and each opening 311 has a size greater than the size of the corresponding die unit 301 for exposing thereof . thus the portions of the patterned photoresist 310 used to identify the openings 311 may be remained on a portion of the trench 307 to serve as a plurality of revetments ( hereinafter referred to as revetments 310 a ), and each opening 311 exposes a corresponding die unit 301 and the other portion of the trench 307 so as to separate the die unit 301 from the revetments 310 a . in some embodiments of the present disclosure , each of the revetments 310 a has a level higher than or equal to the level of the corresponding die unit 301 . in the embodiments of the present disclosure , the shape and size of each opening 311 may be designed according to the predetermined shape and size of the corresponding die unit 301 . in some embodiments of the present disclosure , other portions of the patterned photoresist , such as portions 310 b and 310 c , may be remained in each of the openings 311 to cover the first electrode 308 and the second electrode 309 of each corresponding die unit 301 . after the photoresist 310 is patterned , a compound 312 mixed with phosphor is filled into the openings 311 via a compound filler 313 . since the size of each opening 311 is greater than the size of the corresponding die unit 301 , and each of the revetments 310 a has a level higher than or equal to the level of the corresponding die unit 301 . the phosphor compound 312 filled in these openings 311 not only blankets over the top surface of the n type semiconductor epitaxy layer 305 of each die unit 301 , but also fills in the gap between the revetment 310 a and the side wall 301 a of the die unit 301 perpendicular with the top surface of the top surface of the n type semiconductor epitaxy layer 305 . thus the phosphor compound 312 can be accurately filled into each of the opening 311 with a predetermined volume . in some embodiments of the present disclosure , the phosphor compound 312 is consisted of organic polymers mixed by phosphoric materials . light emitting from the die units 301 can activate the phosphoric materials , from which some visible light with red , yellow , green , blue or other colors may be derived . in the preferred embodiment of the present disclosure , the phosphor compound 312 is consisted of organic polymers or silica gel mixed by phosphoric materials . the openings 311 are filled with phosphor compound 312 by a continuous filling step or by a discontinuous filling step by the compound filler 313 , and the volume of the phosphor compound 312 can be adjusted according to the design of the patterned photoresist 210 a to entirely encapsulate the die units 301 without causing any voids . subsequently , a baking process is conducted to solidify the phosphor compound 312 so as to form a phosphor - encapsulating layer 314 in each of the opening 211 ( referring to fig3 c ). the remaining portions of the photoresist 310 a , 310 b and 310 c are then removed to form the structure shown as fig3 d to complete the phosphor coating process . in some embodiments of the present disclosure , an exposure - development process or a plasma etching process is applied to remove the remaining portions of the photoresist 310 a , 310 b and 310 c . after the portions of the photoresist 310 a are removed , the resultant trench 307 a can be exposed to separate each of the die units 201 for a certain distance d and serve as a cutting street during a subsequent dicing process . after the portions of the photoresist 312 b and 312 c are removed , a plurality of openings 316 and opening 317 are formed respectively in each of the phosphor - encapsulating layers 314 used to encapsulate one of the die unites 311 , so as to expose a portion of the corresponding first electrode 308 and a portion of the corresponding second electrode 309 to provide bonding areas for a subsequent wire bonding process . subsequently , a dicing process is conducted to separate the die units 301 from the light emitting semiconductor wafer 300 coated with phosphor along the cutting street . each of the separated die units 301 having a phosphor - encapsulating layer 314 thereon is then subjected to a bonding process and a packaging process respectively to form a light emitting semiconductor device having a die unit 301 electrically connected to a chip carrier 315 ( not shown ). in accordance with the above embodiments , embodiments of the present disclosure conduct the phosphor coating process on the semiconductor wafer , wherein a photolithography process rather than a conventional die attachment or bonding process is applied to fabricate a plurality of light emitting semiconductor devices . a conformal photoresist layer having a plurality of openings is formed over the light emitting semiconductor wafer to surround a plurality of light emitting semiconductor die units . the openings are associated with the light emitting die units . subsequently , a compound mixed with phosphor is filled into the openings . since a reticle technology is applied to form the openings associated with the light emitting die units , each of the openings can precisely align one of the light emitting die units , and the patterned photoresist ( the revetment surrounding each die unit ) can have an accurate predetermined level . thus the phosphor compound that is filled into each of the openings can be accurately controlled in a predetermined volume , so as to avoid additional waste of phosphor compound . accordingly , light emitting die units can be encapsulated in equilibrium to improve the brightness of the light emitting die units . as is understood by a person skilled in the art , the foregoing preferred embodiments of the present disclosure are illustrative of the present disclosure rather than limitations of the present disclosure . the disclosed embodiments are intended to cover various modifications and similar arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the appended claims , the scope of which should be accorded the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and similar structure . | 7 |
a side cutting method according to the present invention will be discussed hereinafter in greater detail with reference to the accompanying drawings . in the drawings , the reference numeral 1 denotes a punch assembly mounted on an upper turret 2 of a turret punch press , 3 denotes a die mounted on a lower turret 4 . a side cutting process for a plate form workpiece 6 can be performed between the punch chip 5 and the die 3 of the punch assembly 1 . the punch assembly 1 includes a cylindrical punch guide 7 , as shown in fig1 . the punch chip 5 is disposed within the punch guide 7 for vertical sliding movement . the punch chip 5 comprises a large diameter punch chip 5 1 having a body 5a disposed within the punch guide 7 for vertical sliding movement , and a plurality of , such as three , smaller diameter punch chips 5 2 , 5 3 and 5 4 disposed in a plurality of guide holes 5b formed through the body 5a for vertical sliding movement . the punch chip 5 1 has a rectangular tip end , on which a cutting edge 5c with a lower face tapered in the vertical direction so that the side cutting process for a workpiece 6 can be performed with the cutting edge 5c and a rectangular cutting slot formed in the die 3 . the punch chip 5 2 is arranged co - axially with the cutting edge 5c and has a tip end , on which a square cutting edge 5d having the same width to the cutting edge 5c is formed so that punching piece 6a can be cut off by means of the cutting edge 5d . the remaining punch chips 5 3 and 5 4 are arranged at both sides of the punch chip 5 1 as shown in fig2 . circular and triangular cutting edges 5e and 5f are formed on the chip ends of the punch chips 5 3 and 5 4 . on the other hand , the punch chip 5 1 has an upper end portion having smaller diameter . the smaller diameter portion 5g fixedly mounts a punch head 9 , center of which is adapted to receive an impact by an striker 14 1 discussed later . between the punch head 9 and an upper plate 7a provided on the upper end of the punch guide 7 , a stripping spring 10 formed of a resilient or an elastic body , such as a rubber , is disposed for urging the punch chip 5 1 upwardly . the upper ends of other punch chips 5 2 to 5 4 are extended around the smaller diameter portion 5g and reach through openings 9a formed through the punch head 9 through through holes 10a defined in the stripping spring 10 . the upper ends of the punch chips 5 2 to 5 4 are arranged substantially in flush with the upper surface of the punch head 9 . between spring seats 5h formed at positions slightly above the intermediate portions of respective punch chips 5 2 to 5 4 and the upper surface of the body 5a of the punch chip 5 1 , stripping springs 11 comprising coil springs are disposed . with these stripping springs 11 , respective punch chips 5 2 to 5 4 are biased upwardly . on the other hand , at an impacting position of the turret punch press , a ram 14 which is adapted to be driven vertically by means of a not shown drive mechanism . a plurality of strikers 14 1 , 14 2 , 14 3 and 14 4 are provided on the lower surface of the ram 14 for projecting and contracting with respect thereto . the strikers 14 1 to 14 4 are arranged at corresponding positions to a plurality of punch chips 5 1 to 5 4 provided in the punch assembly 1 . by driving the ram 14 vertically with selectively projecting the strikers 14 1 to 14 4 , the punch chips 5 1 to 5 4 corresponding to these strikers 14 1 to 14 4 can be impacted . by impact given by the strikers 14 1 to 14 4 , one of the chips 5 1 to 5 4 is driven downwardly to extend the cutting edges 5c . 5d , 5e and 5f provided at the tip ends thereof downward from the holes 15 1 to 15 4 of a stripper plate 15 provided on the lower end of the punch guide 7 . thus , as shown in fig3 the cutting edge 5c , 5d , 5e and 5f can perform punching of the workpiece with the cutting slots 3a , 3b and 3c formed in the die 3 at corresponding positions thereto . it should be noted that , in the drawings , the reference numeral 20 denotes a positioning key for positioning the punch chip 5 relative to the punch guide 7 , 21 denotes a positioning key for performing positioning of the punch assembly 1 relative to the upper turret 2 . next , discussion will be given for a process for side cutting of the workpiece 6 using a die apparatus composed of the punch assembly 1 and the die 3 , with reference to fig4 to 8 . during side cutting of the workpiece 6 , the workpiece 6 is initially moved by a clamp 22 for setting the side cutting start position of the workpiece 6 at a punch position . the clamp 22 is designed to clamp the workpiece 6 and move the latter relative to the punch assembly in per se known manner . then , the side cutting process is initiated by projecting the striker 14 1 from the lower end of the ram 14 for impacting the punch chip 15 1 . by downward motion of the ram 14 , the striker 14 1 impacts the punch head 9 corresponding to punch chip 15 1 . thus , the punch chip 15 1 is moved downwardly against the stripping spring 10 to extend the cutting edge 5c at the lower end of the punch chip 5 1 from the hole 15 1 of the stripper plate 15 . thus , the workpiece 6 is cut in the length l 1 between the cutting edge 5c and the die 3 . subsequently , according to upward motion of the of the punch chip 5 1 , the striker 14 1 is retracted . then , the striker 14 2 necessary for the next operation is projected and the punch chip 5 2 is impacted from the above by downward movement of the ram 14 , as shown in fig5 . by this , the punch chip 5 2 is moved downwardly to cut off the punching piece 6a cut by the punch chip 5 1 m between the cutting edge 5d of the punch chip 5 2 and the die 3 . thus , a rectangular hole of the length l 2 is formed in the workpiece 6 . in this case , by making the vertical stroke of the ram 14 variable and thus making the vertical stroke of the punch chip 5 1 variable , the length l 2 of the hole can be differentiated within a predetermined range . it should be appreciated that although the punch chip 5 2 is used in the foregoing process for cutting off the slug , the punch chip 5 3 or 5 4 may be used in place of the punch chip 5 2 . the foregoing is an example , in which the length l 1 is initially cut by the punch chip 5 1 and subsequently , the punching piece 6a is cut off by the punch chip 5 2 for forming the rectangular hole 6b in the length of l 2 . conversely , an example shown in fig7 is adapted to initially cut a length l 3 by making the vertical stroke of the ram 14 variable , and then , as shown in fig8 a length l 4 of the punching piece 6a is cut off by the punch chip 5 2 with leaving the cut portion in the length l 5 . subsequently , the side cutting is continued following to the cut portion . with this process , it becomes possible to perform a side cutting process without leaving a drooping portion while reducing the saw - tooth like trace along the shearing surface , as shown in fig6 a to 6d . although the invention has been illustrated and described with respect to exemplary embodiment thereof , it should be understood by those skilled in the art that the foregoing and various other changes , omissions and additions may be made therein and thereto , without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention . therefore , the present invention should not be understood as limited to the specific embodiment set out above but to include all possible embodiments which can be embodies within a scope encompassed and equivalents thereof with respect to the feature set out in the appended claims . | 8 |
the principles and operation of a monitor assembly according to the present invention may be better understood with reference to the figures , wherein like reference numbers identify like elements throughout the various figures , and the accompanying description . referring now to the drawings , fig1 a through 1c illustrate an embodiment 10 , of a monitor assembly of the present invention , that is intended to be used with a general electric precision 500d radiography fluoroscopy unit ( general electric company , fairfield , conn ., usa ). while a general electric precision 500d radiography fluoroscopy unit is preferred , those skilled in the art will recognize that the invention is not limited to this brand of fluoroscope or to any fluoroscope . the invention may be employed , either as illustrated or with slight modifications , with other brands of fluoroscopes and other equipment without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention . monitor assembly 10 includes a conventional monitor 12 such as a fimi - philips lcd mml 1821 series monitor ( fimi philips , saronno , italy ) or some other appropriate monitor , a joint assembly 14 and a bracket 16 . fig2 a and 2b show details of joint assembly 14 . joint assembly 14 includes a ball joint 18 and an adjustable arm 20 . monitor 12 is rigidly attached to ball joint 18 . both the length of arm 20 and the angle between arm 20 and ball joint 18 are adjustable , as shown . the end of arm 20 is rigidly attached to bracket 16 , as shown in fig1 a - 1c . ball joint 18 allows monitor 12 to be swiveled relative to arm 20 , and arm 20 allows monitor 12 and ball joint 18 to be moved together up and down ( angular adjustment ) and in and out ( length adjustment ) relative to bracket 16 and hence relative to the fluoroscopy unit to which monitor assembly 10 is secured . joint assembly 14 and bracket 16 are made of a suitably rigid material . examples of some suitable materials include metals such as aluminum and polymers such as acrylonitrile butadiene styrene and polycarbonate . fig3 shows monitor assembly 10 reversibly secured to the image intensifier / housing 32 of a general electric radiography fluoroscopy unit 30 . a fluoroscopist can easily adjust the orientation of monitor 12 and ( within the limits of translational extension of arm 14 ) the distance between monitor 12 and image intensifier tower 32 . a fluoroscopist also can position a patient as desired on the examination table of the fluoroscopy unit 30 and conduct diagnostic procedures while looking at the display of the imaging output from fluoroscopy unit 30 on monitor 12 without turning his or her body away from fluoroscopy unit 30 and without interrupting the diagnostic procedures . the examination table can be placed at any angle relative to the floor , from horizontal to vertical ; and monitor assembly 10 can be adjusted accordingly for the convenience of the fluoroscopist . additional monitors may be provided in the conventional manner so that personnel other than the fluoroscopist can see the same display that the fluoroscopist sees . fig4 a - 4c illustrate another embodiment 10 ′, of a monitor assembly of the present invention , that is intended to be used with a phillips allura xper fluoroscopy unit ( koninklijke philips electronics n . v ., eindhoven , the netherlands ). monitor assembly 10 ′ may employ the same monitor 12 and joint assembly 14 as monitor assembly 10 but a different bracket 16 ′. bracket 16 ′ includes four l - pieces 22 arranged in a rectangular shape of adjustable length and width , as shown in fig4 a , and also an orthogonal brace 24 that is secured to the l - piece arrangement by clamp screws , as shown in fig4 b , so as to allow the separation of the distal end 26 of orthogonal brace 24 from the l - piece arrangement to be adjusted , as shown in fig4 c . while four l - shaped pieces and adjustability of both the length and width are preferred , those skilled in the art will recognize that different shapes could be employed to achieve the same adjustability and shape and the l - piece arrangement could have a fixed length and / or width and still fall within the scope of the invention . those skilled in the art will also recognize that orthogonal brace 24 could be fixedly secured to the l - piece arrangement and the l - piece arrangement could be separable to achieve the same or similar results and still fall within the scope of the invention . fig5 shows monitor assembly 10 ′ reversibly secured to the flat detector 42 of the c - arm 40 of a phillips allura xper fluoroscopy unit . orthogonal brace 24 is shown cushioned against the top of flat panel detector by a rubber sleeve , although it need not be to fall within the scope of the invention . in general , the bracket of a monitor assembly of the present invention may be either custom - designed for a specific type of diagnostic device , or semi - custom - designed for a class of diagnostic devices of similar geometry , or a universal bracket that is adaptable to a wide range of diagnostic devices . the illustrated brackets 16 and 16 ′ are of the second type : brackets that are designed for a class of diagnostic devices of similar geometry . for example , fig6 a and 6b are two views of monitor assembly 10 with bracket 16 reversibly secured to the image intensifier tower 52 of the iso - c - arm 50 of a siemens siremobile unit ( siemens ag , berlin and munich , germany ). while the invention has been described with respect to a limited number of embodiments , it will be appreciated that many variations , modifications and other applications of the invention may be made . for example , the connection to the monitor need not be a ball joint . it could be a fixed connection , a connection that only has movement in one direction , or in 2 directions rather than a free range of directions . such connections are conventional and need not be described further . further , the arm could be a fixed length , telescoping or of an accordion type . these various arms are also well known and thus need not be described further . those skilled in the art will recognize that additional joints could be employed to further enhance the degree of movement of the monitor relative to the diagnostic device . it is to be understood that the following claims are intended to cover all of the generic and specific features of the invention as described herein , and all statements of the scope of the invention , which as a matter of language , might be said to fall therebetween . | 0 |
while the invention is susceptible to embodiments in many different forms , there are shown in the drawings and will described herein , in detail , the preferred embodiments of the present invention . it should be understood , however , that the present disclosure is to be considered an exemplification of the principles of the invention and is not intended to limit the spirit or scope of the invention , claims and / or embodiments illustrated . turning now descriptively to the drawings , in which similar reference characters denote similar elements throughout the several views , fig1 a through 4c illustrate a toilet bowl water flow adjustment system 100 , which comprises a divider module 105 which separates a holding tank 10 of a toilet into a main portion 20 and a reserve portion 110 . the main portion 20 contains the main flapper valve 30 is connected to the handle arm 40 by a conventional flush connector 50 . the main flapper valve 30 engages the exit valve 60 of the holding tank 10 . as mentioned , the flow adjustment system 100 includes a divider module 105 that keeps the two tank portions ( main portion 20 and the reserve portion 110 ) in fluid separation from each other . preferably , the divider module 105 includes a first panel 120 and a second panel 125 , with a movable gate panel 130 positioned there between . both the first and second panels include an aperture 135 positioned near the bottom edge 137 of each panel . however , the location of the aperture 135 may be moved , but it is preferably positioned along the bottom edge 137 . the first and second panels include flanged edges 140 extending towards each other , such that the two panels when connected ( such as by secured the flanged edges 140 together ), the two - piece panel construction creates a cavity traversing from a top edge 142 to the bottom edge 137 . the cavity being sized to receive the movable gate panel 130 . in addition to the above , each of the first and second panels 120 and 125 respectively may include a gasket end piece 142 that is able to engage the side walls of the holding tank to help keep the main portion 20 and the reserve portion 110 in fluid separate from each other . the gasket end pieces may be a suitably strip of rubber , vinyl , or similar resilient material , adhesively or otherwise secured in along the side walls of the holding tank . the gasket end pieces 142 may be an important aspect of a retrofit kit in existing toilets . since toilets have variant holding tank shapes , the gasket end piece could help permit the divider module 105 to fit in virtually any sized holding tank 10 . similarly , in addition thereto , one or more of the first or second panels 120 or 125 may include an anchor system 145 used to secure the divider 105 in the holding tank 10 . the anchor system 145 consists of a pair of suction cups 150 which can laterally move outwardly from the outside edges 147 of the panels 120 125 . the suction cups 150 are controlled by turning the knob 152 . the knob 152 may simply connect to a rod which extends to a gear that is meshed to a rack and pinion gear . depending on the direction , turning the knob would either push the suction cups away from the outside edges allowing them to engage the side walls of the tank or pull the suctions cups back towards the outside edges 147 . when the divider 105 is assembled and secured / placed in the holding tank , the movable gate panel 130 is attached to the handle arm 40 by a conventional flush connector 50 . connection to the conventional flush connector 50 is provided by linking the end of the conventional flush connector 50 to a movable gate panel 130 includes a first member 160 protruding from the top edge 162 of the moveable gate panel 130 . the first member 160 may include a plurality of openings 164 to adjustably receive the other end of the linkage 166 . further connected to the protruding first member 160 is a second linkage 170 that has another end connected to one end 177 of a lever 175 . the second end 179 of the lever 175 is connected to a float 185 . in addition , the lever 175 further includes a weighted object 180 that has the freedom to move from one end to the other of the lever 175 . the lever 175 is pivotally secured about a portion 186 , which may be about the middle region thereof , to a second member 188 which extends and connects to the side panel 120 by a linkage member 190 . the second member 188 also provides a plurality of openings such that the lever 175 can be adjusted . the adjustments made by the first member 160 and the second member 188 permit the lever 175 to be adjusted such that the float 185 idly rests on the top of the water level in the holding tank when the holding tank is full of water and the system is at rest . operating the present system is efficient and easy and is designed such that any operator ( especially children ) can use the dual flush aspects of main embodiment . when the handle arm 40 is initially pushed down and released ( once ) the toilet begins its flushing cycle . the conventional flush connector 50 will pull the main valve flapper 30 and will also pull on the first member 160 causing the movable gate panel 130 to begin moving . when the handle arm 40 is released from the initial flush the water level in the holding tank is still above the divider module 105 . the float 185 is therefore kept in its top position which in turn keeps the moveable gate panel 130 in the downward position which keeps the aperture 135 closed separating the main portion 20 from the reserve portion 110 . as water flushes from the main portion 20 , the water level in both portions drops until the level in the reserve portion 110 is about the same height as the divider module 105 . while this could drop the float 185 , the weighted object 180 in the lever 175 keeps the lever 175 in a position that holds the float 185 above the water level and thus maintains the moveable gate panel 130 in a closed position . to operate the present system in a dual flush capacity , the handle arm 40 is initially flushed as mentioned above . immediately after the initial flush , the operator flushes the handle arm 40 a second time . because a toilet ejects water quickly , the time between the initial flush and the second flush is sufficient to drop the water level to a position that the second flush will lower the float 185 and angle the lever 175 to a position that the weighted object 180 moves towards the end with the float 185 . the second flush will also raise the moveable gate panel 130 , which opens the aperture 135 between the main portion 20 and the reserve portion 110 . since the float 185 is in a downward position and the weighted object 180 will keep the float 185 in the downward position , the moveable gate panel 130 will remain open . therefore the second flush will empty both the main portion 20 and the reserve portion 110 . while the shifting weighted object 180 may be critical for insuring proper close or open of the moveable gate panel 130 consistently , similar results may be achieved by carefully balancing the moveable gate panel , the float , and the forces on the gate provided by the water pressure differential between the main portion 20 and the reserve portion 110 . the system can be made with no or minimum changes to any parts of the conventional toilet . from manufacturers &# 39 ; perspective , no expensive alterations of existing manufacturing assets are required since all existing toilet parts and the expensive equipment with which the toilets are made remain unchanged . in addition , no expensive new equipment is needed since there are no new specialized parts to be made with this mechanism . as a result , a dual flush toilet made with one or more of the aforementioned embodiments is significantly less costly to make than other dual flush toilets currently on the market . the water quantity saved can be varied by the size of the main portion of the tank and the height of the divider module . in general , the smaller the size of the main portion of the tank is , the more water saving will be ( there is a minimum size to be functional ), and the taller the divider is , the more water saving will be . however , the maximum height of the divider should be slightly lower than the water level in the toilet tank when the tank is full . one or more of the embodiments in the present invention includes a control mechanism with which a dual flush retrofit converter and a new model of dual flush toilet can be made . such dual flush retrofit converter requires no replacement of any parts of the existing toilet ( therefore is no risk to consumer should the consumer decide to go back to the original toilet ), can be easily installed without professional support , and is user friendly . a dual flush toilet made with the mechanism costs significantly less than other dual flush toilets on the market and they are user friendly . in another embodiment of the present invention , a retrofit system in accordance to similar principals to one or more of the above embodiments is described and illustrated in fig5 a to 6c . the system 200 fits around the main flapper valve 30 completely enclosing the main flapper valve 30 by three walls 205 and a divider module 105 , creating a main portion 205 within the system 200 and a reserve portion 210 outside of the system . the ends 215 of the divider module 105 are connected to edges of two of the walls 205 . the operation of the system 200 would work similar to the aforementioned system 100 such that further explanation is not necessary . in another embodiment of the present invention , a retrofit system in accordance to similar principals to one or more of the above embodiments is described and illustrated in fig . fig7 . the system 300 separates the holding tank into two portions , a main portion 20 and a reserve portion 110 . the system includes edge portions 305 that are secured to the side walls of the holding tank . each edge portions 305 includes a channel 310 running along the length thereof . the channels 310 are sized to accommodate the gate panel 130 . the gate panel 130 is movably positioned in the edge portions 305 such that operation of the system 300 is similar to the above embodiments . a single or initial flush uses the water in the main portion , while a double flush , cause the gate panel 130 to be maintained off of the bottom wall of the holding tank , allowing the system to use the water from both the main portion and the reserve portion 110 . in other variant systems , the system 300 may also include a bottom portion having a channel sized to receive the bottom of the gate panel 130 . this helps ensures that the main portion and the reserve portion are in fluid separation of each other . from the foregoing and as mentioned above , it will be observed that numerous variations and modifications may be effected without departing from the spirit and scope of the novel concept of the invention . it is to be understood that no limitation with respect to the specific methods and apparatus illustrated herein is intended or should be inferred . it is , of course , intended to cover all such modifications . | 4 |
referring now to fig1 , there is provided an outlined illustration of an electrical immobilization weapon in conjunction with a preferred embodiment of the present invention , which mainly comprises a body section ( 50 ) and at least one cartridge apparatus ( 70 ). in this case the cartridge is inserted . the weapon utilizes a type of high - tension power supply ( not shown ) which could be any suitable power supply already known to the art . the single cartridge in this case contains two projectiles ( 11 , 12 ) along a vertical plane of the cartridge ( 70 ) as shown with dotted lines . a single filament or thread ( 10 ) is interconnected to the two projectiles ( 11 , 12 ) to form a kinetic unit , which can be launched by a common propellant . the said propellant could be any suitable types commercially available , for examples spring devices , compressed air , compressed co2 , explosive or pyrotechnic . the weapon can be designed to be single or multiple fired . because of its compact size , other accessories such as a laser - pointer ( 60 ), illumination light source or video data device can be conveniently added to the weapon . the shape of the weapon herein resembles a conventional handgun , but in other embodiments it could have different shapes . referring now to fig2 . two electric opposed projectiles ( 11 , 12 ) are being launched from a single cartridge ( 70 ) with a certain angular orientation . the single filament ( 10 ) is interconnected between the projectiles ( 11 , 12 ) at or close to their center of gravity as shown by the small dots . the point “ g ” indicates the moment when the single filament ( 10 ) is fully stretched to an appropriate length . projectiles ( 11 0 , 12 0 ) in dotted lines show the directions they would travel without the filament ( 10 ), while projectiles ( 11 ′, 12 ′) indicate the actual directions of the projectiles ( 11 , 12 ) with the filament ( 10 ). since the filament or thread ( 10 ) and the projectiles ( 11 , 12 ) act as a single kinetic unit , and since the kinetic energy required to stretch the filament ( 10 ) is provided internally by said kinetic unit , the projectiles ( 11 , 12 ) will then substantially keep the maximum allowed stretching angle and travel forward , thus keeping a substantially constant distance between the two projectiles ( 11 , 12 ). in one preferred embodiment , the two projectiles ( 11 , 12 ) are launched along the vertical medial plane of the cartridge ( 70 ) with one ( 11 ) upward and the other downward ( 12 ) relative to the horizontal plane of the cartridge ( 70 ), and the angle of flight “ α ” is equally distributed between the two projectiles ( 11 , 12 ). owing to the presence of the filament ( 10 ), the effect of acceleration of gravity exerted to the downward projectile ( 12 ) is significantly offset by the upward projectile ( 11 ); the continued forward flight of projectile ( 11 ) or ( 12 ) will also provide reliable guidance for the weapon &# 39 ; s targeting point . by turning the weapon substantially 90 degrees , the two projectiles ( 11 , 12 ) will then be both launched in a horizontal plane relative to the ground . referring now to fig3 . the graph shows that for a conventional taser weapon , the effective range has a maximum of 20 feet and a minimum of about 4 feet ; compared with that of a maximum of 30 feet and a minimum of 2 feet for a device shown in prior art u . s . pat . no . 6 , 575 , 073 ; while the maximum is at least 30 feet and beyond and the minimum is 1 foot for the improved embodiment herein . in this case , the improvement allows the projectiles to reach a range of optimal spreading much closer to the weapon , that is a 13 . 9 inches at distance of 2 feet and 16 inches at distance of just 2 . 3 feet . at maximum range , the spreadings between the two projectiles are 33 . 7 inches and 38 . 5 inches respectively for the taser weapon and the said prior art , which become unfavorable relative to the likelihood of hitting a remote target ; while the inventive embodiment herein will keep a predefined 16 inches optimal spreading throughout . the scales in the graph are roughly proportional . referring now to fig4 - 9 . the basic structures of a cartridge are shown . briefly , a pair of projectiles ( 11 , 12 ) resides in their respective bores ( 21 , 22 ). the bore lines intersect at a small angle behind the bores ( 21 , 22 ), with a minimum distance between said bores at their rear and a maximum distance at their exits . the projectiles ( 11 , 12 ) are to be propelled by at least one common propellant ( 30 ) upon its puncture by a nearby detonating device ( 40 ) to release the propellant force . the detonating device ( 40 ) comprises a case , a slidable punching bullet that can be shot by ignition of a pyrotechnic primer . of course , other suitable propelling devices could be used as well . the pyrotechnic primer ( 42 ) and the case ( 44 ) of the detonating device ( 40 ) are connected to the respective terminals ( 32 ) in the cartridge which in turn are connected to the electrodes of the weapon &# 39 ; s power supply respectively when the cartridge is inserted . thus , any high voltage applied to the terminals ( 32 ) will discharge through the pyrotechnic primer ( 42 ), causing explosion of the primer which in turn will propel the punching bullet against the wall of the propellant ( 30 ). the projectiles ( 11 , 12 ) are tethered by conductive wires ( 20 ), which are also connected to the terminals ( 32 ) respectively . the preferred single filament or thread ( 10 ) is interconnected halfway to the projectiles ( 11 , 12 ) at or near their center of gravity as indicated by the small circle . said filament ( 10 ) can be integrately coupled to the projectiles ( 11 , 12 ) inside the cartridge ( 70 ) by any suitable known methods , for example by loose embedment into a notch made on the projectiles . at least a portion of the filament ( 10 ) could be pulled out from the bores ( 21 , 22 ) and packed either directly in the gap between the cartridge &# 39 ; s substantial front facade and its front shutter cover ( 26 ), or in a separate concave compartment ( 24 ) made on the said substantial front facade in front of the cartridge . in fig4 , the bore lines intersect at a small angle of 5 to 12 degrees behind the bores ( 21 , 22 ). the projectile ( 11 ) in this case is positioned vertically upward relative to the horizontal plane of the cartridge instead of along the said plane . the propellant ( 30 ) and / or detonating device ( 40 ) are normally arranged between the projectiles ( 11 , 12 ). in fig5 , an arrangement with increased intersect angle between the projectiles ( 11 , 12 ) is shown . in this case , the minimum distance between the two projectiles ( 11 , 12 ) is reduced to proximity , and the their imaginary point of intersection is also in proximity behind them . in this case , the said angle is at least equal to or larger than 12 degrees , and is preferred to be 15 - 50 degrees . the propellant ( 30 ) and / or the detonating device ( 40 ) could be located in the back of the projectiles ( 11 , 12 ) instead of between them . the cartridge ( 70 ) may include an additional passive puncture member ( 46 ) to increase the efficiency of releasing the propellant power . the longitudinal axis of the propellant ( 30 ) is substantially perpendicular to that of the detonating device ( 40 ); and said longitudinal axis of the propellant ( 30 ) could be either substantially along the vertical plane as shown in the figure or substantially perpendicular to the vertical plane of the cartridge ( 70 ). other suitable orientations and arrangements of course are usable . in fig6 , there is shown an arrangement in which the projectiles ( 11 , 12 ) are being positioned horizontally compared to the vertically configured cartridge . in this case , the projectiles ( 11 , 12 ) will have a horizontal main body plane which is substantially perpendicular to the vertical plane of the cartridge ( 70 ). the conductive wires ( 20 ) are coiled in two bobbins ( 25 ) and the bobbins could be located with one above and the other below the projectiles ( 11 , 12 ) instead of flanking them . fig7 is a sectional top view of the arrangement as shown in fig6 . in fig8 - 9 , an arrangement of the two projectiles ( 11 , 12 ) residing in a common bore ( 23 ) is shown . in this case , the projectiles ( 11 , 12 ) are positioned substantially parallel to each other . the two projectiles ( 11 , 12 ) could be separated by non - conductive material if necessary and accommodate at least one elastic mechanism ( 34 ) such as spring device in between , which may be embraced or encircled by at least one outer shell ( 36 ) when said elastic mechanism ( 34 ) is in the compressed status to restrain its elastic force and to minimize the friction to the bore ( 23 ). in the figure , a pair of flanking outer shells ( 36 ) is used . the main body of the projectile in the figure has a hexangular cross - sectional shape but could have other suitable shapes such as round . the filament ( 10 ) could be packed either with the same principle as shown in the figure and other embodiments , or at least a portion of said filament could be packed in the elongated gap formed by said projectiles ( 11 , 12 ), said elastic mechanism ( 34 ) and said outer shell ( 36 ). fig9 is a front view of the arrangement as shown in fig8 taken immediately behind the shutter cover ( 26 ). | 5 |
although the invention applies generally to all small sized semiconductor devices , whether they are formed on silicon or on a iii - v type material , and whether the diodes thus produced have an active layer , as is the case for a junction diode , or a plurality of layers , as is the case for the pin diodes , the invention will be described with reference to a silicon junction diode , so as to simplify the text and the figs . and make the invention more readily understandable . fig1 shows a three quarter view in space of a diode on a gold base , of the prior art . such a diode has at least one junction between two layers 1 and 2 of materials with opposite conductives and , when the application requires the diode to be mounted on a gold base , it is etched as a mesa . the electric contacts are taken by a metallization 3 on the top of the mesa and through the gold base 4 which is then soldered to a support , generally made from copper which serves for cooling the diode during operation . the structure of such a diode requires the gold base to be formed during manufacture , for it will be readily understood that it is impossible to solder such a small diode pellet on a gold base which has been produced separately . consequently , the problem of cutting out diodes which are produced collectively is related to the presence of the gold base , which prohibits the use of a laser and automation of the cutting out of a semiconductor wafer , but it is also related to the very small sizes of the ultrahigh frequency diodes . the diodes on a gold base of the prior art are therefore cut out mechanically , using a blade , which gives to the base 4 square or rectangular dimensions , and the cutting out forms sharp edges . the diode on a gold base of the invention , shown in fig2 includes a semiconductor portion which is comparable to the diode of the prior art . it is formed by the junction between two layers of material 1 and 2 , of opposite conductivity types , a metallization 3 being deposited on the top of the mesa . but the gold base 5 , cut out chemically , has a double feature . on the one hand it has no sharp edge , but is rounded on its edges at 6 , so that there is only a single surface which passes from the upper face to the lower face of the gold base without a sharp edge ; this surface is curved and the rounded form of the edges of the base is a consequence of the manufacturing method which will be explained further on . furthermore , the corners of the gold base 5 have traces at 7 which are the remains of the etching indicators : the presence of truncated corners of the gold base 5 will be better understood from the following description of the manufacturing and chemical cutting out method . to produce diodes , by a collective method , and cut them out chemically , the present invention provides a semiconductor wafer 1 on which a layer of a semiconductor material 2 can be grown or -- although it is not shown in the fig .-- a plurality of layers if it is a question for example of a pin diode . layer 2 , which was deposited by epitaxy , will form the future active layer of each diode . then depth indicators 8 are etched in the semiconductor wafer , from the face supporting the active layer , and these indicators must be fairly deep so as to penetrate as far as the substrate 1 . if the active layer has for example a thickness of 1 micron , each pattern is etched over a thickness of 5 microns , and there may be four patterns for locating a diode , at the four corners of the future gold base . but it is also possible to have less depth indicators 8 , at the rate of one indicator between 4 diodes for example . this is not shown in fig3 but it is obvious that such indicators are etched over the whole semiconductor wafer in the form of an even meshed grid . chemical etching of the depth indicators 8 is in accordance with the known crystallography rules and using an appropriate chemical solution , but it so happens that during such chemical etching the angles at 9 of the patterns revealed in the active layer 2 are rounded , which is the attribute of any chemical etching . the depth indicators may be of different shapes and , seen from the top , they may be circles , which gives then a hole 8 in the form of a truncated cone , or crosses which then gives cross shaped holes 8 . the next operation shown in fig4 consists in depositing on the semiconductor material a metallization layer 10 of a metal for fixing the metal dissipator . this fixing layer , deposited on the active layer 2 , may be for example chromium / platinum / gold or the well known chain silicon / platinum - titanium - platinum - gold . this metal layer 10 fills the holes of the depth indicators 8 and penetrates then into the substrate 1 . using known techniques , the fixing metal layer 10 is then covered by a masking layer which is either made from a photosensitive resin , or is a mineral layer , that is to say made from silica , or silicon nitride , or aluminium nitride . . . etc . this layer is then etched so as to leave islets 11 , which are of meshed form and which leave apparent , between their mesh , holes 12 which correspond to the future gold bases . so as to better show the details of the structure , fig6 and the following figs . only show a region of a circle which corresponds to a diode , shown on a larger scale . the next operation consists then in causing an electrolytic growth of gold in the unmasked zones , consequently in opening 12 . this electrolytic gold growth provides then a gold base 13 , which has been able to grow because of the presence of the metal fixing layer 10 . the resin or silica mask 11 is then eliminated by appropriate solvents , and consequently , the face , on the active layer side , of the semiconductor material circle will , after dissolution of mask 11 , be entirely made from metal and will include either gold bases 13 or the apparent portions of the metal fixing layer 10 . in fig7 the operation consists in depositing , on the metal side of the wafer , a layer 14 of nickel which forms a diffusion barrier , so as to prevent diffusion into the gold bases 13 of the copper or any usual metal such as tin , silver , lead , iron . this copper layer , shown at 15 in fig8 is sufficiently thick to form a rigid substrate for the rest of the operations . however , the copper may be replaced by any other metal , provided that this metal is etched by a chemical solution , without the gold of bases 13 being etched . in fig9 the metal layer 15 then serving as metal support for the plurality of diodes which adhere thereto , the semiconductor substrate 1 is ground until the tip or buried end 16 of the depth indicator 8 appears . thinning of substrate 1 may also be carried out chemically or using a plasma . such thinning stops when the ends 16 of the depth indicators are seen , shown with broken lines , and this means then that all the depth indicators are formed with great regularity so as to ensure regularity of the thickness of the remaining layer of substrate 1 . using known methods , which it is therefore not necessary to describe in detail , the free face of what remains of substrate 1 is then masked , and the metallizations 3 for making contact on the diode are deposited in appropriate positions . then , with the wafer turned over in fig1 , each diode is isolated by etching a mesa , metallization 3 serving as etching mask . at this point of the collective manufacture of the diodes , a wafer has then a mechanical support 15 , made from copper or tin or silver . . . etc on which mesa diodes are fixed , each being centered on the gold base 13 . however , between the diodes appear the depth indicators 8 which are not etched during the operation for etching the mesas . the chips are separated by etching the copper of support 15 and the nickel of the diffusion barrier layer 14 using nitric acid , at 70 ° c ., in a normal solution . such etching is promoted by the combined action of ultrasounds and it lasts about 30 minutes . however , other solutions other than nitric acid may be used , and all chemical solutions which attack metals are suitable provided that they do not attack the gold , or the semiconductor materials of diode 1 + 2 . during this chemical etching , and as shown in fig1 , the edge 6 of the metal fixing layer 10 is slightly etched , which gives it a rounded shape . furthermore , and following the chemical etching of the depth indicators 8 which had rounded angles 9 , the gold base 13 itself has rounded angles , and there is no sharp edge in the base of the diodes formed and separated chemically . it is then the same surface which by curvature forms the upper surface and the lower surface of the gold base 13 , and this base has no sharp edge as in the prior art . furthermore , as shown in fig1 , a gold base has special features at its angles . this fig . shows a diode , with a gold base cut out chemically using the method of the invention , seen from the top . on the left hand portion are shown the traces of two depth indicators 17 which have a circular section , whereas on the right hand portion of the fig . are shown the traces of two depth indicators 18 which have a cross shaped section . during the different masking then etching operations , throughout the process , these indicators have left a trace which is to be found at the corners of the gold base , this gold base being very generally of square shape . in the present case , the chemically cut out gold base has corners which have a shape which recalls the presence of the depth indicators during the manufacturing process : the corners of the gold base reproduce the profile of the depth indicator 17 or 18 depending on the case . furthermore , it is not necessary for the four corners to be thus marked by the trace of the depth indicators and there may only be one corner marked , if for example it is decided to put a depth indicator at the intersection of four diode pellets . however , it is obvious that the process is carried out with much greater precision if there is a depth indicator at each diode corner . the method which has just been described is not limited to the single application which has been described , but all modifications which come within the scope of the invention and which are obvious for a man skilled in the art , such for example as the separation by chemical cutting out of inp diodes , or diodes having a plurality of active layers , belong to the field of the invention which is stated precisely in the following claims . | 7 |
as required , detailed embodiments of the present invention are disclosed herein ; however , it is to be understood that the disclosed embodiments are merely exemplary of the invention that may be embodied in various forms . the figures are not necessary to scale , some features may be exaggerated to show details of particular components . therefore , specific structural and functional details disclosed herein are not to be interpreted as limiting , but merely as a basis for the claims and as a representative basis for teaching one skilled in the art to variously employ the present invention . fig1 illustrates one embodiment of the central controller 20 of the present invention . the central controller includes a cpu 21 which performs the processing functions of the controller . it also includes a read only memory 22 ( rom ) and a random access memory 23 ( ram ). the rom 22 is used to store at least some of the program instructions that are to be executed by the cpu 21 , such as portions of the operating system and the ram 23 is used for temporary storage of data . a clock circuit 24 provides a clock signal which is required by the cpu . the use of a cpu in conjunction with rom , ram and a clock circuit is well known in the art of cpu based electronic circuit design . the central controller 20 also includes a communication port 25 which enables the cpu 21 to communicate with devices external to the central controller . in one embodiment , a modem 26 is used to communicate with devices outside the central controller 20 . however , other methods of communication with external devices may be used including hard - wired connections , wire - less connections and optical communications . the cpu 21 can also store information to , and read information from , the data storage device 27 . this data storage device includes , in one embodiment , a survey database 27 a and a branded product database 27 b . the data storage device 27 may also include a transaction processor instructions 27 c which can be read by and executed by the cpu 21 and thus , enables the cpu 21 to process transactions . in another embodiment , the survey database and branded product database may be incorporated into a single database . fig2 illustrates one embodiment of the present invention depicting the hardware component . the hardware 100 includes a cpu 102 , a ram 104 , a rom 116 , storage device 110 such as a hard disk including a database 114 stored therein and user input / output devices 108 such as terminals . a computer 116 includes ram 104 , rom 116 and cpu 102 . optionally , a printer 112 is attached to the computer . fig3 shows schematically the organization of ram 104 which includes an operating system 200 , a teleprocessing ( tp ) multi - user monitor 202 , a brand comparator program 204 , a database management system 206 that manages the transfer of data between multiple local and remote terminals . reference 208 and 210 refer to communicating access connections to terminals 108 and storage devices 110 , e . g . hard disks . database management system 206 includes a database manager 212 and an interactive query / update language component 214 wherein a user can query and update data records in the database 114 . in yet another embodiment , as is known in the art , a relational database is employed . a relational database is a database in which sets of related data are treated logically as if they were contained in two - dimensional tables in which each data record of the set appears as a row and attributes or fields of the items are arranged as columns . since the database is relational , each of its tables will have a column that is the same as a column of at least one other table . each specific model of a branded product in the system user &# 39 ; s inventory , regardless of database organization , is characterized in the database , by certain parameters ( attributes or fields ). each specific model of the branded product may be assigned a unique product identification number which is used to identify it from other items in the database . each product may also have one or more parameters which are used , for example , to group the product into one or more product groups or describe features of the product . in one embodiment of the present invention , the parameters for each product in the system user &# 39 ; s inventory suitably includes , without limitation , a unique sku , a product description , a manufacturer &# 39 ; s name and number , and a branded name . fig4 illustrates a flow diagram representing one embodiment where a customer ( i . e . end - user ) is presently purchasing a specific branded product and , the present invention provides the end - user with one or more comparable branded products . customer enters brand name product ( e . g . the product customer is presently purchasing ) ( step 1010 ). customer enters brand name product into terminal ( step 1020 ). the customer information is transmitted to the central controller ( step 1030 ). information concerning each branded product is inputted into the central controller on a periodic basis ( e . g . hourly , daily , weekly or monthly ) and updated as necessary ( step 1045 ). in one embodiment , each input branded product is analyzed by computer means and / or by an individual who is specifically trained to analyze and describe the branded products in specific product categories . for example , in one embodiment , in the area of stoma products , an individual , who is trained in this area ( e . g . an enterostomal therapist ), inspects the branded product and inputs the product characteristics and specifications of the branded product . in another embodiment , a computer program is written to “ search ” the internet for branded products in a specific category and for any characteristics of the branded products . the central controller then compares the current end - user &# 39 ; s brand name product to the database containing other brand name products ( including specific product characteristics ) and determines one or more comparable products ( step 1040 ). at least one selected comparable brand name product is transmitted to the customer ( step 1050 ). in addition , the customer can then select the comparable brand name product ( step 1060 ). finally , the customer completes the transaction by paying for comparable brand product ( step 1070 ). in another embodiment , a problem based survey may be used in conjunction with the analysis of the end - user &# 39 ; s current branded product . for example , in one embodiment of stoma products , the following survey may be employed : is the stoma too high , or on top of a large bulge on the belly ? is the stoma too low , or under a bulge on the belly ? is there any skin surface irregularity around the stoma ( e . g . bony prominence , scar or belly button ) special contour appliances like hollister contour i or sealants like eakin cohesive seals under any stoma appliance fig5 illustrates a flow diagram representing another embodiment where a survey is used in conjunction with a branded product analysis . in this embodiment , the customer ( i . e . end - user ) completes the survey ( step 1110 ). customer enters the survey into terminal ( step 1120 ). the customer information is transmitted to the central controller ( step 1130 ). information concerning each branded product and responses to survey data corresponding to branded products is inputted into the central controller on a periodic basis and updated as necessary including branded products that meet the criteria of various questions of the survey ( step 1145 ). the central controller then compares the survey data to the database and determines one or more product ( s ) that meet the acceptable criteria of the survey ( step 1140 ). one or more selected comparable branded product ( s ) are transmitted to the customer ( step 1150 ). in addition , the customer can then select one or more of the comparable brand name products ( step 1160 ). and , the customer completes the transaction by paying for comparable brand product ( step 1170 ). in another embodiment , fig4 and fig5 may be combined so that the customer enters both the problem based survey data and the end - user &# 39 ; s current branded product that he / she is currently using . fig6 is one embodiment of the brand name database . the database system generally comprises a statistical module that uses : ( a ) industry and statistical experience of a specific branded product ; ( b ) public database that relates to the specific product ( e . g . manufacturers catalogues , internet sites ); and ( c ) experience obtained by inspecting specific branded product . the statistical module creates a library database of branded products . the brand name database combines specific information relating to the end - user with the library database to generate one or more comparable branded products . fig7 is an example of one embodiment of the present invention in the area of stoma devices . the left - most column labeled “ manufacturer ” is the input information of the manufacturer by the end - user ( if known ). the next column is input information by the end - user of his / her current branded product . the next column is the size of the end - user &# 39 ; s branded product . this information may be entered by the end - user . in one embodiment , the end - user also inputs the sku and count . in another embodiment , the central controller generates the sku and count along with the price . the central controller then compares the inputted information to the database and computes a “ generic ” description . the two right side columns are the comparable branded product information transmitted to the end - user . as shown in fig7 in one example , the present invention generates a comparable branded product that is sold by a manufacturer as two separate items ( see e . g . “ nu - hope flexible barrier , fecal , 4 ″× 4 ″” and “ nu - hope round barrier discs ”). in another embodiment , in addition to transmitting at least one comparable branded name product to the end - user , the present invention automatically implements price responses based on the computation of comparable branded products . for example , in yet another embodiment , as illustrated in fig7 comparable branded products are computed with their corresponding initial prices . after computing these comparable branded products , the system may implement an additional program that compares the price of the end - user &# 39 ; s current branded product with the comparable branded products . the system then adjusts the prices , either increasing or decreasing the prices of the comparable branded products based on a set margin established by the distributor of the system . in yet another embodiment of the price response program , the controller may have an additional program that automatically implements price responses based on a comparison of advertised prices of other competitors ( e . g . distributors ). the displayed price may then be adjusted to reflect a lower price than the competitors &# 39 ; prices . the program may also contain a “ minimum ” price for a particular product so that the displayed price is not less than this “ minimum ” price . in a further embodiment , the present invention may be used for providing at least one comparable branded women &# 39 ; s or men &# 39 ; s perfume to an end - user . for example , a woman would input her current brand name . the brand name database perfume product would contain detailed information concerning the precise chemical make - up of that and other brand name women &# 39 ; s perfumes . in one embodiment , to produce the brand name product database , a sample of each specific branded perfume would be analyzed by gas chromatographes , infrared spectrometer , thermal chromatograph and / or mass spectrometer , or any combination of these devices . an electronic “ fingerprint ” ( eg . identification ) would be produced for each sample . in another example , a device called a “ cyrano 2000 ” instrument may also be used to identify the electronic “ fingerprint ” of each sample . see e . g ., “ a nose for business ,” mit &# 39 ; s technology review ( july / august 1999 ), pp . 62 - 7 . the central controller would compare the current brand name product to the database and determine one or more women &# 39 ; s brand name ( s ) that correspond ( s ) to the electronic “ fingerprint ” of the current brand name . the central controller would be programmed to allow for established deviations when comparing the “ fingerprint ” of the current brand name to “ fingerprints ” in the database . one or more comparable brand name perfumes would be transmitted to the end - user . in yet another embodiment , the central controller would select two or more specific branded name perfumes to be combined by the end - user in order to produce a comparable smell of the current brand name perfume . in combination with the above embodiments concerning the perfume applications , a survey may be implemented . the survey may include such items as the “ likes and dislikes ” of various odors such as various food and flower odors . in this way , the present invention would select the desired brand name perfumes that correlate to the “ fingerprint ” and the survey . a system and method for providing a comparable branded product based on a current branded product for non - comparison shopped products have been described herein . as previously stated , detailed embodiments of the present invention are disclosed herein ; however , it is to be understood that the disclosed embodiments are merely exemplary of the invention that may be embodied in various forms . it will be appreciated that many modifications and other variations that will be appreciated by those skilled in the art are within the intended scope of this invention as claimed below without department from the teachings , spirit and intended scope of the invention . | 6 |
as may be seen in fig1 and 2 , an assay device is indicated generally at 10 and comprises a cup - like transparent test container 11 having a cylindrical side wall 12 , a closed bottom 13 and an open top 14 . the cylindrical wall 12 may have a slight taper or be straight . the open end 14 of the test cup 11 is provided with external threads 15 upon which is seated an outer closure cover or cap 16 provided with corresponding internal threads which are not shown in the drawing . the cover 16 has a circular top surface 17 from the periphery of which depends a cylindrical wall 18 on the inner surface of which there are provided the internal threads . positioned within the container 11 is an assay assembly indicated at 19 which is partially shown in fig2 and is completely shown in a flattened position in fig3 . the assay assembly comprises a flexible backing member 20 of a plastic material which is preferably liquid impermeable and not reactive with any of the components of fluids which might be tested for drugs of abuse . the backing member 20 may be of an opaque plastic material , for example , white in color , or a transparent plastic material . the backing member has a front surface 21 upon which is attached a substantially rigid but flexible transparent cover sheet 22 which has molded therein a plurality of parallel elongated pockets 23 each of which is shaped to retain closely therein an immunoassay test strip 24 . the pockets 23 are positioned such that they extend longitudinally or vertically within the container when the assay assembly is mounted within the container as seen in fig1 . each pocket 23 has its top 25 and longitudinal sides 26 closed or sealed against the body portion of the cover sheet , but the bottom ends 27 of the pockets are open . the test strips 24 each have bottom portions 28 which extend outwardly of the pockets through these open bottom ends 27 and extreme ends 29 of the bottom portions 28 coincide with a bottom edge 30 of the backing member 20 . the test strips 24 are thus retained in their vertical positions which are axially of the container by being closely enclosed within the pockets 23 . the bottom portion 28 of each test strip functions as a sample receiving area . each test strip also has a test area 31 and a control area 32 . the test strips 24 may be attached or adhered directly to the front surface 21 of the backing member 20 such that retaining pockets 23 or similar retaining structures are no longer necessary . the height of the backing member 20 is substantially equal to the inner height of the container such that , when assembled within the container , the bottom edge 30 of the backing member rests on the bottom of the container and a top edge 33 of the backing member is flush with the top edge 14 of the container . top edge 34 of the cover sheet is spaced downwardly from the top edge 33 of the backing member as may be seen in fig3 . the cover sheet member 22 has a length , when flattened as shown in fig3 , which is substantially equal to the inner periphery of the container such that its ends 22 a and 22 b meet in abutting relation as shown in fig5 . however , the length of the cover sheet member may be increased such that the ends 22 a and 22 b will overlap . these overlapping ends may be provided with a registering depression and protuberance such that they can be snapped together to maintain the cover sheet member in a cylindrical shape which fits closely within the container . other forms of snaps or clips can be provided to lock abutting or overlapping ends into position . these particular test strips 24 indicate the presence or absence of the following specific drugs of abuse : pcp , cocaine , amphetamines ( amp ), marijuana ( thc ) and opiates . test strips 24 may be of the type as made by phamatech of san diego , calif . and arista biological of bethlehem , pa . such test strips are characterized as immunoassay assay strips and employ colloidal gold chemistry . in addition to immunoassay test strips 24 in the pockets 23 , a test strip similar in size and shape to the test strips 24 but having adulterant detection means may be placed in a pocket 23 . such an adulterant strip is capable of determining whether a sample of urine has been tampered with by administering either chemical analysis to ensure that the chemical composition of the sample is consistent with that of standard , non adulterated human urine and / or temperature analysis to ensure that the sample has been recently excreted from the donor and has not been brought to the test site by the donor from an earlier excretion . such adulterant strips are known in the art . each of the test strips 24 is a one - step immunoassay in which a specially treated drug , ( drug conjugate ) competes with a drug which may be present in the sample specimen for the limited number of binding sites on an antibody . the test strip consists of a membrane strip onto which a drug conjugate has been immobolized . a colloidal gold - antibody complex is dried at one end of the membrane . in the absence of any drug in the urine sample , the colloidal gold - antibody complex moves with the urine sample by capillary action to contact the immobilized drug conjugate . an antibody - antigen reaction occurs forming a visible line in the test area 31 of the test strip . the formation of a visible line occurs when the test is negative for the drug . when a drug is present in the urine sample , the drug or its metabolite will compete with the immobolized drug congate in the test area for the limited antibody sites on the colloidal gold - labeled antibody complex . if a sufficient amount of drug is present , it will fail all of the available binding sites , thus preventing attachment of the label antibody to the drug congate . an absence of a color line or band in the test area is indicative of a positive result . a control zone 32 or line comprised of a different antibody / antigen reaction is present on the membrane strip . the control line is not influenced by the presence or absence of drug in the urine and therefore should be present in all reactions . in summary , if a single band appears in the control zone 32 , then the results are “ positive ” which indicates that that particular drug is present above a predetermined level which is usually around 50 ng / ml . if two color bands appear , one in the control region and the other in the test region , then the rest of the results are “ negative ” which indicates that the level of that particular drug is below the predetermined detection of sensitivity . in the event there are no distinct color bands visible in both the test zone and the control zone or if there is a visible band in the test zone but not in the control zone , then the result is invalid and testing of the specimen is recommended with another test card . the quantity of liquid sample should be below a “ maximum ” line 36 which is shown on the container . if the quantity of the sample is above “ maximum ”, the test will not be affected since only a sufficient amount of liquid to conduct the test will flow into the open bottom end of a pocket . this quantity of liquid is limited by the air pressure built up in the closed pocket . the liquid sample contacting the bottom end of each test strip will wick up the test strip by capillary action to reach the chemical agents contained within the test strip to give positive , negative or inconclusive test results . any excess sample liquid may enter the open end of a pocket but only to a limited degree as described above . however this entering would be after the wicking of the sample has already begun when the sample contacted the bottom portions of the test strips resting on the bottom of the container . these results will be visible in the test area 31 of the strip and can also be seen through the transparent wall of the container . thus , this assay device enables one to obtain rapidly a visual , qualitative result which is very advantageous for forensic purposes but is not limited to such purposes . thus , it can be seen that the present invention discloses a novel and improved assay device for testing of liquid samples for drugs of abuse . this assay device could be modified to test for other substances by utilizing other agents and chemicals on the test strips . this assay device has a simplified but reliable structure which integrates the assay or test elements within the container in which the liquid sample to be tested is collected . this assay device does not require any pipetting of the liquid sample or specimen , adding or mixing of reagents or other manipulation of the device by the user . this device is particularly suitable for the immediate , point of collection screening for drugs of abuse and offers health care , law enforcement , government , industrial safety and educational professionals a self - contained , one - step screening device capable of identifying illicit drug use within minutes . it will be understood that this invention is susceptible to modification in order to adapt it to different usages and conditions , and accordingly , it is desired to comprehend such modifications within this invention as may fall within the scope of the appended claims . | 0 |
when observing response times , the relevant time frames are preferably shorter than the duration of the protocol - timer in use , which would lead to message repetitions , for example . this would give rise to the advantage that anomalies could be recognized before there were perceptible or even dramatic effects on the connection . in a preferred embodiment of the invention , the data about timeout events or faulty transfers in connection with at least one signaling process include information or answering times for the communication system in connection with this signaling process , in which the first communication terminal is involved . according to this or other preferred exemplary embodiments of the invention , the data preferably include information about message repetitions in connection with at least one signaling process in which the communication terminal is involved . this gives rise to the advantage that events resulting in message repetitions do not go undetected , but instead can be individually or statistically acquired and evaluated , so that measures can be taken to improve service quality . according to this or other preferred exemplary embodiments of the invention , the data preferably include information about interruptions of signaling procedures due to the absence of acknowledgements in connection with at least one signaling process in which the first communication terminal is involved . this gives rise to the advantage that events resulting in interruptions of signaling procedures due to the absence of acknowledgements do not go undetected , but instead can be individually or statistically acquired and evaluated , so that measures can be taken to improve service quality . according to this or other preferred exemplary embodiments of the invention , the data preferably include information about faulty or inadmissible information elements in connection with at least one signaling process in which the first communication terminal is involved . this gives rise to the advantage that events generating or resulting in faulty or inadmissible information elements in connection with at least one signaling process do not go undetected , but instead can be individually or statistically acquired and evaluated , so that measures can be taken to improve service quality . the data preferably include information about the data collection time . the data also preferably include information about the address of a second communication terminal , with which the first communication terminal is communicating or wishes to communicate . the data also preferably include information about the cpu usage of a component in the communication system involved in the signaling process when the data are collected . in this way , for the aforementioned events or other events to be acquired , information can be assigned regarding the time , the address of a second communication terminal with which the first communication terminal is communicating or wishes to communicate , or the cpu usage of a component of the communication system involved in the signaling process , so that corresponding classification and / or systemization of this event is possible and measures can be taken to improve service quality . according to a preferred exemplary embodiment of the invention , which can also be combined with other exemplary embodiments of the invention , the data collection is transmitted after a reliable connection is established from the first communication terminal to the collection point for these data in the communication system . in this way , errors or omissions in transmitting these data can be reduced or prevented . according to an additional preferred exemplary embodiment of the invention , whose features can also be combined with the features of other exemplary embodiments of the invention , the data collection is transmitted preferably as an unsolicited message , in particular preferably as a so - called trap , from the first communication terminal to the collection point within the framework of a network management protocol , preferably using the simple network management protocol ( snmp ). preferably , the data collection is transmitted as an unsolicited message from the first communication terminal to the collection point within the framework of a transfer protocol , preferably within the framework of the transmission control protocol ( tcp ) or the user datagram protocol ( udp ). the user datagram protocol ( udp ) is a minimal , connection - free network protocol that belongs to the transportation layer of the internet protocol family . the purpose of the udp is to ensure that data sent over the internet are received by the correct application . the development of the udp began in 1977 , when a simpler protocol than the previous connection - oriented tcp was needed to transfer speech . a protocol was needed that was appropriate only for addressing , without transferring data , because that would cause delays in the speech transmission . so that data sent with udp are received by the correct program on the target computer , udp uses ports . with udp , the port number of the service that should receive the data is sent with the data . this expansion from a host - to - host to a process - to - process transfer is designated as application multiplexing or application demultiplexing . in addition , udp offers the possibility of integrity testing , in which a checksum is included in the transmission . this allows transmission errors to be detected . udp provides a connection - free , non - guaranteed transmission service . that means that it gives no guarantee that a packet sent once will arrive , that packets will arrive in the same sequence as that in which they were sent , or that a packet will reach the receiver only once . an application using udp is therefore preferably unaffected by lost and unsorted packets , by providing or using its own corresponding corrective measures , for example . because it is not necessary to establish a connection before beginning the transfer , the partners can begin the data exchange sooner . this primarily affects applications that only need to exchange small data volumes . simple question - answer protocols like the domain name system use udp to keep the network load low and thereby increase data throughput . a three - way handshake as with the transmission control protocol for establishing the connection would generate unnecessary overhead . in addition , the non - guaranteed transmission also offers the advantage of smaller transmission delay fluctuations : if a packet is lost in a tcp - connection , it is automatically resent . this takes time that can make the transmission duration fluctuate , which is bad for multimedia applications . in voip , for example , it can cause sudden interruptions , or the return buffer has to be larger . with connection - free communication services , lost packets do not cause the entire transfer to bog down , but instead merely reduce the quality slightly . ip may delete packets in case of transfer errors or overloads . datagrams can therefore fail . udp has no recognition or correction mechanism for this , as tcp can . in the case of multiple possible routes to the target , ip can choose new paths if necessary . this makes it possible , in rare cases , for data sent later to pass up data sent earlier . in addition , a data packet sent once can arrive at the receiver multiple times . in connection with embodiments of this invention , the user datagram protocol ( udp ) offers the advantage that no connection is established , so the related processes and resources are not needed ( lower overhead ). the transmission control protocol ( tcp ) is an agreement ( protocol ) governing how and what types of data are exchanged between computers . all operating systems in modern computers have tcp and use it for exchanging data with other computers . the protocol is a guaranteed , connection - oriented , packet - driven transport protocol for computer networks . it is part of the internet protocol family , the foundation of the internet . tcp was developed by robert e . kahn and vinton g . cerf . their research work , started in 1973 , lasted several years . the first standardization of tcp therefore was not released until 1981 as rfc 793 . there have been many expansions since then , which are specified today in new rfcs , a series of technical and organizational documents about the internet . unlike the connection - free udp ( user datagram protocol ), tcp establishes a connection between two endpoints ( sockets ) in a network connection . data can be transferred in both directions over this connection . tcp is usually attached to the ip ( internet protocol ), which is therefore frequently ( and often not quite correctly ) also called the “ tcp / ip protocol .” it lies in layer 4 of the osi reference model . because of its many advantageous characteristics ( data losses are recognized and automatically corrected , data transfer is possible in both directions , network overloading is prevented , etc . ), tcp is a very widely used data transfer protocol . for example , tcp is used almost exclusively as the transport medium for the www , e - mail , and many other popular network services . also preferred are exemplary embodiments of the invention in which the data collection is transmitted , preferably as an unsolicited message , from the first communication terminal to the collection point within the framework of a voice - over - ip signal , preferably governed by the session initiation protocol . ip telephony ( short for internet protocol telephony ), also called internet telephony or voice over ip ( voip for short ), is telephoning over computer networks that are set up according to internet standards . as part of the process , typical telephony information , i . e ., speech and control information for establishing the connection , for example , is sent over a network that can also be used for data transmission . for the participants in the conversation , computers , ip - telephony - capable telephone terminals , or even standard telephones connected through special adapters can be used to establish the connection . ip telephony is a technology that makes it possible to provide telephone service on an ip infrastructure , so that it can replace the isdn , network , and all components of standard telephone technology . its goal is to reduce the costs of standard network configuration and operation . based on the high use rate of classic telephone systems and the new investments required for ip telephony , the switch is often a long - lasting gradual transition with existing providers . in the meantime , both technologies exist in parallel ( smooth migration ). there is therefore a clear need for solutions for connecting both telephone systems ( e . g ., via voip gateways ) as well as a need for goal - oriented planning of the system switch , with consideration given to the respective cost and performance optimization possibilities . new providers are increasingly promoting only the new technology ( i . e ., ip telephony instead of standard telephones ) on the market . the session initiation protocol ( sip ) is a network protocol used to create , control , and terminate a communication session involving two or more participants . the protocol is specified in rfc 3261 , among others . sip is a commonly used protocol for ip telephony . unlike h . 323 , which came from the itu - t , sip was developed from the ietf . h . 323 can be described very simply as “ isdn via ip .” this allowed telephone equipment manufacturers in particular to shift communication comparatively quickly and easily to ip networks , but the strengths and weaknesses of ip networks were not adequately considered . the sip design , on the other hand , is based on the hypertext transfer protocol ( but is not compatible with it ) and is clearly better suited for ip networks . the sip setup makes it possible to incorporate new additions easily , without all involved devices having to know about it . it is also generally known that : while h . 323 is predominantly thought of for telephony , any type of conversation can be handled with sip . the session &# 39 ; s “ usage load ,” i . e ., the user data streams to be transferred , can in principle be any type of data streams that can be carried over a network . the most common are audio and video transmissions , but some online games , for example , also use sip to handle their transmissions . to make an internet telephone call , one needs more than just sip , because it is used only to make communication configurations be compatible with or communicate with each other — the actual data for the communication must be exchanged using other protocols designed for that purpose . for this purpose , the session description protocol ( sdp , rfc 4566 ) is often embedded in sip , in order to handle the details of the video and / or audio transfer . it makes the devices tell each other which audio and video transfer methods they are using ( the so - called codecs ), with which protocol they want to do it , and at which network addresses they wish to send and receive . this media negotiation is therefore not a direct component of sip , but rather is achieved by having another protocol embedded in sip . this separation of session and media control is one of sip &# 39 ; s advantages , because it allows great flexibility in the supported usage load . for example , if a manufacturer wishes to use sip for a specialized application , he can draft a suitable media negotiation for it , if no protocol yet exists for it . embodiments may have a variety of advantages depending on the embodiment . for one , they may allow the participants in a communication system to be offered services such as voice over ip or voice and video over ip with the best possible quality , in which not only are user data streams routed through the network with exceptionally high priority — using the real time protocol ( rtp ), for example — but also the signaling in the communication system can be performed with a defined quality level . the invention therefore allows for constant monitoring of connection quality , preferably using protocols such as the real time control protocol ( rtcp ) and real time application quality - of - service monitoring ( raqmon ). with embodiments of the invention , it is now possible to influence undesirable events such as very slow connection attempts or connection interruptions , especially events whose origin is not related to data stream transmission , from a quality improvement standpoint . in particular , the invention allows quality assessment of the signaling in the communication system , independently of the quality criteria for the user data stream . this is preferably accomplished by having the relevant data collected for assessing signal quality be entered in a corresponding service quality report for central analysis in the communication system . preferably , for this , quality data for signaling connections collected in the terminals are sent to one or more central collectors , where these data are used , preferably in addition to already existing quality data on the user data connections , for a detailed assessment of the network situation . the invention therefore makes it possible to clarify and rectify previously often unclear situations in communication systems , which was not possible with prior known systems given the lack of relevant signaling connection quality data . the invention is described below in more detail , based on preferred exemplary embodiments and with reference to a figure . as an example , the invention can be illustrated by a communication system in which three communication terminals 1 , 2 , and 3 , in the example a wireless access point , a gateway , and a telephone , collect data 7 , 8 , and 10 about timeout events or faulty transfers in connection with at least one signaling process . the collected data are sent by the communication terminals 1 , 2 , and 3 to a collection point 4 , which preferably also collects data 6 , 9 , and 11 on the quality of the user data connection with devices 1 , 2 , and 3 . the collected data 12 are sent from the collection point 4 to a central collection point 5 , which can take action to improve connection and service quality based on the collected information . | 7 |
in fig1 a programmer 10 includes an audio tape recorder 12 having a head 14 which is adapted to record and play back control information when magnetic tape , now shown , is moved across head 14 by the tape transport mechanism ( not shown ) of recorder 12 . record logic 16 includes conventional coincidence gating circuits for applying to head 14 the synchronizing signals derived from the pulse generator 18 and the data signals derived from word encoders 20 , 22 , 24 , 26 , 28 and 30 . the pulse generator 18 receives synchronizing information from a reference source 32 ( which may be at the power line frequency of 60 hz .) during the indexing mode of system operation . pulse generator 18 generates a variety of pulses including index pulses . the rate of the index pulses from the pulse generator 18 may be at 2400 hz with a 50 percent duty cycle . during the index pulse recording mode , pulses from the pulse generator 18 pass through the record logic element 16 including a head driver 25 , which may be of one of a conventional solid state variety of amplifiers and need not be described in detail here . the amplified output pulses from the head driver 25 are fed to head 14 in the tape recorder 12 . any pre - recorded index and data bits are picked up from the magnetic tape by head 14 , which serves as both the record and playback head , and are coupled to sense amplifier 34 in pulse shaper and master decoding section 29 from which they pass to decoder element 39 where word - sync , sample sync and data bits are sorted out by well - known pulse counter techniques . data pulses are fed by conductor 37 to word decoders 62 , 64 and 66 , for example . clock pulses from clock pulse generator 27 are fed to the word decoders 62 , 64 and 66 which are de - multiplexers commonly available in integrated circuit chip form from such companies as texas instruments . de - multiplexers 62 to 66 perform a serial to parallel conversion function for the data which has been recorded . decoders 62 through 66 are coupled to loads , such as lamp switches , or digital - to - analog converters 84 and 86 , depending on whether a discrete or continuously variable function is to be performed . latching circuits may be provided between the word decoders and the loads . a variety of pulses is derived from the generator 18 . the pulses at terminal 38 are at rate &# 34 ; f ,&# 34 ; where &# 34 ; f &# 34 ; may be 1200 hz . the trailing edges of these pulses count the time slots . the pulses at terminal 36 are at the rate of 2f . this is the basic frequency of the oscillator . the oscillator is synchronized from the power line , or any other reference source , through terminal 32 during the indexing mode and from the recorded indexing pulses when switch arm 46 is turned to its position in contact with terminal 48 during the encode and playback modes . pulse generator 18 supplies at terminal 40 a square wave having a frequency of f ÷ 2 . this signal is used to produce the index pulses . at terminal 42 there appears a signal known as the &# 34 ; one - half &# 34 ; word signal . this signal is derived by a conventional pulse counter that counts &# 34 ; f &# 34 ; pulses and gives an output signal at the eighth count for a duration of two counts and , again at the 18th count gives an output for the duration of two counts . the two index pulses that are gated during this two - count period synchronize the oscillator 36 at mid - word and the beginning of a successive word . this is called the 1 / 2 word pulse train . at terminal 44 there appears a pulse train at a frequency equal to one - half the frequency of the pulse train at terminal 42 . this is the &# 34 ; word &# 34 ; pulse train . the time relationship of these pulse trains is set forth more clearly in fig2 . the word counter 50 receives timing information from the &# 34 ; word &# 34 ; pulse train by way of terminals 44 and 52 , terminals 54 and 56 and the interconnecting conductors 58 and 60 , respectively . as the counter strobes its 16 word capacity , activating pulses successively pass to the word decoders 62 , 64 and 66 , and the others in the system . this system contemplates 16 words in a sample . if the program which is required to provide the desired functions of the loads , such as lights and slide projectors , is less than 256 bits , i . e ., 16 words , selector switch arm 68 is adjusted to select the maximum number of words required and this &# 34 ; last word &# 34 ; adjustment signals the record logic 16 when a new sequence of words or a new sampling period should begin . the word encoders 20 , 22 , 24 , 26 , 28 and 30 are basically parallel - to - serial converters . the word encoders work in pairs , i . e ., 20 and 26 , 22 and 28 and 24 and 30 . the first of each of these pairs is a data &# 34 ; zero &# 34 ; converter and the second converter in each of these pairs is a data &# 34 ; one &# 34 ; converter . if a bit number one in a word selected by word selector switches 70 or 72 were to have data recorded in it , then pin number one on converter 20 or 22 would be grounded , as by switches 76 and 78 . if pin one on &# 34 ; zero &# 34 ; converters 20 or 22 were grounded then , when converter 20 or 22 was strobed by the system &# 39 ; s clock pulse to bit number one , an output pulse would be sent to the record logic . the duration of the pulse would be a time slot length . it should be noted that during this data recording sequence the master encoding or enabling switch 35 must be activated and indexing switch 33 disabled . if a &# 34 ; one &# 34 ; were to be recorded , then pin one on converter 26 or 28 as well as pin one on converter 20 or 22 would have to be grounded as by switches 80 or 82 , respectively , in addition to closing the bit one &# 34 ; zero &# 34 ; switches 76 or 78 . that is why the switches are shown ganged in fig1 . when the system &# 39 ; s clock pulse gates pin one on either of the sets of multiplexers , a composite output from the respective set will be sent to the record logic . the output from the respective &# 34 ; zero &# 34 ; converter will be a negative going &# 34 ; clearing &# 34 ; pulse for the duration of one time slot and the output from the respective one converter will be a positive going pulse for the duration of 1 / 4 a time slot as can be seen more clearly in fig2 . for the purpose of illustration , word decoder 62 is shown connected to a discrete load 84 , i . e ., an on - off control of a lamp . on the other hand word decoder 64 is shown connected to a proportional control 86 which utilizes several bits in a word to supply a substantially continuously variable output to a load , for example a lamp to be faded . for such proportional control multiple bits would have to be used at the associated word encoders , for example the encoders 22 and 28 . the separation of word sync , sample sync and data pulses in decoder element 39 is accomplished by a combination of timing and gating circuits performing a conventional frequency / pulse width discrimination function by well - known techniques which need not be described here . during recording of proportional , i . e ., analogue signals , a conventional analogue - to - digital converter , for instance , would give a resolution of 64 steps . the output of this converter controls the corresponding 6 bits on the zero encoder 22 have been enabled by grounding the corresponding terminals . much of fig2 has already been discussed . the &# 34 ; time slots &# 34 ; are merely reference time periods which help in the analysis of the operation of the system . the length of a &# 34 ; time slot &# 34 ; is 833 microseconds , i . e ., a period corresponding to a repetition rate of 120 hz . each word in this system consists of 20 time slots . four time slots are used for recording index pulses and 16 time slots are used for recording data . to achieve greater system stability mid - word indexing is used . in fig2 time slots i and j are used for this purpose . time slots s and t are reserved for the beginning of the next word or the beginning of the next sampling period . &# 34 ; oscillator 2f &# 34 ; is the basic pulse train frequency for the square wave oscillator 18 in the system . that oscillator is snychronized from the line frequency during the indexing mode of operation and from the recorded index pulses during playback . the pulse width of the data pulses corresponds to those in a square wave of frequency 2f , i . e ., 208 microseconds . the pulse train at frequency &# 34 ; f &# 34 ; is significant because the trailing edge of these pulses counts the time slots . this pulse train is derived from the pulse train at 2f by well known frequency dividing techniques which need not be described here . the pulse train &# 34 ; f ÷ 2 &# 34 ; is derived by dividing the pulse train for &# 34 ; f &# 34 ; by two . these pulses are used to produce index pulses , as stated earlier . the pulse train &# 34 ; 1 / 2 w &# 34 ; provides the information for mid - word synchronizing . this train is derived by a counter of a well known and commonly available variety that counts the trailing edges of the pulses in &# 34 ; f &# 34 ; and provides an output at the eighth and eighteenth counts for the duration of two counts . the &# 34 ; word &# 34 ; train is derived by dividing the 1 / 2w train by 2 . it has a frequency which is one half the 1 / 2 word frequency . the &# 34 ; a . c . line sync &# 34 ; pulse is derived from the zero crossing point of the line frequency during the indexing mode . this pulse synchronizes the basic oscillater 18 which produces the pulses at frequency 2f . further , this pulse is also used to reset all the countdown circuits . the &# 34 ; word sync &# 34 ; pulse train is derived from the index pulses during decoding and appears at line 31 in fig1 . it performs the same function as &# 34 ; ac line sync &# 34 ; only the &# 34 ; word sync &# 34 ; performs during the playback mode . the &# 34 ; sample sync &# 34 ; pulse train is derived from the magnetic tape during playback and is shaped by the pulse shaper and master decoder 29 . it denotes the beginning of a new sample period and is used to reset the word counter 50 via conductor 60 . the third index pulse in the three - pulse grouping corresponding to the initiation of a new sample period resets the word counter 50 . the &# 34 ; word sync gen &# 34 ; pulse train is generated in the record logic by coincidence gating of the 2f , f ÷ 2 and 1 / 2 word trains and the setting of the &# 34 ; last word &# 34 ; switch arm 68 . the combination of the foregoing pulse trains may be made by means of conventional coincidence gating circuits which do not form a direct part of this invention . the &# 34 ; data as selected &# 34 ; pulse train is generated by gating the pulse trains 2f , f and the &# 34 ; gating for selected zero or one &# 34 ; pulse train which is derived from word encoders 20 , 22 , 24 , 26 , 28 and 30 , and any others that may be in the system . the settings of the bit enabling switches on the word encoders determine the existence of the &# 34 ; zero &# 34 ; data pulses in this pulse train . these word encoders are parallel to serial multiplexers which are commercially available in i - c chip form from such companies as texas instruments ( their part number 74150 ). the &# 34 ; head driver output &# 34 ; signal appears at the output from the head driver 25 and is a composite of the various pulse trains which have been described , as determined by the record logic 16 . during the indexing mode ( with control 33 engaged ) the record logic 16 provides to the head driver 25 a triple index pulse 106 at the beginning of a sample period and dual pulses 108 at the half word and word intervals . the &# 34 ; head driver output &# 34 ; pulse train in fig2 also shows data &# 34 ; one &# 34 ; pulses 110 , 112 and 114 which are generated in the word encoders and gated in the proper time sequence through the record logic 16 . the &# 34 ; sense amp output &# 34 ; pulse train is a translation by the sense amplifier 34 of the signal resulting from the application of the output signal from the head driver 25 to read - write head 14 . it is to be noted that sense amplifier 34 must have a wide dynamic range since it receives both the signals applied to head 14 from driver 25 and the much weaker signals previously recorded on the tape and picked up by head 14 . the spacing of these signals of widely varying amplitude may be a mere time slot in time duration . the signals in the &# 34 ; sense amp output &# 34 ; train comprise a data &# 34 ; one &# 34 ; signal 116 corresponding to pulse 110 , a pair of word index signals 118 , corresponding to pulses 108 , a data &# 34 ; zero &# 34 ; pulse being recorded where there was previously the data &# 34 ; one &# 34 ; pulse 122 ( the recording of the &# 34 ; zero &# 34 ; involving wiping the time slot including pulse 120 clean through the use of a negative going pulse for the duration of the time slot ), the data &# 34 ; one &# 34 ; pulse 122 corresponding to pulse 112 , then a triple sequence of signals , 124 , corresponding to sample sequence initiation pulses 106 , then a data &# 34 ; one &# 34 ; pulse 126 being recorded and , finally , a data &# 34 ; one &# 34 ; signal 128 previously recorded as data &# 34 ; one &# 34 ; pulse 114 . although there has been described hereinbefore a particular system for a multi - media production programmer in accordance with the invention for the purpose of illustrating the manner in which the invention may be used to advantage , it will be appreciated that the invention is not limited thereto . accordingly , any and all modifications , variations or equivalent arrangements which may occur to those skilled in the art should be considered to be within the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims . | 6 |
in general , the terms and phrases used herein have their art - recognized meaning , which can be found by reference to standard texts , journal references and contexts known to those skilled in the art . the following definitions are provided to clarify their specific use in the context of the invention . “ particle ” refers to a small object which is often regarded as a contaminant . a particle can be any material created by the act of friction , for example when two surfaces come into mechanical contact and there is mechanical movement . particles can be composed of aggregates of material , such as dust , dirt , smoke , ash , water , soot , metal , minerals , or any combination of these or other materials or contaminants . “ particles ” may also refer to biological particles , for example , viruses , spores and microorganisms including bacteria , fungi , archaea , protists , other single cell microorganisms and specifically those microorganisms having a size on the order of 1 - 20 μm . biological particles include viable biological particles capable of reproduction , for example , upon incubation within a growth media . a particle may refer to any small object which absorbs or scatters light and is thus detectable by an optical particle counter . as used herein , “ particle ” is intended to be exclusive of the individual atoms or molecules of a carrier fluid , for example , such gases present in air ( e . g ., oxygen molecules , nitrogen molecules , argon molecule , etc .) or process gases . some embodiments of the present invention are capable of sampling , collecting , detecting , sizing , and / or counting particles comprising aggregates of material having a size greater than 50 nm , 100 nm , 1 μm or greater , or 10 μm or greater . specific particles include particles having a size selected from 50 nm to 50 μm , a size selected from 100 nm to 10 μm , or a size selected from 500 nm to 5 μm . the expression “ sampling a particle ” broadly refers to collection of particles in a fluid flow , for example , from an environment undergoing monitoring . sampling in this context includes transfer of particles in a fluid flow to an impact surface , for example , the receiving surface of a growth medium . alternatively sampling may refer to passing particles in a fluid through a particle analysis or collection region , for example , for optical detection and / or characterization . sampling may refer to collection of particles having one or more preselected characteristics , such as size ( e . g ., cross sectional dimension such as diameter , effective diameter , etc . ), particle type ( biological or nonbiological , viable or nonviable , etc .) or particle composition . sampling may optionally include analysis of collected particles , for example , via subsequent optical analysis , imaging analysis or visual analysis . sampling may optionally include growth of viable biological particles , for sample , via an incubation process involving a growth medium . a sampler refers to a device for sampling particles . impactor refers to a device for sampling particles . in some embodiments , an impactor comprises a sample head including one or more intake apertures for sampling a fluid flow containing particles , whereby at least a portion of the particles are directed on to an impact surface for collection , such as the receiving surface of a growth medium ( e . g ., culture medium such as agar , broth , etc .) or a substrate such as a filter . impactors of some embodiment , provide a change of direction of the flow after passage through the intake apertures , wherein particles having preselected characteristics ( e . g ., size greater than a threshold value ) do not make the change in direction and , thus , are received by the impact surface . the expression “ detecting a particle ” broadly refers to sensing , identifying the presence of and / or characterizing a particle . in some embodiments , detecting a particle refers to counting particles . in some embodiments , detecting a particle refers to characterizing and / or measuring a physical characteristic of a particle , such as diameter , cross sectional dimension , shape , size , aerodynamic size , or any combination of these . a particle counter is a device for counting the number of particles in a fluid or volume of fluid , and optionally may also provide for characterization of the particles , for example , on the basis of size ( e . g ., cross sectional dimension such as diameter or effective diameter ), particle type ( e . g . biological or nonbiological , or particle composition . an optical particle counter is a device that detects particles by measuring scattering , emission or absorbance of light by particles . “ flow direction ” refers to an axis parallel to the direction the bulk of a fluid is moving when a fluid is flowing . for fluid flowing through a straight flow cell , the flow direction is parallel to the path the bulk of the fluid takes . for fluid flowing through a curved flow cell , the flow direction may be considered tangential to the path the bulk of the fluid takes . “ optical communication ” refers to an orientation of components such that the components are arranged in a manner that allows light or electromagnetic radiation to transfer between the components . “ fluid communication ” refers to the arrangement of two or more objects such that a fluid can be transported to , past , through or from one object to another . for example , in some embodiments two objects are in fluid communication with one another if a fluid flow path is provided directly between the two objects . in some embodiments , two objects are in fluid communication with one another if a fluid flow path is provided indirectly between the two objects , such as by including one or more other objects or flow paths between the two objects . for example , in one embodiment , the following components of a particle impactor are in fluid communication with one another : one or more intake apertures , an impact surface , a fluid outlet , a flow restriction , one or more a pressure sensors , and / or a flow generating device . in one embodiment , two objects present in a body of fluid are not necessarily in fluid communication with one another unless fluid from the first object is drawn to , past and / or through the second object , such as along a flow path . “ flow rate ” refers to an amount of fluid flowing past a specified point or through a specified area , such as through intake apertures or a fluid outlet of a particle impactor . in one embodiment a flow rate refers to a mass flow rate , i . e ., a mass of the fluid flowing past a specified point or through a specified area . in one embodiment a flow rate is a volumetric flow rate , i . e ., a volume of the fluid flowing past a specified point or through a specified area . “ pressure ” refers to a measure of a force exhibited per unit area . in an embodiment , a pressure refers to a force exhibited by a gas or fluid per unit area . an “ absolute pressure ” refers to a measure of the pressure exerted by a gas or fluid per unit area as referenced against a perfect vacuum , near vacuum , a calibration pressure and / or volume exerting zero force per unit area . absolute pressure is distinguished from a “ differential pressure ” or “ gauge pressure ”, which refers to a relative or difference in force exhibited per unit area in excess of or relative to a second pressure , such as an upstream pressure , a downstream pressure , an ambient pressure or atmospheric pressure . fig1 a provides a schematic diagram illustrating the general construction of a particle impactor and fig1 b illustrates an expanded view of a particle impactor to further illustrate the operational principal . as shown in these figures , gas flow is directed through an intake aperture 110 in a sampling head 100 where it is accelerated towards an impact surface 130 , which forces the gas to rapidly change direction , following flow paths 120 . due to their momentum , particles 140 entrained in the gas flow are unable to make the rapid change in direction and impact on the impact surface 130 . in the embodiment shown in fig1 a and 1b , impact surface 130 is supported by impactor base 150 . in embodiments , impact surface 130 comprises the receiving surface of a growth medium , such as agar , provided in a growth medium container or petri dish . viable biological particles collected on the impact surface , for example , can subsequently be grown and evaluated to provide an analysis of the composition of the fluid flow sampled . for collection of biological particles on the impact surface , control over the distance between the exit of the intake aperture and the impact surface is important . if the distance is too large , for example , the particles may sufficiently follow the fluid path so as to avoid impact with the impact surface . if the distance is too small , however , the particles may impact the impact surface with a force sufficient to render the particles non - viable and , thereby unable to reproduce . portable devices like a biological sampler or portable particle counter benefit from a compact form factor for easy transport , handling and operation . these devices also benefit from the use of a blower to generate fluid flow and a filter provided downstream to remove particles from gas flow exhausted from the device to avoid introduction of particles generated from the device into the environment undergoing monitoring . incorporation of a traditional filter may require placement beside the blower , thereby resulting in a large and bulky device , for example , less suitable for portable use . in aspect of the invention , wrapping the filter around the blower creates a more compact and user friendly device . fig2 provide a schematic diagram of a portable impactor system of the invention for sampling biological particles . as shown in fig2 , the impactor system ( 200 ) comprises a sample head ( 210 ) having a collector inlet ( 220 ) with a plurality of inlet slits ( 230 ) in fluid communication with an impactor surface and an outlet . in some embodiments , for example , the impact surface is the receiving surface of a growth medium , such as an agar plate , for collection and subsequent growth of biological particles in the sampled flow . a blower ( 240 ) is operationally connected with the outlet of the impactor base so as to be able to generate a flow of gas from an environment undergoing monitoring through the sample head ( 210 ) and impactor base . exhaust from the blower is passed through a filter housing ( 260 ) containing filter media ( 270 ) to remove particles in the fluid flow , including any particles generated by the blower , and subsequently released to the environment undergoing monitoring . fig3 a and 3b provide schematic diagrams providing a perspective side view and a cross sectional view , respectively , of the filter and blower components of the impactor show in fig2 . as shown in these figures , the filter housing ( 260 ) and blower ( 240 ) are provided in a concentric geometry , wherein the cylindrical filter housing ( 260 ) has a central cavity ( 269 ) for accommodating at least a portion of the blower ( 240 ), such as the motor ( 280 ) of the blower . as illustrated in these figures , the cylindrical filter ( 270 ) is made hollow in the center so that a blower motor ( 280 ) can be inserted into it to provide a compact form factor suitable for portable use . optionally , the filter housing ( 260 ) is provided in thermal contact , and optionally in physical contact for some applications , with at least a portion of the blower ( 240 ), such the blower motor ( 280 ). also shown in fig3 a and 3b is blower impeller ( 290 ), blower inlet ( 245 ), blower exhaust ( 248 ), filter inlet ( 265 ) and filter exhaust ( 268 ). the resultant combined blower and filter assembly is more compact than two separate components . in addition , the concentric geometry of the illustrated filter and blower configuration provide for efficient thermal transport from the motor to the fluid passing through the filter housing , thereby resulting in cooling of the motor which may result in more stable and longer operation of the system . also shown in fig3 b is the flow path ( 300 , schematically represented by arrows ) of exhaust from the blower through the filter housing containing filter media and out an outlet ( e . g ., exhaust vent ) of the device . as shown in this figure , exhaust from the blower is passed through the blower exhaust line and into an inlet in the filter housing . within the filter housing , the exhaust contacts filter media , such as a hepa filter , wherein particles are removed . after interaction with the filter , the exhaust is subsequently passed through an outlet of the filter housing and is released into the environment undergoing monitoring . in this flow configuration , the filter component minimizes the amount of particles released into the environment from the impactor , thereby maintaining the cleanliness of the environment . the invention also provides devices and methods for sampling , collecting and analyzing particles including an exhaust system wherein exhaust from a particle sampler or particle counter is diverted away from the environment undergoing monitoring , for example , to avoid disruption of the flow conditions and / or composition of the environment undergoing monitoring . this aspect of the invention has the benefit of maintaining the flow conditions and / or cleanliness of the environment undergoing monitoring , such as a manufacturing environment ( e . g ., cleanroom or aseptic environment ) requiring a specific composition or flow configuration for a given process . in an embodiment , for example , devices of the invention incorporate an exhaust connection to allow the exhaust flow ( e . g ., air or one or more process gases ) from the instrument to be moved away from the instrument and the measurement area , thereby avoiding a disruption to the composition or flow of air of the rest of the monitoring location . in an embodiment , for example , the operation the instrument exhausts the air that is brought into the device for analysis or collection via an exhaust port . this port may optionally direct or disrupt the air flow out of the instrument through the use of vents , holes or louvers . the reason for this direction or disruption of the air is to minimize the impact this air flow has on the laminar air flow of the room . the air may be exhausted horizontal to the vertical air flow of the room ( or any other direction ). fig4 a , 4b and 4c provide schematic diagrams depicting a particle sampling device of the invention having a fluid exhaust system for controlling release of exhaust into the environment undergoing monitoring . fig4 a provides a perspective view of a particle sampling device showing a removable exhaust grill component . fig4 b provides an exploded view of a particle sampling device showing an exhaust port component . fig4 c provides a front view of a particle sampling device showing an exhaust port component . as will be understood by one having skill in the art , the exhaust port component may be adapted to accommodate tubing for passage of exhaust to a location other than the environment undergoing monitoring , such as a designated recovery system or region . to eliminate or minimize disruption to the room &# 39 ; s air flow the device has the ability to connect tubing directly to the instrument allow the air flow to be directed away from the location where it was sampled and exhausted in a less critical location . this location may just be a few feet away or into an air recovery system . this also allows the air being exhausted from the instrument to not be recirculated onto the customer finished product eliminating or reducing risk of contamination to the area . this connection of tubing is facilitated by replacing the exhaust port with a tubing connection on the device and by using a fitting that can have an adapter screwed into it for the device . all references throughout this application , for example patent documents including issued or granted patents or equivalents ; patent application publications ; and non - patent literature documents or other source material ; are hereby incorporated by reference herein in their entireties , as though individually incorporated by reference , to the extent each reference is at least partially not inconsistent with the disclosure in this application ( for example , a reference that is partially inconsistent is incorporated by reference except for the partially inconsistent portion of the reference ). the terms and expressions which have been employed herein are used as terms of description and not of limitation , and there is no intention in the use of such terms and expressions of excluding any equivalents of the features shown and described or portions thereof , but it is recognized that various modifications are possible within the scope of the invention claimed . thus , it should be understood that although the present invention has been specifically disclosed by preferred embodiments , exemplary embodiments and optional features , modification and variation of the concepts herein disclosed may be resorted to by those skilled in the art , and that such modifications and variations are considered to be within the scope of this invention as defined by the appended claims . the specific embodiments provided herein are examples of useful embodiments of the present invention and it will be apparent to one skilled in the art that the present invention may be carried out using a large number of variations of the devices , device components , methods steps set forth in the present description . as will be obvious to one of skill in the art , methods and devices useful for the present methods can include a large number of optional composition and processing elements and steps . when a group of substituents is disclosed herein , it is understood that all individual members of that group and all subgroups , are disclosed separately . when a markush group or other grouping is used herein , all individual members of the group and all combinations and subcombinations possible of the group are intended to be individually included in the disclosure . it must be noted that as used herein and in the appended claims , the singular forms “ a ”, “ an ”, and “ the ” include plural reference unless the context clearly dictates otherwise . thus , for example , reference to “ a cell ” includes a plurality of such cells and equivalents thereof known to those skilled in the art , and so forth . as well , the terms “ a ” ( or “ an ”), “ one or more ” and “ at least one ” can be used interchangeably herein . it is also to be noted that the terms “ comprising ”, “ including ”, and “ having ” can be used interchangeably . the expression “ of any of claims xx - yy ” ( wherein xx and yy refer to claim numbers ) is intended to provide a multiple dependent claim 1 n the alternative form , and in some embodiments is interchangeable with the expression “ as in any one of claims xx - yy .” unless defined otherwise , all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meanings as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this invention belongs . although any methods and materials similar or equivalent to those described herein can be used in the practice or testing of the present invention , the preferred methods and materials are now described . nothing herein is to be construed as an admission that the invention is not entitled to antedate such disclosure by virtue of prior invention . every embodiment or combination of components described or exemplified herein can be used to practice the invention , unless otherwise stated . whenever a range is given in the specification , for example , a temperature range , a time range , or a composition or concentration range , all intermediate ranges and subranges , as well as all individual values included in the ranges given are intended to be included in the disclosure . it will be understood that any subranges or individual values in a range or subrange that are included in the description herein can be excluded from the claims herein . all patents and publications mentioned in the specification are indicative of the levels of skill of those skilled in the art to which the invention pertains . references cited herein are incorporated by reference herein in their entirety to indicate the state of the art as of their publication or filing date and it is intended that this information can be employed herein , if needed , to exclude specific embodiments that are in the prior art . for example , when composition of matter are claimed , it should be understood that compounds known and available in the art prior to applicant &# 39 ; s invention , including compounds for which an enabling disclosure is provided in the references cited herein , are not intended to be included in the composition of matter claims herein . as used herein , “ comprising ” is synonymous with “ including ,” “ containing ,” or “ characterized by ,” and is inclusive or open - ended and does not exclude additional , unrecited elements or method steps . as used herein , “ consisting of ” excludes any element , step , or ingredient not specified in the claim element . as used herein , “ consisting essentially of ” does not exclude materials or steps that do not materially affect the basic and novel characteristics of the claim . in each instance herein any of the terms “ comprising ”, “ consisting essentially of ” and “ consisting of ” may be replaced with either of the other two terms . the invention illustratively described herein suitably may be practiced in the absence of any element or elements , limitation or limitations which is not specifically disclosed herein . one of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that starting materials , biological materials , reagents , synthetic methods , purification methods , analytical methods , assay methods , and biological methods other than those specifically exemplified can be employed in the practice of the invention without resort to undue experimentation . all art - known functional equivalents , of any such materials and methods are intended to be included in this invention . the terms and expressions which have been employed are used as terms of description and not of limitation , and there is no intention that in the use of such terms and expressions of excluding any equivalents of the features shown and described or portions thereof , but it is recognized that various modifications are possible within the scope of the invention claimed . thus , it should be understood that although the present invention has been specifically disclosed by preferred embodiments and optional features , modification and variation of the concepts herein disclosed may be resorted to by those skilled in the art , and that such modifications and variations are considered to be within the scope of this invention as defined by the appended claims . | 6 |
the following detailed description is merely illustrative in nature and is not intended to limit the invention or the application and uses of the invention . furthermore , there is no intention to be bound by any expressed or implied theory presented in the preceding technical field , background , brief summary or the following detailed description . the invention may be described herein in terms of functional and / or logical block components and various processing steps . it should be appreciated that such block components may be realized by any number of hardware , software , and / or firmware components configured to perform the specified functions . to enable portability between single core and multi - core systems , a multicore abstraction layer ( mcal ) provides a framework that obscures the operating system executed by the system hardware to higher - level program code . program code uses the mcal to access system resources and for inter - process communication rather than accessing the operating system directly . by isolating system - specific code into the mcal , higher level system code can be made more generic , thereby improving portability across single processor , multi - core processor , and / or multi - processor systems . access to additional hardware ( e . g . hardware co - processors ) can also be provided through the abstraction layer , thereby further improving software flexibility and ease of design . turning now to the drawing figures and with initial reference now to fig1 , an exemplary data processing system 100 suitably includes an abstracted operating system layer 102 , a classification handler 104 , a protocol handler 106 a - c for each communications protocol handled by system 100 , and an application handler 108 a - c for each control application executing on system 100 . generally speaking , application handlers 108 a - c process data relating to control functions , whereas protocol handlers 106 a - c manage data simple data transactions . in the exemplary embodiment shown in fig1 , system 100 is shown as a wireless switch device capable of routing data packets formatted according to wireless protocols ( e . g . ieee 802 . 11 or the like ) as well as radio frequency identification ( rfid ) protocols , in addition to any new and / or other protocols that may be desired . the use of wireless and rfid protocols is purely exemplary to illustrate that multiple protocols could be combined into a common system 100 . this feature is not necessary in all embodiments , and indeed many equivalent embodiments could be formulated to process any number of wired , wireless or other data communications protocols . the system 100 shown in fig1 could be implemented within any conventional single - processor general - purpose computing system that executes any suitable operating system . the linux operating system , for example , is freely available from a number of commercial and non - commercial sources , and is highly configurable to facilitate the features described herein . equivalent embodiments could be built upon any version of the macos , solaris , unix , windows or other operating systems . each of these operating systems provide kernel space 101 as well as user space 103 as appropriate . in other embodiments , however , it is not necessary to separate kernel and user space . to the contrary , equivalent embodiments to those described above could be implemented within any sort of operating system framework , including those with “ flat ” memory architectures that do not differentiate between kernel and user space . in such embodiments , the mcal 102 and the various handlers would all reside within the flat memory space . kernel space 101 as shown in fig1 is any operating system portion capable of providing a multicore abstraction layer ( mcal ) 102 to facilitate communication between hardware and software . kernel 101 also provides software facilities that are provided to applications executing in user space 103 such as process abstractions , interprocess communication and system calls . again , various equivalent embodiments may not differentiate between kernel space 101 and user space 103 , but may nevertheless provide the functionality of mcal 102 within any convenient memory addressing structure . as noted above and below , mcal 102 suitably contains any hardware - specific code for system 100 , and provides for communication between the various handlers 104 , 106 a - c , 108 a - c . to that end , mcal 102 typically includes a set of containers 110 a - c for representing various types of data handler modules 104 , 106 , 108 ( described more fully below ). containers 110 a - c are any logical structures capable of facilitating inter - process data communications between modules . these communications structures may include , for example , message queues , shared memory , and / or the like . during system configuration and / or startup ( or at any other suitable time ), handler modules 104 , 106 , 108 register with mcal 102 . mcal 102 subsequently provides abstracted version of the system hardware and / or operating system resources to each handler 104 , 106 , 108 so that the various handlers need not be customized to the particular hardware present in any particular system . that is , handler modules 104 , 106 , 108 need not be customized or otherwise specially configured for multi - core or multi - processor operation , since such features are abstracted and provided within mcal 102 . in various embodiments , then , the same code used to implement handlers 104 , 106 , 108 can be run in both single and multi - core environments , with mcal 102 concealing the hardware specific features from the various handlers . mcal 102 also initializes hardware components of system 102 as appropriate ; such components may include networking interfaces , co - processors ( e . g . special processors providing cryptography , compression or other features ), and / or the like . mcal also manages the downloading of handler code to the cpus , as well as handler starting , stopping , monitoring , and other features . the various functions carried out by mcal 102 may vary from embodiment to embodiment . classification handler ( ch ) 104 is any hardware , software or other logic capable of recognizing data packets of various protocols and of assigning a classification to the data packet . this classification may identify the particular data type ( e . g . wireless , tcp / ip , rfid , etc ) based upon header information or other factors , and may further identify a suitable protocol handler 106 a - c or application handler 108 a - c for processing the data based upon data type , source , destination or any other criteria as appropriate . classification module 104 therefore acts as a distribution engine , in a sense , that identifies suitable destinations for the various data packets . in various further embodiments , classification handler 104 may further distribute ( or initiate distribution ) of data packets to the proper handlers using message send constructs provided by mcal 102 , as appropriate . although fig1 shows only one classification handler 104 , alternate embodiments may include two or more classification handlers 104 as desired . additional detail about an exemplary classification handler 104 is provided below in conjunction with fig6 . protocol handlers ( ph ) 106 a - c are any software modules , structures or other logic capable of managing the data stack of one or more data communications protocols . an exemplary wireless handler 106 a , for example , could terminate open systems interconnect ( osi ) layer 2 and / or layer 3 encapsulation ( using , e . g ., the capwap , wisp or similar protocol ) for packets received from wireless access points , and may also terminate 802 . 11 , 802 . 16 , rfid or any other wireless or wired protocols , including any security protocols , to extract data packets that could be transferred on a local area or other wired network . conversely , wireless handler 106 a could initiate encapsulation of data received on the wired network for transmittal to a wireless client via a remote access point , as appropriate . in other embodiments , the send and receive processes could be split into separate protocol handlers 106 , as desired . application handlers ( ah ) 108 a - c are any software programs , applets , modules or other logic capable of hosting any type of application or control path features of one or more protocols . in the example shown in fig1 , wireless application handler 108 a processes control functions ( e . g . 802 . 11 signaling and management functions ( authentication , association etc ), 802 . 1 × authentication , administrative functions , logging , and the like ) associated with the transfer of wireless ( e . g . 802 . 11 ) data . multiple application handlers 108 could be provided for separate control features , if desired . in operation , then , data packets arriving at a network interface or other source are initially provided to classification handler 104 , which assigns a classification to the packet and optionally forwards the packet to the appropriate protocol handler 106 a - c and / or application handler 108 a - c according to the classification . inter - process communication and any interfacing to system hardware is provided using mcal 102 . turning now to fig2 , an exemplary implementation of a multi - core data processing system 200 suitably includes a control processor 201 in addition to one or more data handling processors 203 a - c . control processor 201 typically executes the base operating system ( e . g . linux or the like ), whereas the data handling processors 203 a - c execute the various handler logic ( e . g . classification handler 104 , protocol handler 106 , application handler 108 shown in fig1 ). by dividing the data handling function from the operating system function , the overall throughput of system 200 can be markedly improved in many embodiments . the term “ processor ” as used in this context can refer to a physical processor , to a processing core of a multi - core processing chip , or to a so - called “ virtual machine ” running within a processor or processing core . that is , the mcal 102 is created to adapt system 200 to available hardware so that the individual handler modules 104 , 106 , 108 need not be individually tailored to the particular hardware environment used to implement system 200 . similarly , any number of control and / or data handling processors 201 , 203 could be used in a wide array of alternate embodiments . data handler modules 104 / 106 / 108 may be assigned to the various processors 201 , 204 in any manner . in various embodiments , handler modules 104 / 106 / 108 are statically assigned to available hardware by pre - configuring the modules loaded at system startup or reset . alternatively , modules 104 / 106 / 108 can be dynamically assigned to reduce any performance bottlenecks that may arise during operation . in such embodiments , mcal 102 ( or another portion of system 100 ) suitably assigns modules to available processing resources based upon available load . load may be determined , for example , through periodic or aperiodic polling of the various processing cores 203 , through observation of data throughput rates , and / or through any other manner . in various embodiments , mcal 102 periodically polls each processing core to determine a then - current loading value , and then re - assigns over or under - utilized handler modules 104 / 106 / 108 in real time based upon the results of the polling . as noted above , mcal 202 suitably includes any number of container structures 110 a - c for facilitating inter - process communications between each of the various handler modules executing on the various and / or to otherwise abstract the multi - core hardware structure from particular software modules 104 , 106 , 108 ( fig1 ) as appropriate . with reference now to fig3 , an exemplary data processing system 300 is shown in increasing detail . this system 300 suitably includes separate processors 201 , 203 a - c for control and data handling functions ( respectively ), with each processor 201 , 203 executing any number of concurrent threads 302 a - d as shown . system 300 also includes a digital memory 305 such as any sort of ram , rom or flash memory for storing data and instructions , in addition to any available mass storage device such as an sort of magnetic or optical storage medium . an optional coprocessor 304 may be provided to perform specialized tasks such as cryptographic functions , compression , authentication and / or the like . the various components of system 300 intercommunicate with each other via any sort of logical or physical bus 306 as appropriate . in various embodiments , each control and data handling processor contains several “ virtual ” or logical machines 302 a - d that are each capable of acting as a separate processor . in such cases , a software image containing data handlers 104 / 106 / 108 is executed within each active logical machine 302 a - d as a separate thread that can be processed by data handler . typically , each processing core 201 , 203 includes its own “ level 1 ” data and instruction cache that is available only to threads operating on that core . memory 305 , however , typically represents a memory subsystem that is shared between each of the processing cores 201 , 203 found on a common chip . memory 305 may also provide “ level 2 ” cache that is readily accessible to all of the threads 302 a - d running on each of the various processing cores 201 , 203 . system 300 suitably includes one or more network interface ports 310 a - d that receive data packets from a digital network via a network interface . the network interface may be any sort of network interface card ( nic ) or the like , and various systems 300 may have several physical and / or logical interface ports 310 a - d to accommodate significant traffic loads . as noted above , data handlers may be assigned to the various processing cores 203 a - c and the various processing threads 302 a - d using any sort of static or dynamic process . in many embodiments , a packet distribution engine 308 is provided to initially distribute packets received via the network interface ports 310 a - d to the appropriate classification handler 104 . packet distribution engine 308 is any hardware , software or other logic capable of initially providing access to data packets received from ports 310 a - d . in various embodiments , packet distribution engine 308 may be implemented in an application specific integrated circuit ( asic ) for increased speed , for example , or the functionality could be readily combined with one or more classification handlers 104 using software or firmware logic . in either case , data packets arriving from network ports 310 a - d are directed toward an appropriate classification handler 104 executing on one of the data handler processors 203 a - c . this direction may take place in any manner ; in various embodiments , each network port 310 a - d has an associated classification handler 104 executing as a separate thread 302 on one of the data handling processors 203 a - c . alternatively , packets arriving at any port 310 a - d are initially directed toward a common classification handler 104 . classification , protocol and application handlers 104 / 106 / 108 are contained within a software image that is executed on each of the available data handling processors 203 a - c , and operating system software is executed on the control plane 201 . that is , the various data handlers 104 / 106 / 108 can be combined into a common software image so that each thread 302 a - d on each processor 203 a - c executes common software to provide the various data handling functions . this feature is optional , however , and not necessarily found in all embodiments . as noted above , classification handlers 104 suitably classify and dispatch incoming data packets to an appropriate destination handler , such as a operating system thread on control processor 301 or a protocol or application handler on data handling processors 303 a - c . each protocol handler 106 typically runs a thread of a specific protocol supported by system 300 ( e . g . 802 . 11 wireless , rfid , 802 . 16 , any other wireless protocol , and / or any security protocols such as ipsec , tcp / ip or the like ), and each application handler 108 runs an appropriate processing application to provide a feature such as location tracking , rfid identification , secure sockets layer ( ssl ) encryption and / or the like . as described above , protocol handlers 106 typically provide processing of actual data , whereas application handlers 108 typically provide control - type functionality . as noted above , mcal 102 ( fig1 - 2 ) assigns the various processors 201 , 203 and threads 302 to each data handler 104 / 106 / 108 on a static , dynamic or other basis as appropriate . in single processor embodiments , mcal 102 typically maps each handler to the same processor 201 that is running the operating system . mcal 102 may physically reside within either processor 201 , or any of processors 203 a - c . alternatively , the various functions performed by the mcal 102 can be split across the various processors 201 , 203 as appropriate . in various further embodiments , a co - processor module 304 may also be provided . this module may be implemented with custom hardware , for example , to provide a particular computationally - intense feature such as cryptographic functions , data compression and / or the like . co - processor module 304 may be addressed using the message send and receive capabilities of the mcal 102 just as the various threads 302 a - d executing on the multiple processing cores 301 , 303 a - c . referring to fig4 , an exemplary memory and addressing scheme 600 includes a pool 405 of memory space suitable for storing received data packets 409 a - e , along with a packet descriptor 407 that contains a brief summary of relevant information about the data packet itself . this descriptor 407 may be created , for example , by a classification handler 104 ( fig1 - 4 ), and includes such information as packet type 404 , a pointer 406 to a source address , a pointer 408 to a destination address , a pointer 410 to the beginning of the packet , a copy 412 of any relevant message headers , and any relevant description 414 of the packet payload ( e . g . the length of the payload in bytes ). various descriptors 407 may contain alternate information as appropriate . source and destination address pointers 406 , 408 may be obtained in any manner ; in various embodiments , this information is obtained from a lookup table 402 or other appropriate data structure maintained within system memory 305 . this information may be looked up in one handler ( e . g . the classification handler ), for example , and pointers to the relevant addresses may be maintained in the packet descriptor 407 to reduce or eliminate the need for subsequent lookups , thereby improving processing speed . with momentary reference again to fig3 , the data packet 409 a - e and its associated data descriptor 407 can be maintained within system memory 305 , where this information is readily accessible to each thread 302 a - d executing on each processing core 301 , 303 a - c . turning now to fig5 , an exemplary generic process 500 for routing a data packet ( e . g . packets 407 a - e ) through a data processing system ( e . g . systems 100 , 200 , 300 described above ) suitably includes the broad steps of receiving the data packet ( step 502 ), determining an appropriate recipient handler ( steps 506 - 510 ), and then “ sending ” the message to the destination handler ( step 514 ). process 500 is intended to illustrate the logical tasks performed by the data processing system ; it is not intended as a literal software implementation . a practical implementation may arrange the various steps shown in fig5 in any order , and / or may supplement or group the steps differently as appropriate . nevertheless , process 500 does represent a logical technique for routing data packets that could be implemented using any type of digital computing hardware , and that could be stored in any type of digital storage medium , including any sort of ram , rom , flash memory , magnetic media , optical media and / or the like . the process outlined in fig5 may be logically incorporated into the mcal 102 best seen in fig1 - 2 , for example , or may be otherwise implemented as appropriate . as data packets are received at the message queue ( step 502 ), the mcal 102 first determines the appropriate handler to process the received message ( step 506 ). in the event that the data packet is newly received from the network port ( e . g . ports 310 a - c in fig3 ), then the handler is typically a classification handler 104 as described above ( step 508 ). otherwise , the destination handler can be determined from examination of the packet descriptor ( see discussion of fig4 above ) contained within memory 305 ( fig3 ). in various embodiments that maintain a common code image running in all threads , the classification handler 104 , protocol handlers 106 and application handlers 108 are optionally invoked within the packet routing function 300 ( step 512 ). in such embodiments , a switch - type data structure or the like identifies the destination as the classification handler 104 , the appropriate protocol hander 106 a - c for the particular protocol carried by the data packet , or the application handler 108 a - c for the application type identified by the data packet . this feature is not required in all embodiments ; to the contrary , step 512 may be omitted entirely in alternate but equivalent embodiments in which a common code image is not provided . upon determination of the appropriate destination for the data packet , the message is directed or “ sent ” ( step 514 ) using any appropriate technique . the term “ sent ” is used colloquially here because the entire data packet need not be transported to the receiving module . to the contrary , a pointer to the packet or packet descriptor ( see below ) in memory 305 could be transmitted to the receiving module without transporting the packet itself , or any other indicia or pointer to the appropriate data could be equivalently provided . process 500 may be repeated as appropriate ( step 516 ). in various embodiments , the “ packet receive ” feature is a blocking function provided by the mcal 102 that holds execution of process 500 at step 502 ( or another appropriate point ) until a message is received in the message queue . as noted above , message queuing , as well as message send and receive features are typically provided within the mcal 102 to make use of operating system and hardware - specific features . turning now to fig6 , an exemplary process 600 for classifying data packets ( e . g . packets 407 a - e in fig4 ) suitably includes the broad steps of classifying the incoming packets ( steps 602 - 618 ) and performing pre - processing by formatting and storing the packet as appropriate ( step 622 ) to facilitate direction toward a particular protocol or application handler . like process 500 above , process 600 is intended to illustrate various features carried out by an exemplary process , and is not intended as a literal software implementation . nevertheless , process 600 may be stored in any digital storage media ( such as those described above ) and may be executed on any processing module 201 , 203 as appropriate . moreover , the exemplary process 600 shown in fig6 illustrates multiple protocol implementation using the examples of wireless communication and rfid communication . alternate embodiments could be built to support any number ( e . g . one or more ) protocols , without regard to whether the protocols are wired , wireless or otherwise . process 600 generally identifies packets as wireless ( steps 602 , 604 , 606 ), rfid ( steps 608 , 610 ), application ( steps 612 , 614 ) or management / control ( steps 616 , 618 , 620 ). these determinations are made based upon any appropriate factors , such as header information contained within the data packet itself , the source of the packet , the nature of the packet ( e . g . packet size ), and / or any other relevant factors . as the type of packet is identified , a classification is assigned to the packet ( steps 606 , 610 , 614 , 618 , 620 ) to direct the packet toward its appropriate destination processing module . in the example of fig6 , packets that do not meet pre - determined classification criteria are sent to the operating system for further processing by default ; alternate embodiments may discard the packet , forward the packet to another classification module 104 , or take any other default action desired . classification process 600 also involves performing preprocessing ( step 622 ) on the data packet . pre - processing may involve creating and / or populating the data descriptor 407 for the packet described in conjunction with fig4 above , and / or taking other steps as appropriate . in various embodiments , classification process 600 may include performing lookups to tables 402 ( fig4 ) to identify source , destination or other information about the packet . although fig6 shows step 622 as occurring only after the packet has been classified , in practice some or all of the data formatting , storing and / or gathering may equivalently take place prior to or concurrent with the classification process . with final reference now to fig7 , an exemplary embodiment of a wireless switch 700 that is capable of directing wireless traffic ( e . g . ieee 802 . 11 and / or 802 . 16 traffic ) and rfid traffic is shown . again , the combination of wireless and rfid protocols is intended merely as an example ; in practice , device 700 may be any type of bridge , switch , router , gateway or the like capable of processing any number of protocols , and any type of wired or wireless protocols using any type of hardware and software resources . further , alternate embodiments of the switch 700 could be readily formulated in many different ways ; the particular data processing handlers 104 / 106 / 108 , for example , could reside within any processing threads 302 executed by any of the data handling processors 203 . wireless switch 700 suitably includes multiple processing cores 201 and 203 a - c , with core 201 running an operating system ( e . g . linux ) in threads 302 c - d . application handlers 108 a - b providing control path handling for wireless access and rfid protocols , respectively , are shown executing within threads 302 a - b of processing core 201 , although alternate embodiments may move the application handlers 108 a - b to available threads 302 on data handling cores 303 a - c as appropriate . threads 302 a - b of processor 203 a are shown assigned to classification handlers 104 a - b , and threads 302 c - d of processor 203 a are shown assigned to protocol handlers 106 a associated with rfid protocols . the remaining threads 302 a - d on processing cores 303 c - d are shown assigned to protocol handlers 106 for wireless communications , with each thread having assigned wireless access points ( aps ). thread 302 a of processor core 203 b , for example , is assigned to process wireless data emanating from access points 1 and 9 , whereas thread 302 b of core 203 b processes wireless data emanating from aps 2 and 10 . access points need not be assigned to particular protocol handlers 106 in this manner , but doing so may aid in load balancing , troubleshooting , logging and other functions . in operation , then data packets arrive at wireless switch 700 via one or more network interface ports 310 a - d from a local area or other digital network . these packets are initially directed toward a classification handler ( e . g . handlers 104 a - b on processing core 203 a ) by packet distribution engine 308 . alternatively , distribution engine 308 provides a portion of the classification function by storing the received packet in memory 305 , and providing a pointer to the relevant packet to classification handler 104 a or 104 b . the classification handler 104 , in turn , classifies the data packet as wireless , rfid , control and / or the like , and selects and appropriate protocol handler 106 or application handler 108 as appropriate . the relevant handler subsequently receives a pointer or other notification of the packet &# 39 ; s location in memory 105 , and processes the packet normally . optionally , mcal 102 monitors the loads on each processing core during operation , and re - assigns one or more handlers to keep loads on the various processing cores relatively balanced during operation . as noted at the outset , the mcal framework allows for efficient code design , since code can be designed to work within the framework , rather than being created for particular hardware platforms . moreover , legacy code can be made to work with emerging hardware platforms by simply modifying the code to work within the abstraction constructs rather than addressing the hardware directly . other embodiments may provide other benefits as well . while at least one example embodiment has been presented in the foregoing detailed description , it should be appreciated that a vast number of equivalents exist . it should also be appreciated that the example embodiment or embodiments described herein are not intended to limit the scope , applicability , or configuration of the invention in any way . rather , the foregoing detailed description will provide those skilled in the art with a convenient road map for implementing the described embodiment or embodiments . it should be understood that various changes can be made in the function and arrangement of elements without departing from the scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims and the legal equivalents thereof . | 7 |
exemplary embodiments of a wind power plant , a wind power plant controller and a method of controlling a wind power plant in accordance with the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying figures . it will be appreciated that the exemplary embodiments described below can be modified in various aspects without changing the essence of the invention . fig1 illustrates a common setup of a conventional wind turbine 100 . the wind turbine 100 is mounted on a base 102 . the wind turbine 100 includes a tower 104 having a number of towers sections , such as tower rings . a wind turbine nacelle 106 is placed on top of the tower 104 . the wind turbine rotor includes a hub 108 and at least one rotor blade 110 , e . g . three rotor blades 110 . the rotor blades 110 are connected to the hub 108 which in turn is connected to the nacelle 106 through a low speed shaft which extends out of the front of the nacelle 106 . fig2 shows a schematic diagram of a wind power plant 200 ( also known as “ wind farm ” or “ wind park ”) according to an embodiment of the present invention . in fig2 , the wind power plant 200 includes a plurality of wind turbines 100 . the number of wind turbines 100 of the wind power plant 200 can be more than 20 . however , it is to be understood that the term “ wind power plant ” in the sense of the present invention may also include the case of at least two wind turbines . in one embodiment , each wind turbine 100 of the wind power plant 200 may include a controller 202 located within the wind turbine 100 , e . g . in the tower 104 or in the nacelle 106 . alternatively , the controller 202 may be located outside the wind turbine 100 . the controller 202 of each wind turbine 100 is configured to receive a telegram and to send status information about the respective wind turbine 100 . the controller 202 may also be configured to control all functions of the respective wind turbine 100 . alternatively , each wind turbine 100 may include a separate controller 202 configured to control all functions of the respective wind turbine 100 . the wind power plant 200 includes a wind power plant controller ( ppc ) 204 . the wind power plant controller 204 may for example be implemented on a programmable logic controller ( plc ). the wind power plant 200 includes a plurality of communication modules 206 . the communication modules 206 may be eweb modules . however , also other communication modules may be used . the communication modules 206 are integrated into the wind power plant controller 204 . the wind power plant 200 also includes a wind power plant ( wpp ) network 208 . the wpp network 208 is coupled between the wind turbines 100 and the wind power plant controller 204 via control lines 210 . in the wind power plant 200 , all the wind turbines 100 can communicate with the wind power plant controller 204 through the wpp network 208 . for example , the wind turbines 100 may be configured to send status information about the wind turbines 100 to the wind power plant controller 204 via the wpp network 208 using the respective controllers 202 . the status information about the wind turbines 100 may be sent to the wind power plant controller 204 only upon request by the wind power plant controller 204 . alternatively , the status information about the wind turbines 100 may be sent to the wind power plant controller 204 at a regular time interval basis . for example , a possible time interval range may be about 10 ms to about 100 ms . in one embodiment , the status information sent from the wind turbines 100 to the wind power plant controller 204 indicates if the respective wind turbines 100 are in an operating mode , are tripped or are starting up . the status information may for example include current power output and / or possible future power output of the respective wind turbines . the possible power outputs of the respective wind turbines generally depend on the wind speed . the status information may also include general operating conditions of the respective wind turbines 100 , e . g . temperature of e . g . a motor of the wind turbine 100 , grid voltage , etc . the wind power plant controller 204 in response controls the wind turbines 100 via the wpp network 208 . the wind power plant controller 204 may also control components such as switchgears , motors , etc in the wind turbines 100 . after receiving the status information about the wind turbines 100 , the wind power plant controller 204 prepares a telegram for each wind turbine 100 comprising corresponding wind turbine controlling data based on the status information received from the respective wind turbine 100 , and sends each telegram to the corresponding wind turbine 100 via the wpp network 208 . the wind power plant controller 204 may be configured to prepare a telegram for a chosen wind turbine 100 of the wind power plant 200 and to send the telegram to the chosen wind turbine 100 upon completion of the telegram . the wind power plant controller 204 may be configured to successively repeat the same process for each of the remaining wind turbines 100 . that is , the next telegram is prepared after having sent out the previous telegram . the wind power plant controller 204 may work based on a discrete time sampled system . it is understood that in a discrete time sampled system , a continuous signal is being read at a fixed time interval ( ts ). the value of the continuous signal is represented by its instantaneous value at the respective time instants ts , 2 ts , 3 ts , 4 ts , . . . , kts . the instantaneous values of the continuous signal at the respective time instants ts , 2 ts , 3 ts , 4 ts , . . . , kts is named sample nos . 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , . . . , k respectively . that is , the wind power plant controller 204 can start to prepare the telegram for a chosen wind turbine n + 1 while the telegram for a previous chosen wind turbine n is being sent by the communication modules 206 . more generally , while the communication modules are handling the sending of telegrams which have been prepared based on power plant controller sample # k , the power plant controller may itself start calculating the setpoints for power plant controller sample # k + 1 . the wind power plant controller 204 prepares and sends one telegram to each wind turbine 100 . in another embodiment , the wind power plant controller 204 may prepare and send more than one telegram to each wind turbine 100 . the control information included within the telegrams may be the same for all telegrams . alternatively , control data may differ from telegram to telegram , i . e . each wind turbine may receive individual control data . the telegram for each wind turbine 100 can be sent out on a regular time interval basis ranging between about every 10 ms to about 100 ms . the telegram for each wind turbine 100 may be sent to the respective wind turbines 100 by the communication modules 206 which control the sending process . in the event that the wind power plant 200 has a large number of wind turbines 100 , each communication module 206 is configured to send the telegrams to a respective group of wind turbines 100 in the wind power plant 200 . for example , if the wind power plant 200 has twenty - four wind turbines 100 and three communication modules 206 , the twenty - four wind turbines 100 may be equally distributed among the three communication modules such that each communication module 206 controls telegram communication between the wind power plant controller 204 and a respective group of e . g . eight wind turbines of the wind power plant 200 . it is understood that it is not necessary to distribute the number of wind turbines 100 equally among the number of communication modules 206 . some communication modules 206 may be configured to send the telegram to a larger number of wind turbines 100 than other communication modules 206 . the number of wind turbines 100 for each communication module 206 may be manually adjusted by a user , or may be automatically determined by a software program . the telegrams sent from the wind power plant controller 204 to the respective wind turbines 100 may be data packets / concatenation of data packets . the data packets / concatenation of data packets may be sent using ethernet ip network technology . however , also other network technology types may be used for sending the data packets . in one embodiment , the wind turbine controlling data of the telegram includes wind turbine setpoint controlling data . the wind turbine setpoint controlling data can include reactive power production setpoint controlling data only , active power production setpoint controlling data only , or both reactive power production setpoint controlling data and active power production setpoint controlling data . the respective controllers 202 of the wind turbines 100 are also configured to receive telegrams from the wind power plant controller 204 . upon receiving the telegrams , the wind turbines 100 may adjust the existing reactive power production setpoint and the existing active power production setpoint based on the reactive power production setpoint controlling data and the active power production setpoint controlling data in the telegrams , if the existing reactive power production setpoint and the existing active power production setpoint of the wind turbines 100 are different from the reactive power production setpoint controlling data and the active power production setpoint controlling data in the telegrams . it is to be understood that generally the wind turbines 100 should be in an operating mode before the wind turbines 100 can respond to controlling data like the reactive power production setpoint controlling data and the active power production setpoint controlling data in the telegrams . fig3 a shows a conventional sequence 302 of preparation and transmission of telegrams by the wind power plant controller 204 . based on the conventional sequence 302 , the wind power plant controller 204 prepares all telegrams for all wind turbines 100 to be controlled in a time interval t 1 and sends the telegrams to the respective wind turbines 100 in a time interval t 2 after all telegrams have been prepared and are ready to be sent out . the total time taken to prepare and to send all the telegrams is t total . a wind power plant using the conventional sequence 302 shown in fig3 a may not meet the requirements of the grid codes relating to an initial response time of the wind power plant . the initial response time of the wind power plant using the conventional sequence 302 may be a sum of the time taken to prepare all telegrams ( i . e . t 1 ), the time taken to send out the first telegram ( i . e . t 3 ) and the time taken for a first wind turbine receiving the first telegram to respond to the control information included within the first telegram . to meet the requirement of the grid codes , the number of wind turbines of the wind power plant may have to be reduced to achieve a faster initial response time . however , higher costs may be incurred if another wind power plant needs to be set up to meet the electricity demand . fig3 b shows a sequence 304 of preparation and transmission of telegrams by the wind power plant controller 204 according to an embodiment of the present invention . using the sequence 304 shown in fig3 b , the wind power plant controller 204 prepares a telegram including wind turbine controlling data for a first wind turbine 100 in a time interval t a and sends the telegram to the wind turbine 100 at time t 1 upon completion of the telegram . the first wind turbine 100 to receive a telegram is determined by the communication modules 206 and can be changed using a software program . more generally , the order based on which the plurality of wind turbines receive the telegrams can be changed using a software program . the wind power plant controller 204 then proceeds to prepare a telegram for a second wind turbine 100 after sending the telegram for the first wind turbine 100 . the telegram for the second wind turbine 100 is sent out at time t 2 upon completion of the telegram . this process continues until all the wind turbines 100 in the wind power plant 200 receive the respective telegrams . this process is carried out on a regular time interval basis ranging between about 10 ms and about 100 ms . as shown in fig3 b , the time interval taken for preparing the telegrams for each wind turbine 100 is the same ( e . g . t a for each wind turbine 100 ). however , depending on the individual control information included within each telegram , the time interval taken for preparing the telegrams may differ from telegram to telegram . the telegrams are successively sent out at time t 1 , t 2 , . . . , t 16 respectively . comparing fig3 a and 3 b , the total time taken for the sequence shown in fig3 b to prepare and to send all the telegrams is about the same as the total time taken for the conventional sequence 302 shown in fig3 a . therefore , using the sequence 304 shown in fig3 b does not result in a total processing time which is longer , as compared to using the conventional sequence 302 shown in fig3 a . further , using the sequence shown in fig3 b can minimize initial control delay ( i . e . initial response time ) of the wind power plant 200 and thus achieving a faster response time , since the telegram for the first wind turbine 100 is sent as soon as it is ready . the initial response time of the wind power plant 200 using the sequence 304 may be a sum of the time taken to prepare and send the first telegram ( i . e . t 1 ) and the time taken for a first wind turbine 100 to respond to the control information included within the first telegram . comparing the initial response time of the conventional sequence 302 and the initial response time of the sequence 304 , the wind power plant 200 using the sequence 304 has a faster initial response time . in addition , with e . g . eight wind turbines 100 on each communication module 206 and using the sequence 304 , the first wind turbine 100 of each communication 206 may receive the telegram after about 3 to 5 ms after having started preparing the telegram for the first wind turbine , and the last wind turbine 100 of each communication 206 may receive the telegram after about 25 to 30 ms after having started preparing the telegram for the first wind turbine . thus , according to one embodiment , the initial response time of the wind power plant 200 may be regarded as a sum of the following time periods : one sample period of the wind power plant controller 204 for calculating new setpoint controlling data included with the telegram for the first wind turbine 100 , the time taken for the first wind turbine 100 to receive the telegram ( e . g . about 3 to 5 ms ) and a communication delay of the first wind turbine 100 to respond to the setpoint controlling data included within the received telegram . therefore , the wind power plant 200 having a large number of wind turbines 100 can still meet the requirement of the grid codes relating to an initial response time of the wind power plant 200 . in one embodiment , it may be possible for the wind power plant 200 to use a sequence which is a combination of the conventional sequence 302 and the sequence 304 . assuming that for example six wind turbines 100 of the wind power plant 200 can achieve the required response 502 shown in fig5 , the telegrams for six wind turbines 100 of the wind power plant 200 can first be prepared and sent using the sequence 304 , and the telegrams for the remaining wind turbines 100 of the wind power plant 200 can then be prepared and sent using the conventional sequence 302 . more generally , according to one embodiment , the wind power plant controller 204 may determine how many wind turbines 100 are necessary to be controlled according to embodiments of the present invention in order to achieve the required response . then , these wind turbines 100 may be controlled accordingly ( using the sequence 304 ). all remaining wind turbines may be controlled using the conventional sequence 302 . fig4 show a flowchart 400 of an embodiment of controlling a wind power plant according to the present invention . at 402 , a process of successively preparing and sending a telegram to each of the plurality of wind turbines of the wind power plant starts . at 404 , a telegram having wind turbine controlling data for one of the plurality of wind turbines of the wind power plant is prepared . at 406 , the telegram is sent to the wind turbine upon completion of the telegram . at 408 , it is checked if there is any remaining wind turbine to which a corresponding telegram has not been sent . if there is , a telegram comprising wind turbine controlling data is prepared for the remaining wind turbine at 404 , and the telegram is sent to the remaining wind turbine upon completion of the telegram at 406 . this iterative process is successively repeated for each of the remaining wind turbines . if all wind turbines of the wind power plant have received a corresponding telegram , the process ends at 410 . while embodiments of the invention have been particularly shown and described with reference to specific embodiments , it should be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and detail may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims . the scope of the invention is thus indicated by the appended claims and all changes which come within the meaning and range of equivalency of the claims are therefore intended to be embraced . | 8 |
embodiments of this invention will be explained with reference to the drawings . fig1 through fig4 show the arrangements of compact solid - state laser based on the embodiments of this invention . the compact solid - state laser has its cavity formed between the right - side reflection surface la of a gain crystal 1 and the right - side reflection surface 2 a of a chirped mirror 2 . reference numeral 6 denotes the pumping light directed to the gain crystal 1 , 3 is the optical source of the pumping light , 4 is the laser output , and 5 is a dichroic mirror which diverts the course of the laser output 4 . the compact solid - state laser can have several arrangements depending on the manner of leading in the pumping light 6 and leading out the laser output 4 , of which four representative types are shown in fig1 through fig4 . in the arrangement of fig1 the pumping light 6 is incident to the chirped mirror 2 from its back , and the laser output 4 is led out from the reflection surface la of the gain crystal 1 . in the arrangement of fig2 the pumping light 6 is incident to the reflection surface 1 a of the gain crystal 1 , and the laser output 4 is led out from the back of the chirped mirror 2 . in the arrangement of fig3 the pumping light 6 is introduced into the cavity by being incident to the back of the chirped mirror 2 through the dichroic mirror 5 , and the laser output 4 is taken out from the back of the chirped mirror 2 and led out by being diverted by the dichroic mirror 5 . in the arrangement of fig4 the pumping light 6 and the laser output 4 exist on the side of the right - side reflection surface la . in the arrangement of fig4 the pumping light 6 is introduced into the cavity by being incident to the reflection surface 1 a of the gain crystal 1 through the dichroic mirror 5 , and the laser output 4 is taken out from the reflection surface la of the gain crystal 1 and led out by being diverted by the dichroic mirror 5 . the gain crystal 1 used in the foregoing arrangements of solid - state laser can have various structures as shown in fig5 fig6 and fig7 . in any case , the gain crystal 1 has its right - side reflection surface la rendered with a reflection coating , chirped mirror coating , or saturable - absorber mirror coating . for leading out the laser output 4 from the reflection surface la of the gain crystal 1 , as in the cases of fig1 and fig4 the reflection surface 1 a is coated to become an output - coupler mirror of several percent or less . for leading out the laser output 4 from the back of the chirped mirror 2 , as in the cases of fig2 and fig3 the gain crystal 1 has its reflection surface la rendered the high - reflection coating . the gain crystal 1 has its left - side surface 1 b rendered the anti - reflection coating , and further may be rendered with a saturable - absorber coating , instead of the saturable - absorber mirror coating of the reflection surface 1 a , as shown in fig5 . or , the gain crystal 1 is polished to provide a brewster angle θ b so as to suppress the reflection , as shown in fig6 and fig7 . shown in fig6 is the simplest structure of gain crystal having a brewster angle θ b . with its reflection surface la being rendered with a planar cutting . however , the brewster angle θ b differs slightly depending on the wavelength . accordingly , in dealing with a wide spectrum as in the case of ultra - short pulse oscillator , the optical path varies in the gain crystal 1 . it can be correct effectively by the provision of a cylindrical curving surface for the reflection surface la as shown in fig7 . shown by the dashed line 6 in fig6 and fig7 is the incident pumping light 6 of the case of incidence on the side of the reflection surface la . fig8 and fig9 show examples of the structure of chirped mirror 2 which can be used in the foregoing arrangements of solid - state laser . the chirped mirror 2 is a concave mirror having a focal distance of around several tens millimeters , which is determined depending on the repetition frequency . the chirped mirror has a multilayer coating on the right - side surface 2 a as shown in fig8 and fig9 . in the arrangement of fig4 where the pumping light 6 and laser output 4 are led in and out on the side of the reflection surface 1 a of the gain crystal 1 , the chirped mirror 2 may have its unused back surface ( opposite to its mirror surface 2 a ) simply left planar as shown in fig8 . on the other hand , in the arrangements of fig1 fig2 and fig3 where the pumping light 6 or laser output 4 is led in or out on the side of the chirped mirror 2 opposite to its mirror surface 2 a , the respective optical systems are required on that side . in the arrangement of fig1 where only the pumping light 6 is incident to the back surface of the chirped mirror 2 opposite to its mirror surface 2 a , the mirror 2 may have its back surface simply left planar as shown in fig8 . in the arrangement of fig2 and fig3 where the laser output 4 is focused , the chirped mirror 2 may be designed to have its solid body working as a focusing lens so that the whole device becomes much smaller . in addition , in the arrangements of fig1 fig2 and fig3 where the pumping light 6 or laser output 4 is led in or out on the side of the chirped mirror 2 opposite to its mirror surface 2 a , it is effective to provide a anti - reflection coating on this surface . the pumping optical source 3 is a solid - state laser or a semiconductor laser , the latter being useful for the compactness of the whole device . the pumping optical source 3 may include a lens system for the enhancement of pumping ability , and may include an isolator , also . the pumping optical source 3 , gain crystal 1 and chirped mirror 2 have a common optical axis obviously , as will be explained in regard to the structure in connection with the transmitter of optical communication system . in case that gain crystal 1 is a brewster - cut one like fig6 or fig7 and that pumping light 6 is introduced into the cavity through the chirped mirror 2 like fig1 or fig3 then the lens 32 in optical source 30 is tilted by a few or more degrees to compensate for astigmatism , as shown in fig1 , where an isolator 33 is also drawn . when gain crystal 1 is a simple plane parallel structure as shown in fig5 then the cavity has rotational symmetry with respect to optical beam , and the light is not polarized , leading to poor laser characteristics . to circumvent this problem , a glass or fused - silica plate 34 may be set in the cavity at a brewster angle q b , as shown in fig1 . next , an embodiment of the transmitter , with the foregoing compact solid - state laser being applied thereto , will be explained . among the materials useful for the gain crystal 1 , which include cr - doped yag ( cr : yag crystal ), ti - doped a 1 2 o 3 , cr - doped lisaf , cr - doped mg 2 sio 4 , nd - doped glass etc ., the compact solid - state laser used in this transmitter adopts the cr : yag crystal having an oscillation wavelength of the 1 . 5 - μm band . the absorption band of the cr : yag crystal has a peak at a wavelength around 1 . 05 μm . for the pumping optical source 3 , a solid - state laser of nd : yvo 4 , nd : ylf or nd : yag , or a semiconductor laser can be used . the cr : yag laser has a wide spectrum ( 200 nm at maximum ) when it is operated in ultra - short pulse oscillation , and accordingly it is useful for the optical source of the wavelength - division - multiplexed communication system . fig1 a and 12b show the plan view and side view of a transmitter of wavelength - division - multiplexed communication system which employs a compact solid - state laser of cr : yag . indicated by numeral 4000 is the cr : yag laser , which consists of a pumping optical source 3 , a gain crystal 1 and a chirped mirror 2 , as has been shown in fig2 and it provides all wavelengths necessary for the wavelength - division - multiplexed communication system . indicated by 1000 is a signal synthesizer , which converts the light , which comes from the cr : yag laser 4000 and is incident to the optical fiber 101 , into wavelength - division - multiplexed signals in response to the signals to be transmitted . indicated by 3000 is a constant - temperature maintaining device , which maintains the suitable temperature for the operation of the signal synthesizer 1000 and cr : yag laser 4000 and also serves for the chassis of these parts . the signal synthesizer 1000 can be the one that has been offered in the u . s . patent application ser . no . 08 / 997 , 700 ( and the corresponding ep patent publication ep 0 851 205 ) which is the preceding patent application of the present application , and it will be explained here only briefly . the incident light from cr : yag laser 4000 is introduced into a waveguide 101 . the incident light is introduced into an optical path constituting the interferometer 100 through the waveguide 101 . since the other waveguide 102 contacts the waveguide 101 so as to form a separation path in the interferometer 100 , the incident light is divided into two optical - paths corresponding to the waveguides 101 and 102 . these two optical - paths are brought into contact with each other again at positions where their optical path lengths differ from each other . as a result , interference occurs in the above - described incident light and hence waveforms having predetermined spectrum are obtained from exits of the optical paths 101 and 102 . the light emitted from the optical path 101 and the light emitted from the optical path 102 are introduced into the multichannel modulators 200 and 300 , respectively . the multichannel modulators 200 and 300 are substantially identical in configuration to each other . the light or optical pulses launched from the optical paths 101 and 102 to the multichannel modulators 200 and 300 are set to parallel light beams by cut - away portions 201 and 301 having plano - concave shapes acting plano - convex lenses , respectively . the parallel light beams transmitted through the cut - away portions 201 and 301 are respectively introduced to cut - away portions 211 and 311 serving as diffraction gratings . the light or optical pulses separated into every frequency by the diffraction gratings 211 and 311 are focused on the spatial light modulators 231 and 331 every frequency through cut - away portions 221 an 321 acting plano - convex lenses . the spatial light modulators 231 and 331 allow the light or optical pulses subjected to optical modulation every frequency to pass therethrough according to the modulating signals s 1 and s 2 because voltages for varying absorptance or refractive index are respectively applied to focusing positions associated with each frequency . the optical pulses transmitted through the spatial light modulators 231 and 331 are respectively introduced to cut - away portions 251 and 351 used to serve as diffraction gratings through cut - away portions 241 and 341 functioning as plano - convex lenses , where they are restored to the parallel light beams . the optical pulses restored to the parallel light beams are focused on their corresponding optical paths 103 and 104 through cut - away portions 261 and 361 acting plano - convex lenses . the optical pulses introduced into the optical paths 103 and 104 are coupled by the optical coupler 400 so that a signal waveform for sending is obtained . in fig1 a , signal lines for the spatial light modulators 231 and 331 are omitted . the output signal is transmitted in an arbitrary manner to a receiving terminal , in which the signal is demultiplexed by means of a proper demultiplexer and detected in terms of individual wavelengths by means of proper detectors . fig1 illustrates the compact solid - state laser 4000 shown in fig1 . attached on a base plate 400 having a small coefficient of thermal expansion are part holders 50 each consisting of a holder 51 for mounting the pumping optical source 3 , gain crystal 1 or chirped mirror 2 , and a fixture 52 which serves to fix the holder 50 to the base plate 400 . a pair of vertical angle adjusting means 53 and horizontal angle adjusting means 54 are equipped between the holder 51 and fixture 52 . after the parts 3 , 1 and 2 are mounted on the holders 51 and the fixtures 52 are fixed to the base plate 400 , the angle adjusting means 53 and 54 are operated so that these parts have a common optical axis as shown by the dash - dot line . the part holders 50 and associated angle adjusting means 53 and 54 , which are shown very simply in the figure , are specifically commercially - available holders named “ center mount ”, models 9807 , 9813m & amp ; 9855 manufactured by ν - focus corp ., or holders named “ ultima series ” manufactured by newport corp ., for example . in this embodiment , the pumping optical source 3 is made up of a semiconductor laser 31 and a convergent lens 32 . the pumping optical source 3 may also include an isolator between the convergent lens 32 and the gain crystal 1 although it is not shown in fig1 . the gain crystal 1 produces much heat which cannot be conducted sufficiently to the constant - temperature maintaining device 3000 through the part holder 50 and base plate 400 , and therefore there are attached peltier &# 39 ; s elements 61 on both side walls of the holder 51 of the gain crystal 1 . another peltier &# 39 ; s element 63 is attached to the pumping optical source 3 in its section close to the semiconductor laser 31 , so that the laser 31 is cooled and the tuning of wavelength based on temperature control is made possible . the wiring of the peltier &# 39 ; s elements are not shown in the figure . according to this embodiment , the transmitter can be made compact based on the compact solid - state laser and signal synthesizer . the conventional solid - state laser is not small enough , and therefore it is virtually limited to experimental uses by specialists . many of the solid - state laser have wide gain bandwidths and are operative in ultra - short pulsation , and have superior characteristics that are missing in the semiconductor laser . the inventive compact solid - state laser is capable of being built in a variety of measuring instruments . in the conventional wavelength - division - multiplexed communication system , multiple laser devices are arrayed to arrange optical sources , whereas , using such a solid - state laser as a cr : yag laser enables the generation of multiple wavelengths from a single optical source . the inventive compact solid - state laser which is operative at a higher repetition frequency can readily be incorporated in the wavelength - division - multiplexed communication system , and will significantly the transmission capacity of wavelength - division - multiplexed communication system . | 7 |
referring to fig1 , a needle biopsy device 10 includes a housing 12 , a stylet 14 , and a cannula 16 coaxially receiving the stylet . housing 12 includes a top shell 18 and a bottom shell 20 configured to mate together to form the housing . at its distal end 22 , stylet 14 is configured to penetrate tissue and includes a cupped notch 24 configured to collect a tissue sample . at its distal end 26 , cannula 16 is configured to sever tissue that has prolapsed into notch 24 . both stylet 14 and cannula 16 extend proximally toward housing 12 and have portions inside the housing 12 . stylet 14 and cannula 16 can be moved between retracted positions and extended positions . during use , stylet 14 and cannula 16 are loaded or cocked to their retracted positions , ready to be triggered , by moving a load button 28 proximally . when stylet 14 and cannula 16 are fired , they rapidly move distally to their extended positions , e . g ., to collect a tissue specimen that has prolapsed into notch 24 of the stylet . referring to fig2 a - 2e , particularly to fig2 e , at their proximal ends , stylet 14 and cannula 16 are connected to a movable stylet block 30 and a movable cannula block 32 , respectively . stylet block 30 is configured to be movable to a retracted position , where the stylet block can be held , and subsequently , selectively released . stylet block 30 includes a post 34 configured to engage with a loading mechanism 36 . loading mechanism 36 includes a slidable member 38 slidably received on a platform 40 that rests on stylet block 30 and cannula block 32 ( fig2 b ). slidable member 38 includes a projection 42 configured to attach to ( e . g ., snap in with ) load button 28 , and a notch 44 configured to engage with post 34 of stylet block 30 . thus , as load button 28 is moved proximally , notch 44 engages with post 34 to move stylet block 30 ( and connected stylet 14 ) proximally to their retracted positions where they can be held by a stylet latch 46 . stylet latch 46 is configured to hold stylet block 30 in a retracted position , and to release the stylet block selectively . stylet latch 46 includes a distal component 48 and a proximal component 50 . distal component 48 includes a side trigger 52 , a pivot 54 , and a wedge - shaped portion 56 . at its proximal end , distal component 48 has an angled surface 57 that engages with the distal end of proximal component 50 , as described below . portion 56 is configured to allow stylet block 30 to slide to its retracted position , and thereafter , to engage with the stylet block ( at the proximal face of the stylet block ) to hold the stylet block in its retracted position . side trigger 52 is located on the outside of housing 12 when device 10 is fully assembled . when side trigger 52 is pushed toward housing 12 , distal component 48 pivots about pivot 54 ( arrow a ), which moves wedge - shaped portion 56 out of engagement with stylet block 30 . when released from portion 56 , stylet block 56 is capable of moving distally under the spring force of a stylet spring 58 . alternatively , stylet block 30 can be moved out of engagement with wedge - shaped portion 56 by operating proximal component 50 of stylet latch 46 . as shown , the area of distal component 48 near pivot 54 is formed relatively thick to provide good stiffness , and the area of the distal component at side trigger 52 is formed relatively thin to allow the distal component to flex as well as to provide clearance with other components in device 10 as the side is pushed in . the angled portion between pivot 54 and side trigger 52 provides a quick transition from the thick area to the thin area . the angled distal end of distal component 48 helps to keep side trigger 52 positioned outside of housing 12 . proximal component 50 includes a rear trigger 60 , and an angled surface 62 at the distal end of the proximal component . when rear trigger 60 is pushed proximally , angled surface 62 engages with ( e . g ., rides on ) angled surface 57 of distal component 48 , thereby causing distal component 48 to pivot about pivot 54 ( arrow a ) and moving wedge - shaped portion 56 out of engagement with stylet block 30 ( arrow e , fig2 d ). thus , stylet block 30 can be fired by pushing either side trigger 52 or rear trigger 60 . after stylet block 30 is fired , device 10 is configured to stop and to deflect the movement of the stylet block . referring further to fig3 , and 5 , bottom shell 20 of housing 12 includes a stop member 64 located between stylet block 30 and cannula block 32 . on the proximal side of stop member 64 , bottom shell 20 includes a rib or a raised portion 66 located off - center relative to the center longitudinal axis ( l ) of device 10 . as shown , rib 66 is formed at a lower corner of stop member 64 ( e . g ., by molding ), but in other embodiments , the rib can be formed anywhere off - center of longitudinal axis l . rib 66 is high enough for stylet block 30 to contact when the stylet block reaches its end point of travel . referring particularly to fig5 , bottom shell 20 further includes a recessed portion or a relief 68 configured to accommodate a portion 70 of stylet block 30 ( as shown , a rear corner ). during use , after side trigger 52 or rear trigger 60 is activated , stylet block 30 is propelled distally toward stop member 64 . stylet block 30 then strikes rib 66 , which causes the stylet block to rotate or to deflect ( arrow b , fig4 ). in other words , when stylet block 30 strikes rib 66 , the movement of the stylet block is changed from a first direction ( e . g ., generally linearly and distally ) to a second direction ( e . g ., sideways ). it is believed that the deflection can also slightly misalign cannula 16 and stylet 14 to create friction to dissipate energy that may otherwise create kickback . no kinetic energy is believed to be dissipated until the end of the travel of stylet block 30 , such that the speed of stylet 14 during travel is enhanced ( e . g ., maximized ) and the energy that is dissipated at the end of travel is excess energy . rotation of stylet block 30 also moves portion 70 of the stylet block into recessed portion 68 . as a result , stylet block 30 is prevented from hitting stop member 64 and rebounding or kicking back , which can cause inaccurate sampling of tissue . referring particularly to fig2 e , cannula block 32 is configured to be movable to a retracted position , where the cannula block can be held , and subsequently , selectively released . cannula block 32 includes a cannula post 72 configured to engage with slidable member 38 of loading mechanism 36 ( fig2 b ). as load button 28 is moved proximally , slidable member 38 engages with cannula post 72 to move cannula block 32 ( and connected cannula 16 ) proximally to their retracted positions , where they can be held by a cannula latch 74 . cannula latch 74 is configured to hold cannula block 32 in a retracted position , and to selectively release the cannula block . cannula latch 74 includes two identical wedge - shaped portions 76 ( only one of which is visible in fig2 e ) and a pivot 78 . wedge - shaped portions 76 are configured to allow cannula block 32 to slide to its retracted position , and thereafter , to engage with cannula block ( at the proximal face of the cannula block ) to hold the cannula block in its retracted position . pivot 78 allows cannula latch 74 to seesaw ( arrow c ) so that cannula block 32 can be moved to and locked in its retracted position , and subsequently released . during use , when stylet block 30 is released from its retracted position and moves distally , the stylet block engages cannula latch 74 and pivots the cannula latch ( arrow d ). as a result , wedge - shaped portions 76 pivot out of engagement with and release cannula block 32 . cannula block 32 is then capable of moving distally under the spring force of a cannula spring 80 . examples of suitable stylet 14 and cannula 16 configurations are exemplified by the asap ™ automated biopsy system having a delta cut ® needle or a channel cut ® needle ( available from boston scientific corp ., natick , mass . ), and described in chu , u . s . pat . no . 5 , 989 , 196 , and commonly assigned u . s . ser . no . 10 / 728 , 248 , filed dec . 4 , 2003 , hereby incorporated by reference . the components of device 10 ( e . g ., housing 12 , latches 46 and 72 , stylet block 30 , or cannula block 32 ) described above can be formed by injection molding techniques , e . g ., of polycarbonate and / or abs . stylet 14 , cannula 6 , and springs 58 and 80 can be formed of stainless steel . in operation , cannula 16 and stylet 14 are loaded ( e . g ., moved proximally and retained in their retracted positions ) and subsequently fired ( e . g ., released and propelled distally ). more specifically , device 10 is loaded by moving load button 28 proximally , which moves cannula block 32 proximally via slidable member 38 and cannula post 72 . cannula block 32 is moved proximally past wedge - shaped portions 76 , where the cannula block is held in its retracted position by portions 76 . cannula spring 80 is compressed between stop member 64 and cannula block 32 . moving load button 28 further proximally moves stylet block 30 proximally via notch 44 of slidable member 38 and post 34 . stylet block 30 is moved proximally past wedge - shaped portion 56 , where the stylet block is held in its retracted position by portion 56 . stylet spring 58 is compressed between a portion of bottom shell 20 and stylet block 30 . device 10 is loaded and ready to be fired . to fire device 10 , distal end 22 of stylet 14 is placed adjacent to a target area , and either side trigger 52 or rear trigger 60 is actuated . for example , actuating side trigger 52 causes stylet latch 46 to pivot about pivot 54 ( arrow e ), thereby moving wedge - shaped portion 56 out of engagement with stylet block 30 and releasing the stylet block . upon disengagement , stylet block 30 and stylet 14 are propelled distally by the spring force of stylet spring 58 , which allows the stylet to penetrate the targeted area , e . g ., tissue . stylet block 30 then strikes rib 66 and rotates ( arrow b , fig4 ), which causes portion 70 of the stylet block to enter into recessed portion 68 of bottom shell 20 . as discussed above , this deflection of stylet block 30 dissipates energy from stylet spring 58 , reduces rebound of the stylet block and enhances accuracy of the device . substantially simultaneously with striking rib 66 , stylet block 30 also engages and pivots cannula latch 74 about pivot 78 ( arrow d , fig2 e ). pivoting cannula latch 74 disengages wedge - shaped portions 76 from cannula block 32 . upon disengagement or release , cannula block 32 and cannula 16 are propelled distally by the spring force of cannula spring 80 , which allows the cannula to slide over stylet 14 and to sever a specimen that has prolapsed into notch 24 of the stylet . device 10 can then be withdrawn from the targeted area . the specimen can be removed from notch 24 by first retracting cannula 16 and cannula block 32 proximally . the specimen can be placed on a slide or in a preservative solution . if desired , stylet 14 can be retracted to load device 10 and to collect another specimen . in other embodiments , the features described above , such as rib 66 and / or recessed portion 68 , can be incorporated into other embodiments of needle biopsy devices . other embodiments of needle biopsy devices are described in commonly assigned u . s . ser . no . 10 / 300 , 249 , filed nov . 20 , 2002 ; u . s . ser . no . 10 / 300 , 512 , filed nov . 20 , 2002 ; and u . s . ser . no . 10 / 728 , 248 , filed dec . 4 , 2003 , hereby incorporated by reference . in some embodiments , housing 12 can be made of different materials , e . g ., to enhance the grip or “ feel ” of device 10 . for example , housing 12 can be formed of materials with different hardness , e . g ., a core of relatively hard material and an outer layer of relatively soft material . the outer layer can be a foamy material , such as a urethane , to enhance the grip and / or to absorb vibrations from the firing of device 10 . housing 12 can be formed with two or more different materials . for example , as shown in fig1 , device 10 includes side portions 100 formed of different materials to enhance grip and comfort . in other embodiments , referring to fig1 , housing 12 includes an opening 102 that , together with stylet block 30 , can provide a visual indication that device 10 is loaded . more specifically , when stylet block 30 is loaded to its retracted position , the stylet block can be seen through opening 102 . in some embodiments , stylet block 30 is formed of a bright color , e . g ., red , to enhance its visibility . terms such as “ side ”, “ top ” and “ bottom ” are used to describe embodiments as shown in the orientation of the figures and not intended to be limiting . | 0 |
by way of one example of many to serve as background in understanding the present invention , fig1 a and 1b show a flow chart of how the game as set forth in the present invention is to be played . the game begins by having at least one player place a wager on a traditional blackjack game with the option of placing a second wager on the total value of the player &# 39 ; s hand as it is being dealt . in another form of the game , the second wager could be mandatory . for the purpose of this description it will be assumed that the player has chosen to make a second wager . the total value of the hand is determined by the table as shown in fig2 and 3 . the total value of the hand is a function of both the number of cards that may be dealt to a player and the face value of the cards . this will be discussed in more detail below . the dealer deals each player participating in the game two cards face up and two cards to the dealer , one face up and the other face down . the dealer checks to see if it has blackjack on the deal . if the dealer has blackjack , the game is over and all money wagered , including any second wagers , are collected by the dealer . if the dealer has no blackjack , then the game continues . the player farthest to the dealer &# 39 ; s left side checks his or her cards to determine the value of the hand . if the first player has blackjack then that player is a winner and will collect his or her winnings based on the first wager . if a player has blackjack , then normally he would forfeit his second wager . however , in an alternative embodiment of the present invention , a player could forego his blackjack hand and try to obtain a better hand in an effort to win based upon the second wager hand as long as the hand does not exceed 21 in value so that the game continues within the confines of the rules of blackjack . this is highly unlikely considering that a player with blackjack has no less than a hand with a value of 11 . the dealer will have the option of determining whether an opening deal of blackjack will terminate the game for a given player or whether the game can continue despite the player receiving a blackjack assuming that a player does not have blackjack with the first two cards dealt , the first player must decide whether to “ hit ” and take additional cards or “ stay ” and not receive any additional cards from the dealer . normally in blackjack , if a player receives two cards with the same face value , the player has the option of “ splitting ” the identical cards and playing two separate hands . a second hand from a split requires an additional wager on the second hand . if a player receives a pair of 2s from the initial deal and the player decides to split the 2s , the player also has the option of making an optional bonus wager on the total value of the second hand . again , the dealer would have the option of making the bonus wager on the total value of the second hand mandatory . if there is no split of the player &# 39 ; s hand , the player may request additional cards until the player either obtains a hand that either “ busts ” by going over 21 , receiving a total of 21 , or choosing to “ stay ” on a hand that totals less than 21 . if a player has a second hand from a split , the player repeats the process for the second hand . after the player has “ busted ”, obtained 21 , or “ stayed ” on a value of less than 21 , the next player in succession repeats the process . the novel addition to the traditional form of blackjack described in the present invention requires a player to consider additional strategy as the player receives cards from the dealer . during the initial draw from the dealer , a player may receive a 2 and a 3 . assuming the player decides to receive additional cards , the player only needs to receive a 4 from the dealer to win on the second wager . at that point , the player must decide whether it is worth taking an additional card to try and win the next highest hand value as shown in fig2 and 3 . when a player starts by receiving a 2 , 3 , and 4 , this is normally not a difficult decision to make . however , if a player received a king and 2 on the initial deal , and then received a 3 and 4 for a total of 19 , the player must then decide whether to risk receiving a card that will bust the blackjack hand with the hope of receiving a 5 , or losing both the blackjack and the poker hand . if the game is played with the option that allows the player to win with a 2 , 3 , and 4 regardless whether the hand busts on a card other than a 5 , the player is more likely to take the risk of taking an additional card to get the 5 . however , if the game is played with the option that a bust on a card other than a 5 busts the blackjack hand and forfeits the opportunity to win based upon the second wager , a player is more likely to take the safe bet and stay on 19 . the safe strategy would be to keep the winnings . however , with the added incentive of possibly winning significantly more money , a player may decide to forego the basic blackjack strategy and try to obtain a more lucrative poker hand . at the conclusion of the player receiving all cards for a given hand , the dealer moves on to the next player to the dealer &# 39 ; s right and repeats the process . in the version of the game where the dealer does not participate , the dealing of cards concludes . however , in the game where the dealer participates , when all players have been dealt cards , the dealer deals out its hand under the normal restrictions placed on a dealer , i . e . staying on 16 or 17 and hitting on any value of blackjack below 16 or 17 . once the dealer &# 39 ; s hand reached 17 or greater , or exceeded 21 , the game is over and the dealer and player hands can be evaluated to determine if winners exist for both blackjack and the “ poker ” hand obtained during the game . a player is eligible for winning the “ poker ” hand only if it has 3 or more cards . at this point , all players who have blackjack hands whose value exceeds the value of the dealer &# 39 ; s hand are paid according to the odds associated with blackjack . in the case of the players &# 39 ; poker hands , each player &# 39 ; s hand that has 3 or more cards is compared to the table in fig3 . if any player has cards that match the cards required under the rules in fig3 , the player is paid out according to the odds as shown . after all hands have been evaluated , the game ends and the next hand is dealt . in other embodiments of the game , the odds of winning on the second wager could significantly be increased by restricting a player from winning on the second wager only if the qualifying cards ( 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , and 7 ) are received in any order without interruption from other cards . under this scenario , the game could be played either by allowing the cards to be received at any time during the deal in sequence or by requiring the player to receive any two of the qualifying cards on the opening deal to make the player eligible to win based upon the second wager . this would also allow the dealer to choose whether a player could continue to take cards even after he or she acquires 21 , or preclude a player from hitting so that the value of his or her hand exceeds 21 . while the inventive method of playing blackjack , as described and claimed herein shown and disclosed in detail is fully capable of attaining the objects and providing the advantages hereinbefore stated , it is to be understood that it is merely illustrative of the presently preferred embodiment of the invention and that no limitations are intended to the detail of construction or design herein shown other than as defined in the appended claims . although the invention has been described in detail with reference to one or more particular preferred embodiments , persons possessing ordinary skill in the art to which this invention pertains will appreciate that various modifications and enhancements may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the claims that follow . | 0 |
this invention , totally unexpectedly , comprises the discovery that by first preparing a mixture of glycerine and graphite fluoride powder , and by adding to this mixture an aqueous dispersion of graphite fluoride stabilized with dispergine cb ( as herein above defined ), compositions are obtained which , after drying one hour at 250 ° c ., form brilliant varnishes , adhering very firmly to all types of metals and being perfectly resistant to the dripping water test . these compositions are very easy to apply by spraying and yield very thin films of 4 to 5 μm thickness , with great lubricating power . the particle size of the solid lubricant should be closely connected to the roughness of the metallic surface . the lower the roughness , the finer the particle size of the solid lubricant should be to obtain a good adherence of the varnish on the metal . the graphite fluorides are solid lubricants which have numerous advantages over molybdenum bisulfide . they have the general formula ( cf x ) n , where x can vary between about 0 . 8 and 1 . 2 and n is indeterminate . graphite fluoride or fluorinated graphite is well known as are methods of its preparation . see , for example , the journal of physical chemistry , vol . 69 , no . 8 , august 1965 , pages 2772 - 2775 , &# 34 ; kinetics of the reactions of elemental fluorine , iv , fluorination of graphite &# 34 ;, and british patent no . 1 , 049 , 582 , filed january 31 , 1964 . in the compositions in this invention , the choice of a heat - hardening binder is critical . if , instead of glycerine , corn syrup , such as &# 34 ; molasses spread &# 34 ;, is used , a sort of non - spreading and non - spraying grease is obtained . the choice of dispersant , used as a stabilizer , for the aqueous dispersion of graphite fluoride is also critical . if dispergine cb is replaced by oloa 246 b ( trademark filed by the orogil company for calcium sulfonate ) or by pluronic p 103 or f 88 ( trademarks of pcuk produits chimiques ugine kuhlmann for sequenced condensates of propylene oxide and ethylene oxide ), varnishes are obtained that have no adherence on aluminum . in addition , the graphite fluoride / glycerine ratio can vary from 0 . 3 to 1 , but preferably from 0 . 5 to 0 . 8 . the following examples illustrate the invention , although it is not limited to them . ( a ) 100 parts by weight of graphite fluoride ( cf x ) n , with x = 0 . 9 , of 1 μm particle size , are thoroughly mixed with 200 parts by weight of glycerine . ( b ) in addition , 100 parts by weight of an aqueous dispersion of graphite fluoride is prepared by grinding 20 parts by weight of graphite fluoride in the presence of 70 parts by weight of water and 100 parts by weight of powdered dispergine cb stabilizer . ( c ) to 50 parts of mixture a are added 50 parts of dispersion b and it is homogenized . the resulting lubricating composition obtained has a graphite fluoride / glycerine ratio equal to 0 . 80 ( composition i ). ( d ) to 62 parts of mixture a are added 38 parts of dispersion b and it is homogenized . the resulting lubricating composition obtained has a graphite fluoride / glycerine ratio equal to 0 . 68 ( composition ii ). compositions i and ii of example i are sprayed on plates of ordinary steel , stainless steel and aluminum of various degrees of burnishing , in such a way as to obtain , after heating one hour at 250 ° c ., varnishes with a thickness of 4 to 5 μm . in all cases , the adherence of the varnish to the metal is considered as good to very good , and the film formed on the surface of the metal is resistant to dripping water . the lubricating ability of compositions i and ii in example 1 is measured by a ball - disk apparatus which registers the friction coefficient as a function of the temperature . a steel xc 38 disc is polished to the desired roughness and coated with the product to be tested . this disc , turning at a constant speed , is submitted to pressure from a fixed steel 100 c 6 ball . for comparison , the lubricating ability of a simple 2 / 1 mixture of glycerine and graphite fluoride ( a in example 1 ) and the lubricating ability of an aqueous dispersion of graphite fluoride ( b in example 1 ) were measured under the same conditions . the results obtained are shown in table 1 . table 1______________________________________ disc roughness : 0 . 1 to 0 . 2 μm sliding speed : 0 . 15 cm / s charge applied : 1 danfrictioncoeffi - cient / tempera - composi - composi - tures ° c . tion i tion ii mixture a dispersion b______________________________________ 20 0 . 20 ± 0 . 025 0 . 17 ± 0 . 05 0 . 15 0 . 22 ± 0 . 08100 0 . 15 ± 0 . 01 0 . 19 ± 0 . 02 0 . 15 ± 0 . 01 0 . 17 ± 0 . 025150 0 . 15 ± 0 . 01 0 . 16 ± 0 . 02 0 . 14 ± 0 . 01 0 . 18 ± 0 . 03200 0 . 14 ± 0 . 02 0 . 16 ± 0 . 02 0 . 15 ± 0 . 01 0 . 18 ± 0 . 03250 0 . 14 ± 0 . 02 0 . 16 ± 0 . 02 0 . 09 ± 0 . 01 0 . 15 ± 0 . 05300 0 . 15 ± 0 . 01 0 . 15 ± 0 . 05 0 . 05 ± 0 . 01 0 . 11 ± 0 . 05350 0 . 09 ± 0 . 015 0 . 05 ± 0 . 02 0 . 05 ± 0 . 01 0 . 12 ± 0 . 05400 0 . 10 ± 0 . 05 0 . 05 ± 0 . 02 0 . 07 ± 0 . 02 0 . 22 ± 0 . 08450 -- -- 0 . 15 ± 0 . 05 -- ______________________________________ the friction stability is good if during the measurement , the δcf variations of the friction coefficient are less than or equal to 0 . 01 . the stability is moderate if δcf & lt ; 0 . 02 and bad if δcf & gt ; 0 . 02 . composition i of example 1 is used to improve the lubrication of bearings made up of a steel band covered with brass balls fritted and impregnated with polytetrafluoroethylene . one layer is enough to obtain a very adequate varnish after drying at 250 ° c . for 1 hour . by comparison , if the simple mixture a in example 1 is used , several layers must be applied , and the resulting varnish is totally lacking in adherence . composition i of example 1 is used to lubricate a cast aluminum device used for making agglomerated polyurethane pieces . this device is composed of a cylindrical ring in which slides a closely adjusted cylinder . whereas mixture a of example 1 yielded a non - adhering varnish after heating , composition i , sprayed inside the ring and on the cylinder , yields an adhering and lubricating varnish . this example shows that the varnishes of the invention can be used to lubricate pieces subject to very high temperatures . composition i in example 1 is sprayed on refractory steel pieces used in a brazing plant and required to support temperatures of 500 ° to 600 ° c . and brazing spatterings . after drying , composition i yields an adhering varnish very resistant to the severe conditions in which it was used . mixture a of example 1 is applied on a piece of tungsten carbide which had a mirror polish making it very difficult to attach varnishes , and it was noted that the varnish was totally non - adhering . composition i of example 1 , on the other hand , yields a varnish with good adhering properties . | 2 |
in the following the same reference numbers identify components and component sections corresponding to one another . fig1 shows a section of a bathroom with a bathroom floor 200 and a bathroom wall 202 which are respectively covered with tiles 204 . in order to fit a walk - in shower a shower floor 206 is prepared in the bathroom floor 200 which is provided with a slope that is inclined towards a floor drain 208 in order to guarantee proper discharge of the shower water . the floor drain 208 is a so - called line drain in the form of a drain channel that is disposed on the wall side and extends parallel to the bathroom wall 202 . due to its slope the shower floor 206 forms in relation to the rest of the bathroom floor 200 a wedge - shaped recess which is defined by wedge - shaped recess walls 210 lying opposite one another and by a rectangular recess wall 212 connecting these to one another . in order to cover these recess walls 210 and 212 the present invention provides a decorative strip . different embodiments of this decorative strip according to the invention are described in greater detail below with reference to fig2 to 17 . fig2 and 3 show a decorative strip 10 according to a first embodiment of the present invention . the decorative strip 10 comprises a decorative strip profile 12 and a holding profile 14 . the decorative strip profile 12 is an elongate stainless steel strand profile with a rectangular cross - section . it defines a decorative surface 16 which tapers like a wedge in the direction of the longitudinal extension of the profile in order to cover the wedge - shaped recess wall 210 shown in fig1 . alternatively , the decorative surface 16 of the decorative strip profile 12 for covering the rectangular recess wall 212 shown in fig1 can also be rectangular in form , as shown in fig3 by the dashed line 18 . the rear - side surface 20 of the decorative strip profile 12 lying opposite the decorative surface 16 is provided with an adhesion structure 22 in the manner of an adhesive strip which can be , for example , a grid -, fabric - or fleece - type adhesion structure which forms an adhesive connection with a tile adhesive or the like . the holding profile 14 is a strand profile made of metal or plastic with an f - shaped cross - section . the two parallel arms 24 and 26 of the f - shaped cross - section define a retaining groove 28 in which the decorative strip profile 12 is retained height - adjustably . in the exposed area of the arm 30 of the f - shaped cross - section extending laterally to the arms 24 and 26 openings 32 are provided at regular intervals over the whole length of the holding profiles 14 through which adhesive mortar for fixing the holding profile 14 to the subsurface can pass and clamp . with the embodiment of the shower floor 206 shown in fig1 , as shown by dashes in fig2 , in a first step the holding profile 14 of the decorative strip 10 is fixed to the shower floor 208 along the recess wall 210 to be covered by means of tile adhesive . the holding profile 14 is then placed over a previously applied insulating strip 33 for noise and / or stress decoupling . directly afterwards the tiles 204 are laid on the arm 30 of the holding profile 14 . after the tile adhesive has hardened the decorative strip profile 12 is inserted into the retaining groove 28 of the holding profile 14 , the edges 204 a facing towards the decorative strip profile 12 of the tiles 204 laid over the bathroom floor 200 adjacent to the shower floor 206 and / or the adhesion structure 22 of the decorative strip profile 12 having previously been provided with an adhesive , for example with tile adhesive or silicone . due to the height - adjustable retaining of the decorative strip profile 12 in the retainer 28 of the holding profile 14 the upper edge of the decorative strip profile 12 can now be aligned flush with the upper side of the tiles 204 . optionally , the space created between the decorative strip profile 12 and the bottom of the retaining groove 28 of the holding profile 14 can be filled with a filler material 34 , such as for example tile adhesive or silicone , in order to provide the decorative strip profile 12 with additional support from below . by means of the height - adjustable retaining of the decorative strip profile 12 in the holding profile 14 variation of the height of the visible decorative surface 16 is therefore possible . the decorative strip profile 12 can also be tilted within the retaining groove 28 in relation to the bottom of the groove in order to match the gradient of the wedge - shaped decorative strip profile 12 to the actual gradient of the wedge - shaped recess walls 210 . different height movements can also be accommodated between the decorative strip profile 12 and the retaining groove 28 . fig4 and 5 show a decorative strip 40 according to a second embodiment of the present invention . the decorative strip 40 comprises a decorative strip profile 42 and a holding profile 44 . the decorative strip profile 42 is an elongate strand profile made of metal or plastic with a t - shaped cross - section formed by two arms 46 and 48 that are disposed perpendicularly to one another . the arm 46 defines a decorative surface 50 that tapers like a wedge in the direction of the longitudinal extension of the decorative strip profile 42 in order to cover the wedge - shaped recess wall 210 shown in fig1 . alternatively , the decorative surface 50 of the decorative strip profile 42 can also be rectangular in form in order to cover the rectangular recess wall 212 shown in fig1 , as indicated in fig5 by the dashed line 52 . the arm 48 of the decorative strip profile 42 positioned horizontally in fig4 is provided with openings 54 at regular intervals over the whole length of the decorative strip profile 42 through which tile adhesive for fixing the holding profile 14 to the subsurface can pass and clamp . therefore , the arm 48 forms an attachment arm . the holding profile 44 is a strand profile made of metal or plastic with an f - shaped cross - section which is formed similarly to the holding profile 14 of the decorative strip 10 according to the first embodiment , and so the holding profile 44 will not be described again below . with the embodiment of the shower floor 206 shown in fig1 , in a first step , as shown by dashes in fig4 , the holding profile 44 of the decorative strip 40 is fixed to the shower floor 206 along the recess wall 210 to be covered by means of tile adhesive . for noise and / or stress decoupling the holding profile 44 can also be placed over a previously applied insulating strip , similarly to fig2 , even if this is not shown here . directly afterwards the tiles 204 are then laid on the arm 30 of the holding profile 44 . after the tile adhesive has hardened the decorative strip profile 42 is inserted into the retaining groove 28 of the holding profile 44 , and the arm 48 of the decorative strip profile 42 extending horizontally in fig4 is stuck onto the bathroom floor 200 by means of tile adhesive . optionally , the gap created between the decorative strips 42 and the bottom of the retaining groove 28 of the holding profile 44 can be filled with a filler material 34 such as , for example , tile adhesive or silicone , in order to provide the decorative strip profile 42 with additional support from below . the tiles 204 are then stuck onto the arm 48 of the decorative strip profile 42 . fig6 and 7 show a decorative strip 60 according to a third embodiment of the present invention . the decorative strip 60 comprises a decorative strip profile 62 and a holding profile 64 . the decorative strip profile 62 is an elongate strand profile made of metal or plastic with an l - shaped cross - section that is made up from two arms 66 and 68 disposed perpendicularly to one another . the arm 66 disposed perpendicularly in fig6 defines a decorative surface 70 which tapers like a wedge in the direction of the longitudinal extension of the profile in order to cover the wedge - shaped recess wall 210 shown in fig1 . alternatively , the decorative surface 70 of the decorative strip profile 62 can also be rectangular in form in order to cover the rectangular recess wall 212 shown in fig1 , as indicated in fig7 by the dashed line 72 . the rear - side surface 74 of the decorative strip profile 62 lying opposite the decorative surface 70 is provided with an adhesion structure 76 in the manner of an adhesive strip , this possibly being , for example , a grid -, fabric - or fleece - type adhesion structure which forms an adhesive connection with a tile adhesive or the like . the same applies to the lower side of the arm 68 of the decorative strip profile 62 extending horizontally in fig6 . the holding profile 64 corresponds to the holding profile 14 of the decorative strip 10 according to the first embodiment of the present invention , and so the holding profile 64 will not be described again below . with the embodiment of the shower floor 206 shown in fig1 , in a first step , as shown by dashes in fig6 , the holding profile 64 of the decorative strip 60 is fixed to the shower floor 206 along the recess wall 210 to be covered by means of tile adhesive . for noise and / or stress decoupling the holding profile 64 can also be placed over a previously applied insulating strip , similarly to fig2 , even if this is not shown here . directly afterwards the tiles 204 are then laid on the arm 30 of the holding profile 64 . after the tile adhesive has hardened the decorative strip profile 62 is inserted into the retaining groove 28 of the holding profile 64 , the adhesion structures 76 of the decorative strip profile 62 having previously been provided with an adhesive , for example with tile adhesive . optionally , the space created between the decorative strip profile 62 and the bottom of the retaining groove 28 of the holding profile 64 can be filled with a filler material 34 , such as for example tile adhesive or silicone , in order to provide the decorative strip profile 62 with additional support from below . then the decorative strip profile 62 is pressed into the retaining groove 28 until the lower side of the arm 68 of the decorative strip profile 62 extending horizontally in fig6 comes to rest on the tiles 204 laid over the bathroom floor 200 . fig8 and 9 show a decorative strip 80 according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention . the decorative strip 80 comprises a decorative strip profile 82 and a holding profile 84 . the decorative strip profile 82 is an elongate strand profile made of metal or plastic with an h - shaped cross - section that is formed by two arms 86 and 88 arranged in parallel and an arm 90 extending laterally to the latter . the longer of the two parallel arms 86 defines a decorative surface 92 that tapers like a wedge in the direction of the longitudinal extension of the profile in order to cover the wedge - shaped recess wall 210 shown in fig1 . alternatively , the decorative surface 92 of the decorative strip profile 82 can also be rectangular in form in order to cover the rectangular recess wall 212 shown in fig1 , as indicated in fig9 by the dashed line 94 . the rear - side surface 96 of the arm 86 lying opposite the decorative surface 92 is provided with an adhesion structure 98 in the manner of an adhesive strip , this possibly being , for example , a grid -, fabric - or fleece - type adhesion structure that forms an adhesive connection with a tile adhesive or the like . the same applies to the lower side of the arm 90 of the decorative strip profile 82 extending horizontally in fig8 . the distance between the arms 86 and 88 of the decorative strip profile 82 is chosen such that there can be accommodated between the arms 86 and 88 a partition wall 88 , for example a glass or plastic panel , which for example forms a shower cubicle wall . the holding profile 84 corresponds to the holding profile 14 of the decorative strip 10 according to the first embodiment of the present invention , and so this will not be described again below . with the embodiment of the shower floor 206 shown in fig1 , in a first step , as shown by dashes in fig8 , the holding profile 84 on the decorative strip 80 is fixed to the shower floor 206 along the recess wall 210 to be covered by means of tile adhesive . for noise and / or stress decoupling the holding profile 84 can also be placed over a previously applied insulating strip , similarly to fig2 , even if this is not shown here . directly afterwards the tiles 204 are then laid on the arm 30 of the holding profile 84 . after the tile adhesive has hardened the decorative strip profile 82 is inserted into the retaining groove 28 of the holding profile 84 , the adhesion structures 98 having previously been provided with an adhesive , such as for example with tile adhesive . optionally , the space created between the decorative strip profile 82 and the bottom of the retaining groove 28 of the holding profile 84 is filled with a filler material 34 , such as for example tile adhesive or silicone , in order to provide the decorative strip profile 82 with additional support from below . then the tiles 204 are laid on the bathroom floor 200 next to the arm 88 of the decorative strip profile 82 . a shower cubicle wall , for example , can then be fitted into the retainer defined between the arms 86 and 88 of the decorative strip profile 82 . fig1 and 11 show a decorative strip 100 according to a fifth embodiment of the present invention . the decorative strip 100 comprises a decorative strip profile 102 and a holding profile 104 . the decorative strip profile 102 is an elongate strand profile made of metal or plastic that substantially corresponds to the h - shaped decorative strip profile 82 according to the fourth embodiment of the present invention that was described above with reference to fig8 and 9 . accordingly , another description of component sections corresponding to one another and which are provided here with the same reference numbers will not be given . one difference between the decorative strip profile 102 and the decorative strip profile 82 is that with the decorative strip profile 102 there is provided over the extension of the arm 90 extending horizontally in fig1 an attachment arm 106 in which openings 108 are formed at regular intervals over the whole length of the decorative strip profile 102 . moreover , in contrast to the arm of the decorative strip profile 82 , no adhesion structure is provided on the lower side of the arm 90 of the decorative strip profile 102 because this is made superfluous by the openings 108 . the decorative strip profile 102 corresponds to the decorative strip profile 12 of the decorative strip 10 according to the first embodiment , and so this will not be described again . with the embodiment of the shower floor 206 shown in fig1 , in a first step , as shown by dashes in fig1 , the holding profile 104 of the decorative strip 100 is fixed to the shower floor 206 along the recess wall 210 to be covered by means of tile adhesive . for noise and / or stress decoupling the holding profile 104 can also be placed over a previously applied insulating strip , similarly to fig2 , even if this is not shown here . directly afterwards the tiles 204 are then laid on the arm 30 of the holding profile 14 . after the tile adhesive has hardened the decorative strip profile 102 is inserted into the retaining groove 28 of the holding profile 104 , and the attachment arm 106 of the decorative strip profile 102 is laid on the bathroom floor 200 by means of tile adhesive . optionally , the space created between the decorative strip profile 102 and the bottom of the retainer of the holding profile 104 can be filled with a filler material 34 , such as for example tile adhesive or silicone , in order to provide the decorative strip profile 102 with additional support from below . directly afterwards the tiles 204 are then laid on the attachment arm 106 along the decorative strip profile 102 . fig1 and 13 show a decorative strip 120 according to a sixth embodiment of the present invention . the decorative strip 120 comprises a decorative strip profile 122 and a holding profile 124 . the decorative strip profile 122 is an elongate strand profile made of metal or plastic with a rectangular cross - section . it defines a decorative surface 126 which tapers like a wedge in the direction of the longitudinal extension of the profile in order to cover the wedge - shaped recess wall 210 shown in fig1 . alternatively , the decorative surface 126 of the decorative strip profile 122 can also be rectangular in form in order to cover the rectangular recess wall 212 shown in fig1 , as shown by the dashed line 128 in fig1 . the rear - side surface 130 of the decorative strip profile 122 lying opposite the decorative surface 126 is provided with an adhesion structure 132 in the manner of an adhesive strip , this possibly being a grid -, fabric - or fleece - type adhesion structure which forms an adhesive connection with a tile adhesive or the like . the holding profile 124 is a strand profile made of metal or plastic with a u - shaped cross - section which is formed by two parallel arms 134 and 136 and an arm 138 extending laterally to the latter and connecting the arms 134 and 136 to one another . the two parallel arms 134 and 136 define a retaining groove 140 in which the decorative strip profile 122 is retained height - adjustably . the outwardly facing surface of the arm 134 defines a further decorative surface 142 . the outwardly facing surface of the arm 136 is also provided with an adhesion structure 132 . in order to form the shower floor 206 shown in fig1 , in a first step , as shown by dashes in fig1 , the decorative strip profile 122 is inserted into the retaining groove 140 of the holding profile 124 , the space remaining between the bottom of the retaining groove 140 and the decorative strip profile 122 possibly being filled with a filler material 144 , such as for example silicone , tile adhesive or the like . then the decorative strip 120 is fixed to the recess wall 210 or to the outwardly facing edge 204 a of the tiles 204 laid on the bathroom floor 200 using tile adhesive , the upper side of the holding profile 224 being aligned flush to the upper side of the tiles 204 . for noise and / or stress decoupling , similarly to fig2 , the decorative strip profile 122 can also be placed over a previously applied insulating strip , even if this is not shown here . then the tiles 204 are laid on the shower floor 206 along the decorative strip profile 122 of the decorative strip 120 . fig1 and 15 show a decorative strip 150 according to a seventh embodiment of the present invention . the decorative strip 150 comprises a decorative strip profile 152 , a holding profile 154 and a retaining profile 156 . the decorative strip profile 152 is an elongate strand profile made of metal or plastic with a j - shaped cross - section that is formed from two parallel arms 158 and 160 and an arm 162 extending laterally to the latter and connecting the arms 158 , 160 to one another . here the arm 158 is longer than the arm 160 disposed parallel to the latter . the outside of the arm 158 defines a decorative surface 164 which tapers like a wedge in the direction of the longitudinal extension of the profile in order to cover the wedge - shaped recess wall 210 shown in fig1 . alternatively , the decorative surface 164 of the decorative strip profile 250 can also be rectangular in form in order to cover the rectangular recess wall 212 shown in fig1 , as shown in fig1 by the dashed line 166 . the rear - side surface 168 of the arm 158 lying opposite the decorative surface 164 is provided with an adhesion structure 170 in the manner of an adhesive strip , this possibly being a grid -, fabric , or fleece - type adhesion structure which forms an adhesive connection with a tile adhesive or the like . the holding profile 154 corresponds to the holding profile 14 of the decorative strip 10 according to the first embodiment of the present invention , and so the design of the holding profile 154 will not be discussed again below . the retaining profile 156 is a strand profile made of metal or plastic with an l - shaped cross - section that is formed by an arm 172 extending vertically in fig1 and an arm 174 disposed at right angles to the latter . the arm 174 is provided with openings 176 arranged at regular intervals over the whole length of the retaining profile 156 . with the embodiment of the shower floor 206 shown in fig1 , in a first step , as shown by dashes in fig1 , the holding profile 154 of the decorative strip 150 is fixed to the shower floor 206 along the recess wall 210 to be covered by means of tile adhesive . directly afterwards the tiles 204 are then laid on the arm 30 of the holding profile 254 . next the retaining profile 156 is fixed to the bathroom floor 200 by means of tile adhesive . then the decorative strip profile 152 is hooked into the perpendicularly extending arm 172 of the retaining profile 156 and inserted into the retaining groove 28 of the holding profile 154 . the space to be found between the bottom of the retaining groove 28 of the holding profile 254 and the decorative strip profile 152 can be filled with a filler material , such as for example silicone , tile adhesive or the like . in a further step the tiles 204 are laid along the arm 174 of the retaining profile 156 , and the upper side of the decorative strip profile 152 is aligned flush with the upper side of the tiles 204 . fig1 and 17 show a decorative strip 180 according to an eighth embodiment of the present invention . the decorative strip 180 comprises a decorative strip profile 182 , a holding profile 184 and an end profile 186 . the decorative strip profile 182 and the holding profile 184 correspond respectively to the decorative strip profile 12 and the holding profile 14 of the decorative strip 10 according to the first embodiment of the present invention , and so the latter will not be described again below . the end profile 186 is an elongate strand profile made of metal or plastic with a u - shaped cross - section which is formed by two parallel arms 188 and 190 and an arm 192 extending perpendicularly to the latter . the outside of the arm 188 forms a further decorative surface 196 . the outside of the arm 190 is provided with an adhesion structure 198 in the manner of an adhesive strip which can , for example , be a grid -, fabric - or fleece - type adhesion structure which forms an adhesive connection with a tile adhesive or the like . with the embodiment of the shower floor 206 shown in fig1 , in a first step , as shown by dashes in fig1 , the holding profile 184 of the decorative strip 180 is fixed to the shower floor 206 along the recess wall 210 to be covered by means of tile adhesive . directly afterwards the tiles 204 are then laid on the arm 30 of the holding profile 184 . next the tiles 204 are laid on the bathroom floor 200 . in a further step the decorative strip profile 182 is inserted into the retaining groove 28 of the holding profile 184 , and then the end profile 186 is placed on the decorative strip profile 182 and stuck by means of tile adhesive to the facing tile edges 204 a of the tiles 204 . by providing both a holding profile 284 and an end profile 186 the possibility of double height - adjustment is offered . fig1 shows the decorative strip 120 already shown in fig1 and 13 according to the sixth embodiment of the present invention in a slightly modified form and in an alternative fitting situation in which the decorative strip profile 120 covers the recess wall 212 on the bathroom wall side shown in fig1 . one modification in comparison to the decorative strip shown in fig1 and 13 is to the effect that the rear arm 136 of the holding profile 124 , considered as a cross - section , is substantially bent like a gable roof and is elastic in form so that the holding profile 124 incorporates the decorative strip profile 122 like a clamp with pretensioning . furthermore , the free end of the arm 136 is bent away from the decorative strip profile 122 , by means of which an insertion aid is produced which facilitates the insertion of the decorative strip profile 122 into the holding profile 124 . in a similar way , for example , one of the arms 24 or 26 of an f - shaped holding profile can also be formed like , for example , the f - shaped holding profile shown in fig2 . with the embodiment of the shower floor 206 shown in fig1 , in a first step , as shown in fig1 , an insulating strip 33 is disposed between the bathroom wall 202 and the shower floor 206 . an inclined board 220 accommodating the floor drain 208 is then fixed onto the shower floor 206 such that the inclined board 220 comes to rest against the insulating strip 33 . the floor drain 208 is provided on its side facing towards the bathroom wall 202 with a flexible and water - impermeable sealing strip 222 which is directed upwards and is secured with tile adhesive or the like to the bathroom wall 202 . the tiles 204 are then stuck onto the bathroom wall 202 at least partially overlapping the sealing strip 222 . in order to cover the recess wall 212 the decorative strip 120 is now inserted into the space to be found between the floor drain 208 and the tiles 204 and is on the one hand secured to the sealing strip 222 on the rear side with tile adhesive , and on the other hand to the lower side of the floor drain 208 on the lower side with silicone . a height adjustment of the decorative strip profile 120 can then take place by the decorative strip profile 122 and the holding profile 124 being moved relative to one another . in order to fix a desired height adjustment the space to be found between the decorative strip profile 122 and the holding profile 124 can be filled with a filler material 144 such as , for example , tile adhesive , silicone or the like . fig1 shows a decorative strip 230 according to a ninth embodiment of the present invention in the fitted state . the decorative strip 230 comprises a decorative strip profile 232 and a holding profile 234 . the decorative strip profile 232 is an elongate strand profile made of metal or plastic with a rectangular cross - section . it defines a decorative surface 236 which also has a rectangular form for covering the recess wall 212 shown in fig1 . the rear - side surface 238 of the decorative strip profile 232 lying opposite the decorative surface 236 is provided with an adhesion structure 240 in the manner of an adhesive strip which can be , for example , a grid -, fabric - or fleece - type adhesion structure which forms an adhesive connection with a tile adhesive or the like . the holding profile 234 is a strand profile made of metal or plastic with a u - shaped cross - section area that is formed from two parallel arms 242 and 244 and an arm 246 extending laterally to the latter and connecting the arms 242 and 244 to one another , and an l - shaped cross - section area which is formed by two arms 248 and 250 disposed perpendicularly to one another , the arm 248 being attached flush to the arm 246 of the u - shaped cross - section area and openings 252 being formed at regular intervals over the whole length of the decorative strip profile 232 in the arm 250 . in order to cover the recess wall 212 shown in fig1 the insulating strip 33 , the inclined board 220 with the floor drain 208 held against it and the sealing strip 222 of the floor drain 208 are initially fitted as already described with reference to fig1 . the decorative strip 230 is then aligned in relation to its height , and the desired alignment fixed by means of filler material 144 . the decorative strip 230 is then fixed on the one hand by means of silicone to the upper side of the floor drain 208 , and on the other hand by means of tile adhesive to the sealing strip 222 of the floor drain 208 . next the tiles 204 are stuck to the bathroom wall 202 using tile adhesive , the tiles 204 being aligned to the l - shaped cross - section area of the holding profile 234 . fig2 shows a decorative strip 260 according to a tenth embodiment of the present invention . the decorative strip 260 comprises a decorative strip profile 262 , a holding profile 264 and a retaining profile 266 . the decorative strip profile 262 is an elongate strand profile made of metal or plastic with a substantially u - shaped cross - section which is formed from two parallel arms 268 and 270 and a connection arm 272 extending laterally to the latter and connecting the arms 268 and 270 to one another . the connection arm 272 extends at an angle a of approximately 30 ° to the horizontal so that the angles enclosed between the connection arm 272 and the arms 268 and 270 are different from 90 °. correspondingly , the decorative surface 274 of the decorative strip profile 262 forms in the fitted state an inclined surface , as can be seen in fig2 . the holding profile 264 corresponds to that of the holding profile 14 of the decorative strip 10 according to the first embodiment of the present invention , and so the design of the holding profile 264 will not be discussed again below . the retaining profile 266 is a strand profile made of metal or plastic with an l - shaped cross - section which is formed by an arm 276 extending vertically in fig2 and an arm 278 disposed at right angles to the latter . the arm 278 is provided with openings 280 arranged at regular intervals over the whole length of the retaining profile 266 . with the shower floor 206 shown in fig1 , there is provided on the shower floor access side between the bathroom floor 200 and the shower floor 206 a ledge 214 that prevents shower water from flowing onto the adjacent surface of the bathroom floor 200 . in order to cover this ledge 214 with the decorative strip 260 , in a first step the holding profile 264 of the decorative strip 260 is fixed to the shower floor 206 along the ledge 214 to be covered by means of tile adhesive . directly afterwards the tiles 204 are then laid on the arm 30 of the holding profile 264 . next the retaining profile 266 is fixed to the bathroom floor 200 by means of tile adhesive . then the arm 270 of the decorative strip profile 262 is hooked into the perpendicularly extending arm 276 of the retaining profile 266 and inserted into the retaining groove 28 of the holding profile 264 . the space to be found between the bottom of the retaining groove 28 of the holding profile 264 and the arm 268 of the decorative strip profile 262 can be filled with a filler material , such as for example silicone , tile adhesive or the like . in a further step the tiles 204 are laid along the arm 276 of the retaining profile 266 . fig2 shows a decorative strip 290 according to an eleventh embodiment of the present invention . the decorative strip 290 comprises a decorative strip profile 292 and a holding profile 294 . the decorative strip profile 292 is a strand profile made of metal or plastic , and similarly to the decorative strip profile 262 shown in fig2 comprises a substantially u - shaped cross - section area which is formed by two parallel arms 296 and 298 and a connection arm 300 extending laterally to the latter and connecting the arms 296 and 298 to one another . here the connection arm 300 encloses with the arms 296 and 298 an angle which is different from 90 ° so that the decorative surface 302 formed by the connection arm 300 is inclined in the fitted state , as can be seen in fig2 . furthermore , the decorative strip profile 292 comprises an attachment arm 304 attached to the arm 298 and extending perpendicularly to the latter which is provided with openings 306 arranged at regular intervals over the whole length of the decorative strip profile 292 . the holding profile 294 corresponds to the holding profile 14 of the decorative strip 10 according to the first embodiment of the present invention , and so the design of the holding profile 294 will not be discussed again below . similarly to the fitting of the decorative strip 290 shown in fig2 , in order to cover the ledge 214 of the shower floor 206 shown in fig1 , in a first step the holding profile 294 of the decorative strip 290 is fixed to the shower floor 206 along the ledge 214 to be covered by means of tile adhesive . directly afterwards the tiles 204 are then laid on the arm 30 of the holding profile 294 . next the arm 296 of the decorative strip profile 292 is inserted into the retaining groove 28 of the holding profile 294 . the space to be found between the bottom of the retaining groove 28 of the holding profile 294 and the arm 296 of the decorative strip profile 292 can be filled with a filler material , such as for example silicone , tile adhesive or the like . at the same time the attachment arm 298 is fixed to the bathroom floor 200 by means of tile adhesive . in a further step the tiles 204 are laid on the attachment arm 304 of the decorative strip profile 292 along the arm 298 of the decorative strip profile 292 . all of the embodiments described above of the decorative strip according to the invention are characterised by their height - adjustability and can correspondingly be used variably . moreover , all of the decorative strips which have a wedge - shaped decorative surface can be produced and marketed in excess lengths so that additional height - adjustability , in particular rough height - adjustability , can be achieved by appropriate cutting to length of the decorative strips . the fine height adjustment can then be implemented in the way described in many cases above . | 4 |
a preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described below referring to the drawings . fig1 a is a plan view showing the constitution of a variable - capacity element in the embodiment ; fig1 b is a sectional view showing the side structure along a - a line in fig1 a ; fig1 c is a small signal equivalent circuit of the variable - capacity element ; and fig1 d shows an example of the voltage control oscillator circuit formed by combining a variable - capacity element of the embodiment and an npn bipolar transistor formed on the same semiconductor substrate . the feature of this embodiment is that two or more electrically isolated island - like base layers are formed on a single collector layer to form two or more pn - junction diodes using semiconductor layers forming a bipolar transistor ; respective pn - junction diodes are reversely serially connected through a common collector layer ; // and a variable - capacity element is constituted utilizing a phenomenon wherein the capacity generated between two or more base terminals of the pn - junction diodes is varied corresponding to the variation of the control power source that applies voltage to the common collector layer . as fig1 b shows , an n + layer 7 is formed as a contact on a semi - insulating semiconductor substrate 6 . an n layer 8 and a plurality of electrically isolated p layers 9 are formed thereon to form a plurality of reversely serially connected pn - junction diodes . the n layer 8 and p layers 9 correspond to a collector layer and a base layer among the npn layers for a transistor . on each base layer 9 of the pn - junction diodes , each electrode 1 is formed , and wirings 3 and connecting wirings 4 are formed alternately on the electrodes 1 , as fig1 a shows , to form alternately intricate comb - like electrodes . the electrodes 2 of the collector layer 8 are formed on the contact layer 7 , and wirings 5 for connecting the electrodes 2 to other circuit elements are formed on the both sides of the collector layer 8 ; and the wirings 5 are mutually connected , and choke coils 14 a and a control power source 13 are connected to this portion as shown in fig1 d . furthermore , other circuit elements shown in fig1 d are mounted on the semiconductor substrate 6 to form a voltage control oscillator circuit . specifically , a capacitor 12 for isolating direct - current components from external circuits is connected to the base of an npn bipolar transistor 10 that forms the active part of the oscillator circuit , and each inductor 11 a and 11 b that determines the feedback quantity to the bipolar transistor is connected to the capacitor 12 and the emitter of the bipolar transistor 10 . since the basic constitution of the voltage control oscillator circuit is similar to the circuit shown in fig3 a , the same parts are denoted by the same reference numerals , and the description thereof is omitted ; however , the aspects different in fig1 a are that the variable - capacity element 31 is formed of a plurality of reversely serially connected pn - junction diodes described in fig1 a and 1b , and the wirings 3 and choke coils 14 b are connected to the inductor 11 a connected to the base side of the bipolar transistor 10 as shown in fig1 d . in fig1 c , the reference numeral 16 denotes a resistance component of the pn - junction diode ; 17 denotes the capacity component of the same pn - junction diode ; 18 denotes a resistance component of the neutral semiconductor region in the vertical direction from the end ( lower end ) of the depletion layer to the contact layer 7 , produced from the base layer 9 side toward the direction of the contact layer 7 in fig1 b . the neutral semiconductor region extends from the end of the depletion layer to the contact layer 7 of the pn - junction diode , and the reference numeral 19 denotes a resistance component of the neutral semiconductor region in the horizontal direction . that is the resistance component inversely proportional to the cross - sectional area of the collector layer 8 connected to the wirings 3 and 4 , i . e ., the product of “ the distance from the end of the depletion layer to the contact layer 7 ” and “ the length of the electrode 1 in the up - and - down direction ” shown in fig1 a . the reference numeral 20 denotes the resistance of the contact layer 7 ; and 21 denotes the contact resistance of the collector electrode 2 . fig2 a shows a characteristic diagram comparing the aspect of change in the resistance component serially connected to the capacity component between the base wirings 3 and 4 when the base wirings 3 and 4 are grounded , and a voltage of the control power source 13 is applied to the collector wiring 5 , with the aspect of change in the resistance component serially connected to the capacity component when the same capacity is realized by a conventional pn - junction diode . it is seen that in comparison with the conventional variable - capacity element 30 using the pn - junction diode , the variable - capacity element 31 in this embodiment has a lower control - voltage dependence of the resistance component serially connected to the capacity component . this is because in the conventional variable - capacity element 30 using the pn - junction diode , the width of the depletion layer shrinks in the vertical direction in fig3 c when a forward bias is applied between the base layer 9 and the collector layer 8 , and the resistance component 18 in the vertical direction from the end of the depletion layer of the pn junction to the contact layer 7 increases , as is seen from fig3 d , so that the resistance component 18 serially connected to the capacitor is increased . in the variable - capacity element 31 in the present embodiment , n - type collector layers 8 and n + - type collector contact layers 7 of the two or more pn - junction diodes are common . the width of the depletion layer shrinks in the vertical direction in fig1 b when a forward bias is applied between the base layer 9 and the collector layer 8 , and the resistance component 18 in the vertical direction of the neutral semiconductor region from the end of the depletion layer to the contact layer 7 of the pn junction is increased similarly to the conventional variable - capacity element . however , since the resistance component 19 in the horizontal direction between the wirings 3 and 4 is inversely proportional to the cross - sectional area determined by the product of “ the distance from the end of the depletion layer to the contact layer 7 ” and “ the length of the electrode 1 in the up - and - down direction in fig1 a ”, the above - described cross - sectional area expands when the width of the depletion layer shrinks . that results in decrease in the resistance component 19 , and the reduction of the control - voltage dependence of the serial resistance component . this effect utilizes decrease in the resistance component 19 in the horizontal direction . therefore , if the electrodes 1 of the facing comb - shaped base layers 9 are disposed as shown in fig1 a , and the electrodes 2 of the collector layer 8 are disposed on both sides as shown in fig1 a so as to widen the width of the base layers 9 ( the length of the electrode 1 in the up - and - down direction in fig1 a ), or alternatively if width in the facing directions of two or more base layers 9 ( wirings 3 and 4 ) generating capacity as shown in the sectional view of fig1 b , then the resistance 19 in the horizontal direction can be effectively reduced . fig2 b shows a characteristic diagram comparing the phase noise characteristics of a voltage control oscillator circuit using a variable - capacity element 31 in the present embodiment with the phase noise characteristics of a voltage control oscillator circuit having a variable - capacity element 30 utilizing the capacity variation between the anode and the cathode obtained by applying a voltage to a conventional pn - junction diode . it is seen from this characteristic diagram that the noise characteristics of the voltage control oscillator circuit using a variable - capacity element 31 in the present embodiment are superior to those using the conventional base - collector capacity element 30 . in the above - described embodiment , an example of the serial feedback - type oscillator circuit wherein a variable - capacity element 31 is connected to the base terminal of a bipolar transistor 10 is shown . alternatively , the variable - capacity element 31 may be directly connected to either the collector terminal or the emitter terminal of the bipolar transistor 10 . further , a parallel feedback - type oscillator circuit may be obtained wherein the variable - capacity element 31 is connected between any two of the emitter , the base , and the collector terminals of the bipolar transistor 10 . the same action and effect may be expected from these variations . in the above - described embodiment , an example is shown wherein a choke coil 14 a is used as an element for isolating alternate - current components from the control power source 13 . it will be obvious that a resistor may be used as an element for isolating alternate - current components from the control power source 13 . the present embodiment is constituted as described above , and a variable - capacity element having little parasitic resistance component can be realized using a bipolar transistor structure . by combining the variable - capacity element and the bipolar transistor on the same semiconductor substrate , a voltage control oscillator circuit having low noise can be obtained . 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 by practiced otherwise than as specifically described . the entire disclosure of a japanese patent application no . 2004 - 201354 , filed on jul . 8 , 2004 including specification , claims , drawings and summary , on which the convention priority of the present application is based , are incorporated herein by reference in its entirety . | 7 |
the foregoing and other features and advantages of the bottle and cap will be apparent from the following , more particular description of a preferred embodiment , as illustrated in the accompanying drawings wherein like reference numbers generally indicate identical , functionally similar , and / or structurally similar elements . while specific exemplary embodiments are discussed , it should be understood that this is done for illustrative purposes only . a person skilled in the relevant art will recognize that other components and configurations can be used without departing from the scope of the invention as defined by the claims . the cap 10 is comprised of two pieces , a bottle cap 12 and a payload cap 14 . bottle cap 12 contacts bottle 16 . it has a lower portion 18 that fits within the inner circumference of the neck 20 of the bottle 16 on which cap 10 is used . the payload cap 14 has a lower cylindrical portion 22 . the lower cylindrical portion 22 of the payload cap fits within the inner circumference of bottle cap 12 . the payload cap 14 and bottle cap 12 cooperate to define a payload cavity 24 . specifically , the payload cavity 24 is formed by the cylindrical wall of the lower portion 22 of the payload cap 14 in conjunction with the upper wall 26 of the payload cap 14 and the lower wall 28 of the bottle cap 12 forming a payload cavity closure . the lower portion 18 of the bottle cap 12 that is inserted down the neck 20 of the bottle 16 has openings 30 that serve as discharge ports for the liquid or other material stored in the payload cavity 24 when the payload cap 14 piece is manipulated . the openings 30 are defined between support legs 32 connecting the upper portion 19 of bottle cap 12 and lower wall of the bottle cap 28 . the bottom 28 of the bottle cap 12 can be formed as a cone or pyramidal to provide structural rigidity for the bottom 28 , supports seals 64 and 66 , minimize any residual payload in the bottom 28 , and aid in dispersing the payload into the bottle 16 . there are three sets of seals between the bottle 16 , bottle cap 12 and payload cap 14 . the set of seals between bottle cap 12 and bottle 16 is the bottle seal 40 , the set of seal between the bottle cap 12 and payload cap cavity 14 is the payload cavity seal 60 , and the set of seals between the bottle cap 12 and payload cap 14 is the consumer access port seal 50 . each set of seals is comprised of inner cylinder and outer cylinder as shown in fig5 b . the two cylinders are forming a channel having a “ u - shaped ” cross - section . into the middle of the u , a wall of a tube is inserted . this unique arrangement provides seal in both directions of pressure gradient . if the pressure on the right side of the u is high than the pressure on the left side , then the right side of the u is compressed agents the inner wall of the tube proportional to the pressure gradient and forms a pressure seal . the sealing pressure increases with the pressure gradient thus maintaining the seal up to the structural strength of the components . when the pressure gradient is reversed , the right side of the u will be compressed agents the outside of the tube and forms a vacuum seal . in absence of pressure gradient there is interference compression ( right side of the u ) and interference expansion ( left side of the u ) that provides seal . this unique seal arrangement was develop to provide definite seal under broad atmospheric conditions of atmospheric pressure and temperature fluctuations . the embodiment of these sets of seals is only one of many embodiments that can be implemented on these principles by those skilled in this art . the bottle seal ( first seal ) is comprised of seal 40 , between the bottle 16 and the bottle cap 12 , comprises a cylindrical portion 42 mating with the inner surface of the neck 20 of the bottle 16 and a cylindrical protuberance 44 mating with the outer surface of the neck 20 of the bottle . cylindrical portion 42 , cylindrical protuberance 44 and portion 46 of the bottle cap 12 envelop the upper most portions 48 of the neck of the bottle 20 forming a seal between bottle cap 12 and bottle 16 . the combination of the two seals 42 and 44 provides a deterministic seal of pressure gradient in both directions ( between the inside of the bottle 16 and the atmospheric pressure outside the bottle and cap 10 ). this is to prevent contamination of the contents of the bottle 16 with outside air during the product shelf life , and escape of product from the bottle . the consumer access port seal ( second seal ) is comprised of seal 50 , between the bottle cap 12 and payload cap 14 , comprises two cylindrical protuberances 52 and 54 extending from the upper wall 26 of the payload cap 12 . protuberances 52 and 54 envelop the upper most portions 56 of the bottle cap 12 forming a seal between the bottle cap 12 and payload cap 14 . the combination of the two seals 52 and 54 provides a deterministic seal of pressure gradient in both directions ( between the inside of the bottle 16 and the atmospheric pressure outside the bottle and cap 10 ). this is to prevent contamination of the content of the bottle 16 with outside air during the product shelf life . the payload cap seal ( third seal ) is comprised of seal 60 , between the bottle cap 12 and payload cap 14 forming the payload cavity closure , comprises a largely cylindrical portion 62 of the bottle cap 12 mating with a largely cylindrical portion 64 of the payload cap 14 . the largely cylindrical portion of the payload cap 14 has an end 66 . portion 64 is formed as a protuberance from the lower wall of the bottle cap 28 . the portion 62 and 64 envelop the end 66 of the payload cap 14 forming a seal between the bottle cap and payload cap and forming a closure for the payload cavity 24 . the combination of the two seals 62 and 64 provides a deterministic seal of pressure gradient in both directions ( between the payload cavity 24 and the inside of the bottle 16 ). this is to prevent contamination of the content of the bottle with payload during the product shelf life . the bottle seal 40 ( first seal ) can be formed integrally with the bottle cap 12 . the consumer access port seal 50 ( second seal ) can be formed integrally with the payload cap 14 . the payload cavity seal 60 ( third seal ) can be fowled integrally with the bottle cap 12 . bottle cap 12 has a cylindrical portion 70 with threads 72 on the inner surface of cylindrical portion 70 . neck 20 of bottle 16 has threads 74 on its outer surface . threads 72 and 74 are complimentary such that bottle cap 12 can be screwed on and off bottle 16 until latched by 76 . when the threads of bottle cap 12 and bottle 16 are engaged , cylindrical portion 70 of bottle cap 12 is disposed externally of neck 20 of bottle 16 around the threaded neck 20 of bottle 16 . bottle cap 12 also has a ridge 76 along the inner circumference of the cylindrical portion 70 at the lower edge of the cylindrical portion . ridge 76 engages a corresponding ridge 78 on neck 20 of bottle 16 . ridge 78 is below threads 74 on neck 20 of bottle 16 . ridges 76 and 78 cooperate to lock bottle cap 12 onto bottle 16 . bottle cap 12 is secured to bottle 16 by placing bottle cap 12 onto the neck 20 of bottle 16 , twisting bottle cap 12 in a clockwise direction ( right handed thread is used in this example ) so that threads 72 and 74 engage pulling bottle cap 12 down over neck 20 of bottle 16 until ridges 76 and 78 engage . once ridges 76 and 78 are fully engaged the ridges work as a latch between the bottle cap 12 and bottle 16 such that bottle cap 12 cannot be removed from bottle 16 without physically destroying the bottle cap 12 . bottle cap 12 has a second cylindrical portion 80 with threads 82 on the outer surface of cylindrical portion 80 . payload cap 14 has a cylindrical portion 83 having threads 84 on its inner surface . threads 82 and 84 are complimentary such that payload cap 14 can be screwed on and off bottle cap 12 . when the threads of payload cap 14 and bottle cap 12 are engaged , cylindrical portion 83 of payload cap 14 is disposed externally of cylindrical portion 80 of the bottle cap 12 . payload cap 14 also has a tamper evident seal 90 . ridges 92 and 94 cooperate to participate in the tamper evidence seal . ridge 94 is formed on the lower edge of the outer circumference of cylindrical portion 80 of bottle cap 12 and ridge 92 is formed on the inner circumference of cylindrical portion 83 of payload cap 14 . ridge 94 is below threads 82 on bottle cap 12 . ridges 92 and 94 cooperate to lock payload cap 14 onto bottle cap 12 . the bottle cap 12 is secured to payload cap 14 by placing bottle cap 12 cylindrical portion 80 onto payload cap 14 , twisting bottle cap 12 , while holding the payload cap 14 stationary ( the stationary and rotating components can be reversed ), in a clockwise direction ( right handed thread is used in this example ) so that threads 82 and 84 engage pulling cylindrical portion 80 of bottle cap 12 down into payload cap 14 until ridges 92 and 94 engage . once ridges 92 and 94 are fully engaged , payload cap 14 and bottle cap 12 are secured forming the cap with a tamper proof seal . near the lower edge of cylindrical portion 83 of payload cap 14 are perforations 96 . twisting payload cap 14 in a counter clockwise direction will break the tamper evident seal at perforations 96 and allow removal of payload cap 14 from bottle cap 12 . the payload cap 14 can be replaced by positioning the payload cap 14 on cylindrical portion 80 of the bottle cap and twisting the payload cap 14 clockwise so threads 82 and 84 engage and pulls the payload cap 14 down over the cylindrical portion 80 of the bottle cap 12 . of course , once the tamper evident seal 90 is broken at the perforations 96 , it is not restored upon reattaching payload cap 14 to bottle cap 12 . ribs 100 on payload cap 14 and ribs 102 on bottle cap 12 facility gripping and twisting of the payload cap 14 and bottle cap 12 . ribs 100 and 102 on the payload cap 14 and bottle cap 12 are different and are specifically designed to be able to carry the torque needed to lock the payload cap 14 and bottle cap 12 together . the ribs 102 on the bottle cap are designed to carry the torque needed to lock the bottle cap 12 to the bottle . additionally , the ribs 100 on the payload cap 14 are optimized for consumer unscrewing the payload cap 14 by hand . the customary 14 foot - inch torque for human fingers was used to design the ribbing 100 . this gives the consumer familiar feeling of opening a convention water bottle when opening the cap . for caps used with sterile materials ( e . g . liquids for human consumption ), sterilization of the cap , the cap filing during assembly with payload , and the cap and bottle assembly is an integrated process with several steps performed simultaneously . the bottle cap and the payload cap components are sterilized during the manufacturing in injection molding process by heating the material ( plastic ) above 110 . degree . c . for a sufficient duration to assure a sterile product . this process produces sterile components . the sterility of the components is assured during storage via inspections . during cap filling and assembly operations , the payload cavity 24 is injected with liquid or other material by turning the payload cap 14 upside down and pouring the material into cavity 24 . in this approach gravitation force is used to keep the liquid in the cavity . alternatively , the payload cap can be span and centrifugal force can be used to keep the liquid in the cavity . then bottle cap 12 is attached to the payload cap 14 while the payload cavity is facing upward . the bottle cap 12 is placed over the payload cap and one of the caps is twisted clockwise until threads 82 and 84 engage . continued twisting of the caps results in the sealing of payload cavity 24 by sealing the payload cap 14 to the bottle cap 12 . the lower wall 28 of the bottle cap 12 is sealed against end 66 of payload cap 14 to define the payload cavity 24 . in this manner , lower wall 28 forms a closure for the payload cavity 24 . continued twisting of the caps results in the locking of the tamper evidence seal via ridges 92 and 94 . the payload cavity 24 is filled with not compressible liquid or solids and air . the payload cap 14 , bottle cap 12 and the corresponding seals 50 and 60 are arranged in a way that the payload cavity 24 is sealed before the payload cap 14 and bottle cap 12 are fully screwed together . end 66 of payload cap 12 contacts seal 60 on closure 28 before threads 72 and 74 are fully engaged . as the payload cap 14 bottled cap 12 are screwed together bringing threads 72 and 74 to a fully engaged position , the air inside the payload cavity is compressed placing the inside of the payload cavity 24 under positive pressure . immediately after filling the cap 10 is inverted to have the payload cavity 24 faced down . the cap 10 is sterilized by spraying ozonated water ( or other sterilizing compounds ) at high pressure on the top and into the annulus formed between the payload cap and the bottle cap . subsequently the entire cap is dried with sterile air . the primary purpose of this sterilization step is to remove any contamination that may be contacted from the cap filing and assembly apparatus . the cap 10 then can be stored inside sterile environment ( polypropylene bag ) for the duration of shelf life or until assembled onto bottle . the bottle 16 is sterilized by rinsing and then by filling of the bottle with ozonated water . the bottle 16 is filled with ozonated water ( product water ) up to the top of the bottle . the excess water will be used to do the second stage sterilization of the cap 10 be forcing the water around the bottom of the cap while locking the cap onto the bottle . then the fully assembled cap 10 and is attached to bottle 16 previously filled with ozonated water or other liquid . this is done by securing the bottle cap 12 to bottle 16 . the bottle cap 12 is placed over bottle 16 and is twisted clockwise until threads 74 and 75 engage . continued twisting of the bottle cap 12 results in the locking of the bottle cap 12 to bottle 16 via ridges 76 and 78 . the vacuum in the bottle 16 is created during the cap attachment process . the bottle 16 is first filled with liquid to the top of the bottle . the cap 10 is placed on the bottle and securely hold in position , but not attached . next , the bottle 16 is squeezed forcing desired amount of liquid out of the bottle around the cap 10 . this expelled ozonated water sterilizes the surfaces of the cap that can be wetted by the product water . the purpose of this sterilization is to remove any contaminants that may have been contacted from air while the cap was stored in sterile environment . after the desired amount of liquid has been expelled from the bottle 16 , the cap 10 is permanently attached to the bottle . the amount of liquid expelled from the bottle controls the vacuum that is created in the inside of the bottle . the bottle is specifically designed to be able to resist collapse due to the vacuum . to ensure that all the internal surfaces of the cap 10 have been sterilized , the complete bottle 16 and cap 10 assembly is inverted immediately after locking together for specific time to allow the ozonated water inside the bottle 16 to make contact with all the inside surfaces of the cap 10 . the two piece construction of the cap 10 facilitates sterilization of the bottle 16 and cap 10 in this manner . non - limiting examples of beverage mix that can be used with the bottle and cap include the following : a dry milk material , a tea mix , a coffee mix , a flavored beverage mix , a baby formula , a dry lemonade , a flavor , a juice mix , a powder drink mix , an electrolyte drink mix , an energy drink mix , a protein drink mix , and / or a sweetened beverage mix . non - limiting examples of a supplement that can be used with the bottle and cap include the following : a protein supplement , a flavoring , a non - sugar or other sweetener , a diabetic product , a nutrient , an electrolyte mixture , an energy drink , a dietary supplement , and / or a vitamin supplement . non - limiting examples of a dehydrate food that can be used with the bottle and cap include the following : a dehydrated liquid remnant , dehydrated alcohol , a cake mix , a pudding mix , a pancake mix , a gelatin mix , and / or a soup mix . non - limiting examples of a medicine that can be used with the bottle and cap include the following : a pharmaceutical , an ingestible , an antibiotic , a prescription drug , an over the counter drug , and / or a laxative . once bottle 16 and cap 10 are filled with liquid or other material , the cap 10 can be manipulated to allow mixing of the contents of the payload cavity 24 and the bottle 16 . when payload cap 14 is twisted counter clockwise the payload cap will move away from bottle cap 12 . as the payload cap 14 moves away from bottle cap 12 , the lower end 66 of payload cap 14 will no longer be sealed against cylindrical portion 62 and protuberance 64 , breaking the seal 60 between the payload cap 12 and the bottle cap 14 . as the payload cap 14 is further twisted it will continue to move away from bottle cap 14 such that payload cavity 24 is in communication with bottle 16 through openings 30 formed between lower wall 28 and support legs 32 of the bottle cap 12 and the lower portion 22 of the payload cap 14 . liquid or other material stored within the payload cavity 14 is released into the bottle 16 such that the contents of the payload cavity 24 and bottle 16 are mixed . the releasing of the liquid or other material in the payload cavity 24 into bottle 16 is facilitated by maintaining the contents of payload cavity 24 under pressure and / or maintaining the contents of the bottle 16 under a vacuum . specifically , the contents of payload cavity 24 can be stored under pressure and when the payload cap 14 is loosened breaking seal 60 between the payload cap 14 and the bottle cap 12 , the contents of the payload cavity 24 are forced into the bottle 16 by the pressure in the payload cavity 24 being released into bottle 16 . in addition or alternatively , the contents of the bottle may be stored under a slight vacuum so that when the payload cap 14 is loosened breaking seal 60 the contents of the payload cavity 24 are sucked into the bottle by the vacuum in bottle 16 . the breaking of seal 40 coincides with the breaking of the payload cap tamper evidence ring 90 , when this occurs the consumer access port seal 50 is closed and the content of the bottle and payload cavity can be mixed by shaking the bottle by the consumer , without spilling any content from the bottle or cap . when payload cap 14 is further loosened such that seal 50 is broken , any material remaining in the payload cavity 24 is forced into bottle 16 by in rushing air . continued twisting of the payload cap 14 after the contents of the payload cavity 24 have been discharged into the bottle 16 results in the payload cap 14 being removed from bottle cap 12 . removing the payload cap 14 from bottle cap 12 will allow dispensing of the contents of bottle 16 ( the mixture of the contents of the payload cavity 24 and the original contents of the bottle 16 ). thereafter , the contents of the bottle 16 can be stored by reattaching the payload cap 14 to bottle cap 12 . reattaching the payload cap 14 to bottle cap 12 will result in resealing of seal 50 between the payload cap 14 and the bottle cap 16 maintaining the contents of the bottle . | 1 |
the slurry composition of the present invention includes alumina ( an abrasive ), an additive having some chemical components , and ozone ( an oxidant component ). the abrasive of the present invention is typically a metal oxide , such as alumina , titania , zirconia , germania , silica , ceria or a mixture of the above . alumina is used in the preferred embodiment of the present invention , and the weight percent is between 1 . 5 to 6 %. the additive of the present invention includes a corrosion inhibitor to protect the metal oxide and inhibit the erosion reaction . nitrogen - containing cyclic compounds are usually used for the corrosion inhibitor , such as imidazole , benzotriazole , benzimidazole , benzothiazole , urea , or a mixture of these compounds . in the preferred embodiment , the corrosion inhibitor is benzotriazole ( bta ) with a weight percent between 0 . 01 to 2 %. the additive of the present invention can further include a complexing agent to disturb the passivation layer , so that the metal oxide is easily removed from the surface of the wafer . useful complexing agents include citric acid , lactic acid , malonic acid , tartaric acid , succinic acid , acetic acid , oxalic acid , amino acid , amino sulfuric acid , phosphoric acid , phophonic acid , etc . the preferred embodiment uses tartaric acid with a weight percent of 0 . 2 - 5 %. wherein , the complexing agent being almost unnecessary in the present invention , other embodiments without a complexing agent are also applicable . moreover , due to an addition of various chemical agents , the abrasive of the cmp slurry may destablize to have flocculation , decomposition and settling situations . therefore , the additive may further include surfactant , stabilizer , or dispersing agent to stabilize the cmp slurry . taking surfactant as an example , the embodiment would use dodecyl sulfate , sodium salt , sodium lauryl sulfate , dodecyl sulfate ammonium salt , or a mixture of the above . the amount of the surfactant added must be enough to stablize the cmp slurry and depends on characteristics of the sufactant and the abrasive surface . the addition of the surfactant can decrease inequality and defects of the surface of the semiconductor , but too much surfactant will cause flocculation and foaming in the slurry . therefore , the weight percent of the surfactant is between 0 . 001 to 2 %. the surfactant is almost unnecessary in the present invention , such that other embodiments without surfactant are also applicable . the oxidant of the present invention is a nonmetallic oxidant , ozone . please refer to fig2 . fig2 is a table of reductive reaction potential of each chemical species . as shown in fig2 the oxidative potential of ozone is 1 . 78v , its oxidative ability is only less than fluorine , but higher than other commonly used oxidants , such as hydrogen peroxide and ferricyanide . therefore , dissolving ozone into solution , it is easy to gain better oxidative effects . the half reductive reaction of ozone is as follows : because the products of the half reductive reaction are hydrogen and oxygen , there are no contamination problems of metal ions and no ph value variation such as occurs when using hydrogen peroxide . in addition , an ozone satisfaction amount in the solution follows henry &# 39 ; s law ( m = kp ), that is , ozone pressure is proportional to ozone solubility . therefore , the solubility of ozone is well controlled by adjusting process parameters . therefore , the present invention uses ozone as an oxidant of metal cmp slurry . please refer to fig3 of two embodiments of slurries according to the present invention . as shown in fig3 the two embodiments using ozone as an oxidant are as follows : 1 . directly inject dissolved ozone with a concentration between 0 . 1 - 200 parts per million ( ppm ) into a slurry comprising an abrasive , water , and an additive for cmp process . 2 . inject dissolved ozone to deionized water to form an ozone solution , and mix a slurry comprising abrasive , water , and an additive with the ozone solution for cmp process . because the ph value of the cmp slurry has an important influence on the chemical species to which metals oxidize , the ph value of the present invention is between 1 and 10 to control the cmp process . the ph value is adjusted by acid , base , or amine , but limited to chemicals without metal ions , such as ammonium hydroxide , amine , nitric acid , phosphoric acid , sulfuric acid and organic acid , to prevent metal ion contamination . above all , the present invention uses an ozone - containing slurry for metal cmp . because ozone is a strong nonmetallic oxidant , the ozone - containing solution easily gains a better oxidative effect . in addition , ozone easily reacts with organic chemicals , so that some carbon particles in the slurry are easily removed by ozone . therefore , the present invention uses the ozone as an oxidant of the slurry to heighten the cmp performance and slurry stability and also avoid some drawbacks of metal ion contamination and ph value variation related to prior art . in contrast to the oxidant component of the cmp slurry according to the prior art , the present invention uses ozone as an oxidant of the cmp slurry to have a better oxidative ability , thereby avoiding the drawbacks of contamination in semiconductor wafer and ph value variation of the slurry according to prior art . those skilled in the art will readily observe that numerous modifications and alterations of the device may be made while retaining the teachings of the invention . accordingly , the above disclosure should be construed as limited only by the metes and bounds of the appended claims . | 2 |
in the figures , identical reference numerals relate to identical or functionally equivalent components unless otherwise indicated . fig2 shows a schematic block diagram of an embodiment of an apparatus according to the invention for the transmission of data ds , r 1 , r 2 and energy vs 1 , vs 2 via network nodes 2 - 4 of a specific network 1 . the network nodes 2 - 4 are coupled to a respective number of terminals 5 - 10 . without loss of generality , the respective network nodes 2 - 4 are in each case coupled to two terminals 5 - 10 in the embodiment in fig2 . for example , network node 2 is coupled to terminals 5 and 6 . the bus 11 for coupling of network nodes 2 - 4 is equipped with a transmission line 12 and a receiving line 13 . the transmission line 12 and the receiving line 13 preferably each take the form of a twin - core cable . the bus 11 couples the network nodes 2 - 4 in a daisy - chain arrangement . the transmission line 12 and the receiving line 13 are preferably looped through the network nodes 2 - 4 . to amplify the signals on the transmission line 12 and the receiving line 13 , the respective network node 2 - 4 is preferably equipped with an amplification device 15 - 20 . further , a bus control device 14 is provided to control the bus 11 . the bus control device 14 is integrated , in particular , in the central control device of the aircraft . the bus control device 14 is further equipped with a first means 21 set up to transmit data r 1 , r 2 defined according to the specific network 1 as data - voltage signals ds via the transmission line 12 and the receiving line 13 . the first means 21 is here set up , in particular , to transmit , via the bus 11 , first frames r 1 , for example cids frames , with safety - relevant data d 1 , and second frames r 2 with non - safety - relevant data d 2 , for example ip data packets or tcp / ip data packets , defined according to the specific network 1 , for example the ethernet network , as data - voltage signals ds in a predetermined sequence . the predetermined sequence of the first frames r 1 and the second frames r 2 may be , for example , an alternating sequence . the respective time interval zs 1 - zs 2 between two respective first frames r 1 transmitted via the transmission line 12 and between two respective first frames r 1 transmitted via the receiving line 13 is set as a function of a specific sampling rate of the bus 11 through the coupled terminals 5 - 10 . within the respective time interval zs 1 - zs 2 , at least one respective second frame r 2 is transmitted via the transmission line 12 and via the receiving line 13 in addition to a respective first frame r 1 . the network nodes 2 - 4 are preferably also set up for a transmission of this kind . the bus control device 14 further comprises a second means 22 . the second means 22 is set up to load the data - voltage signals ds on the transmission line 12 with first supply - voltage signals vs 1 suitable for supplying voltage to the devices of a first aircraft system . the bus control device 14 further comprises a third means 28 . the third means 28 is set up to load the data - voltage signals ds on the receiving line 13 with second supply - voltage signals vs 2 suitable for supplying voltage to the devices of a second aircraft system . the first aircraft system here exhibits , in particular , a higher safety rating than the second aircraft system . for example , the first aircraft system takes the form of a cabin management system ( cids system ) of the aircraft , and the second aircraft system takes the form of a reading lamp system with reading lamps in the cabin of the aircraft . at least the second means 22 and the third means 28 , and preferably the first means , the second means and the third means 21 , 22 , 28 , are supplied by an emergency voltage ns from an emergency power - supply device 23 of the aircraft . in particular , the second means 22 provides the first supply - voltage signals vs 1 in a manner such that they are suitable for supplying voltage to the amplification devices 15 - 20 of the network nodes 2 - 4 and to a specific selection of coupled terminals 5 - 10 associated with the first aircraft system . here , the second means 22 superposes preferably the data - voltage signals ds supplied by the first means 21 on the first voltage - supply signals vs 1 to create first modulated voltage signals ms 1 , and couples these first modulated voltage signals ms 1 into the transmission line 12 . in analogous fashion , the third means 28 superposes the data - voltage signals ds provided by the first means 21 on the second supply - voltage signals vs 2 to create second modulated voltage signals ms 2 , and couples these second modulated voltage signals ms 2 into the receiving line 13 . to this end , fig3 a shows a schematic graph for creation of the first modulated voltage signals ms 1 from the data - voltage signals ds and the first supply - voltage signals vs 1 . analogously , fig3 b shows the creation of the second modulated voltage signals ms 2 from the data - voltage signals ds and the second supply - voltage signals vs 2 . furthermore , fig4 shows a schematic block diagram of an embodiment of a network node 2 according to fig2 . the network node 2 shown by way of example in fig4 is equipped with a decoupling device 24 and a coupling device 25 . the decoupling device 24 is equipped with a first decoupling means 24 a and a second decoupling means 24 b ( see in this connection fig5 ). the first decoupling means 24 a is set up to decouple the first supply - voltage signals vs 1 from the first modulated voltage signals ms 1 transmitted via the transmission line 12 . the second decoupling means 24 b is further set up to decouple the second supply - voltage signals vs 2 from the second modulated voltage signals ms 2 transmitted via the receiving line 13 . the respective network node 2 - 4 is further equipped with a coupling device 25 comprising a first coupling means 25 a and a second coupling means 25 b . the first coupling means 25 a is preferably set up to couple the first supply - voltage signals vs 1 decoupled by the first decoupling means 24 a into the transmission line 12 for transmission to the respective downstream network nodes 3 , 4 . the second coupling means 25 b is further set up to couple the second supply - voltage signals vs 2 decoupled by the second decoupling means 24 b into the receiving line 13 for transmission to the respective downstream network nodes 3 , 4 . in addition , fig4 shows that the network node 2 is equipped with a power - supply device 27 via which the network node 2 is supplied with the on - board voltage bs . here , the decoupling device 24 , the coupling device 25 , the switch device 26 , a terminal 5 of the first aircraft system and a terminal 6 of the second aircraft system are supplied with the on - board voltage bs by the power - supply device 27 via a respective power - supply line . the power supply for the decoupling device 24 and the coupling device 25 thus takes a redundant form , namely via the first supply - voltage signal vs 1 and the on - board voltage bs . the network node 2 is further equipped with a switch device 26 or a switch . the switch device 26 is disposed between the decoupling device 24 and the coupling device 25 . the switch device 26 here passes a respective first frame r 1 to the relevant addressed terminal 5 as a function of the second element g 2 of the address tuple at . fig5 shows a schematic block diagram of a second embodiment of an apparatus for transmission of data and energy via devices of a specific network 1 according to the invention . according to the embodiment shown in fig5 , the devices 2 , 5 coupled via the bus 11 take the form of a network node 2 and a terminal 5 . in order to couple the modulated voltage signals ms 1 , ms 2 into the transmission line 12 and into the receiving line 13 respectively , the network node 2 is equipped with the coupling device 25 . without loss of generality , the network node 2 may , for the purpose of coupling a plurality of terminals 5 , comprise a corresponding plurality of coupling devices 25 . correspondingly , the respective terminal 5 is equipped with a decoupling device 24 for decoupling the first supply - voltage signal vs 1 ( by decoupling means 24 a ) and the second supply - voltage signal vs 2 ( by decoupling means 24 b ) respectively . the relevant first decoupling means 24 a is further suitable for supplying the decoupled first supply - voltage signal vs 1 to the components or devices 30 of the first aircraft system . analogously , the second decoupling means 24 b is set up for supplying the decoupled second supply - voltage signal vs 2 to the components or devices 31 of the second aircraft system . the devices 30 , 31 of the first aircraft system and of the second aircraft system are further coupled to the decoupling device 24 by means of a data line 32 for transmission of the data signals ds . fig6 shows a schematic flowchart of an embodiment of a method for transmitting data ds , r 1 , r 2 and energy vs 1 , vs 2 via devices 2 - 10 , for example network nodes 2 - 4 , of a specific network 1 , for example an ethernet network . the method according to the invention is described below in relation to the block diagram shown in fig6 , with reference to fig2 to 4 and 7 to 10 . here , fig7 and 8 show schematic block diagrams of embodiments of , respectively , a first frame r 1 and a second frame r 2 according to the invention . further , fig9 shows a schematic block diagram of an embodiment of an address tuple at of the first frame r 1 according to fig7 . in addition , fig1 shows a schematic block diagram of an embodiment of a time sequence for the transmission of the first frame r 1 and the second frame r 2 via the bus 11 according to the invention . the embodiment shown in fig1 is here based on the embodiment shown in fig2 with the three network nodes 2 - 4 . the example addresses of the address fields f 3 of the first frames r 1 and of the address fields e 2 of the second frames r 2 are based on the reference numerals 2 - 4 of the individual network nodes shown in fig2 and the reference numerals 5 - 10 of the individual , coupled terminals 5 - 10 shown in fig2 . for example , the first frame r 1 of the first time slot zs 1 is intended for the terminal 5 coupled to the network node 2 . details in this regard are described with reference to the method according to the invention as shown in fig6 , which comprises the following steps s 1 - s 4 : at least two devices 2 - 10 are coupled by a bus 11 with a transmission line 12 and a receiving line 13 . for example , referring to fig2 , the network nodes 2 - 4 are coupled to a respective number of coupled terminals 5 - 10 by means of the bus 11 ( data bus ) in a daisy - chain arrangement . the transmission via the transmission line 12 and via the receiving line 13 of data r 1 , r 2 , defined according to the specific network 1 , as data - voltage signals ds is controlled . here , provision is preferably made for control of the transmission via the bus 11 , in a predetermined sequence , of first frames r 1 with safety - relevant data d 1 and second frames r 2 with non - safety - relevant data d 2 , defined according to the specific network 1 , as the data - voltage signals ds , for the setting of a respective time interval zs 1 - zs 2 between two respective first frames r 1 transmitted via the transmission line 12 and between two respective first frames r 1 transmitted via the receiving line 13 as a function of a specific sampling rate of the bus 11 through the coupled terminals 5 - 10 , and for control of the transmission of at least one respective second frame r 2 via the transmission line 12 and via the receiving line 13 within the respective time interval zs 1 - zs 2 . the first frames r 1 take the form of for example cids frames . with reference to fig7 , the respective first frame r 1 may be composed of the following fields f 1 - f 5 : a first field f 1 with an ethernet preamble ep ; a second field f 2 with audio data ad , in particular audio broadcasting data ; a third field f 3 with an address a 1 indicating at least the respective terminal 5 - 10 of the respective network node 2 - 4 ; a fourth field f 4 with the safety - relevant data d 1 ; and a fifth field f 5 with an ethernet checksum ec , such as an ethernet crc . with reference to fig9 , the address a 1 of the third field f 3 of the first frame r 1 takes the form of an address tuple at , wherein a first element g 1 of the address tuple at addresses the respective network node 2 - 4 , and a second element g 2 of the address tuple at addresses the respective terminal 5 - 10 of the respective network node 2 . this type of exemplary addressing is also used in fig1 — as already mentioned above — so that the field f 3 of the first frame r 1 in the time slot zs 1 addresses the terminal 5 that is coupled to the network node 2 . with reference to fig8 , the respective second frame r 2 is preferably composed of the following fields e 1 - e 4 : a first field e 1 with an ethernet preamble ep ; a second field e 2 with an address a 2 indicating at least a respective network node 2 - 4 ; a third field e 3 with an ip data packet 1 p ; and a fourth field e 4 with an ethernet checksum ec , such as an ethernet crc . the respective time interval zs 1 - zs 2 preferably takes the form of a time slot zs 1 - zs 2 corresponding to a reciprocal of the sampling rate of the audio data through the coupled terminals 5 - 10 . the respective time slot zs 1 - zs 2 further exhibits a first partial time slot t 1 ( see fig1 ) for the transmission of precisely one first frame r 1 and a second partial time slot t 2 ( see fig1 ) for the transmission of at least one second frame r 2 . the respective first frames r 1 are preferably transmitted via the transmission line 12 and the receiving line 13 of the bus 11 in the respective first partial time slot t 1 by means of a static , deterministic time - slot procedure . conversely , the respective second frames r 2 are preferably transmitted in the respective second partial time slot t 2 by means of a best - effort procedure . with reference to fig1 , within the respective predetermined time slot zs 1 - zs 2 of the cycle z with a specific number of time slots zs 1 - zs 2 , precisely one specific terminal 5 - 10 can receive one first frame r 1 via the transmission line 12 and transmit precisely one first frame r 1 via the receiving line 13 . within a cycle z with a number n2 of time slots zs 1 - zs 2 , the bus control device 14 preferably transmits , via the transmission line 12 , respectively at least one first frame r 1 to the respective terminal 5 - 10 addressed by the second element g 2 of the address tuple at of the fourth field f 4 of the first frame r 1 , in a respective time slot zs 1 - zs 2 of the cycle z . the network node 2 - 4 , in particular in the respective time slot zs 1 - zs 2 of the cycle z , is authorised , following transmission of the respective first frame r 1 of the terminal 5 - 10 addressed by the second element g 2 of the address tuple at of the first frame r 1 received in the respective time slot zs 1 - zs 2 , to transmit , via the receiving line 12 , using the best - effort procedure , one or more second frames r 2 . furthermore , the bus control device 14 transmits the respective second frame r 2 in a broadcast mode via the bus 11 , wherein the coupled network nodes 2 - 4 each receive the second frames r 2 , extract the ip packet ip of the second frame r 2 and pass the ip packet ip to the respective terminal 5 - 10 addressed by the ip address of the ip packet ip if the addressed terminal 5 - 10 is coupled to the respective network node 2 - 4 . the authorisation of the respective network node 2 - 4 to transmit the second frames r 2 via the receiving line 13 within the respective cycle z is preferably regulated by setting a number of first frames r 1 to be transmitted to these respective network nodes 2 - 4 . the data - voltage signals ds are loaded on the transmission line 12 with first supply - voltage signals vs 1 suitable for supplying power to the devices of a first aircraft system . the data - voltage signals ds are loaded on the receiving line 13 with second supply - voltage signals vs 2 suitable for supplying power to the devices of a second aircraft system . although the present invention has been described here with reference to preferred embodiments , it is not restricted thereto , but can be modified in diverse ways . | 7 |
the same elements have been designated by same references in the various figures and additionally the figures are not drawn to scale . in the following description , the terms “ over ” and “ higher ” refer to the orientations of the related elements in the corresponding figures . unless stated otherwise , the expressions “ about ” and “ in the order of ” mean within 10 %, or preferentially within 5 %, of the stated value . fig5 is a schematic top view of an embodiment of a terahertz imager , only a portion of the imager being shown in this figure . the imager comprises a matrix 61 of pixels 63 , three pixels of a column of the matrix 61 being shown in fig5 . each pixel comprises an oscillator , for example such as disclosed in connection with fig3 and 4 , a read circuit 65 and a transmission line 67 . an end of the transmission line 67 is coupled to the node 41 of oscillator 33 and the other end is coupled to the read circuit 65 . the read circuit of each pixel is adapted to provide a signal representative of the impedance value of line 67 . the read circuit of each pixel is coupled to a line and column selection circuit ( not shown ) controlled by a line decoder and a column decoder ( not shown ). in this embodiment , the oscillator 33 and in some embodiments the detection circuit 65 of each pixel 63 are shielded by a shielding layer 71 , for example a metal layer , blocking the propagation of high frequency waves . in operation , the oscillator 33 of each pixel is biased by a dc voltage source coupled to the transmission line 67 , for example through the detection circuit 65 of the pixel . the oscillator 33 thus provides a terahertz signal having a frequency f and a wavelength λ to the transmission line 67 . fig6 and 7 are respectively a cross - sectional view in a plane aa of fig5 and a cross - sectional view in a plane bb of fig5 . fig6 shows three transmission lines 67 of three pixels 63 of the imager of fig5 . the transmission lines 67 are formed in metallization levels buried in an insulating layer 73 laying on a semiconductor support 75 . each transmission line comprises a microstrip 77 above a conductive band 79 forming a ground plane . the microstrip 77 of each transmission line 67 is covered by an insulating layer having a thickness smaller than λ and preferably smaller than 0 . 1λ , where λ is the wavelength of the signal of the oscillator coupled to the line . an object 81 to be analyzed is arranged against the upper face or active face of the pixel matrix of the imager . the object may include a plurality of materials having different dielectric constants and present inhomogeneities of effective dielectric constant . when a terahertz signal of frequency f and wavelength λ is applied to a line 67 , terahertz fields radiate from the microstrip 77 to the ground plane 79 , as shown by dotted lines for the right - hand pixel of fig6 , and a part of the fields leaks outside of the imager elements . these terahertz fields penetrate a superficial layer of the object 81 to be analyzed . the term “ analysis depth ” designates the thickness of the superficial layer of the object in which these terahertz waves penetrate . the analysis depth is in the order of several wave lengths λ , for example in the range to 3λ , i . e ., 0 . 1 to 0 . 3 mm if the frequency f is equal to 3 thz , and from 1 to 3 mm if the frequency f is equal to 300 ghz . the impedance of a transmission line 67 depends upon the effective dielectric constant of the imager elements and of the material of object 81 that is positioned over this line and thus will be different for the two pixels arranged on the right in fig6 , which are positioned under an inhomogeneity 83 , and for the pixel arranged on the left of fig6 . an image of the dielectric constants of the material of the upper layer of the object 81 is thus obtained from the set of output signals of the pixels of the imager . the resolution of the imager thus corresponds to the dimensions of its pixels . for example , in the case of an oscillator 33 with five inverters providing a signal at 600 ghz , each pixel can have lateral dimensions of 20 to 50 μm . a characteristic of the above disclosed pixels is that the transmission line 67 of each pixel serves as an emitter of terahertz waves for illuminating a portion of an object to be analyzed and is also used as a detector to capture a signal associated with the effective dielectric constant of this portion . as an example , the semiconductor support 75 is a bulk silicon substrate or a soi type (“ silicon on insulator ”) substrate in which are formed the electronic components of the imager , in particular the transistors of the pixels . this support is covered with metallization levels of an interconnection structure of the electronic components formed in the semiconductive support . the microstrip 77 and the ground planes 79 of the transmission lines 67 are formed in these metallization levels . in an example application , the object 81 analyzed by the imager of fig5 is the skin of a person in which one wishes to localize cancerous cells . if for example , the cancerous cells comprise more water than the healthy cells , their dielectric constant is not the same as that of healthy cells and this inhomogeneity of the dielectric constant can be detected and located . in another example , the object to be analyzed is a liquid , for example blood , in which one wishes to know the concentration and / or the movement of suspended solid elements having a dielectric constant different from that of the liquid . fig7 is a cross - sectional view in the plane bb of fig5 and shows a shielded transmission line , for example a line 39 . the transmission line 39 and the shielding layer 71 are formed in metallization levels . the presence of the shielding layer 71 means that the functioning of the line is not dependent on the material of the superficial layer of the object to be analyzed . in a variant , lines 39 and 43 are not shielded . the impedance of lines 39 , 43 of each pixel then depends on the object seen by this pixel and the frequency f of the oscillator varies as a consequence . it is possible to measure the frequencies f and or the varying output voltage or current of the pixels of the imager to reconstitute an image of the materials of the superficial layer of the object to be analyzed . in fact , it is possible to tailor the design of the transmission lines and the oscillators to be sensitive to specific dielectric constant ranges , or to be broadband . specific embodiments have been disclosed . variants and modifications will appear to those skilled in the art . in particular , transmission lines different from those disclosed above can be used , for example coplanar transmission lines . the oscillator contained in each pixel can be replaced by any other oscillator , for example the oscillator disclosed in the article “ a 283 - to - 296 ghz vco with 0 . 76 mw peak output power in 65 nm cmos ”, by y . m . tousi et al ., published in solid - state circuits conference digest of technical papers ( isscc ), 2012 ieee international , pages 258 to 260 . in practice , the pixels 63 of the imager are not read simultaneously . for example , the pixels are read sequentially one by one . it is then possible to turn off the pixels that are not being read , for example by not biasing the oscillator of these pixels . in some embodiments , the imager matrix 61 analyzes the superficial layer at a plurality of analysis depths . for example , the lines of some groups of pixels 63 are coated with an insulating layer thicker than the lines of other groups of pixels . additionally or alternatively , the oscillators of some groups of pixels operate at frequency different from those of other groups of pixels . while terahertz imagers have been disclosed above , it will be noted that the description applies to any near - field high frequency imager , where high frequency means a frequency of 10 ghz or more . various embodiments and variants have been disclosed . it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the various elements in the various embodiments can be combined in any combination without inventive step . the various embodiments described above can be combined to provide further embodiments . all of the u . s . patents , u . s . patent application publications , u . s . patent applications , foreign patents , foreign patent applications and non - patent publications referred to in this specification and / or listed in the application data sheet are incorporated herein by reference , in their entirety . aspects of the embodiments can be modified , if necessary to employ concepts of the various patents , applications and publications to provide yet further embodiments . these and other changes can be made to the embodiments in light of the above - detailed description . in general , in the following claims , the terms used should not be construed to limit the claims to the specific embodiments disclosed in the specification and the claims , but should be construed to include all possible embodiments along with the full scope of equivalents to which such claims are entitled . accordingly , the claims are not limited by the disclosure . | 7 |
a high - speed differential signal communication link 110 according to a first embodiment of the present invention is shown in fig2 . the communication link 110 includes a skew compensation circuit 130 disposed between a terminator 132 and a conventional differential signal receiver 118 . a differential signal 119 generated by a conventional transmitter 114 is broadcast over a pair of differential transmission lines 120 a , b in accordance with known systems and methods . the transmission lines 120 a , b are terminated at the terminator 132 disposed in the receive end 116 of the link 110 to reduce signal reflections . terminator 132 is shown as a single resistive element in fig2 , but those skilled in the art will recognize that transmission - line terminators can take many forms . the use of the term “ terminator ” is used herein to represent a circuit applied to the receive end 116 of a communication link 110 to provide optimal impedance match for minimizing signal reflections and / or optimizing the effective signal amplitude . the terminated differential signal 125 is fed into a skew - compensation circuit 130 configured to detect and reduce skew between the p - side and n - side signal 126 a , b of the received differential signal 125 as explained below . the skew - compensation circuit 130 outputs skew - corrected p - side and n - side signals 129 a , b with little to no relative skew between them . the corrected signals 129 a , b are subsequently fed into the differential receiver 118 at the receive end 116 of the link 110 . as illustrated , the skew - compensation circuit 130 receives the p - side and n - side signals 126 a , b as inputs to respective delay elements 134 a , b . the delay elements 134 a , b are controlled by a controller 138 to adjust the relative skew between the two signals 126 a , b . the delay elements 134 a , b output the skew - corrected p - side and n - side signals 129 a , b which are subsequently received by both a skew detector 140 and the differential receiver 118 as inputs . when properly de - skewed by the skew - compensation circuit 130 , the p - side and n - side signals 129 a , b are phase aligned such that the receiver 118 can readily discern the intended differential signal 128 . the skew detector 140 monitors the skew - corrected p - side and n - side signals 129 a , b and quantifies the amount of relative skew between them . one method of quantifying the relative skew is by adding the ac components 150 a , b of the two signals 129 a , b together . when the two signals 129 a , b have no measurable skew between them , the sum of the ac components 150 a , b is zero . with this method of quantifying skew , the optimal output of the skew detector 140 is a zero - amplitude control signal . another method for quantifying the relative skew between the p - side and n - sides 129 a , b is to subtract the respective ac components 150 a , b . when the difference between the signals 129 a , b is maximized , there is no skew in the differential signal 128 . with this method , the optimal output of the skew detector 140 is a signal with a relatively high ac voltage ( or current ) amplitude . those skilled in the art will recognize that both the subtraction and addition methods are viable , and the selection of either method is dependent on the needs of the system application . the output of the skew detector 140 is fed into the aforementioned controller 138 via a signal line 142 . the controller 138 interprets the output signal from the skew detector 140 , filters the output to provide the desire frequency response and stability , generates appropriate control signals , and directs the control signals to the delay elements 134 a , b via control lines 144 a , b , respectively , thus forming a closed feedback control loop . in analog form , the controller 138 is a low - pass filter comprised of discrete inductors , capacitors , and resistors , which effectively time - averages the output of the skew detector 140 and provides a stable signal to delay elements 134 a , b . in digital form , the controller 138 consists of an analog - to - digital converter ( adc ) and performs filtering using digital signal processing ( dsp ) algorithms that are well known in the art to generate the control signals to delay elements 134 a , b . those skilled in the art will recognize that both analog and digital methods are viable , and the selection of either method is dependent on the needs of the system application . the skew compensation circuit 130 compensates for the differential signal skew caused by all of the sources upstream from the receiver 118 . the feedback provided by the skew detector 140 enables the skew compensation circuit 130 to dynamically adapt to changes in the differential signal skew . although not illustrated , filter components may be utilized within the controller 138 to control the response time of the feedback loop , and to help ensure stability . turning now to fig3 , a high - speed differential signal communication link 210 according to a second embodiment of the present invention is shown . the link 210 includes a skew compensation circuit 230 disposed between differential transmission lines 220 a , b and a terminator 232 . the configuration and operation of the skew compensation circuit 230 is similar to the circuit 130 of fig2 . the comparator skew detector 240 , controller 238 , and the delay elements 234 a , b all operate in the same manner . however , the skew compensation circuit 230 is disposed upstream from a terminator 232 such that the effective input differential - impedance match into the skew compensation circuit 230 is enhanced by ensuring the received p - side and n - side signals 229 a , b arrive simultaneously at the terminator , further improving the integrity of the differential signals 225 . turning now to fig4 , a high - speed differential signal communication link 310 according to a third embodiment of the present invention is shown . like the high speed communication link 110 of fig2 , a skew compensation circuit 330 is disposed between a terminator 332 and a differential signal receiver 318 . unlike the links 110 , 210 of fig2 and 3 , no variable - delay elements are used in the skew compensation circuit 330 to compensate for skew in the differential signal . as illustrated , the differential transmission lines 320 a , b are terminated at the terminator 332 directed into the skew - compensation circuit 330 . the circuit 330 is configured to detect and reduce relative skew occurring between the p - side and n - side signals 329 a , b of the differential signal 328 that are subsequently fed into the differential receiver 318 at the receive end 316 of the link 310 . the skew detector 340 monitors the p - side and n - side signals 326 a , b of the received differential signal 325 and quantifies the differential signal skew between them in a manner such as previously described . the signals 326 a , b are delayed through fixed - delay elements 334 a , b , described below . the outputs of the fixed - delay elements 334 a , b are delayed p - side and n - side signals 350 a , b . the skew detector 340 outputs a signal to a controller 338 via a signal line 342 . the controller 338 produces and outputs corresponding control signals via signal lines 344 a , b to buffers 345 a , b . the delayed p - side and n - side signals 350 a , b and buffered p - side and n - side signals 351 a , b are fed into adders 336 a , b where the signals are added together to produce de - skewed p - side and n - side signals 329 a , b of the skew - corrected differential signal 328 . still referring to fig4 , in one method for skew compensation , the buffers 345 a , b produce p - side and n - side compensation signals 351 a , b that are of appropriate shape , polarity , and amplitude that when added to the delayed p - side and n - side signals 329 a , b , the resulting differential signal 328 is presented to the receiver 318 with minimal , if any , relative skew . one method of producing the control signals 351 a , b to correct for skew between the received p - side and n - side signals 326 a , b involves the controller 338 producing a signal that is expressed mathematically as p + n where the p - side and n - side signals 326 a , b are added together . the controller 338 and buffers 345 a , b then fraction this summation back to the differential input , where the p - side signal 326 a has ( p + n )/ 2 added to it , and the n - side signal 326 b has ( p + n )/ 2 subtracted from it . by injecting these fractional summations back into the input , the effective signal at the input to the receiver 318 is [ p +( p + n )/ 2 ]−[ n −( p + n )/ 2 ]= 1 . 5p + 0 . 5p + 0 . 5n − 0 . 5n = 2p . in an ideal differential signal 325 , i . e ., the n - side signal 326 b has the opposite polarity but is otherwise identical to the p - side signal 326 a , i . e ., n =− p . the ideal received differential signal 325 is p − n = p −(− p )= 2p , which is the same effective signal presented to the receiver 318 in this embodiment of a high speed communication link 310 . in addition to providing a de - skewed differential signal 328 to the receiver 318 , the skew compensation circuit 330 illustrated in fig4 also compensates for the differential reflected signal at the terminator 332 , thus presenting the transmitter 314 with an effective ideal termination , which significantly aids in improving the resulting signal quality as measured with an eye diagram . one design constraint with the skew compensation circuit 330 is the delay time of the feedback control loop through controller 338 and buffers 345 a , b . to be effective , the buffered p - side and n - side compensation signals 351 a , b should be injected into the adders 336 a , b within the transition period of the signal ( e . g ., rising or falling edge ) of the delayed signals 350 a , b . by inserting fixed - delay elements 334 a , b into the signal path , the signals 326 a , b can be delayed an amount corresponding to the delay through the controller 338 and buffers 345 a , b . as such , the outputs of buffers 345 a , b are added to the delayed signals 350 a , b . in practice , the buffers 345 a , b and adders 336 a , b can take many forms and can often be incorporated into controller 338 . the primary purpose of buffers 345 a , b is to isolate the signals 351 a , b from being injected into the controller 338 , and to produce signals that are of appropriate shape and amplitude . the purpose of the adders 336 a , b is to add the delayed p - side and n - side signals 350 a , b and the compensation signals 351 a , b without affecting the respective driving circuitry . according to one aspect of the present invention , to ensure stability and minimize jitter effects , the dynamic response of the compensation may be controlled with respect to both amplitude and response time . furthermore , and according to another aspect of the present invention , in an effort to obtain optimum compensation , the differential signal skew is monitored at the receiving end of the high - speed communication link rather than at the transmitting end as is done in the prior art . according to yet another aspect of the present invention and to maintain and enhance the benefits of differential signal protocols , the final logic - level detection circuit ( a . k . a ., receiver , sampler , or slicer ) considers the difference between the p and n sides of the differential signal rather than the two sides independently . accordingly , a system and method are provided that compensate for both static and dynamic differential - skew to ensure stability through filtering of the feedback loop , ensure peak performance by monitoring the differential signal at the receiving end of the communication link rather than at the transmitting end , and compensate for differential termination . the present invention has been described in terms of the various embodiments , and it should be appreciated that many equivalents , alternatives , variations , and modifications , aside from those expressly stated , are possible and within the scope of the invention . therefore , the invention should not be limited to any particular described embodiment . | 7 |
as used herein the term “ device ” or “ medical device ” or “ stent ” refers to a coiled structure that may be placed within a lumen or organ of a human or animal . the devices of the invention can serve any number of functions including , but not limited to , structural support , drug delivery , and maintenance of the patency of a cavity or lumen . the coiled structures within a lumen can also serve to anchor other medical appliances such as filters , and in - dwelling catheters , etc . within the lumen . as used herein , the term “ coil ” refers to a spiraling loop containing a real number multiple of complete revolutions . medical devices of the invention are composed of two general types of structures : one or more fibers wound in helical coils , and link structures that connect two helical coils of opposite winding sense . as used herein , the term “ fiber ” is used throughout to identify an elongated member used to create the helical coils , whose length ( if unwound from the coil shape ) is typically greater than any other physical dimension . by use of the term “ fiber ” we make no assumptions about the type of material that can be used . for example , any type of metal , any metal alloy , or any shape memory alloys ; any polymers , blends or copolymers ; or any ceramics may be used to form a fiber of the invention . additionally , the fibers of the invention can be round , oval , rectangular or of any other cross - sectional shape . in fact , a preferred embodiment does not use a circular cross section . fibers of the invention include extruded members , but certainly one could envision a hollow tube with parts cut out leaving a residual form of a helical coil , for example , which would also be included in the concept of the term “ fiber ” as used herein . the link structures are defined below , but can be comprised of fibers as previously defined , or can be of any other material or design . a purpose of link structures is to connect helical coils of opposing winding senses ( left hand and right hand ). therefore , the link structures may either be composed of or be continuous with the fiber ( s ) of the helical coils , or may bond with the fibers of the helical coils . all of the link structures of the devices of the invention need not have the same design as will be explained below . a fiber of the invention , whose cross section is preferably non - circular , is shaped in a helical coil ( either left or right hand oriented ) for some number of turns , thus creating an open lumen . there is no restriction to the number of turns that comprise a helical coil . mathematically , a helical coil is defined as any structural member whose x , y and z coordinates can be parametrically described by a radius r and an angle θ using the following parametric equations : x = r cos ( θ ); y = r sin ( θ ); and z = cθ , where c = l /( 2πn ), where l is the length of the helical coil , and where n is the number of turns in the coil . the invention does not limit use of the term “ coil ” to instances where θ & gt ; 2π . thus , partial loops are permitted , i . e ., n is allowed to be both greater than or less than 1 . coils of this invention include those that strictly follow the above mathematically defined criteria ; however , it should be understood that variations of such coil , for example , but not limited to allowing “ c ” to be expressed as a function rather than a constant are within the scope of this invention . other variations including , but not limited to , the fiber in its unwound condition having a specific curvilinear shape are also within the scope of this invention . one such possibility is to create a fiber whose shape before creating the coil is periodic in some way , such as sinusoidal , sawtooth , square wave or any other such curve . the periodicity may be constant or variable , meaning that the amplitude , period , or phase may change over the length of the fiber . when such a fiber with either constant or variable periodicity is then wound around a mandrel to create the helical coil of this invention , the material location of the fiber at any given point will not be found by the above parametric definition of a helical coil . however all such specific cases are considered to fall within the scope and intent of this invention . in order to reverse the winding sense of the device , the fiber of a first helical coil either forms , or is attached to , a link structure . a second helical coil of opposite winding sense with respect to the first helical coil either attaches to , or emanates from , the link structure and continues to lengthen the open lumen for the same or different number of turns as the first helical coil . this fundamental unit of two helical coils of opposite winding sense joined by a link structure is the basic element of the devices of the invention , and is called a segment . the segment is composed of two helical coils that are co - axial ( in line ) and have opposite winding directions ( one is a left hand coil and the other is a right hand coil ). the coils are joined end to end , by a linking structure , herein called a rotating link . the two joined coils represent one segment of the device . multiple segments can be placed end to end to form one complete device . there is no theoretical limit to the sizes of the individual segments , nor to the number of segments that can be joined . segments are always linked together by a link structure herein referred to as a stationary link . the segments must be joined in such a way as to preserve the alternating order of the winding directions . for example if the first segment of the device is ordered left hand coil ( l ) then right hand coil ( r ) as one looks at the device starting from the end closest to the user after attaching it to the delivery catheter and moving further away , then the order lr must be preserved in all subsequent segments , such that the final arrangement of the device is lrlrlr . . . etc , and no two segments can put two left hand coils nor two right hand coils next to each other . multiple segments may be joined together using link structures . the link structure ( or first structure ) that joins segments together are referred to as “ stationary links ”. the two helical coils comprised within a segment are generally co - axial , but are not required to be . the link structure ( or second structure ) that joins two opposite - sensed helical coils within a segment is referred to as a “ rotating link ”. rotating and stationary links may be of the same or different designs , but in both cases always connect helical coils of opposite winding sense . as one starts at the end of the medical device , which when mounted on the delivery means is then closest to the person implanting the device , the first link is numbered 1 , and is always a rotating link . if the medical device is composed of multiple segments , then odd numbered links 1 , 3 , 5 etc are rotating links , while even numbered links are stationary links . note that there will always be an odd number of total links . all stationary links have at least the following requirements —( 1 ) the link structure must reverse the sense of the coil ( changing from a right hand coil to a left hand coil or visa versa ); ( 2 ) the link structure must largely fill in the gap created as left hand and right hand fibers diverge further apart . this is because the two coils will be seen to be diverging if one rotated the device about its longitudinal axis . this widening gap between diverging coils , if left unfilled by the link structure , could lead to unacceptable clinical outcomes ; ( 3 ) the link structure must exert force on the body lumen pushing the coil ends joined by that link against the luminal wall ; and , ( 4 ) the link structure must provide a means of attachment to the delivery catheter . the rotating links are required to reverse the direction of the joined helical coils and must also provide a means of attaching the medical device to a delivery mechanism . they may , but are not required to , fulfill the other requirements of stationary links . in any given device of the invention , rotating and stationary links are capable of having the same design , but do not necessarily have to . the terms rotating and stationary as applied to the links originate from their attachment to the delivery catheter . rotating links and stationary links need not have the same geometry or design . adjacent segments do not need to be of the same size , in either diameter or length . within one segment , the two coils can also be of different size in terms of both diameter and length . there are no restrictions on the number of turns the coil can or should have in each coil of any segment . indeed , for tapered devices , the number of turns and diameter will potentially differ both within a single segment and across segments . it is also within the scope of the invention for each of the helical coils and the links to be made of different materials . they may optionally be made of a shape memory material , for example nitinol . other types of metals such as cobalt chromium alloys , stainless steel , other metals and alloys , polymers , ceramics and the like may also be used in the construction of the helical coils and the links . the terminal ends of the invention may be continuous with the coil , or may be constructed with a distinct change in direction with reference to the direction of the helical coil . this change in direction may be necessary for the delivery catheter system to grip the medical device to allow proper loading and release . the distinct angle change may consist of straight segments or in certain embodiments contain terminating curves , loops or hairpin turns . in one preferred embodiment , these end segments , of any geometry , are for the purpose of attaching the medical device to the delivery means . the cross sectional shape of the fiber used to construct the helical coil may be round , oval , or of any other shape . the fiber itself may contain therapeutic agents , have a coating that contains drugs , or have no drugs at all . as used herein , the term drugs is used to refer by reference and example to the entire american pharmacopia as valid but non - limiting examples of drugs that may be loaded therein . the fiber may also contain biologically active species such as proteins , growth factors , cytokines , enzymes , chemokines , anti - bodies , nuclear proteins such as transcription factors , or any other molecules consisting of peptides , oligopeptides , or sections containing nucleic acids such as double or single stranded rna or dna . the fibers could also include polysaccharides with or without attached proteins or other amino acid or nucleic acid groups . also within this group are molecules or assemblies of molecules that are designed to mimic the function of such above named molecules , such as biosimilars , biomems and the like in a preferred embodiment of the invention , one or more non - expanding , non - circumferential meshes are attached to the coil or link structure of the device . the shape of each mesh is a quadrilateral in that in the most general case , no two legs are required to be the same length , nor are any two sides required to be parallel . however , in the case of a constant diameter device , the quadrilateral will reduce to a parallelogram as shown in fig1 . in the case of a constant diameter device , the height of the parallelogram has the same measurement as the circumference of the target bodily lumen . the length of the mesh is such that the sum of all lengths of all attached meshes is greater than or equal to the overall end to end length of the device . for example in a preferred embodiment , there may be four meshes attached to a constant diameter device . the height of all four mesh parallelograms is the same , and is equal to the target lumen circumference , and the lengths of the mesh parallelograms are all approximately ¼ the overall ( end to end ) length of the device . there may be some amount of axial overlap of the mesh components , and hence , the sum of the lengths of the mesh pieces may , in most embodiments , exceed the overall designed length of the device . the mesh sections are attached in such a way that when the device is within the body lumen the mesh segments cover the lumen with some amount of axial and radial overlap allowed . the medical device is free to rotate or move relative to the mesh sections except at these attachment points . another aspect of this invention is the potential use of the mesh as a drug delivery reservoir . this can be accomplished in two ways . first , a therapeutic agent ( as used for fibers of the helical coils ) can be within the strands of the mesh , or as a coating on the outside of the strands , or in a preferred embodiment , loaded into a hydrogel or other material that is held in place between the strands of the mesh , or any combinations of these methods of loading drug into the mesh . each of these methods of loading the mesh with drug provides varying release kinetics of the contained drug . the method of manufacturing the device of the invention will depend in large measure on the type of material from which it is comprised . in an embodiment , the fiber comprising the medical device is made from a polymer that has shape memory capabilities . in this case , the polymer may be wound around a mandrel , the mandrel having features that allow the polymer fiber to reverse direction and form appropriate link structures . typically , the mesh is attached to the device while still upon the mandrel for ease of fabrication . the mandrel with the polymer fiber and mesh is then treated in such a way as required for the polymer to permanently take the shape of the mandrel . frequently , this will be accomplished through heating and cooling the mandrel and polymer fiber . after the shape memory process , the medical device is cut to appropriate lengths and removed from the mandrel . the device is now ready to be loaded onto a delivery catheter for the next phase of processing , which may typically be packaging , sterilization , and shipping . although heat treatment is included in the above embodiment as a means of setting the shape of the polymer fiber , this example is not intended to be limiting and other methods of setting a shape in the polymer fiber may apply . for example chemical , electrical , irradiation or mechanical means are possible depending on the material used in creating the fiber . clearly , metals and ceramics will require different shape - setting processes than a polymer . in another preferred embodiment , the raw material can start as a solid hollow tube , and the coil and connecting links are cut by laser or other means from the solid tube . for certain materials , such as , for example , nitinol , this method of production may be preferred . the invention is also directed to methods of deploying any of the inventive medical devices disclosed herein at a desired bodily location . in accordance with an embodiment of the invention , a medical device delivery catheter comprising any of the inventive medical devices disclosed herein is provided . in an embodiment , the medical device is attached to the delivery catheter at the distal and proximal ends , and at all link structures , both rotating and stationary . the delivery catheter provides relative rotation between each adjacent attachment point . this winding motion across the helical coils of the medical device causes the coils to reduce in diameter , thus winding the medical device down to a smaller diameter in preparation for insertion into the body through an introducer , as would be familiar to those skilled in the art . the terminal ends of the medical device and each of the link structures are designed such that the delivery catheter can maintain its grip on the medical device under these high torsion loads , yet with the requirement that , as the device unwinds and the torsional stress is reduced , the catheter is able to maintain its hold on the device until such time as release is desired , and must be capable of completely releasing the medical device . the design of the terminal end pieces and links is such that they form a working interface with the catheter delivery device . once the medical device is wound down onto the delivery catheter , it is introduced into the body . the catheter is advanced in a bodily lumen to a desired location in the body and the inventive medical device is caused to expand by once again rotating the delivery catheter , but in the opposite sense of the direction it initially wound the device . this expansion increases the diameter of the medical device , and brings it close to apposition to the wall of the body lumen . the device is then released from the delivery catheter . it is preferred that the deployment of the medical device from the delivery catheter be accomplished in two distinct steps and by separate actions , as this allows the physician to accurately place the medical device before releasing it from the delivery catheter . as an aid to deploying the device from the delivery catheter , or as a means to further expand the medical device once released from the delivery catheter , a balloon may be inflated to help ensure the medical device is well apposed to the lumen . in an embodiment of the invention , the delivery means employed to deliver the device of the invention to a desired location , comprises a mechanical delivery mechanism . a tapering diameter can be achieved by means of simply making the helical coils of different diameters as one progresses axially along the device . however , if the means of deploying the medical device into the body is based on a delivery catheter providing relative rotation across the coils of the medical device , then the condition of different diameter helical coils will require a delivery catheter capable of individually rotating each coil section . if this is not practical , then other adjustments can be made according to this invention that will allow coils of various diameters to all reach the same final diameter in exactly the same number of rotations of the delivery catheter . there is a mathematical relation using three parameters : a ) the original diameter of the helical coil , b ) the number of turns initially in that coil , and c ) the overall length between attachment points ( links ) that will predict the number of rotations that the delivery catheter must undergo for the device to reach a specific final diameter needed for insertion into the body through an introducer or other device known to those familiar with the art . by way of example , in a given device , one helical coil may initially have diameter a 1 , number of turns n 1 , and distance between links d 1 and it will take exactly r rotations to bring the diameter to a final value b . b = 2 ( π a 1 n 1 cos ( θ ) ) 2 - d 1 2 4 π ( n 1 + r ) 2 the next helical coil in the device may then have a different diameter a 2 as required to create a tapered device . for this second coil , the number of turns and / or the distance between links can be appropriately altered such that this coil will also achieve a similar final diameter b in exactly r rotations . in this way , the entire medical device , independent of starting diameters of any given coil within said device will wind down to the same diameter with the same number of rotations of the delivery catheter . this relationship will result in non - uniform distances between links in the medical device ( therefore , non - uniform attachment points to the delivery catheter ), but reduces the number of required moving parts of the catheter to one moving shaft and one stationary shaft independent of the number of coils used in the medical device . tissue prolapse , or insufficient scaffolding is considered the biggest problem faced by helical coil based devices . the present invention addresses this unmet need by incorporating non - expandable , mesh sections attached to the device at specific locations . this mesh provides a coil - based device with all the advantages of a small closed cell design device , yet preserves the inherent advantages of a helical coil . this invention addresses the problems of restenosis in two ways . first , the mesh is designed to reduce tissue prolapse , which can be a leading cause of restenosis ; therefore , by reducing prolapse restenosis may also be reduced . the mesh also distributes the mechanical stresses much more uniformly across the luminal wall . this avoids locations in the arterial wall with sharply higher stress than surrounding areas , which has been shown to correlate with restenosis . the second way the device of this invention limits restenosis is by the ability to deliver a broad range of pharmaceutical agents , including drugs designed to be anti - restenosis , anti - inflammatory or other anti - proliferatives . the fiber used to create the coils of this invention also possess the ability to deliver biologically derived entities and biosimilars such as but not limited to : peptides , proteins , growth factors , enzymes , cytokines , chemokines , transcription factors , nuclear proteins , porphorins , tubular proteins , and any other molecule composed in whole or in part of peptides . additionally , families of polysaccharides , oligosaccharides , glycoproteins , and carbohydrates may be included in the fibers . oligonucleotides , single or double stranded rna or dna , or other combinations of any of the above may also be included in the fibers . also included without limiting the scope of the invention are similar molecules manufactured in non - biological processes as may be familiar to those skilled in the art . in addition , the ability to create the fibers that compose the coils and potentially link structures from multi - component , multi - layer fiber extrusions wherein each layer or component of the fiber may incorporate one or more the above listed drug types is also covered by the present invention . this multi - component capability imparts the ability to have drug release that has directional preference . for example , if the fiber comprising the coil is extruded such that the outer half of the fiber contains drug a and the inner half contains drug b , then it is reasonable to expect that the majority of drug a would go into the wall and the majority of drug b would go into the lumen . the device of the invention addresses delivery problems in the following way . the device of the invention alters the sense of the coil , i . e . from right hand thread to left hand thread at intervals down the length of the stent at structures known as links . a link is the point where the sense of the coil changes . the concept of reversing the sense of the coil is known in the art ; however , the prior art inventions lack the concept of link structures to fill in the gaps created by the divergence of the helical coils , leaving large , unsupported areas of the luminal wall . for many clinical applications these large unsupported areas represent an untenable situation that is resolved by the concept of the link structure as described in the claimed invention . devices of the invention are attached to the delivery means at the distal and proximal ends of the device and at each link . the attachment of the device to the delivery means can be made using retention wires , clips , pins , pegs in holes , or any mechanical means known to those skilled in the art . the device is designed to be rotated in such a way that every - other attachment point is rotated relative to the adjacent attachment points . the fact that the coil changes sense ( direction ) at the links allows the entire stent to be wound down in this way by turning every other attachment point a single direction . therefore , the device of this invention will wind down onto the catheter in very few rotations regardless of the number of coil sections . this solves the problem of dealing with an awkward delivery system . it also dramatically speeds up the delivery of the device of this invention as it reduces the number of rotations required to wind down and unwind the stent . in contrast to the movement and jumping problems demonstrated by previously known helical coil stents and other causes of inaccurate placement of the stent , the delivery means used herein is able to unwind the device to be nearly fully apposed to the interior wall of the lumen prior to releasing the mechanical coupling between the stent and the delivery catheter . under this scenario , the stent is positioned before it is released , allowing very accurate placement of the stent . the problem with stent migration post implantation is solved in two ways . the first way that is unique to and a part of the invention is the mesh covering , which increases the grip that the stent has on the lumen wall . the second is the reversing sense of the coils . the concept of the link structure is a differentiating point here again , as one of the requirements of the link structure is that it exerts a force on the coils joined by that link , and this increased force increases the frictional force holding the stent to the arterial wall , thereby reducing the ability of the stent to migrate post implantation . the problem with short lengths of the stent is also solved by the reversing sense of the coils of the stent . the problem of low resistance to collapse under a shear load is solved by using fibers that are not round , but rather have large width to thickness ratios independent of their exact cross sectional shape . the means of implementing a tapering stent for helical coils is a unique feature of the invention as described above by altering the number of turns per coil and / or the spacing between the attachment points . in order to clearly understand which aspects of the above are claimed to be unique to this invention , table 1 lists those elements of the design requirement that are uniquely satisfied by this invention . in an embodiment , a section of mesh is attached to the medical device in the following way . it is welded , glued , or otherwise attached along one full edge , for example along line a or p in fig1 , onto the coils at or near the end of the medical device . other mesh sections may also be similarly attached to link structures or along the fiber at other locations across the device . the height of the mesh ( as illustrated in fig1 ) is calculated to be approximately the circumference of the medical device at its desired bodily location . for example , if the medical device were manufactured at uniform diameter of 4 . 0 mm , and the ideal luminal diameter for this medical device post implantation was 3 . 0 mm , then the height of each mesh section would be the circumference of a 3 . 0 mm diameter lumen , or 3π mm , and the mesh section would cover 75 % of the circumference of the device in its fully expanded ( as fabricated ) configuration . in another embodiment , the mesh sections may be attached to the device along two edges ( both lines a and c or p and r in fig1 ). in this embodiment , the mesh can only be attached at the distal and proximal ends ( meaning the furthest and closest to the user when the device is attached to the delivery catheter ) and at stationary link structures . in this embodiment , the mesh cannot be attached to the coil , or to rotating links . this embodiment removes the risk that the mesh may not be exactly in place when deployed , but does so at a loss of compliance . in yet another preferred embodiment , the mesh is shaped as chevron uvwxyz as shown in fig1 . the line u is then attached to a place on the inside of a coil or link structure of the device . one or more loops of the stent coil are passed over the mesh segment , which is then folded in half along the fold line as shown in fig1 , entrapping some number of loops of the coil , and bringing line x directly on top line u . line x is then attached to the outside of the same coil or link as line u , forming a closed loop of mesh that extends from the line u around the fold line to line x . the loop of the mesh formed now provides an inner and outer mesh surface on the device . in another embodiment , a similar outcome may be produced by starting with a trapezoidal mesh . in this case it can also be folded as described for the chevron above , likewise forming a loop of mesh that entraps one or more coils of the device . in this embodiment ; however , rather then ending with a parallelogram shape after folding it results in a rhombus shape , which for most applications gives sufficient coverage of the device , and still results in mesh on both the inside and outside of the coils . in yet other embodiments , it is possible to attach the quadrilateral or parallelogram shaped meshes to exclusively to the inner surface of the device as described above for attachment to the outside . thus it is possible in various embodiments of this invention for the mesh to exist exclusively on the outside , exclusively on the inside , or to surround both the inside and outside of the device . while this invention may be embodied in many different forms , there are described in detail herein specific preferred embodiments of the invention . this description is an exemplification of the principles of the invention and is not intended to limit the invention to the particular embodiments illustrated . in an embodiment , the sum total lengths of all mesh segments may be significantly less than the total end to end length of the device . in this case , there are one or more sections of the device without any mesh covering it . this may be helpful if one is aware of anatomical reasons such as bifurcations or major branches etc where a mesh could potentially pose a risk . one could then place the device in the lumen such that the non - meshed segment contains the bifurcation . in a separate procedure it may be possible to slide the coils in such a way that the bifurcation or branch is totally unobstructed . in another embodiment , the mesh may be replaced with a solid or perforated sheet , film or foam . the attachment of the solid sheet , film or foam would be similar to the mesh . in one embodiment , the longitudinal axes of the coils are not collinear with respect to each other . in this embodiment , the device serves the purpose of working in both a main lumen and a side branch . in this embodiment , as in others , there is no restriction that the diameter of the two sets of coils be similar . in an embodiment , the mesh , film , sheet , foam etc is attached to the luminal side of the fiber rather than on the outside ( tissue facing side ). this reversal of attachment allows the sheet , film , mesh or foam to form the inner lining of the device . in another embodiment , multiple devices each of which is one segment long , are loaded onto one delivery catheter . the delivery catheter is capable of winding down all devices simultaneously for insertion into the body , but releasing each device individually . the operating physician then has the power to decide how many device segments will be implanted into that anatomical location . in another embodiment , the mesh , foam , sheet or film ( membrane ) forms a loop , which is attached encases the medical device such that the fiber forming the helical structure is sandwiched in between an inner and outer membrane . in one embodiment of the invention , the medical device is a stent designed for the peripheral artery system . this embodiment has been discussed at length in this invention . in another embodiment of this invention , the medical device is used as an anchor for vein grafts . in practice , the saphenous vein is used in coronary artery bypass grafting ( cabg ) surgery routinely . problems with these vascular grafts commonly initiate at the site of the anastomosis . the medical device of this invention could act as an anchor point to help heal the anastomosis and decrease surgery time , potentially increasing longevity of the graft and reducing risk associated with current medical practice . in another embodiment of this invention , the medical device is a stent graft that could be used to treat aneurysms in a number of anatomical locations such as the aorta , as well as cerebral aneurysms . in another embodiment of this invention , the medical device is a stent suitable for coronary applications , and specifically to address the pathological problem of vulnerable plaque . in another embodiment of this invention , the medical device is an anchor for a vena cava filter . in this embodiment , it is likely that one segment is all that would be needed , and the design of the link would be such that the vena cava filter attached at that point , or that the link structure was composed of the filter . this would create an anchor that can be placed in flow , be non - migratory , have low restenotic response , have the ability to locally deliver drugs to the tissue of the vascular wall , and may potentially provide a simple means of implantation inside the body lumen . in another embodiment of this invention , the medical device is an anchor for indwelling catheters that might get used for such purposes as intravascular monitoring , feeding , drug dispensing etc . such indwelling catheters may also be used in the digestive tract as feeding tubes , during high risk pregnancy as fetal monitoring , or any other purpose known to those skilled in the art . in these embodiments , the link structure could simply include a method for attaching the in - dwelling catheter . in this way , it is assured that the catheter will remain well anchored , and can have a fixed position in the lumen relative to the wall at the attachment point . in another embodiment of this invention , the medical device is an arteriovenous ( a - v ) shunt anchor in another embodiment of this invention , the medical device is a vaso - occlusive device in another embodiment of this invention , the medical device is a tracheal stent . in this embodiment , disease states such as tracheal malasia may be treated by maintaining the patency of the airway . the current most significant obstacle with treating this particular condition is that it presents at birth , but the patient requires treatment for prolonged periods . therefore , current best practice is the insertion of a tube , but that tube must be replaced as the patient grows , and another tube inserted . it is the removal of the tube that is particularly difficult and dangerous . therefore , a tracheal stent made from biodegradable materials may be ideal , as the old device would not need to be removed , and only the much simpler and safer operation of insertion would need to be repeated multiple times . the self expanding nature of this invention would allow some amount of patient growth prior to the device degrading . in another preferred embodiment of this invention , the medical device is a bronchial stent . in another preferred embodiment of this invention , the device is used in urinary tract applications . the device could be used as an adjuvant treatment to removal of kidney stones . in this case , the device maintains the patency of the ureter . in an embodiment of this invention , the device is a stent for fallopian tubes to be used for cases where the surgical reversal of a tubal ligation becomes closed due to growth of surrounding tissues , which may happen , for example , in the case of tumors etc . fallopian stents are also used in the surgical reversal of a tubal ligation . in another embodiment of this invention , the medical device is a stent for the biliary system . in another embodiment of this invention , the medical device is a stent for use in erectile dysfunction . some 20 - 30 % of patient who take medicines such as viagra for erectile dysfunction do not respond to the medication . a very small stent to open the blood flow could improve these patients dramatically . in another preferred embodiment of this invention , the medical device is used in the esophagus to treat various syndromes such as barret &# 39 ; s esophagus or other conditions that may require a stent . in another preferred embodiment of this invention , the medical device is used to treat crohn &# 39 ; s disease patients by maintaining an open lumen and delivering appropriate drugs to the wall of the digestive tract . | 0 |
the above - identified disadvantages of the prior art are overcome through the use of the invention disclosed herein . by applying coatings with lower initial coefficients of friction , which are also resistant to the formation of rust and other corrosion , the service life of a ball bearing joint may be extended . referring to fig1 , an exemplary ball bearing joint 10 is illustrated . the ball bearing joint 10 includes a ball stud 12 engaged with a bearing 14 . the ball stud 12 and bearing 14 are captured within a housing 16 . the housing 16 is arranged around the bearing 14 such that the bearing 14 is fixed with respect to the housing 16 . a relatively thin coating 24 is applied to the outer surface 20 of the ball stud 12 . in the exemplary embodiment , the coating is a nickel - boron alloy ( hereinafter “ ni - b coating ”) deposited on the ball stud through an electroless plating process . this alloy and process for applying the alloy , along with other alloys and processes suitable for use with the present invention , are described in u . s . pat . no . 6 , 066 , 406 to mccomas , granted may 23 , 2000 ; u . s . pat . no . 6 , 183 , 546 to mccomas , granted feb . 6 , 2001 ; u . s . pat . no . 6 , 319 , 308 to mccomas , granted nov . 20 , 2001 ; and u . s . pat . no . 6 , 782 , 650 to mccomas , granted apr . 31 , 2004 , all of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety . the ball stud 12 is positioned within the bearing 14 such that an outer surface 20 of the ball 12 is in contact with an inner surface 22 of the bearing 14 , whereby the ball stud 12 may rotate or otherwise move with respect to the bearing 14 . in the exemplary embodiment , a shaft 18 extends from the ball stud 12 to which additional components or structures may be coupled . the shaft 18 provides for the motion of the ball stud 12 to be transferred to components or structure coupled to the shaft 18 . for example , in an exemplary automotive application , the stud 12 may be coupled to a steering knuckle and the housing 16 may be coupled to a control arm . another example is a steering outer tie rod assembly wherein the stud 12 may be coupled to a steering knuckle and the housing 16 may be coupled to the tie rod . other examples include single and double suspension linkage assemblies wherein the ball stud 12 couples to the knuckle and the housing 16 couples with the linkage optionally , a lubricating substance ( not shown in fig1 ) may be disposed between the outer surface 20 of the ball stud 12 and the inner surface 22 of the bearing 14 . the lubricating substance may be a “ wet ” lubricant , such as an oil or silicone - based grease or the like , or a “ dry ” lubricant , such as tungsten disulfide , moly disulfide , ptfe , or the like . in addition , the lubricating substance may be blasted into the ni — b coating with high pressure , rubbed or burnished into the ni — b coating , or the like . the exemplary ball stud 12 is manufactured or fabricated from steel and the exemplary bearing 14 is manufactured or fabricated from a polymeric material . however , other known materials may be used . additionally , although the present invention is described as including a steel ball stud coated with a nickel - boron alloy and a polymeric bearing , it should be readily understood to those skilled in the art that this is simply an exemplary arrangement and other arrangement are included in the present invention . for example , arrangements where the bearing is fabricated from metal and coated with an alloy and the ball stud is fabricated from a polymeric material , or where both the bearing and ball stud are steel and coated with an alloy are included in the present invention . moreover , it will be appreciated that either or both the bearing and the stud may be fabricated from a polymeric material and either or both polymeric components coated with an alloy . the nickel - boron alloy coating and similar alloy coatings described in the above referenced patents offer a number of properties and features that can extend the service life of a ball bearing joint . when deposited , ni — b coatings form relatively smooth surface finishes and are responsive to further smoothening by polishing of the surface . such smooth finishes may provide relatively low coefficients of friction . these low coefficients of friction may reduce wear and other damages to both the ni — b coated surface and any surface engaged by the ni — b coated surface . in addition , ni — b coatings offer relatively hard surfaces . such hard surfaces resist scratching , chipping , and other such damage . the smooth low friction of a ni — b coated surface and the hardness of the surface each contribute to limiting wear and other damage to the surfaces of the ball stud and bearing , and may extend the service life of the ball bearing joint . ni — b coatings are highly rust and corrosion resistant . this resistance reduces sensitivity to moisture intrusion into the joint . by resisting the formation of rust or other corrosion on steel components within the ball bearing joint , damage due to corrosion can be either eliminated or substantially reduced . the corrosion resistance increases the service life of the ball bearing joint by eliminating or limiting damage sustained by the surfaces over time . when deposited as described herein , ni — b coatings form columnar structures . such structures enhance the ability of the surface to retain lubricants , such as grease , disposed between the ball stud and the bearing . this enhanced lubricant retention , coupled with the generally lower coefficients of friction of ni — b coated surfaces , reduces the reliance on grease and other such lubricants . the quantity of lubricant disposed in the ball bearing joint can thus be reduced without a significant impact on the performance or service life of the ball bearing joint , which can lead to cost savings in the manufacture and maintenance of the ball bearing joint . while the invention has been described with reference to the preferred embodiment , other embodiments , modifications , and alternations may occur to one skilled in the art upon reading and understanding of this specification and are to be covered to the extent that they fall within the scope of the appended claims . indeed , the invention as described by the claims is broader than and unlimited by the preferred embodiment , and the terms in the claims have their full and ordinary meaning . | 8 |
the gas generating apparatus 10 in accordance with the present invention is shown in a longitudinal sectional view in fig2 . gas generating apparatus 10 comprises a generally cylindrical catalyst chamber 12 which is symmetrical about central axis a . catalyst chamber 12 preferably packed with a coated ceramic catalyst such as shell 405 catalyst and is closed at one end by injector body 14 which has a central injector portion 16 and an annular support portion 18 . the other end of chamber 12 is closed by an outlet flange ( not shown ). the injector portion 16 is brazed or welded to and forms one end of the catalyst chamber 12 . a propellant capillary feed tube 20 extends into the injector portion 16 to direct propellant liquid into the catalyst chamber 12 . the support portion 18 is spaced from and preferably connected to a mounting flange 19 by three circumferentially spaced tubular standoffs 22 . the standoffs 22 are spaced preferably 120 ° apart about the support portion 18 . other support arrangements for the injector body 14 may also be used . for example , a metal tubular sleeve having a plurality of spaced apertures may be used in place of the three standoffs 22 . the injector portion 16 has a generally cup shape with a central aperture 23 closed by an integral tubular thermal standoff 24 symmetrical about axis a . thermal standoff 24 has a closed end 48 spaced from injector portion 16 and an open end integral with injector portion 16 at a root area 26 around the aperture . the tubular region between the standoff 24 and the feed tube 20 is packed with shell 405 catalyst . this catalyst prevents potential propellant pooling and associated start up detonation or roughness . in addition , the catalyst is a ceramic material and therefore has a high thermal resistivity . it thus acts as a barrier to thermal conductance between the root area 26 and the propellant tube 20 . the propellant feed tube 20 extends through the thermal standoff 24 . the closed end of the thermal standoff 24 is brazed to the capillary feed tube 20 . injector portion 16 has an outer rim 28 brazed , welded , or otherwise integrally connected to catalyst chamber 12 and an annular inner rim 30 extending axially from said portion 16 in an opposite direction to outer rim 28 . annular inner rim 30 provides a mounting and centering ledge for a generally v - shaped thermal shunt 32 . as shown in fig4 the thermal standoff 24 integrally joins with the injector portion 16 in an annular root area 26 around aperture 23 . the thermal standoff 24 is radially spaced inwardly from inner rim 30 . the injector body 14 comprising support portion 18 , injector portion 16 , and the thermal standoff 24 is preferably made from a single piece of inconel 625 . the injector thermal shunt 32 is made of pure copper or highly conductive material . shunt 32 has an annular base 34 which fits around the inner rim 30 of the injector portion 16 and is welded or brazed to the rim 30 and to the surface of injector portion 16 . the legs of the v - shaped thermal shunt 32 are brazed to or are integral with a copper radiator fin plate 33 . the thermal shunt 32 essentially pulls heat away from the root area 26 of the injector portion 16 to protect the tip of the capillary tube 20 from thermal degradation effects . a generally circular disk injector plate 36 and a stack of metal screens 38 cover the root area 26 and are fastened to the injector portion 16 by 4 equally spaced bent tabs 40 . the open end of the capillary feed tube 20 extends into a central aperture 42 in the injector plate 36 so that it does not touch the injector plate 36 and does not touch the screens 38 . the injector plate 36 has 3 spaced open slots 44 circumferentially positioned its outer perimeter best as shown in fig3 . the injector plate 36 and screens 38 separate the catalyst in the catalyst chamber 12 from the catalyst in the tubular region 25 between the thermal standoff 24 and the capillary feed tube 20 . the injector plate 36 also provides a thermal barrier between the catalyst chamber 12 and the tubular region 25 . the plate 36 and screens 38 are loosely supported by the injector portion 16 via the bent tabs 40 over the periphery of the plate and screens . the three slots 44 machined in the plate &# 39 ; s outer edge also vent the annular tubular volume 25 in the standoff 24 . the screens prevent catalyst particles from blocking the exit of the feed tube 20 and potentially retard the migration of catalyst fines into the feed tube 20 . propellant flow is controlled at the outlet of the feed tube 20 by the injector screen plate 36 and the screen stack 38 . the injector plate 36 shields the thermal standoff root area 26 from the decomposition zone in the catalyst chamber 12 located in or just down stream from the injector screens 38 . this plate 36 also prevents propellant circulation around the end of the feed tube 20 . the plate 36 fits over the end of the feed tube 20 with a small clearance between the center aperture 42 in the plate 36 and the tube outer diameter . propellant exiting from the feed tube is wicked into the screens 38 and along the surface of the plate 36 . when propellant , fed through capillary tube 20 past the thermal standoff 24 and to the root area 26 exits through tube tip 46 , it wets the injector plate 36 and wicks therearound and into the catalyst chamber 12 . the injector plate 36 also prevents the propellant from flowing back into the catalyst contained in the tubular region 25 between the thermal standoff 24 and the tube 20 . this permits the catalyst contained therein to act primarily as as insulator . thus , primary thermal isolation of the propellant feed tube 20 is achieved by means of the integral thermal standoff 24 which is supported at the root area 26 of the injector portion 16 of the injector body 14 . the standoff 24 is a thin walled extension of the injector portion 16 and is concentric around the feed tube 20 . a brazed or welded connection is made between the feed tube 20 and the standoff 24 at the closed or terminal end 48 of the standoff 24 . the injector portion 16 is cooled by the thermal shunt 32 which conducts heat from the annular base portion 34 to the copper fin 33 where the heat is then dissipated radiatively to the local environment . heat flow to the standoff 24 is limited by the design of the standoff root area 26 . first , the shunt 32 has its base 34 brazed directly to the face of the injector portion 16 , adjacent the inner rim 30 which is radially spaced from the standoff 24 . second , the cross section of the injector portion 16 of the injector body 14 is minimized in the root area to preferentially conduct heat toward the shunt rather than toward the thermal standoff 24 . referring again to fig2 the capillary feed tube 20 is brazed or welded to the mounting flange 19 and to the closed end 48 of the thermal standoff 24 . an expansion loop 50 is provided in the feed tube 20 to compensate for expansion and contraction of the tube during start up , cool down , and gas generator operation . an end view of the gas generator , as viewed through the catalyst chamber 12 is shown in fig3 . in this view , the centrally located stack of screens 38 can be seen held in place by tabs 40 . underneath the screens 38 are shown the slots 44 in dashed lines in the injector plate 36 . the capillary tube 20 may be a single unitary tube or may have a transition 52 to a larger inner diameter 54 as tube 20 passes into the thermal standoff 24 . this larger diameter portion 54 of the tube 20 provides a step and inner diameter change just upstream of the standoff braze joint to promote flow mixing and higher heat transfer rates within the tube to reduce the potential for boiling of the propellant fluid . the life capacity of this generator is in part dependent on keeping the internal pressure high enough so that the propellant temperature is below its saturation or boiling point . the control of the internal pressure within the gas generator is provided by suitable orifacing ( or other flow restriction ) in the attached electric propulsion device , not shown , or on the gas generator outlet , also not shown . while the invention has been described above with reference to a specific embodiment thereof , it is apparent that many changes , modifications and variations can be made without departing from the inventive concept disclosed herein . for example , the standoff 24 may be separately made of a different material than injector body 14 and brazed or otherwise suitably bonded to the root area 36 of the injector portion . a low thermal conductivity metal or a ceramic material could be used so long as the operational temperatures can be tolerated by the materials and the fixed connection between the feed tube 20 and the injector 14 is substantially spaced from the root area 26 . the material filling the tubular region 25 could also be other than a catalytic ceramic . other low density , low thermal conductivity materials cold be used or the region could be left empty . using a catalytic ceramic material provides superior performance in that pressure spiking due to propellant pooling is minimized . the material used to fabricate the standoff and the injector could also be other than inconel as described . other nickel superalloys or refractory materials or similar nitriding resistant material could be used . accordingly , it is intended to embrace all such changes , modifications and variations that fall within the spirit and broad scope of the appended claims . all patent applications , patents and other publications cited herein are incorporated by reference in their entirety . | 2 |
embodiments of the present invention recognize that identifying objects in the internet of things ( iot ) is generally based on hardware specifications . some methods of identifying objects in the iot creates problems in dynamic settings where new objects are added or where one or more attributes associated with the objects change . further recognized is that , generally devices can discover only those devices that are of a similar device technology . for example , a device utilizing bluetooth ® discovery techniques can only discover and identify other devices that are using bluetooth ® technology and within detection range of the first device . embodiments of the present invention also recognize that similar challenges occur in service discovery architectures , wherein each standard for identifying objects has its own architecture for service discovery . further recognized is that the iot interconnects a number of heterogeneous objects . consequently , there is a need for techniques that allow these heterogeneous objects to find each other in a uniform way . embodiments further recognize that some protocols and structures for accessing and maintaining distributed directory information services , such as lightweight directory access protocol ( ldap ), require defining a directory schema before deployment . commonly , prior domain knowledge ( e . g ., types of objects , object functionality ) is used , resulting in a static schema . generally , adding objects or features of the objects within the directory involves modification to the directory structure and schema . thus , adding objects and features is not an easily scalable process . embodiments of the present invention provide for a dynamic directory of objects based on logical attributes . embodiments of the present invention provide for creating a dynamic directory of heterogeneous objects based on attribute - value pairs associated with each of the objects . embodiments of the present invention further provide for searching the directory for objects based on the attribute - value pairs . embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the figures . fig1 is a functional block diagram illustrating a computing environment , in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention . for example , fig1 is a functional block diagram illustrating computing environment 100 . computing environment 100 includes device 110 a through device 110 n , and directory server 130 , all connected via network 120 . device 110 a through device 110 n are sometimes collectively referred to as devices 110 . devices 110 may include a greater or lesser number of devices than depicted in fig1 . directory server 130 includes objects directory manager 132 , objects directory 134 , and objects database 136 . in various embodiments , directory server 130 is a computing device that can be a standalone device , a server , a laptop computer , a tablet computer , a netbook computer , a personal computer ( pc ), or a desktop computer . in another embodiment , directory server 130 represents a computing system utilizing clustered computers and components to act as a single pool of seamless resources . in general , directory server 130 can be any computing device or a combination of devices with access to devices 110 , and with access to and / or capable of executing some or all of objects directory manager 132 , objects directory 134 , and objects database 136 . directory server 130 may include internal and external hardware components , as depicted and described in further detail with respect to fig4 . in this exemplary embodiment , objects directory manager 132 , objects directory 134 , and objects database 136 are stored on directory server 130 . in other embodiments , some or all of objects directory manager 132 , objects directory 134 , and objects database 136 may reside on another computing device , provided that each can access and is accessible by each other of objects directory manager 132 , objects directory 134 , objects database 136 and devices 110 . in yet other embodiments , some or all of objects directory manager 132 , objects directory 134 , and objects database 136 may be stored externally and accessed through a communication network , such as network 120 . network 120 can be , for example , a local area network ( lan ), a wide area network ( wan ) such as the internet , or a combination of the two , and may include wired , wireless , fiber optic or any other connection known in the art . in general , network 120 can be any combination of connections and protocols that will support communications between directory server 130 and devices 110 , in accordance with a desired embodiment of the present invention . objects directory manager 132 operates to manage objects within computing environment 100 . in some embodiments , objects directory manager 132 searches for and identifies new objects in computing environment 100 . in some embodiments , objects directory manager 132 classifies the objects into a class and a subclass , creating an applicable dag ( directed acyclic graph ) of the objects under the subclass . in some embodiments , objects directory manager 132 updates metadata of the objects . in other embodiments , objects directory manager 132 adds or deletes objects from objects directory 134 . objects directory manager 132 classifies an new object into a class and a subclass by comparing the attributes of the new object with the attributes of objects already in each of the class and the subclass . objects directory manager 132 further organizes the objects in the subclass into a tree structure , specifically a dag , based on the attribute - value pairs of the objects . objects directory manager 132 superimposes complex dag structures to enable high - speed searching of objects . in some embodiments , an ontology - based implementation is used when relationships among objects are also specified and inferences need to be drawn . objects directory 134 is a directory that includes objects identified and classified by objects directory manager 132 . in some embodiments , objects within objects directory 134 are associated with a class , a subclass , and various attribute - value pairs . in some embodiments , each object in objects directory 134 is arranged in an object classification layer ( ocl ). each ocl includes one or more classes and one or more subclasses . classification of objects into classes and subclasses is used to provide a fast lookup search of objects in a scalable environment of iot . the one or more attribute - value pairs associated with an object may be viewed as a dag . objects database 136 is a data repository that may be written to and read by objects directory manager 132 and objects directory 134 . object data , such as ocl and dag classifications , may be stored to objects database 136 . in some embodiments , objects database 136 may be written to and read by devices 110 or by programs and entities outside of computing environment 100 in order to populate the repository with object data . object data includes information that describes objects ( e . g ., class , subclass , attribute , attribute values , etc .). in various embodiments of the present invention , devices 110 are a computing device that can be a standalone device , a server , a laptop computer , a tablet computer , a netbook computer , a personal computer ( pc ), a desktop computer , a personal digital assistant ( pda ), a smart phone , sensor , wearable devices , or any programmable electronic device capable of communicating with directory server 130 via network 120 . in another embodiment , devices 110 represents a computing system utilizing clustered computers and components to act as a single pool of seamless resources . in general , devices 110 can be any computing device or a combination of devices with access to directory server 130 , and with access to and / or capable of executing some or all of objects directory manager 132 , objects directory 134 , and objects database 136 . in some embodiments , devices 110 includes a user interface ( ui ) by which a user provides user input to devices 110 . devices 110 can communicate such user input , via network 120 , to directory server 130 . devices 110 may include internal and external hardware components , as depicted and described in further detail with respect to fig1 . fig2 illustrates a dag of a single object for dynamic directory of objects based on logical attributes , on a computing device within the computing environment of fig1 , in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure . in one embodiment , a characteristic set of an object can be viewed as an object dag with attributes and values , where the values are associated with the attributes . in another embodiment , a characteristic set is represented as a tree structure . in an example dag depicted in fig2 , there are “ n ” attribute - value pairs , identified as attribute 1 - value 1 ( elements 202 and 204 respectively ), attribute 2 - value 2 ( elements 206 and 208 respectively ) through attribute n - value n ( elements 210 and 212 respectively ), in a characteristic set of object d1 ( element 214 ). attribute 1 ( element 202 ) is associated with value 1 ( element 204 ), attribute 2 ( element 206 ) is associated with value 2 ( element 208 ), and so on , with attribute n ( element 210 ) having an association with value n ( element 212 ). in one embodiment , attribute - value pairs are not ordered based on any weighting factors of attributes . as represented in fig2 , object d1 ( element 214 ) is associated with all attribute - value pairs within the dag . fig3 illustrates superimposed dags for two objects in a dynamic directory of objects based on logical attributes , on a computing device within the computing environment of fig1 , in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure . in one embodiment , a graph of all objects in a subclass is a superimposition of the dag of each of the objects in the subclass . in one example , a group of objects includes only two objects , d1 ( element 214 ) and d2 ( element 306 ). a graph of the group can be created by superimposing the dag of object d1 ( element 214 ) and the dag of object d2 ( element 306 ), as depicted in fig3 . in this example , value 1 ( element 204 ) is associated with two attributes , attribute 2 ( element 206 ) and attribute 3 ( element 302 ). attribute 2 ( element 206 ) is associated with object d1 ( element 214 ), and attribute 3 ( element 302 ) is associated with object d2 ( element 306 ). object d1 ( element 214 ) is associated with n attribute - value pairs ( see fig2 description ). object d2 ( element 306 ) is associated with two attribute - value pairs , attribute 1 - value 1 ( elements 202 and 204 respectively ) and attribute 3 - value 3 ( elements 302 and 304 respectively ). in some embodiments , an attribute - value pair is associated with only one device . in some embodiments , an attribute - value pair is associated with multiple devices . in a subclass consisting of a large number of objects , such a superimposition will result in a very complex graph or tree - like structure . fig4 depicts a directory organization for a dynamic directory of objects based on logical attributes , on a computing device within the computing environment of fig1 , in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure . fig4 depicts dynamic directory 400 . in one embodiment , in order to overcome the complexity of tree structures and facilitate fast searches , objects in a directory are classified , using clustering , into one or more high - level classes , based on the attributes of the objects . each class is further organized into one or more subclasses , based on attributes of the objects . the resulting organization of objects into classes and subclasses is carried out into an objects classification layer ( ocl ). each class may include a different number of subclasses . the number of classes and the number of subclasses within a class depends upon the algorithm used in an ocl . fig4 depicts a directory with n number of classes , depicted as class 1 ( element 401 ) through class n ( element 403 ). fig4 illustrates an example of class 2 ( element 402 ) being further organized into m subclasses , labeled as subclass 2 . 1 ( element 404 ), subclass 2 . 2 ( element 405 ), through subclass 2 . m ( element 406 ). each object within each subclass is further organized into a dag , based on the attribute - value pairs associated with each of the objects , as discussed in fig2 . in one embodiment , a subclass is associated with two or more attribute nodes . in this example , fig4 illustrates a superimposition of dags of eight objects in subclass 2 . 2 ( element 405 ). attribute 407 , an attribute node of subclass 2 . 2 ( element 405 ), is associated with five values , the first of which is value 408 . the attribute - value pair depicted by attribute 407 - value 408 is associated with four objects : object 413 , object 414 , object 415 , and object 418 , each of which is associated with one other attribute - value pair . object 413 is associated with attribute 409 - value 410 . object 414 is associated with attribute 409 - value 411 . object 415 is associated with attribute 409 - value 412 . object 418 is associated with attribute 416 - value 417 . in one embodiment , objects in a subclass are organized into a tree structure , wherein the root node of the subclass corresponds to the subclass . in some embodiments , dynamic directory 400 is used by objects directory manager 132 to manage objects identified in within dynamic directory 400 . in some embodiments , objects directory manager 132 manages objects based on a categorization of one or more objects . the categorization can be a class , subclass , attribute , or value . for example , objects directory manager 132 can manage all objects that are categorized under attribute 409 . in this example , any action chosen for objects categorized under attribute 409 will affect object 413 , object 414 , and object 415 . in another example , objects directory manager 132 can manage objects categorized under value 410 . in this example , only object 413 will be affected by actions chosen for value 410 . dynamic directory 400 allows objects directory manager 132 to manage as few or as many objects at one time , based on attribute - value categorization . fig5 illustrates a hash map structure for dynamic directory of objects based on logical attributes , on a computing device within the computing environment of fig1 , in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure . a hash map , sometimes referred to as a hash table , is a data structure that is used to implement an associative array , a structure that maps one or more keys to a unique value . hash maps are used in computer software for rapid data lookup . hash maps use a hash function to accelerate table or database lookup by detecting duplicated records in a large file . although different hash functions exist , and can be implemented , an embodiment of the present invention implements a jsw hash function . in one embodiment , information about classes and subclasses in a directory are maintained above the cluster hierarchy as illustrated in fig5 . hash map 502 includes a quantity of x attributes , each of which is a key that maps to a linear list of classes and subclasses , wherein a class and a subclass are as previously described . for example , attribute 1 ( element 504 ) is a key that maps to a linear list of n classes , from class 1 ( element 506 ) through class n ( element 508 ). each of the n classes is associated with zero or more subclasses . for example , class 1 ( element 506 ) is associated with m subclasses , from subclass 1 ( element 510 ) to subclass m ( element 512 ). fig6 illustrates a hash map structure for a dynamic directory of objects based on logical attributes , on a computing device within the computing environment of fig1 , in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure . in one embodiment , a second hash map structure is maintained for each subclass . in fig6 , hash map 602 includes a quantity of x attributes , and maps from attribute to deviceinfostruct . the deviceinfostruct includes n entries wherein each entry contains a value of the hashed attributes and the list of objects ( or a pointer to objects data or meta data ) possessing the value of the hashed attribute . for example , attribute 2 ( element 604 ), points to value 2 . 1 ( element 606 ). in some embodiments , value 2 . 1 ( element 606 ) includes a list of devices having the characterization of value 2 . 1 . deviceinfostruct also has a hash map ( element 608 ) of m entries , each maps a value to deviceinfostruct . the result of this structure is nested multiple deviceinfostructs for a hashed attribute . for example , hash 1 ( element 609 ) includes nested deviceinfostruct a ( element 610 ). this is done to support a large value set of attributes that characterize objects . in some embodiments , a linear search for an attribute value - pair can be expensive . fig7 illustrates a hash map structure for a dynamic directory of objects based on logical attributes , on a computing device within the computing environment of fig1 , in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure . to reduce a potentially expensive linear search for values of an attribute , the value array of n entries as in the example illustrated in fig6 may be performed as illustrated in fig7 . the search is defined by two parts , hashpart which has a number of entries defined by the variable q , and linearpart which is defined by a variable of n . for entries [ 1 . . . n ], a first segment of values will be called hashpart [ 1 , . . . , q ], and the remaining values will be called linearpart [ q + 1 , . . . , n ]. the first q entries are accessed by using a value as a key to a hash function to obtain a hash value of h , and then using the corresponding hash function to access a skip - list beginning from hashpart [ h ] extending into a linearpart [ l ] as shown in fig7 . every entry in the linearpart contains a pointer to a subsequent entry ( e . g ., linearpart [ m ]). this is done because a single hash value h may be obtained for multiple values of an attribute . an experiment with n = 32 and m = 256 and a depth = 4 has resulted in storage of nearly one million entries corresponding to values of an attribute , assuming that a good hashing is chosen , leading to a nearly uniform distribution , leading to a look up of only four such deviceinfostructs . this would help in overcoming the near linear search behavior of hashes asymptotically . fig8 illustrates a branch routine for a dynamic directory of objects based on logical attributes , on a computing device within the computing environment of fig1 , in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure . the format of the branch routine , as depicted in fig8 , is branch ( value , depth ). in one embodiment , a branch routine as depicted in fig8 is called by deviceinfostruct at location depth to determine the child deviceinfostruct at location depth + 1 . in one embodiment , the root deviceinfostruct is at depth 0 . in order to branch from an ( i − 1 ) th level to an i th level , the character i positions from the right is used as an input to a hash function to obtain the hash_value . the hash_value returned is used to refer the child deviceinfostruct to branch to the location that is stored in hash table in deviceinfostruct . fig9 illustrates a search routine for a dynamic directory of objects based on logical attributes , on a computing device within the computing environment of fig1 , in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure . the format of the search function , as depicted in fig9 , is search ( root , value , depth ), where root is deviceinfostruct at a depth from where the search will be conducted . to conduct a search from the root of the deviceinfostruct tree , a search string is called using a depth of 0 , as in search ( root , value , 0 ). search ( ) begins to look for the value in the skip - list corresponding to the hash value h , from hashpart [ h ]. if at a node , the value in the skip - list matches the value that is stored in that node , then that node is returned . if a node is not found in the skip - list , then a determination is made as to whether there are one or more characters remaining in the value to branch further . if there are one or more characters remaining , the search ( ) routine is executed recursively , otherwise , the search routine returns a null value . this search routine is a basic search routine . to search for an object , for each of the specified attributes , first the class and the subclass are ascertained . next , within the subclass , the search ( ) routine is called . the response to the search is the intersection of all such search ( ) routines of all specified attributes . fig1 illustrates a deletion routine for a dynamic directory of objects based on logical attributes , on a computing device within the computing environment of fig1 , in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure . the format of the deletion routine is deletion_scheme ( root , value , deviceid ), as depicted in fig1 . in line 1 , search ( root , value , 0 ) routine is executed to search for a node that contains the input value . if the search function identifies a node that contains the input value , then the deviceid is removed from the devicelist of the node . if the search function does not identify a node that contains the input value , then no changes are made . if a node is found , the routine then determines whether the node is the last node in a skip - list and the devicelist of the node is empty . if those two conditions are met , then the node is labeled “ not occupied ” and the skip - list is truncated by 1 node . if the node that is found is not the last node in the skip - list , yet the devicelist is empty , then the node is labeled “ empty ” to preserve the skip - list . fig1 illustrates a high level insertion scheme for a dynamic directory of objects based on logical attributes , on a computing device within the computing environment of fig1 , in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure . the format of the high level insertion scheme , as depicted in fig1 , is insertion_scheme ( root , value , deviceid ), in which root is the root of the deviceinfostruct tree . this routine operates to first determine whether a value for the input deviceid already exists in the deviceinfostruct tree , and if not , insert the value into the deviceinfostruct tree . the first step is to call the routine search ( root , value , 0 ) to determine whether there is an entry in the deviceinfostruct tree having the corresponding value . if no such entry exists then insert ( root , value , deviceid , 0 ) is executed . if an entry in the deviceinfostruct tree does have the corresponding value , then deviceid is added to the devicelist of the node , and the node , if labeled anything other than “ occupied ”, is labeled “ occupied ”. fig1 illustrates an insert routine for a dynamic directory of objects based on logical attributes , on a computing device within the computing environment of fig1 , in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure . the format of the insert routine , as depicted in fig1 , is insert ( root , value , deviceid , depth ), in which root is the root of the deviceinfostruct tree . this routine operates to search for an entry in which to insert a value for deviceid , by branching to a depth equal to the length of an entry ( i . e ., number of characters in the string ). if no entry is found that meets this condition , the routine searches for an entry that has a value length greater than the length of the input value . if the routine identifies an entry with a value length that is greater than the length of the input value , the entry is updated with the input value and the input deviceid . the insert ( ) routine is repeated to find an entry for the replaced value and the associated devicelist at greater depths as it still has characters left to branch . if no such replaceable entry is found then value is inserted into an entry in the over flow list of the last deviceinfostruct reached at the depth equal to length of value . a node or an entry may have one of the following three status values : 1 . not occupied — initially , all nodes are labeled “ not occupied ”. 2 . “ occupied ”— responsive to a value being placed in an entry , the entry is marked with “ occupied ”. 3 . “ empty ”— this status implies that an entry is still part of a skip - list , even though the entry does not contain a value . this status is assigned responsive to the devicelist of a value becoming empty during deletion and the corresponding entry is available for inserting new values with the same hash value . if an empty status is not assigned in this manner , there is a risk of corrupting the skip - list . in lines 1 through 3 , flag is assigned 0 if branching to a depth equal to the length of value is completed and no further branching is possible from the current deviceinfostruct . flag is assigned 1 if further branching is possible . in lines 6 through 14 , the routine makes determinations regarding the skip - list . in lines 7 through 9 , if a first entry marked empty is identified , then value and the corresponding deviceid are entered into the first entry . in line 10 , the last node in the skip - list is assigned the variable last . in lines 11 through 13 , if the depth is greater than or equal to the length of value , then the program searches for an entry in the skip - list wherein the length of value in the entry is greater than the input value length . in lines 15 through 20 , the program searches for an entry marked “ not occupied ” in linearpart [ ] and , if such an entry is found , the program inserts the value and deviceid into the entry , and links the entry with the last of the skip - list . in lines 21 through 23 , the program determines whether depth is less than the length of value , and if so , a branch is executed recursively , by calling the insert ( ) routine , replacing depth with depth + 1 . in lines 24 through 29 , if an entry of rep_node was identified with a length of value stored greater than the input value , then value is stored at rep_node and the program recursively calls insert ( ) with the old value in rep_node . in line 30 , the program stores value in an entry in the current deviceinfostruct &# 39 ; s over flow list , ofl [ ]. fig1 is a block diagram of system components of a computing device executing operations for a dynamic directory of objects based on logical attributes , in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure . fig1 depicts an exemplary environment 900 , in which iot object 910 communicate with attribute - value pair based directory system ( avpbds ) 920 via request and command pairs 902 a and 902 b through 908 a and 908 b . iot object 910 represents one or more heterogeneous devices in the iot , such as device 110 a . for purposes of explanation of fig1 , iot object 910 will be referred to as a single device ; however , iot object 910 can include multiple devices . avpbds 920 is a directory system that operates to receive input from iot object 910 , process the input , and send a response to iot object 910 . in one embodiment , avpbds 920 is an example of directory server 130 . avpbds 920 includes ocl 922 , destroyer module 923 , objects directory 924 , search module 925 , objects database 926 , and updater module 927 . in some embodiments , ocl 922 , destroyer module 923 , search module 925 , and updater module 927 together are an example of objects directory manager 132 . in some embodiments , objects directory 924 is an example of objects directory 134 . in some embodiments , objects database 926 is an example of objects database 136 . in some embodiments , environment 900 is used to register an object . for example , iot object 910 sends request 902 a to avpbds 920 and receives response 902 b from avpbds 920 . for example , request 902 a is sent to avpbds 920 from a mobile device that is new to environment 900 , requesting that the mobile device be registered in environment 900 . the request includes characteristic data ( i . e ., attribute - value pairs ) about the mobile device . avpbds 920 receives the request , organizes and classifies the mobile device into the ocl ( i . e ., classes and subclasses ) based on the characteristic data included in the request . avpbds 920 creates entries in the objects directory and objects database which , in some embodiments , includes the classification of iot object 910 . avpbds 920 sends a confirmation response ( e . g ., response 902 b ) to the mobile device , confirming that the mobile device is registered . in some embodiments , environment 900 is used to de - reregister an object . for example , iot object 910 sends request 904 a to avpbds 920 and receives response 904 b from avpbds 920 . for example , request 904 a is sent from a mobile device that is being removed from environment 900 ( e . g ., taken out of service ) to avpbds 920 , requesting that the mobile device be deregistered from environment 900 . avpbds 920 receives the request , processes the request , utilizing destroyer module 923 to delete information about the mobile device from objects directory 924 and objects database 926 , and sends a confirmation response ( e . g ., response 904 b ) to the mobile device , confirming that the mobile device has been deregistered . in some embodiments , environment 900 is used to find and manage objects . for example , iot object 910 sends request 906 a to avpbds 920 and receives response 906 b from avpbds 920 . for example , request 906 a is sent from a mobile device to avpbds 920 , requesting that a search be conducted to identify all wireless devices within environment 900 . avpbds 920 receives the request , processes the request , utilizing search module 925 to conduct a search of objects directory 924 and objects database 926 , and sends response 906 b , with results of the search , to the mobile device . in some embodiments , environment 900 is used to update object information . for example , iot object 910 sends request 908 a to avpbds 920 and receives response 908 b from avpbds 920 . for example , request 908 a is sent from a mobile device to avpbds 920 , requesting an update be made to information in avpbds 920 regarding attribute - value pairs of the mobile device . in one example , the update request may indicate that a new version of firmware is resident on the mobile device . avpbds 920 receives the request , utilizes updater module 927 to update ( i . e ., modify ) information about the mobile device in objects directory 924 and objects database 926 , and sends a confirmation response ( e . g ., response 908 b ) to the mobile device to confirm that updates have been completed . fig1 is a block diagram of components of a computing device , generally designated 1000 , in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure . in one embodiment , computing system 1000 is representative of directory server 130 . for example , fig1 is a block diagram of directory server 130 within computing environment 100 executing operations of objects directory manager 132 . it should be appreciated that fig1 provides only an illustration of one implementation and does not imply any limitations with regard to the environments in which different embodiments may be implemented . many modifications to the depicted environment may be made . computing system 1000 includes processor ( s ) 1002 , cache 1006 , memory 1004 , persistent storage 1010 , input / output ( i / o ) interface ( s ) 1012 , communications unit 1014 , and communications fabric 1008 . communications fabric 1008 provides communications between cache 1006 , memory 1004 , persistent storage 1010 , communications unit 1014 , and input / output ( i / o ) interface ( s ) 1012 . communications fabric 1008 can be implemented with any architecture designed for passing data and / or control information between processors ( such as microprocessors , communications and network processors , etc . ), system memory , peripheral devices , and any other hardware components within a system . for example , communications fabric 1008 can be implemented with one or more buses or a crossbar switch . memory 1004 and persistent storage 1010 are computer readable storage media . in this embodiment , memory 1004 includes random access memory ( ram ). in general , memory 1004 can include any suitable volatile or non - volatile computer readable storage media . cache 1006 is a fast memory that enhances the performance of processor ( s ) 1002 by holding recently accessed data , and data near recently accessed data , from memory 1004 . program instructions and data used to practice embodiments of the present invention may be stored in persistent storage 1010 and in memory 1004 for execution by one or more of the respective processor ( s ) 1002 via cache 1006 . in an embodiment , persistent storage 1010 includes a magnetic hard disk drive . alternatively , or in addition to a magnetic hard disk drive , persistent storage 1010 can include a solid state hard drive , a semiconductor storage device , read - only memory ( rom ), erasable programmable read - only memory ( eprom ), flash memory , or any other computer readable storage media that is capable of storing program instructions or digital information . the media used by persistent storage 1010 may also be removable . for example , a removable hard drive may be used for persistent storage 1010 . other examples include optical and magnetic disks , thumb drives , and smart cards that are inserted into a drive for transfer onto another computer readable storage medium that is also part of persistent storage 1010 . communications unit 1014 , in these examples , provides for communications with other data processing systems or devices . in these examples , communications unit 1014 includes one or more network interface cards . communications unit 1014 may provide communications through the use of either or both physical and wireless communications links . program instructions and data used to practice embodiments of the present invention may be downloaded to persistent storage 1010 through communications unit 1014 . i / o interface ( s ) 1012 allows for input and output of data with other devices that may be connected to each computer system . for example , i / o interface ( s ) 1012 may provide a connection to external device ( s ) 1016 such as a keyboard , keypad , a touch screen , and / or some other suitable input device . external device ( s ) 1016 can also include portable computer readable storage media such as , for example , thumb drives , portable optical or magnetic disks , and memory cards . software and data used to practice embodiments of the present invention can be stored on such portable computer readable storage media and can be loaded onto persistent storage 1010 via i / o interface ( s ) 1012 . i / o interface ( s ) 1012 also connect to display 1018 . display 1018 provides a mechanism to display or present data to a user and may be , for example , a computer monitor . the present invention may be a system , a method , and / or a computer program product . the computer program product may include a computer readable storage medium ( or media ) having computer readable program instructions thereon for causing a processor to carry out aspects of the present invention . the computer readable storage medium can be a tangible device that can retain and store instructions for use by an instruction execution device . the computer readable storage medium may be , for example , but is not limited to , an electronic storage device , a magnetic storage device , an optical storage device , an electromagnetic storage device , a semiconductor storage device , or any suitable combination of the foregoing . a non - exhaustive list of more specific examples of the computer readable storage medium includes the following : a portable computer diskette , a hard disk , a random access memory ( ram ), a read - only memory ( rom ), an erasable programmable read - only memory ( eprom or flash memory ), a static random access memory ( sram ), a portable compact disc read - only memory ( cd - rom ), a digital versatile disk ( dvd ), a memory stick , a floppy disk , a mechanically encoded device such as punch - cards or raised structures in a groove having instructions recorded thereon , and any suitable combination of the foregoing . a computer readable storage medium , as used herein , is not to be construed as being transitory signals per se , such as radio waves or other freely propagating electromagnetic waves , electromagnetic waves propagating through a waveguide or other transmission media ( e . g ., light pulses passing through a fiber - optic cable ), or electrical signals transmitted through a wire . computer readable program instructions described herein can be downloaded to respective computing / processing devices from a computer readable storage medium or to an external computer or external storage device via a network , for example , the internet , a local area network , a wide area network and / or a wireless network . the network may comprise copper transmission cables , optical transmission fibers , wireless transmission , routers , firewalls , switches , gateway computers and / or edge servers . a network adapter card or network interface in each computing / processing device receives computer readable program instructions from the network and forwards the computer readable program instructions for storage in a computer readable storage medium within the respective computing / processing device . computer readable program instructions for carrying out operations of the present invention may be assembler instructions , instruction - set - architecture ( isa ) instructions , machine instructions , machine dependent instructions , microcode , firmware instructions , state - setting data , or either source code or object code written in any combination of one or more programming languages , including an object oriented programming language such as smalltalk , c ++ or the like , and conventional procedural programming languages , such as the “ c ” programming language or similar programming languages . the computer readable program instructions may execute entirely on the user &# 39 ; s computer , partly on the user &# 39 ; s computer , as a stand - alone software package , partly on the user &# 39 ; s computer and partly on a remote computer or entirely on the remote computer or server . in the latter scenario , the remote computer may be connected to the user &# 39 ; s computer through any type of network , including a local area network ( lan ) or a wide area network ( wan ), or the connection may be made to an external computer ( for example , through the internet using an internet service provider ). in some embodiments , electronic circuitry including , for example , programmable logic circuitry , field - programmable gate arrays ( fpga ), or programmable logic arrays ( pla ) may execute the computer readable program instructions by utilizing state information of the computer readable program instructions to personalize the electronic circuitry , in order to perform aspects of the present invention . aspects of the present invention are described herein with reference to flowchart illustrations and / or block diagrams of methods , apparatus ( systems ), and computer program products according to embodiments of the invention . it will be understood that each block of the flowchart illustrations and / or block diagrams , and combinations of blocks in the flowchart illustrations and / or block diagrams , can be implemented by computer readable program instructions . these computer readable program instructions may be provided to a processor of a general purpose computer , special purpose computer , or other programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine , such that the instructions , which execute via the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing apparatus , create means for implementing the functions / acts specified in the flowchart and / or block diagram block or blocks . these computer readable program instructions may also be stored in a computer readable storage medium that can direct a computer , a programmable data processing apparatus , and / or other devices to function in a particular manner , such that the computer readable storage medium having instructions stored therein comprises an article of manufacture including instructions which implement aspects of the function / act specified in the flowchart and / or block diagram block or blocks . the computer readable program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer , other programmable data processing apparatus , or other device to cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer , other programmable apparatus or other device to produce a computer implemented process , such that the instructions which execute on the computer , other programmable apparatus , or other device implement the functions / acts specified in the flowchart and / or block diagram block or blocks . the flowchart and block diagrams in the figures illustrate the architecture , functionality , and operation of possible implementations of systems , methods , and computer program products according to various embodiments of the present invention . in this regard , each block in the flowchart or block diagrams may represent a module , segment , or portion of instructions , which comprises one or more executable instructions for implementing the specified logical function ( s ). in some alternative implementations , the functions noted in the block may occur out of the order noted in the figures . for example , two blocks shown in succession may , in fact , be executed substantially concurrently , or the blocks may sometimes be executed in the reverse order , depending upon the functionality involved . it will also be noted that each block of the block diagrams and / or flowchart illustration , and combinations of blocks in the block diagrams and / or flowchart illustration , can be implemented by special purpose hardware - based systems that perform the specified functions or acts or carry out combinations of special purpose hardware and computer instructions . the term ( s ) “ smalltalk ” and the like may be subject to trademark rights in various jurisdictions throughout the world and are used here only in reference to the products or services properly denominated by the marks to the extent that such trademark rights may exist . the term “ exemplary ” means of or relating to an example and should not be construed to indicate that any particular embodiment is preferred relative to any other embodiment . the descriptions of the various embodiments of the present invention have been presented for purposes of illustration , but are not intended to be exhaustive or limited to the embodiments disclosed . many modifications and variations will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention . the terminology used herein was chosen to best explain the principles of the embodiments , the practical application or technical improvement over technologies found in the marketplace , or to enable others of ordinary skill in the art to understand the embodiments disclosed herein . | 6 |
the nature , objectives , and advantages of the invention will become more apparent to those skilled in the art after considering the following detailed description in connection with the accompanying drawings . one aspect of the invention concerns a data storage system , which may be embodied by various hardware components and interconnections , with one example being described by the hierarchical storage system 100 of fig1 a . broadly , the system 100 provides a storage hierarchy of different types of storage media for different storage purposes . in the illustrated example , the system 100 includes a storage manager 101 , dasd storage 104 , and tape storage 108 . the storage manager 101 manages read / write operations upon dasd 104 and tape 108 storage in response to stimuli from external user applications 110 , a system administrator via an operator interface 112 , arid / or internal processes of the storage manager 101 . the user applications 110 may comprise software programs , computing machines , human operator terminals , another device , or a combination of the foregoing . the operator interface 112 may include features such as a computer , input / output terminal , keyboard , video monitor , dials , switches , or other human / machine interface . as one example , the storage manager 101 may comprise a machine such as a storage manager component of an ibm brand s / 390 machine . the storage manager 101 in this example includes a cpu 116 , host interface 114 , storage interface 120 , and operator interface software module 118 . as one example , the cpu 116 may utilize the ibm brand mvs operating system . the interface 114 conducts communications between the cpu 116 and the user applications 110 , and comprises a suitable bus , fiber optic connector , backplane , intelligent channel , escon interface , scsi interface , usb port , serial port , or other appropriate communications interface . likewise , the interface 120 includes appropriate hardware to interface the cpu 116 with the storage controllers 102 , 106 that manage the dasd 104 and tape 108 storage . the operator interface software module 118 receives commands entered at the operator interface 112 and processes the commands for use by the cpu 116 . as an example , the software 118 may comprise the ibm brand tso / dss software module . the tape controller and drive ( s ) 106 include tape controllers and tape read / write drives appropriate to carry out read / write operations upon removable serially accessible storage media , under direction of the storage manager 101 . these serially accessible storage media are exemplified by magnetic “ tape ” in the present discussion . in this example , the tape controller 106 may comprise an ibm model 3590 device , where the storage media comprise magnetic tape cartridges . the dasd controller 102 manages read / write operations upon dasd storage media 104 as directed by the storage manager 101 . dasd storage 104 is exemplified by magnetic disk type storage in the present discussion , which may be implemented as a redundant array of inexpensive disks ( raid ) storage . in this example , the dasd controller 102 and storage 104 may be implemented by using a commercially available product such as an ibm enterprise storage server ( ess ). the dasd controller 102 has a number of subcomponents , including a cpu 122 , metadata storage 124 , microcode 130 , and interface 132 . the cpu 122 comprises an appropriate processing machine , such as a rs / 6000 microprocessor . in response to receiving storage commands from the storage manager 101 , the cpu 122 directs the dasd storage 104 to conduct read / write operations . in this respect , the interface 132 relays communications between the dasd storage 104 and cpu 122 . the interface 132 may , for example , comprise a scsi interface . the cpu 122 operates according to programming , which may be embodied in the form of microcode 130 as illustrated . the cpu 122 stores metadata in the metadata storage 124 , in accordance with the read / write operations that are carried out in the dasd storage 104 . depending upon the size and manner of using the dasd storage 104 , the metadata storage 124 may be embodied by nearly any type of nonvolatile storage , such as magnetic disk storage , battery - supported ram , optical storage , magnetic tape , etc . in the present example , the metadata storage 124 may be implemented by a magnetic hard disk drive . contents of the metadata depend upon whether the storage system 100 utilizes storage of log structured array ( lsa ) or home area architecture . in both home area architecture and lsa implementations , the storage manager 101 manages data according to “ volumes ”, which are actually “ logical ” volumes because they do not exist in any physical embodiment . rather , the controller 102 receives data access requests from the storage manager 101 in terms of logical volumes , and implements the data access requests by translating them into terms of physical storage locations on the physical disks used to implement the dasd storage 104 . fig1 b illustrates the home area architecture approach in greater detail . with home area architecture , the act of defining a logical volume uniquely associates the subparts ( e . g ., tracks ) of that volume with a set of physical locations in the dasd storage 104 . no two logical volumes may be associated with the same physical locations in dasd . these associations are listed in the bindings 128 . in the home area architecture environment , the instant virtual copy operation is known as “ flashcopy .” when flashcopy is performed , a logical target volume is created , with bindings separate from its source volume . since the target volume cannot point to the source volume through its bindings ( which must point to their exclusive storage sites on dasd 104 ), this role is filled by the relationship table 126 . namely , the relationship table relates each subpart ( e . g ., track ) of the target volume with a corresponding subpart of the source volume . therefore , even though the flashcopy does not initially store any data in the dasd 104 sites bound to the target volume ( i . e ., they are left empty ), the target volume virtually contains all data of the source volume since the target volume &# 39 ; s subparts are associated with their source volume counterparts by the relationship table 126 . as the target volume is updated over time , the target volume begins to diverge from its source volume ; namely , these updates are stored in the dasd 104 sites bound to the target volume one by one , and the relationship listings 126 for these tracks are deleted one by one . as shown below , table 1 shows an exemplary relationship table 126 when the instant virtual copy is first made , and table 2 shows the state of that same relationship table after various updates to the target volume . in contrast with home area architecture , each logical volume in a lsa system may be bound to any set of physical dasd locations , whether another logical volume is also bound to these locations or not . therefore , the relationship table 126 is unnecessary when the dasd 104 is configured as a lsa . in the lsa environment , the instant virtual copy operation is known as “ snapshot .” when snapshot is performed , a logical target volume is created , and bindings are generated so that the logical target &# 39 ; s tracks are bound to the same dasd tracks as the source volume . as with the home architecture situation , the bindings are kept in the bindings 128 . as the lsa target volume receives updates over time , the target volume can diverge from its source by storing these updates in new tracks of the dasd 104 and then redirecting the target volume &# 39 ; s bindings to the tracks . as mentioned above , various types of hardware devices may be used to implement computing components of the present invention such as the storage manager 101 , dasd controller 102 , tape controller 106 , and the like . as one example , such computing components may be implemented by one or more digital data processing apparatuses , each as exemplified by the hardware components and interconnections of the digital data processing apparatus 200 of fig2 . the apparatus 200 includes a processor 202 , such as a microprocessor or other processing machine , coupled to a storage 204 . in the present example , the storage 204 includes a fast - access storage 206 , as well as nonvolatile storage 208 . the fast - access storage 206 may comprise random access memory (“ ram ”), and may be used to store the programming instructions executed by the processor 202 . the nonvolatile storage 208 may comprise , for example , one or more magnetic data storage disks such as a “ hard drive ”, a tape drive , or any other suitable storage device . the apparatus 200 also includes an input / output 210 , such as a line , bus , cable , electromagnetic link , or other means for the processor 202 to exchange data with other hardware external to the apparatus 200 . despite the specific foregoing description , ordinarily skilled artisans ( having the benefit of this disclosure ) will recognize that the apparatus discussed above may be implemented in a machine of different construction , without departing from the scope of the invention . as a specific example , one of the components 206 , 208 may be eliminated ; furthermore , the storage 204 may be provided on - board the processor 202 , or even provided externally to the apparatus 200 . in contrast to the digital data processing apparatus discussed above , a different embodiment of the invention uses logic circuitry instead of computer - executed instructions to implement the computing components of the system 100 . depending upon the particular requirements of the application in the areas of speed , expense , tooling costs , and the like , this logic may be implemented by constructing an application - specific integrated circuit (“ asic ”) having thousands of tiny integrated transistors . such an asic may be implemented with cmos , ttl , vlsi , or another suitable construction . other alternatives include a digital signal processing chip (“ dsp ”), discrete circuitry ( such as resistors , capacitors , diodes , inductors , and transistors ), field programmable gate array (“ fpga ”), programmable logic array (“ pla ”), and the like . having described the structural features of the present invention , the method aspect of the present invention will now be described . as mentioned above , the method aspect of the invention generally involves an automated , fault - tolerant method of creating a backup copy of a source dasd volume by first performing an instant virtual copy with source volume id suspended , then creating a non - virtual backup copy from the instant virtual copy with the source volume id reintroduced . although the present invention has broad applicability to digital data storage systems , the specifics of the structure that has been described is particularly suited for magnetic disk storage devices with tape backup , and the explanation that follows will emphasize such an application of the invention without any intended limitation . in the context of fig1 a and 2 , such a method may be implemented , for example , by operating the cpu 122 , as embodied by a digital data processing apparatus 200 , to execute a sequence of machine - readable instructions . these instructions may reside in various types of signal - bearing media . in this respect , one aspect of the present invention concerns signal - bearing media embodying a program of machine - readable instructions executable by a digital data processor to perform an automated , fault - tolerant method of creating a backup copy of a source dasd volume by first performing an instant virtual copy with source volume id suspended , then creating a non - virtual tape backup copy from the instant virtual copy with the source volume id reintroduced . this signal - bearing media may comprise , for example , ram ( not shown ) contained within the cpu 122 , as represented by the fast - access storage 206 . alternatively , the instructions may be contained in another signal - bearing media , such as a magnetic data storage diskette 300 ( fig3 ), directly or indirectly accessible by the processor 202 . whether contained in the storage 206 , diskette 300 , or elsewhere , the instructions may be stored on a variety of machine - readable data storage media . some examples include as direct access storage ( e . g ., a conventional “ hard drive ”, raid array , or another dasd ), serial - access storage such as magnetic or optical tape , electronic read - only memory ( e . g ., rom , eprom , or eeprom ), optical storage ( e . g ., cd - rom , worm , dvd , digital optical tape ), paper “ punch ” cards , or other suitable signal - bearing media including analog or digital transmission media and analog and communication links and wireless . in an illustrative embodiment of the invention , the machine - readable instructions may comprise software object code , compiled from a language such as “ c ,” etc . in contrast to the signal - bearing medium discussed above , the method aspect of the invention may be implemented using logic circuitry , without using a processor to execute instructions . in this embodiment , the logic circuitry is implemented in the cpu 122 , and is configured to perform operations to implement the method of the invention . the logic circuitry may be implemented using many different types of circuitry , as discussed above . fig4 utilizes a block diagram to illustrate the operation of the invention . broadly , the invention conducts an automated , fault - tolerant method of creating a backup copy of a source dasd volume by first performing an instant virtual copy with source volume id suspended , then creating a non - virtual tape backup copy from the instant virtual copy with the source volume id reintroduced . the source volume is represented by 402 . the source volume 402 comprises a logical volume , whose physical manifestation is actually present on various disks in the dasd 104 . the metadata storage 124 maintains bindings 128 linking the logical locations of the source volume and physical sites on the dasd storage 104 ; these bindings may be initiated and managed according to principles known to those skilled in the relevant art . the source volume contains a volume id 404 , the content of which is “ a ” in this example . initially , the storage system 100 performs an instant virtual copy operation 406 such as flashcopy or snapshot . included with the instant virtual copy operation are parameters appropriate to prevent the volume id 404 from being carried over as the volume id of the target volume 408 . this operation results in the virtual target volume 408 whose volume id 410 has different contents than the source volume &# 39 ; s id 404 . in this example , contents of the target volume id 410 are “ b .” as part of the instant virtual copy operation 406 , contents of the volume id 404 are copied to the target volume 408 , albeit into a hidden location 412 that is not designated as being the site of the volume id . next , an operation 414 is performed to create a non - virtual backup volume 416 by copying the target volume 408 . this operation 414 locates the hidden volume id 412 and re - introduces it into the non - virtual backup volume 416 . the result is a non - virtual backup volume 416 that is logically identical to the source volume 402 . after step 414 , an added step 420 may be performed in the case of home area architecture systems . namely , step 420 withdraws the flashcopy relationship by deleting contents of the relationship tables 126 pertaining to the virtual target volume 408 . if deletion of the target volume 408 is later desired , whether the system uses home area architecture or lsa , the bindings 208 associating the target volume 408 with the dasd storage 104 may be deleted at that time . advantageously , this process encourages fault tolerance because the volume id 404 of the source 402 is withheld from the target copy operation 406 , and another volume id 410 is used instead . thus , if the subsystem fails just after creating the target volume 408 , the target volume 408 is not likely to be confused with the source volume 404 because they have different volume lds 404 , 410 . moreover , the operation is automated because the operations 406 , 414 , 420 can be implemented by a machine - performed sequence , free of any human operator input . fig5 shows an exemplary sequence 500 portraying one exemplary embodiment of fault - tolerant method for creating a backup copy of a source dasd volume by first performing an instant virtual copy with source volume id suspended , then creating a physical tape backup copy from the instant virtual copy with the source volume id reintroduced . for ease of explanation , but without any intended limitation , the example of fig5 is described in the context of the system 100 described above ( fig1 ). the routine 500 starts in step 502 , in which certain input stimuli is received by the storage manager 101 . the input stimuli identifies the source for which backup is desired . the source data may comprise one or more logical devices , physical devices , tracks , range ( s ) of tracks , datasets , pages , bytes , sectors , extents , or other data construct . for ease of illustration , the following discussion concerns “ logical volumes .” depending upon the needs of the application , step 502 may be triggered by various stimuli , such as a condition , event , request or output from a remote machine , user application 110 , networked machine , etc . alternatively , step 502 may also be triggered by a command manually entered by an operator at the interface 112 . the input stimuli includes an identification of the desired source volume 404 , various execution - specific parameters , and the like . as an example , the input stimuli may comprise receipt by the storage manager 101 of the following command input : “ flashcopy with safe backup .” responsive to receiving the stimuli of step 502 , certain operations are performed . in one example , the ensuing tasks 504 - 510 are performed automatically without any required operator input . in this example , the storage manager 101 responds to the input stimuli by directing the cpu 122 to perform step 504 . namely , the cpu 122 performs an instant virtual copy of the identified source volume 404 . the instant virtual copy of step 504 is performed in a manner that prevents the source volume id 404 from being carried over to the target volume 408 . in the lsa environment , step 504 may be performed by invoking the snapshot operation with the “ no copy volid ” option . in the home area architecture environment , step 504 may be performed by using flashcopy with the “ no copy volid ” option . optionally , in the home area architecture case , the “ no copy ” option may also be invoked , to prevent the commencement of any background operations to automatically create a non - virtual ( physical ) copy of the virtual volume . another option , discovered by the present inventors and unknown in the prior art , is also invoked by step 504 to copy contents of the volume id 404 to a hidden location in the target volume 408 . this location is “ hidden ” because the cpu 122 is not programmed to recognize this location as being the site of the volume id . to avoid interfering with the user data of the target volume , the source volume id may be copied to a metadata site within the volume , such as a header , etc . as a specific example , this location may comprise a reserved but presently undesignated area of in the volume label . the operation 504 results in the virtual target volume 408 whose volume id 410 has different contents than the source volume id 404 , contents of the source volume id 404 being nonetheless present in the hidden location 412 . after the cpu 122 completes step 504 , the storage manager 101 begins directing the creation of a non - virtual backup volume . this volume may be created on tape 108 ( as illustrated ), dasd 104 , or another suitable backup storage location . in the illustrated example , the storage manager 101 ( step 506 ) directs the dasd controller 102 and tape controller 106 to create a non - virtual backup volume 416 using the target volume 408 as a source for this operation . this may be achieved by executing a full volume dump or backup operation , for example . the storage manager 101 directs the controllers 102 , 106 to enhance this operation , however , by reading the source volume id 412 hidden in the target volume 408 and reintroducing the source volume id 412 into the usual site 418 of the volume id in the tape backup copy 418 . the result is a non - virtual ( physical ) backup volume 416 that is logically identical to the source volume 402 . after step 506 , an added step 508 may be performed in the case of home area architecture systems . namely , step 508 withdraws the flashcopy relationship between the target and source volumes 404 , 408 by deleting contents of the relationship table 126 pertaining to the virtual target volume 408 . after step 508 , the routine 500 ends in step 510 . while the foregoing disclosure shows a number of illustrative embodiments of the invention , it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications can be made herein without departing . from the scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims . furthermore , although elements of the invention may be described or claimed in the singular , the plural is contemplated unless limitation to the singular is explicitly stated . additionally , ordinarily skilled artisans will recognize that operational sequences must be set forth in some specific order for the purpose of explanation and claiming , but the present invention contemplates various changes beyond such specific order . | 8 |
the synthesis of the diblock and triblock copolymers is a two - step polymerization process . the first step is a free radical polymerization of vp , carried out in an alcoholic solvent such as methanol , ethanol , isopropanol , n - propanol , n - butanol , 2 - butanol , tert - butanol , 1 - pentanol and 2 - pentanol . ideally , the boiling point of the solvent is in the vicinity of the cracking temperature of the radical initiator . isopropanol ( ipa ) is a preferred solvent . the presence of a radical initiator is required . the radical initiator is selected from the group of azo derivatives comprising 2 , 2 ′- azobis ( 2 - methyl - n -( 2 - hydroxyethyl )- propionamide ) ( ampahe ), 2 , 2 ′- azobis { 2 - methyl - n -[ 2 -( 1 - hydroxybutyl )] propionamide and 1 , 1 ′- azobis ( cyclohexane - carbonitrile ). the preferred initiators are those having hydroxyl end groups , with 2 , 2 ′- azobis ( 2 - methyl - n -( 2 - hydroxyethyl )- propionamide ) ( ampahe ) being the most preferred . thiol derivatives such as 2 - mercaptoethanol , 3 - mercapto - 1 - propanol , 3 - mercapto - 2 - propanol , 4 - mercapto - 1 - butanol , 3 - mercapto - 2 - butanol and 6 - mercapto - 1 - hexanol can be used as chain transfer agents . the preferred chain transfer agent is 2 - mercaptoethanol ( mce ). the molecular weight can be controlled by adjusting the molar ratios of mce , ampahe and ipa to vp . the resulting first block homopolymer pvp can be evaluated using techniques such as maldi - tof , sec - ls , ea and nmr . pvp - oh is isolated by precipitation of its solution to an inert organic solvent with poor solubility for the polymer . the solvent or combination of solvents for dissolution is selected from the group comprising methanol , ethanol , ipa , acetone , 2 - butanone , 4 - methyl - 2 - pentanone , dichloromethane and tetrahydrofuran . the preferred solvents for dissolution are isopropanol and 4 - methyl - 2 - pentanone , the use of which are illustrated in the examples herein . the inert organic solvent for precipitation is selected from the group comprising diethyl ether , tert - butyl methyl ether , hexane derivatives , heptane derivatives , ethyl acetate , isopropyl acetate , toluene and xylene derivatives . the preferred solvent for precipitation is tert - butyl methyl ether , the use of which is illustrated in the examples herein . for the preparation of pvp - oh ( first step of the process ), once all reagents and solvent are charged , the reaction mixture is degassed prior to heating . the reaction temperature ranges from 60 - 140 ° c . depending on the initiator and solvent chosen . in a preferred embodiment of the invention , a combination of ipa as solvent , ampahe as initiator and mce as chain transfer agent is used and the reaction is carried out at reflux . the reaction time ranges from 16 hours to 72 hours depending on the solvent , initiator and chain transfer agent . in the above preferred combination , a typical reaction time is between 30 - 48 hours . it is important to ensure the dryness of the pvp - oh in order to succeed with the anionic ring opening polymerization in the next step . the drying of the polymer is performed using a vacuum oven with the temperature ramping towards 110 ° c . alternatively , further drying can be optionally performed using azeotropic distillation with an inert solvent such as toluene , xylene derivatives or heptane derivatives prior to the second polymerization . the second step is based on an anionic polymerization of cyclic ester , other cyclic lactone , methacrylate , or methacrylamide . this polymerization can be anionic via a macroinitiator or it can be catalyzed by aluminum or tin alkoxides . the macroinitiator is a metal pvp - hydroxylate obtained from the deprotonation of the terminal hydroxyl group with a metal hydride reagent such as sodium hydride or potassium hydride . the resulting second block is poly ( ester ) wherein the repeating unit is a lactide , ε - caprolactone , γ - caprolactone or other cyclic ester . the resulting second block also can be poly ( amino acid ), polymethacrylate , polymethacrylamide or their copolymers . the blocks of homopolymers are linked chemically by a covalent bond . the chemical linker between block homopolymers is a hydroxy derivative emerging from the radical initiator or chain transfer agent or an alcoholic solvent . an inert anhydrous aprotic solvent or combination of solvents such as tetrahydrofuran , toluene , diethyl ether , tert - butyl methyl ether can be used for the reaction , with tetrahydrofuran being preferred . the reaction temperature ranges from room temperature to about 70 ° c . with preferred temperature being 20 - 25 ° c . upon completion of the reaction as evidenced by 1 h nmr ( solvent peak disappears ), the reaction mixture is filtered and the block copolymer is isolated from the filtrate by precipitation into an inert organic solvent which has poor solubility for the polymer . similar solvent systems as for the precipitation of pvp - oh are used , with tert - butyl methyl ether being the most preferred solvent . optionally , any color of pvp block copolymers can be removed by charcoal treatment and a white to off - white powder of the product is obtained . vp ( 200 g , 1 . 8 mol ), ampahe ( 5 . 2 g , 0 . 018 mol ) and mce ( 5 . 0 ml , 0 . 072 mol ) were dissolved in 3000 ml of ipa . the solution was degassed by nitrogen purge for 1 hour . the radical polymerization was carried out at reflux ( about 89 ° c .) with stirring under a dry nitrogen atmosphere for 44 hours . then , after cooling to room temperature , most ipa was removed under reduced pressure and 400 ml of mibk were added . afterwards , the polymer was slowly precipitated into 5000 ml of tbme . the suspension was filtered . the filter cake was washed twice with 200 ml of tbme . the white powder thus obtained was purified by solubilization in 400 ml of mibk and 100 ml of ipa and re - precipitation from 5000 ml of tbme . finally , the product was dried under vacuum ( starting at room temperature then at 110 ° c ., 1 torr ) until disappearance of the solvent peak by nmr ( fig1 ). the pvp - oh was obtained as a white powder : 122 g . m n : 2060 , m w : 2600 , m w / m n : 1 . 3 . the instant inventors performed similar preparations of pvp - oh varying the different parameters such as the ratio of solvent / vp and the molar percentage of ampahe and mce . table 1 demonstrates that the molecular weight ( m w ) and number - average molecular weight ( m n ) of pvp - oh can be tuned effectively . the results showed also that the polydispersity index ( m w / m n ) is generally lower when mce is present . lower m w and m n are obtained when the solvent / vp ratio is higher . pvp - oh ( 100 g , 48 . 5 mmol , mn = 2060 ) was dissolved in 600 ml of anhydrous thf and sodium hydride 60 wt . % in mineral oil ( 3 . 0 g , 75 mmol ) was added . the mixture was stirred for 30 minutes at room temperature and la ( 125 g , 125 % w / w ) was then added . the anionic polymerization was carried out at room temperature with stirring under dry nitrogen atmosphere for 26 hours . excess of sodium hydride was removed by filtration . the volume of filtrate was adjusted to 900 ml by addition of thf . afterwards , the polymer solution was slowly precipitated into 4500 ml of tbme . the suspension was filtered . the filter cake was washed twice with 100 ml of tbme . the slightly yellow powder so obtained was purified by solubilization in 1215 ml of thf and 40 . 5 g of charcoal was added . the black suspension was stirred for 16 hours at room temperature then filtered over celite . the polymer was precipitated in 6000 ml of tbme . the suspension was filtered . the filter cake was washed twice with 100 ml of tbme and finally dried under vacuum until disappearance of the solvent peak by nmr ( fig2 ). the pvp - pddla was obtained as a white to off - white powder : 62 g . m n : 3140 , m w : 3445 , m w / m n : 1 . 1 . empirical equations ( equation 1 ) and ( equation 2 ) were created to evaluate the molar percent pdlla content by proton nmr and by elemental analysis , respectively . equation 1 : determination of pdlla (% mol ) content by proton nmr where i 5 . 2 ppm represents the integration of the signal at 5 . 2 ppm which corresponds to the tertiary proton on c - 10 . i 4 . 5 - 0 . 8ppm represents the integration of the signals of the protons of the pvp - oh . the contribution of the linker is omitted . equation 2 : determination of pdlla (% mol ) content by elemental analysis ( ea ) the block compositions of pvp and pdlla correspond to the repeating unit of c 6 h 9 no and c 3 h 4 o 2 , respectively . the pdlla content (% mol ) can be determined using equation ( 2 ) and based on the content of ( c ) and ( n ) atoms determined by ea . table 2 demonstrates the reproducibility of the molar percent pdlla contents as well as the narrow polydispersity using the process . table 3 demonstrates that the molar contents of pdlla in the diblock copolymer are influenced by the weight ration of lactide / pvp - oh charged to the reaction . a desired pdlla % content can be predictably obtained . as shown in fig3 , pvp - oh was synthesized by free radical polymerization of vp . vp ( 30 g , 270 mmol ), ampahe ( 0 . 7783 g , 2 . 7 mmol ) and mce ( 0 . 844 g , 10 . 8 mmol ) were dissolved in 540 ml of ipa . the solution was degassed with argon for 15 minutes . the polymerization was carried out at 85 ° c . for 24 hours . then , most of ipa was removed under reduced pressure . afterwards , the polymer was precipitated in about 300 ml of diethyl ether . the polymer was dissolved in 60 ml of methylene chloride , and precipitated again in 300 ml of diethyl ether . finally , the product ( white powder ) was transferred into a whatman cellulose extraction thimble , and purified by diethyl ether soxhlet extraction for 24 hours . the polymer was dried at 80 ° c . under vacuum overnight . as illustrated in fig3 , pvp - b - pdlla was synthesized by anionic polymerization of la using pvp - oh as macroinitiator . pvp - oh m n : 2500 ( 15 g , 5 . 77 mmol ) was dissolved in 250 ml toluene . using a dean - stark trap , all products were dried with toluene as azeotropic solvent . toluene was then removed by distillation under reduced pressure . the polymer was dried under vacuum over p 2 o 5 at 150 ° c . for 4 hours . after cooling down to room temperature , potassium hydride ( kh , 0 . 346 mg , 8 . 65 mmol ) in mineral oil was added into the flask under argon atmosphere . the flask was placed under vacuum again for 30 minutes . a volume of 75 ml freshly distilled and anhydrous thf was added to dissolve the mixture . after the polymer was dissolved , the solution was stirred for 10 minutes . la ( 30 g , 20 . 8 mmol ) and 18 - crown - 6 ( 2 . 29 mg , 8 . 65 mmol ), both previously dried under vacuum at 80 ° c . for 4 hours , were placed in a flask and then , dissolved with a volume of 150 ml of anhydrous thf . the solution was transferred into the alcoholate solution under argon atmosphere , and stirred . the polymerization was carried out at 60 ° c . for 18 hours . pvp - b - pdlla was precipitated in 1 . 2 l of cold diethyl ether . the polymer was collected and dried under vacuum at room temperature . pvp - b - pdlla ( 20 g ) was dissolved in 100 ml of dmf . 100 ml of deionized water was added to the polymer solution for micellization . the micelle solution was placed in dialysis bag ( spectrum , mw cutoff : 3500 ) and dialyzed against water ( 8 l ) at 4 ° c . for 24 hours . water was changed at least 4 times over that period . the aqueous solution was centrifuged at 11600 g at 4 ° c . for 30 minutes , and then filtered through a 0 . 2 - hum filter . the filtered solution was collected and freeze - dried during 48 hours . the diblock copolymer was stored at − 80 ° c . to avoid degradation . the sec analysis was carried out on a breeze waters system using refractometer waters 2410 ( milford , mass .) and light - scattering ( ls ) detector precision detectors pd2000 ( bellingham , mass .). ls data were collected at 15 and 90 °. sec was performed in dmf containing 10 mm libr . 200 μl of solution ( about 3 % w / v ) was injected through a series of 3 columns styragel ® waters ht2 , ht3 and ht4 at a flow rate of 1 . 0 ml / min , in order to separate mw ranging from 10 2 to 10 6 . the temperature of columns ( separation ) was maintained at 40 ° c ., while the temperature of refractometer / ls detectors was set at 35 ° c . the instrument was calibrated with monodisperse polystyrene standards . 1 h - and 13 c - nmr spectra were recorded on varian 300 and bruker amx 600 spectrometers ( milton , ontario ) in cdcl 3 at 25 ° c . the pdlla content (% mol ) was determined using equation 1 ( as noted in example 2 ). where i 5 . 2ppm represents to signal intensity at 5 . 2 ppm , and corresponds to the tertiary proton ( α - position of carbonyl group ). this signal was normalized to 1 . 1 h - nmr was also performed in deuteriated water ( d 2 o ) at 25 ° c . to evidence the presence of self - assembled micelle . ea was carried out in an oxidative atmosphere at 1021 ° c . using a thermal conductivity probe , the amount of nitrogen oxide , carbonic acid , sulfur oxide ( no 2 , so 2 and co 2 ) and water were quantified and provided the amount of nitrogen ( n ), carbon ( c ), hydrogen ( h ) and sulfur ( s ) atoms into the sample . the block compositions of pvp and pdlla correspond to the repeating unit of c 6 h 9 no and c 3 h 4 o 2 , respectively . the pdlla content (% mol ) was determined using equation 2 ( as noted in example 2 ) and based on the content of ( c ) and ( n ) atoms . maldi - tof mass spectra were obtained with a micromass tofspec - 2e mass spectrometer ( manchester , uk ). the instrument was operated in positive ion reflectron mode with an accelerating potential of + 20 kv . spectra were acquired by averaging at least 100 laser shots . dithranol was used as a matrix and chloroform as a solvent . sodium iodide was dissolved in methanol and used as the ionizing agent . samples were prepared by mixing 20 μl of polymer solution ( 6 - 8 mg / ml ) with 20 μl of matrix solution ( 10 mg / ml ) and 10 μl of a solution of ionizing agent ( 2 mg / ml ). then 1 ml of these mixtures was deposited on a target plate and the solvent was removed in a stream of nitrogen . an external multipoint calibration was performed by using bradykinin ( 1060 . 2 g / mol ), angiotensin ( 1265 . 5 g / mol ), substance p ( 1347 . 6 g / mol ), renin substrate tetradecapeptide ( 1759 . 0 g / mol ), and insulin ( 5733 . 5 g / mol ) as standards . the limiting viscosity number “ k - value ” ( or fikentscher k - value ) of homopolymer pvp - oh was determined in accordance with basf protocol ( us pharmacopoeia ) using ubbelohde viscometer type la . with the k - value , m v , is directly obtained from the following equation : m v = 22 . 22 ( k + 0 . 075k 2 ) 1 . 69 cac was measured by the steady - state pyrene fluorescence method ( benahmed et al . pharm . res . 18 : 323 - 328 2001 ). the procedure is described briefly as follows . several polymeric solutions in water containing 10 − 7 m of pyrene were prepared and stirred overnight in the dark at 4 ° c . steady - state fluorescent spectra were measured ( λ ex , = 390 nm ) after 5 minutes under stirring at 20 ° c . using a series 2 aminco bowman fluorimeter ( spectronic instruments inc ., rochester , n . y .). experiments were run in duplicate . dls was used for the determination of particle size in water . for this analysis , a series of aqueous solutions of pvp - b - pdlla with concentrations of 0 . 5 , 1 and 2 mg / ml was prepared by dissolving the polymer directly in water . the solutions were analyzed with a malvern instrument autosizer 4700 ( mississauga , ontario ). each measurement was carried out in triplicata at 25 ° c . at an angle of 90 ° c . the size distribution of particles and the intensity mean size were recorded . tga measurements were collected on a ta instrument hi - res tga 2950 thermogravimetric analyser ( new castle , del .). about 1 mg of polymer was used for the experiments . temperature ramp was 20 ° c ./ minutes between room temperature and 700 ° c . the residual amount of water was quantified after freeze - drying . pdlla and pvp contents (% w / w ) in diblock copolymer were also analyzed . mercapto compounds are good chain transfer agents capable of functionalizing chain ends and controlling indirectly polymer molecular weight ( ranucci et al . macromol . chem . phys . 196 : 763 - 774 1995 ; ranucci et al . macromol . chem . phys . 201 : 1219 - 1225 2000 ; sanner et al . proceedings of the international symposium on povidone ; university of kentucky : lexington , ky ., page 20 , 1983 ). a hydroxyl group can be introduced at the end of polymer chains by using mce as cta in free radical polymerization of vinyl monomers . however , it was reported that when vp was radically polymerized in the presence of mercapto derivatives , only a small fraction of functionalized short oligomers was obtained . moreover , a large amount of high mw polymers without terminal functionality was found in the product . this was due to the high transfer constant of thiol to vp ( ranucci et al . macromol . chem . phys . 196 : 763 - 774 1995 ; ranucci et al . macromol . chem . phys . 201 : 1219 - 1225 2000 ). in the free radical polymerization of vp , radicals can transfer to solvent and possibly to a monomer . hence , functionalized pvp had been synthesized using particular solvents ( i . e . isopropoxyethanol ). however , the functionality of pvp was not under control quantitatively ( ranucci et al . macromol . chem . phys . 196 : 763 - 774 1995 ; ranucci et al . macromol . chem . phys . 201 : 1219 - 1225 2000 ). in order to get quantitative hydroxyl - terminal pvp homopolymers and also to control their molecular weight profile , ipa , mce and a hydroxyl - bearing azo initiator ( ampahe ) have been all combined in the instant invention for the radical polymerization of vp ( see fig3 ). as shown in fig4 , maldi - tof spectrometry showed that the majority of pvp chains (& gt ; 95 %) bore a hydroxyl group at one chain end of pvp . fig4 shows a maldi - tof spectrum of pvp - oh - 2500 . most chains featured a 2 - hydroxyisopropyl group at the end , meaning that the solvent was the main specie initiating polymer growth . using diluted conditions of polymerization , maldi - tof data suggests that no significant termination by bimolecular combination occurred during the reaction , because the mass of chain end was only that of ipa plus the sodium ion ( 59 ipa + 23 na += 82 , at n equals 0 in the linear equation ). two other distributions were also observed , which were attributed to pvp bearing mce and vp as chain end , respectively . these distributions were only significant at low values of m / z (& lt ; 1000 g mol − 1 ) and represented less than 5 % of the spectrum , related to mce - and vp - terminated chains . since mce is more efficient as a chain transfer agent than ipa , all the mce were consumed early in the reaction . previous syntheses of pvp in thf ( instead of ipa ) using mce have shown that radicals may also transfer directly to monomers ( ranucci et al . macromol . chem . phys . 196 : 763 - 774 1995 ; ranucci et al . macromol . chem . phys . 201 : 1219 - 1225 2000 ). in consequence , by combining mce and ipa as cta , the synthesis of low mw pvp could be achieved with the quantitative insertion of hydroxyl group on one chain end . the molecular weights of pvp - oh were determined by sec and viscometry ( table 4 ). polydispersity indexes ( pi ) of about 1 . 5 indicated that radial transfers prevailed over bimolecular combination , being consistent with maldi - tof data . results from sec and viscometry were in good agreement . m v might be slightly overestimated because the universal equation established by basf referred to a wide range of pvp mw ( 10 3 to 10 6 ). mark - houwink constants ( k and α ) of low mw polymers differ from those having very high mw , which may explain this overestimation . analysis of pvp - oh by ea revealed that the weight ratios of n / c atoms in all pvp - oh were similar to the theoretical number ( 0 . 194 ). molecular weight profile of pvp - oh was controlled by changing ratios of both mce ( the cta ) and ipa , to vp monomer . as expected , the molecular weights of pvp - oh decreased when either cta / vp or ipa / vp ratios increased ( fig5 a - b ). in fig5 a the ratios of ipa / vp are fixed at (▪) 18 ml / g and () 15 ml / g . in fig5 b the ratio of mce / vp is fixed at (▴) 2 . 5 %. the 1 h nmr spectrum of pvp - oh - 2500 in cdcl 3 is shown in fig6 . the chemical shifts of the methylene groups of mce are 2 . 7 and 3 . 8 ppm . when mce was introduced at the end of the pvp - oh chains by forming s — c bond instead of s — h bond , the peaks of one methylene group appear at 2 . 7 and 2 . 75 ppm instead of 2 . 7 ppm , and the signal located around 3 . 8 ppm is overlapped with the peaks of pvp - oh in the spectrum . signals between 1 . 1 and 1 . 3 ppm are assigned to the methyl protons of the 2 - hydroxyisopropyl group ( ipa fragment ). these results suggest that pvp radicals transferred to both mce and ipa , and this is in agreement with the results obtained from maldi - tof spectrometry . potassium hydroxylate derivatives are widely used for anionic ring - opening polymerization of la ( nagasaki et al . macromolecules 31 : 1473 - 1479 1998 ; iijima et al . macromolecules 32 : 1140 - 1146 1999 ; yasugi et al . macromolecules 32 : 8024 - 8032 1999 ). in the instant invention , the reaction between the oh group at the chain end of pvp - oh and potassium hydride produced potassium pvp - hydroxylate as macroinitiator for the polymerization of la . water and alcohol molecules in the reaction system may initiate the formation of free pdlla homopolymer . since there are strong hydrogen bonds between pvp and water as well as alcohol , residues of these protic solvents , which interact with the polymer are difficult to remove ( haaf et al . polymer j . 17 : 143 - 152 1985 ). in the present case , low mw pvp - oh were synthesized in ipa . therefore , traces of ipa and water molecules might be contained in the polymer . two drying steps were required for solvent removal . briefly , at first , pvp - oh was dissolved in toluene and then , an azeotropic distillation was made . then , the polymer was dried under vacuum at 150 ° c . over p 2 o 5 , for 4 hours . the polymer was actually molten under these conditions , and resulted in a highly dried material . molecular weight and pi of pvp - b - pdlla were determined by sec using light - scattering and a differential refractometer as detectors ( table 5 ). as expected , pvp - b - pdlla mws were larger than that of corresponding pvp - oh , while pi decreased . anionic polymerization leads to very small pi { nagasaki et al . macromolecules 31 : 1473 - 1479 1998 ; iijima et al . macromolecules 32 : 1140 - 1146 1999 ; yasugi et al . macromolecules 32 : 8024 - 8032 1999 ). therefore , the second polymerization step might decrease the pi of the diblock copolymer , suggesting that resulting materials were diblock copolymers and not a mixture of homopolymers . another plausible explanation of lower pi was that pvp - b - pdlla having shortest pvp chains were removed by the precipitation in diethyl ether . the pdlla contents (% mol ) in the diblock copolymers was determined by 1 h - nmr , ea and sec . a 1 h - nmr spectrum of pvp - b - pdlla ( diblock - 47 ) copolymer in cdcl 3 is shown in fig7 a . the peak at 5 . 2 ppm corresponds to the — ch — group of pdlla . signals from 0 . 8 ppm to 4 . 5 ppm were assigned to all protons associated to pvp segment , which overlap the peak of pdlla methyl group ( 1 . 4 ppm ). pdlla content was calculated using equation 1 , and results are presented in table 5 . since traces of water in pvp - b - pdlla copolymers slightly overestimated the integration of pvp signals , ea was performed and the amount of nitrogen and carbon atoms were used for the calculation of pdlla content using equation 2 . as shown in equation 2 hydrogen atoms of moisture , even from the polymer , are not taken in account into the calculation of pdlla content by ea . contrary to 1 h - nmr analysis , ea results were quite constant and reproducible regardless of the moisture content . ea analysis turned out to be suitable for the quantification of pdlla content into pvp - b - pdlla . actually , pdlla content from nmr data was usually 6 to 8 % less than that determined by ea . although sec resulted in higher pdlla contents ( about 5 %) than ea , the consistence between ea , sec and nmr were quite good ( table 5 ). thermogravimetry ( tga ) was also a good method for characterizing the diblock copolymer ( liggins et al . adv . drug deliv . rev . 54 : 191 - 202 2002 ). as shown in fig8 , the trace of solvents ( less than 4 %) in the diblock polymer was removed below 100 ° c . fig8 shows a thermogravimetric profile of pvp - b - pdlla diblock copolymers ( diblock - 47 ). pdlla in the diblock copolymer was then degraded between 200 to 350 ° c ., followed by the degradation of pvp from 350 to 480 ° c . hence , the pdlla content could also be determined by tga . for instance , tga of diblock - 45 revealed a pdlla content of 48 % mol , which was in good agreement with ea results . because of their amphiphilic properties , the well - defined pvp - b - pdlla diblock copolymers can self - assemble in aqueous solution to form micelles . the size of micelles was measured by dls at different concentrations . as shown in fig9 , micelles composed of pvp - b - pdlla ( diblock - 47 ) in water at a concentration of 2 mg / ml feature a single narrow size distribution of about 40 nm . fig9 shows size distribution of micelles composed of pvp - b - pdlla ( diblock - 47 ) in water measured by dls . upon dilution towards 0 . 5 mg / ml , no change in the size of micelles was observed . the results indicate that there is no micelle aggregation in the solutions . in contrast , benahmed et al . ( c . pharm . res . 18 : 323 - 328 2001 ) reported bimodal size distributions for pvp - b - pdlla micelles . it has been suggested that the larger population reflects the aggregation of small individual micelles , governed by a secondary order of aggregation . the plausible explanation of the difference is that the molecular weights , pdlla contents and polydispersity indices reported in benahmed et al . were higher than the polymers described in the instant application . steady - state fluorescence , using pyrene as hydrophobic fluorescence probe , is well used as technique to show the formation of micelles ( zhao et al . macromolecules 30 : 7143 - 7150 1997 ; kabanov et al . macromolecules 28 : 2303 - 2314 1995 ; wilhelm et al . macromolecules 24 : 1033 - 1040 1991 ). the polarity of the surrounding environment of the probe molecules affects some vibrational bands in the fluorescence emission spectrum . the changes in the relative intensity of the first and the third vibrational bands ( i 338 / i 333 ), which is due to the shift of the ( 0 , 0 ) band from 333 to 338 nm in the emission spectrum have been suggested to examine the polarity of the microenvironment . the cac of micelles can be determined by this method . after micellar formation , pyrene partitions into the micellar phase and the water phase . since the core of the micelle is hydrophobic , the intensity ratio of i 338 / i 333 is changed . the extrapolation of tangent of the major change in the slope of the fluorescence intensity ratio leads to cac . as illustrated in fig1 , pvp - b - pdlla copolymers exhibited a cac of about 6 mg / l . fig1 shows the determination of cac of pvp - b - pdlla ( diblock 47 ) in water at 25 ° c . the micellization of pvp - b - pdlla also can be assessed by 1 h - nmr in d 2 o ( benahmed et al . c . pharma . res . 18 : 323 - 328 2001 ; yamamoto et al . j . controlled release 82 : 359 - 371 2002 ; heald et al . langmuir 18 : 3669 - 3675 2002 ). fig7 b shows an 1 h - nmr spectrum of pvp - b - pdlla ( diblock - 47 ) in d 2 o . as is shown in fig7 b , the peaks of the methyl protons (— ch 3 ) and the methine proton ( ch —) of pdlla are highly suppressed while the peaks of pvp still appear in the spectrum , providing evidences of the formation of core - shell structures . the mobility of pdlla chains in the core is highly restricted , resulting in masking of the pdlla signals . on the other hand , pvp chains are still observed by 1 h - nmr because of their high mobility as outer shell of micelles . by combining mce and ipa as chain transfer agents , pvp bearing one terminal hydroxyl group on one extremity was successfully synthesized by the first polymerization step of the process of the instant invention . pvp mws were efficiently controlled by changing ratios of either mce or ipa , to vp . terminally functionalized low mw pvp were used to efficiently synthesize the pvp - b - pdlla diblock copolymer by anionic ring - opening polymerization of d , l - lactide in the second polymerization step of the process of the instant invention . pvp - b - pdlla self - assembled into micelles in water . these micelle - forming copolymers presented very low cac of a few mg / l , leading to the formation of 40 - nm polymeric micelles . these polymeric self - assemblies based on low molecular weight pvp blocks are useful as drug carriers for parenteral administration . all patents and publications mentioned in this specification are indicative of the levels of those skilled in the art to which the instant invention pertains . all patents and publications are herein incorporated by reference to the same extent as if each individual patent and publication was specifically and individually indicated to be incorporated by reference . it is to be understood that while a certain form of the invention is illustrated , it is not to be limited to the specific form or arrangement of parts herein described and shown . it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various changes may be made without departing from the scope of the invention and the invention is not to be considered limited to what is shown and described in the specification . one skilled in the art will readily appreciate that the present invention is well adapted to carry out the objects and obtain the ends and advantages mentioned , as well as those inherent therein . the methods , procedures and techniques described herein are presently representative of the preferred embodiments , are intended to be exemplary and are not intended as limitations on the scope . changes therein and other uses will occur to those skilled in the art which are encompassed within the spirit of the invention and are defined by the scope of the appended claims . although the invention has been described in connection with specific preferred embodiments , it should be understood that the invention as claimed should not be unduly limited to such specific embodiments . indeed various modifications of the described modes for carrying out the invention which are obvious to those skilled in the art are intended to be within the scope of the following claims . | 2 |
fig1 shows a view of a device according to the present invention . fastened onto a base plate 8 is a mold cavity 1 in the form of a nickel sheet or nickel - cobalt sheet , bearing as a negative mask those microstructures that are to be impressed positively onto a microstructure substrate 6 . a mold cavity 1 of this kind is usually manufactured from a mask , by galvanic means via a microstructurally etched silicon wafer . above this mold cavity are located frame structures 2 for the casting compound ( see also fig3 and fig4 ) in the form of flat retaining frames . located above frame structures 2 in the configuration according to fig1 are multiple sprue blocks 3 , arranged next to one another , which each have a sprue gate 4 . in the alternative configuration according to fig3 only one sprue block 3 is provided , depicted in section . sprue block 3 or the sprue blocks are preferably made of steel . a long service life is achieved with this design . in the case of a material with a low heat capacity , for example plastic , it is possible , as mentioned earlier , to control heat flux . sprue gates 4 act as a reservoir for the casting compound in the form of prepolymers or monomer - containing substances , for example pmma . the sprue gates are arranged with respect to the respective associated frame structure 2 in such a way that the contraction of the casting compound occurs exclusively in the sprue gates 4 . sprue block 3 or the sprue blocks , together with retaining frames 2 fastened thereonto by means of , for example , bolts and threads 15 , are pressed and sealed against mold cavity 1 during casting by means of a holddown clamp using , for example , a toggle lever / spring mechanism as the force - applying unit . a constant compression force can , of course , also be achieved by other means , for example using pneumatic , hydraulic , mechanical , and / or electrical mechanisms . holddown clamp 5 , depicted in section in fig2 can be pressed vertically downward by a toggle lever 12 via a spacer 11 . in this position , toggle lever 12 is locked in place for the casting operation . toggle lever 12 is arranged in the center of a top plate 13 that is rigidly joined to base plate 8 via two retaining bars 9 . in the locked position , toggle lever 12 , via its pressure rod 14 guided vertically in top plate 13 , presses sprue block ( s ) 3 , together with frame structures 2 fastened beneath it , against mold cavity 1 . the downward pressure of holddown clamp 5 , which is guided in the vertical direction by retaining bars 9 , occurs against the spring force of two compression springs 7 which are also guided by retaining bars 9 . the casting compound , i . e . the prepolymer , is introduced under pressure , a constriction 16 of sprue gates ( e . g ., an injection device or a nozzle ), into respective reservoirs ( sprue gates 4 ). after distribution of the liquid casting compound into frame structure 2 , polymerization is initiated by heating base plate 8 , and therefore also the casting compound , with a heating system . depending on the composition of the casting compound , polymerization and thus solidification into a microstructure substrate 6 occur at a reaction temperature between 30 degrees c and 300 degrees c . unmolding occurs abruptly by releasing the toggle lever / spring mechanism . because of the return forces of compression springs 7 , sprue block 3 , along with frame structure ( s ) 2 fastened thereon in which the polymerized casting compound has solidified , is separated abruptly from mold cavity 1 , still at reaction temperature , vertically upward and with no shearing or filament formation . intermediate cooling , as in the case of conventional devices , is therefore not necessary . because of the constriction 16 of sprue gates 4 , or another type of undercut in the region of their ends facing toward frame structure 2 , the polymerized microstructure substrate 6 shaped by mold cavity 1 cannot be detached out of frame structure 2 or the sprue block , since the polymer residues deposited above the constrictions retain microstructure substrate 6 in frame structure 2 and in the sprue block . fig4 shows a microstructure substrate 6 , still being held by sprue block 3 , before it is separated from sprue block 3 by means of a frame - shaped tool 17 . a punched - out aluminum plate can be used as tool 17 ( see arrows in fig4 ). microstructure substrate 6 can also be separated from sprue block 3 by drilling out the shrinkage residues up to the region of the constrictions . any irregularities which then still remain can be sawn or ground off . when a nickel sheet is used as the mold cavity , mold cavity 1 can be fastened magnetically onto base plate 8 . this fastening can , of course , also be achieved mechanically , for example by spot welding or by adhesive bonding . magnetic fastening of mold cavity 1 has the advantage that it is protected from warping . a modification can be achieved by the fact that in contrast to the exemplary embodiment depicted in fig1 compression springs 7 are placed not on base plate 8 but on the outer regions of mold cavity 1 . mold cavity 1 is then automatically pressed against base plate 8 when the toggle lever arm is pressed down . to ensure that mold cavity 1 does not also rise upward when the toggle lever / spring mechanism is released , it can be joined , preferably in the region of sprue block 3 , to base plate 8 by spot welding or by other aforementioned fastening methods . the device according to the present invention can be used , for example , to manufacture optical waveguide components which meet stringent damping requirements , i . e . exhibit no bubbles , shearing defects , or filament formation . frame structure 2 can either be removed from microstructure substrate 6 or can remain on microstructure substrate 6 , in particular if it is made of plastic and if further technology steps require this . | 1 |
the following description is not to be taken in a limiting sense , but is made merely for the purpose of describing the general principles of exemplary embodiments . the scope of the invention should be determined with reference to the claims . fig1 - 3 show illustrations of a stair stringer assembly bench supporting a beam and a plurality of members configured in the form of a stair stringer . specifically , fig1 shows an illustration of a stair stringer assembly bench supporting a beam and a plurality of members in the form of a stair stringer before metal ties have been used to fasten the plurality of members to the beam 100 . fig2 shows an illustration of a stair stringer assembly bench supporting a beam and a plurality of members after metal ties have been used to fasten the plurality of members to the beam 200 . fig3 shows an illustration of a stair stringer assembly bench supporting a beam and a plurality of members flipped and configured for the application of ties to the other side of the stair stringer 300 . the stair stringer assembly bench 102 shown in fig1 - 3 includes a stop assembly 104 , a pneumatic press 106 and a plurality of fasteners 108 . the stair stringer assembly bench 102 also has a left support 110 and right support 112 . the stop assembly 104 includes a hand wheel 114 , a positioning tape 116 , and a plurality of stops 118 . on top of the stair stringer assembly bench 102 is a beam 120 and a plurality of members 122 . in fig2 , a plurality of ties 202 are affixed to the beam 120 and the plurality of members 122 . the stair stringer assembly bench 102 supports the beam 120 and the plurality of members 122 . the plurality of stops 118 in this embodiment are spaced uniformly and are shaped to engage the substantially right angle tips of the plurality of members 122 . the plurality of stops 118 cooperates with the plurality of fasteners 108 to secure the plurality of members 122 and the beam 120 in the form of a stair stringer . in this and many other embodiments the hand wheel 114 is operable to uniformly adjust the distance between stops allowing the carpenter to increase or decrease the separation between the plurality of members 122 . this provides the bench with the capability to accommodate different sizes and shapes of beams and members for a variety of different types and sizes of stair stringers . a positioning tape 116 in many embodiments allows the carpenter to easily inspect the distance between members . markings may be used in conjunction with the position tape place to show typical distances or indicate appropriate stop positions for a variety of different sizes and types of stair stringers . the positioning tape 116 thus may be used by the carpenter to quickly adjust the stop distances using the hand wheel 114 . those skilled in the art will readily recognize that there are many alternative embodiments that include different stop separation measuring features . for example , some embodiments feature a meter mechanically connected to the hand wheel that provides numeric indicia of the separation between the plurality of stops 118 . other embodiments feature no positioning tape 116 or measuring device . in this embodiment , the fasteners 108 are wing nut clamps and the plurality of stops 118 have embedded springs . the wing nut clamps can be tightened forcing the beam 120 and the plurality of members 122 up against the plurality of stops 118 compressing the embedded springs and bracing the beam 120 and the plurality of members 122 in the form of a stair stringer . alternate embodiments feature different types of fasteners 108 and stops . in some embodiments the plurality of stops 118 do not include embedded springs . in some embodiments the fasteners 108 are spring loaded . in some embodiments the stair stringer assembly bench 102 features grooved edges and cutouts for securing the beam 120 to the plurality of members 122 . in this embodiment , the pneumatic press 106 is slide - ably mounted on the stair stringer assembly bench 120 . the pneumatic press 106 can be moved along the bench as can be seen by the different positions of the pneumatic press 106 in fig1 and 2 . this allows the carpenter to easily position the pneumatic press 106 and press ties 202 over appropriate portions of the beam 120 and the plurality of members 122 . the pneumatic press 106 can then be used to press the ties into the beam 120 and the plurality of members 122 as shown in fig2 . the fasteners 108 may then be loosened to allow a carpenter to flip the beam 120 and the plurality of members 122 as shown in fig3 . the carpenter can then easily push the beam 120 up against the plurality of stops 118 allowing the carpenter to use the pneumatic press 106 to apply ties to the other side of the stair stringer form further securing the beam 120 to the plurality of members 122 . in alternate embodiments , the pneumatic press 106 is embodied as a mechanical , hydraulic or other type of press . still other embodiments feature no press at all with the carpenter securing the beam 120 to the plurality of members 122 with other fastening products such as glue , non - press ties or the like . the use of both metallic and nonmetallic ties in conjunction with the stair stringer assembly bench 120 is contemplated . the left support 110 and right support 112 can be used to hold the beam 120 or in other embodiments a plurality of beams . a convenient use of the left support 110 and right support 112 is manifest by placing the beam 120 in the supports before the plurality of members 122 are placed on the plurality of stops 118 . the beam 120 may then easily be lifted , rotated into place and secured with the fasteners 108 as shown in fig1 . it can be appreciated that the stair stringer assembly bench can be used to quickly and accurately assemble a stair stringer . the carpenter adjusts the plurality of stops 118 using the hand wheel 114 . he then places the plurality of members 122 into the plurality of stops 118 , lifts and rotates the beam 120 into place and uses the pneumatic press 106 to apply ties to secure the beam 120 to the plurality of members 122 . the carpenter then flips the resulting stair stringer form and pushes the beam 120 against the plurality of stops 118 and applies ties to the other side of the stair stringer form completing the stair stringer . those skilled in the art will recognize that the stair stringer assembly bench may be used in an assembly line fashion . lumberyards and other retailers can use the assembly bench to mass produce stair stringer assemblies for contractors saving the contractors time , effort and money . fig4 shows a schematic of an exemplary beam and a plurality of members 400 used to produce a stair stringer according to an embodiment of the invention . the beam 120 used to form the stair stringer has an “ a ” dimension 402 and a “ b ” dimension 404 . each of the plurality of members 122 has a riser dimension 406 and a tread dimension 408 . the riser dimension 406 and the tread dimension 408 determine a step to step dimension 410 . the step to step dimension is important because it determines the stop to stop separation that the carpenter should use when using the stair stringer assembly bench ( not shown ). a precut riser dimension 412 and tread dimension 414 are also shown . to construct the members of the stair stringer , the riser dimension 406 and tread dimension 408 are determined . in this exemplary case , the riser dimension 406 and the tread dimension 408 are both 9 . 0 inches . the riser dimension 406 of 9 . 0 inches and the tread dimension 408 of 9 . 0 inches results in a step to step dimension of about 12 . 75 inches . the step to step dimension for different riser dimensions and tread dimensions can be calculated using the pythagorean theorem . step to step dimension = square root of [( riser dimension ) 2 + tread dimension squared ) 2 ] to fashion two of the plurality of members 122 the carpenter can cut a rectangular piece from corner to corner . the rectangular piece should have a precut riser dimension 412 and tread dimension 414 that accounts for cutting loss . in this case , the precut riser dimension 412 and the precut tread dimension 414 are both 9 . 07 inches . in this example , the riser dimension 406 and tread dimension 408 are the same . however , the calculations are equally valid for stair stringers having different sized treads and risers . dimension a 402 represents the upper portion of the stair stringer that will extend beyond the risers and the treads . dimension b 404 represents the lower portion of the stair stringer that will extend beyond the risers and the treads . those skilled in the art will recognize that the carpenter assembling the stair stringer should know either dimension a 402 or dimension b 404 when assembling the stair stringer , to insure proper alignment of the 120 beam with the plurality of members 122 on the stair stringer assembly bench ( not shown ). fig5 is an exploded view of a stair stinger assembly 500 according to an embodiment of the present invention . a left bench support 502 and a right bench support 504 are shown . strung between the left bench support 502 and the right bench support 504 are a front panel 506 , a top surface 508 and a back surface 510 . a sliding mount 512 is slide - ably mounted on the back surface 510 . the sliding mount 512 rotate - ably supports the pneumatic press 106 . the top surface 508 has a lip 514 that extends upward to prevent the stop fixture 104 from rotating when the plurality of stops 122 is engaged by the plurality of members ( not shown ). those skilled in the art will recognize that this is an exemplary embodiment of the stair stringer assembly bench and that in other embodiments some of the parts shown may be embodied as different structures or their function may be incorporated in other parts . fig6 shows an illustration of an exemplary stop fixture according to an embodiment of the present invention 600 . the stop fixture 104 has a shaft 602 that is connected to a hand wheel 114 . connected to the shaft 602 is a plurality of stop assemblies 604 that support the plurality of stops 118 . stop plates 606 are arranged around a first stop assembly 603 and a last stop assembly 605 . a panagraph 608 connects each of the plurality of stop assemblies 604 including a first stop assembly 603 and a last stop assembly 605 . the shaft 602 has a threaded section 610 that extends between stop plates 606 arranged around the first stop assembly 603 . the shaft 602 also has a reverse threaded section 612 that extends between stop plates 606 arranged around the last stop assembly 605 . in this embodiment , turning the hand wheel 114 rotates the shaft causing the first stop assembly 603 to translate along the threaded section 610 and causing the last stop assembly 605 to translate along the reverse threaded section 612 . this results in the panagraph 608 expanding or contracting depending on the direction of rotation of the hand wheel 114 . the expansion or contraction of the panagraph 608 causes the plurality of stop assemblies 604 to move sympathetically . as the stop assemblies 604 move sympathetically , the distances between the plurality of stops 118 changes synchronously and uniformly . those skilled in the art will recognize that this synchronous and uniform change allows a carpenter to easily adjust the distance between the plurality of stops 118 . the distance can thus easily be set to the step to step distance of the stair stringer . after setting the distance the carpenter can quickly and easily place the plurality of members ( not shown ) flush against the stops . fig7 shows an exploded view of a stop fixture according to an embodiment of the present invention 700 . in this embodiment , the stop fixture 104 has a first stop plate 704 , a second stop plate 706 , a third stop plate 708 , a fourth stop plate 710 , a fifth stop plate 712 and a sixth stop plate 714 . a first hand wheel 716 and a second hand wheel 718 are also provided . the first hand wheel 716 is connected with a first shaft segment 720 , that is connected with a second shaft segment 722 having threads ( not shown ), that is connected with a third shaft segment 724 , that is connected with a fourth shaft segment 726 having opposite threads ( not shown ) as the second shaft segment 722 , that is connected with a fifth shaft segment 728 that is connected with the second hand wheel 718 . the shaft segments are supported in the stop fixture 104 by flange bearings 730 . the shaft segments are mutually connected a plurality of shaft couplings 740 . stop assemblies 742 ride on the shaft segments with a first stop assembly riding on the second shaft segment 722 , a last stop assembly riding on the fourth shaft segment 726 and the other stop assemblies riding along the third shaft segment . a panagraph constructed from bars 744 and pins 746 is coupled to the stop assemblies 742 . the stop assemblies 742 are arranged such that each stop assembly is equidistance from another stop assembly . it can be readily recognized that the parts used to construct stop fixture 104 are exemplary and that other embodiments feature different designs and structures that allow a carpenter to easily adjust the distance between the plurality of stops 118 . fig8 shows a shaft rotation assembly and a meter assembly according to an embodiment of the present invention 800 . the shaft rotation assembly 802 is connected with the meter assembly 804 . the shaft rotation assembly 802 includes a hand wheel 806 that has a rotation gear 808 . the meter assembly 804 has a meter gear 810 that is connected with the rotation gear 808 . the meter assembly 804 also includes a display 812 and a reset button 814 . when a carpenter turns the hand wheel 806 the rotation gear 808 turns proportionately . the rotation gear 808 turns the meter gear 810 as well as the shaft supporting the stop assemblies ( not shown ). the display 804 shows the amount of movement of the stop assemblies connected to the shaft . a reset button 814 allows the carpenter to reset the display value to a nominal value . using the shaft rotation assembly and meter assembly 800 the carpenter can easily adjusts the relative distances between stops allowing the carpenter to set the appropriate step to step distance for the stair stringer the carpenter is assembling . fig9 shows a stop 900 according to an embodiment of the present invention . the stop 900 has a base 902 and a head 904 . the head 904 has a contoured tip 906 adapted to accept the edge of a member ( not shown ). the base 902 and the head 904 are connected via a pair of shoulder bolts 908 and a spring 910 . the spring 910 applies a force to the base 902 and the head 904 . the force separates the base 902 from the head 904 when the stop 900 is in its quiescent state . when the edge of one of the plurality of members ( not shown ) is pressed up against the contoured tip 906 , a force is applied the spring 910 compressing the spring 910 and applying a reaction force to the member . as explained above , the stop 900 cooperates with the plurality of fasteners 108 to hold the beam ( not shown ) and the plurality of members ( not shown ) in the form of a stair stringer . fig1 - 11 show a pneumatic press according to an embodiment of the present invention . specifically fig1 shows the pneumatic press 106 in its quiescent position 1000 . fig1 shows the pneumatic press 106 in its press position 1100 . the pneumatic press 106 is generally u shaped and is attached to a mount 1002 via a pin 1004 . the mount 1002 is slide - ably attached to the stair stringer assembly bench 102 . the mount 1002 has a rotation guide 1006 proximate to the pneumatic press 106 . the pneumatic press 106 includes a piston chamber 1008 surrounding a piston 1012 that terminates in a press 1010 . the piston chamber 1008 and the piston are mounted via a rotating joint 1013 . in complementary relationship with the press 1010 is a rotating anvil 1014 . apparent in fig1 - 11 is one of the plurality of fasteners 108 cooperating with the one of the plurality of stops 118 to secure the beam 120 and the one of the plurality of members 122 in the form of a stair stringer . also apparent is the stop fixture 104 and the hand wheel 114 more fully described above . in operation , air forces the piston 1012 down on to one of the plurality of ties 202 . the force causes the rotating joint 1013 to rotate and the rotatable anvil 1014 to swivel substantially normal to the applied force . in addition , the pneumatic press 106 rotates relative to the mount via pin 1004 and is guided by the guide 1006 . the rotating joint 1013 , the rotating anvil 1014 and the pin 1004 cooperate and insure that most of the pneumatic forces during operation are distributed throughout the pneumatic press 106 with only a small amount of force being transferred the stair stringer assembly bench . while the invention herein disclosed has been described by means of specific embodiments , examples and applications thereof , numerous modifications and variations could be made thereto by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the invention set forth in the claims . | 8 |
the latch or isofix tensioning mechanism has a cable ( or other flexible attachment ) 8 - 1006 between the two latchs or isofix attachments . this cable is passed through the support arrangement — the latch carrier 5 - 1002 for the latch / isofix head and through the pivot axis on the pivot tube 8 - 1001 to the latch tensioning assembly 8 - 1002 , where it is tensioned first for rough tensioning with the cam thumb nut 8 - 1020 and for fine tension on a normal basis with the latch tension lever 5 - 1001 . the latch carrier has an aperture 5 - 1009 that allows the removal of the latch and rotation of the latch about the axis of the latch carrier so that the same latch can be used right side up for front facing mode and rear facing mode of the latch carrier . the latch carrier is pivoted on the pivot tube that may be supported on the outer side of the latch carrier or on both sides of the latch carrier by the seat structure . this may be a thin flange that is on the outside of the latch carrier and in some embodiments also on the inside of the latch carrier and besides the latch tensioning assembly 8 - 1002 . the seat frame ( support structure of the seat ) 7 - 1007 has a recess on the bottom 7 - 1015 to accommodate a rear facing or front facing orientation of the latch carrier 5 - 1002 . the latch carrier is locked for the front facing seat position with the aperture 7 - 1022 to the aperture on the seat frame 7 - 1017 and in the rear facing mode for the seat with the aperture on the foot rest 7 - 1018 . there are multiple inclinations possible with the multiple holes 7 - 1018 . a rod or pair of rods secure the 7 - 1022 in either position . the latch carrier 5 - 1002 has a cable lead in 8 - 1003 to support the cable as it curves through 90 degrees into the pivot tube 8 - 1001 . the pivot tube may have a slot on its side to accommodate the cable 8 - 1004 or be split in two parts . if a split structure is used the outer part need not be a tube but can be a rod . the pivot tube supports the cable up to the inner opening of the tensioning assembly as shown in fig1 - 02 . both the tensioning assembly and the latch carrier may have bushes that strengthen them for the support of the pivot tube 8 - 1001 . the tensioning assembly 8 - 1002 has a tensioning mechanism that pulls ( or pushes ) the cable away from it natural axis between the two pivot tubes , thereby tensioning the cable 8 - 1006 . the cable goes over a pulley 5 - 1021 ( or a pin ) which is secured to a cam tension bar 5 - 1022 that goes through a section of the main body of the tensioning assembly 8 - 1002 , through an aperture at the front and then through an aperture in the cam pin 5 - 1019 , and then ha its threaded end attached to the threads of the cam thumb nut 5 - 1020 . the cam pin 5 - 1019 is inserted in to the latch tension lever 5 - 1001 ahead of the insertion of the 5 - 1022 . the latch tension lever 5 - 1001 is contoured at its contact surface with the body of the tension assembly to have an increasing distance from the central axis of the cam pin 5 - 1019 to the surface of the body of the tensioning assembly , thereby moving the cam pin 5 - 1019 away from the body of the tensioning assembly , thereby pulling the cam tension bar and the attached pulley and in turn pulling the cable thereby tensioning the cable . it may be seen from the fig1 - 03 that the latch tension lever has a slot to accommodate the cam nut end and the cam tension bar as the lever is raised and depressed . load limiters that may be used with the harness and tether in crs . fig1 - 04 to fig1 - 12 show several embodiments for a load limited that may be used on either the harness ( as shown ), for the tether ( with end attachments modified ), for the attachment point for the tether on the vehicle , or as an attachment to the car seat belt latch attachment specifically tuned for the needs of children in boosters or child seats , or specially custom tuned for occupants as an after market product that can be inserted into any car seat belt latch point . this class of load limiters are designed to have controllable force displacement characteristics by bending strips of material , cutting materials such as metal or compressing blocks of materials such as compressible foams with known crush characteristics . notably each of the load limiters disclosed may have multiple load levels that are activated sequentially as the load progresses over time protect occupants of different masses . with regard to the bendable strips , the width and thickness of the strips at different points along their length of displacement will determine the force at that point of displacement . the principal application in the crs is to have constant forces over a given displacement which may be achieved with a constant cross section for the strip for that length . however , it may be desired to have multiple “ plateau ” s of constant force to cater for different loads on the crs . this can be done with multiple cross sections along the length of the strip . for example in fig1 - 04 , 05 , 08 , 09 , 10 we have a cut out on the strip that changes the cross section for part of the length . when this section is bent it will show a lower force whereas when the full section is bent it will have a larger constant force . one issue that needs to be overcome for a lower initial force plateau and a higher force plateau later , is the problem that the smaller cross section needs to pull the wider cross section through the process of bending . if the differences in cross section are large the narrow section will begin to extend substantially in preference to bending the wider cross section . the solution in fig1 - 06 and 1 - 07 among other benefits , addresses this problem by having two separate strips . this embodiment will be described later . the embodiments shown bent the strip over a roller ( although a low friction rod may be used ) the angle over which it is bent may be varied . also the strip may be supported on the side before bending by a retaining structure as in the body 7 - 2005 of the load limiters . for the load limiters that bend strips , one of the attachment points for the harness or the tether is to the end of the strip 7 - 2002 . the roller is pivotally attached to the housing or body 7 - 2005 which attached to the second attachment point . notably the first and second attachment points can be the attachment points to the harness tensioning webbing section and the two harness sections that go to the front of the child seat below the child . fig1 - 04 , 05 , 08 , 09 show versions with a cut out on the strip that will reduce the force between the attachment points as the reduced section 7 - 2006 of the strip is bent around the main roller . the force will rise when the full section reaches the main roller . any of the embodiments shown can have this reduced section feature . moreover the reduced section feature can have a variable section to have a varying force . fig1 - 06 and 1 - 07 use two strips for two “ plateaus of force . the first deformable strip 7 - 2002 a has a slot in it 7 - 2007 which engages a pin attached to a hole 7 - 2008 on the second strip . when there is tension applied between the upper and lower hooks , the first strip bends over the roller as the pin slides through the slot 7 - 2007 . when the pin 7 - 2008 reaches the end of the slot the second strip is also pulled along and therefore its cross section is also bent and therefore the force rises to the second plateau . in the embodiments shown in both fig1 - 06 and 1 - 07 , the first strip 7 - 2002 a is bent over the second strip 7 - 200 b . the second strip deforms first and there is marginal force on the first strip 7 - 2002 a . once the end of the slot is reached the first strip 7 - 2002 a is also pulled and the aggregate force increases . multiple strips can be used for this for multiple force plateaus . in fig1 - 06 the pin hole and the slot are indexed and a pin ( not shown ) holds them together . in fig1 - 07 the same pin is used to also hold the upper hook 7 - 2004 for cost economies and compact architectures . fig1 - 05 shows any of the load limiter architectures with bending or cutting strips compression of material , extension of materials as disclosed herein and in prior disclosures , for use in child seats , wherein the body of the load limiter 7 - 2005 is attached to the bottom of the seat ahead of the opening customarily used for the harness adjustment latch . this embodiment includes a harness adjusting latch 7 - 2020 and obviates the need for a separate latch . the harness is threaded through an aperture in the front of the seat below the child as usual and enters the latch body 7 - 2020 . it is held against the body with a spring loaded webbing control latch catch 7 - 2021 which is pushed against the rise in the body — the retaining wall 7 - 2022 upon tension of the harness during impact and thereby locks the harness . adjustment of the harness length but the user is effected by pulling the lever 7 - 2023 that acts against the spring loaded latch catch 7 - 2021 to allow movement of the harness support webbing in either direction for correct adjustment . upon release of the lever the spring loading of h 7 - 2021 pushes the webbing against the retain wall 7 - 2022 of the latch housing and prevents tension on the harness from releasing the control webbing . fig1 - 05 shows a bent strip version of the load limiter . fig1 - 08 uses multiple rollers 7 - 2000 , 7 - 2001 ( or pins ) for bending the strip . the width of the slots may be adjusted at different distances along the strip to synchronize the force of bending on each roller as the strip reaches it . if a fixed width slot is used on 7 - 2002 the force will progressively increase as each roller encounters the strip without the slot for the first time . to reduce the distance between the load points of the load limiter , the support points may be changed as in fig1 - 09 where the support on the body lies close to the front hook . this can be used for any of the load limiter architectures ie using bending strips cutting strips extending or compressing materials as in this disclosure and prior disclosures . such architectures will help negotiate curves on the supporting structure of the seat . fig1 - 10 shows an architecture of any of the strip bending or cutting material extending or compressing versions that can be installed to a vehicle seat belt assembly by the user . the 7 - 2026 — insert for car seat belt latch is clicked into the car seatbelt latch and on the other side of the load limiter there is a cavity and latch 7 - 2027 — latch for car seat belt latch insert mounted on load limiter that accepted the car seat belt insert attached to the loop of the belt . the load limiter may be tuned for children in boosters or for child seats and indeed customized for occupants of any mass . moreover , it can be tuned for the stiffness of the car to optimize protection with the load limiter . moreover , it can be tuned for the stiffness of the car to optimize protection with the load limiter . fig1 - 11 , shows an embodiment that cuts a strip of material ( usually metal . the slots 7 - 2011 of different lengths allow the cutting edges to meet the ends of the slots at different times thereby allowing multiple plateaus of force . fig1 - 12 , shows a load limiter that is on the front of the harness . this may in some embodiments be a part of the chin support disclosed . however it may be a stand alone load limiter separate for each of the sides of the harness or combined together with a chest clip type lock to hold them together . fig1 - 12 shows the harness threaded through the chest plate ( separate left and right or split with a latch holding them together ) the harness is threaded through the slots in the chest plate 9 - 2 - 003 , 9 - 2004 and is routed over the crush pads 9 - 2009 and 9 - 2010 and are then threaded through the lower slots 9 - 2001 on the chest plate oleft and right sections . the ( optional ) cover or chin support surface covers the assembly . it may be split with a latch between the sides or attach onto one or both of the chest plate left and right sections . the crush pads — level 1 9 - 2009 and crush pads level 2 — 9 - 2010 are tuned to have crush parameters that provide plateaus of force required for 2 different masses of children . ( multiple crush pad levels can be used for multiple levels of child masses ) the thicknesses are chosen to give the required level of crush during the peak loadings that need to be mitigated . the headrest / shoulder guard / thorax guard assembly is designed to protect the head in particular during a side impact or for that matter fast lateral acceleration . the simpler embodiment in fig2 - 01 , 02 has the shoulder guard attached to the headrest . the actuation of the shoulder guard sideways by the shoulder will pull the headrest along with it . the linkage arrangement that comprises the two headrest pivot support 10 - 1002 attached to the links 10 - 1003 which are pivotally attached to seat shell through the headrest support 10 - 1006 which may be a part of the mechanism for raising and lowering the headrest . the shoulder guard is attached to the headrest . the links are angled as shown in the figures and therefore as the headrest moves laterally it is forces to rotate thereby ensconcing the head . this is seen in fig2 - 02 fig2 - 03 , 03 a are variations of another embodiment that has the shoulder guard 10 - 1000 and thorax guard 10 - 1010 in this embodiment ( alternative embodiments may have any protrusion that can be pushed by the child &# 39 ; s body sideways upon impact ) that are attached with slides to the rear of the shell or the headrest mechanism for raising and lowering the headrest and harness support . leaf springs supported the shell or support point indirectly attached to the shell are attached to the headrest or the shoulder guard to return them to the centered normal position . such assemblies are well disclosed in the background art . in this embodiment the same actuation of the headrest occurs as in the previous embodiment of fig2 - 01 and 02 however the actuation of the headrest is done with an actuation pivot 10 - 1017 attached to the headrest and with a pin that slides in a slot 10 - 1016 on the shoulder slide — actuating arm 10 - 1015 which is attached to the shoulder slider 10 - 1012 . this particular slider uses a slots 10 - 1013 sliding on pins 10 - 1014 attached to the shoulder slide back plane 10 - 1011 which is attached directly or indirectly to the shell . fig2 - 04a , 04 b and 04 c show different positions of the shoulder guard / thorax guard and the actuation of the headrest as a result . the shoulder slide has a actuating arm 10 - 1015 that has a slot 10 - 1016 that is pivotally and slidably attached to the pivot 10 - 1017 on the headrest . the lateral movement of shoulder guard 10 - 1000 or the thorax guard 10 - 1010 force the slider 10 - 1012 laterally resulting in the actuating arm 10 - 1015 moving laterally . this pushes the headrest attachment pivot sideways thereby enabling the movement as shown of the headrest which ensconces the head . the slot 10 - 1016 on the actuator arm accommodates the change in the distance from the pivot on the headrest and the actuator arm changes as the headrest reorients and rotates . the sliding arrangement of the shoulder slider can use any sliding arrangement disclosed in the background art . the slider may also be spring loaded to return to the centered position using spring arrangements well disclosed in the background art . the load limiting module shown in fig2 - 05 is used to limit peak loadings on the harness of a child seat or other occupant support to reduce injury . the embodiment shown has a deformable strip that is pulled over a roller when the force on the upper hook exceeds a threshold thereby limiting the load . the assembly of the embodiment shown in fig2 - 05 is illustrated with the exploded view of fig2 - 07 . 1 . an end stop rivet or other protrusion ( not shown ) is attached to the small hole at the end of the deformable strip 7 - 2002 . this protrudes inwards within the deformable strip and engages the roller after the strip bends and slides through the body with impact force . 2 . the deformable strip 7 - 2002 is inserted into the body 7 - 2005 so that the end of the bent section aligns with the lateral hole on the body 7 - 2005 . 3 . the side holes on the lower hook 7 - 1003 is aligned with the hole on the body . 4 . the side rollers 7 - 2014 are designed to be take the load of the pin 7 - 2013 supported by the sides of the hole on the body 7 - 2005 and the lower hook 7 - 2004 . the main roller 7 - 2000 is designed to facilitate the bending and movement of the deformable strip . the assembly of the side rollers the main roller all supported on the pin is pushed through the aligned holes on the body and the lower hook . 5 . the sheath 7 - 1012 slides over the body and ( optionally ) locks with a protrusion on the hole on the top of the body . finally the top hook is riveted to the deformable strip . several variations of the process are possible such as the use of a reduced form of the lower hook with topological equivalents that is simply a “ u ” channel with holes on the side flanges and where the webbing is passed over the center section of the u channel or topological equivalents . the lower hook can be removed completely and a slot on the body can be used to attach the webbing . fig2 - 07 shows some of the features of the sheath i a preferred embodiment . 7 - 2015 shows a recess that supports the ends of the pin and the side rollers and prevents them from falling out . several features are shown . the recesses 7 - 2018 will support the deformable strip at the center of the body to avoid skewing of the deformable strip as it is pulled over the roller . a recess 7 - 2016 allows the end stop ( rivet ) to move through the body as the deformable strip is pulled through , to finally engage the roller to stop further movement . notably the invention does not need the rollers , but can simply have the strip rolling over the pin with sliding friction . the operation of the headrest actuating mechanism has been disclosed in a prior application and this disclosure provides additional aspects of this mechanism . fig3 - 01 shows the mechanism for actuating the headrest using the sliding shoulder guard . this embodiment in addition has a folding shoulder guard that folds in upon intrusion forces from the outside . the fig is depicts the position following a side impact left side and following intrusion that folds in the shoulder guard . note in the shoulder guard the protruding lip of the rear section of the shoulder guard that will engage the front flap of the shoulder guard so that inertial loading resulting from the shoulder on impact will push it out . the fig also shows the position of the two links after the inertial loading on the shoulder guard actuates the headrest . the link on the near side relative to the impact as seen is approximately orthogonal to the headrest support on the seat shell or mechanism for raising and lowering the headrest and harness attachments and shoulder guards in this embodiment , while the link on the far side lies flat or close to the support . in the event of intrusion forces on the headrest , the headrest is forced inwards and therefore pivots on the near side link and pushes the far side link further towards lying flat with the support thereby locking the links from returning to the normal position which necessitates the far side link rising up away from the support . this will ensure that the head is protected by the headrest that ensconces the head . fig3 - 02 shows the mechanism for actuating the headrest to protect the head as in fig3 - 01 here the ratchet mechanism has two ratchet keys ( pawls ), one on each side spring loaded to contact the surface of the ratchet teeth on the static backplane of the shoulder guard slider mechanism ( directly or indirectly with the mechanism for raising and lowering the seat , attached to the seat ) that is spring loaded to touch the ratchet teeth . notably the ratchet key on the side of the impact and inertial movement of the shoulder guard and shoulder slider will engage upon movement in that direction while the ratchet on the far side will simply slide over the ratchet teeth because of the inclination of the teeth surfaces and the inclination of the ratchet teeth . the pawls are enabled to rest on a flat surface without teeth in the center section under normal conditions and are therefore not able to engage any of the saw tooth sections . the ratchet will prevent the slider from sliding back following the intrusion force or external force thereby preventing the shoulder guard from moving back to the normal position in the event of intrusion thereby protecting the child and also preventing the headrest from being actuated back to the normal position . fig3 - 03 also shows the backward rotation of the far side link upon intrusion forces pushing the headrest in and thereby forcing it to pivot about the nearside link . this ensured that the guard ensconces the head . it also shows the folding shoulder guard upon intrusion forces pushing it in . moreover the ratchet with teeth engaging on the impact side ( left side for the child ). fig3 - 04 , fig3 - 05 shows a mechanism for raising and lowering the headrest assembly that includes the harness support . the metal rod shown is spring loaded within a slot on the sliding panel of the headrest raising and lowering mechanism , that has the slots for the harness as shown . if the rod is moved against the spring loading away from the seat back it will rise out of the slots on the seat back and therefore allow the panel to move up and down . when the rod is released to return to the bottom of the slot it will engage a notch and thereby lock the headrest assembly in a vertical position represented by that notch . the metal rod has another function in this embodiment . because of its strength the harness passes over it and down to the splitter plate that holds the harness in tension with a tensioning webbing as amply disclosed in the background art . fig3 - 05 shows in addition the position of a section of the harness . as it is attached near the center plane on one or both of the front and back of the seat , it i slightly inclined as shown . however the rod is horizontal . there will therefore be a greater force on he webbing of the harness on the outer edge than on the inner edge , resulting in damage to the harness and possible rupture in the event of a rough rod preventing the harness webbing from sliding inwards upon the high tension forces encountered during front impact . if the sliding friction between the webbing of the harness and the rod is lower the harness webbing slides inwards and bunches up on the inner edge , or even gets forced into the inner side edge of the slot . such bunching up and getting forced into the inner edge of the slot reduces its ability to slide over the rod during such an impact . the elastic nature of the webbing of the harness is a factor in the design of the shock absorption of the harness during front impact and this is adversely affected as a result as the section of the harness behind the slot and the tensioning webbing attached thereto cannot stretch to accommodate the movement of the child upon such from impact as such stretching would require the webbing to move over the bar and through the slot on the slot which leads the harness to the front of the seat from the back . this problem is accentuated if there are load limiting devices installed on the harness webbing on the rear of the seat or replace the splitter plate or are attached on any section of the harness tensioning webbing . such splitter plates and harness tensioning webbing are well disclosed in the background art . this invention provides a solution for this problem fig3 - 06 with a pair of sleeves ( forms ) that are tapered as shown in the fig . this can be attached rigidly to the lateral rod so that the webbing can slide over it or be slidably attached to rotate about the rod and act as a pulley for the webbing . the latter embodiment will require an end stop on the inner side to prevent the sleeve from moving inwards upon tensile force on the harness that will have a component towards the center along the rod . the profile of the sleeve can be such that it optimally prevent the bunching of the webbing towards the center and prevents it from moving to the edge of the slot . this will therefore aid in allowing the webbing the move freely over the rod and the slot thereby enabling the use of the rear section of the webbing of the harness , the tensioning section and any installed load limiting devices mounted at the back of the seat . fig3 - 07 in addition shows an inset with the angled webbing the orientation of the sleeve . the sleeve would normally be made of a low friction material such as ptfe or smooth polypropylene ( for cost reasons ). smooth glass filled plastics such as nylon or polypropylene could be effective as the glass on the surface could help lower the friction both against the rod and the webbing . metal sleeves can of course be used or lowering the friction if weight is not critical . one of the main challenges in designing load limiters for a seatbelt restraint system is that it needs to accommodate different passenger sizes and therefore masses of the passengers . larger passengers with higher masses will require higher forces to decelerate them whereas smaller passengers with smaller masses will need smaller forces . the compounding problem is that while a smaller force for a large passenger of high mass will provide good performance in terms of head and other peak acceleration parameters the excursion of the head and other body elements may be excessive . this balance is therefore a critical one in designing a belt system . the solution of this invention uses the information inherent in a retractor to infer the size of the passenger and then use the architecture of the load - limiter / retractor to provide the appropriate force for decelerating the occupant . there is also a second class of embodiments that use multiple load limiters that engage at different levels of excursion of the webbing during impact . for example a first load limiter will resist the excursion for a pre - determined excursion threshold ( that is adequate for a small mass passenger ) and then a second load limiter will additionally engage when the first excursion threshold is passed . thereafter there may be additional load limiters that may engage at higher thresholds for even heavier passengers . another factor that enters into a load - limiter / retractor combination is that the webbing that is wound on the retractor spool can slip or tighten and therefore reduce the effectiveness of the load limiter . there are therefore benefits in reducing the slip of the webbing on a seatbelt in the sections that are wound on the spool of the retractor . yet another factor that can be helpful for load limiting using the architecture of a retractor is the elastic properties of the wound webbing or other materials on the spool . compression of these materials can be useful to get suitable load limiting characteristics . the adaptive load - limiter / retractor of this invention has several technologies that can each provide a solution for the one or more of the above challenges . they can be used in combination to further enhance the performance of the load limiter . the figures show embodiments of the invention . the figures do not show the automatic locking mechanism of the retractor but only the spring for the retractor . this is well disclosed in the background art . any of the architectures of such locking arrangements such the pendulum or centrifugal triggers can be used with the present invention . the first technology used to capture the information of the size of the passenger and therefore infer and provide the appropriate force in the load limiter , is the length of the webbing that is dispensed by the spool . the spool has a fixed diameter and therefore the number of turns of webbing on the spool will provide the information on the length dispensed . large occupants will need more webbing dispensed and therefore there will be less webbing left on the spool after dispensing enough webbing to buckle up the occupant . therefore the effective diameter or radius of the wound up webbing on the spool will be smaller than for a small passenger that will need less length of webbing to buckle up ( less dispensed webbing ). this invention uses a load limiter along the axis of the adaptive load - limiter / retractor . notably as the force on the webbing holding the occupant is place is derived from the force on the webbing that touches the wound webbing on the spool or the webbing that is tangential to the roll of webbing on the spool , the force multiplied by the radius of the spool and the spooled up webbing will be the moment of the force that counters the moment created by the twisting of the load limited at the center of the adaptive load - limiter / retractor . as the diameter of the spooled up webbing on the spool rises — with the smaller occupants requiring shorter webbing lengths to be “ buckled up ”— a smaller force is required to create the same moment to twist the load limiter as the distance or radius of the spool with spooled up webbing has risen . therefore a smaller force is applied to control a smaller occupant and the larger force is used to control a larger occupant during impact . this architecture of this invention will work well of the ratio of the spool diameter to the thickness of the webbing is in a range that will imply that that spooling up the webbing changes the diameter of the spool with the webbing enough to change the force by what is required . while this is one embodiment of the present invention it may require thick webbing which is both more expensive and less pliable . several alternative versions of the invention overcome this challenge . a fill tape may be attached to the webbing or simply overlaid on the webbing to “ build up ” the thickness of each turn of the webbing and therefore quickly build up radius on the spool as the webbing is retracted for smaller occupants and therefore provide a smaller force from the load limiter . the fill tape can be attached at the end to the webbing or at intervals to ensure that it stays with the webbing and gets spooled in with the webbing . fill tape can be used for other purposes as well such as providing a surface on the webbing that prevents slippage of the webbing on other layers of itself on the spooled section , and also for providing a in the spooled up section a compression characteristic that helps with the load limiting function of the adaptive load - limiter / retractor . moreover the further control of the variation of the radius of the wound webbing with adjoining fill tape can be achieved by changing the thickness of the fill tape along its length . such variation of thickness will change the rate of change radius with the spooled in length and therefore provides a wide variation in forces available for different sized occupants where as a fixed thickness fill tape will have a constant change in radius with spooled in length . a second tool for varying the load limiter force at the time of impact or tension of the webbing is with a multi element load limiter that are installed concentrically along the axis of the adaptive load - limiter / retractor . this approach can be used on its own or with the spool diameter approach noted above . the first load limiter can be the widest tube with one end attached to the spool and the other end attached to the retractor drum or mechanism which is locked during impact ( in the absence of a retractor it is simply fixed to the housing and becomes a simple load limiter ). additional tubes ( and a rod at the center is an option ) are also attached at one end to the spool and at the other end are enabled to have lag in engaging the retractor . this is shown in the embodiments with a slot open over an arc that engages a pin after the pin has traversed the angle of the arc thereby offering support after a pre - determined rotation of the spool . the first tube may engage immediately upon rotation of the spool as shown in the figures . additional tubes or rod for the center may be used with slots of varying angles of arc to control the delay for engaging the load limiter upon rotation of the spool . an alternative embodiment will have fixed connections for all the load limiter tubes / rod on the retractor or fixed side and have the angular slots for delayed engagement on the spool side . this approach will offer an initial force from the first load limiter tube / rod to offer the resistance required for the smallest passenger , and then after the spooling out of a predetermined length of webbing and rotation of the spool to achieve this the second load limiter tube / rod will engage and so on for the additional load limiter tubes / rod . fig4 - 01 shows a cross section of an embodiment of the invention . 12 - 001 is the spool that has axial support on the sides on the housing 12 - 010 . the spool is attached to multiple load limiter tubes / rod ( in this case one tube and a rod ) with pin 12 - 006 . the load limiter tubes / rod are loosely fitted to the spool to allow rotation if needed , and to each other . on the other side the load limiter tubes / rod are each attached separately to the retractor drum or other retractor assembly . in this embodiment load limiter a which is a tube is attached with pin 12 - 2007 to the retractor drum 12 - 005 . load limiterbwhich is a rod has a slightly longer length to protrude outside load limiter a and is attached with a pin 12 - 008 which is in a slot 12 - 011 that does not engage the pin until the spool has rotated through a pre - determined angle . this arrangement will enable the second tool as noted above for load limiting . this second tool for load limiting does not require ( but can work with ) the information of the effective spool radius . it also therefore does not need a retractor ( manual or automatic ) to spool in the webbing and change the effective radius . the first tool for load limiting can be with the design of the webbing to be thick enough to provide the variation in spool effective radius or alternatively with fill tape that provides the required thickness . fig4 - 06 shows three effective radii of the spool as the webbing ( and fill tape ) unwind from the spool . for a small passenger the effective radius will be r3 . as the webbing ( and fill tape ) are dispensed for larger passengers , the radius will reduce to r2 and then to r1 for the largest occupant , thereby reducing the moment arm of the force and effectively increasing the force to be in equilibrium with the torque provided by the load limiters at the axis of the spool . the retractor in the embodiment shown in the figs winds up the spring 12 - 009 as the webbing ( and fill tape ) is dispensed and reels in the webbing to return to its normal state . there are many architectures for retractors and this is just one architecture for the sake of illustration of the invention . the invention will work with any retractor manual or automatic with a lock manual or automatic during the deployed state . fig4 - 02 shows different views of an embodiment that is attached to the vehicle , seat or other fixed object . fig4 - 03 is an exploded view that shows the parts of the embodiment . fig4 - 04 shows the webbing with the fill tape in the coiled state on the spool . fig4 - 05 shows another embodiment that can be attached to webbing rather than to the vehicle / seat / fixed object . the operation is the same . fig4 - 08 shows a fill tape of varying thickness to change the rate of change of radius with spooled in length of webbing . a third tool for varying the load limiter force is by changing effective length of the load limiter rod or tubes in the center of the spool . fig4 - 07 is an embodiment of this arrangement . the spool 12 - 001 is adapted 12 - 013 , to have a splined section for a splined ( or slotted ) hollow shaft section 12 - 015 . this splined tubular axle can move axially with regard to the spool but will transfer torque to the spool . it is attached to the load limiter tube 12 - 016 ( in this case only one load limiter tube is used and it may also be a rod ) with the pin 12 - 007 however distinct in this embodiment the attachment to the load limiter is with a slot 12 - 017 or other connection that will allow movement of the connector to the shaft 12 - 015 to engage longer or shorter lengths of the load limiter . typically if a slot is used the properties of the load limiter element with the reduced cross section near the slot needs to be considered . other connection means can be splines . therefore with this arrangement the hollow shaft 12 - 015 can slide up and down the load limiter engaging different points along its length thereby changing the torque / twist characteristics of the load limiter . it is now necessary to provide the load limiter information about the size of the occupant . this information can be generated by knowing the turns of the spool ( with our without the fill tape ). this information is transferred from the spool to the sliding hollow shaft 12 - 015 with the threads on the surface 12 - 018 that engage the housing of the adaptive load - limiter / retractor . as the spool rotates the shaft 12 - 015 moves axially thereby engaging more or less of the length of the load limiter . the embodiment shown has the threads overlapping the splines . however other embodiments may have them on separate sections of the cylindrical surface of the 12 - 015 . the adaptive load - limiter / retractor of this invention may be used for seat belts in all types of vehicles including cars and on harness systems in child seats where the retractor load limiter will replace the front adjuster strap . it may be mounted on the vehicle or seat or in alternative embodiments be mounted on a length of webbing . notably variations of the adaptive load - limiter / retractor can be to eliminate the automatic spring operated retractor with a manual retractor by manually spooling in the webbing and locking in place . some child seat harness systems may be better served with such an arrangement . a special case of the retractor locking mechanism is shown in fig4 - 09 and 10 . this locking mechanism has a ratchet 12 - 020 that rotates with the retractor drum 12 - 005 . as it rotates the key 12 - 021 engages successive notches on the ratchet wheel and prevents motion back . the ratchet key is spring loaded in this embodiment against the ratchet . when the retractor needs to be released the key is pulled back with a cable , webbing or other means attached at 12 - 025 . this allows the retractor to release and feed out webbing against the tension of the retractor spring 12 - 009 . the cable , webbing or other means may also be string loaded to bring back the cable to the position that engages the ratchet key with the ratchet . additional features are shown in fig4 - 09 and 10 . secondary spring 12 - 022 “ clicks ” the motion of the ratchet key between two positions and gives tactile feedback on the cable or webbing . in addition the gongs 12 - 024 with different frequencies for the two domes shown can be struck by the gong strike 12 - 023 when the ratchet key is in each of the two positions thereby giving audio feedback to the user on the position of the key . as shown in fig5 - 47 the slider for the shoulder guard has many embodiments . two additional embodiment as in fig5 - 48 , and 49 show the center section and the side sections separate and enabled to be mounted together with rivets or fixed means in one of the embodiments in different positions to give greater or less shoulder room for the child and depending on the width of the seat shell in which it is installed . in the other embodiment the “ saw tooth ” serrations are utilized where it is easier to move the sides towards the center if the attachment of the sides to the center are spring loaded as with a rivet or bolt but with a spring interposed as well disclosed in the background art . however , during a loading of either of the sides from the inside the saw tooth locks and does not permit the relative movement between the center and the sides . the spring loading holds the saw teeth interlocked . fig5 - 50 shows the form used for leading the harness over the support rod . however sometimes it is desirable to have this pulley or form field installable . fig5 - 51 shows a version where it is two parts that can be locked together ( 2 parts that interlock in this case the two parts are complements of each other ) in some embodiments the mating surfaces are such that they lie substantially along the circumference of a circle about the axis of the rod and therefore when there is a radial load as during an impact the mating surfaces are squeezed together and do not slide apart . another embodiment has serrations that interlock on these mating circumferential surfaces that interlock when there is a radial load . a further improvement has a saw tooth shaped serration pattern that allows easier sliding in of the two parts but locks when there is an attempt to separate the parts . the radial force will help this process of locking the mating saw tooth surfaces load limiters that may be used with the harness and tether in crs . fig7 - 01 to fig7 - 04 , 4 a , 4 b show several embodiments for a load limited that may be used on either the harness ( as shown ) or for the tether ( with end attachments modified ) this class of load limiters are designed to have controllable force displacement characteristics by bending strips of material . the width and thickness of the strips at different points along their length of displacement will determine the force at that point of displacement . the principal application in the crs is to have constant forces over a given displacement which may be achieved with a constant cross section for the strip for that length . however , it may be desired to have multiple “ plateau ” s of constant force to cater for different loads on the crs . this can be done with multiple cross sections along the length of the strip . of course variable cross sections will give variable force profile as desired . the embodiments shown have several approaches for securing the lower webbing section of the harness system . some have slots in the housing body and others have a removable pin that secured the harness adjustment webbing at the lower end . the housing is either a section of tubing or another cross section of channel or bent metal as shown in fig7 - 04 , 4 a , 4 b . many embodiments have an assembly wedge to keep the deformable strip in contact with the roller . this wedge can be of a flexible material and designed to “ wedge in ” with a small lip at the front that lies over the bottom edge of the sections of the housing . alternatively it may be mounted to the housing ( eg body tube , or channel sections ) with pins or slots and engagement protrusions . the embodiments shown have a recessed lip for strip support that is designed to calibrate the extent of bending of the strip . the position of this lip will determine the angle over which the deformable strip bends about the roller and therefore the force that is required for activating the load limiter . the embodiment in fig7 - 04b has a pin that attaches the lower webbing section . this may have a cotter pin to secure it or other means that ensure it does not slide out . the pro - active side guard embodiments shown are designed to have a gap to allow free movement of the harness through the slots for the harness on the rear backplane that raises and lowers the head rest . the shoulder guard is therefore designed to be below the slot position and the head rest above the slot position . considering however that the shoulder guard with its lateral movement ( upon engaging the inertial mass of the child in the seat during lateral impact ), actuates the headrest about the connection point at 15 - 3003 , 15 - 3004 , the shoulder guard needs to be designed with a protrusion in the center to allow the slot on the shoulder guard to engage the pin on the headrest . some embodiments in addition as shown may have a recess on the headrest that fits the protrusion on the shoulder guard that can transfer the required force . in some embodiments the pin attaching the headrest to the shoulder guard can have a reduced function of simply indexing the protrusion to the recess in the headrest or in other embodiments completely eliminated . the headrest is attached to the height adjustment backplane 15 - 3005 with a pair of links 15 - 3002 that in the normal position are angled and when actuated by the shoulder guard , rotate the headrest as shown in the fig7 - 05 , 6 , 7 ( fig7 - 05 shows the back plane as well ). fig7 - 08 shows the normal position of the headrest and the side guard . a major challenge in evaluating the crash performance of occupant support units ( units ) in vehicles when they are linked together in arrays is that the forces and kinematics of the array will depend on the number and configuration of the individual occupant supports in that array and the forces that act between them . as a result a conventional approach to testing these arrays would need to destructively test the complete array as it is deployed in for example an aircraft . moreover , the sled facility will need to accommodate this very large array as well . these two requirements of destructively testing a number of such occupant supports on each test and the use of a large sled for testing can create serious cost barriers for the testing and certification of these arrays resulting in the economic penalty of testing and certification deterring the use of these arrays on their economic merit . therefore a cost effective method for testing such arrays will be enabling for the use of such arrays in vehicles such as aircraft . high occupant densities in such arrays can result in great economic value for the deployment of these arrays and therefore such a method for testing will have substantial economic value . this invention provides a method to evaluate the performance of a large array with a small subset of the units in the array thereby requiring only a few of the occupant support units for destructive testing and also requiring a much smaller sled facility for these tests , thereby enabling the evaluation of the large arrays for a substantially reduced cost . the method therefore has significant economic value in enabling the deployment of such arrays of units . certain types of arrays of occupant supports such as the tiered architectures disclosed here are supported along seat tracks in the aircraft . such arrays have a property that as the array gets longer with identical supports for each of the elements of the array , as the base increases the moment of the force through its center of mass along the axis of deceleration ( which may be the axis of the aircraft of the aircraft or an axis that is inclined vertically to the axis of the aircraft to account for vertical loading in a crash situation ) is countered by an increasing moment arm as a result of the longer base of the array . on the other hand the moment arm of the inertial loading remains the same along the direction of the seat tracks . they show the cases of a two tier array of units . the arrays considered are : 1 . 2 lower / 1 upper 2 . 3 lower / 2 upper 3 . 4 lower / 3 upper 4 . 5 lower / 4 upper y 1 — height from the support seat tracks of the mass of the lower tier of units y 2 — height from the support seat tracks of the mass of the upper tier of units x i , j — support base length in the direction of motion of the aircraft or vehicle . φ ( x n )— force density along base of array attachment to latches dependent on location . d — displacement of upper tiers away from lower tier along axis of aircraft / vehicle . notably in the architectures shown there are tensile and compressive forces along the base of the array that counter the moment of the forces due to the inertial masses decelerating . moreover there are compressive forces that counter the gravitational force or weight of the units acting on the seat tracks . it is seen that when assessing moments of forces at the front edge of the base of the array , that the moment due to the weight of the array and any tensile force on the latches holding the array on the seat tracks counter the moment of the inertial loading due to the acceleration “ f ” ( against the direction of motion ). when the acceleration “ f ” is much higher ( eg 16 gs ) than the gravitational force on the array there will be a high tensile force holding the array down . ( ie from the fig1 - 4 the acceleration “ f ” on the tracks will create a clockwise moment of the inertial load of the array . this will need to be countered by the small gravitational loading and a tensile force towards the far or back end of the array to “ hold down ” the array ) it can also be seen that as the length of the array increases the distance of the force due to the inertial loading as a result of the “ f ” will rise proportionate the number of upper and lower units in the array . however the moment arm that is the vertical distance of these forces remains the same . on the other hand as the array gets longer the distance of the latches on the base of the array get on average further away from the front edge . therefore the moment arm of the latch forces rise and lower forces are needed to counter the inertial load of the acceleration “ f ”. in an angled test of the seat tracks at an inclination α to the horizontal , ( fig5 - 01a ) there is an inertial loading that is horizontal of which there is a component in the direction the seat tracks ( y ) ( horizontal when α is 0 ) and a component that is at right angles or orthogonal to the seat tracks ( z ). the component of the inertial loading horizontal to the seat tracks has the same effect as in α case . the orthogonal ( z ) component now has the reaction force changing to accommodate the inertial loading of the array . therefore the reaction forces in the z direction will differ from the horizontal case in that there is an additional compressive force to counter the inertial loading in the z direction during the acceleration . ( the gravitational force is also now only the z component of the horizontal case but this is in any case small when accelerations of the order of 14 - 20 gs are considered for the inertial loading ) overall this would result in an increase in the compressive loading along the base and a decrease in the tensile loadings along the base . therefore the maximum tensile loadings will occur in the horizontal case . the angled orientation as noted is equivalent to a horizontal seat track with the loading at an angle as in a crash landing with a significant vertical component . ( the only difference is the relatively small gravitational force compared to an deceleration of 14 or more gs ) notably in both inclined and flat cases as the array increases in length the latch forces drop . moreover as the latch forces drop the resulting displacement of the array due to the latch forces decrease resulting in lower projections of the head of the occupant as a result of the displacement of the units relative to the seat tracks . this also reduces the head acceleration of the occupants in the units . in the inclined case the lumbar loadings are largely determined from the z inertial loading . the levels are determined by both the ( clockwise in fig5 - 01 to 5 - 05 ) moment on the array due to the y component and the z direction direct loading . while the z component is constant along the base the y component torque will force the rear side up and push the front side down ( both in reference to the axis of the aircraft ). overall for an angle of α = 60 degrees for example the z - component is ( i + j ) mf cos α or ( i + j ) mf · 0 . 707 which is a significant part of the loading and will be equally distributed along the base . the y - component will be ( i + j ) mf sin α or ( i + j ) mf · 0 . 5 . this component at this angle and will cause the clockwise moment to pull up the rear side and push down the front side of the array . as the array size increases the latch forces supporting the moment due to the y - forces will fall . both the y - and z - components are affected by the small increase in the mass per latch as the array size overall the variation in the force as a result of the y - component as the array size increases dominates and while the peak forces are nearly unchanged with increasing array size the forces fall with increasing array size . intuition for the method of this invention can be gained from the following analysis : it is seen that particularly for f & gt ;& gt ; g ( as in crash conditions eg 16 g for f ) there is a monotonic decrease in the force density of the tensile and compressive loadings across the base due to the inertial loading that dominates the compressive force due to the gravitation loading . in the interest of simplicity considering that there is a gravitational force that is countered by the reaction force that is m ( i + j ) g distributed uniformly along the bottom and assuming a linearly varying force to counter the inertial loading of “ f ”. where φ za , φ zb are constants . notably φ ze would allow a tensile force along a part of the base to counter the inertial load of “ f ”. the remaining constant φ zb must cause a tensile loading increasing with distance from the near edge ( front edge ). this tensile loading constant falls with increasing values of i , j because the force is deployed over a longer base . this is particularly so when y1 , y2 are small compared to i . x . the resulting force from the sum of the tensile force and the compressive constant force must be tensile at the far end and compressive at the near end . finally the equations take into account the load of the upper tier on the lower tier and the support latches directly below them . it is seen from fig5 - 44 that as the array gets longer the loading becomes asymptotic at 2 . 0 . this loading change does not affect the horizontal case or the y component . moreover , in the angled case while it affects both the y - and z - components , this effect is dominated by the variation in latch loadings to the inertial loadings resulting from the y components . ( the z - component is constant except for the rise in mass which affects both y and z - components ) simulations support the method of the invention empirically . these simulations are based on a more realistic case where each of the base units have 4 latches — 2 on each of the tracks and towards the front and back edges of the base units . the human mass is that of 95 th percentile male or about 220 pounds / 6 ′ 2 . this is about 30 % higher than the loadings in standard tests for certification of 50 % percentile males . the actual values of forces and loadings are therefore higher than what would be experienced in standard tests . for the “ flat ” case the acceleration pulse used was triangular with a peak of 17 gs a rise time of 90 ms and a fall time of 90 ms . the 60 degree inclined case had an input acceleration peak of 16 gs rise time of 90 and a fall time of 90 ms . the latches are designed to have a vertical and horizontal shock absorption feature . notably the arrays are made of deformable materials and therefore the latch loadings accommodate the deformations . the simulations also show the rebound and the related forces over time . fig5 - 36 to 50 - 43 show the cases of a two tier array of units . the arrays considered are : 1 . 2 lower / 1 upper ( fig3 , 37 ) 2 . 3 lower / 2 upper ( fig3 , 39 ) 3 . 4 lower / 3 upper ( fig4 , 41 ) 4 . 5 lower / 4 upper ( fig4 , 43 ) the plots in fig5 - 08 to 5 - 28 show the forces for each of the arrays 1 - 4 at the latches . notably these graphs include the initial force and the force during the rebound . fig5 - 08 and 09 a , b , c , d shows the overlay of the cases in 1 - 4 . it is readily seen that the maximum forces are monotonic decreasing with the number of units in the array . this supports the arguments above and the method of this invention . fig5 - 10 , 5 - 12 , 5 - 14 , 5 - 16 show respectively the forces along the track for the 4 cases considered . ( these are the contributing forces to the fig5 - 08 ) fig5 - 11 , 5 - 13 , 5 - 15 , 5 - 17 show respectively the forces orthogonal to the track ( vertical in the flat case ). it will be seen that there are compressive and tensile loadings from the opposite ends of the array as predicted in the analysis the tensile forces are on the latches nearer the rear of the array regardless of how long the array is . the force variation for the initial impact and the rebound are also seen . the forces are seen to be arranges in pairs . each pair represents a rear and a front latch ( with regard to the occupant axis ) the pairs being arranged from the front of the aircraft to the rear of the aircraft along the base units as noted above . moreover to assess the increased compressive loading in the angled case , fig5 - 19 and 5 - 20 a , b , c , d are presented . it is seen that the compressive loads are monotonic decreasing with the array size . fig5 - 21 , 5 - 23 , 5 - 25 , 5 - 27 show respectively the forces along the track for the 4 cases considered . ( these are the contributing forces to the fig5 - 19 .) fig5 - 22 , 5 - 24 , 5 - 26 , 5 - 28 show respectively the forces orthogonal to the track ( vertical in the flat case ). it will be seen that there are compressive and tensile loadings from the opposite ends of the array as predicted in the analysis the tensile forces are on the latches nearer the rear of the array regardless of how long the array is . the force variation for the initial impact and the rebound are also seen . the forces are seen to be arranges in pairs . each pair represents a rear and a front latch ( with regard to the occupant axis ) the pairs being arranged from the front of the aircraft to the rear of the aircraft along the base units as noted above . moreover as a result of the smaller displacements the resulting maximum head accelerations are seen to be monotonic decreasing with the length of the array . fig5 - 18a , b , and c show the dominance of each of the tested positions ( in the 2 × 1 configuration ) with regard to the simulated head accelerations in the other longer arrays . moreover fig5 - 34 table shows the hic values that demonstrate this dominance . this supports the method of this invention for testing head accelerations and hic . finally lumbar loads ( in the inclined tests ) as seen in fig5 - 29 to 5 - 35 support the monotonic decreasing lumbar loads with increase in array size and therefore support the method of this invention . in addition to the component of the lumbar loading that is a direct result of the component of the acceleration “ f ” “ pushing up ” the occupant in the z direction , there is the effect or rotation pulling up the rear side and pushing down the front side ( with regard to the aircraft axis ) as a result of the y component which will increase the lumbar loadings on the rear side relative to the front side . this is seen in fig5 - 29 where the upper passenger 1 lumbar loading in the test configuration dominates the lumbar loadings of any and all the other upper passengers in the longer arrays . similarly fig5 - 30 shows the same for the lower passenger 1 and fig5 - 31 shows the same for lower passenger 2 . fig5 - 35 shows the table of lumber loadings that supports the method of this invention . variations of the cases considered where the axis of the passenger is not directly lateral with regard to the aircraft axis but inclined to the lateral are not significantly different as the same principles apply . the inference from this analysis and simulations is that it is possible to test an array as in 2 lower / 1 upper and infer the performance of longer arrays that will perform better with regard to lower track loadings and lower head accelerations and lumbar loads . the method claimed is for a testing methodology for a contiguous array of occupant supports supported by each other and by a seat track below , and wherein the array has a second tier of occupant supports attached thereto , comprising - testing for axial accelerations and accelerations with an axial and vertical component of a subset of the array with a minimal number of units ( eg 2 lower units and 1 upper unit ) to meet a requirement or regulation for forces displacements , head accelerations and lumbar loads and using the dominance or monotonicity arguments presented here , infer the better performance of the longer array , thereby avoiding the crash testing of the longer array at greater cost . fig5 - 06 , fig5 - 07 show different views of an embodiment of the latch mechanism . during crash loading conditions the units of this embodiment will undergo severe spikes in acceleration . the latch mechanisms of this invention provide the shock absorption needed for the units both to protect the units and the occupants and to reduce the peak loading o the seat tracks . the latch arrangement has a set of sliders that are inserted through the apertures on the seat track and can slide to positions between the apertures under a flange . this allows these sliders to accommodate tensile loadings from the attached units or occupant support bases . the horizontal movement is locked with one or more pins 13 - 012 . on the body of the latch 13 - 011 there is a slide cavity that has a horizontal slider inserted therein . there is in addition in some embodiments a slider support 13 - 013 . a horizontal slider 13 - 015 is enabled to slide within the cavity and is controlled with a spring damper 13 - 015 . an additional spring damper may be inserted on the other side of the slider as well . this will be useful if the system is under damped and a movement passed the normal position is anticipated after an impact load is introduced . for vertical shock absorption there is the optional slider 13 - 016 that is controlled for upward and downward motion by spring dampers 13 - 018 and 13 - 019 respectively . the unit / base / occupant support is attached to the pin aperture 13 - 019 . the latch may be attached to a single module or to two adjoining modules thereby contributing to neutralizing the tensile and compressive forces resulting from the inertial loads of the two modules in a rapid deceleration of the vehicle . some embodiments of the airsleeper design with a tiered architecture are disclosed . this invention increases the packing density of the aircraft cabin while maintaining the creature comforts with space of the occupants and thereby provides greater value per unit volume of the cabin . the mini - cabins shown the drawings may be laterally placed or placed at any angle to the lateral direction of the aircraft or vehicle . angles close to the lateral position are an advantage for safety . as shown in fig6 - 01 to 6 - 05 the array of air sleepers as shown here comprise a set of base units which would typically be used for storage and either contain the support structure for attachment to the seat tracks integrated within them or attached to them . these are referred to as the bins . as show in fig6 - 05 the base unit bins may have drawers that pull out for storage . moreover these storage drawers may have one or more loops of belt from the rear to the front to transfer the stored items from the rear of the bins to the front for access . these belts have pulleys at the rear and the front and the belt may be supported along its length in between by a low friction surface or multiple rollers . details of the bin and the parts therein are shown in fig6 - 15 . belts may be manually operated by pulling or pushing baggage or motorized as well disclosed in the background art for motorized pulleys and wheels . if a lower profile for the airsleeper array is preferred another embodiment will not use the bottom bins at all and attach the airsleeper mini - cabins directly to the floor of the aircraft or on the seat tracks . the storage in these cases may be above the upper sleepers which will then have a structure similar to the lower sleeper mini - cabins to support components above them . the draws may not be useful but doors at the front of the bins will access stored baggage that can still ride on the belts . attached to the lower bins are the airsleeper lower mini - cabins . the lower mini - cabins have a structural purpose as well for supporting the upper mini - cabins and therefore require additional bracing structure . the figures show that the seat movement machinery lies in the space directly under or behind the seat bottom but the space under arm rests 14 - 025 , are used for bracing ribs and the lower end of the shear plane 14 - 013 that braces the lower cabins . between the ribs there are optional pop - up storage spaces . they may also be storage spaces that have hinged or sliding covers . the top surface of these will be a part of the arm rest in the sitting position of the occupant and part of the bed surface in the sleeping position of the occupant and therefore will be suitably covered for comfort . the seat back supports 14 - 001 have side wings to support the occupant in the event of rapid deceleration of the vehicle . the back support also has in most embodiments the air supply for ventilation , reading lights , headphone sockets and one or more projectors installed on the edge of the side walls to project approximately along the line of sight of the occupant lying face up , regardless of course of the position of the seat back . the projection surface may be the mini - cabin ceiling , a table top inclined to be vertical for the purpose , or the ceiling of the aircraft cabin for the upper mini - cabins . the air supply vents may be directed from the upper edges of the sides of the seat to provide a constant clean air supply for the occupant . as shown in the fig1 - 010 , the steps are placed on the edge of the lower air sleeper mini - cabins and the upper mini - cabins displaced laterally to accommodate this . this allows excellent egress ingress for the lower occupant . the feet and legs of the upper occupant are separated from the space of the lower occupant with a screen 14 - 011 and the upper section of the rear wall 14 - 013 . the rear wall 14 - 013 is also a shear “ plane ” ( may not be flat ) that support the mini cabin structure in the event of rapid deceleration of the aircraft / vehicle . notably the shear plane needs to be narrow at the lower end so that the space of the lower passenger is not compromised . the plane is typically at the knee position of the lower passenger and a slightly narrower space at that point can be accommodated by the passenger . the upper mini - cabins have a limited structural role and do not need to support above them in most embodiments . they have a support structure for the monitor / camera / projector and also for conducting oxygen to the oxygen mask container towards the end at the top of this support 14 - 008 . the camera may be used for video conferencing , the projector may project on the table ( not shown but deployable from the side wall of the mini cabin ). if oxygen generator is used this may be housed in the support mount 14 - 008 . 14 - 007 shows a monitor or projector although the projector may be housed directly on the mount 14 - 008 . as shown in fig6 - 05 the bin drawer 14 - 015 may be pulled out onto the aisle for storing or retrieving baggage . fig6 shows the perspective of the lower mini - cabin occupant . on the left is the stairs for access to the upper mini - cabin . a screen or projection space may be on the rear of the wall behind the stairs . the top recess adds space to the lower mini - cabin and lies under the arm rests of the upper mini - cabins . fig6 - 07 shows another aspect of the space efficiency achieved in this invention . the steps at the lower end will interact with the space of the lower occupant and therefore needs to be designed carefully . in some embodiments of the invention , the a section of the mini - cabin 14 - 023 is cut out for foot space on the first step which may lie below it . the cutout may also extend to the side section of the leg rest ( not - shown ) moreover the second step 14 - 022 is contoured to be towards the end of the mini cabin so that the leg space of tall occupants in the lower mini - cabin is not compromised . fig6 - 11 shows the handles for easy egress and ingress to the upper mini - cabins . additional handles may be installed along the edge of the lower mini - cabins as well . fig6 - 12 , 6 - 13 show the mechanism for changing the seat position from lie flat to sit upright . there are many possible actuator mechanisms both linear and rotational . one is shows with an attachment point at the rear of the seat pan . the seatback anchor is supported by a pivot 14 - 031 to move from the flat bed position to the seated position . in addition at the lower end of the seat back there is a pivotal attachment to the seat bottom 14 - 032 . as may be seen from the figures , the seat bottom moves forward when the seat tilts back to the flat bed position . the seat bottom in this embodiment at its front end has sliders or rollers 14 - 030 in a slot 14 - 029 that directs the vertical position of the seat front as it moves back or forwards thereby defining the angle of orientation of the seat bottom . in another variation of this architecture , the pivot 14 - 031 is not at a distance from the bottom edge of the seat back along the seat back as shown but rather is on one or more arms that are attached to the bottom edge of the seat back protruding backwards ( in the sitting position ) or under ( in the flat bed position ) the seat back like an elbow that could be substantially at right angles to the seat back . the pivot to the support pan on the mini - cabin is at the end of this arm . the pivot 14 - 032 is at the end of the seat back as in the illustrated embodiment . this arrangement will pull the seat bottom back ( rather than forward ) as it goes to the flat bed position and the slot heights will be reversed so that the front of the seat bottom rises as it moves back . the advantage of this arrangement is that the length of the noted arm can be varied ( and the slot as well ) to change the height of the seat back and bottom in the flat bed position to benefit the lower occupant , and bring the seat bottom forward in the sitting position for the upper occupant this architecture is shown in fig6 - 16 and 6 - 17 . the figs show only the ends of the slots where the pins are . the contour can take any shape for preferred orientations during recline . fig6 - 14 shows the center section of the leg rest that may be retracted under the seat bottom in a slot under it . an alternative design will have the center section of the leg rest hinge down at the front edge of the seat bottom . there are many actuator mechanism for retraction of leg rests in the back ground art . this invention however proposes some embodiments to have the same actuator used forth e seat back angle support to also actuate the center leg rest by utilizing limit switches that lock the seat bottom at the end of the movement desired and lock the end of the actuator to the center section of the leg rest to push it out or pull it back . notably this attachment may need to have levers or gears well disclosed in the background art , to increase the movement with reduced force required . when the center leg rest is full retracted and detected by limit switches , the actuator end is unlocked from this mechanism and locked onto the seat back engagement point to move the seat back . mass and weight are not desirable in aircraft architectures and therefore a fewer number of actuators required for a seat mechanism has utility . this mechanism is designed to actuate the angle of the seat bottom ( and seat back ); the movement of a sliding leg rest and the movement of wings and / or extensions to the leg rest if needed . notably the force / displacement ratios can change drastically between moving a seat with a high mass occupant on it vs moving a leg rest or other small parts . the former may need a high force and a small displacement particularly if near the axis of motion to provide the required torque at that axis , and the leg rest may need to move a large distance but with a small force . these requirements are accommodated in the design . actuation of the seat back and bottom angle is achieved by attaching the seat back on the pivotal support 16 - 1014 and attaching the seat bottom on the seat back with pivotal support 16 - 1015 . the front of the seat bottom can slide in this embodiment along a path that is predefined to provide the desired seat bottom angle at different recline angles of the seat back . this and any other seat back and seat bottom architectures that require the motion of a point on the seat bottom can utilize the present invention . this invention uses locks or spring loading to channel the available force / movement of the actuator to the desired point . in one embodiment the seat bottom ( or back ) has locking points at different orientations available from the motion of the seat bottom . initially the main slider is locked to the seat bottom 16 - 1009 . this ensures that when the seat bottom is not locked on its one or more locking points the seat bottom moves as the 16 - 1009 is locked . at the desired position of the seat bottom the seat bottom lock is actuated and concurrently the lock 16 - 1009 is released . thereby locking the seat bottom ( and the seat back ) in the desired position and transferring the motion to the main slider . the motion can of course be stopped at any time by stopping the actuator . in a first embodiment , with a single lever , as the actuator motion continues the main slider 16 - 1004 is actuated and actuates the pusher rod 2 : 16 - 1006 by moving its pivotal attachment thereto . the pusher rod 2 : 16 - 1006 is designed to work as a lever , providing motion amplification ( with force de amplification ) for the leg rest assembly which slides on the seat bottom . one end of the pusher rod 2 has a slot that slides over a pin on the seat bottom . the orientation of the slot and its shape is designed to have a surface of contact that is as close as possible to the radial direction with regard to the pivotal connection to the main slider 16 - 1003 . the moment arm is short between this point of contact and the pivot point whereas the moment arm is longer with regard to the contact point of a similar slot that engages a pin on the slider 16 - 1002 on the sliding leg rest 16 - 1001 . this slot is designed to have an orientation and shape to make the contact surface between this pin and this slot as close to the direction of motion of the slider 16 - 1002 . however with multiple levers connected end to end or serially we have a multiplication of the motion with a proportional reduction in available force . in a second embodiment , a multiple “ scissor ” or “ accordion ” movement is possible with multiple pairs of levers attached pivotally in their middle to each other , the ends of a first pair of levers pivotally connected to the seat bottom but also enabled to slide orthogonally to the slider direction so that when the “ scissor ” closes the ends can come together . the pivot of the first lever pair is pivotally attached to the slider , and therefore as the slider slides away from the first ends of the first pair of levers the scissor will close . the second ends of the first pair of the levers are attached to the first ends of the second pair of levers pivotally and as the first ends of the first pair of levers move together it forces the second end of the first pair to move together and as the first end of the second pair of levers are pivotally connected these move together also . multiple pairs of levers connected in this fashion with the second ends of one pair connected to the first end of another pair will give a series of serially connected levers . as the slider moves and moves the pivot of the first pair of levers the entire assembly will extend . therefore the leg rest connected pivotally to the second ends of the last pair of levers with these connections enabled to slide together orthogonal to the slider direction will push the leg rest forwards . the converse will happen as the main slider moves back . the original movement is passed to the first ends of the first lever pair and the second ends drive the first ends of the second lever pair and so on for multiples of such lever pairs interconnected resulting in a multiplication of the movement of the first scissor whose input is the force / displacement designed for the movement of the seat bottom to move the move the leg rest which needs a much larger motion and smaller force . the number of lever pairs and the length of the levers will be factors that determine the amplicifation . at or before the time of motion of the main slider 16 - 1003 , the lock 16 - 1008 between the leg rest and the leg rest slider needs to be engaged thereby ensuring that the movement of the leg rest slider is directly transferred to the motion of the sliding leg rest base 16 - 1001 . following a predetermined distance of motion of the leg rest base 16 - 1001 , the leg rest may be locked ( lock not shown ) to the seat bottom and concurrently the lock 16 - 1008 between the leg rest base and the leg rest slider is released so that the motion is transferred to the leg rest slider but not the leg rest base . this motion of the slider will directly move the front flange of the leg rest slider and / or move the side slider 16 - 1004 on either side of the leg rest ( one side shown ) for additional support of the legs . the side slider is activated by the pivotal attachment with pusher rod 1 : 16 - 1005 which is pivotally attached to the leg rest slider and to the side slider and has an orientation that allows the translation of the motion to the lateral direction . the reverse process will occur as the actuator direction is reversed and the lock mechanism activation is reversed . notably spring loadings of each slider mechanism may be used to change the force characteristics as the displacement proceeds . a second embodiment that does not use switching locks may work as follows . end stops are arranged for the seat bottom motion with regard to the support structure of the airsleeper , and the leg rest base with regard to the seat bottom . strong spring loadings are used first between the seat bottom and the main slider 16 - 1003 to prevent the main slider from moving relative to the seat bottom 16 - 1000 before the end stop of the seat bottom is reached . thereafter the force on the end stop will prevent further motion of the seat bottom and the spring between the seat bottom 16 - 1000 and the main slider 16 - 1003 will compress an allow the main slider to move thereby actuating the pusher rod 2 : 16 - 1006 which will move the leg rest slider 16 - 1002 . however a strong spring between the leg rest slider 16 - 1002 and the leg rest base 16 - 16 - 1001 will prevent the leg rest slider from moving relative to the leg rest base and therefore the leg rest base will move relative to the seat bottom till its end stop is reached . thereafter the end stop will prevent further motion of the leg rest base and thereafter the leg rest slider will move against the spring loading to actuate the flange 16 - 1007 and / or the side sliders 16 / 1004 . the motion as the actuator shaft retreats will follow the same sequence in reverse . there are many arrangements possible for all the pivots and slider arrangements disclosed in the background art that may be used in this invention . as shown in fig8 - 05 to 8 - 08 the stair profile is recessed into the airsleeper enclosure . the advantage is that there is more aisle space at hip to head level . in addition this invention provides a grade on the stairs that is ergonomically attractive for egress and ingress . finally the stairs are arranged not to interfere with the lower passenger movement as they are at the extreme end of the lower passenger space and on one side . the motion of the seat bottom and its extensions do not interfere with the steps in this embodiment . the upper airsleeper module will have a shorter front end as a result and therefore for the sleep or flat bed position it will be desirable in some embodiments to have an extension of the leg rest forward and in the case of narrower leg rests to the side as well . this is disclosed in this invention as well above . | 1 |
the present invention will now be described more specifically with reference to the following embodiments . it is to be noted that the following descriptions of preferred embodiments of this invention are presented herein for the purposes of illustration and description only ; it is not intended to be exhaustive or to be limited to the precise form disclosed . please refer to fig1 , which is the schematic diagram showing the adjusting processes for the brightness of the back light module according to the first embodiment of the present invention . generally speaking , there are 60 pictures per second displayed in the lcd tv . therefore , a new picture is display every 1 / 60 second . please refer to fig1 . the abscissa represents time passing . the upper part in the vertical coordinate represents each instant luminance ratio , defined as the ratio of the total luminance of each picture in each time point to the maximum luminance of the lcd tv , in each time point through time passing . the total luminance of each picture can be calculated from the inputted picture signals , which may come from the dvd player , the blue ray disk player , the coaxial tv cable , the hard disk or the memory stick with image files , or even the optical fiber connected to the internet . the maximum luminance can be calculated by multiplying the maximum grey value by the total pixels , including sub - pixels , of the lcd tv ( lcd monitor ). for instance , when the grey values are divided into 256 levels , i . e . 8 bits , the 0 th level corresponds to the darkest condition and the 255 th level corresponds to the brightest condition . when an lcd tv contains 2 million pixels , each of which includes three sub - pixels for red , green and blue basic colors , then the maximum luminance is obtained by the equation of 255 × 2 , 000 , 000 × 3 = 1 , 530 , 000 , 000 . for another example , when the grey values are divided into 1024 levels , i . e . 10 bits , the 0 th level corresponds to the darkest condition and the 1023 th level corresponds to the brightest condition . when an lcd tv contains 2 million pixels , then the maximum luminance is obtained by the equation of 1023 × 2 , 000 , 000 × 3 = 6 , 138 , 000 , 000 . on the other hand , the luminance of a picture can be calculated as a summation of the grey value of each sub - pixel in the picture . finally , the instant relative luminance is a ratio of the luminance of the picture to the maximum luminance . of course , the weight method can be adopted and combined into the above calculation method for the instant relative luminance . for instance , the grey values in some specific range can be multiplied by the weighting factors , or the weighting factors for some color can be introduced . moreover , the weight factors for some specific color and for the grey values in some specific range can be simultaneously introduced into the weighting calculation for the instant relative luminance . please refer to fig1 , wherein the upper part above the abscissa shows the instant relative luminance in each time point , and the lower part below the abscissa shows the adjusting process for the brightness of the back light module in each corresponding time point . when the time starts from zero in the abscissa , the instant relative luminance of the picture is 100 %. as the time passes along , the instant relative luminance begins to decrease . when the time point of t 10 is reached , the instant relative luminance is reduced to be below a predetermined first ratio , 10 %. then the procedure of the reduction on the brightness of the back light module is initiated in this embodiment , and the brightness of the back light module is gradually decreased from the maximum brightness , i max . when the time point , t 11 , is reached , the brightness of the back light module is reduced to a minimum brightness , i min . in this embodiment , the time interval from t 10 to t 11 , i . e . the first adjusting time , is set to 9 seconds . this design of gradually reducing the brightness can avoid the sudden darkening of the picture , which the audience may perceive and feel uncomfortable for . please refer to fig2 , which is the schematic diagram showing the compensation curve of the grey values according to the present invention . in this invention , the maximum compensation on the grey value occurs at the grey value equal to 32 , which may be tuned depending on several parameters related to liquid crystal types , tft designs , spectra of the back light module , etc . in this invention , there is no compensation for the darkest and brightest conditions , and the relatively more compensation occurs at the grey values close to 32 . this compensation on the grey values can prevent the pictures from looking dim and can reinforce the vividness of the pictures . in this embodiment , when the brightness of the back light module is gradually reduced during the first adjusting time , i . e . from t 10 to t 11 , the procedure of the introducing compensation on the grey values starts synchronously . that is , the original grey value of each pixel is gradually raised to the compensated grey value during the first adjusting time , i . e . from t 10 to t 11 . since the raising process proceeds gradually , therefore the audience can not perceive the sudden brightening of the pictures and accordingly does not have the uncomfortable feeling . please refer to fig1 again . at the duration of t 10 to t 11 , the instant relative luminance keeps below the predetermined first ratio , 10 %, and therefore the brightness of the back light module remains at the minimum brightness , i min . starting at the time point , t 12 , the instant relative luminance begins to raise and exceeds the predetermined second ratio , 20 %, at the time point , t 13 . at this moment , the procedure of raising the brightness of the back light module is initiated , and the brightness of the back light module is gradually increased from the minimum brightness , i min . when the time point , t 14 , is reached , the brightness of the back light module is increased to the maximum brightness , i max . in this embodiment , the second adjusting time , i . e . from t 13 to t 14 , is set to 2 seconds . similarly , since the brightness increasing process proceeds gradually , therefore the audience can not perceive the sudden brightening of the pictures and accordingly does not have the harsh feeling to eyes . in this embodiment , when the brightness of the back light module is gradually increased during the second adjusting time , i . e . from t 13 , to t 14 , the procedure of the releasing compensation on the grey values starts synchronously . that is , the compensated grey value of each pixel is gradually adjusted back to the corresponding original grey value during the second adjusting time , i . e . from t 13 to t 14 , which is set to 2 seconds . to sum up the above description for this embodiment , the instant relative luminance below 10 % is set as an available domain for reducing the brightness of the back light module to the minimum brightness , i min . the instant relative luminance in the range of 10 % to 20 % is set to a buffer domain , and when the instant relative luminance is increasing from 10 %, the brightness of the back light module will not be raised from the minimum i min , until the instant relative luminance exceeds 20 %, in order to avoid adjusting the brightness of the back light module too often and influencing the lifetimes of the lamps of the back light module . fig3 is the schematic diagram showing the adjusting processes for the brightness of the back light module according to the second embodiment of the present invention . in this embodiment , the instant relative luminance in each time point is identical to that in the first embodiment . that is , the completely same picture signals are inputted in this embodiment so as to facilitate the comparison of the adjusting methods between this embodiment and the first embodiment and to easily figure out the difference therebetween . in this embodiment , the concept of the buffer time is introduced to further avoid frequently starting the adjusting function on the brightness of the back light module . the detailed explanation is described below . please refer to fig3 . when the time starts from zero in the abscissa , the instant relative luminance of the picture is 100 %. as the time passes along , the instant relative luminance begins to decrease . when the time point of t 20 is reached , the instant relative luminance is reduced to be below a predetermined first ratio , 10 %. then the counting time procedure starts in this embodiment . at the duration of t 20 to t 21 , the cumulated time , when the instant relative luminance continuously keeps below 10 %, reaches a predetermined first buffer time , e . g . 3 seconds . then the adjusting function on the brightness of the back light module is initiated to gradually reduce the brightness of the back light module from the maximum brightness , i ′ max . the brightness of the back light module is reduced to the minimum brightness , i ′ min , at the time point , t 22 . in this embodiment , the duration of t 21 to t 22 is set to 9 seconds . this design of gradually reducing the brightness can avoid the sudden darkening of the picture , which the audience may feel uncomfortable from or can not clearly watch . the same as the first embodiment , the compensation function on the grey values is introduced in this embodiment . please refer to fig2 . when the brightness of the back light module is gradually reduced during the first adjusting time , i . e . from t 21 to t 22 , the procedure of the introducing compensation on the grey values starts synchronously . that is , the original grey value of each pixel is gradually raised to the corresponding compensated grey value during the first adjusting time , i . e . from t 21 to t 22 , which is set to 9 seconds . since the raising process proceeds gradually , therefore the audience can not perceive the sudden brightening of the pictures and accordingly does not have the uncomfortable feeling . this compensation on the grey values can prevent the pictures from looking dim and can reinforce the vividness of the pictures . please continuously refer to fig3 . at the duration of t 22 to t 23 , the instant relative luminance keeps below the predetermined first ratio , 10 %, and therefore the brightness of the back light module remains at the minimum brightness , i min . starting at the time point , t 23 , the instant relative luminance begins to raise and exceeds the predetermined second ratio , 20 %, at the time point , t 24 . at this moment , the counting time function is initiated . at the duration of t 24 to t 25 , the cumulated time , when the instant relative luminance continuously keeps above 20 %, reaches a predetermined second buffer time , e . g . 0 . 5 seconds . then the adjusting function on the brightness of the back light module is initiated to gradually raise the brightness of the back light module from the minimum brightness , i ′ min . the brightness of the back light module is raised to the maximum brightness , i ′ max , at the time point , t 26 . in this embodiment , the second adjusting time , i . e . from t 25 to t 26 , is set to 2 seconds . similarly , since the brightness increasing process proceeds gradually , therefore the audience can not perceive the sudden brightening of the pictures and accordingly does not have the harsh feeling to eyes . at the duration of t 25 to t 26 , when the brightness of the back light module is gradually raised , the similar procedure of the releasing compensation on the grey values proceeds in this embodiment , which is the same as that in the first embodiment . the method of gradual reduction on the grey values is also used . the detailed contents are not repeated here . please refer to fig4 , which is the schematic diagram showing the display device according to the third embodiment of the present invention . in this embodiment , a display device 1 with the effect of the promotion on the contrast ratio is provided . the display device 1 can be an lcd , e . g . lcd tv , or any other display device requiring a back light module . the display device 1 contains a receiving element 10 , a calculating element 20 , a control element 30 and a back light module 40 . the receiving element 10 can be used to receive the picture signals , which may come from the dvd player , the blue ray disk player , the coaxial tv cable , the hard disk or the memory stick with image files , or even the optical fiber connected to the internet . the calculating element 20 can be an integrated circuit ( ic ) chip , and can be used to calculate the luminance of each picture , for which the signals are received by the receiving element 10 , the maximum luminance of the display device 1 and the ratio of the luminance of the picture to the maximum luminance . the calculation method has been described in detail in the first embodiment . please refer to the relevant part in the first embodiment . the control element 30 can be an ic chip , and can adjust the brightness of the back light module 40 according to the result of comparing the ratio of the luminance of the picture to the maximum luminance calculated by the calculating element 20 with one or more predetermined ratios . the methods of the comparison and control can be the same as those in the first and second embodiments , such as gradually adjusting the brightness , the concept of introducing the buffer time , etc . please refer to the first and the second embodiments for the details . in addition , the other methods rather than those described in the first and second embodiments can be adopted as the comparison and control methods for the control element 30 . in this embodiment , the calculating element 20 and the control element 30 can be designed as two discrete ic chips , be integrated into a single ic chip , or even be integrated with the ic chip for the back light module or other ic chips in the display device to form a system chip with multiple functions . in this embodiment , the display device 1 can dynamically adjust the brightness of the back light module according to the real luminance of the pictures and has the capability of promoting the contrast ratio . from the above description , the present invention provides the display device with high contrast ratio and the methods of the contrast ratio promotion , which can be applied to lcds or other display devices with the back light modules . by calculating the picture luminances to adjust the brightness of the back light module , using the methods of gradually increasing and decreasing brightness , and the method of introducing the buffer time , the present invention can avoid the conditions of being harsh to eyes , the picture flickering , and adjusting the brightness of the back light module too often . while the invention has been described in terms of what is presently considered to be the most practical and preferred embodiments , it is to be understood that the invention needs not be limited to the disclosed embodiments . on the contrary , it is intended to cover various modifications and similar arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the appended claims which are to be accorded with the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and similar structures . | 7 |
referring to the drawings and particularly to fig1 , one form of the seating unit of the present invention is there shown and generally designated by the numeral 18 . seating unit 18 , here depicted as an airplane seat , comprises a back portion 18 a , a seat portion 18 b and vertical side structure 20 of the character illustrated in fig2 and 3 of the drawings . connected to one side 20 a of the side structure 20 is the linear locking device of the apparatus , here shown as a friction brake mechanism 24 ( fig2 a , 3 and 6 ). connected to the opposite side 20 b of the side structure is a linear bearing 26 ( fig2 , 3 , 4 and 4 a ). in a manner presently to be described , a vertically adjustable armrest 28 is operably interconnected with the friction brake mechanism 24 and with the linear bearing 26 . with this construction , vertical motion of the armrest is controlled by linear bearing 26 , while position control of the armrest is provided by the friction brake mechanism 24 . the linear locking device , or brake mechanism 24 , which is readily commercially available from several sources , including the p . l . porter company of burbank , calif ., comprises a hollow housing 30 and an elongated , vertically extending rod 32 that is slidably mounted within the housing . the brake mechanism 24 here comprises first and second coiled springs 33 a and 33 b that are tightly wound on the rod 32 and are fixed against axial movement relative to the housing ( fig6 ). a release collar 34 is provided for acting upon the springs , thereby relaxing their grip on the rod 32 and allowing vertical movement of the housing 30 along the rod 32 . as will be discussed in greater detail hereinafter , release collar 34 forms a part of the novel release mechanism of the invention for partially unwinding the springs so that the housing 30 , along with the armrest 28 can be vertically adjusted . it is to be noted that if the rod is pushed before the springs are unwound , the springs will grip the rod even more tightly to prevent vertical movement of the housing 30 and the armrest 28 . uniquely , brake mechanism 24 has one maximum stroke setting that can lock at any position within the travel range of the housing and has positive locking capabilities in both directions . as indicated in fig6 , the distal ends of the coiled springs 33 a and 33 b are fixed within the housing 30 . thus , when the release mechanism is actuated causing a force to be exerted on the actuating lever 34 a of the collar 34 , the distal ends of the springs cannot be moved about the axis of the rod and the force imparted to the springs by the collar 34 will cause them to unwind and release their grip on the rod . however , when the actuating force on the lever 34 a is released , the springs will immediately return to their gripping positions on the rod . in the present form of the invention , the release mechanism also includes a release cable system 34 b , the operation of which causes an operating force to be exerted on the actuating lever 34 a of the collar 34 . the details of the construction and operation of the release cable system 34 b will presently be described . for a more complete understanding of the construction and operation of the brake mechanism , the p . l . porter company should be contacted . alternatively , reference should be made to u . s . pat . no . 3 , 874 , 480 issued to porter et al , and entitled friction brake mechanism . u . s . pat . no . 3 , 874 , 480 is hereby incorporated by reference as though fully set forth herein . linear bearing 26 is a conventional type of linear motion device that allows motion and positioning along a linear axis . while various types of linear bearings are suitable for the present application , a linear bearing manufactured and sold by iko nippon thompson co . ltd . of tokyo , japan has proven satisfactory . as best seen by referring to fig2 of the drawings , linear bearing 26 here comprises a vertical slide member 36 and a carriage 38 that is connected to slide member 36 for vertical movement along a pair of spaced - apart tracks 36 a and 36 b between an upraised position shown by the solid lines in fig3 and a lowered position shown by the dotted lines in fig3 . vertical slide member 36 is interconnected with the vertical side structure 22 by a plurality of spaced - apart threaded connector bolts 40 ( fig2 ), while carriage 38 is interconnected with the adjustable armrest by means four spaced - apart threaded connector bolts 42 . also connected to vertical side structure 22 is biasing means for continuously urging armrest 28 toward its upraised position . this biasing means is here provided in the form of a conventional , commercially available reel - type torsion spring assembly 44 that includes a reel housing 44 a , a torsion spring 44 b mounted within the housing and elongated , retractable , reel cable 46 having a first end 46 a interconnected with the torsion spring 44 b and a second end 46 b connected to side structure 22 by means of a suitable cable anchor 48 ( fig2 ). as best seen in fig2 of the drawings , reel cable 46 is entrained over an idler pulley 50 that is rotatably connected to side structure 22 and also forms a part of the biasing means of the invention . in use , the armrest 28 is maintained in the upper , normal operating position shown in fig1 by the previously described biasing means . when it is desired to move the armrest into a lowered position a downward pressure is exerted on a pushbutton 53 that is mounted on the upper portion of the armrest ( fig1 ). pushbutton 53 , which , along with release collar 34 , forms apart of the release mechanism of the invention , is operably associated with a conventional release cable mechanism 55 that is carried within the armrest 28 and also forms a part of the release mechanism of the invention . as indicated in fig2 a of the drawings , the distal end 55 a of the internal cable of the release cable mechanism 55 is received with a release housing 57 that also forms a part of the release mechanism 34 . also received with release housing 57 , in a manner indicated by the dotted lines and fig2 a , is the release lever 34 a of the collar 34 . with this construction , the force exerted on the cable of the release cable mechanism 55 by exerting a downward pressure on the pushbutton 53 will , in a manner well understood by those skilled in the art , cause the cable to exert pressure on the release lever 34 a causing it to move into the release position . as the release lever moves into the release position , the coiled springs 33 a and 33 b will be caused to unwind and release their grip on the rod 32 . with the release lever in the release position , a downward force exerted on the armrest will cause the armrest to move freely downwardly . however , as previously discussed , if pressure on the pushbutton is removed , the release lever 34 a will return to its locking position causing the torsion springs 33 a and 33 b to once again securely grip rod 32 and thereby prevent further downward movement of the armrest . during the downward movement of the armrest , the reel cable 46 will be wound about the drum of the torsion spring assembly 44 so that , with the armrest in a downward position , a pressure exerted on the pushbutton will exert pressure on the release lever 34 a causing it to move into the release position and thereby permit the armrest to automatically return to its upraised position due to the urging of the torsion spring 44 a of the torsion spring assembly 44 . having now described the invention in detail in accordance with the requirements of the patent statutes , those skilled in this art will have no difficulty in making changes and modifications in the individual parts or their relative assembly in order to meet specific requirements or conditions . such changes and modifications may be made without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention , as set forth in the following claims . | 0 |
[ 0017 ] fig1 illustrates a preferred embodiment of an electronic device holder in accordance with the present invention . the device holder is integrally formed as a one - piece unit and is capable of holding any of a variety of hand held devices . the device holder is designed to be mountable in a vehicle cup - holder or similarly shaped cavity . the cup - holder is not illustrated and is not considered part of this invention . for the purpose of this invention , a cup - holder is defined as any device capable of holding a cup , thermos , or other beverage container . typically , cup holders have a generally circular cavity defined by a circular bottom and a vertical or slightly outward - extending sidewall . a cup holder may also include a ring , arms , or loop instead of the side walls . in such constructions , cup holders may or may not include a bottom surface . regardless of the particular construction , cup holders tend to be configured to receive and hold generally cylindrical containers . the device holder 10 consists of a base or first end 11 and a device retainer or second end 12 . in general , the first end 11 is configured to be received by a cup - holder while the second end 12 is configured to hold a cellular phone or other electronic device . preferably , the device holder is integrally formed of solid plastic such as pvc that is at least somewhat flexible . alternatively , it can be hollow or can be made from polyethylene foam or other materials . the first end 11 includes a generally flat , circular bottom surface 14 . a generally cylindrical side wall 16 extends axially upward from the bottom surface 14 to a radially - extending upper ledge 18 . preferably , the side wall 16 is inclined somewhat so that the circumference adjacent the upper ledge 18 is greater than that of the bottom surface 14 . the inclined shape allows the first end 11 to fit within a cup - holder while also being frictionally retained by contact between the cup - holder and the side wall 16 at a point near the upper ledge 18 . alternatively , the side wall can form an upright cylinder or can be inclined in the opposite direction , so that the circumference of the first end is greater at the bottom surface 14 than it is adjacent the upper ledge 18 . while the circular shape is preferred , the first end 11 alternatively may formed in any other cross - sectional shape , such as octagonal , hexagonal , square , oval , or others . likewise , although the upper ledge 18 helps to restrain the device holder 10 from excessive downward movement into a cup - holder , the device holder 10 need not include an upper ledge consistent with this invention . in an alternate embodiment , the side wall 16 of the first end 11 includes one or more relief areas to provide cost savings or other advantages . for example , a plurality of vertically - extending channels 20 may be formed in the side wall 18 to reduce the amount of material used . the channels 20 may also facilitate compression of the side wall 18 in order to allow the device holder 10 to fit into cup - holders that are slightly smaller in diameter than the diameter of the first end 11 . the second end 12 consists of four substantially vertical walls , including a forward wall 30 , rear wall 32 , and two opposing side walls 34 , 36 . the forward wall 30 , rear wall 32 , and side walls 34 , 36 are preferably vertical ( meaning parallel to a central axis extending from the first end to the second end ), but may be inclined at a slight angle to create an opening that is somewhat larger than the size of the device platform 38 . by flaring the walls out slightly , the electronic device may be more easily inserted and removed by the user . the forward wall 30 is much shorter than the other walls , and serves as a lip to prevent the electronic device from sliding out while allowing the device to be easily inserted and removed . the lower height of the forward wall 30 also allows the user to easily see the device and any information being displayed on the face of the device . alternatively , the forward wall 30 can be any height , including the same height as the surrounding walls . the rearward wall 32 includes a slot 40 that is centrally located that extends axially from the bottom platform 38 to the top of the rear wall 32 . the purpose of the slot is to allow a corded device to be quickly and easily inserted and removed from the device holder without removing the power cord . thus , the slot 40 is shaped and sized to receive a power cord . many alternate variations of the cord - retaining slot are possible . for example , in one alternate embodiment the slot extends fully through the rearward wall 40 to create a slit opening , rather than creating a channel as depicted in fig1 . in such an embodiment , the power cord for the cell phone or other device can extend through and out of the device holder 10 . in yet other embodiments , the slot 40 is replaced by a clip to hold the cord in place . the side walls 34 , 36 contain retention tabs 42 , preferably at the upper half of the side walls , that extend perpendicularly from the front edge of the side walls 34 , 36 and parallel to the rearward wall 32 . the purpose of the retention tabs 42 is to provide an additional restraint for the device being held and also to allow the device holder to accept a wider variety of models of hand - held devices while providing a snug and secure fit . [ 0026 ] fig2 illustrates an alternate embodiment of the present invention in which the vertical channels of the cup receptacle wall have been replaced with annular ribs 50 . in this embodiment , any number of ribs 50 may be used to facilitate compression and frictional retention of the device holder 10 within a cup - holder . in yet an alternate embodiment , the bottom surface 14 of the first end 11 includes a rectangular - shaped recessed area 52 . the recessed area 52 is configured to accept a piece of double - sided adhesive tape so that the device holder 10 may be removably secured to any planar surface . although the recessed area 52 is illustrated as included in the embodiment having annular ribs 50 , it may be included ( or excluded ) in any embodiment of the present invention . [ 0028 ] fig3 shows another alternative of the device holder invention in which the shape of the second end of the device holder has been modified to accept an insert 60 . in this alternate embodiment , the forward wall 30 is generally the same height as the rearward wall 32 and side walls 34 , 36 . moreover , each of the vertical walls 30 - 36 may be somewhat shorter in this embodiment . the remaining attributes of the device holder are as described above , and includes a first end 11 suitable for insertion into a cup - holder . the principal difference in this embodiment is that it uses an insert 60 that retains the electronic device and is retained within the device holder 10 . the insert 60 is preferably constructed of a soft , shock absorbing material such as a low durometer plastic or rubber and may be specifically shaped to hold a particular brand or model of a hand - held device . thus , the insert 60 includes an outer surface having four vertical walls configured to snugly fit within the interior cavity defined by the walls 30 - 36 of the device holder . the walls 62 of the insert 60 further extend upward to define an interior insert cavity that is specifically shaped to retain a particular electronic device . accordingly , an unlimited number of inserts can be produced , each mating with a specific electronic device but each also fitting within the device holder 10 of the present invention . the insert 60 can be semi - permanently attached to the hand - held device and can be used as a protective case for the device even when it is not being used in conjunction with the device holder . the protective insert may be easily inserted into the second end of the device holder for use as described above . while the preferred embodiment of the invention has been illustrated and described , as noted above , many changes can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention . accordingly , the scope of the invention is not limited by the disclosure of the preferred embodiment . | 7 |
the exercising apparatus 10 comprises a base 12 and two bumpers 14 attached to opposite end portions of the base . the base 12 includes of a plurality of boards 16 which are connected to each other by hinges 18 ( fig2 ). the upper side of the rectangular base 12 is covered by a flexible glide sheet 20 . the glide sheet 20 is made from plastic . the rigid boards 16 are preferably made of wood or other material , such as hard plastic . the rectangular base 12 has a distance between bumpers 14 of approximately 8 feet . the base 12 has a width of approximately 2 feet . the rectangular sheet 20 has a length and width which is approximately the same as the length and width of the base 12 . the sheet 20 has a thickness of approximately 1 / 8 inch . fig2 shows that the exercising apparatus consists of three boards 16 . however , the number of boards 16 may vary dependent on the desired distance between bumpers 14 and the width of the boards . the bumper 14 generally comprises a cushion part 22 ( fig3 and 4 ) and a support part 24 . the part 24 may be wood , metal or hard plastic . the cushion part 22 is preferably molded with the support part 24 . clearly , other means such , i . e ., as glue , may be used to connect the cushion part 22 with the support part 24 . the bumpers 14 , glide sheet 20 and boards 16 are interconnected by clamp assemblies 26 . each of the releasable clamp assemblies 26 includes a metal bracket 28 , a bolt 30 and a nut 32 ( fig4 ). each of the nuts 32 is mounted in a support part 24 of a bumper . in the illustrated embodiment of the invention , two bolts 30 and nuts 32 are used to secure each of the clamp members 26 with the end portion of a bumper support part 24 . however , any desired number of bolts could be used . the bolts 30 are tightened into the nuts 32 to apply force to the bracket 28 ( fig4 ) and bumper support part 24 to compress the glide sheet 20 between the bumper support part and a board 16 engaged by the bracket 28 . the clamping force applied to the board 16 and glide sheet 20 by the bumper support part 24 and bracket 28 holds the bumper 14 against movement relative to the glide sheet 20 and holds the glide sheet 20 against movement relative to the board 16 . by loosening the bolts 30 for each of the bumpers 14 , it is possible to slide the bumpers along the length of the glide surface 20 to vary the distance between the bumpers and thereby vary the length of the glide stroke of a person exercising with the apparatus 10 . when the exercise apparatus 10 is to be used , a speed skater puts on socks over suitable exercise shoes . the socks provide the shoes with a surface having a low coefficient of friction to enable the feet of the skater to slide over the upper surface of the glide sheet 20 . 0f course , the shoes could have soles which would slide easily over the sheet 20 . the skater then gets on the glide sheet 20 , in the manner illustrated schematically in fig1 . the skater pushes against one bumper 14 with the lower side of one foot , for example , the right foot as shown in fig1 and slides along the plastic sheet 20 toward the opposite bumper 14 . the other foot , that is , the left foot , slides into abutting engagement with the opposite bumper 14 to limit sideward movement of the skater . the skater then pushes off the second bumper with his left foot and slides back toward the first pumper . when the right foot of the skater engages the first bumper , he again pushes off to repeat the sliding movement across the upper surface of the plastic sheet 20 . sliding movement of the skater between bumpers 14 is repeated until the exercises are completed . each time a foot of the skater pushes off against one of the bumpers 14 , the leg muscles are exercised in a manner which is generally the same as when the skater pushes the edge of a blade of a skate against the ice with a power stroke . through consistent practice with the exercise apparatus 10 , the legs of the skater are strengthened in the same manner as which they would be strengthened if he was actually skating on the ice . as the leg strength of the skater increases , the length of the exercise strokes are increased by increasing the distance between the bumpers 14 . when the skater has finished using the apparatus 10 , the bolts 30 and nuts 32 holding the bumpers 14 are loosened and the plastic sheet 20 is removed from between the bumpers 14 and the base 12 . the sheet 20 is then rolled . the base 12 is then folded at the hinges 18 . the rolled sheet 20 and folded base 12 can be easily stored or transported . although the plastic sheet 20 is too thick and rigid to be folded , it is sufficiently flexible to enable the sheet to be compactly rolled . the sheet 20 is rigid enough to transmit forces applied by the gliding movement of the sock covered feet of a skater to the bumpers 14 . thus , if the skater is pushing off with a right foot and gliding with a left foot , as shown in fig1 friction forces applied against the sheet 20 will be transmitted by the sheet to the bumper on the skater &# 39 ; s left ( fig1 ) without forming wrinkles in the sheet . it should be understood that although the base 12 has been illustrated in fig2 as being formed by three boards 16 which are interconnected by hinges 18 , a different number of boards could be used if desired and the boards could be interconnected in a different manner . however , it is believed that it will be preferred to interconnect the boards 16 in such a manner that the base 12 can be compactly collapsed by either completely disconnecting the boards 16 or by maintaining the boards interconnected with the use of suitable hinges , similar to the hinges 18 . it should also be understood that the exercise apparatus 10 may be used by persons who participate in sports other than skating , for example , skiing . in fig1 - 3 , the bumpers 14 are shown as extending perpendicular to the longitudinal central axis of the base 12 . however , when a foot of a skater using the exercise apparatus 10 pushes off against a bumper 14 in the manner previously explained , the side of the foot naturally tends to be turned slightly outwardly at an angle of approximately 10 ° to a path along which a skater would be travelling if he was on ice . to accommodate this natural tendency of feet of the skater to turn outwardly as they push off , the bumpers 14 may be positioned so as to flare outwardly relative to each other . in fig5 the exercise apparatus 10 has been illustrated with the bumpers 14 extending at an acute angle 40 of approximately 80 ° relative to a longitudinal central axis 42 of the base 12 . this results in a side surface 44 ( fig3 ) of each of the bumpers 14 being positioned at the same angle relative to the base 12 as the foot of a skater when the foot engages the side surface 44 of the cushion part 22 of a bumper 14 . the angle at which the bumpers 14 are disposed relative to the base 12 can be adjusted , by releasing the clamp assemblies 26 , to accommodate different foot orientations for different skaters . in the embodiment of the invention illustrated in fig1 - 5 , the base 12 and glide sheet 20 are horizontal when the exercise apparatus is used . however , it is contemplated that the leg muscles of a skater or other athlete may be further strengthened by having the glide sheet extend upwardly to the bumpers . an embodiment of the invention having this construction is illustrated in fig6 . since the embodiment of the invention illustrated in fig6 is generally similar to the embodiment of the invention illustrated in fig1 - 5 , similar numerals will be utilized to designate similar components , the suffix letter &# 34 ; a &# 34 ; be associated with the numerals of fig6 to avoid confusion . an exercising apparatus 10a includes a base 12a and a pair of bumpers 14a attached to opposite end portions of the base . the base 12a includes a plurality of boards 16a which are attached to each other by hinges 18a . the upper side of the rectangular base 12a is covered by a flexible glide sheet 20a . in accordance with a feature of this embodiment of the invention , the boards 16a to which the bumpers 14a are connected , extend upwardly from a horizontal central section of the base . therefore , befor the foot of a skater engages the bumper 14a , the foot must slide upwardly to the bumper . although the bumpers 14a ( fig6 ) extend perpendicular to the longitudinal central axis of the base 12a , it is contemplated that the bumpers could be skewed relative to the longitudinal central axis of the base 12a , in the same manner shown in fig5 to accommodate the angled orientation of a foot of a skater . the boards 16a at opposite ends of the base 12a are supported by wedges or spacer blocks 48 and 50 so that the glide sheet 20a slopes upwardly from a horizontal central section to the bumpers 14a . the wedges 48 and 50 may be formed of any desired material capable of supporting the weight of a skater . however , it is preferred to form the wedges 48 and 50 from a rigid foam or plastic . the wedges 48 and 50 are secured to boards 16a of the base 12a by screws and / or adhesive . the clamp assemblies for the bumpers 14a can be moved relative to the base 12a to adjust the exercise stroke of a skater and / or to adjust the angle which the bumpers make with the longitudinal central axis of the base 12a . although the wedges 48 and 50 have been shown in fig6 as being disposed beneath the boards 16a , the wedges could be disposed between the glide sheet 20a and the boards 16a if desired . when the skater has finished using the apparatus 10 , the clamp assemblies holding the bumpers 14a are loosened and the glide sheet 20a is removed from between the bumpers and the base 12a . the base 12a can then be folded at the hinges 18a . the wedges 48 and 50 can be left connected to the boards 16a or can be disconnected from the boards . in the embodiment of the invention illustrated in fig6 the base 12a supports the glide sheet 20a so that the glide sheet has a generally concave configuration . it is contemplated that it may be desired to provide the glide sheet with a different configuration . in the embodiment of the invention illustrated in fig7 the glide sheet has a convex configuration . since the embodiment of the invention illustrated in fig7 is generally similar to the embodiment of the invention illustrated in fig6 similar numerals will be utilized to designate similar components , the suffix letter &# 34 ; b &# 34 ; being associated with the embodiment of the invention illustrated in fig7 to avoid confusion . the exercise apparatus 10b comprises a base 12b and two bumpers 14b attached to opposite end portions of the base . the base 12b includes a plurality of boards 16b which are connected to each other by hinges 18h . a flexible glide sheet 20b is disposed above the base 12b . in accordance with a feature of this embodiment of the invention , the glide sheet 20b has a convex configuration so that a skater must pull his foot upwardly toward the raised central section of the glide sheet 20b after the foot engages a bumper 14b . to provide the glide sheet 20b with a convex configuration , a plurality of spacer blocks 56 , 58 and 60 are provided between the boards 16b of the base 12b and the glide sheet 20b . the spacer blocks 56 , 58 and 60 have flat bottom side surfaces . the bottom side surfaces of the spacer blocks 56 , 58 and 60 are disposed in abutting engagement with and have the same size as upper side surfaces of the boards 16b of the base 12b . the spacer blocks 56 , 58 and 60 have arcuate upper side surfaces which form a continuously curving support surface for the glide sheet 20b . the spacer blocks 56 , 58 and 60 can be formed of any desired material having sufficient strength to support a skater . however , it is preferred to form the spacer blocks 56 , 58 and 60 of a rigid foam or plastic material . in the embodiment of the invention illustrated in fig7 the spacer blocks are provided between the base 12b and glide sheet 20b . however , if desired , the spacer blocks could be disposed beneath the base 12b . the spacer blocks 56 , 58 and 60 are held against movement relative to the base 12b by the clamps which connect the bumpers 14b with the base 12b . thus , the edge portions of the spacer blocks 56 and 60 are compressed between the bumpers 14b and the base 12b to securely connect the bumpers 14b with the base 12b and to hold the support blocks 56 and 60 against sidewise movement under the influence of forces applied against the glide sheet 20b by the skater . when the skater has finished using the exercise apparatus 10b , the clamp assemblies for the bumpers 14b are loosened and the plastic glide sheet 20b is removed from between the bumpers 14b and the spacer blocks 56 and 60 . the base 12b is then folded at the hinges 18b . the spacer blocks 56 , 58 and 60 are connected with the boards 16b and can be folded with the boards . however , if desired , the spacer blocks 56 , 58 and 60 could be disconnected from the boards . it is clear from the foregoing description that the present invention provides a simple universal exercising apparatus 10 for skaters or other athletes which is simple , lightweight , easy to transport and store and , also , permits the skater not to remain on the same spot . the apparatus 10 can be very quickly assembled and disassembled and occupies little space . to assemble the apparatus 10 , it is sufficient to unfold a stack of hinged boards 16 , unroll the gliding sheet 20 and fix the bumpers , gliding sheet and board platform together . a skater or skier then can put socks on his or her legs and exercise . while the invention has been described herein in terms of the preferred embodiment , numerous variations may be made in the apparatus illustrated in the drawings and herein described without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention set forth in the appended claims . | 0 |
first , a first circuit exemplified as a circuit for explaining an embodiment of the present invention will be described . the first circuit includes a 2 - nand ( 2 - input negative logical multiplication ) circuit and an inv ( inverter : negative ) circuit . fig1 is a circuit diagram illustrating the outline of a configuration of the first circuit . the 2 - nand circuit receives as inputs in 1 and in 2 and outputs a . the inv circuit receives as an input a and outputs out . fig2 is a circuit diagram illustrating the details of the configuration of the first circuit . the 2 - nand circuit is constituted by pmos transistors tp 1 , tp 2 and nmos transistors tn 1 , tn 2 . the inv circuit is constituted by a pmos transistor tp 3 and a nmos transistor tn 3 . next , comparative examples 1 and 2 exemplified as layout examples of the first circuit will be described . comparative example 1 is a case where an sti is used for device isolation . fig3 is a plan view illustrating a layout example of the first circuit according to comparative example 1 . in fig3 , the same reference marks as those in fig2 denote the same or corresponding parts as those in fig2 , and the descriptions thereof will be omitted here . hereinafter , in the plan view of the layout , a region surrounded by a bold line denotes a diffusion layer . a diffusion layer lpa constitutes the diffusion layer of the pmos transistors tp 1 and tp 2 , and a diffusion layer lna constitutes the diffusion layer of the nmos transistors tn 1 and tn 2 . further , a diffusion layer lpb constitutes the diffusion layer of the pmos transistor tp 3 , and a diffusion layer lnb constitutes the diffusion layer of the nmos transistor tn 3 . hereinafter , in the layout view , a region shaded by diagonal lines denotes a metal , a region shaded by horizontal lines denotes a gate polysilicon which is a gate electrode formed by polycrystalline silicon , and a blackened region denotes a contact serving as a contact point for upper layer wiring . a power supply wiring vdd ( high potential ) is disposed at the uppermost portion in fig3 , and a power supply wiring vss ( low potential ) is disposed at the lowermost portion . the pmos transistors are arranged on the vdd side , and the nmos transistors are arranged on the vss side . as the pmos transistors , the pmos transistors tp 2 , tp 1 , and tp 3 are arranged in this order from the left . as the nmos transistors , the nmos transistors tn 2 , tn 1 , and tn 3 are arranged in this order from the left . in 1 is a gate electrode of the transistors tp 1 and tn 1 , and in 2 is a gate electrode of the transistors tp 2 and tn 2 . a ( sn 1 ) is a drain electrode of the transistors tp 1 , tn 1 , and tp 2 and a gate electrode of the transistors tp 3 and tn 3 . out is a drain electrode of the transistors tp 3 and tn 3 . sp 2 is a source electrode of the transistor tp 2 , sp 1 is a source electrode of the transistor tp 1 , and sn 2 is a source electrode of the transistor tn 2 . sp 3 is a source electrode of the transistor tp 3 , and sn 3 is a source electrode of the transistor tn 3 . fig4 is a cross - sectional view illustrating a layout example of the first circuit according to comparative example 1 . in fig4 , the same reference marks as those in fig3 denote the same or corresponding parts as those in fig3 , and the descriptions thereof will be omitted here . fig4 is a cross - sectional view taken along x - x ′ line of fig3 . stis are provided on the left side of the transistors tp 2 and tn 2 , on the right side of the transistors tp 3 and tn 3 , and between the transistors tp 1 , tn 1 and transistors tp 3 , tn 3 , respectively . as diffusion layers , a diffusion layer lpa of the transistors tp 1 and tp 2 , a diffusion layer lna of the transistors tn 1 and tn 2 , a diffusion layer lpb of the transistor tp 3 , and a diffusion layer lnb of the transistor tn 3 are provided . that is , the diffusion layer of the 2 - nand circuit and diffusion layer of the inv circuit are isolated from each other by the sti . according to comparative example 1 , the diffusion layers of the 2 - nand circuit and inv circuit are isolated from each other by the sti and , correspondingly , the size of the diffusion layers is reduced , so that the effect of a strained silicon is small . further , the transistor performance deteriorates due to a compression stress from the sti . comparative example 2 is a case where a dummy transistor is used for device isolation in place of the sti . fig5 is a plan view illustrating a layout example of the first circuit according to comparative example 2 . in fig5 , the same reference marks as those in fig3 denote the same or corresponding parts as those in fig3 , and the descriptions thereof will be omitted here . fig6 is a cross - sectional view illustrating a layout example of the first circuit according to comparative example 2 . in fig6 , the same reference marks as those in fig5 denote the same or corresponding parts as those in fig5 , and the descriptions thereof will be omitted here . fig6 is a cross - sectional view taken along x - x ′ line of fig5 . in comparative example 2 , the pmos transistors tp 1 and tp 3 are isolated from each other by a dummy transistor xp , and the nmos transistors tn 1 and tn 3 are isolated from each other by a dummy transistor xn . a gate electrode ep 0 of the dummy transistor xp is provided between the source electrodes sp 1 and sp 3 , and a gate electrode en 0 is provided as an enable terminal of the dummy transistor xn between the source electrodes sn 1 and sn 3 . as a result , all the pmos transistors tp 1 , tp 2 , xp , and tp 3 are formed on one continuous diffusion layer lp 0 , and all the nmos transistors tn 1 , tn 2 , xn , and tn 3 are formed on one continuous diffusion layer ln 0 . when the gate electrode ep 0 is connected to the vdd , the dummy transistor xp is kept in an off state . further , when the gate electrode en 0 serving as the enable terminal is connected to the vss , the dummy transistor xn is kept in an off state . according to comparative example 2 , the problem of comparative example 1 can be solved . however , since only transistors having the same characteristics can be constructed in one diffusion layer , the performance of the transistor is constrained . in the present embodiment , a semiconductor device in which two dummy transistors are provided between two devices and thereby different channel widths w can be set for the two devices will be described . fig7 is a circuit diagram illustrating the details of a configuration of the first circuit according to the first embodiment . in fig7 , the same reference marks as those in fig2 denote the same or corresponding parts as those in fig2 , and the descriptions thereof will be omitted here . the circuit of fig7 is obtained by adding the dummy pmos transistors xp 1 and xp 2 and dummy nmos transistors xn 1 and xn 2 to the circuit of fig2 . fig8 is a plan view illustrating a layout example of the first circuit according to the first embodiment . in fig8 , the same reference marks as those in fig5 denote the same or corresponding parts as those in fig5 , and the descriptions thereof will be omitted here . further , fig8 illustrates the layout of the circuit of fig7 . fig9 is a cross - sectional view illustrating a layout example of the first circuit according to the first embodiment . in fig9 , the same reference marks as those in fig8 denote the same or corresponding parts as those in fig8 , and the descriptions thereof will be omitted here . fig9 is a cross - sectional view taken along x - x ′ line of fig8 . in the present embodiment , pmos transistors tp 1 ( first transistor ) and tp 3 ( second transistor ) are isolated from each other by dummy transistors xp 1 ( third transistor ) and xp 2 ( fourth transistor ), and nmos transistors tn 1 ( first transistor ) and tn 3 ( second transistor ) are isolated from each other by dummy transistors xn 1 ( third transistor ) and xn 2 ( fourth transistor ). a gate electrode ep 1 of the dummy transistor xp 1 is provided between the source electrodes sp 1 and sp 3 , a gate electrode ep 2 of the dummy transistor xp 2 is provided between the gate electrode ep 1 and source electrode sp 3 , and a drain electrode fp of the dummy transistors xp 1 and xp 2 is provided between the gate electrodes ep 1 and ep 2 . similarly , a gate electrode en 1 is provided as an enable terminal of the dummy transistor xn 1 between the source electrodes sn 1 and sn 3 , a gate electrode en 2 is provided as an enable terminal of the dummy transistor xn 2 between the gate electrode en 1 and source electrode sn 3 , and a drain electrode fn of the dummy transistors xn 1 and xn 2 is provided between the gate electrodes en 1 and en 2 . although there are provided in this example the drain electrode fp which is connected to the vdd so as to make the potentials of the drains of the dummy transistors xp 1 and xp 2 constant and the drain electrode fn which is connected to the vss so as to make the potentials of the drains of the dummy transistors xn 1 and xn 2 constant , the drain electrodes fp and fn need not always be provided . thus , all the pmos transistors tp 1 , tp 2 , xp 1 , xp 2 , and tp 3 are formed on one continuous diffusion layer lp 1 , and all the nmos transistors tn 1 , tn 2 , xn 1 , xn 2 , and tn 3 are formed on one continuous diffusion layer ln 1 . when the gate electrodes ep 1 and ep 2 are connected to the vdd , the dummy transistors xp 1 and xp 2 are kept in an off state . similarly , when the gate electrodes en 1 and en 2 serving as the enable terminals are connected to the vss , the dummy transistors xn 1 and xn 2 are kept in an off state . that is , existence of the dummy transistors xp 1 , xp 2 , xn 1 , and xn 2 does not affect the function of the first circuit . in the present embodiment , the channel width w of the diffusion layer lp 1 is changed between the dummy transistors xp 1 and xp 2 . that is , in the diffusion layer lp 1 , the channel width w of a region lpa ( first diffusion region ) where the transistors tp 1 , tp 2 , and xp 1 are formed is set to w 1 , and the channel width w of a region lpb ( second diffusion region ) where the transistors xp 2 and tp 3 are formed is set to w 2 . similarly , the channel width w of the diffusion layer ln 1 is changed between the xn 1 and xn 2 . that is , in the diffusion layer ln 1 , the channel width w of a region lna ( first diffusion region ) where the transistors tn 1 , tn 2 , and xn 1 are formed is set to w 3 , and the channel width w of a region lnb ( second diffusion region ) where the transistors xn 2 and tn 3 are formed is set to w 4 . by providing the two dummy transistors in one diffusion layer , it is possible to define the boundary of the channel width between the two dummy transistors . therefore , a fixed channel width can be set for the left side region of the one diffusion layer lp 1 starting from the dummy transistor xp 1 and extending to the left and another fixed channel width can be set for the right side region of the one diffusion layer lp 1 starting from the dummy transistor xp 2 and extending to the right . similarly , a fixed channel width can be set for the left side region of the one diffusion layer ln 1 starting from the dummy transistor xn 1 and extending to the left and another fixed channel width can be set for the right side region of the one diffusion layer ln 1 starting from the dummy transistor xn 2 and extending to the right . according to the present embodiment , by forming the diffusion layer in a continuous manner across a plurality of circuits , it is possible to eliminate the need to provide the sti which may cause the deterioration of the transistor performance and to enhance the effect of the strained silicon . further , by providing the two dummy transistors between two devices , it is possible to set different channel widths w for the two devices . thus , the value of the channel width can be made different region by region in one continuous diffusion layer , allowing design of a transistor having appropriate channel widths for respective circuits . that is , even in the case where there occurs a need to change the value of the channel width in order to optimize transistor characteristics for each region in the continuous diffusion layer , a transistor having optimum channel width can be obtained by forming the dummy transistors in the region at which the channel width is changed . in the present embodiment , a semiconductor device in which two dummy transistors are provided between two devices and thereby different threshold voltages vth can be set for the two devices will be described . fig1 is a plan view illustrating a layout example of the first circuit according to the second embodiment . in fig1 , the same reference marks as those in fig8 denote the same or corresponding parts as those in fig8 , and the descriptions thereof will be omitted here . as with fig8 , fig1 illustrates the layout of the circuit of fig7 . fig1 is a cross - sectional view illustrating a layout example of the first circuit according to the second embodiment . in fig1 , the same reference marks as those in fig1 denote the same or corresponding parts as those in fig1 , and the descriptions thereof will be omitted here . fig1 is a cross - sectional view taken along x - x ′ line of fig1 . as in the case of the first embodiment , all the pmos transistors tp 1 , tp 2 , xp 1 , xp 2 , and tp 3 are formed on one continuous diffusion layer lp 1 , and all the nmos transistors tn 1 , tn 2 , xn 1 , xn 2 , and tn 3 are formed on one continuous diffusion layer ln 1 . in the present embodiment , the dose amount of a region ( first diffusion region ) where the transistors tp 1 , tp 2 , and xp 1 are formed and does amount of a region ( second diffusion region ) where the transistors xp 2 and tp 3 are formed are made different to thereby set the value of the threshold voltage vth of the pmos transistors tp 1 and tp 2 to vthp 1 and the value of the threshold voltage vth of the pmos transistors tp 3 to vthp 2 . the dose amount denotes an electron or ion injection amount per unit area of the silicon substrate . similarly , the dose amount of a region ( first diffusion region ) where the nmos transistors tn 1 , tn 2 , and xn 1 are formed and does amount of a region ( second diffusion region ) where the transistors xn 2 and tn 3 are formed are made different to thereby set the value of the threshold voltage of the transistors tn 1 and tn 2 to vthn 1 and the value of the threshold voltage of the transistors tn 3 to vthn 2 . for example , an ion injection mask for normal threshold voltage is used to conduct ion injection to the region where the transistors xp 2 and tp 3 are formed and region where the transistors xn 2 and tn 3 are formed , while an ion injection mask for high threshold voltage is used to conduct ion injection to the region where the transistors tp 1 , tp 2 , and xp 1 are formed and region where the transistors tn 1 , tn 2 , and xn 1 are formed . as a result , the threshold voltages vthp 1 and vthn 1 of the transistors tp 1 , tp 2 , tn 1 , and tn 2 can be made higher than the threshold voltages vthp 2 and vthn 2 of the transistors tp 3 and tn 3 . further , as in the case of the first embodiment , in the diffusion layer lp 1 , the channel width w of the region where the transistors tp 1 , tp 2 , and xp 1 are formed is set to w 1 , and the channel width w of the region where the transistors xp 2 and tp 3 are formed is set to w 2 . similarly , in the diffusion layer ln 1 , the channel width w of the region where the transistors tn 1 , tn 2 , and xn 1 are formed is set to w 3 , and the channel width w of the region where the transistors xn 2 and tn 3 are formed is set to w 4 . by providing the two dummy transistors in one diffusion layer lp 1 , it is possible to define the boundary of the threshold voltage between the two dummy transistors . therefore , a fixed threshold voltage can be set for the left side region of the one diffusion layer lp 1 starting from the dummy transistor xp 1 and extending to the left and another fixed threshold voltage can be set for the right side region of the one diffusion layer lp 1 starting from the dummy transistor xp 2 and extending to the right . similarly , a fixed threshold voltage can be set for the left side region of the one diffusion layer ln 1 starting from the dummy transistor xn 1 and extending to the left and another threshold voltage width can be set for the right side region of the one diffusion layer ln 1 starting from the dummy transistor xn 2 and extending to the right . according to the present embodiment , by forming the diffusion layer in a continuous manner across a plurality of circuits , it is possible to eliminate the need to provide the sti which may cause the deterioration of the transistor performance and to enhance the effect of the strained silicon . further , the value of the threshold voltage can be made different region by region in one continuous diffusion layer , allowing design of a transistor having appropriate threshold voltage values for respective circuits . although both the channel width and threshold voltage are made different between the regions which are isolated from each other by the dummy transistors in the present embodiment , only the threshold voltage may be made different between the regions . in the present embodiment , a semiconductor device in which two dummy transistors are provided between two devices and thereby stable power supply to the two devices can be achieved will be described . first , a second circuit exemplified as a circuit will be described . the second circuit has a first 2 - nand ( 2 - input negative logical multiplication ) circuit and a second 2 - nand circuit . fig1 is a circuit diagram illustrating the outline of a configuration of the second circuit . the first 2 - nand circuit receives as inputs in 1 a and in 2 a and outputs outa . the second 2 - nand circuit receives as inputs in 1 b and in 2 b and outputs outb . fig1 is a circuit diagram illustrating the details of the configuration of the second circuit . the first 2 - nand circuit is constituted by pmos transistors tp 1 a , tp 2 a and nmos transistors tn 1 a , tn 2 a . the second 2 - nand circuit is constituted by pmos transistors tp 1 b , tp 2 b and nmos transistors tn 1 b , tn 2 b . fig1 is a circuit diagram illustrating the details of a configuration of the second circuit according to the third embodiment . in fig1 , the same reference marks as those in fig1 denote the same or corresponding parts as those in fig1 , and the descriptions thereof will be omitted here . the circuit of fig1 is obtained by adding the dummy pmos transistors xp 3 and dummy nmos transistor xn 3 to the circuit of fig1 . fig1 is a plan view illustrating a layout example of the second circuit according to the third embodiment . fig1 illustrates the layout of the circuit of fig1 . as in the case of the first embodiment , a power supply wiring vdd ( high potential ) is disposed at the uppermost portion in fig1 , and a power supply wiring vss ( low potential ) is disposed at the lowermost portion . the pmos transistors are arranged on the vdd side , and the nmos transistors are arranged on the vss side . as the pmos transistors , the transistors tp 2 a , tp 1 a , xp 3 , tp 1 b , and tp 2 b are arranged in this order from the left . as the nmos transistors , the transistors tn 2 a , tn 1 a , xn 3 , tn 1 b , and tn 2 b are arranged in this order from the left . in the present embodiment , pmos transistors tp 1 a ( fifth transistor ) and tp 1 b ( sixth transistor ) are isolated from each other by dummy transistors xp 3 ( seventh transistor ), and nmos transistors tn 1 a ( fifth transistor ) and tn 1 b ( sixth transistor ) are isolated from each other by dummy transistors xn 3 ( seventh transistor ). in 1 a is a gate electrode of the transistors tp 1 a and tn 1 a , and in 2 a is a gate electrode of the tp 2 a and tn 2 a . in % is a gate electrode of the tp 1 b and tn 1 b , and in 2 b is a gate electrode of the tp 2 b and tn 2 b . outa is a drain electrode of the tp 1 a , tp 2 a , and tn 2 a . outb is a drain electrode of the tp 1 b , tp 2 b , and tn 2 b . sp 1 a is a source electrode of the tp 1 a , and sn 1 a is a source electrode of the tn 1 a . sp 2 a is a source electrode of the tp 2 a . sp 1 b is a source electrode of the tp 1 b , and sn 1 b is a source electrode of the tn 1 b , and sp 2 b is a source electrode of the tp 2 b . in the present embodiment , the tp 1 a and tp 1 b are isolated from each other by a dummy transistor xp 3 and the tn 1 a and tn 1 b are isolated from each other by a dummy transistor xn 3 . a gate electrode ep 3 of the xp 3 is provided between the sp 1 a and sp 1 b , and a gate electrode en 3 is provided as an enable terminal of the xn 3 between the sn 1 a and sn 1 b . as a result , all the pmos transistors tp 2 a , tp 1 a , xp 3 , tp 1 b , and tp 2 b are formed on one continuous diffusion layer lp 3 ( diffusion region ), and all the nmos transistors tn 2 a , tn 1 a , xn 3 , tn 1 b , and tn 2 b are formed on one continuous diffusion layer ln 3 ( diffusion region ). when the gate electrode ep 3 is connected to the vss , the dummy transistor xp 3 is kept in an on state . further , the gate electrode en 3 is connected to the vdd , the dummy transistor xn 3 is kept in an on state . that is , existence of the dummy transistors xp 3 and xn 3 does not affect the function of the second circuit . in the case where the source electrodes sp 1 a and sp 1 b connected to the power supply wiring are disposed close to each other , the dummy transistor xp 3 is provided between the source electrodes sp 1 a and sp 1 b , thereby reducing power supply noise in the power supply wiring vdd by an electrostatic capacitance of the dummy transistor xp 3 connecting the power supply wirings . similarly , in the case where the source electrodes sp 1 a and sp 1 b connected to the power supply wiring are disposed close to each other , the dummy transistor xn 3 is provided between the source electrodes sn 1 a and sn 1 b , thereby reducing power supply noise in the power supply wiring vdd by an electrostatic capacitance of the dummy transistor xn 3 connecting the power supply wirings . according to the present embodiment , by forming the diffusion layer in a continuous manner across a plurality of circuits , it is possible to eliminate the need to provide the sti which may cause the deterioration of the transistor performance and to enhance the effect of the strained silicon . further , by providing the dummy transistors , it is possible to reduce the power supply noise to thereby make the circuit operation stable . according to the embodiments of the present invention , it is possible to improve the performance of a circuit in the case where a plurality of circuits are arranged in a continuous diffusion layer . all examples and conditional language recited herein are intended for pedagogical purposes to aid the reader in understanding the invention and the concepts contributed by the inventor to furthering the art , and are to be construed as being without limitation to such specifically recited examples and conditions , nor does the organization of such examples in the specification relate to a depicting of the superiority and inferiority of the invention . although the embodiment ( s ) of the present inventions 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 . | 7 |
the following explanation is made of the preferred embodiments taking the example of an optical disk drives an optical disk . however , disk drives ( e . g ., an optical magnetic disk drive and a magnetic disk ) other than the optical disk drive can be used . fig4 is a block diagram showing the structure of a disk drive in the first embodiment . the optical disk drive of the present invention comprises a data input / output section 11 , an error correction processing section 12 , a parity calculating section 13 , a modulating / demodulating section 14 , an optical head 15 , an optical disk 16 , a track buffer 17 and a display section 18 . information signals to be recorded are fetched from an external device suchas a host computer or the like ( not shown in the drawing ) via the data input / output section 11 . the information signals fetched to the data input / output section 11 are inputted to the error correction processing section 12 and the parity calculating section 13 . the error correction processing section 12 generates error correction codes and adds them to the information signals to be recorded . the parity calculating section 13 calculates parities ( described later ) and adds the error correction codes to the information signals to be recorded . digital data including the information signals to be recorded , the error correction codes added thereto and parities are , after being made to modulated codes of a specified modulating type by the modulating / demodulating section 14 , converted into optical signals by the optical head 15 and recorded on the optical disk 16 as recorded data . the data recorded in the optical disk 16 is read by the optical head 15 andconverted into an electric signal by the optical head 15 . the modulating / demodulating section 14 demodulates the recorded data convertedinto the electric signal to digital data including information signals , error correction codes and parities . the error correction processing section 12 detects errors in the demodulated digital data and corrects errors if they exist . when errors which cannot be corrected by the error correction processing section 12 are produced , the parity of the data is calculated by the parity calculating section 13 and the recorded data is reproduced as an information signal by using this parity . the information signal reproduced in this way is outputted to the external device such as a host computer or the like ( not shown in the drawing ) via the data input / output pat 11 . at the time of reproduction , the recorded data demodulated by the modulating / demodulating section 14 is also inputted to the track buffer 17which is a temporary storing means and using a parity in the recorded data stored therein parity calculation is performed by the parity calculating section 13 ( described later ). now , it is assumed that a recording area on the optical disk 16 is composedof 15 , 500 tracks and 32 sectors / tracks and an information signal of 1024 byte per sector can be recorded . if n of an information recording block surrounded by n pieces of sectors and tracks is 31 and a parity sector of one sector per one track is provided , the recording area on the optical disk 16 is composed of 500 pieces of information recording blocks . the information recording capacity of the optical disk 16 per one face is 480 million bytes and that of the parity sector is 15 . 5 million bytes . it means that the ratio of the recording capacity of the parity sector to theinformation recording capacity is about 3 %. fig5 is a view showing settings of parity sectors and sectors targeted for parity calculation in the disk drive in the first embodiment . in fig5 one of the information recording blocks including 31 pieces of sectors and 31 pieces of tracks is shown extending in track and sector directions . though the values of real track numbers are set at 1 to 15 , 500 , the track numbers within the information recording block in fig5 are represented by 1 to 31 which are obtained by adding 1 to a balance after dividing the real track numbers by 31 . if an operator mod for gaining the balance of integer division is used , these track numbers can be represented by ( n mod 31 )+ 1 ( n is the actual track number ). moreover , block numbers to which tracks belong can be obtained by dividing the real track numbers by 31 , adding 1 and omitting figures below a decimal point . if the operator div of integer division is used , these track numbers can be expressed by block number ={( track number - 1 ) div 31 }+ 1 . by the setting described above , it can be understood that , for instance , a 1000th track is the 9th one of a block number 33 . it is assumed that in the information recording block shown in fig5 information signals are recorded in the first to 31th sectors ( informationsectors ) and a parity is recorded in the 32th sector ( parity sector ). now , a sector indicated by a track number n and a sector number m is expressed by s ( n , m ) and an nth parity is exclusive or of the information signals oftotally 31 pieces of information sectors of s ( i , ( i + n - 1 ) mod 32 ) ( i = 1 to 31 ). where , mod is an operator for obtaining the balance of integer division . for instance , a first parity is exclusive or of the information signals of totally 31 pieces of sectors of s ( i , ( i + 1 - 1 ) mod 32 ) ( i = 1 to 31 ). thus , the first parity is given by s ( 1 , 1 ) xor s ( 2 , 2 ) xor s ( 3 , 3 ) xor . . . xor s ( 31 , 31 ). where , xor is an operator of exclusive or . likewise , second to 32th parities are calculated . from the general definition of a parity , when even in one sector of 31 pieces of information sectors targeted for the nth parity calculation reproduction is impossible by means of error correction , the information signals in the sector in which reproduction is impossible can be reproduced by taking exclusive or between the information signals recordedin the rest 30 pieces of information sectors and the nth parity recorded n the parity sector . the drawing in fig5 shows these sectors targeted for parity calculation . the information recording block surrounded by 31 pieces of sectors and 31 pieces of tracks is provided with totally 31 pieces of parity sectors , one per track and totally 31 pieces of parities are calculated , one every information signals of 31 pieces of sectors having different track and sector numbers . with the parity sector thus defined , since parities different to one another are recorded in 31 pieces of adjacent sectors within the same track in the optical disk 16 , for instance even in a case where errors exceeding the capability of error correction codes are produced over the adjacent sectors within the track of the same track number , the information signals in the sectors in which the errors are produced can bereproduced by using the parities . further , in 31 pieces of continuous tracks , since sectors having the same sector numbers are arranged being prevented from using the same parities , even in a case where errors exceeding the capability of error correction codes are produced in the sectors having the same sector numbers , the information signals therein can be reproduced by using the parities of the parity sectors . as described above , if the sectors of the same track numbers of 31 or lowerpieces of continuous tracks are set so as not to use the same parities , even when errors exceeding the capability of error correction codes are produced therein , the information signals can be correctly reproduced by using the parities . in other words , even in a case where errors exceeding the capability of error correction codes are produced in 31 pieces of adjacent sectors in a circumferential or a radial direction , the information signals can be reproduced by using 31 pieces of parities . conventionally , the parities of the sectors within one track have been calculated and these have been recorded as parity sectors for every track . in these parity sectors , error correction of only one sector per one track is allowed . in the first embodiment shown in fig5 even though parity sectors are set for every track as conventionally , error correction of 31 pieces of adjacent sectors and 31 pieces of tracks , that is , burst error correction of 31 pieces of sectors , is possible and error correction capability with the same volume of parity sectors as conventionally is improved . thus , without increasing the sector counts of the parity sectorsthan conventionally , capability of correcting burst errors can be improved . moreover , if the condition is satisfied , wherein an information recording block including n pieces of sectors and n pieces of tracks is provided with one piece for every track , totally n pieces of parity sectors , and one piece for every information signal having n pieces of different track and sector numbers , totally n pieces of parities are calculated and recorded in the parity sectors , arrangement of sectors targeted for paritycalculation is not limited to that shown in fig5 but can be changed when appropriate . meanwhile , in the first embodiment , since sectors targeted for parity calculation are distributed to n pieces of tracks , when information sectors which cannot be reproduced by error correction are generated , the movement of the optical head 15 frequently occurs so as to reproduce the sectors targeted for parity calculation , thereby lengthening accessing time . in order to solve this problem , in the first embodiment , the track buffer 17 is provided , the information signals and parities obtained by the modulating / demodulating section 14 at the time of reproducing are temporarily stored therein and these are read and used for parity calculation executed by the parity calculating section 13 . more specifically , if the capacity of the track buffer 17 is equal to or larger than the information amount of the information signals and the parities recorded in n pieces of tracks , reproduction needing parities is performed at the parity calculating section 13 by reproducing the information signals and parities necessary therefor from the optical disk 16 , storing them in the track buffer 17 and then reading the contents stored therein . thus , it is not necessary to move the optical head 15 again for parity calculation processing . furthermore , in the first embodiment , since there is only capability of correcting errors in information of one sector by one parity , when errors exceeding the capability of error correction codes are procured in 2 sectors or more of the ones targeted for parity calculation , the information signals cannot be reproduced . it is clear from a coding theory , however , that correction is allowed by extending parities and enlarging a hamming distance . moreover , the display section 18 is providedto indicate to a user that reproduction of the information signals using the parities is to be performed or a means for transmitting this is provided on the external device , and thereby a situation of the quality deterioration of the optical disk 16 can be known . thus , it is possible topromote performing back - up recording of the information signals recorded inthe optical disk declined in quality in the other information storage devices such as an optical disk drive or the like . further , since it is possible to transfer the information signals to the other optical disks , etc ., before correct reproduction thereof becomes impossible even by usingthe parities due to further decline in quality of the optical disk 16 , information is not lost . a disk drive in the second embodiment of the present invention is describedhereinbelow . in the second embodiment , the basic structure of the optical disk drive is the same as in the first embodiment while settings of paritysectors and sectors targeted for parity calculation on the optical disk 16 are different therefrom . in the settings of the parity sectors and the sectors targeted for parity calculation in the first embodiment shown in fig5 since parities different from one another are recorded in 31 pieces of adjacent sectors on the optical disk 16 , even when errors exceeding the capability of errorcorrection codes are produced in 31 pieces of adjacent sectors of the tracks having the same track numbers , the information signals thereof can be reproduced by using the parities . also , since the sectors having the same sector numbers of 31 or lower pieces of continuous tracks are arranged so as to be prevented from using the same parities , even when errors exceeding the capability of error correction codes are produced in 31 pieces of the sectors having the same sector numbers of 31 or lower pieces of continuous tracks , the information signals thereof can be reproduced by using the parities . in the first embodiment , however , the parity sectors are fixed at a sector number 32 . therefore , if large damages are produced in the track direction , error correction is performedin a plurality of parity sectors making reproduction impossible . the device shown in the second embodiment is the improvement on this point , and as shown in fig6 the sector numbers of the parity sectors for recording parities are changed for each track . for instance , a first parity sector is recorded in a first sector , a second parity in a second sector , an nth parity sector in an nth sector and so on . also , with respect to information sectors , the second parity sector is recorded in the second sector , the nth parity sector in the nth sector and so on in order to make 31 pieces of adjacent sectors differently targeted for parity calculation and to make the sectors having the same numbers of 31 or lower pieces of tracks differently targeted for parity calculation as in the case shown in fig5 . if the parity sectors are set as described above , even when large damages are produced in the track direction , there is little possibility that reproduction of a plurality of parity sectors becomes impossible . in the settings of the parity sectors shown in fig6 under the condition that the sector numbers in which 31 pieces of parities are recorded are made tothe ones having different sector numbers , parity arrangements other than that shown in fig6 may be possible . a disk drive in the third embodiment of the present invention is described hereinbelow . in the first and second embodiments , it happens , though rarely , that the whole part of one track including a parity cannot be reproduced due to large damages in the circumferential direction . one track includes one parity sector a information sector recorded therein andtargeted for parity calculation . thus , since sectors impossible to be reproduced are two including the parity sector if the whole part of one track cannot be reproduced , reproduction of the information sector impossible to be reproduced cannot be performed . it is only necessary to set a parity in another information recording block in order to prevent this . in fig7 which is a view showing one example of a parity setting in such acase , in two information recording blocks a and b , the parity sectors of the block a are set in 31 pieces of sectors , 32nd of the block b while those of the block b are set in 31 pieces of sectors , 32nd of the block a . it is assumed that in the structure described above , the whole part of one track of the block a becomes impossible to be reproduced due to damages , for instance . in this case , the parity sectors of the block a can be reproduced as they are set in the block b . the information signals in one track of the block a can be reproduced by the information sectors in the 2nd to 31st tracks of the block a and the parity sectors of the block a set in 31 pieces of sectors of the block b . according to the third embodiment , with the parities thus arranged , even when the whole part of one track cannot be reproduced because of large damages in the circumferential direction , since the parity sectors are setin another block , if the parities recorded in these parity sectors and the information signals in the remaining information sectors are reproduced , the information signals in the information sectors impossible to be reproduced can be reproduced . a disk drive in the fourth embodiment of the present invention is describedhereinbelow . in the fourth embodiment , the basic structure of the optical disk drive is the same as in the first to third embodiments while settingsof parity sectors and sectors targeted for parity calculation on the optical disk 16 are different therefrom . an optical disk used in the fourth embodiment is the one of 3 . 5 inches having , for instance , a storage capacity of 300 million bytes for one side , composed of 16 , 000 tracks and 37 sectors for one side and capable ofrecording information by 512 byte per sector . in this embodiment , for the purpose of simplifying explanation of parity recording and reproduction , the optical disk is composed of 3 tracks and 7 sectors , information signals of 1 byte can be recorded in one sector and errors of 1 byte can be corrected by error correction codes . however , it must be assumed that in a case where errors are simultaneously produced in the information signals and the error correction codes , errors in the information signals cannot be corrected . fig8 is a view showing settings of parity sectors and sectors targeted for parity calculation in the fourth embodiment , the information signals are recorded in the first to sixth sectors , and a first parity is recordedin the seventh sector of a first track , a second parity in the seventh sector of a second track and a third parity in the seventh sector of a third track . in fig8 id and sync areas are omitted for the purpose of simplifying the explanation . in this case , if n = 3 , a balance after dividing a sector number by 3 is 1 . the first parity is added to the firstand fourth sectors in which a balance after dividing the sector number by 3is 1 , the second parity to the second and fifth sectors in which a balance is 2 and the third parity to the third and sixth sectors in which a balance is 0 . like this totally three kinds of parities are added and recorded in the optical disk . fig9 is a flowchart showing one example of a parity processing procedure at the time of recording with n = 3 in the fourth embodiment . a first parityp1 is exclusive or of the information signals in the first and fourth sectors of the track numbers 1 to 3 in which a balance after dividing the sector number by 3 is 1 . a second parity p2 is exclusive or of the information signals in the second and fifth sectors of the track numbers 1to 3 in which a balance after dividing the sector number by 3 is 2 . a thirdparity p3 is exclusive or of the information signals in the third and sixthsectors of the track numbers 1 to 3 in which a balance after dividing the sector number by 3 is 0 . first , the first parity p1 is obtained by calculating exclusive ors of the information signals tk1st1 and , tk1st4 of the first and fourth sectors of the first track , the ones tk2st1 and tk2st4 of the first and fourth sectors of the second track and the ones tk3st1 and tk3st4 of the first and fourth sectors of the third track ( step s1 ). then , the second parity p2 is obtained by calculating exclusive ors of the information signals tk1st2 and tk2st5 of the second and fifth sectors of the first track , the ones tk2st2 and tk2st5 of the second and fifth sectors of the second track and the ones tk3st2 and tk3st5 of the second and fifth sectors of the third track ( step s2 ). then , the third parity p3 is obtained by calculating exclusive ors of the information signals tk1st3 and tk1st6 of the third and sixth sectors of the first track , the ones tk2st3 and tk2st6 of the third and sixth sectorsof the second track and the ones tk3st3 and tk3st6 of the third and sixth sectors of the third track ( step s3 ) and the processing is terminated . fig1 is a flowchart showing one example of a parity processing procedureat the time of reproducing in the fourth embodiment . consideration is givento a case where errors not corrected by the error correction codes are produced in the first sector of the first track and the information signals therein cannot be reproduced . in this case , the information signaltk1st1 in the first sector are reproduced by calculating exclusive ors of the first parity p1 in the seventh sector of the first track , the information signal tk1st4 in the fourth sector of the first track , the onetk2st1 in the first sector of the second track , the one tk2st4 in the fourth sector of the second track , the one tk3st1 in the first sector of the third track and the one tk3st4 in the fourth sector of the third track ( step s4 ). as described above , the information signals in the first sector of the first track can be restored . also , it is clear from the parity definition that when errors not corrected by the error correction codes are produced in , for instance , the second sector of the first track , as in the case shown in fig1 , the information signals can be reproduced by using the second parity p2 and the information signals in the fifth sector of the track number 1 and the second and fifth sectors of the track numbers 2 and further , when errors not corrected by the error correction codes are produced in the third sector of the third track , as in the case shown in fig1 , the information signals therein can be reproduced by using the third parity p3 and the information signals in the third and sixth sectorsof the track numbers 1 and 2 and in the sixth sector of the track number 3 . as described above , it is clear that the information signals in the sectorsin which errors exceeding the capability of the error correction codes are produced can be reproduced from the parities and the remaining informationsignals . fig1 is a view showing one example of information recorded in the fourthembodiment . for example , the exclusive or 114 of the information signals 10 , 120 , 20 , 110 , 30 and 100 in the first and fourth sectors of the first track , the first and fourth sectors of the second track and the first and fourth sectors of the third track is recorded in the seventh sector of thefirst track as a parity . also , the exclusive or 190 of the information signals 60 , 130 , 50 , 140 , 40 and 150 in the second and fifth sectors of the first track , in the second and fifth sectors of the second track and in the second and fifth sectors of the third track is recorded in the seventh sector of the second track as a parity . further , the exclusive or 242 of the information signals 70 , 180 , 80 , 170 , 90 and 160 in the third and sixth sectors of the first track , in the third and sixth sectors of the second track and in the third and sixth sectors of the third track is recorded in the seventh sector of the third track as a parity . when errors exceeding the capability of the error correction codes are produced in a certain sector due to damages to the optical disk , the information signals cannot be reproduced by means of the error correction codes . in this case , reproduction is made from the parities and the remaining information signals as described previously . for example , when errors exceeding the capability of the error correction codes are producedin the first sector of the first track , the lost information signal in the first sector of the first track can be obtained by obtaining 10 as the exclusive or of the information signal 120 in the fourth sector of the first track , the ones 20 and 110 in the first and fourth sectors of the second track , the ones 30 and 100 in the first and fourth sectors of the third track and the parity 114 in the seventh sector of the first track . in this way , the information signal therein can be restored . in the embodiment in fig8 since the parity sector is fixed in the sectorof the sector number 7 , two or more parity sectors may not be reproduced simultaneously because of large damages , etc ., in the disk radial direction . fig1 shows the example of solving this problem , wherein parity sectors are arranged replacing information sectors for every track . in this example in fig1 , the parity sectors are shifted by one sector onevery other track . if no parities are made to be recorded in the sectors having the same numbers of the adjacent tracks , the parity sectors can be freely set . for the purpose of simplifying the explanation of the parity recording / reproducing procedure , the optical disk composed of three tracksand seven sectors was used in the above - mentioned fourth embodiment . for this reason , reduction in a storage area by the parities is large , about 14 %. in a real optical disk , for instance , in a 3 . 5 inch disk with one side having a storage capacity of 300 million bytes composed of 16 , 000 tracks and 37 sectors , reduction in a storage capacity is small , 3 % or lower , even when one parity sector is provided in one track . furthermore , in a case where the information signal of part of a sector is rewritten at the time of recording , a sector targeted for parity calculation must be read from the optical disk after rewriting the information signal and a parity must be recorded in the optical disk afterperforming the parity calculation . in this event , it takes more time than usually as it is necessary to rewrite the information signal and the parity . in order to prevent this , it is only necessary to perform reading of the information signal in the sector needed for parity changing , the parity calculation and recording of the parity in the optical disk after rewriting the information signal when there are no requests for reading and writing by such external devices as a computer or the like . that is , the parity calculation and the rewriting are performed at a vacant time when there are no reading / writing requests by the external device . thus , the period of time for rewriting the information signal is the same as conventionally . further , in the case of large image data with the storage capacity of 100 kilo - bytes or larger , the parity calculation can be performed at the same time when the image data is rewritten and the parity can be recorded in the optical disk following the image data by applying parities of one group or more to every image data and thus processing efficiency is improved . conventionally , a method has been adopted , wherein a replacement sector is allocated by terminating the use of the sector in which the frequency of error occurrences is high due to a decline in quality of the optical disk and damages thereto within the range of not exceeding the capability of the error correction codes and the information signals are transferred to this replacement sector as described previously . in the fourth embodiment , as it is clear that the transfer of the information signals to the replacement sector is necessary after errors exceeding the capability of the error correction codes are produced , the number of times for transferring the information signals thereto is smaller than conventionally . therefore , it is possible to prevent the increase in the accessing number of times and delaying of recording / reproducing of information by means of the replacement sector . furthermore , in the fourth embodiment , since three different kinds of parities are calculated for the sectors having the sector numbers in whichthe balances after division by 3 is 1 , 2 and 0 and recorded in the optical disk , even in a case where errors exceeding the capability of the error correction codes are produced in the three adjacent sectors of the same track numbers , the information signals in these sectors can be reproduced by using the parities . in the following consideration is given to a case where error occurrences in the third sector of the third track are increased and thus reproductionof the information signals therein cannot be performed with reference to fig1 . in order to perform reproduction by using the parities , it is necessary to reproduce the information signals in the third and sixth sectors of the first track , the ones in the third and sixth sectors of the second track , the ones in the sixth sector of the third track and the parity in the seventh sector of the third track . for this reason , the optical disk 16 accesses the third track , moves to the third sector and moves to the thirdand sixth sectors of the first track , to the third and sixth sectors of thesecond track and to the sixth and seventh sectors of the third track sequentially after confirming that it is impossible to reproduce the information signals . thus , the number of accessing times is three , taking more time for reproduction . in order to prevent this the use of the track buffer 17 is effective . as an example , if at least one group or more of n kinds of parities are recorded in the track counts equivalent to the capacity of the track buffer 17 , since reproduction needing parities can be performed by storingthe information signals and the parities necessary for reproduction in the track buffer 17 and then reading the contents thereof , the removement of the optical disk 16 for the parity calculation is unnecessary . in this embodiment , since there is only capability of correcting errors in information of one sector by one parity , when errors exceeding the capability of the error correction codes are produced in two or more sectors targeted for parity calculation , the information signals cannot bereproduced . it is clear from the coding theory , however , that correction can be performed by extending the parities and enlarging the hamming distance . by providing the display section 18 for giving a warning to a user indicating that reproduction of the information signal needing the parities must be performed or providing a means for indicating that to theexternal device , the situation of a decline in the quality of the optical disk 16 can be notified . thus , it is possible to promote performing backuprecording of the information signals recorded in the optical disk declined in quality in another information storage device such as an optical disk drive or the like . consequently , since the information signals can be transferred to another optical disk , etc ., before reproduction thereof becomes impossible even by using the parities due to further advance in quality deterioration of the optical disk 16 , no information signals are lost . moreover , since it is possible to prevent the period of time for recording / reproducing the information signals from being lengthened by means of the replacement sector , this embodiment is effective in recording / reproducing of moving image information needing a high transfer speed . furthermore , conventionally , the parity sectors have been recorded by calculating the parities of the sectors within one track for every track . in these parity sectors , error correction for only one sector per one track is allowed . in the embodiment shown in fig8 though the parity sectors are recorded for every track , since error correction in n pieces of adjacent sectors ( burst error correction in n pieces of sectors ) is allowed , the capability of correcting errors is improved though the volumeof the parity sectors is the same . therefore , it is possible to improve thecapability of correcting burst errors without increasing the volume of the parity sectors more than conventionally . a disk drive in the fifth embodiment of the present invention is described hereinbelow . by referring to the fourth embodiment the explanation was made of the fact that the information signals can be correctly reproduced by using n kinds of parities even when errors exceeding the capability of the error correction codes are produced in n pieces of adjacent sectors ofthe tracks having the same track numbers . however , if errors exceeding the capability thereof are in the sectors having the same sector numbers of the adjacent tracks , since the same parities are used in the sectors having the same sector numbers , the information signals cannot be reproduced . given this situation , the track numbers and the sector numbers are added , calculation is made to allocate a first parity to a sector in which a balance after dividing the value thereof by n is 1 , a second parity to theone in which a balance is 2 , an n - 1th parity to the one in which a balance is n - 1 or lower and an nth parity to the one in which a balance is 0 sequentially and they are recorded in the parity sectors in the optical disk 16 . in this way , the sectors having the same sector numbers within n pieces of tracks are arranged so as to be prevented from using the same parities and thus , even in a case where errors exceeding the capability ofthe error correction codes are produced in n pieces of sectors having the same sector numbers within n pieces of tracks having the same track numbers , the information signals therein can be reproduced by using the parities . in fig1 which is a view showing settings of parity sectors and sectors targeted for parity calculation on the optical disk 16 in the fifth embodiment , the track numbers and the sector numbers are added and three kinds of parities are added to a balance obtained after dividing the valuethereof by 3 . thus , different parities are used in the sectors having the same track numbers in three or lower pieces of adjacent tracks . consequently , even when errors exceeding the capability of the error correction codes are produced in the sectors having the same sector numbers in the adjacent tracks , reproduction up to three tracks is allowed . though in fig1 the parity sectors are shifted by one sector onevery other track , arrangement is freely performed if the sectors having the same sector numbers in n pieces of adjacent tracks are prevented from using the same parities . as an example , in fig1 , three kinds of parities are added to a balance after dividing by 3 the value obtained by adding the track numbers and thesector numbers and further adding 1 thereto ( track number + sector number + 1 ). thus , different parities are used in the sectors having the same sector numbers in three or lower pieces of adjacent tracks , making it possible toperform reproduction up to three tracks even when errors exceeding the capability of the error correction codes are therein . furthermore , since the parity sectors are set in the seventh sector in the examples shown in fig1 and 14 , simultaneous reproduction of two or more parity sectors may not be allowed because of large damages , etc ., in the radial direction of the disk . in order to prevent this , as in the example shown in fig1 , it is only necessary to replace the parity sectors by the information sectors for every track and to record them as shown in fig1 . in fig1 , the parity sectors are set being shifted by one sector on every other track . however , arrangement is freely performed if the parities are made not to be recorded in the sectors having the samesector numbers in the adjacent tracks . a disk drive in the sixth embodiment of the present invention is described hereinbelow . in this embodiment , the basic structure of the optical disk is the same as in the first to fifth embodiments while settings of parity sectors and sectors targeted for parity calculation on the optical disk 16are different therefrom . in this sixth embodiment , for instance , parity calculation is performed for the information recording block including m ( m is an integer of 2 or larger ) pieces of tracks on every other l ( l is an integer of 1 or larger ) pieces of tracks and the parities thus obtainedare recorded in the optical disk 16 together with the information signals given the error correction codes . then , when the information signals cannot be reproduced even by using the usual error correction codes , reproduction thereof is performed by using the parities . the following explanation is made of this sixth embodiment assuming l = 99 and m = 2 . fig1 is a view showing settings of parity sectors and sectors targeted for parity calculation in this embodiment . now , if a sector indicated by atrack number x and a sector number y is s ( x , y ), a first parity is s ( 1 , 1 ) xor s ( 1 , 2 ) xor s ( 1 , 3 ) xor . . . xor s ( 1 , 12 ) xor s ( 101 , 1 ) xor s ( 101 , 2 ) xor s ( 101 , 3 ) xor . . . xor s ( 101 , 11 ). where , xor is an operator of exclusive or . this means that a parity is obtained by calculating exclusive or of the information signals in the first to twelfth sectors ofthe first track and the first to eleventh sectors of the 101st track placedwith a space l = 99 of tracks from the first and this is recorded in the twelfth sector of the 101st track . similarly , second to 100th parities are obtained and recorded together withthe information signals in the optical disk 16 . likewise in 201st track andthereafter , a parity is calculated for the information recording block including m = 2 pieces of tracks on every other l = 99 tracks and recorded together with the information signals in the optical disk 16 . from the parity definition , it is possible to reproduce the information signals in the sectors for which reproduction is impossible by calculatingexclusive or of the remaining 22 pieces of information sectors and an nth parity sector when reproduction is impossible by means of the error correction codes even in one of 23 pieces of information sectors targeted for nth parity calculation . for example , when the information signals in the first sector of the first track cannot be reproduced even by using theerror correction codes , reproduction thereof therein is possible by calculating exclusive or of the information signals in the second to twelfth sectors of the first track , the ones in the first to eleventh sectors of the 101st track and the parity sectors in the twelfth sector ofthe 101st track . the settings of these sectors targeted for parity calculation are shown in fig1 . this figure also shows that parity calculation is performed for the information recording block composed of 2 tracks on every other 99 tracks . with the parity sector thus defined , l + 1 = 100 continuous tracks aretargeted for different parity calculations and thus , even when errors exceeding the capability of the error correction codes are produced in thesectors having the same sector numbers therein , the information signals in these sectors can be reproduced by using the parities . this means , in other words , that even in a case where errors exceeding the capability of the error correction codes are produced in 100 pieces of adjacent sectors in the radial direction , the information signals can be reproduced by using 100 pieces of parities . when large errors are continuously produced in the circumferential direction , since there is a possibility that errors occur in two or more sectors targeted for parity calculation , they cannot be corrected based on the parity definition . errors easily occur continuously in the radial direction because of a small track width of about 1 μm while there is little possibility of continuous generation of errors in the circumferential direction because of large sector intervals of several millimeters therein . furthermore , conventionally , the parity of the sector in one track has beencalculated for every track and recorded in the parity sector . in this parity sector , error correction is allowed only in one sector for one track . if a parity of one sector is added for every track as conventionally , the parity sector storage capacity occupying the information recording capacity is high , 1 / 12 ≈ 8 %. in the embodimentshown in fig1 , on the other hand , since one parity sector is set per twotracks , the number of the parity sectors is ( 1 / m =) half that in the conventional case and the parity sector storage capacity occupying the information recording capacity is low , 1 / 24 ≈ 4 %. in the sixth embodiment , continuous burst errors having a length ( 0 . 1 mm when track pitch is 1 μm ) of l + 1 = 100 tracks in the track direction can be dealt with . if not sufficient , however , it is only necessary to increase l to 99 tracks , and since the value thereof is freely set , it is only necessary to select practical intervals in accordance with the specifications of the optical disk 16 . in this way , without reducing the practical capability of correcting errors the volume of the parity sectorscan be reduced more than conventionally . furthermore , in the sixth embodiment , since there is only capability of correcting errors in the information signals of one sector by one parity , in a case where errors exceeding the capability of error correction codes are produced in two or more sectors targeted for parity calculation , the information signals cannot be reproduced . it is apparent from the coding theory , however , that error correction can be performed by extending the parities and enlarging the hamming distance . a disk drive in the seventh embodiment of the present invention is described hereinbelow . the optical disk 16 is constituted of 15 , 000 tracksand 6 sectors and recording of the information signals of 2048 byte per sector is allowed . in fig1 which is a view showing settings of parity sectors and sectors targeted for parity calculation in the seventh embodiment , the basic structure is the same as in the sixth embodiment shown in fig1 except that l = 99 and m = 3 . in this case , a first parity is obtained by calculatingexclusive or of the information signals in the first to twelfth informationsectors of the first track , the ones in the first to twelfth sectors of the101st track placed 99 tracks thereafter and the ones in the first to eleventh sectors of the 201st track placed further 99 tracks thereafter and recorded in the twelfth sector of the 201st track . that is , the first parity is added to the information sector on three tracks , the first , 101st and 201st tracks of every 100 tracks . similarly , second to 100th parities are calculated and recorded together with the information signals in the optical disk 16 . also , in the 301st track and thereafter , a parity is calculated for the information recordingblock having three tracks after every 99 tracks and recorded together with the information signals in the optical disk 16 . the parity definition makes it possible to reproduce the information signals in the sectors for which reproduction is impossible by calculatingexclusive or of remaining 34 information sectors and the nth parity sector when error correction is impossible by the error correction codes even in any one of 35 information sectors targeted for nth parity calculation . with the parity sector thus defined , since l + 1 = 100 adjacent tracks are targeted for different parity calculations , even when errors exceeding thecapability of the error correction codes are produced in 99 adjacent tracksof the sectors having the same sector numbers , the information signals therein can be reproduced by using the parities . this means , in other words , that even in a case where errors exceeding the capability of the error correction codes are produced in l + 1 = 100 adjacent sectors in the radial direction , the information signals can be reproduced by using 100 parities . in the seventh embodiment , since one parity sector is recorded in three tracks , the volume of parities is one ( 1 / m =) third of conventional one andthe parity sector storage capacity occupying the information recording capacity is low , 1 / 36 = 3 %. in this way , by increasing m counts it is possible to reduce the volume of parities to 1 / m . when reproduction is performed by using the parities , however , reproducing time is lengthened because the number of times for accessing m pieces of tracks on every other l tracks increases and thus m may be selected practically in accordance with the specifications of the optical disk 16 . if the parity sector recording capacity occupying the information recording capacity is roughly 5 % or lower , there can be no great reduction in the information storage capacity . the disk divide provided by the invention , in particular those in the sixthand seventh embodiments , can be applied to an optical disk of a zca type , etc ., having different counts of sectors for a plurality of zones divided in the radial direction of a disk . fig1 shows the structure of this case . a disk drive in fig1 is , in addition to those of the device shownin fig4 provided with an id processing section 19 which identifies zonesin which the track and the sector are positioned from the track and sector numbers . in the zca type , since the frequencies of recording / reproducing clocks are switched for every zone , it takes time to perform parity processing across a plurality of zones . in order to prevent this , it is only necessary for the id processing section 19 to control the parity calculating section 13 and the track buffer 17 in accordance with outputs from the modulating / demodulating sections 14 , setting the information recording blocks having m pieces of tracks on every l pieces of tracks in the respective zones without crossing a plurality of zones . in this way , parity processing can be executed in one zone , making it possible to prevent the influence of reduction in a processing speed following the frequency switching of the recording / reproducing clocks by zone switching . by referring to the eighth embodiment , explanation is made of the method ofsetting l in the disk drive in the sixth and seventh embodiments of the invention . fig1 is a simplified view showing the structure of the optical head 15 and the driving part thereof shown in fig4 . the optical head 15 converges light from a light source 21 such as a semiconductor laser or the like on the optical disk 16 by means of an object lens 22 . the object lens 22 can be moved in the radial direction of the optical disk 16 by means of a fine motion actuator 23 driven by a voice coil motor , etc . a movable part 24 including the light source 21 , the object lens 22 , the fine motion actuator 23 , etc ., can also be moved in the radial direction of the optical disk 16 . a coarse motion actuator 25 can move the movable part 24 within the range indicated by an arrow 31 in fig2 over the entire recording are of the optical disk 16 in the radial direction thereof . however , since the coarsemotion actuator 25 is for moving the whole movable part 24 of the weighty optical head 15 , a speed for accessing a predetermined track on the optical disk 16 is slow and moving accuracy is low . on the other hand , since the fine motion actuator 23 is for moving only the light object lens22 , a accessing speed is high and moving accuracy is high . however , as shown by an arrow 32 in fig2 , the moving range therefor is narrow up to400 μm or below . thus , by setting the distance (= l × track pitch ) of the area of l pieces of tracks in the radial direction of a recording medium at 400 μm or lower , it is possible to shorten the accessing time of the optical head 15 to the optical disk 16 when reproduction using the parities is performed . that is , by only high - speed accessing of the fine motion actuator 23 , movement within the information recording block havingm pieces of tracks on every other l pieces of tracks is allowed . in this case , the optimal number of l is determined depending on a track pitch , for instance , if a track pitch is 1 μm , l is 400 or below . in the sixthand seventh embodiments described previously , l = 99 satisfying this condition . a disk drive in the ninth embodiment of the invention is described hereinbelow . in the ninth embodiment , the basic structure of the optical disk drive is the same as in the case of the first embodiment while settings of parity sectors and sectors targeted for parity calculation on the optical disk 16 are different from those in the first embodiment . the optical disk 16 comprises 15 , 000 tracks and 6 sectors capable of recordingthe information signals of 2048 byte per sector . in the ninth embodiment , n ( n is an integer of 2 or larger ) pieces of different parities are calculated for n pieces of sectors adjacent in bothtrack and sector directions in m ( m is an integer of 2 or larger ) pieces ofinformation recording blocks respectively having n pieces of continuous tracks on every other l tracks and these are recorded together with the information signals given the error correction codes in the optical disk 16 . then , when reproduction cannot be performed even by using the error correction codes , these parities are used to reproduce the information signals . herein , l = 98 , n = 2 and m = 2 . fig2 is a view showing settings of parity sectors and sectors targeted for parity calculation in the ninth embodiment . now , if a sector indicatedby a track number x and a sector number y is s ( x , y ), a first parity is s ( 1 , 1 ) xor s ( 1 , 3 ) xor s ( 1 , 5 ) xor s ( 2 , 2 ) xor s ( 2 , 4 ) xor s ( 2 , 6 ) xor s ( 101 , 1 ) xor s ( 101 , 3 ) xor s ( 101 , 5 ) xor s ( 102 , 2 ) xor s ( 102 , 4 ). where , xor is an operator of exclusive or . this means that a parity is obtained by calculating exclusive or of the information signals in the first , thirdand fifth sectors of the first track , in the second , fourth and sixth sectors of the second track , in the first , third and fifth sectors of the 101st track placed by 100 tracks away therefrom and in the second and fourth sectors of the 102nd track and this is recorded in the sixth sectorof the 102nd track . similarly , a second parity is obtained by calculating exclusive or of the information signals in the second , fourth and sixth sectors of the first track , in the first , third and fifth sectors of the second track , in the second and fourth sectors of the 101st track placed by 99 tracks away therefrom and in the first , third and fifth sectors of the 102nd track andthis is recorded in the sixth sector of the 101st track . thereafter , for tracks i , i + 1 , 100 + i and 100 + i + 1 , parities are obtained by similar calculation . herein , i is 3 , 5 , 7 , . . . and 99 . further , for a second track 00 and thereafter , similar parity calculation is performed with respect to two information recording blocks respectively having two continuous tracks placed by 98 tracks away . the parity definition makes it possible to reproduce the information signals in a sector for which reproduction is impossible by calculating exclusive or of remaining 10 pieces of information sectors and an nth parity sector when reproduction is impossible by means of error correctionin any one of 11 information sectors targeted for nth parity calculation . for example , when reproduction of the first sector of the first track cannot be performed even by using the error correction codes , the information signals therein can be reproduced by calculating exclusive or of the information sectors in the third and fifth sectors of the first track , in the second , fourth and sixth sectors of the second track , in thefirst , third and fifth sectors of the 101st track and in the second and fourth sectors of the 102nd track and a parity sector in the sixth sector of the 102nd track . the drawing in fig2 shows the sectors targeted for these parity calculations . herein , parity calculation is performed for the sectors of two information recording blocks respectively having two tracks on every other 98 tracks . also , different parities are set in continuous two sectors in the track and sector directions . with the parity sectors thus defined , since l + n = 100 continuous tracks are targeted for different paritycalculations , even in a case where errors exceeding the capability of the error correction codes are produced in the sectors having the same sector numbers thereof , the information signals therein can be reproduced by using the parities . moreover , since two adjacent sectors in the same trackare targeted for different parity calculations , even when errors exceeding the capability of the error correction codes are produced in two continuous sectors within the same track , the information thereof can be reproduced by using the parities . this means , in other words , that even in a case where errors exceeding the capability of the error correction codes are produced in l + n = 100 pieces ofsectors adjacent in the radial direction , the reproduction of the information signals can be performed by using 100 pieces of parities . also , even when two continuous errors exceeding the capability of the error correction codes are produced in the sectors of the same track , reproduction of the information signals is possible . conventionally , the parity of the sector in one track has been calculated for every track and the parity sector thereof had been recorded . in this parity sector , it is possible to correct errors by one sector per one track . conversely , in the ninth embodiment , since a parity sector is recorded in two tracks , the number of parity sectors is ( 1 / m =) half that in the conventional case reducing the parity sector recording capacity occupying the information recording capacity more than conventionally . according to the ninth embodiment , continuous burst errors having the length of 100 tracks ( about 0 . 1 mm when the track pitch is 1 μm ) in thetrack direction can be dealt with . if this is insufficient , however , it is only necessary to increase l whose value can be set than 98 tracks and to select practical intervals in accordance with the specifications of the optical disk 16 . thus , it is possible to reduce the volume of parity sectors more than conventionally without lowering such practical error correction capability . furthermore , in the ninth embodiment , since there is only capability of correcting errors in the information signals of one sector by one parity , when errors exceeding the capability of the error correction codes are produced in two or more sectors targeted for parity calculation , the information signals cannot be reproduced . it is clear from the coding theory , however , that errors can be corrected by extending the parities and enlarging a hamming distance . a disk drive in the tenth embodiment of the invention is described hereinbelow . fig2 is a view showing settings of parity sectors and sectors targeted for parity calculation in the tenth embodiment . herein , l = 97 , n = 3 and m = 2 . in this example , since different parities are set in three continuous sectors in the same track , it is possible to correct errors continuous in the three sectors in the same numbered tracks by using parities . also , since l = 97 in the radial direction of the optical disk 16 , it is possible to correct errors in the same numbered sectors within l + n = 100 tracks by using the parities . a disk drive in the eleventh embodiment of the invention is described hereinbelow . fig2 is a view showing settings of parity sectors and sectors targeted for parity calculation in the eleventh embodiment . herein , l = 98 , n = 2 and m = 3 . in this example , one parity for three tracks iscalculated with m = 3 . thus , the number of parity sectors is reduced by one third that in the conventional case . since error correction capability is l = 98 like that shown in fig2 , it is possible to correct errors in the same numbered sectors within l + 2 = 100 tracks by using parities , and since n = 2 like that shown in fig2 , it is possible to correct errors in two continuous sectors in the same track by using the parities . by increasing the number of m in this way , it is possible to reduce the number of parity sectors . however , as the number of times for accessing n × m pieces of tracks on every other l pieces of tracks is increased when reproduction using the parities is performed , reproduction time is made longer . therefore , it is only necessary to select practical m in accordance with the specifications of the optical disk 16 . if the parity sector recording capacity occupying the information recording capacity is roughly 5 % or lower , there is no possibility of great reduction in the information storage capacity . in the ninth to eleventh embodiments , since the parities are on the same tracks as the information recording sectors , it is necessary to perform reproduction by eliminating the parity sectors when the information signals are to be continuously recorded . for this reason , it is conceivable that the sequence of controlling the optical disk is made complex and a data transfer speed is slightly made slow . however , if tracks specialized for recording the parities are prepared in the disk andonly the parities are recorded therein , the information recording sectors are made continuous in the tracks making it possible to prevent the data transfer speed from being made slow . the disk drives in the ninth to eleventh embodiments can be applied to an optical disk having the different numbers of sectors in a plurality of zones divided in the disk radial direction such as a zcav type or the likeas in the case of those in the sixth and seventh embodiments . in the zcav type , since the frequencies of recording / reproducing clocks are switched in every zone , it takes time to perform parity processing across a plurality of zones . in order to prevent this , it is only necessary to set the information recording blocks having m pieces of tracks on every other l pieces of tracks in the respective zones without crossing the plurality of zones . in this way , parity processing can be performed in one zone and thus it is possible to prevent the influence of a reduction in a processing speed following frequency switching of the recording / reproducing clocks by switching the zones . furthermore , as in the case of the eighth embodiment , in the disk drives inthe ninth to eleventh embodiments , by setting the distance (= l × track pitch ) of the area of l pieces of tracks in the radial direction of a recording medium at 400 μm , or lower , it is possible to shorten the accessing time of the optical head 15 to the optical disk 16 when reproduction using parities is to be performed . that is , only the high - speed accessing of the fine motion actuator 23 shown in fig1 makespossible the movement within the information recording block having m pieces of tracks on every other l pieces of tracks . in this case , the optimal number of l is determined depending on a track pitch , and for instance , if a track pitch is 1 μm , l is 400 or lower . in the ninth to eleventh embodiments , l = 98 or l = 97 satisfying this condition . in the above explanation of all the preferred embodiments , reference was made to the case where the invention is applied to the optical disk drive . it is needless to say , however , that the invention can be applied to a magnetic disk drive . various modifications can also be made according to the invention . additional advantages and modifications will readily occur to those skilledin the art . therefore , the present invention in its broader aspects is not limited to the specific details , representative devices , and illustrated examples 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 . | 6 |
reference will now be made in detail to several aspects of the present invention that are illustrated in the accompanying drawings . wherever possible , same or similar reference numerals are used in the drawings and the description to refer to the same or like parts or steps . the drawings are in simplified form and are not to precise scale or shape . for purposes of convenience and clarity only , directional terms , such as top , bottom , up , down , over , above , and below may be used with respect to the drawings . these and similar directional terms should not be construed to limit the scope of the invention in any manner . furthermore , the words “ connect ,” “ couple ,” and similar terms with their inflectional morphemes do not necessarily denote direct and immediate connections , but also include connections through mediate elements or devices . referring now to fig1 a , 1 b , 1 c , and 1 d , a first multi - panel embodiment of the present wrapping apparatus 1 is provided with minor variants shown as apparatus 1 ′ in fig . 1d without a handle member . as shown , wrapping apparatus 1 , 1 ′ include includes a containing box - shaped member 4 having a preferably continuous edge panel 6 joining a front panel 7 with two overlapping back panels 8 , 9 as shown on back side 10 . a flexible strap 104 is provided for ready carrying in an alternative aspect of the present invention . while the present preferred embodiment envisions enwrapping flexibly a rectilinear ( 6 - sided ) consumer product , those of skill in the art will understand that the present invention may be adapted using differing sized panels to fit any common consumer product size , and even variable shapes such as a cylindraceous container . during construction each font and rear panel 8 , 9 , and 10 is constructed from a preferably flexible material such as elastic fabric , elastomeric fabric weaves , and other rayon , nylons , spandex ® and other natural and artificial materials known to those of skill in the art to be effective to achieve the goals noted herein . the flexible material , as shown in the accompanying illustrated views , may be patterned , colored , or printed in any commercially acceptable form to please a customer ( see for example fig4 , and 13 ). stitching formed from flexible thread , or any other form of joining means such as flexible adhesive , flexibly joins each panel such that each panel may shift slightly relative to the other along edge panel 6 and adapt the entire apparatus 1 , 1 ′ to the variable shapes of a product , box , or other item - to - be - wrapped . thus , the present product easily accepts boxes of slightly thicker , longer , or wider dimensions than the panels themselves by roughly up to 30 % before a new size apparatus 1 , 1 ′ is required . back panels 8 , 9 are sewn to provide an overlap opening portion 11 , allowing the ready insertion of an item 100 for wrapping by simply separating back panels 8 , 9 . since the overlap is of a preferably substantial amount , the present invention enables ready adaptation to a wide range of products without opening overlap opening portion 11 and exposing item 100 to a gift - receiver &# 39 ; s view . this is in contrast to an adaptive ( and more economical ) embodiment of the present invention 101 shown at fig5 with an open back wherein back panels 8 , 9 are positioned without an overlapping opening portion and allow the exposure of a product 102 . shown particularly in fig1 b is a decorative wrap enclosing system 5 , similarly formed from a flexible material portion 2 looped with a semi - rigid or rigid loop 3 forming a belt - type product . during use , device 5 may be placed around apparatus 1 as added decoration , or as a containment aid to help secure consumer product 100 within flexible package 4 , and may be sold as a kit in combination with apparatus 1 , 1 ′ or sold separately allowing a customer to select an occasion - appropriate loop member 3 with material portion 2 to better promote a gift . it will be understood , that material portion 2 may be alternatively styled as an inelastic belt or strap ( fig3 a ) belt without departing from the scope of the present invention . similarly , it will be recognized that a commercial establishment may display at a point of purchase numerous flexible coverings 2 , and covering members 4 or 25 ( fig2 ), or other decorative and gift members without departing from the scope or spirit of the present invention . as shown best in fig1 a - 1c , device 5 is integrate - able via loop or hoop 3 with a range of decorative items 12 adapted to fit within an opening and resist unintended removal . as an alternative aspect of the present invention , those skilled in the art should recognize that decorative item 12 may be for example magnetic and magnetically attach to member 3 without requiring a hoop and snap features . decorative item 12 , as shown is a backing for a flower 13 . thus , the present invention envisions being sold in two or more main embodiments , the first as a kit where a customer may select a basic box member 4 , from a wide selection and thereafter selects a suitable wrap 5 with various decorative items 12 , 13 , and the second as a prepackaged assembly prepared for a particular celebration . for example in fig1 d , one gift - package embodiment 1 ′ replicates flower 13 with a decorative child &# 39 ; s tutu or dress part 37 and adds a lace section 38 and therefore may be used to wrap a gift to a small girl . while the present embodiment may be suitably formed from four inter - sewn elastic panels , other forms and shapes may be suitable for particular consumer products and may be incorporated herein without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention . as specifically noted in fig1 b and 1c , attachment member 3 is formed as a slightly elastic hoop to snap - engage a perimeter groove 103 on member 12 . in fig1 c , member 12 includes two perimeter grooves 103 thereby allowing strap members 2 to be pivotally positioned in an “+” pattern on wrapper 4 to imitate a crossed decorative ribbon . as employed n fig1 d , member 12 is used to press a portion of decorative skirt portion 37 into an inner part of attachment member 3 . this fixing means augments the use of strap member 2 to elastically retain a portion of the skirt 37 on wrapping portion 4 . referring now to fig2 and 2 a an alternative single or alternatively dual ( fig3 ) or tipple panel embodiment is disclosed at apparatus 20 , 20 ′. in fig2 and 2 a , apparatus 20 , as illustrated , is shown as a single panel 25 folded to define three regions a , b , and c ( see fig2 a ). after folding , seams 24 on top and bottom are stitched leaving opening 21 . an overlap portion is shown at dashed line 23 that is based on the length of panels a and c relative to panel b . those skilled in the art will recognize that the present embodiment may be adapted to form a compact disc 111 cover as shown in fig2 which is relatively thin , but may also very thin . in another alternative embodiment , and in practice this alternative flexible design may receive an item via opening 21 , placed within the pocket provided by fold c , and then have fold a wrapped about the entire item by flexible stretching . thus , a single shape for apparatus 20 may be readily adapted to multiple sides and shapes , for example a book cover or record cover , or even a circular cover for a compact disk itself . those of skill in the art will also recognize that the embodiment shown in fig2 and 2 a may be decorated in a similar manner to the embodiment noted above . where the embodiment employed is a circular one , obviously panels a , b , and c will be formed in a circular or semi - circular manner respectively . referring now to fig3 , an alternative aspect of the flexible wrapping device 20 in fig2 is shown as a dual sleeve device 20 ′ formed to receive two compact disk members . in this aspect of the present invention , device 20 ′ is formed as a long flexible panel member 115 , including four main panel portions x 1 , x 2 , x 3 , and x 4 acting as folded flaps stitched together along a seam line 116 formed on a top and bottom edge . as shown panel portions x 1 and x 2 are smaller or narrower than panels x 3 and x 4 allowing the creation of a hinge region x 5 allowing pockets 120 , 121 to flexibly receive compact disk members 111 , 111 . after a user inserts compact disks 111 , 111 , a user folds hinge region x 5 and places panels x 1 and x 2 in contact allowing an outer face of panels x 3 and x 4 to serve as the outer surface of a flexible gift wrap . as noted particularly in fig3 a , flexible wrapping sleeve device 20 ′ is encircled with a belt or loop member 125 having a closing link portion 126 including a magnetic portion 127 for magnetically joining to a metallic ornamental member 128 shaped as a guitar . an alternative aspect of flexible wrapping system 20 ′, includes a digital print on an outer surface of the flexible fabric , and the inclusion of a separate fixing means 130 , shown here as a velro ® button attached with adhesive with a peal - back cover 131 . additionally joining member 132 includes an outer perimeter portion 133 , and a projecting inner stub member ( not shown ) engaging the inner hole in compact disk 134 and including a reverse velcro ® button for engaging fixing means 130 to form an ornamental assembly releasably joined to flexible wrapping assembly 20 ′. while not shown , badge member 132 and disk 134 may be attached to item 130 in any convenient manner , such as a physical pin , a adhesive , with an elastic band as in the first embodiment , with velcro , or with a magnet , etc . without departing from the scope and spirit of the present invention . as a consequence of the alternative aspects noted above , those of skill in the art will recognize that the principals of the present flexible wrapping device kit system are adaptive to a number of consumer product items and may be readily displayed and sold on a display rack at a point of purchase adjacent gift or toy items . referring now to fig5 , an illustrative example of an alternative aspect of the present invention provides at 101 a flexible wrapping system including four ( 4 ) panel construction positioned around a book 102 . in a manner similar to that of aspect 1 shown best in fig1 a , side panels 140 joint rear panels 8 , 9 , and a front panel 7 ( not shown ). in this aspect of the invention it will be appreciated that the design is particularly suited to aid book sales via sale location via a book - store check out counter where customers may be enticed by a combined offer . additionally referring to fig5 a and 5b , flexible wrapping system 101 includes on a front panel 7 a pocket member 150 for retaining a gift card member 151 . yet further ornamentation may be provided by the use of a strap member 2 with fixing means 3 and the inclusion of an ornamental snap in member 13 ′. referring now to fig6 , an alternative aspect of the invention shown in fig1 with flexible wrapping system 1 may adaptively be provided with a theme construction ( here with a christmas design ) and added on decorative means 155 . as shown , an external consumer item is additionally attached to front panel 7 as a kit , here shown as earplugs 40 . with a head band member 41 attached by stitching or lacing ( both not shown ). as a consequence , the aspect of the present invention shown in fig6 is particularly suitable for sales of music . those skilled in the art will recognize that the present overlapping design provides a ready elastic pocket to hold not only the wrapped product ( a compact disk ), but a “ teaser product ” such as the ear plugs 41 to entice customers an allow users to customize gift wrappings for special occasions . referring now to fig7 , another illustrative example of the first multi - panel construction is provided at 45 . here , as in panel construction 4 , flexible side strop 6 joins front panel 7 and back panels 8 , 9 allowing a consumer product to be readily retained . in this embodiment , additional decorative features are provided as a window panel at 46 for holding a photo or drawing 47 tightly against a surface of the contained consumer product ( not shown ). as shown , this is another example of how adaptive the present invention is to a variety of decoration and promotional materials without departing from the panel designs discussed above . thus , it is expected that the present invention is adaptive to wide types of commercially successful environments . in practical purpose for example , construction 45 may hold , for example , a shoe box containing boating shoes and drawing or photo 47 may show a boating image to improve gift enjoyment . what should also be understood by the present aspect , is that window panel 46 may be preferably an additional panel stitched to front panel 7 at seam line 160 allowing open edges of opening 46 to roll back under the tension of the elastic material forming front panel 7 . referring now to fig1 , an alternative aspect of the present invention provides a flexible panel constructive member 4 bound with flexible wrap member 2 , and an ornamental item 13 ′ ( see fig . sb ) fixed thereto with the addition of an external gift pouch 161 for containing an external “ teaser gift ” ( not shown ) as a complete kit assembly . in this aspect of the present invention , both decorative bow 13 ′ as shown and gift pouch 161 containing a small visual gift serve to entice the user to enjoy the wrapping product and may be sold as a kit or as individual units at a point of purchase in a display assembly . similar to fig1 , referring now to fig1 , an alternative flexible gift wrapping kit is shown with panel element 4 , in combination with a belt or strap member 2 , joined by a holder means 3 ( not shown ), wherein holder ring 3 is concealed by a metallic “ u ” shaped clip member 170 that encircles an edge 171 of pack 4 and conceals holder means 3 while simultaneously trapping a holding tag 172 of clear gift box holder 173 containing a gift 174 . the alternative assembly of the kit shown in fig1 discloses an assembly of parts as a cohesive ornamental and functional whole wherein each element may be sold at a point of purchase for a to - be - wrapped consumer item , allowing a user to select desired elements depending upon the theme of the gift . similar to the earlier two aspects , as shown in fig1 , panel wrap 4 surrounds a consumer item and an enwrapping belt or strap member 2 is positioned about a periphery of the assembly . front panel 7 is shown with design characters and a visible gift member 175 is concealably joined to a retaining means 3 joining ends of strap member 3 on a reverse side of gift member 175 . as earlier discussed , this alternative assembly may employ a physical snap fit ( fig1 b ), a velcro attachment ( fig4 ), a magnetic fixture means ( fig3 a ) or any other type of fixing mechanism known in the joining arts . referring now to fig8 , in a manner similar to the disclosure in fig5 a , an alternative aspect of flexible panel construction 4 , includes a pocket member 150 ′ as well as a concealed ( shown by dashed line ) moister containing mesh bag 180 for securely retaining and preserving a gift flower 181 . in yet another aspect of the present invention , fig9 discloses a kit assembly including a flexible panel wrapping member 4 ″ having decorative designs on an exterior surface of a front panel 7 ″. in this aspect of the present invention , a fixing means ( not shown ) similar to those discussed such as a stud or velcro is physically joined to panel 7 ″ without a strap or belt member below ornamental flower 13 ′. additional celebratory tags 190 , 190 and a personal gift and pouch 189 are fixed to fixing means ( not shown ). referring now to fig1 and 13 a , an alternative construction of the present invention provides a four panel wrap member 4 , sporting a sports motif printed on a front panel 7 and having carrying strap 104 as shown . the aspect of the present design provides a gift member 200 or 200 ′ joined to panel 7 by a fixing means 201 , shown as a stud press - fit to panel 7 with a projecting male member 202 insertable into a back receiving opening 203 ( not shown ) at the back of the gift member . as will be appreciated by those of skill in the art , the aspects of the present invention shown in fig1 and 13 a . further augment the above discussion that the instant inventive kit may be readily adapted to the diverse illustrative designs and are thereby suitable for mass marketing and easy commercialization or display at a point of purchase . thus , for example during a check - out process for a gift purchaser they may select a pre - assembled multi - panel unit 4 constructed from flexible textile materials , a means for fixing an ornamental product to the panel , and an ornamental product itself . thus , those of skill in the art will recognize that the above - discussed means for fixing an ornamental item to a flexible panel include the use of a wrap or strap 2 with a fixing ring 3 wherein a ring plug 12 may include grooves 103 for engaging ring 3 . alternative aspects include the addition of a flexible pocket on an outer panel . in the claims , means - or step - plus - function clauses are intended to cover the structures described or suggested herein as performing the recited function and not only structural equivalents but also equivalent structures . thus , for example , although a nail , a screw , and a bolt may not be structural equivalents in that a nail relies on friction between a wooden part and a cylindrical surface , a screw &# 39 ; s helical surface positively engages the wooden part , and a bolt &# 39 ; s head and nut compress opposite sides of a wooden part , in the environment of fastening wooden parts , a nail , a screw , and a bolt may be readily understood by those skilled in the art as equivalent structures . having described at least one of the preferred embodiments of each panel construction of the present invention with reference to the accompanying drawings , it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to those precise embodiments , and that various changes , modifications , and adaptations may be effected therein by one skilled in the art without departing from the scope or spirit of the invention as defined in the appended claims . | 1 |
referring to fig1 there is shown two identical containers 30 stacked one above the other , each of which has a box shape and is preferably made of plastic . each container 30 includes two container halves 7 and 8 , which are joined securely with the aid of a hinge 9 in the center of the bottom 1 of a respective one of the containers , such that the container halves can pivot to a limited degree . the two halves 7 and 8 can be folded down in the direction of arrows 32 , following the release of two latches 11 , arranged on the side walls 5 and 4 . the locking mechanisms 11 each comprise two interlocking parts 11a and 11b and prevent an undesirable coming apart of the containers filled with printed products 31 during transport . container half 7 comprises a bottom part 1b , a side wall 2 and two side - wall halves 4b and 5b . container half 8 comprises a bottom part 1a , a side wall 3 and two side - wall halves 4a and 5a . to allow a stable stacking for containers 30 , side walls 2 and 3 each have an edge 39 at an upper end that extends essentially over the total length and is inclined toward the inside . recesses 10 are arranged in bottom 1 that correspond to these two edges 39 and which are limited on the side by a lateral wall 10a . fig1 shows clearly that edges 39 engage in recesses 10 . lateral walls 10a prevent a shifting of the containers in the longitudinal direction of containers 30 . the recesses 10 simultaneously increase the stiffness of bottom 1 . hinge 9 comprises several inward pointing tabs 15 and 16 , which rest against each other in pairs when container halves 7 and 8 are folded up , thereby forming a locking mechanism 14 , which stabilizes bottom 1 in the folded up state . locking mechanism 14 prevents a collapsing of the container in the direction counter to arrows 32 . this is also prevented by edges 38 of wall halves 4a and 4b , which adjoin when container 30 is filled . the filling opening 6 is expanded for filling the container 30 with printed products 31 in that the two container halves 7 and 8 are folded apart far enough , so that the narrowing due to edges 39 is canceled . this allows the printed products to fall through the filling opening 6 without touching . in order to guide the printed products 31 for this , side walls 2 and 3 of container halves 7 , 8 have openings 12 ( fig4 into which vertical longitudinal guide means ( not shown ) can be inserted . in accordance with fig3 containers 30 can be nested into each other in the folded down state to form a vertical stack . this stack is very compact and at the same time stable . for the nesting into each other , containers 30 are opened by folding down container halves 7 and 8 , similar to a shell , and are turned . thus , the underside of bottom 1 is open in each case , and the bottom half parts 1a and 1b are arranged such that they form a v - shape according to fig3 wherein the opening angle α is an acute angle , preferably an angle of approximately 60 °. so that the containers 30 can be nested into each other and can also be separated easily , the side walls 4 and 5 point conically toward the outside , as is shown in particular in fig2 and 4 . the advantage here is that the side wall halves 4a and 4b as well as 5a and 5b have a comparably low height as a result of the opening 40 . referring to fig4 side walls 2 and 3 each have an opening 37 so that the filled containers 30 can be carried manually without problems . the respective openings 13 arranged farther down are used as hand holds for emptying the containers 30 . fig4 shows that side walls 4 and 5 having segments 4 &# 39 ; and 5 &# 39 ; that extend outwardly with respect to the interior of the container . a carrying device 7 shown in fig6 permits a particularly easy stacking of the containers 30 . this device can be inserted from above into the filling opening 6 and can be attached to container halves 7 and 8 . for this , two plate - shaped parts 19 and 20 are attached in a v - shaped arrangement at a centrally located handle 18 . the ends of these parts 19 and 20 have claws 36 , which can be inserted from below into recesses 35 provided in edges 39 , respectively . in order to insert carrying device 17 into opening 6 , carrying device 17 is reduced in that the parts 19 and 20 are moved around a hinge 34 to the arrangement shown with dashed line . if the manual pressure applied from the side to handle 18 is removed , then parts 19 and 20 are forced apart as a result of a pre - stressing , to assume the position shown with drawn - out lines in fig6 in which claws 36 engage in recesses 35 , as shown . carrying device 17 thus is firmly anchored to container halves 7 and 8 . in order to release carrying device 17 , it is sufficient to apply pressure from the side to handle 18 , which returns carrying device 17 to the position shown with the dashed line . the invention has been described in detail with respect to preferred embodiments , and it will now be apparent from the foregoing to those skilled in the art that changes and modifications may be made without departing from the invention in its broader aspects , and the invention , therefore , as defined in the appended claims is intended to cover all such changes and modifications as fall within the true spirit of the invention . | 1 |
fig1 shows a schematic view of a flywheel system 20 . flywheel 21 is provided within a housing 22 . the housing defines a chamber 23 within which the flywheel can rotate in use . the flywheel is mounted on a shaft 24 which is supported on bearings 25 . the flywheel may rotate at speeds in excess of 15 , 000 rpm which results in very high speeds on the surface of the flywheel relative to the air in which the flywheel is rotating . in use , the chamber is maintained at a low pressure to reduce windage loss through rotation of the flywheel . in order to enclose the chamber 23 , lip seals 26 are provided around the shaft 24 . it is undesirable for the lip seals to maintain a contact with the shaft and so the space between the seal lips and the shaft is filled with an oil . the oil is provided to the space between the pairs of lip seals 26 through a channel 27 from a lubricating oil pump 35 . oil is provided through the channels 27 to the space between the lip seals so that it can fill the gap between the lip seals and the shaft and prevent air passing into the chamber 23 . the oil provides a hermetic seal , reduces losses due to friction and reduces wear of the seals . the oil is preferably chosen so that it does not vaporise at the reduced pressures in the chamber . this is to ensure that the oil does not vaporise causing the vacuum to become compromised , particularly when the ( vacuum ) pump is not operating such as during periods when the flywheel is not in use , but where it is still desirable to maintain the vacuum , for example , to minimise start up time . closing the valve in order to maintain a low pressure in the chamber is especially effective once the system has been initially run , for example after commissioning of the system or immediately following maintenance work , since any gases will have already been drawn out of grease or the casings and pumped out of the chamber . thus the chamber vacuum can be maintained for long periods without the pump operating and with the valve closed . the lubrication pump 35 continuously pumps oil into the space between the lip seals 26 . the oil then passes out again through passages 28 , 28 a . the passages 28 return the oil to an oil reservoir 29 . it should be noted that the section of one of the passages 28 , labelled 28 a , shown in dotted line simply represents the hidden path of the channel 28 and does not pass through the chamber 23 . in order to provide and maintain the low pressure partial vacuum in the chamber 23 , a pump 30 is provided . the pump 30 draws any air within the chamber 23 out through channel 31 . it will be appreciated that oil present in the space between the lip seals 26 and the shaft 24 will potentially permeate along the shaft and be deposited within the chamber 23 . having entered the chamber , the oil will tend to sink to the bottom of the chamber 23 . the entrance to the channel 31 is therefore provided at the bottom of the chamber 23 so that any oil which enters the chamber collects at the bottom and can be withdrawn by the pump 30 from the chamber 23 . any oil extracted in this way will be passed through pump 30 and deposited into the oil reservoir 29 to be recovered . the pump 30 is typically positioned beneath the chamber 23 ( although this is not shown in the drawings ) so that oil is encouraged to flow to the inlet of the pump 30 . the reservoir 29 is typically positioned ( again not shown in the drawings ) above the inlet to lubrication pump 35 , to assist with priming of the pump , and to potentially allow a lower cost lubrication pump ( such as a gerotor or impellor ) to be used . in this way , the vacuum pump 30 provides the dual function of maintaining low pressure within the chamber 23 but also removing any excess oil which collects in the chamber 23 . it will be appreciated that pump 30 is provided to achieve low pressure within the chamber 23 . the pressure to be achieved and maintained in the chamber 23 is preferably below 10 mbar , and more preferably below 4 mbar . the vacuum pump serves to scavenge fluid ( lubrication oil ) from the bottom of the flywheel chamber and return it to a fluid reservoir 29 . as a result the air pumped through the pump 30 may include both air and oil . air entrained in the fluid is allowed to escape prior to the lubrication oil being pumped by the separate lubrication pump 35 to the sealing cavity between the lip seals and / or the flywheel bearings . in this embodiment , the separation occurs in the reservoir 29 although other means may be used to separate the air from the fluid . as shown in the arrangement of fig1 , the air / oil mixture is fed into the top of the reservoir . this can help with the separation so that oil passes into the body of oil in the reservoir but the oil is not aerated by any air in the mixture . the air can then be collected in an air space above the oil and the reservoir 29 provided with a breather to release it . as shown in fig1 , the vacuum pump 30 is driven directly from the flywheel using suitable gearing 33 , 34 connected to the shaft 24 . alternatively , the driveshaft 36 may be driven directly by an electric motor or other means such as off some other component on the vehicle on which the flywheel is mounted . in particular , the driveshaft may be driven from a vehicle driveline such as a final drive arrangement , a transmission output or a transmission input , e . g . from the main engine , a vehicle axle or propshaft . the pump may also be driven from a flywheel drive transmission that controls the power flow between the flywheel and , for example , the vehicle . this can be advantageous as the pump can be operated irrespective of the rotation speed of the flywheel . for example , the vacuum pump may be operated before the flywheel system is started up . the flywheel transmission may also be decoupleable from the vehicle driveline . fig2 shows a modified flywheel arrangement , similar to the arrangement of fig1 but with an additional valve and pressure sensor . the embodiment of fig2 includes the valve 90 on the outlet from the flywheel chamber 23 . the valve is engaged by a solenoid 91 to close off the exit from the vacuum chamber or disengaged to leave the channel 31 open . in this way , if the pump 30 is not operating and the pressure at the pump inlet starts to rise , the vacuum state within the flywheel chamber can be better maintained by engaging the valve 90 and isolating the chamber 23 from the pump 30 . the vacuum valve 90 is shown schematically in fig2 but may take a number of forms . for example , the valve may include a face seal . this may include a rigid face that compresses a flexible seal such as an elastomeric seal like an o - ring in order to provide a reliable seal to maintain the desirable vacuum , i . e . preferably below 4 mbar . a ‘ normally closed ’ vacuum valve — that is one that closes when it receives no energisation ( for example , electrical energisation of a solenoid )— is preferred as the valve will retain the flywheel chamber vacuum in the event of loss of power to the valve . the pump preferably includes a spring that biases it to close when it is not energised or actuated . in the embodiment of fig2 , the valve is controlled by a solenoid 91 . however , it will be appreciated that the valve may be operated using different means . for example , the valve may be mechanically operated , for example by a coupling to a speed related element or a pressure sensitive element . in the latter case , the valve may simply be biased into the closed position and the pressure difference between the chamber and the pump inlet , acting on the valve , opens the valve if the pressure in the pump inlet is lower than the chamber . in another variation , the valve includes both an actuator ( for example , a solenoid ), and also a spool or plunger upon which two pressures act . each pressure may bear on a different sized area of the spool . this may be achieved with a cylindrical spool that seals against a conical face . the non - sealing end of the spool is arranged to be exposed to a larger area than the sealing end of the spool . the vacuum pump inlet pressure may bear against the larger area of the spool , whilst the flywheel chamber pressure may bear against the smaller area of the spool . alternatively the chamber pressure may not bear against the spool at all . with this arrangement , when the pump inlet pressure is at a pre - determined value or at a pre - determined level higher than the chamber pressure , the actuator and optional bias spring are arranged such that the available actuation force is insufficient to open the valve . this prevents the vacuum valve from being opened by the actuator when the pump inlet pressure is inappropriately high , such as when the pump system is not operating or when it has developed a fault . preventing the solenoid from opening the valve when the pump inlet pressure is relatively high can prevent damage to the flywheel due to excessive windage losses and heating . whilst the flywheel is in normal operation ( that is , not during its start - up or shut - down phase ), the valve may be closed if it is determined that the pressure in the chamber is below a level suitable for optimum operation . the optimum pressure range for the flywheel is below 4 mbar , and preferably the flywheel operates with a chamber pressure at this level . by de - energising the valve under normal operation , the mean power required by the valve is reduced , thus improving efficiency of the flywheel system . as shown in fig2 , a pressure sensor 19 is provided for measuring and determining the pressure in the chamber . however , it will be appreciated that the pressure may be determined in other ways , for example by reference to other parameters of the system or using other pressure sensors . the pressure may not be determined precisely and instead an estimate of the pressure may be all that is determined and used to determine the control of the system . for example , such an estimate may be made by monitoring the drive effort imparted to the flywheel by a flywheel drive system , determining the flywheel &# 39 ; s speed and / or acceleration , and inferring the pressure in the chamber . the sequence of operation of a vacuum pump in a flywheel application is important . when the flywheel is initially operated , it can take a considerable time to generate the desired vacuum level within the flywheel chamber . whilst the pressure in the chamber is higher than the optimum , the air causes increased flywheel losses . consequently , between the time when the flywheel begins to rotate and the time at which the desired vacuum level is achieved by operation of the pump , increased losses waste energy causing heating of the flywheel and reduce the efficiency of the flywheel . it is therefore desirable to maintain the vacuum level in the flywheel chamber during periods of ‘ off - time ’ rather than allowing the chamber to rise to atmospheric pressure and then have to be reduced again when operation recommences . in the arrangement of fig2 , the vacuum pump 30 is driven by the driveshaft 36 coupled to the flywheel and so any pumping action is dependent on the flywheel operating . in the initial start - up period , the flywheel will start to spin but the pump 30 will not have operated for a sufficient period of time to reduce the pressure in the flywheel chamber to the desired operating pressure . there will therefore be a period when the flywheel is already rotating before the pressure in the chamber is reduced below a pressure where increased losses occur , especially if the flywheel is run up to close to its maximum operating speed . this arrangement of coupling the pump 30 to the flywheel does have the advantage of good reliability because there is no motor to potentially fail . there is also no need for motor drive electronics . the flywheel may also be used to drive the lubrication pump 35 . this means that there is the assurance that lubrication will be available whenever the flywheel is rotating , which coincides with the time when the need for lubrication is most important . to accommodate ‘ start - up ’ of the flywheel system , the valve 90 is initially closed , preventing airflow through it ( and preserving any reduced pressure level within the chamber ). the flywheel is then caused to rotate . as the flywheel starts rotating , the drive shaft 24 will begin to turn . this will cause the shaft 36 to turn and the pump 30 will start to operate , lowering the pressure in the channel 31 between the pump 30 and the valve 90 . once the pressure is low enough , the valve can be opened allowing the pump to withdraw air from the flywheel chamber 23 and reduce the pressure within it to the desired operating pressure . once the flywheel has be running for a period of time , the pump will have removed the air from the flywheel chamber and the valve can remain open to allow the pump to maintain the reduced pressure . as described earlier , it may be desirable to close the valve even when the flywheel is not to be shut down if it has been determined that the chamber pressure has reached the optimum level , as this may reduce the power consumption by the valve solenoid , in particular , where the valve is of the normally - closed type , i . e . closed when the solenoid is not energised . the pump 30 may also be turned off to reduce power consumption . this might be achieved by using clutch or similar means to selectively connect the pump 30 to the drive shaft 24 or other drive means . where the pump is electrically driven , turning the pump off will clearly save electrical energy . the pressure in the chamber 23 is determined using the pressure sensor 19 in the embodiment of fig2 , although other methods may be used to determine the pressure . once the machine or vehicle to which the flywheel is connected is no longer operating , it is desirable to shut down the flywheel system . under normal operating conditions , the flywheel is allowed or caused to rotate in the near vacuum conditions . to close the system down , the valve 90 is closed to isolate the flywheel chamber from the pump 30 . the flywheel can then be allowed to come to rest and the vacuum in the chamber can be largely preserved even after the flywheel ( and the pump ) has stopped . in this way , when the flywheel is brought back into operation , the previous low pressure within the chamber is largely preserved and so the flywheel can operate in close to optimum vacuum conditions as soon as it starts to rotate rather than having to wait for the pump to develop the vacuum . the arrangement of fig2 may be modified to have a separate pump drive for the vacuum pump so that it is not dependent on rotation of the flywheel to operate , e . g . by providing an electric motor , flywheel transmission ( which may be decoupleable from the flywheel allowing it to be rotating when the flywheel is not ) or vehicle drive to drive it . with such an arrangement , the system can be operated in a slightly different way . initially , when the flywheel is to be brought into operation , the separate drive means is used to turn the pump 30 . this begins the process of evacuating the pipes 31 connecting the flywheel chamber to the pump and the pump chamber itself . during this process the valve is initially closed . after a period of operation , the pressure at the inlet to the pump 30 will drop , ideally to below the pressure in the flywheel chamber . at this point , opening the valve 90 will allow the pump to start removing air from the chamber and reduce the pressure within to the operating pressure . this can all be done before the flywheel is caused or allowed to rotate , or with the flywheel maximum speed being restricted . in this way , the pressure within the chamber 23 can be at or close to the operating pressure before the flywheel begins to rotate at a substantial speed , i . e . a speed at which the windage effect becomes significant . this minimises losses which may be caused by rotating the flywheel at a substantial speed in a pressure above the optimum level . this also prevents heat build - up in the flywheel due to resistance from the air , which can be especially important if the flywheel comprises composite materials such as carbon fibre reinforced plastic ( cfrp ). once the flywheel is spinning , the valve is kept open to allow the pump to maintain the pressure in the chamber . however , as indicated above , the valve may still be closed for periods of time to reduce energy consumption in the valve and pump . when it is desired to shut down the flywheel system , again a slightly modified procedure can be used . initially , the flywheel is rotating or being driven and the valve is open with the vacuum pump running . when it is determined to shut down the flywheel system , the first step is to close the valve to isolate the chamber from the pump . the vacuum pump can then be allowed to come to rest . at any point after the valve 90 has been closed , the flywheel may also be brought or allowed to come to rest . in this way , the pressure is maintained in the chamber during normal operation and , by isolating the chamber , even after the valve is closed . it is preferable to keep the lubrication pump 35 operating whilst the flywheel is run down , since the lubrication pump continues to operate to maintain good oil supply to the lip seals which helps to maintain a good seal and preserve the vacuum in the chamber and also to ensure good lubrication of the various rotating elements . only after the flywheel has come to rest is the lubrication pump shut down , as it is no longer needed . alternatively , when it is determined to shut down the flywheel system , the vacuum pump may be kept running , where it is powered separately from the flywheel , e . g . from an electric motor or drive train take off . the flywheel can then be brought or allowed to come to rest whilst the pressure is maintained by the pump . once the flywheel has come to rest , the valve can be closed to preserve the vacuum in the chamber and the vacuum pump then turned off . as noted above , the valve is preferably an electrically operated solenoid valve but may be mechanically operated . in the direct drive example above , the valve may be arranged to open only when the vacuum pump is operating at a certain speed or after a certain pressure is achieved by the vacuum pump system . if a sufficient vacuum level has not been established within the flywheel chamber , the movement of the flywheel through the air that is present can lead to significant heat being generated . this can happen at start up when the pump has not sufficiently reduced the pressure or if the vacuum level is degraded for other reasons such as a leak . running the flywheel in a reduced vacuum , i . e . with more that the desired amount of air in the chamber , can cause the flywheel itself to heat up which can be disadvantageous , particular where the flywheel is made using composite materials which can be heat sensitive . to prevent or mitigate this , the pressure in the chamber can be monitored , for example by using pressure sensor 19 , and if the pressure is not sufficiently low , the flywheel speed can be limited to prevent excessive build - up of heat . this limit may be staged such that the flywheel is prevented from exceeding a certain speed ( or from spinning at all ) above a certain pressure and then is allowed to spin up to other maximum speeds depending on the vacuum pressure level . in this way , as the pressure is progressively lowered , the maximum allowable flywheel speed is progressively increased . this may be a continuous relationship and / or set out in a series of bands with thresholds which must be exceeded to allow the maximum speed to be raised to the next level . by limiting the flywheel speed as a function of the vacuum level , the heat build - up can be controlled to prevent the temperature of the flywheel and other components exceeding desired levels . limiting the flywheel speed may include maintaining it stationary , which may be desirable under some conditions . the pressure in the chamber may be determined accurately using a dedicated pressure sensor such as the sensor 19 in fig2 . however , as noted above , the chamber pressure may be determined in other ways . alternatively an estimate of the pressure may be used in place of an accurate pressure measurement . the option of relying on the estimated pressure applies to determining the pressure in the chamber as well as the pressures in other parts of the system , e . g . the inlet to the vacuum pump . for example , the pump inlet pressure may be estimated from the speed of the pump ( or from the speed of the flywheel in the case where the pump is coupled to the flywheel ). in the above embodiments , the valve is preferably a vacuum valve which forms a hermetic seal to prevent leakage of fluid around the valve . the valve is operated by a solenoid in the example although as noted above other valves such as a check valve or a passive or pilot operated ( e . g . pressure - actuated ) valve may be used , in accordance with the invention . however , solenoid operated valves have a number of advantages . a solenoid operated valve may be actuated at will , for example according to complex logic , perhaps dependant on a number of parameters . for example , the valve may be operated prior to the vacuum pump system being brought to rest . a check valve or similar , typically has a bias associated with it in order to achieve effective sealing . such a bias may cause a necessary pressure differential between the chamber and the pump inlet . an externally actuated , e . g . solenoid valve , does not in itself cause such a pressure differential , so when the valve is open , the chamber may be brought down to the pressure at the inlet of the pump rather than slightly above it , due to the pressure differential . in the embodiment above , the flywheel has a direct mechanical drive to the pump and to provide a coupling , for receiving and providing power , to a vehicle drive train , typically . however , the flywheel may be provided in a chamber that is hermetically , or near - hermetically sealed . in such cases , the flywheel may be driven by an electric motor / generator at least one part of which is mounted in the vacuum chamber , or by a magnetic coupling that communicates through a wall of the chamber housing . as noted above , the flywheel chamber may be evacuated regularly in service , but alternatively , especially where the chamber is hermetically sealed , it may be evacuated periodically , such as only when the chamber pressure has risen above a desirable level . thus the vacuum may be ‘ topped up ’ at longer intervals . the vacuum pump may take a number of different forms but for this application , a vane pump is preferred . such pumps may not bring down the chamber pressure as rapidly as , for example , some reciprocating pumps , but they may be quieter and more durable , which is desirable for vehicle applications . they are also suitable for the pumping of both oil and air , thus allowing a single device to be used rather than needing separate oil and vacuum pumps . however , a separate vacuum pump ( and , if required , oil scavenging device ) may be used . in the case where there is a single pump which performs both of these functions , the pump inlet is preferably below the flywheel chamber , so that oil can collect under gravity at the bottom of the chamber , so that it can then be drawn out with the air by the vacuum pump . if , at any time , a fault is suspected in the vacuum pump system then the flywheel system may be made to shut down . for example , if the pressure at the inlet to the vacuum pump system is estimated as being substantially higher than expected , then the flywheel system may be made to shut down because it is assumed that there has been a failure of the pump system . this may include monitoring the flywheel chamber pressure to make sure that it falls , as expected , when the valve is opened . if the vacuum pump is not running or is failing to provide an adequate vacuum then when the valve is opened , the pressure would tend to rise in the chamber as opposed to falling , as expected . this unexpected behaviour would suggest that the pump is not operating correctly and the flywheel may be shut down or its speed restricted . | 5 |
with reference to the drawing , a circuit diagram 100 of a combustible gas sensor is shown . a power supply 101 provides either constant voltage or constant current ( hereinafter &# 34 ; current &# 34 ;) of approximately 0 . 4 amps to an on / off switch 102 . when the on / off switch 102 is closed , the current activates a solid state timer 103 . the timer 103 closes a switch 111 that is positioned in the sensor ( detector ) arm 105 of a wheatstone bridge circuit 109 . the timer 103 also controls a current changing network 104 that boosts the current to approximately 0 . 6 amps . this increased current is applied to the sensor ( detector ) arm 105 of the wheatstone bridge circuit 109 through the switch 111 . the other three legs of the bridge circuit are comprised of a compensator element 106 and two resistors 107 and 108 of approximately 1000 ohms each . the bridge circuit is capable of operating in either a constant voltage mode , a constant current mode , a constant temperature mode or a constant resistance mode . the compensator element 106 is identical to the sensing element 105 except that it does not bear a catalytic coating . the resistance change in the bridge circuit 109 causes a current change that causes a difference signal to be sent out to a readout device by means of a differential amplifier 110 . the signal is calibrated to indicate the quantity of the tested gas by comparing the resistances of the compensator element 106 and detector element 105 . while the timer 103 continues to operate the current changing network 104 , the detector element 105 is exposed to a current approximately one - third higher than the normal operating current seen in the bridge . the increased current heats the detector element 105 to burn inhibitors from the detector element 105 . the timer 103 continues to operate for a predetermined time to sufficiently burn off the impurities and then opens the switch 111 in the detector branch 105 of the wheatstone bridge circuit 109 while shutting off the current amplifier 104 . this reduces the current seen by the detector element to a normal operating level . the impurities on the detector element 105 have effectively been removed by the higher current and , accordingly , the sensitivity level of the detector element 105 has been restored . the timer 103 is set to operate each time that the instrument is turned on . once the timer 103 turns off , the circuit is ready to sense the presence of a combustible gas , such as a hydrocarbon gas . when the sensing element 105 is exposed to the combustible gas , the catalytic coating of the sensing element 105 promotes combustion . as the temperature of the sensing element 105 increases , the resistances between the sensing element 105 and the compensator element 106 become unbalanced . this resistance imbalance is measured by a differential amplifier 110 that generates a signal to a calibrated readout gauge ( not shown ). the gauge is calibrated to indicate the concentration of the test gas as a function of the degree of resistance imbalance . the invention has been described in its preferred embodiment . it is readily apparent that there are numerous modifications and variations of the present invention that may be made possible by the above teachings while still remaining within the scope of the appended claims . | 6 |
according to fig1 a mixture 1 to be agglomerated ( sintered ) passes through a hopper 2 which feeds a mixer 3 furnished with a gate valve 4 for the addition of water . at the output of the mixer 3 the mixture traverses a feed hopper 5 which supplies an agglomerating apparatus 6 ( a sinter strand ). the hopper 2 is furnished with a permeameter 7 which forms part of the circuit for automatic feed - forward regulation set up to adjust the addition of water effected by means of the gate valve 4 . this regulating circuit includes a reference device 8 with respect to the set value ( such as a comparator or a filter ) and a regulator 9 which transforms the permeability signal into a quantity of water . with this arrangement , should the permeability of the mixture traversing the hopper 2 not be satisfactory , then it is yet possible to effect an appropriate correction to the water by means of the gate valve 4 so that the agglomerating apparatus 6 is supplied with a mixture of desired permeability . the scheme of fig2 is the same as that of fig1 in respect of the path of the mixture to be agglomerated ( 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 ). the permeameter 7 of the hopper 2 is likewise the same , but a second permeameter 10 is furnished for the hopper 5 . this latter permeameter 10 forms part of a circuit for automatic feedback regulation connected to the gate valve 4 and including a reference device 11 with respect to a set value and a regulator 12 . the water correction arising from the regulator 9 ( through the feed - forward loop 7 - 8 - 9 - 4 ) and that arising from the regulator 12 ( through the feedback loop 10 - 11 - 12 - 4 ) are subjected to addition in a summator 13 prior to being transmitted to the controls for the gate valve 4 . according to fig3 the mixture to be agglomerated traverses first through a hopper 14 supplying a mixer 15 prior to traversing the hopper 2 supplying the mixer 3 . the initial mixer 15 is likewise furnished with a gate valve 16 for the addition of water , which forms part of a circuit for automatic feedback regulation and which moreover includes the permeameter 7 , a reference device 17 with respect to the set value , and a regulator 18 . this regulating loop functions simultaneously with the first loop for automatic feed - forward regulation 7 - 8 - 9 - 4 . the scheme of fig4 is the same as that of fig3 in regard to the path of the mixture to be agglomerated ( 14 - 15 - 16 - 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 ). the permeameter 7 of the hopper 2 likewise forms part , on the one hand , of a loop for automatic feed - forward regulation 7 - 8 - 9 - 4 and , on the other hand , of a loop for automatic feedback regulation 7 - 17 - 18 - 16 . this installation moreover includes a second permeameter 10 equipping the hopper 5 and forming part of a loop for automatic feedback regulation 10 - 11 - 12 - 13 - 4 . the three regulating loops function simultaneously . with a view to adapting in a continuous and automatic manner the value p ° of the set value of the permeability of the mixture as a function of the variations of the characteristics of the mixture , variations ( δ q ) of the quantity ( q ) of water to be added can be effected as desired through a generator 19 . consequent upon such desired variation , the permeability measured in the hopper 5 undergoes likewise a variation which is detected through the use of a filter 20 . the signal representing this variation is transmitted to a divider module 21 connected also to the generator 19 . the module 21 emits a signal representative of the ratio δp / δq which is received in a comparator 22 where there is effected the comparison between the signal representing δp / δq and a predetermined value 24 chosen as a set value . the comparator 22 is connected to a regulator 23 furnished to transmit to the reference device 11 , which serves as indication of the set value p °, any variation corresponding to a deviation ( as made evident by the comparator 22 ) between the calculated values δp / δq and the regulating value 24 , in such manner that this deviation may be suppressed as rapidly as possible . for a sinter strand moving at an average speed of 3m / min , a mixture for sintering comprised : the entirely automatic functioning of the regulation enabled the permeability to be maintained at its set value ( 35 m 3 / h ) to an accuracy of ± 2 m 3 / h during 93 . 5 % of the flow time . in the curve shown in fig5 the abscissae indicate the type of control effected ( in conjunction with fig2 and 4 ) and the ordinates indicate , in percent values , the diminution in the residual fluctuation of the permeability . at 3 : with feedback on the permeameter 10 ; and a feed - forward on the pelletizer 3 ; 2 . 5 % at 4 : same as 3 with , in addition , feedback on the first permeameter 7 ; 1 . 7 % it may be noted that the automatic adaptation of the set value of permeability as a function of the characteristics of the mixture permits a step up of about 3 . 5 % ( relative ) to be obtained in the value of the permeability , which enables a corresponding increase in the conveyor productivity to be obtained . in fig6 the ordinates show in percent values the variation in the dispersion of the residual permeability for the same types of control as mentioned above ( manual control excepted ), this being as a function of the duration of the perturbations in minutes . the four curves indicated at 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 correspond to the four types of control as already indicated in fig5 . from the above , the conclusion can be drawn that the feedback loops are particularly efficascious for perturbations of long duration , while the existance of a feed - forward loop is especially efficacious in the case of perturbations of short duration . | 2 |
referring now to the figures of the drawing in detail and first , particularly , to fig1 thereof , there is seen a longitudinal section through a steel water roller 1 of a printing machine . the steel water roller 1 has a cylindrical basic body 2 , a surface jacket 3 of which is provided with a layer structure 4 . the layer structure 4 is indicated by the dash - dotted line in fig1 and it is seen to extend about edge regions 5 of the steel water roller 1 , so that a partial length thereof is located on end faces of the roller 1 . the layer structure 4 is comprised of individual layers each deposited in an electro - chemical process , i . e . by means of galvanic processes . as will become clear from the following description , the term &# 34 ; galvanic &# 34 ; largely pertains to electrolytic processes . fig2 shows a section through the layer structure 4 . a nickel flash or nickel - strike layer 6 is galvanically deposited on the basic body 2 of the steel water roller 1 . the basic body 2 is formed of steel # 52 ( nirosta ). the nickel - strike layer 6 may be referred to as pre - nickeling . the electrolyte used for this purpose is strongly acidic with a high chloride concentration . the nickel flash 6 has an even thickness 1 to 2 μm . a sulfamate - nickel layer 7 is electrolytically deposited on the nickel - strike layer 6 . the sulfamate - nickel layer 7 is sulphur - free and has a thickness of 30 to 40 μm . its vickers hardness ( diamond pyramid hardness ) is 200 to 250 hv . a chromium layer 8 which is largely free of cracks is galvanically deposited on the sulfamate - nickel layer 7 ; it has an even thickness of 10 to 15 μm and forms a so - called base layer . a structured surface layer 9 is deposited onto the chromium layer 8 by means of a galvanic process . the surface coating 9 forms a structured chromium layer 10 . elevations and depressions are due to the structuring , whereby the maximum thickness of the structured chromium layer 10 -- as measured from a trough to a peak of the maximum elevation -- is 7 to 10 μm . an evenly thick surface layer or cover layer 11 of microcracked chromium is galvanically deposited on the structured surface layer 10 . its thickness if advantageously 8 μm to 10 μm . its hardness is about 900 hv or greater than 900 hv . in total , the outer surface of the coated steel water roller 1 has a measured coarseness rz = 6 to 10 μm . fig3 shows a voltage over time diagram , which illustrates the control of an electrical parameter ( voltage u ) of the galvanic process for depositing the basic layer ( chromium layer 8 ) and for subsequently depositing the structured surface layer 9 . in a preferred mode of the electrochemical process according to the invention , the steel water roller 1 is connected as the cathode . the anodes are formed by pbsn7 or platinized titanium . the inter - electrode distance , the spacing between the anode and the cathode , is adjusted to about 25 cm . during the deposition of the structured surface layer 9 , the steel water roller 1 is continuously rotated about its longitudinal axis 12 ( fig1 ). with reference to fig3 the electrochemical process for depositing the basic layer ( chromium layer 8 ) and the structured surface layer 9 is performed as follows : first , the basic body 2 of the steel water roller 1 is immersed in a chromium electrolyte having a temperature of about 45 ° c ., and a waiting period t w of about 60 s elapses after the insertion . a temperature equilibration of the basic material ( basic body 2 ) to the electrolyte temperature occurs during that time . the voltage and current are maintained at zero during the waiting period t w . after the waiting period t w , an electrical base pulse 13 is applied between the anode and the cathode . at this time the base layer ( chromium layer 8 ) is deposited . subsequently , the structured surface layer 9 is formed with a pulse 14 . to begin with , island or seed formations of the deposition material are caused with an initial pulse 14 &# 39 ;. the island formation is followed by a deposition of further deposition material , caused with a follow - up pulse 14 &# 34 ;. individually , the base pulse 13 and the initial / follow - up pulse 14 are formed as follows : the basic pulse 13 is a voltage pulse having a trapezoidal shape . the initial / follow - up pulse 14 is also a voltage pulse which is comprised of the initial pulse 14 &# 39 ; and the directly following follow - up pulse 14 &# 34 ;; it is approximately trapezoidal as well . a pure trapezoidal shape is disturbed in that the forward edge of the initial pulse 14 &# 39 ; has a different rise than the forward edge of the follow - up pulse 14 &# 34 ;. we will return to this in more detail . the diagram of fig3 starting at t = 0 , starts with the immersion of the component into the electrolyte . after the waiting period t w , the base pulse 13 is initiated . the base pulse 13 has a forward edge 15 , beginning after the waiting period t w , with a constant steepness of δu / δt = 0 . 25 v / 5 s . the forward edge 15 is followed by a constant amplitude 16 of 4 v which extends over 600 s . this is followed by a rear edge 17 , with a fall - off steepness of δu / δt =- 0 . 4 v / 5 s . then follows an intermediate time period t z which is currentless or de - energized and has a length of 60 s . the time period t z is followed by the initial pulse 14 &# 39 ; with a forward edge 18 , which rises at δu / δt = 0 . 3 v / 5 s . the rise continues until an amplitude a of 5 v is reached . at that point the initial pulse 14 &# 39 ; ends . this is indicated by the dotted line 22 . a forward edge 20 of the follow - up pulse 14 &# 34 ; follows immediately after the initial pulse 14 &# 39 ;. the pulse 14 &# 34 ; having a steepness of δu / δt = 0 . 1 v / 6 s . by means of this forward edge 20 , the current upon which the galvanic process is based , is raised to a maximum current intensity i max of 950 a . the maximum current intensity i max is maintained over a time period of 60 s . then follows a rear edge 21 of the follow - up pulse 14 &# 34 ; which has a slope of δu / δt =- 0 . 5 v / 4 s . at the end of the rear edge 21 the current and the potential are zero . in fig3 the entire pulse formed by the initial pulse 14 &# 39 ; and the follow - up pulse 14 &# 34 ; is designated with 19 . it includes the two rise edges 18 and 20 . the described electrochemical process for depositing the structured surface layer 9 achieves a coarseness rz = 9 μm and a carrier proportion of 25 %. the cover layer 11 is subsequently deposited with a conventional electrochemical process onto the structured surface layer 9 . fig4 shows -- in 200 - fold magnification -- the structured chromium of the structured surface layer 9 . fig5 shows a 500 - fold magnification . it can be clearly seen that a very even structured distribution is present . fig6 and 7 compare a prior art surface layer with a surface layer according to the invention : that is , fig6 shows a 200 - fold magnification of a conventional surface structure , which has been subjected to a grinding and etching process , and fig7 shows a 200 - fold magnification of the structured surface coating according to the invention . it is seen that the structure according to the invention is built up substantially more evenly and orderly than that of the prior art . it is understood that in the manufacture of a steel water roller 1 , as usual , a degreasing step and a pickling step are performed prior to applying the layer structure 4 . these processes are possibly repeated several times . only then is the nickel - strike layer 6 applied , then the sulfamate - nickel layer 7 , and then the chromium layer 8 . this is followed by the deposition of the structured surface layer 9 and subsequently by the deposition of the cover layer 10 . as mentioned , the cover layer 10 is preferably formed of microcracked chromium and it is understood that with the layer 10 the accuracy to gauge may be controlled . it is again noted that the invention is not limited to chromium or chromium alloy layers , but it can also be performed with other deposition materials . it is further possible , in accordance with another , not illustrated embodiment , to place a currentless or potential - free pause between the initial pulse 14 &# 39 ; and the follow - up pulse 14 &# 34 ;. it is noted , finally , that in the following claims any of the values defining voltage and / or current values and / or potential difference values and / or time and / or time difference values are subject to deviations of ± 10 %, and preferably ± 5 %. | 2 |
the present invention is a flush mount fork tube cap nut for the triple tree of a motorcycle . as illustrated in fig1 , the triple tree 1 of a motorcycle interconnects a steering column 3 or tube and hollow fork tubes 5 . a handlebar assembly 7 is attached to the steering column 3 . by turning the handlebar assembly 7 , rotation is transferred to the triple tree 1 and the fork tubes 5 . the fork tubes 5 are fixedly attached to the front wheel of the motorcycle and facilitate steering . the hollow fork tubes 5 are capped with a cap nut 9 . cap nuts are generally manufactured with a raised nut - type assembly 15 as shown in fig1 and 2 . the preferred embodiment of the present invention utilizes a smooth cap nut 11 , as illustrated in fig3 a , 4 b and 5 . the difference between the prior art cap nut assembly ( fig1 and 2 ) and the present invention ( fig3 and 4 ) is readily apparent . the prior art cap nut 9 comprises a threaded assembly 13 that engages a similarly threaded assembly in the hollow interior of the fork tube 5 . by tightening the nut 15 on the cap nut assembly 9 , the threads interleave and frictionally secure the fork tube 5 to the cap nut assembly 9 . the fork tube 5 and the fixedly attached cap nut assembly 9 are held in place in the triple tree 1 by way of a pinch bolt 10 which , when tightened , frictionally secures the fork tube 5 and the cap nut assembly 9 to the triple tree 1 . the present flush mount fork tube cap nut 11 is preferably made of metal . in an optional embodiment , the present flush mount fork tube cap nut 11 could also be of a nonmetallic composition . the present flush mount fork tube cap nut 11 has a smooth upper surface 23 and further comprises a threaded assembly 21 that engages a similarly threaded assembly in the hollow interior of the fork tube 5 . the present fork tube cap nut 11 is tightened by way of engaging a spanner wrench or equivalent tool with the milled holes 19 in the present fork tube cap nut 11 . other embodiments of the present fork tube cap nut 11 comprise knurled or milled edges to facilitate hand - tightening of the present fork tube cap nut 11 instead of using a spanner wrench and the milled holes 19 . other means of fastening the flush mount fork tube cap 11 to the triple tree 1 are apparent to those skilled in the art . as illustrated in fig4 a , the threaded assembly 21 of the flush mount fork tube cap 11 engages a similarly threaded assembly in the top interior of the fork tube 27 . by tightening the threaded assemblies , the threads interconnect and secure the fork tube 5 to the flush mount fork tube cap 11 . the hollow interior of the fork tube 5 may contain springs 25 or other apparatus that are part of the hydraulic shock absorbing system of the motorcycle . the flush mount fork tube cap nut 11 and the fixedly attached fork tube 5 are then slid through the receiving cavity of the triple tree 1 until the smooth upper surface 23 of the present flush mount fork tube cap nut 11 is flush with the top plane of the triple tree 1 , as illustrated in fig4 b . the pinch bolt 10 is then tightened , which closes a gap 29 in the triple tree 1 such that the flush mount fork tube cap nut 11 and the fixedly attached fork tube 5 are frictionally held in place . as illustrated in fig5 , the smooth upper surface 23 of the present flush mount fork tube cap nut 11 may be decorated with a design to add aesthetic value to the motorcycle . finally , there are many alternative embodiments and modifications of the present invention that are intended to be included within the spirit and scope of the following claims . | 1 |
with reference now to the drawings , and in particular to fig1 thereof , the preferred embodiment of the new and improved multi - functional furniture / accessory system embodying the principles and concepts of the present invention and generally designated by the reference numeral 10 will be described . the present invention , the multi - functional furniture / accessory system 10 is comprised of a plurality of components . such components in their broadest context include a central housing , a plurality of interchangeable upper components and a plurality of lower components . such components are individually configured and correlated with respect to each other so as to attain the desired objective . first provided is an upper component . the upper component has a central housing 14 . the central housing is formed in a generally rectilinear configuration . the central housing has an upper extent 16 . the upper extent is provided in a square cross sectional configuration . the upper extent is of a first peripheral size . the central housing has a lower extent 18 . the lower extent is provided in a square cross sectional configuration . the lower extent is of a second peripheral size . the central housing has a horizontal open top . the central housing has a horizontal open bottom . the second size is greater than the first size . the central housing further includes an intermediate extent 20 . the intermediate extent has four trapezoidal panels . in this manner the upper and lower extents are coupled . the central housing further includes a slot 22 . the slot is formed in the lower extent . in this manner the passage of components into the lower chamber of the central housing for storage purposes is allowed . further in this manner the passage of components from the central housing for utilization purposes is allowed . the central housing has a horizontal divide panel 24 . the divide panel is provided between the top and the bottom . in this manner an upper chamber and a lower chamber are provided . a lower component has a base 28 . the base has four corner casters 30 . the casters depend from the base . the base has a periphery . the periphery of the base is essentially equal to the periphery of the lower extent . in this manner the base may be received by the lower extent of the central housing for transportation purposes . a plurality of interchangeable upper components are provided . each of the upper components has a square upper peripheral size . the peripheral size of each upper component is greater than the peripheral size of the open top of the central housing . the upper components include a cover 34 . the cover is provided in a generally rectilinear configuration . the cover has a lower section 36 . the lower section is removably receivable within the top of the central housing . the cover has an enlarged thin upper resilient section 38 . the upper resilient section is supported by the top . in this manner a covering is provided for the system . the cover has peripheral channels 40 . the peripheral channels are provided in the periphery of the cover . in this manner rain water is directed away from the system . further in this manner the system is maintained dry when exposed to rain . the upper components include a seat 44 . the seat is provided in a generally rectilinear configuration . the seat has a lower section 46 . the seat is removably receivable within the top of the central housing . the seat has an enlarged thick upper resilient section 48 . the upper resilient section is supported by the top . in this manner a seat is provided for a user of the system . the upper components also include a small planter 52 . the small planer is provided in a generally rectilinear configuration . the small planter has an lower section 54 . the small planter is removably receivable within a minority of the extent of the upper chamber of the central housing . the small planer has a depth . in this manner the small planter receives and supports soil and foliage . the small planter has an enlarged upper section 56 . the upper section is supported by the top . the upper components further include a large planter 60 . a large planter is provided in a generally rectilinear configuration . the large planter has an lower section 62 . the lower section is removably receivable within a majority of the extent of the upper chamber of the central housing . the large planter has a depth . in this manner the large planer receives and supports soil and foliage . the large planter has an enlarged upper section 64 . the upper section is supported by the top . an alternate embodiment of the invention is illustrated in fig2 . such alternate embodiment is a multi - functional furniture / accessory system 110 principally for indoor use . it is adapted to be reconfigured for a variety of capabilities and configurations . the reconfiguring is done in a safe , convenient , eye - appealing and economical manner . the system comprises , in combination , an upper component formed of a central housing 114 formed in a generally rectilinear configuration having an upper extent 116 with a square cross sectional configuration of a first peripheral size and a lower extent 118 with a square cross sectional configuration of a second peripheral size . the central housing has a horizontal open top and a horizontal open bottom . the second size is essentially equal to the first size . the central housing further includes a slot 122 formed in the lower extent for the passage of components into the lower chamber of the central housing for storage purposes and for the passage of components from the central housing for utilization purposes . the central housing has a horizontal divide panel 124 between the top and the bottom thereby forming an upper chamber and a lower chamber . a lower component is formed as a base 128 with four corner casters 130 depending from the base . the base has a periphery essentially equal to the periphery of the lower extent for being removably receives by the lower extent of the central housing for transportation purposes . also included is a plurality of interchangeable upper components . each of the upper components has a square upper peripheral size greater than the peripheral size of the open top of the central housing . the upper components includes a cover 134 in a generally rectilinear configuration having a lower section 136 removably receivable within the top of the central housing and with an enlarged thin upper resilient section 138 supported by the top and providing a covering for the system . a seat 144 in a generally rectilinear configuration has a lower section 146 removably receivable within the top of the central housing . an enlarged thick upper resilient section 148 is supported by the top thereby providing a seat for a user of the system . a small planter 152 in a generally rectilinear configuration has an lower section 154 removably receivable within a minority of the extent of the upper chamber of the central housing with a depth to receive and support soil and foliage . the small planter has an enlarged upper section 156 supported by the top . a large planter 160 in a generally rectilinear configuration has a lower section 162 removably receivable within a majority of the extent of the upper chamber of the central housing with a depth to receive and support soil and foliage . the large planter has an enlarged upper section 164 supported by the top . fig4 is a cross sectional view of the outdoor embodiment taken along line 4 - 4 of fig3 . in such view , the large planter 60 is in operative position upon the upper section of the housing . all of the other upper components are capable of being stored in the lower component . the seat 44 in also positioned upon the large planter . the cover 34 is also positionable upon either planter while a planter is positioned upon the upper component . fig5 and 6 are cross sectional views similar to fig4 but illustrating the indoor embodiment shown in fig2 . in the fig5 embodiment , the large planter 160 is operatively positioned upon the upper section of the housing while the small planter 152 is stored in an inverted orientation within the lower component . in the fig6 embodiment , the small planter 152 is operatively positioned upon the upper section of the housing while the large planter 160 is stored remote from the housing . in each of the embodiments , the various upper components are adapted to be used and / or stored upon the upper section of the housing and within the lower section of the housing in any of a wide variety of orientations and locations . as to the manner of usage and operation of the present invention , the same should be apparent from the above description . accordingly , no further discussion relating to the manner of usage and operation will be provided . with respect to the above description then , it is to be realized that the optimum dimensional relationships for the parts of the invention , to include variations in size , materials , shape , form , function and manner of operation , assembly and use , are deemed readily apparent and obvious to one skilled in the art , and all equivalent relationships to those illustrated in the drawings and described in the specification are intended to be encompassed by the present invention . therefore , the foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the invention . further , since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art , it is not desired to limit the invention to the exact construction and operation shown and described , and accordingly , all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to , falling within the scope of the invention . | 0 |
the aqueous adhesives suitable for the invention are vinyl acetate polymer emulsion , aqueous glue , water glass and the like , and vinyl acetate polymer emulsion is preferable in view of handling . vinyl acetate polymer emulsion can be prepared by the emulsion polymerization of vinyl acetate alone or in the coexistence of a small amount of other copolymerizable vinyl monomer through a known method . as the copolymerizable vinyl monomer , there are ethylene , styrene , acrylic acid , methacrylic acid , crotonic acid , malic acid , their esters , and the like . polyvinyl alcohol ( pva ) or the like is used as protective colloids , and a suitable blending amount is 2 to 20 wt . %, preferably 3 to 15 wt . %, of the solid matter of vinyl acetate polymer . the protective colloids may be added at the initiation of emulsion polymerization , during midway or after the termination thereof , and usually are added at the initiation or during midway . the polymerization catalyst may be an arbitrary peroxide , such as aqueous hydrogen peroxide , potassium persulfate or the like . in addition , an arbitrary compound , such as various surfactant , other water - soluble protective colloids , ph adjustor or the like may be blended . the vinyl acetate polymer emulsion thus prepared is used as it is , or is optionally blended with plasticizer film - forming assistant , such as high boiling point solvent , extender pigment , such as clay , calcium carbonate and kaolin , color pigment , such as titanium dioxide , antiseptic , insecticide , viscosity enhancer or the like . moreover , it is also to combine a hardening agent , such as metal salt , glyoxal or boric acid . the concentration of each aqueous adhesive and the blending ratio are adjusted so that the viscosity of the blend adhesive becomes finally less than about 10 , 000 . a relation between the blending ratio of a vinyl acetate adhesive a having a viscosity 18 , 000 mpa · s and a concentration of 55 % to a vinyl acetate adhesive b having a viscosity 6 , 000 mpa · s and a concentration of 45 % and the viscosity of the blend adhesive is shown in fig1 . in the figure , the region under the broken line ( viscosity : 10 , 000 ) indicates the range exercising a good coating ability . the above viscosity was measured by a brookfield viscometer at 20 ° c . at 6 rpm using a rotor 3 . the raw paper used as the paper tape for forming the paper tube of the invention may be anyone not affecting adversely photosensitive materials to be wound . suitable pulps for forming the raw paper include chemical pulps , such as sulfite pulp ( sp ) and kraft pulp ( kp ), semichemical pulp , such as chemithermomechanical pulp ( ctmp ) and chemigroundwood pulp ( cgp ) and mechanical pulp . moreover , crushed news papers , crushed corrugated board and the like can also be used . preferable raw papers are a less generation of sulfur compounds , formalin and the like , such as the neutral paper disclosed in ep 0 436 133 a1 . the raw papers may be combined . a suitable thickness of the raw paper is 0 . 2 to 1 . 0 mm , and a suitable areal weight is 150 to 750 g / m 2 . in order to prevent the fouling of surface and the peeling from a cut end , it is preferable to wind a decorative paper as the uppermost layer . a suitable thickness of the decorative paper is 0 . 05 to 0 . 2 mm . the size of the paper tube is designed according to its use . for example , in the case of the core used for photosensitive materials for computerized type - setting system , in general , the inside diameter is 18 to 153 . 2 mm , and the outside diameter is 21 to 165 . 2 mm . in the case of the core used for photosensitive materials for printing , in general , the inside diameter is 50 . 7 to 78 mm , and the outside diameter is 56 . 7 to 89 mm . in the case of the core used for photosensitive materials for color paper , in general , the inside diameter is 75 . 2 to 77 . 2 mm , and the outside diameter is 83 . 2 to 87 . 2 mm . the paper tube of the invention can be used for various uses , such as the core of a magazine for containing a photographic photosensitive material disclosed in japanese patent kokai no . 61 - 219040 . in the case of using as the core of a magazine for containing a photographic photosensitive material , means usable as the bearing for the core are the fixed cylinder made of paper material disclosed in japanese patent kokai no . 61 - 209040 , the bearing formed by the pulp molding disclosed in japanese patent kokai no . 62 - 248434 , the bearing formed by injection molding plastic material , and the like . in the case of the fixed cylinder made of paper material , to fix the cylinder accurately is difficult and troublesome . however , the bearings formed by the pulp molding and the injection molding are preferable because a structural body can be constructed in a high dimentional accuracy . the bearing formed by the pulp molding is more preferable because of having a more excellent discarding ability . the pulp molding can be divided into the vacuum molding and the press molding . the vacuum molding is utilized for relatively weak articles , such as egg tray , and comprises putting up a wire gauze on a mold provided with many holes , immersing the mold into a pulp slurry , sucking to adhere pulp fibers onto the outside of the wire gauze of the mold , releasing the fiber from the mold , and then drying . the press molding is utilized for relatively strong articles , and comprises pouring a pulp slurry into a frame , and pressing to dehydrate the pulp fiber by a female mold provided with many holes and put up a wire gauze to mold a molded article . preferable bearings have a good discarding ability , an uniform thickness , a high dimentional accuracy , a relatively high strength , no generation of wastes and inexpensiveness . suitable raw materials for forming a bearing which satisfies the above conditions by the pulp molding are imported and home - produced crushed corrugated board , virgin pulp , deinked crushed news papers and neutral high yield pulp in view of photographic properties , but wood - free papers , magazine stock and coated paper are unsuitable because of containing ink or fluorescent agent . in view of strength , it is preferable to contain crushed corrugated board , neutral high yield pulp , hardwood bleached kraft pulp ( lbkp ), softwood unbleached kraft pulp ( nukp ), softwood bleached kraft pulp ( nbkp ) or softwood bleached sulfite pulp in an amount of more than 50 %, but crushed news papers , magazine and crushed wood - free paper are unpreferable . as the roll of a photosensitive material , there are a roll of photographic printing paper , a roll of microfilm , a roll of photosensitive resin film , a roll of heat - sensitive film , a roll of printing paper for computerized type - setting system , a roll of microfilm for computer , a roll of lithfilm , a roll of auto posi printing paper , a roll of photographic film for phototype setting , a roll of diazonium printing paper and the like . according to the invention , an adhesive having a high concentration can be coated into a thin film layer , and photographic properties of photosensitive materials are not adversely affected . the paper tube 1 for photosensitive materials of fig1 was formed of a plurality of paper tapes 2 , 2 , . . . , 2 wound into spiral to form a cylinder , and each paper tape 2 was adhered through a blend adhesive 3 . the blend adhesive 3 was prepared by blending two kinds of aqueous adhesives different at least in their concentration . the above paper tube 1 was formed by a spiral winding machine ( common name , a langstone type ) shown in fig2 . the spiral winding machine 10 was provided with a mandrel 11 , a lubricant - coating means 13 and a plurality of adhesive - coating means 12 for coating the blend adhesive 3 around the mandrel 11 . a sliding belt 15 for sliding to deliver the wound paper tape 14 was provided on the downstream side of the mandrel 11 . in the above apparatus , the underside of the paper tape 14 forming the lowermost layer of the paper tube was coated with lubricant by the lubricant - coating means 13 and wound in spiral on the mandrel 11 by its rotation . subsequently , the underside of each paper tape 14 forming the second layer to the uppermost layer was coated with the blend adhesive , and then wound in spiral on the mandrel 11 and adhered successively . the paper tube thus formed on the mandrel 11 was delivered by the sliding belt 15 , and discharged from the mandrel 11 . a package 20 of a roll of a photosensitive material 21 is illustrated in fig3 through 5 . in this package 20 , the photosensitive material 21 is wound around the paper tube ( core ) 1 , and the periphery of the photosensitive material 21 is wrapped by a light - shielding film 22 . both end portions of the light - shielding film 22 are turned toward the inside and inserted into both end openings of the paper tube 1 . the package 20 is provided with a pair of end caps 23 at both end portions . the end cap 23 is , as shown in fig4 and 5 , composed of a top wall portion 25 , a circular recession recessed one step to catch the inner peripheral edge portion of the paper tube , and a bearing portion 24 projected from the center of the recession toward the recessing direction which is inserted into the paper tube from the end opening with pressure to fix the turned end portion of the light - shielding film 22 . the end caps 23 were formed by the pulp molding by pressing a pulp slurry having a solid matter concentration of 1 to 3 wt . % containing 100 parts of crushed corrugated board , 2 parts of rosin sizing agent , 1 part of urea - formaldehyde wet paper reinforcing agent and 10 parts of phenol resin by a male mold and a female mold to be concentrated to about 4 %, molding by the vacuum molding , and heating again to increase the strength of the molded article . the size of the end cap was a = 140 mm , b = 47 mm , c = 15 mm , d = 69 . 2 mm , e = 100 mm and f = 140 mm in fig4 and 5 . in the package 20 of a roll of a photosensitive material , the dimensional accuracy of the end cap 23 was high . the light - shielding film 22 was completely fixed between the paper tube 1 and the bearing portion 24 of the end cap 23 , and moisture did not enter into the paper tube 1 . in the package of a roll of a photosensitive material shown in fig3 the material of the end cap was varied , and moistureproofness and discarding ability were compared . the result are shown in table 1 . table 1______________________________________ discardingend cap material moistureproofness ability______________________________________pulp ( pulp molding ) c aplastic ( injection molding ) a epolystyrene foam a e ( processed material ) paper ( cylindrical body ) c a______________________________________ a : very excellent c : practical ( although properties did not entirely satisfy , within practical range ) e : having a problem another package 30 of a roll of a photosensitive material is illustrated in fig6 and 7 . in this package 30 , a light - shielding cloth 32 is attached to the slit for extending of a light - shielding box 31 , and the light - shielding box 31 contains a photographic photosensitive material 33 wound around a paper tube 1 ( core ). the photographic photosensitive material 33 is rotatably supported by inserting a projection projected from a pair of an end cover member 23 into the paper tube 1 , as shown in fig7 . the size of the end cover member was a = 140 mm , b = 40 mm , c = 15 mm , d = 75 mm , e = 100 mm and f = 140 mm . the package 30 of a roll of a photosensitive material was simpler in its production than the package disclosed in japanese patent kokai no . 61 - 219040 using a bearing mechanism composed of support member and a cylindrical body formed of paper . another package 40 of a roll of a photosensitive material is illustrated in fig8 and 9 . in this package 40 , a roll of color paper 42 is put in a gusset bag 41 formed of a laminated film composed of 70 g / m 2 unbleached kraft paper / 15μm ldpe adhesive layer / 15μm aluminum vacuum deposited ( 400å ) biaxially stretched nylon film / 15μm ldpe adhesive layer / 70μm light - shielding linear low density polyethylene film . as shown in fig9 the color photographic printing paper 42 is wound around a paper tube 1 , and a pair of caps 43 made of polyethylene resin are fitted to both end openings of the paper tube 1 . the size of the paper tube 1 was 76 . 2 mm in inside diameter , 87 . 2 mm in outside diameter and 89 mm in width , and the size of the color paper was 89 mm × 180 mm . in the package of a roll of a photosensitive material 40 , the color photographic printing paper 42 wound around the paper tube 1 immediately after the formation , no fogging nor sensitivity deviation occurred . the following tests were conducted for comparing properties of the paper tube for photosensitive materials . ten layers of a paper tape 0 . 5 mm in thickness having a moisture content of 7 % and one layer of a surface paper tape 0 . 07 mm in thickness having a moisture content of 7 % were formed into a spiral paper tube 76 . 2 mm in inside diameter , 5 mm in thickness , 1 , 000 mm in length shown in fig1 by winding by the spiral winding machine shown in fig2 using a different vinyl acetate emulsion adhesive at a tube - forming speed of 6 m / min . each paper tube was cut in a length of 8 . 9 cm , and a color paper was wound facing the photographic emulsion layer on the outside . the roll was put in a light - shielding bag , and after storing at 40 ° c . for 10 days , the decrease of photographic sensitivity of the color paper was measured at the outer - most round and the innermost round to touch the paper tube . the kind of adhesives used in examples 1 and 2 and comparative examples 1 through 5 and the test result are summarized in table 2 , and the composition of each adhesive is shown in table 3 . table 2__________________________________________________________________________ example comparative 1 2 1 2 3 4 5__________________________________________________________________________kind of adhesive a / b blend a / b blend a b b b cpva saponifi - more than more than more than more than more than more than 95 to 98cation degree 98 mol . % 98 mol . % 98 mol . % 98 mol . % 98 mol . % 98 mol . % mol . % adhesive 9000 6000 6000 18000 18000 adjusted to 7000viscosity 6000 by wateradhesive 54 % 50 % 45 % 55 % 55 % 54 % 50 % concentrationcoating amount 25 . 0 25 . 0 25 . 0 25 . 0 35 . 0 25 . 0 25 . 0 ( g / m . sup . 2 ) moisture content 7 . 0 7 . 0 7 . 0 7 . 0 7 . 0 7 . 0 7 . 0of raw paper (%) moisture 9 . 5 9 . 7 10 . 0 tube - forming 10 . 3 tube - forming tube - formingcontent impossible impossible impossibleof paper by rupture by rupture by rupturetube (%) of raw paper of raw paper of raw paperdecrease of within within 0 . 02 to -- 0 . 02 to -- -- photographic 0 . 02 0 . 02 0 . 03 0 . 03sensitivity__________________________________________________________________________ table 3______________________________________ adhesive a b c______________________________________concentration of 45 % 55 % 50 % solid mattervinyl acetate resin ( parts ) 100 100 100pva ( parts ) 9 5 10 ( saponification degree in mol . %) ( 98 . 4 ) ( 98 . 4 ) ( 97 . 5 ) plasticizer ( parts ) 20 22 25______________________________________ from the above results , it was confirmed that , in examples of this invention , the decrease of photographic sensitivity was very small . on the other hand , in comparative example 1 wherein the concentration of the adhesive was small and in comparative example 3 wherein the coating amount was great , the moisture content of the paper tube was great , and the photographic sensitivity was remarkably decreased . in comparative example 2 , the initial adhesive force was small due to the small coating amount by the high viscosity of the adhesive . as a result , an upper layer paper tape was separated from the under layer paper tape and cut by the driving belt , and paper tube could not be formed . in comparative example 4 wherein the viscosity of the adhesive was reduced by diluting a high concentration adhesive with water and in comparative example 5 wherein the saponification degree was lowered , although the coating ability was improved , the initial adhesive force was small and a paper tube could not be formed . | 1 |
for the purposes of promoting an understanding of the principles of the invention , reference will now be made to the preferred embodiments illustrated in the drawings and specific language will be used to describe the same . it will nevertheless be understood that no limitation of the scope of the invention is thereby intended , such alterations and further modifications in the illustrated device , and / or method , and such further applications of the principles of the invention as illustrated therein being contemplated as would normally occur now or in the future to one skilled in the art to which the invention relates . in the preferred embodiment a multiple coupling lock is provided for the locking in an essentially environmentally sealed manner of and / or for the filling and / or refilling in an essentially environmentally sealed manner of bulk materials from flexible and / or rigid containers or conveyance unit , in particular hose sections , comprising at least two coupling locks , which are in each case connected with each other , or can be connected with each other , in an environmentally sealed manner via a conveyance unit which is at least flexible and / or rigid in sections , in particular a hose , the opening area , in particular the inner diameter , of an opened , first coupling lock , also known as the outer coupling lock , being larger than the area of the outer circumference and / or opening , in particular the outer and / or inner diameter , of a second coupling lock , also known as the inner coupling lock , it being possible to dock the second coupling lock , in particular in an environmentally sealed manner , and when the first coupling lock is open , to a corresponding coupling lock which is located within the unit conveyance and / or which permeates through the opening of the first coupling lock at least in sections , thus forming a docking device . coupling locks such as those described in the preferred embodiment are designed to adopt at least a dual function . on the one hand , they can be a locking mechanism which can be brought from an opened or a closed position , or vice - versa . on the other hand , these coupling locks are designed and suitable for the purpose of being coupled with corresponding coupling locks , thus forming a docking device which is in particular environmentally sealed . here , for example , the corresponding coupling lock can have an identical or mirror symmetrical design in relation to the coupling lock to be coupled . alternatively , the coupling locks to be coupled can deviate from each other in terms of their design and / or their technical characteristics , although not to a degree which would no longer permit coupling or decoupling . in general , these coupling locks can be coupled with each other to form a docking device and then decoupled in both an open and a closed state . furthermore , these coupling locks can be designed in such a manner that when they have in each case been coupled in a closed state , they can be opened in sequence or simultaneously . it is appropriate for coupling locks of the type described in the preferred embodiment to be positioned at the openings of containers , packing drums or conveyance unit such as hoses , and are connected with these , in particular in a sealed manner . in this way , when the coupling lock of the container is actuated , the packing drum or means of conveyance can be opened or closed and coupled with a container , packing drum or means of conveyance which is fitted with a corresponding coupling lock to form a docking device . the adjacent first , or outer , and second , or inner , coupling locks of a multiple coupling lock according to the preferred embodiment , which are connected via a conveyance unit , are designed to be coupled in particular with a corresponding multiple coupling lock to form a multiple docking device . here , the first , or outer , coupling locks on two corresponding multiple coupling locks according to the preferred embodiment to form a first , or outer , docking device when coupled , while the related second , or inner , coupling locks to form a second , or inner , docking device when coupled . in order to achieve this , the means of conveyance is attached to the first coupling lock , and a multiple coupling lock according to the preferred embodiment is attached to the second coupling lock in such a manner that first or second coupling locks can easily be coupled to a corresponding multiple coupling lock . for example , the conveyance unit can be connected in one section , in particular in an environmentally sealed manner , with the first , or outer , coupling lock , which is positioned at a distance from the components of this coupling lock which are required for coupling or docking , in particular in an environmentally sealed manner . the same applies to the connection of the conveyance unit to the second , or inner , coupling lock of the multiple coupling lock according to the preferred embodiment . the second coupling locks of the multiple coupling lock according to the preferred embodiment are generally either connected , in each case in an environmentally sealed manner , with a container or an additional means of conveyance , into or out of which the bulk materials can be transferred . the multiple coupling locks according to the preferred embodiment comprise a first , or outer , coupling lock which forms the inlet opening , and a second , or inner , coupling lock to which a container or conveyance unit , such as a hose , is fitted . with the multiple coupling locks according to the preferred embodiment , adjacent coupling locks are designated in such a way that the lock with the larger inner diameter or the larger opening area is the first , or outer , coupling lock , and the lock with the smaller inner area or opening area is the second , or inner , coupling lock . naturally , the adjacent first and second coupling locks within a multiple coupling lock according to the invention can have either an identical design or a different design . it is also possible that when more than two coupling locks form a multiple coupling lock according to the preferred embodiment , the conveyance unit or hoses which connect the adjacent coupling locks can be of an identical or a different design , for example with regard to their type , size or length . according to a principle of the preferred embodiment , adjacent first , or outer , and second , or inner , coupling locks are connected with each other within a multiple coupling lock via a flexible or rigid means of conveyance . naturally , this also comprises conveyance unit which has partially flexible and partially rigid sections . this conveyance unit , which is in most cases a hose or pipes , but can be other devices , preferably comprises a material which is impermeable to bulk materials such as powder or granulate . if necessary , this conveyance unit can also be impermeable , in a preferred design , to fluids and / or gas , e . g . it can be impermeable to oxygen . flexible , adjacent coupling locks on conveyance units which connect a multiple coupling lock have the advantage that the adjacent coupling locks can be moved relative to each other , preferably to the extent that the second , or inner , coupling lock can be guided , at least partially , through the opened adjacent first , or outer , coupling lock . in order to provide suitably tight environmental sealing , these conveyance unit are preferably closely connected at each of their openings or opening edges with the first or second coupling lock . the tight connection between the conveyance unit and the first and second coupling lock can be produced , for example , using suitable adhesive and / or welding methods . suitable conveyance units are preferably transparent , at least in parts , in order for it to be possible to detect from outside residues of bulk materials which have been left behind during a bulk material transfer . suitable flexible or rigid , and transparent or non - transparent conveyance units are preferably made of a synthetic material . examples of suitable materials for conveyance units are polyolefins such as polypropylene , and in particular , polyethylene , polystyrol , styrol copolymers such as san , abs and asa , polyphenyl ether , pvc , polymethylmethacrylate and polycarbonate , including impact modified variants and any mixtures of these . naturally , multiple - layer film systems , such as two -, three - or five - layer film systems , can also be used . these could be polyethylene , polypropylene , polyester , in particular polyethylene terephthalate , and polyamide , for example . in order to achieve gas impermeability in particular , e . g . impermeability against oxygen , at least one metallic film , in particular an aluminum film , can be incorporated into multiple layer film systems . according to a particularly preferred embodiment of the multiple coupling lock according to the preferred embodiment , at least one , in particular a first , or outer , coupling lock is used for the essentially environmentally sealed , reversible closure and for the essentially environmentally sealed filling and / or refilling of bulk materials , which is made in particular of flexible containers or hose elements , and which comprises a first , flexible band with at least one , in particular continuous , locking element , in particular a spring , on its inner side and at least one flexible band with at least one second , in particular continuous , locking element on its inner side , which is complementary to the first locking element , and which enables reversible , tight closure with this , in particular a groove , the first and second band and / or the first and second locking element being in particular essentially of the same length , the first and second band , in particular via each of their end sections , being connected with each other , in particular forming a closed circumference , and the upper side of the first band having at least a third , in particular continuous , locking element and / or the upper side of the second band having at least a fourth , particularly continuous , locking element ( also referred to as the first embodiment of the coupling lock ), or which uses at least one , in particular first , or outer , coupling element for the essentially environmentally sealed , reversible closure of , and / or for the essentially environmentally sealed filling and / or refilling of bulk materials from in particular flexible containers , hoses or hose elements , comprising in particular essentially rigid frame bands and join elements , those frame bands which are positioned immediately adjacent to each other being connected with each other in each case via at least one join element , forming an enclosing folding frame so that the inner sides of adjacent and / or opposite frame bands can be folded onto each other to form a lock which is in particular environmentally sealed ( also known as the second embodiment of the coupling lock ). here , it has been shown to be particularly advantageous to use the coupling lock as the first , or outer , coupling lock , e . g . in the form of a so - called parallelogram coupling lock , since this makes it possible to create a very large opening profile without any particular force being required , through which the second coupling lock of the multiple coupling lock can then be guided . among the adjacent coupling locks of the multiple coupling lock according to the preferred embodiment , the second , or inner , coupling lock preferably comprises one or more sealing flaps or slides , which can be rotated or slid , which are positioned in an essentially rigid pipe socket . in contrast , the first , or outer , coupling locks preferably comprise a locking system with movable or flexible frame or locking bands , so that a tight lock is regularly produced , not by a sealing flap or sealing slide , but by the relative movements of frame or locking bands . for example , a coupling lock according to the first or second embodiment can be part of a plastic sack , in particular a conveyance unit , and be positioned in the area of the enclosing opening edge of said sack . here , the second band preferably connects directly with the end of the first band , the two remaining ends or end sections of the first and second band also being directly connected with each other . when not only the inner sides of the first and second band comprise locking elements which correspond with each other , but their upper sides are also fitted with locking elements , which enable the environmentally sealed coupling to a further , i . e . corresponding coupling lock according to the first embodiment , which is part of a second multiple coupling lock to be coupled , e . g . as the first , or outer , coupling lock , the environmentally sealed filling and / or refilling of bulk materials can be assured , even with very flexible sacks and / or band materials . a preferred coupling lock according to the first embodiment also comprises a locking lid , containing at least a seventh and / or eighth locking element which is / are complementary to the third and / or fourth locking elements of the upper sides of the first and second band , it being possible to connect the seventh and eighth locking elements to the third and / or fourth locking elements to form a temporary cover for the connection slit of the first and second band , when the inner sides of the first and second band are connected with each other via a reciprocal reaction between the first and the second locking element . particularly when bulk materials are to be transported or stored over a longer period of time , it has been shown to be advantageous when the connection slit of the first and second bands , which are positioned one on top of the other , is environmentally sealed or covered . this prevents the upper sides of the coupling lock according to the first embodiment from being contaminated by dust or other particles . in an expedient further development , the coupling lock according to the first embodiment also comprises at least a fifth and / or a sixth locking element on at least one outer side of the first and / or the second band . these fifth and sixth locking elements on the outer side of a band can be used in order to create a temporary connection with a locking lid when two coupling locks according to the first embodiment are being docked , said lid having corresponding seventh and eighth locking elements . here , it has been shown to be advantageous if the locking lid is connected with the first or second band , in particular as a single piece , and in particular using at least one film hinge . in order to simplify the handling of the coupling locks according to the first embodiment , and in order to secure their reliability , it is advantageous if the locking lid comprises at least one operating handle . in this regard , it is equally advantageous if the first and / or the second band comprises / comprise at least one operating handle , in particular on the outer side . the coupling lock according to the first embodiment is particularly suitable for filling and / or refilling bulk materials from flexible containers , e . g . plastic bags or sacks , as well as for transferring bulk materials via a connected conveyance unit . accordingly , in an embodiment , a coupling lock of this type already comprises a flexible bag , hose or in particular , conveyance unit , the opening edge of which is connected with the first and second band either separately or as a single piece . as a result , the coupling lock can be both an integral component of a flexible bag , in particular a conveyance unit , in particular in the area around the edge of the opening of said bag or conveyance unit , or it can be irreversibly connected . the coupling lock according to the first embodiment is preferably the first , or outer , coupling lock of the multiple coupling lock according to the preferred embodiment . in this function , the coupling lock according to the first embodiment is preferably connected to a conveyance unit which stretches to the second , or inner , coupling lock of the multiple coupling lock . however , if the coupling lock according to the first embodiment is the second , or inner , coupling lock of the multiple coupling lock according to the preferred embodiment , this can , in addition to being connected to the aforementioned conveyance unit , be connected to a container , packing drum , bag or further conveyance unit . the danger of contamination can preferably also be reduced if at least the inner side and / or the upper side of the first and / or the second band comprises / comprise a bonding and / or adhesive layer , at least in some sections . the coupling lock according to the second embodiment is also preferably used as the first , or outer , coupling lock of the multiple coupling lock according to the preferred embodiment . naturally , this coupling lock can also be used as the second , or inner , coupling lock of the multiple coupling lock according to the preferred embodiment . the coupling lock according to the second embodiment can also advantageously be designed in such a way that the folding frame comprises x frame bands and x joining elements , whereby in particular , x = 2 n , and n is a natural number higher than or the same as 2 . naturally , folding frames with five frame bands and five join elements , for example , also fulfill the required purpose . coupling locks according to the second embodiment , the folding frames of which are composed of four frame bands and four join elements to form a so - called parallelogram lock , have been shown to be particularly advantageous . coupling locks according to the second embodiment , the folding frames of which comprise six or eight frame bands and preferably six or eight join elements , have also been shown to be particularly advantageous . coupling locks according to the second embodiment are highly preferable when their folding frames comprise six frame bands and six join elements , with a first pair of adjacent frame bands which are connected via a join element and which are in particular essentially of the same length , together with a second pair of adjacent frame bands which are connected via a join element and which are in particular essentially of the same length , and with a third pair of non - adjacent frame bands and / or which are not directly connected via a join element , in particular essentially of the same length , the total of the length of one frame band from the first pair and the length of one frame band from the second pair not being higher than the length of one frame band from the third pair of frame bands . here , those embodiments are of particular advantage where the inner side of the first frame band of the first pair and the inner side of the first frame band of the second pair can both be turned towards the inner side of the first frame band of the third pair , and the inner side of the second frame band of the first pair and the inner side of the second frame band of the second pair can both be turned towards the inner side of the second frame band of the third pair to form a sealed locking slit . a particularly tight seal can be achieved in particular when the folding frame comprises a sealing lip in the area of at least one of its surrounding edges , which essentially encompasses it , and which extends inwards and / or over the edge . coupling locks according to the first embodiment are furthermore characterized by at least one spacer on the outer side of the first and / or the second frame band of the first and / or the second pair of frame bands , which are positioned closer to the shared joining element ( s ) with the frame band ( s ) of the third pair of frame bands than to the joining element ( s ) which connect the frame bands of the same pair of frame bands . as a result of these spacers , the outer sides of the frame bands of the first and / or the second pair , which are opposite each other in a closed state , are set at a further distance from each other in the area of the joining connections to the frame bands of the third pair , e . g . within a range of 0 . 5 to 5 mm , than with the joining element which connects the frame bands of a shared pair . this guarantees an even more tightly sealed locking slit . when adjacent frame bands are connected with each other via a joining element , the inner sides of said frame bands can fold on top of each other to form a locking slit . the degree of movement and affixation of adjacent frame bands is created , for example , by joining elements in the form of hinges , film hinges and / or elastic materials . here , the use of film hinges has been shown to be particularly advantageous . these can , for example , connect adjacent frame bands over their entire length , in particular in an environmentally sealed manner . film hinges of this type can be produced from a rubber - elastic material such as a thermoplastic elastomer , preferably using the dual component injection molding technique . this creates a single - piece folding frame or single - piece coupling lock according to the second embodiment , which is also completely environmentally sealed in the area of the junctions between the frame bands and the joining element or film hinge . furthermore , folding frames of this type are preferably used in which the frame bands and the joining elements which connect said frame bands are made of the same material , the strength or thickness of the material in the area of the joining elements being made thin enough to be able to guarantee non - damaging , reversible movement . the strength or thickness of the material in the area of the frame bands , however , is set so as to create essentially rigid frame bands . suitable materials preferably comprise synthetic materials such as polyamide , polyoxylalkylene , in particular polyoxymethylene ( pom ), pvc , polyketone , in particular aliphatic , alternating polyketone , its impact - modified variants , and any mixtures of the aforementioned synthetic materials . folding frames for which the frame bands and joining elements are made of the same material are preferably produced as single pieces . particularly tight environmental sealing can also be achieved when the inner sides of the frame bands comprise first and second locking rails for environmentally sealed locking , at least in sections , which are in particular complementary and / or made of elastomer or springy elastic material , the total length of the first locking rail essentially corresponding to the total length of the second locking rail , and the first and second locking rails or their sections being arranged on the inner sides of the frame bands in such a manner that they form an environmentally sealed locking slit when the frame bands are folded one on top of the other , in particular interlocking in such a manner that they are aligned with each other . as a result , the first and second locking rails can have identical forms in an embodiment . preferably , locking rails which complement each other are formed and arranged in such a manner that they easily and automatically interlock when the folding frame is folded together . here , it is an advantage when the first and / or the second locking rails also extend to the inner sides of the joining elements and / or are positioned on these , or can be attached to them . here , it can be provided that the first locking rail is a groove and the second locking rail is a spring which is complementary to the groove . naturally , a locking rail can also comprise and groove / spring combination . when film hinges in particular are used , which are incorporated into the coupling lock according to the second embodiment using the dual component injection molding technique , locking rail sections , in particular elastomer sections , can also already be fitted to the inner side of these film hinges during production . naturally , two or more locking rails can also be attached or positioned together , for example in parallel , on the inner side of frame bands and film hinges , which further increases the tightness of the environmental sealing . coupling locks according to the second embodiment which are designed in this way necessarily create a very tightly environmentally sealed locking slit simply as a result of the type of handling used when closing said embodiment . accordingly , it can be provided , for example , that at least one first locking rail is positioned at least in sections on the inner side of adjacent first and second frame bands , and at least a second locking rail is positioned at least in sections on the inner sides of adjacent third and fourth frame bands . in principle , the corresponding locking rails can be attached arbitrarily , however , it has been shown to be advantageous when a second locking rail , which is complementary to the first locking rail , and is of the same length , is connected to a first locking rail , the two locking rails extending over the entire circumference of the folding frame . naturally , the first and second locking rails can also be distributed in seconds over the inner circumference of the folding frame as long as it can be guaranteed that the complementary sections will interlock when closing . alternatively , or in addition to , the locking rails described above , the folding frame can comprise a preferably encompassing sealing lip in the area of its surrounding edge or its surrounding border . this sealing lip preferably fulfils at least a double function . in one embodiment , it is thus attached on , above and / or in the area of the edges of the frame bands which form the folding frame so that it essentially surrounds the frame , and extends at least slightly towards the interior of the opening area which is created by the folding frame . if the inner sides of the adjacent or opposite frame bands of the folding frame are then guided or placed away from each other , the sealing lips which point inwards at least partially touch each other or are pressed against each other , and form a sealed locking slit . in a second embodiment , the preferably encompassing sealing lip extends at least slightly over the edge of the folding frame and / or rests on said edge . this ensures that when two coupling locks according to the second embodiment are coupled with each other , the sealing lips of which preferably both extend over the edge and / or are resting on said edge , an environmentally sealed docking device is created . this makes it possible to ensure that when the sealing lip of a coupling lock according to the second embodiment is pressed onto the folding frame or sealing lip of the corresponding coupling lock according to the second embodiment , that they touch to form a seal , at least temporarily . synthetic or natural rubber , or thermoplastic elastomers are preferably used as material for the sealing lip . the handling of the coupling lock according to the second embodiment can be further improved by at least two operating handles which can be attached or which are positioned on non - adjacent frame bands in particular . furthermore , it can be provided that at least one of the folding frames is made of a single piece . the coupling locks according to the second embodiment are further characterized by the fact that at least one , in particular all frame bands on the upper side comprise at least one locking element , which is in particular made of elastomer or springy elastic material , at least in sections . here it can be provided that the first locking element is a groove and / or a spring which is in particular continuous . when the upper sides of the frame bands are fitted at least in sections with a locking element , care is taken that two coupling locks according to the second embodiment can be connected with each other in a particularly environmentally sealed manner to form a docking device . handling safety can be further increased when the coupling lock according to the second embodiment comprises at least one second locking element on the outer side of at least one frame band , or an extension of said band . this can be an outlet , for example , or a projection , a groove or a spring . second locking elements of this type can also be used in order to clamp a locking lid particularly securely . accordingly , a coupling lock according to the second embodiment comprises at least one locking lid with at least a third locking element , which is essentially complementary to the locking element and / or at least a fourth locking element which is essentially complementary to the second locking element , so that the locking lid covers the locking slit of the folding frame , at least in sections , when the coupling lock is closed . here , it can be provided that the locking lid is connected , at least in sections , with a frame band via a hinge , a film hinge or a flexible connecting element . the handling and transportation of this coupling lock according to the second embodiment can be improved by fitting the locking lid with at least one operating and / or transportation handle . coupling locks according to the second embodiment can furthermore comprise a flexible container or a flexible hose or a flexible hose element , which is connected in a sealed manner with the frame bands and / or the join elements . naturally , these coupling locks according to the second embodiment can be connected both reversibly and irreversibly with a hose or a flexible bag . to reduce the degree of contamination when filling or refilling bulk materials , it can further be provided that at least the inner side and / or the upper side of at least one frame band comprise a bonding and / or adhesive layer , at least in sections . a particularly preferred coupling lock according to the second embodiment is furthermore characterized by at least one first clamping element on the inner side of at least one frame band , and at least one first clamping opening or first latching element in one inner side of at least one frame band , it being possible to latch the first clamping element into the first clamping opening , in particular in a reversible manner , when the folding frame is closed . the use of clamping pins , for example , on the inner sides of the frame bands , which are arranged in such a manner that they can latch into corresponding clamping openings or latching elements , ensures that once a lock has been attained , it cannot be released again without the application of external force . in addition , this inner latching mechanism , depending on the measurement of the length of the clamping element , causes the complementary locking rails which are positioned on the inner sides of the frame bands are pressed against each other , which contributes to the formation of particularly secure environmental sealing . below the clamping openings , for example , it should be imagined that both openings which penetrate through the wall of the frame bands , and openings , i . e . concavities or indentations in the inner wall of the frame bands , are positioned , which do not lead to an opening . as a result , there is no loss of environmental sealing caused by a clamping technique of this nature . naturally , the clamping elements or pins can be formed in such a way , when clamping holes are used , that they keep the holes completely closed in an environmentally sealed manner as soon as they latch into said holes . for example , with a parallelogram lock , several clamping pins can be positioned on two adjacent sides , and the remaining two sides being fitting with corresponding clamping concavities or latching elements . these clamping pins or openings or concavities and latching elements must be attached in such a manner that they interlock essentially with a precise fit when the frame bands are folded one on top of the other . furthermore , the coupling locks according to the second embodiment are also characterized by at least one handle on the outer side of at least two , in particular opposite , frame bands , in particular in the area of or below the junction between the outer side and the upper side of a frame band . here , it is of particular advantage when the handle comprises at least one handle bar attached to the outer side of a frame band , containing at least one second clamping opening , at least one first handle element , in particular a first handle plate , at least one second handle element , in particular at least a second handle plate , and at least one first and at least one second film hinge , the first handle element being connected with the handle bar via the first film hinge , and the second handle element being connected with the first handle element via the second film hinge , and the second handle element , in particular in area around the edge , having at least one second clamping element , which corresponds to the second clamping opening , and it being possible to fold the second handle element onto the first handle element , and to latch the second clamping element into the second clamping opening , in particular in a reversible manner . according to a further embodiment , it is suggested that with at least one joint , in particular with two opposite or not directly adjacent joints , adjacent frame bands and / or their extension in the joint form , at least in sections , an angle , at least in the profile in the joint , in particular an acute or right angle . here , it can be provided that at least one notch , in particular one which is essentially parallel to the rotational axis of the joint , is positioned at least along a section of the inner side of at least one joint , in particular on the inner sides of opposite joints . a notch according to the basic principle of the present preferred embodiment should be imagined as a constructive technique which makes it possible to place adjacent frame bands which emerge from this joint one on top of the other , without any opening remaining in the area of the joint . due to the notch , the joint functions as a folding hinge with an essentially closely localized , fixed rotation point at the turning point of the notch . in this way , not only the inner sides of the frame bands which are folded one on top of the other are in alignment with each other , but also the sections of the joint which extend these frame bands up to the actual centre of rotation , and which meet in this center of rotation . the coupling locks according to the second embodiment can for example be attained when the coupling lock is produced by injection molding , in particular using the dual component injection molding technique , a rubber elastic material or a thermoplastic elastomer being used for the joint elements and a thermoplastic and / or a duroplastic material being used for the frame bands . here , it can be provided that this procedure be conducted using a single injection mold form , in particular in a single stage , or with at least two injection mold forms , in particular in two or more stages . it is furthermore suggested that the joint or joints are injection - molded onto adjacent frame bands , or that one or more frame bands are injection - molded onto adjacent joints . according to an alternative method of production , the frame bands can also be connected to the joints using adhesive or welding techniques . it has been shown to be particularly advantageous to connect frame bands and joints with each other using injection molding . suitable adhesive agents , and welding and injection molding techniques , will be known to persons having the ordinary skill in the art . according to a further embodiment , the coupling lock of the multiple coupling lock according to the preferred embodiment , in particular the second , or inner , coupling lock , comprises a closing flap with a first pipe connection , it being possible to bring the closing flap to a closed position , in which the first end of the pipe connection can be locked in a particularly atmospherically sealed manner — which is also known as the coupling lock according to the third embodiment . systems of this type are disclosed , for example , in de 695 04 581 t2 . according to de 200 14 871 u1 , for example , suitable coupling locks according to the third embodiment are also present in devices for coupling two storage units and / or conveyance units , such as receptacles , containers , pipes and / or similar for the purpose of transferring a product from one first means of storage and / or conveyance unit with a first closing flap in a first pipe connection at a first end into a second storage unit and / or conveyance unit with a second closing flap in a second pipe connection at a second end , using a rotating device and a securing device , with which the closing flaps in a closed position , in which the first closing flap locks the first storage unit and / or unit conveyance at a first end in a particularly atmospherically sealed manner , and the second closing flap locks the second unit of the storage and / or of conveyance unit at a second end in an atmospherically sealed manner , and the two closing flaps and / or the two pipe connections can be moved relative to each other into a locking position in which the two closing flaps and / or the two pipe connections are firmly connected to each other , and into an open position with closing flaps and / or pipe connections which are firmly connected to each other , in which at least one through - flow opening from the first storage unit and / or conveyance unit opens for the product into the second storage unit and / or conveyance unit , and can be moved from the open position into the locking position , and into the closed position , an actuation device in particular being provided , via which the securing device for changing from the closed position into the locking position , in which the two storage units and / or conveyance units are sealed against each other , and then the rotation device for moving into and then moving out of the open position , followed by the securing device for changing from the locking position to the closed position , can be driven . furthermore , suitable coupling locks according to the third embodiment , for example according to de 200 14 872 u1 , are also present in devices for coupling two storage units and / or conveyance units , such as receptacles , containers , pipes and / or similar for the purpose of transferring a product from one first storage unit and / or conveyance unit with a first closing flap in a first pipe connection at a first end and in interaction with at least one shaft into a second storage unit and / or conveyance unit with a second closing flap in a second pipe connection at a second end and in interaction with at least one shaft , in which the first closing flap locks the first storage unit and / or conveyance unit at a first end in an atmospherically sealed manner , and the second closing flap locks the second storage unit and / or conveyance unit at a second end in an atmospherically sealed manner , and the two closing flaps and / or the two pipe connections can be moved relative to each other into a cleaning position , in which the two closing flaps and / or the two pipe connections are set at a distance from each other under the limitation of a cleaning area which can be connected with a cleaning device , and following the actuation of at least one shaft into an open position in which the closing flaps are placed on top of the other , and in which at least one through - flow opening is open for the product from the first storage unit and / or conveyance into the second storage unit and / or conveyance unit , and can be moved from the open position into the cleaning position following the actuation of at least one shaft , and into the closed position , characterized in particular by a first , essentially ring - shaped seal between the first closing flap and the first pipe connection , a second , essentially ring - shaped seal between the second closing flap and the second pipe connection , a third , essentially ring - shaped seal between the first pipe connection and the second pipe connection , and a fourth , essentially ring - shaped seal between the second pipe connection and a second shaft section , which cooperates with at least one shaft , and which is firmly connected to the second closing flap , the first , second , third and fourth seals sealing the cleaning area both against the atmosphere and against the product . furthermore , it can thus be provided that the second coupling lock comprises a closing flap with a first pipe connection , it being possible to bring the closing flap into a closed position , in which the first end of the pipe connection can be sealed tightly against the atmosphere . the coupling locks according to the third embodiment described below are particularly suitable as second , or inner , coupling locks of the multiple coupling lock according to the preferred embodiment . a coupling lock of this type can be designed as an active or passive lock . active and passive locks according to the third embodiment each comprise pipe connections , in which flaps or valves are mounted in such a way that they can be rotated . only the flap or the valve of the active coupling lock can , preferably using a gear device , be actively actuated , in order to be transferred to an open or a closed position . the valve of both the active and the passive lock generally comprises a closing flap with a closing area and an encompassing closing flap seal , with which the closing flap is sealed against the pipe connection in the locking position . furthermore , the valve generally comprises an enclosing flap seal , which is made to touch the corresponding coupling lock to create a seal while coupling . when active and passive coupling locks are coupled with each other , the passive closing flap can also be transferred from a locking into an open position and vice - versa , depending on its placement on or connection to the active closing flap , by actuating the flap . naturally , it is also possible to couple two of the previously mentioned active coupling locks with each other . in an exemplary embodiment , a multiple coupling lock according to the preferred embodiment comprises as the first , or outer , coupling lock a coupling lock according to the first or second embodiments , and as the second , or inner , coupling lock a coupling lock according to the third embodiment . when in a coupled state , corresponding coupling locks according to the third embodiment , in particular in the form of an active and passive lock , form a docking device according to the third embodiment , and following the basic principle of the preferred embodiment . furthermore , a coupling element for the environmentally sealed filling and / or emptying of containers , such as that described in wo 03 / 037717 a1 , can be used , which is or can be connected either in a fixed or detachable manner with an essentially flexible container , at least in sections , and in an essentially environmentally sealed manner on a first side , in particular the underside , it being possible to elastically re - form the coupling element , at least in sections , and the coupling element having a second side , in particular an upper side , which can be docked in an essentially sealed and in particular reversible manner to a second side , in particular an upper side , of a second coupling element , said coupling element being closed in its basic state , and it being possible to reversibly open it when elastically re - formed , in particular via at least one slit , so that a passage is created from the first to the second side of the coupling element ( also known as the coupling lock according to the fourth embodiment ). when in a coupled state , corresponding coupling locks according to the fourth embodiment form a docking device according to the fourth embodiment , and following a principle of the preferred embodiment . in general , therefore , such locks as those known from de 195 20 409 c1 , de 43 42 962 c1 , wo 02 / 18248 and wo 02 / 18247 can also be used as the first , or outer , coupling locks for the multiple coupling lock according to the preferred embodiment . in addition , systems can also be considered for use as suitable coupling locks such as those described in wo 03 / 037756 , wo 03 / 037717 and the unpublished german patent application with the file reference number 103 21 814 . 9 . according to a further aspect of the multiple coupling locks according to the preferred embodiment , these can also comprise at least one conveyance unit , which connects adjacent first , or outer , and second , or inner , coupling locks with each other , and which is essentially rigid , while at the same time being transparent in particular . conveyance units , or hoses , of this type are suitable for use in cases when a coupling lock of a second multiple coupling lock , which corresponds to the second coupling lock affixed to the rigid conveyance unit , is guided through the opening of the first , or outer , coupling lock of the first multiple coupling lock into the conveyance unit , and can be docked onto the essentially invariantly movable second , or inner , coupling lock . in accordance with the basic principle of the present invention , a rigid conveyance unit should not be understood to be simply one which cannot be changed in terms of the expansion of its length or breadth , but also one which permits a certain degree of relative movement by the adjacent first and second coupling lock , while not , however , permitting the second , or inner , coupling lock , even in sections , to be guided into or through the opening of the first coupling lock . according to a further embodiment , the multiple coupling lock according to the preferred embodiment comprises at least one , in particular reversible and / or environmentally sealed connection unit , in particular a triclamp connection , on at least one coupling lock or a basic body , conveyance unit or container , which is connected to a coupling lock , with which the first or second conveyance unit can be or is connected , either indirectly or directly , in particular in an environmentally sealed manner , with a coupling lock or the basic body or container which is connected to the coupling lock . the connection unit can comprise , for example , mechanical connections such as clip or latch connections , flanges , triclamp connections , ansi flanges and din flanges , and adhered or welded connections . these connection units , in particular the triclamp connection , regularly form a fixed connection on the coupling lock or the basic body , container or conveyance unit which is connected to this coupling lock , and in particular encompass them . as a result , the conveyance unit which connects adjacent coupling locks can be tightly sealed on one side , or on one of its openings , with the coupling lock , its basic body , container or other conveyance unit , via the connection unit . alternatively , or in addition , it is also possible to tightly seal the conveyance unit or an opening in the conveyance unit using adhesion and / or welding with the coupling lock , its basic body , a connected container or a means of conveyance . it has been shown to be particularly advantageous when the conveyance unit can be or is attached reversibly to at least the second , or inner , coupling lock , so that a system from the first , or outer , coupling lock and the attached conveyance unit , for example , can be attached to a second coupling lock , or to a basic body or container connected to this coupling lock , according to requirements and to the purpose of use . in this manner , the degree of freedom of contamination can be set according to requirements , which permits highly flexible handling . the so - called triclamp connections can be considered for reversibly connecting conveyance unit or hoses . these are known to persons having the ordinary skill in the art , and are available on the market . naturally , it is also possible in an embodiment that the first and / or the second conveyance unit comprises , for example , a coupling lock according to the first or second embodiment , and that the connection unit comprises a coupling lock which corresponds with this , so that an environmentally sealed connection can be achieved between the conveyance unit and the coupling lock , the basic body or the connected container of which form a docking device , comprising a first and a second , or corresponding , coupling lock according to the first embodiment , the first and second band of the first coupling lock and the first and second band of the second coupling lock in particular being essentially of the same length , and the third and fourth locking elements on the upper sides of the first and second band of the first coupling lock each being complementary to the third and fourth locking elements on the upper sides of the first and second band of the second coupling lock , so that the first and second bands of the first and second coupling lock can be connected with each other reversibly and in particular in an environmentally sealed manner ( also known as the first embodiment of the docking device ), or a docking device for the particularly environmentally sealed filling and / or refilling of bulk materials , comprising a first and a second coupling lock according to the second embodiment the first and the second coupling locks being essentially the same in terms of their number , length and the arrangement of their frame bands , resulting in first and second folding frames which can be connected with each other , and whereby in particular the first locking element on the upper side of the frame bands of the first coupling lock is complementary to the first locking element on the upper side of the bands of the second coupling lock , so that the first and second coupling locks can be connected with each other in a reversible , and in particular an environmentally sealed manner ( also known as the second embodiment of a docking device ). an object of the preferred embodiment is furthermore attained by a multiple docking device , in particular a double docking device , in particular for the environmentally sealed filling and / or refilling of bulk materials , comprising a first and a second multiple coupling lock according to the preferred embodiment , it being possible to couple the first , or outer , coupling locks of the first and second multiple coupling lock with each other to form a first , in particular environmentally sealed , docking device , and whereby the adjacent second , or inner , coupling locks from the first and second multiple docking device can be coupled with each other to form a second docking device . advantageous multiple docking devices according to the preferred embodiment accordingly comprise in each case corresponding first , or outer , and second , or inner , pairs of coupling locks , which can simultaneously be coupled next to each other in the form of docking devices . here , the actual transfer of bulk materials is made via the open second docking device , i . e . the docking device formed in each case from the second , or inner , coupling locks . the conveyance unit or hoses which are connected with each other in each case via the first , or outer , coupling locks , form a protective mantle , which hermetically shields the second , or inner , docking device from the external environment , at least during the refilling procedure . a further development of the multiple docking device according to the preferred embodiment can also comprise a multiple coupling lock according to the preferred embodiment and a coupling lock , which can be coupled to the second , or inner , coupling lock of the multiple coupling lock to form a first or second embodiment of a docking device , which is in particular environmentally sealed , and on which or on the basic body of which , or on the container or conveyance unit connected with the coupling lock , a connection unit is fitted , which can be docked to the first , or outer , coupling lock of the multiple coupling lock , in particular in an environmentally sealed manner . in contrast to the embodiment described above , it is therefore only possible for one multiple coupling lock according to the preferred embodiment to also be a component of a multiple docking device when a coupling lock is also present which can be coupled to the second , or inner , coupling lock of the multiple coupling lock , i . e . with the lock with the smaller opening area . this coupling lock , as opposed to the multiple coupling lock according to the preferred embodiment , does not have an conveyance unit which connects adjacent first and second coupling locks . it is far more the case that a further coupling unit or coupling lock is attached to this coupling lock , to its basic body , or to the receptacle or container connected with this coupling lock or the basic body , which is suitable for forming a docking device with the first , or outer , coupling lock of the multiple coupling lock . in this way , for example , a parallelogram lock , or coupling lock according to the second embodiment , or a connection unit , e . g . in the form of a triclamp connection or coupling , can be attached in an environmentally sealed manner to the basic body of the previously mentioned coupling lock , which can be connected with a corresponding first parallelogram coupling lock , or a coupling lock according a to the second embodiment of the multiple coupling lock in a reversible a manner . in contrast to the variation of a multiple docking device according to the preferred embodiment first mentioned , it is not possible with this variant to separate the first coupling lock of the multiple coupling lock from the connection unit when in a closed state . accordingly , it can further be provided that the first , or outer , coupling locks from the first and second multiple coupling lock , together with the connection unit , form a docking device according to the first or second embodiment . multiple docking devices according to the preferred embodiment are characterized in a further embodiment by the fact that the second , or inner , coupling locks from the first and second multiple coupling lock create a unit for coupling two storage units and / or conveyance units for the purpose of transferring bulk materials from a first storage unit and / or conveyance unit with a closing flap in a first pipe connection at a first end and in interaction with at least one shaft into a second storage unit and / or conveyance unit with a second closing flap in a second pipe connection at a second end and in interaction with at least one shaft , whereby the closing flap from a closed position , in which the first closing flap locks the first storage unit and / or conveyance unit at a first end in particular in an atmospherically sealed manner , the second flap locks the second storage unit and / or conveyance unit in an atmospherically sealed manner , and the two closing flaps and / or the two pipe connections can be moved relative to each other . furthermore , multiple docking devices according to the preferred embodiment can also comprise at least one suction device and / or at least one rinsing device in interaction with the first or second docking device and / or at least one conveyance unit . an object of the preferred embodiment is also a container , in particular a flexible container , which comprises a multiple coupling lock according to the preferred embodiment , whereby in particular the second , or inner , coupling lock on the outlet opening of the multiple coupling lock can be or is connected directly with the container , or via a flexible hose element , or is an integral component of said container . the present preferred embodiment also comprises a conveyance unit , in particular a hose , containing at least one multiple coupling lock according to the preferred embodiment , the conveyance unit , in particular an opening edge area of the conveyance unit , being indirectly or directly connected , or connectable , to a second , or inner , coupling lock of the multiple coupling lock . the two coupling locks to be connected with each other according to the first embodiment essentially have identical dimensions , in order to make environmentally sealed coupling possible . a particular advantage of the docking device according to the first embodiment also consists of the fact that two identical coupling locks according to the first embodiment can be used . for this purpose , it is already sufficient when the third and fourth locking elements of the first and second band of the coupling lock are designed to be complementary to each other . for example , the third locking element on the upper side of the first band can be a spring , and the fourth locking element on the upper side of the second band can be a groove which is complementary to the spring . when the coupling locks to be coupled essentially have identical dimensions or lengths , these can then be connected with each other in an environmentally sealed manner . this significantly reduces manufacturing and storage costs for the docking devices according to the first embodiment . a preferred embodiment of a docking device according to the first embodiment furthermore comprises at least a fifth and / or sixth locking element on at least one outer side of the first and / or second band of the first and / or second coupling lock , which is or are complementary to the seventh and / or eighth locking elements of the locking lid ( s ) of the first and / or the second coupling lock . even when only one coupling lock is fitted with a locking lid , which comprises seventh and / or eighth locking elements , which can latch into fifth and / or sixth locking elements which are attached to a band , the handling safety is significantly increased during the refilling procedure . the corresponding use of a second locking lid , which is positioned on a second coupling lock , achieves even tighter environmental sealing and safety . accordingly , it can be provided that the locking lid of the first coupling lock be reversibly connectable or connected with at least a seventh and / or eighth locking element of the second coupling lock , and that the locking lid of the second coupling lock be reversibly connectable or connected with at least a seventh and / or eighth locking element of the first coupling lock , when the third and fourth locking elements from the first and second coupling lock are connected with each other . according to a further aspect , the aforementioned docking devices according to the first embodiment can already be connected , or connectable , with at least one flexible container , hose or hose element via their first and second coupling locks . docking devices according to the second embodiment which follow the basic principle of the present preferred embodiment are composed of two corresponding coupling locks , i . e . coupling locks which can be coupled , according to a second embodiment as disclosed above . in the following , coupling locks in relation to docking devices according to the second embodiment are always coupling locks according to the second embodiment . docking devices according to the second embodiment are furthermore characteristic by at least one second locking element on the outer side of at least one frame band of the first and / or the second coupling lock , which is complementary to the fourth locking element of the locking lid . docking devices of this type according to the second embodiment comprise , in a further embodiment , a flexible container and / or a hose or hose element , which is essentially connected with the first and / or second coupling lock in an environmentally sealed manner . furthermore , for a particularly tight environmental seal when removing samples , flexible containers can also be included , with at least one removal device , in particular in the form of a spoon or spatula , which is connected with the flexible container on the inner side . of particular advantage with the second embodiment of a coupling lock described above is that when a folding frame is used , a particularly reliable locking and refilling variant has been found , which is also not prone to error . simply by moving adjacent frame bands towards each other , locking rails which are complementary to each other can be made to interlock . it is also of particular advantage , particularly with regard to the current art coupling locks or coupling elements , that adjacent frame bands can also be opened wide against each other , thus preventing bulk material residues , e . g . in acute angle niches , from remaining lodged during refilling and subsequently causing contamination of the environment . in addition , there is no necessity to then fit additional suction devices in the area of the join elements . an object of the preferred embodiment is furthermore attained by a procedure for filling , refilling and / or emptying flexible or rigid containers , in particular in an environmentally sealed manner , whereby a ) a first container according to the preferred embodiment , which is connected with the second , or inner , coupling lock of a first multiple coupling lock in an essentially environmentally sealed manner , is connected with a stationary or transportable second container according to the preferred embodiment , which is connected with the second , or inner , coupling lock of a second multiple coupling lock in an essentially environmentally sealed manner , or with a conveyance unit according to the preferred embodiment , which is connected with the second , or inner , coupling lock of a second multiple coupling lock in an essentially environmentally sealed manner , in each case via the first , or outer , coupling lock on the first and second multiple coupling lock according to the preferred embodiment to form a docking device , in particular according to the first or second embodiment , in an open or in particular a closed state b ) the docking device is opened from the first , or outer , coupling locks on the first and second multiple coupling lock , while retaining a docking device which is in particular environmentally sealed c ) the second , or inner , coupling locks on the first and second multiple coupling locks are connected with each other using the opening of the first docking device and forming a second , in particular environmentally sealed , docking device , in particular according to the third embodiment d ) the second , or inner , coupling locks on the first and second multiple coupling lock are opened while retaining a second docking device , in particular an environmentally sealed docking device e ) the bulk materials are transferred from the first into the second container , or vice - versa , or through the means of conveyance into the first or second container , or vice - versa f ) the second , or inner , coupling locks on the first and second multiple coupling lock are locked , in particular in an environmentally sealed manner , while retaining a docking device , in particular an environmentally sealed docking device g ) the second , or inner , coupling locks on the first and second multiple coupling lock are separated from each other when decoupling the second docking device , in particular in an environmentally sealed manner h ) the first , or outer , coupling locks on the first and second multiple coupling lock are locked in particular in an environmentally sealed manner , while retaining a docking device , in particular an environmentally sealed docking device , and i ) the first , or outer , coupling locks on the first and second multiple coupling lock are separated from each other when decoupling the first docking device , in particular in an environmentally sealed manner here , it can be provided according to the preferred embodiment that subsequent to stage h ), the inner area formed by the first and second conveyance unit , i . e . the conveyance unit from the first and second multiple coupling lock , and from the first docking device , is assigned at least one suction device with a vacuum . suitable suction devices are known from de 195 20 109 c1 , for example . furthermore , it can be provided that following stage g ), the inner area , in each case formed by the first and second conveyance units between the closed first and second coupling locks of the first and second multiple coupling lock , is equipped with at least one suction device with one vacuum . finally , the procedure according to the preferred embodiment also comprises embodiments in which following stage h ) and / or stage g ), the inner area between the second , or inner , coupling locks on the first and second multiple coupling lock and / or the inner areas between the first and second coupling locks on the first and second multiple coupling lock and / or following stage f ) and / or stage h ), the docking device / devices are rinsed with a cleaning fluid . suitable cleaning devices for docking devices , or docking devices with cleaning chambers , are known from wo 02 / 18247 and wo 02 / 18248 , for example . of particular advantage with the embodiment of a multiple coupling lock described below , and with a multiple docking device formed from locks of this type , is that an extremely high degree of contamination safety can be achieved , even with coupling lock systems or docking devices which have a less complex structure . this results in classification as a higher purity class , which also applies to the aforementioned coupling lock systems according to the first and second embodiment . here , it has been shown to be of particular advantage that even when a coupling lock which locks a container fails , the environment is not contaminated with the bulk materials which are to be refilled . the same protective function can be achieved with an incomplete or malfunctioning cleaning cycle for an interior , second docking device . furthermore , the multiple component lock is characterized by its very wide range of variations for attaching hose elements . it is also advantageous that the special features mentioned above can be adapted to a wide range of different coupling locks , which are used with the multiple coupling locks according to the invention , as long as it can be guaranteed that in each case , pairs of two coupling locks on two multiple docking devices correspond with each other , and can form an environmentally sealed docking device . when transparent hose elements are selected , for example , which connect the individual coupling locks on a multiple coupling lock or its basic body with each other , a check can already be made from outside during the refilling or cleaning procedure as to whether irregularities or faults have occurred during filling or refilling . in the same way , this embodiment makes it possible to continue the cleaning or suction procedure until the bulk material residues in the inner area formed by the hose elements and coupling locks on corresponding multiple coupling locks are no longer present , or can no longer be detected . fig1 shows a first embodiment of a coupling lock 1 in a schematic profile view in a closed state . the first band 2 and the second band 4 of the coupling lock 1 touch each other on their inner sides 6 and 8 when the flexible bag 26 is locked . here , the first locking element 10 , which has been designed in the form of a spring , and which is positioned on the inner side 6 of the first band , grips into the second locking element 12 , which is designed in the form of a groove , and which is positioned on the inner side 8 of the second band 4 . the first and second locking elements 10 and 12 can be designed as desired , as long as they complement each other in terms of their form and size , and ensure that the first and second bands 2 and 4 do not loosen their grip on each other without the application of external force . suitable clip , groove or rivet locks are known to persons having the ordinary skill in the art . the first and second locking elements 10 and 12 advantageously extend along the entire inner sides of the first and second band 2 and 4 . naturally , it is also possible to provide further first and second locking elements 10 and 12 , which are complementary to each other , on the inner sides 6 and 8 of the first and second band 2 and 4 . in this way , the tightness of the seal of the coupling lock 1 can be further increased . furthermore , the upper sides 14 and 16 of the first and second band 2 and 4 , comprise third and fourth locking elements 18 and 20 . on the outer side 22 of the first band 2 , a fifth locking element 24 is attached , which contributes to the further clamping of a docking device formed from two coupling locks 1 and 1 ′ ( not shown ). the precise method of functioning of this device will be described in greater detail below . fig2 shows a schematic profile view of a coupling lock 1 according to the first embodiment , which essentially corresponds to that shown in fig1 , the first band 2 of the coupling lock 1 being connected with a locking lid 30 via a joint 28 . the joint 28 can for example be a hinge , a sequence of several hinges , a film hinge or other devices . it is advantageous when the joint 28 is located in the area of the junction between the upper side 14 and the outer side 22 of the first band 2 . in the locking lid 30 , a sixth locking element 32 is incorporated , which is designed in terms of its form , size and position in such a way that when the locking lid 30 is placed over the upper sides 14 and 16 of the first and second band 2 and 4 , a clamping interaction with the fourth locking element 20 on the upper side 16 of the second band 4 occurs . a complementary design in terms of form and size has also been shown to be particularly advantageous with regard to the fourth and sixth locking element 20 and 32 . in this way , a slit 34 on the coupling lock 1 is not only completely covered , achieving even tighter environmental sealing , but that alongside the interaction between the first and second locking element 10 and 12 on the inner sides 6 and 8 , the interaction between the fourth and sixth locking element 20 and 32 contributes to preventing the inner sides 6 and 8 which touch each other from being opened easily . naturally , it is also possible to provide a further , seventh locking element ( not shown ) in the locking lid 30 , which corresponds with the third locking element 18 on the upper side 14 of the first band 2 , and which can form a clamping lock . fig3 shows the embodiment according to fig2 with a folded up locking lid 30 . in this state , it is possible , for example , to add a second coupling lock 1 ′ to the first coupling lock 1 , as shown in fig4 , in order to form a docking device . here , the third and fourth locking elements 18 ′ and 20 ′ of the second coupling lock 1 ′ must be adjusted to the third and fourth locking elements 18 and 20 of the first coupling lock 1 , in order to achieve the desired latching effect . here , the third locking element 18 of the first band 2 grips into the fourth locking element 20 ′ of the second band 4 ′ of the coupling lock 1 ′. the same applies to the locking elements on the second and first band 2 and 2 ′ of the first and second coupling lock 1 and 1 ′. when the slit 34 ′ of the second coupling lock 1 ′ is also kept closed in an environmentally sealed manner by the interaction between the first and second locking element 10 ′ and 12 ′, the first and second coupling locks 1 and 1 ′ can easily be joined with each other to form a docking device 36 as shown in fig5 . the coupling locks 1 and 1 ′ on the docking device 36 according to the embodiment shown in fig5 also each have a locking lid 30 and 30 ′, which in both cases can be used to interact with the fifth locking or clamping elements 24 and 24 ′ which are attached to the outer sides 22 and 23 to create a clamping mechanism . in this way , a particularly tight connection between the coupling locks 1 and 1 ′ is created . this furthermore has the advantage that the locking lids 30 and 30 ′ can also be used as handles in order to release the first and second bands on the first and second coupling lock 1 and 1 ′ from each other while retaining an environmentally sealed lock , as shown in fig6 . now , bulk material , such as that present in the flexible container 38 shown , which is connected with the coupling lock 1 via the edge of the bag 26 in an environmentally sealed manner , can be transferred into a second container 40 , which is in turn connected with the second coupling lock 1 ′ in an environmentally sealed manner . after the refilling procedure has been completed , the first and second coupling locks 1 and 1 ′ are closed again , and the coupling locks can be separated from each other . fig7 shows a further , second embodiment of a coupling lock 50 in the form of a so - called parallelogram lock . the coupling lock 50 shown is composed in total of two narrow frame bands 52 and two longer frame bands 54 , and joint elements 56 in the form of film hinges which connect each of these frame bands . a construction of this type can be produced , for example , using a dual component injection molding procedure , whereby thermoplastic elastomers can be used for the film hinges , and thermoplastic synthetic materials or duroplasts can be used for the frame bands . in a folding frame 58 which is constructed in this manner , the degree of freedom of movement of the individual frame bands 52 and 54 is severely limited . a very large opening profile can also be achieved . when the angle of adjacent frame bands 52 and 54 is reduced or increased , the opening profile can also be varied as desired . this enables the inner sides 60 and 62 of the frame bands 52 and 54 to easily be placed on top of each other to form a lock . a particularly tight environmental seal is achieved when two locking rails 64 and 66 are attached to the inner sides 60 and 62 . these rails preferably also extend over the inner sides of the joints 56 . the material used here can be a springy - elastic material , for example in the form of bands , which are pressed against each other when the folding frame 58 is folded together . in an advantageous embodiment , the locking rails are made of the same material as the joints 56 . in a further embodiment , the first and second locking rails 64 and 66 can also be provided as locking elements with complementary forms , which interlock with each other so that they are aligned and form a seal when the folding frame 58 is folded together . for example , a groove construction can be used for the first locking rail 64 and a corresponding spring rail can be used for the second locking rail 66 . here also , a particularly tight environmental seal is achieved when the first and second locking rails 64 and 66 also extend over the inner sides of the joint elements 56 , which can in particular be folded up . insofar as the coupling locks 50 according to the second embodiment are intended for the purpose of forming a docking device according to the second embodiment , it is of great advantage when first locking elements 72 are provided on the upper sides 68 and 70 of the frame bands 52 and 54 , which are suitable for gripping into the corresponding locking elements of a second coupling lock 50 ′ according to the second embodiment ( not shown ), so that they are aligned and environmentally sealed . first locking elements of this type preferably extend over the entire length of the upper side of the frame bands 52 and 54 . a particularly tight environmental seal can be achieved by providing a combined groove - and - spring construction for these first locking elements . in order that a coupling lock 50 remains permanently sealed shut after it has been locked , unless external force is applied or an additional mechanism is used , first clamping elements 76 , such as clamping pins or a pair of adjacent clamping elements 76 are provided on the inner sides of adjacent frame bands 52 and 54 , which correspond in terms of their form and size with the first clamping openings 78 or clamping latching openings or pairs of these , which are attached to the inner sides of the remaining two frame bands 52 and 54 of the folding frame 58 , and which preferably correspond in terms of their form , size and position to the first clamping elements . when the coupling lock 50 is closed , these first clamping elements 76 latch into the clamping openings 78 or rails , so that the lock which is attained cannot be released again without the application of external force . it is advantageous when the position and size of the clamping hooks 76 and the clamping openings 78 are adjusted to each other , so that as soon as the clamping elements 76 are latched in , the sides 60 and 62 of the frame bands 52 and 54 or their locking rails 64 and 66 which are positioned next to each other are subjected to a certain degree of pressure force . as can further be seen from fig7 , a locking lid 80 can simultaneously serve as a transport handle . if the inner sides 60 and 62 of the frame bands 52 and 54 are positioned next to each other , the locking lid shown 80 can be placed over the locking slit and the second clamping element 94 can be latched into a third clamping opening 84 . as a result , at least a section of the upper side of the coupling lock 50 is covered and protected against contamination on the one hand , while on the other , in addition to , or as an alternative to , the function of the first clamping element 76 and the first clamping opening 78 , a further securing mechanism for the lock is provided . the locking lid or the transport handle 80 is here connected with the outer side of the frame band 52 or 54 via a holding band 96 . this band 96 is usually essentially vertically positioned to the outer side , and comprises at least one second clamping opening 82 . a first handle element 90 is connected to the band 96 via a first film hinge 86 . a second handle element 92 , which forms an upper handle panel , is connected via a second film hinge 88 with the first handle element 90 . the second handle element 92 can in an embodiment be dimensioned in such a way that a second clamping element 94 located on its outer edge can latch into the second clamping opening 82 as soon as the second handle element 92 is folded onto the first handle element 90 . in order for a particularly reliable connection from the coupling lock 50 to a second coupling lock 50 ′ ( not shown ) to be created , temporary locking elements , which correspond with each other , are attached in the upper section of the frame band 52 . therefore , in each case , third clamping openings 84 in the form of long opening slits are positioned along the upper edge of a narrow side 52 and a long side 54 of the coupling lock 50 . these clamping openings 84 are attached in wall elements which extend over the upper sides 68 , 70 of the frame bands 52 and 54 . several latching elements 98 are positioned along the upper section of the remaining frame bands 52 and 54 of the coupling lock 50 , which comprise no openings 84 . if two coupling locks 50 and 50 ′ are now coupled with each other , these latching elements 98 latch into corresponding third clamping openings 84 ′ of a second coupling lock 50 ′. here , it has been shown to be advantageous when the wall elements which hold the third clamping openings 84 are separated from each other by material outlets 99 , to ensure a high degree of flexibility during the latching procedure . these material outlets 99 are naturally fitted in such a way that they do not permit penetration into the inner area of the coupling locks , and are preferably incorporated into narrow - sided extensions 74 of the frame bands . furthermore , it is naturally sufficient when the clamping openings 84 , 84 ′ are concavities for retaining the latching elements 98 , 98 ′, which do not penetrate the wall of the frame band in the form of holes . a particularly tight environmental seal is also achieved when locking the coupling lock 50 when at least two opposite joints 56 each comprise at least one notch 57 on their inner sides , at least partially , in particular in the upper section , i . e . starting from the upper side 68 , 70 of the frame bands 52 , 54 . as an example , only one joint 56 is shown in each case in fig7 and 8 , which comprises a notch 57 of this type . these joints 56 which comprise opposing notches 57 are particularly suitable for use as opposite end sections of a locked coupling lock 50 . here , adjacent frame bands 52 and 54 touch each other in each case to form an angle of 0 °, while the adjacent joints 56 , which comprise no notches , connect frame bands 52 and 54 with each other , which form an angle of approximately 180 ° when the coupling lock 50 is closed . the use of at least two joints 56 containing notches 57 on their inner sides , at least partially , results in a particularly tight seal between the locking slit and the coupling lock 50 , including for the opposite end sections . in cases when two opposite joints with notches 57 are provided for a coupling lock 50 with four frame bands 52 , 54 , which are only of the same length in pairs , non - identical coupling locks 50 should be regularly used in order to form a docking device . this then requires mirror symmetrical active and passive forms . in addition , it should be noted that when a coupling lock 50 is used with a pair of joints which contain notches 57 , the degree of freedom of play when the frame bands 52 , 54 are folded together is necessarily limited , preventing the opposite joints without notches from forming the end sections of the coupling lock which has been folded together . fig8 shows a coupling lock 50 ′ which can be coupled with the coupling lock according to fig7 . fig9 is a view from above of a coupling lock 50 according to the second embodiment in a fully opened state . the frame bands 52 and 54 form the shape of a rectangle with the joints elements 56 in each corner . in a closed state , the frame bands 52 and 54 , or their inner sides 60 and 62 , as shown in fig1 , touch each other in an alignment . in order to lock the coupling lock 50 , only three frame bands need to be moved regularly . fig1 shows a profile view of the coupling lock 50 along the section plane i - i , in order to demonstrate how the first and second locking rails 64 and 66 interlock in an alignment when the frame bands 52 and 54 are folded one on top of the other . a first locking element 72 is already located on the upper sides 68 and 70 of the frame bands 52 and 54 . fig1 shows a second embodiment of a docking device 100 , which comprises two coupling locks 50 , 50 ′ according to the second embodiment . the corresponding first locking elements 72 and 72 ′ on the upper sides 68 and 68 ′ of the coupling locks 50 , 50 ′ have here been interlocked in an alignment to form an environmentally sealed end . one contribution , among others , which helps create this result is made by the fact that the two coupling locks 50 and 50 ′ are essentially identically dimensioned , in particular in relation to their folding frames 58 and 58 ′. the transport handles 80 can now be formed by folding out the first and second handle elements 90 and 92 , and if necessary , latching the second clamping element 94 into the second clamping opening 82 . these make it particularly easy for the user to handle the docking device 100 according to the second embodiment , while at the same time , the handles 80 of the coupled folding frames can be locked or opened in a particularly simple manner . a particularly tight seal is achieved when the coupling locks 50 and 50 ′ are coupled by latching the latching elements 98 of the coupling lock 50 into the third clamping openings 84 ′ of the coupling lock 50 ′, thus ensuring that the docking device 100 cannot be opened without the application of external force . fig1 shows a perspective view of an additional further development of a coupling lock 50 ′ according to the second embodiment in a closed state . the coupling lock 50 ′ is shown from the outlet , or lower side . the coupling lock 50 ′ shown comprises two opposite frame bands 152 and 154 , which form the third frame band pair 156 , and are fitted in each case on their outer sides 158 and 160 with an operating handle 162 , 164 . each operating handle 162 , 164 comprises a centering cone 166 , 168 and a clamping collar 170 , 172 . the centering cone 166 , 168 is designed in such a way that it can be guided into the corresponding clamping collar of a corresponding second coupling lock ( not shown ). in the same way , the clamping collar 170 , 172 is suitable for retaining the centering cone of a corresponding second coupling lock ( not shown ). here , it is of particular advantage when the inner diameter of the clamping collar , or the guide rails which are fitted on the inner wall of said clamping collar , taper as they extend away from the opening and / or when the centering cone , or the guide rails which are fitted on the inner wall of said centering cone , widen as they extend away from the tip . in this way , corresponding coupling locks can be docked in a particularly simple and secure manner in such a way that their folding frames or sealing lips are automatically connected to the system in an environmentally sealed manner . here , it has been shown to be of particular advantage when the two operating handles 162 , 164 on the outer sides of the frame bands 152 , 154 of the third frame band pair 156 comprise the clamping and centering aids described above . in order to reinforce the operating handles 162 , 164 , these can comprise traverse ribs 174 . the frame bands 152 , 154 of the third pair are connected in each case with short frame bands 184 , 186 and 188 , 190 from the first or second frame band pair 192 , 194 via elastic joint elements 176 , 178 , 180 , 182 . as a result , the first frame band 184 of the first frame band pair 192 is connected to the first frame band 152 of the third frame band pair 156 via a joint element 176 on one end and to the first frame band 188 of the second frame band pair 194 via a joint element 182 on the opposite end of the first frame band 152 of the third frame band pair 156 . in the same way , the second frame bands in each case 186 and 190 from the first or second frame band pair 192 , 194 are connected with the second frame band 154 of the third frame band pair 156 , in each case via a joint element 178 or 180 . an encompassing folding frame 58 ′ is now attained due to the fact that the first and second frame bands 184 , 186 of the first pair 192 and the first and second frame bands 188 , 190 of the second pair 194 are connected with each other , in each case via a joint element 196 or 198 . in the present embodiment , the first and second frame bands 184 , 186 , 188 and 190 from the first and second frame band pair 192 , 194 , fold inwards when locked , and their corresponding joint elements 196 , 198 move towards each other . on the edges of the frame bands 152 , 154 , 184 , 186 and 190 , an encompassing sealing lip 200 made of elastomer material has been attached , which protrudes on the inner side over the profile dimensions of the frame bands . if the inner sides of the frame bands 184 , 186 , or 188 , 190 of the first and second pair are moved towards the inner sides of the first and second frame bands 153 , 154 of the third pair , the sealing lips on the edges of the frame bands in each case are made to touch each other , and form a tight seal . in the present embodiment according to fig1 , the frame bands 184 , 186 and 188 , 190 of the first and second pair 192 or 194 have identical dimensions , and have a length which is shorter than half the length of the frame bands 152 , 154 of the third frame band pair 156 . accordingly , the sealing lips 200 on the first and second frame band 152 , 154 of the third frame pair 156 are made to touch each other in the central section of the coupling lock 50 ′. for this purpose , a concavity 202 , 204 is fitted in each case on the contour of the first and second frame band 152 , 154 of the third pair in the central section . the contours of the first and second frame band 184 , 186 , or 188 , 190 of the first and second pair are adapted to the contour of the frame bands 152 , 154 of the third pair . this contour has the advantage that it forces the folding movement of the first two frame bands of the first and second pair towards the first frame band of the third pair when the first and second frame bands of the third pair are moved towards each other . the same applies to the second frame bands of the first and second pair in relation to the second frame band of the third pair . in a closed state , the frame bands 152 , 154 of the third pair 156 are held or pressed onto each other by suitable clamping or latching locks . in a locked state , the spacers 212 , 214 or 216 , 218 which are provided on the outer sides of the frame bands 154 , 186 and 188 , 190 of the first or second pair , in each case in the area around the joint elements 176 , 178 , or 180 , 102 are also mutually made to touch each other . these spacers are dimensioned in such a way that the total of their maximum distances from the base area of each frame band exceeds , in particular to a slight degree , the distance of the outer sides of the first and second frame bands 184 , 186 of the first pair 192 , or the first and second frame bands 188 , 190 of the second pair 194 , which essentially run in parallel and which are positioned opposite each other . as a result , when in a closed state , in particular when the first and second frame bands 152 , 154 of the third pair 156 are clamped together in the central area , the section on which the first band 184 of the first pair 192 touches the first band 152 of the third pair 156 , and the section on which the second band 186 of the first pair 192 touches the second band 154 of the third pair 156 , are pressed apart using the spring elasticity of the pair of frame bands which are touching each other , in each case at a distance away from the central area of the clamped third frame band pair 156 . the same mechanism is used with the bands 188 , 190 of the second pair 194 . in this way , the sealing lips 200 of the frame bands , which are already touching each other , are pressed together even more strongly , in particular in the area of the outer joint elements 176 , 178 and 180 , 182 . fig1 shows a cross - section of a coupling lock 50 ′ according to fig1 in an open state . the first and second frame bands 184 , 186 of the first pair 192 can be recognized , which are connected with the first or second frame band 152 , 154 of the third pair 156 via joint elements 176 , 178 . the inner sides of the first and second frame bands 184 , 186 of the first pair 192 each comprise spacers 230 in the area below the central axis . these fulfil the function , when they are made to touch the inner side of the first or second frame band 152 , 154 of the third pair 156 , of holding the frame bands in each case essentially in a parallel alignment . this is because the inner sides of the frame bands do not generally touch fully , due to the sealing lip 200 which protrudes on the inner side over the edge . the attachments 238 provided below the central axis in the area of the concavities 202 , 204 of the first and second band 152 , 154 of the third frame band pair fulfill the same function . furthermore , the inner sides of the frame bands of the first to third frame band pair comprise adjusting elements 232 , 234 which can be interlocked , and which ensure that the sealing lips 200 which touch each other on adjacent frame bands are always positioned at the same height over the entire length in a closed state . suitable adjusting elements 232 , 234 can be strip - shaped protrusions , for example , which , when they are made to touch the inner side of the adjacent frame band , are retained on their lower and / or upper side by corresponding adjusting elements on the opposite inner side . in order for the first and second bands 152 , 154 of the third frame band pair 156 which are made to touch each other in the central area to guarantee a tight seal , the sealing lip 200 is fitted on the inside with corresponding sealing tongues 240 , 242 ( not shown ), in each case to a greater extent than for standard sealing rings . fig1 represents a docking device 100 according to fig1 , comprised of two identical coupling locks 50 ′, 50 ″. the first and second frame bands 152 ′, 154 ′ of the third frame band pair of the upper coupling lock are firmly connected with each other via clamping or latching mechanisms 210 ′, yet in such a manner that they can be released . the centering cone 166 , 168 , which are positioned on opposite operating handles 162 , 164 of the lower coupling lock 50 ′ are guided into the clamping collars 170 ′, 172 ′ of the operating handles 162 ′, 164 ′ of the upper coupling lock 50 ″. the same applies to the centering cone 166 ′, 168 ′ of the upper coupling lock 50 ″, which are positioned in the clamping collars 170 , 172 of the lower coupling lock 50 ′. in this way , the encompassing sealing lips 200 and 200 ′ on the lower and upper coupling lock 50 and 50 ′ are automatically made to touch without any further adjustment stages being necessary . the upper and lower coupling locks 50 or 50 ′ are connected to each other to form a docking device 100 by interlocking locking elements 244 and 244 ′ on the outer sides of the frame bands which latch reversibly into each other . a flexible container or conveyance unit can either be attached on the outer or inner side along the frame bands of the folding frame 58 ″, for example using adhesion , welding , clipping or latching . the docking device 100 according to fig1 can easily be separated when in a closed state . in the same way , the coupling locks 50 , 50 ′ which form this docking device can also easily be tightly connected with each other again . furthermore , it is easily possible to transfer the docking device 100 from a closed state to an open state by pulling apart the first and second frame bands 152 , 152 ′, 154 , 154 ′ of the third frame band pair 156 , 156 ′. fig1 shows the docking device according to fig1 in an open state . the sealing lips 200 and 200 ′ on the lower and upper folding frames 58 ′ and 58 ″ are still constantly touching each other . in addition , positioning aids 250 and 252 or 250 ′ and 252 ′ which correspond to each other can be provided on the inner sides of the frame bands of the folding frames 58 ′ and 58 ″, which prevent the shorter frame bands of a folding frame being moved sideways against the longer frame band of the third frame band pair of a folding frame when in a closed state . for this purpose , protrusions or seams 252 ′ are provided in the coupling lock 50 ″, which run on the frame band 154 ′ parallel to the longitudinal axis of the joint elements 176 ′ or 182 ′. these protrusions grip into recesses 250 ′ which are provided on the inner side of the adjacent frame bands of the first and second frame band pair in corresponding notches 250 ′. insofar as the protrusion 252 ′ and the notch 250 ′ are made to fit precisely , relative movements of frame bands which are adjacent to the frame band of a third frame band pair can be fully prevented , despite the relative freedom of movement of the joint elements . the same mechanism is used with the docked folding frame 58 ′. the strip - shaped projections or seams 254 ′ which are arranged approximately in parallel to the encompassing sealing lip contribute , in interaction with the seams 256 or 256 ′, which are arranged at a slight offset , to the fact that a relative movement of the frame bands which touch each other in a closed state is also stopped vertically to the encompassing sealing lip . fig1 furthermore shows clamping or latching locks 210 , 210 ′, which are provided in the area around the concavities of the frame bands of the third pair of frame bands and which are incorporated into a fixed connection , which can also be released , with the corresponding clamping or latching locks on the opposite concavity of the frame band of the third pair . this latching lock also ensures that the sealing lips 200 , 200 ′ are kept pressed against each other . fig1 shows a schematic side view of a multiple coupling lock 120 according to the preferred embodiment . in the embodiment shown , this multiple coupling lock 120 comprises a first coupling lock 101 on the front end and a downstream second coupling locks 110 . furthermore , the first and second coupling lock 101 , 110 are connected in an environmentally sealed manner with each other via a hose 102 , which is flexible at least in sections . the outer diameter of the second coupling lock 110 and the inner diameter of the first coupling lock 101 or the opening area , are to be selected in such a way that when the first coupling lock 101 is open , the second coupling lock 110 , in an open or closed state , can be inserted into or even inserted through the opened first coupling lock 101 . the hose or hose element 102 should be selected in terms of its dimensions or length , and its flexibility , in such a way that the relative movement described above of the first and second coupling lock , 101 , 110 , is permitted , whereby damage to said coupling lock , or reduction in the environmental seal of the multiple coupling lock 120 , must not occur . on the second coupling lock 110 , for example , a hose or a flexible or rigid container 114 can be attached . the hose element 102 can be affixed to the first coupling lock 101 , in particular to its outer wall , in the standard manner , such as with an adhesive and / or using a clamp connection , such as that described in the previous embodiments in fig1 to 12 . the rear end of the hose element or hose 102 which points away from the opening of the multiple coupling lock 120 is itself in turn permanently or temporarily connected to the second coupling lock 110 , in particular to its outer wall , or with a basic body connected with the second coupling lock 110 . insofar as a flexible or rigid container is attached to the second coupling lock 110 , the hose or hose element 102 can also be temporarily or permanently affixed to these components . in particular , insofar as the second coupling lock 110 changes its outer form when opened or closed , it is advantageous when the hose element 102 is attached to a basic body or container which is supplementary to the second coupling lock 110 , and which is essentially invariable in terms of its movement . this attachment 116 can for example be standard triclamp connections . with the multiple coupling lock 120 shown , the first coupling lock 101 can for example be a parallelogram coupling lock , while the second coupling lock 110 can be one which comprises a rotating closing flap which can be operated externally ( not shown ). naturally , any combination of the known and previously described environmentally sealed coupling locks is possible , in order to form a multiple coupling lock 120 according to the preferred embodiment . according to a further embodiment , it is possible for the dimensions of the second coupling lock not to permit it to be inserted through the opening of the first coupling lock , but where the opening area of the second coupling lock is dimensioned in such a way that a corresponding coupling lock can be inserted through the opening of the first coupling lock and connected with the second coupling lock to form a docking device . fig1 shows a multiple docking device 130 according to the preferred embodiment which is comprised of two multiple coupling locks 120 and 120 ′. in the embodiment shown , the first coupling locks 101 , 101 ′ are connected with each other in an environmentally sealed manner to form a first docking device 104 , and are in a closed state . the first coupling locks 101 , 101 ′ are connected with the second coupling locks 110 and 110 ′ directly or indirectly via flexible hose elements 102 , 102 ′. in the embodiment shown , it should be assumed that the containers which are attached to the second coupling locks 110 , 110 ′ are rigid containers . the end of the hose element 102 which faces away from the first coupling lock 101 is connected in an environmentally sealed manner , for example via a so - called triclamp connection 116 , with the outer wall of the container 114 or the basic body 112 , 1120 ′ of the coupling locks . here , it has been shown to be particularly user - friendly when the connection 116 is reversible , so that a multiple or dual coupling lock 120 can only be constructed when needed , for example when very high standards of cleanliness are required during refilling . suitable triclamp connections consist , as show in fig1 , for example , of two triclamp components 132 and 134 , of which one , 132 , is firmly connected for example with the container or the basic body of the coupling lock , for example via a welded connection . the hose 102 is attached to the second triclamp component 134 , for example using vibration or ultrasound welding , when this component , like the hose , is made of a synthetic material . a seal 136 which is inserted into two uniform , encompassing grooves on the triclamp components 132 and 134 , ensures tight environmental sealing . the two triclamp components 132 and 134 are kept pressed together with the help of a hose clip 138 . the second coupling lock 110 of the multiple coupling lock 130 according to fig1 should in the present case be a rotating folding flap lock , which can lock against the atmosphere a first pipe connection using a rotating device , in particular a shaft . accordingly , the second coupling lock 110 ′ is a complementary system which together with the second coupling lock 110 ( not shown ) can form a second docking device . for this purpose , the first docking device 104 must be opened , so that that second coupling lock 110 can penetrate this opening and couple with the second coupling lock 110 ′. here , the second coupling lock 110 ′, for example , also comprises a closing flap , which can be connected firmly with the closing flap of the second coupling lock 110 to form a seal , whereby both closing flaps can then be rotated via an actuation device 118 from a closed position into an open position . after the refilling procedure has been completed , the closing flaps are brought back into the closed position using the actuation device 118 , so that the subsequent pipe connections are in each case closed against the atmosphere in an environmentally sealed manner . the two coupled containers 114 and 114 ′ can be separated from each other again when the second coupling lock 110 , 110 ′ are decoupled . in cases when bulk materials are not transferred in their entirety during this refilling procedure , or bulk materials could escape from the receptacles 114 or 114 ′ for any other reason , particularly during decoupling , contamination of the environment is prevented by the hose elements 120 and 120 ′, and by the environmentally sealed docking device 104 of the first coupling locks 101 and 101 ′ of the multiple docking device 130 according to the preferred embodiment . bulk material residues of this type can for example be removed from the inner area described by a suction device ( not shown ) by applying a vacuum before decoupling the docking device 104 . in addition , this inner area or these partial inner areas of the hose elements 120 and 120 ′ which can be created after the docking device 104 has been closed can first be cleaned using a cleaning agent , in particular a cleaning fluid , and then dried or evacuated . naturally , it is also possible , after the closing flaps of the second coupling locks 110 and 110 ′ have been closed and the second docking device or inner area of the hose element 120 has been decoupled , to first transfer the remaining bulk materials mechanically into the inner area of the hose element 120 ′, to close the docking device 104 , if necessary , to decouple it , and to transfer the bulk materials now in the inner area of the hose element 120 ′ by opening the closing flap of the actuation device 118 , for example by the force of gravity , into the container 114 ′. the hose element 120 ′ and / or the coupling lock 110 ′ should preferably create a cone or funnel shaped form or junction in the direction of the opening of this coupling lock for this purpose . a high level of security can be achieved when the hose elements 120 and 120 ′ are at least partially transparent . after the refilling procedure has been completed , the hose elements 120 and 120 ′ are released from the walls of the receptacles or coupling locks , and are then available for further use with other receptacles which can be coupled . while preferred embodiments have been illustrated and described in detail in the drawings and foregoing description , the same are to be considered as illustrative and not restrictive in character , it being understood that only the preferred embodiments have been shown and described and that all changes and modifications that come within the spirit of the invention both now or in the future are desired to be protected . | 1 |
fig1 illustrates an example of a tracker system 10 including an implanted cardiotracker 5 and external equipment 7 . the cardiotracker 5 includes electrical wire leads 12 and 15 and a battery - powered electronics module contained within a metal case 11 . the cardiotracker 5 can track the patient &# 39 ; s cardiovascular condition over extended periods of time . the cardiotracker 5 can also detect acute cardiac events including acute myocardial infarction and arrhythmias and warn the patient when such an event occurs . the cardiotracker 5 can also track slowly changing cardiac functions such as day - to - day changes in qrs voltage that can be indicative of the rejection of a transplanted heart . the cardiotracker 5 can record the patient &# 39 ; s electrogram signal for later review by a medical practitioner . the cardiotracker 5 can capture histogram - based historical representations of one or more heart signal parameters for later analysis and review by a medical practitioner . the cardiotracker 5 can also send out wireless signals 53 to and receive wireless signals 54 from the external equipment 7 . the functioning of the cardiotracker 5 will be explained in greater detail with the assistance of fig2 , 3 , 4 and 5 . the cardiotracker 5 has two leads 12 and 15 that have one or more electrical conductors ( wires ) with surrounding insulation . the lead 12 is shown with two electrodes 13 and 14 . the lead 15 has subcutaneous electrodes 16 and 17 . in fact , the cardiotracker 5 could utilize as few as one lead or as many as three and each lead could have as few as one electrode or as many as eight electrodes . furthermore , electrodes 8 and 9 could be placed on the outer surface of the case 11 without any wire leads extending from the cardiotracker 5 . the lead 12 in fig1 could advantageously be placed through the patient &# 39 ; s vascular system with the electrode 14 being placed into the apex of the right ventricle . the lead 12 with electrode 13 could be placed in the right ventricle or right atrium or the superior vena cava similar to the placement of leads for pacemakers and implantable cardioverter defibrillators ( icds ). the metal case 11 of the cardiotracker 5 could serve as an indifferent electrode with either or both electrodes 13 and / or 14 being active electrodes . it is also conceived that the electrodes 13 and 14 could be used as bipolar electrodes . alternately , the lead 12 in fig1 could advantageously be placed through the patient &# 39 ; s vascular system with the electrode 14 being placed into the apex of the left ventricle . the electrode 13 could be placed in the left atrium . the lead 15 could advantageously be placed subcutaneously at any location where the electrodes 16 and / or 17 would provide a good electrogram signal indicative of the electrical activity of the heart . again for this lead 15 , the case 11 of the cardiotracker 5 could be an indifferent electrode and the electrodes 16 and / or 17 could be active electrodes or electrodes 16 and 17 could function together as bipolar electrodes . the cardiotracker 5 could operate with only one lead and as few as one active electrode with the case 11 of the cardiotracker 5 being an indifferent electrode . the tracker system 10 described herein can readily operate with only two electrodes . it is also envisioned that the lead 15 could be an epicardial lead with the electrode 17 being firmly attached to the heart muscle from outside of the patient &# 39 ; s heart and the electrode 13 being implanted elsewhere within the patient &# 39 ; s body . one embodiment of the cardiotracker device 5 using subcutaneous lead 15 would have the electrode 17 located under the skin on the patient &# 39 ; s left side . this could be best located between 2 and 20 inches below the patient &# 39 ; s left arm pit . the cardiotracker case 11 could act as the indifferent electrode and would typically be implanted under the skin on the upper left side of the patient &# 39 ; s chest . alternately , both electrodes 8 and 9 could , like the medtronic reveal ™, be located on the surface of the cardiotracker case 11 . fig1 also shows the external equipment 7 that consists of a physician &# 39 ; s programmer 68 having an antenna 70 and an external alarm system 60 including a charger 166 that could be used to charge a rechargeable battery ( not shown ) in the external alarm system 60 . it should be understood that the external alarm system 60 could also be powered by a conventional ( i . e ., non - rechargeable ) battery . the external equipment 7 provides means to interact with the implanted cardiotracker 5 . these interactions include programming the cardiotracker 5 , retrieving data collected by the cardiotracker 5 and handling alarms generated by the cardiotracker 5 . the purpose of the physician &# 39 ; s programmer 68 shown in fig1 is to set and / or change the operating parameters of the implantable cardiotracker 5 and to read out data stored in the memory of the cardiotracker 5 such as stored electrogram segments , histograms and extracted histogram data . this would be accomplished by transmission of a wireless signal 54 from the programmer 68 to the cardiotracker 5 and receiving of telemetry by the wireless signal 53 from the cardiotracker 5 to the programmer 68 . when a laptop computer is used as the physician &# 39 ; s programmer 68 , it would require connection to a wireless transceiver for communicating with the cardiotracker 5 . such a transceiver could be connected via a standard interface such as a usb , serial or parallel port or it could be inserted into the laptop &# 39 ; s pcmcia card slot . the screen on the laptop physician &# 39 ; s programmer 68 would be used to provide guidance to the medical practitioner in communicating with the cardiotracker 5 . also , the screen could be used to display both real time and stored electrograms that are read out from the cardiotracker 5 as well as histograms and extracted data based on any one of several heart signal parameters . in fig1 , the external alarm system 60 has a patient operated initiator 55 , an alarm disable button 59 , a panic button 52 , an alarm transceiver 56 , a speaker 57 , a modem 165 and an antenna 161 . the modem 165 allows data transmission to and from medical services 67 via the communication link 65 . it is also envisioned ( but not shown in fig1 ) that the external alarm system 60 could include a microphone and associated electronics for two - way voice communication with the medical services 67 . if a cardiac event is detected by the cardiotracker 5 or the long term cardiovascular tracked data has exceeded a programmed limit , an alarm message is sent by a wireless signal 53 to the alarm transceiver 56 via the antenna 161 . when the alarm message is received by the alarm transceiver 56 , a signal 58 is then sent to the loudspeaker 57 . the signal 58 will cause the loudspeaker 57 to emit an external audio alarm signal 51 to warn the patient that an event has occurred . examples of external alarm signals 51 include a periodic buzzing , a sequence of tones and / or a speech message that instructs the patient as to what is happening and what actions should be taken . furthermore , the alarm transceiver 56 can , depending upon the nature of the signal 53 , can send an outgoing signal over the link 65 to contact emergency medical services 67 . when the detection of an acute myocardial infarction or other life threatening cardiac event ( e . g ., tachycardia ) is the cause of the alarm , the alarm transceiver 56 could automatically notify medical services 67 that a serious cardiac event has occurred and an ambulance could be sent to treat the patient and to bring him to a hospital emergency room or directly to a catheterization laboratory . if communication with medical services 67 is enabled and a cardiac event alarm is sent within the signal 53 , the modem 165 will establish the data communications link 65 over which a message will be transmitted to the medical services 67 . the message sent over the link 65 may include any one , a combination of several or all of the following information types : ( 1 ) a specific patient is having an acute myocardial infarction or other cardiac event , ( 2 ) the patient &# 39 ; s name , address and a brief medical history , ( 3 ) a map and / or directions to where the patient is located ( using the gps satellite or cellular location means is also envisioned ), ( 4 ) the patient &# 39 ; s stored electrogram including baseline electrogram data and the specific electrogram segment that generated the alarm ( 5 ) continuous real time electrogram data , and ( 6 ) a prescription written by the patient &# 39 ; s personal physician as to the type of treatment and / or the amount of drug to be administered to the patient in the event of a specific cardiac event . if the medical services 67 include an emergency room at a hospital , information can be transmitted that the patient has had a cardiac event and should be on his way to the emergency room . in this manner the medical practitioners at the emergency room and / or a catheterization laboratory could be prepared for the patient &# 39 ; s arrival . just as the onstar ™ service will respond to help a driver immediately after a car &# 39 ; s air bags deploy , so might the medical services 67 respond to the patient upon receipt of information that a serious cardiac event has occurred . such a serious cardiac event would cause an emergency alarm signal to be initiated by the internal alarm means in the cardiotracker and ( if within range ) an external alarm would sound from the external alarm system 60 . based on the patient &# 39 ; s cardiac event and prior instructions from the patient &# 39 ; s physician , the medical services personnel can instruct the patient and summon appropriate help . the purpose of the patient operated initiator 55 is to give the patient the capability for initiating transmission of captured electrogram segments and histogram data from the cardiotracker 5 , through the external alarm system 60 , to a medical practitioner at the medical services 67 . this will enable one or more electrogram segments to be displayed for a medical practitioner . the alarm disable button 59 can be used by the patient to turn off the internal alarm signal generated within the cardiotracker 5 and / or turn off the external alarm signal 51 played through the speaker 57 . if the alarm disable button is not pressed , either or both the internal and external alarms would continue for a preset period of time such as 15 minutes . a reminder alarm signal might then be triggered at some later time ( e . g ., 2 to 5 hours later ) if the patient has not turned off the alarms by means of the alarm disable button 59 . the patient might press the panic button 52 in the event that the patient feels that he is experiencing a cardiac event even if there is no alarm signal from either the internal or external alarm means . the panic button 52 will initiate the transmission from the cardiotracker 5 to the external alarm system 60 via the wireless signal 53 of both recent and baseline electrogram segments . also , following the use of the panic button 52 , the tracker system 10 can be programmed to transmit the last set of histograms tracking a particular aspect of the patient &# 39 ; s cardiovascular condition . in addition , an analysis of the histogram data , for example , the 5 day moving average of a heart signal parameter ( e . g ., st deviation ) over the last week or month , may be transmitted to medical practitioners at the medical services 67 to allow them to see trends in the patient &# 39 ; s cardiovascular condition . the external alarm system 60 will then retransmit these data via the link 65 to medical services 67 where a medical practitioner will view the data . the medical practitioner remotely located at the medical services 67 could then analyze the data and call the patient back to offer advice as to whether this is an emergency situation or the situation could be routinely handled by the patient &# 39 ; s personal physician at some later time . fig2 is a plan view of the cardiotracker 5 having a metal case 11 and a plastic header 20 . the case 11 contains the battery 22 and the electronics module 18 . this type of package is well known for pacemakers , implantable defibrillators and implantable tissue stimulators . electrical conductors placed through the plastic header 20 connect the electronics module 18 to the electrical leads 12 and 15 , which have respectively electrodes 14 and 17 . the lead electrodes 13 and 16 and the on - case electrodes 8 and 9 of fig1 are not shown in fig2 . it should also be understood that the cardiosaver 5 can function with only two electrodes , one of which could be the case 11 . all the different configurations for electrodes shown in fig1 and 2 , such as the electrodes 8 , 9 , 13 , 14 , 16 or the metal case 11 are shown only to indicate that there are a variety of possible electrode arrangements that can be used with the cardiosaver 5 . on the metal case 11 , a conducting disc 31 mounted onto an insulating disc 32 can be used to provide a subcutaneous electrical tickle to warn the patient with a see doctor alert or an emergency alarm or the disc 31 could act as an independent electrode for sensing the patient &# 39 ; s electrogram . alternatively , the electrode 8 or the electrode 9 of fig1 could be used as a sensing electrode for the electrogram . fig3 is a block diagram of the cardiotracker 5 with battery 22 . the electrodes 14 and 17 connect with wires within the leads 12 and 15 respectively to the amplifier 36 that is also connected to the case 11 acting as an indifferent electrode . as two or more electrodes 14 and 17 are shown here , the amplifier 36 would be a multi - channel amplifier . if only one electrode was used , the amplifier would be a single channel amplifier . the amplified electrogram signals 37 from the amplifier 36 are converted to digital signals 38 by the analog - to - digital converter 41 . the digital electrogram signals 38 are buffered in the first - in - first - out ( fifo ) memory 42 . a processor shown as the central processing unit ( cpu ) 44 coupled to memory means shown as the random access memory ( ram ) 47 can process the digital electrogram data 38 stored within the fifo 42 according to the programming instructions stored in the program memory 45 . this programming ( i . e ., software ) enables the cardiotracker 5 to detect the occurrence of cardiac events such as an acute myocardial infarction . a clock / timing sub - system 49 provides the means for timing specific activities of the cardiotracker 5 including the absolute or relative time stamping of detected cardiac events . the clock / timing sub - system 49 can also facilitate power savings by causing components of the cardiotracker 5 to go into a low power standby mode in between times of electrogram signal collection and processing . such cycled power savings techniques are often used in implantable pacemakers and defibrillators . in an alternative embodiment , the function of the clock / timing sub - system 49 can be provided by a program subroutine run by the central processing unit 44 . in a preferred embodiment of the present invention , the ram 47 includes specific memory locations for 3 sets of electrogram segment storage . these are the recent electrogram storage 472 that would store the last 2 minutes to 24 hours of recorded electrogram segments so that the electrogram data for the last day ( even if there are no events ) or in the period just before the onset of a cardiac event can be reviewed at a later time by the patient &# 39 ; s physician using the physician &# 39 ; s programmer 68 of fig1 . for example , the recent electrogram memory 472 might contain eight , 10 second long electrogram segments that were captured every 30 seconds over the prior 4 minute time period . the baseline electrogram memory 474 would also provide storage for baseline electrogram segments collected at preset times over one or more days . for example , the baseline electrogram memory 474 might contain 24 baseline electrogram segments of 10 seconds duration , one from each hour for the prior 24 hours . the event memory 476 occupies the largest part of the ram 47 . the event memory 476 is not overwritten on a regular schedule as are the current electrogram memory 472 and baseline electrogram memory 474 but is typically maintained until read out by the patient &# 39 ; s physician with the programmer 68 of fig1 . when a cardiac event such as excessive st shift indicating an acute myocardial infarction is detected by the cpu 44 , all ( or part ) of the entire contents of the baseline and recent electrogram memories 472 and 474 would typically be copied into the event memory 476 so as to save the pre - event data for later physician review . following the occurrence of a cardiac event , post event electrogram data would be saved in the event memory 476 for a preset time period . the ram 47 also contains memory sections for programmable parameters 471 and calculated baseline data 475 . the programmable parameters 471 include the upper and lower limits for the normal and elevated heart rate ranges and physician programmed parameters related to the cardiac event detection processes stored in the program memory 45 . the calculated baseline data 475 contain detection parameters extracted from the baseline electrogram segments stored in the baseline electrogram memory 474 . calculated baseline data 475 and programmable parameters 471 would typically be saved to the event memory 476 following the detection of a cardiac event . the ram 47 also includes patient data 473 that may include the patient &# 39 ; s name , address , telephone number , medical history , insurance information , doctor &# 39 ; s name , and specific prescriptions for different treatments or medications to be administered by medical practitioners in the event of different cardiac events . finally , the ram 47 contains histogram data memory 43 whose structure is shown in fig5 . it is envisioned that the cardiotracker 5 could also contain pacemaker circuitry 170 and / or defibrillator circuitry 180 similar to the cardiosaver device described by fischell et al in u . s . pat . no . 6 , 240 , 049 . the alarm sub - system 48 is the internal alarm means that contains the circuitry and transducers to produce the internal alarm signals for the cardiotracker 5 . the internal alarm signal can be a mechanical vibration , a sound or a subcutaneous electrical tickle . the telemetry sub - system 46 with antenna 35 provides the cardiotracker 5 the means for two - way wireless communication to and from the external equipment 7 of fig1 . the outgoing signal 53 being from the cardiotracker 5 to the external equipment 7 and the incoming signal 54 being from the external equipment 7 to the cardiotracker 5 . existing radiofrequency transceiver chip sets such as the chipcom cc1000 or the ash transceiver hybrids produced by rf microdevices , inc . can readily provide such two - way wireless communication over a distance of up to 10 meters from the patient . it is also envisioned that short range telemetry ( less than 6 inches ) such as that typically used in pacemakers and defibrillators could also be applied to the cardiotracker 5 . it is also envisioned that standard wireless protocols such as bluetooth and 802 . 11a , 802 . 11b or 802 . 11g might be used to allow communication with a wider group of externally located peripheral devices . a magnet sensor 190 could be incorporated into the cardiotracker 5 . an important use of the magnet sensor 190 is to turn on the cardiotracker 5 on just before programming and implantation into a human subject . this would reduce wasted battery life in the period between the times that the cardiotracker 5 is packaged at the factory until the time that it is implanted into the human subject . fig4 highlights the features of one normal beat 500 of an electrogram segment and also shows some portions of the prior beat . the beat 500 shows typical heart beat wave elements labeled p , q , r , s and t . the beat 500 is defined to be a sub - segment of an electrogram segment containing exactly one r wave and including the p and q elements before the r wave and the s and t elements following the r wave . the r - r interval 507 for the beat 500 is defined as the time from the r wave before the beat 500 to the r wave of the beat 500 . both the prior r wave and the r wave of the beat 500 are shown in fig4 . for the purposes of detection algorithms , different sub - segments , elements and calculated values related to the beat 500 are hereby specified . the peak of the r wave of the beat 500 occurs at the time t r ( 509 ). the pq segment 501 and st segment 505 are sub - segments of the normal beat 500 and are located in time with respect to the time t r ( 509 ) as follows : a . the pq segment 501 has a time duration d pq ( 506 ) and starts t pq ( 502 ) milliseconds before the time t r ( 509 ). b . the st segment 505 has a time duration d st ( 508 ) and starts t st ( 502 ) milliseconds after the time t r ( 509 ). the st segment 505 and the pq segment 501 are examples of sub - segments of the electrogram signal from a patient &# 39 ; s heart . the r wave and t wave are also sub - segments . the dashed lines v pq ( 512 ) and v st ( 514 ) illustrate the average voltage amplitudes of the pq and st segments 501 and 505 respectively for the normal beat 500 . the “ st deviation ” δv ( 510 ) of the normal beat 500 is defined as : the parameters t pq , t st , d pq and d st would typically be set with the programmer 68 of fig1 by the patient &# 39 ; s doctor at the time the cardiotracker 5 is implanted so as to best match the morphology of the patient &# 39 ; s electrogram signal at a normal ( e . g ., resting ) heart rate . the r height v pqr ( 519 ) for the beat 500 is defined as v pq ( 512 ), v st ( 514 ), v r ( 503 ), v pqr ( 519 ) and δv ( 510 ) are examples of per - beat heart signal parameters for the beat 500 . although it may be effective to fix the values of start times t pq ( 502 ) and t st ( 504 ) and the time durations d pq ( 506 ) and d st ( 508 ), it is envisioned that the start times t pq and t st and the durations d pq and d st could be automatically adjusted by the cardiotracker 5 to account for changes in the r - r interval 507 ( i . e ., changes in the patient &# 39 ; s heart rate ). if the r - r interval 507 increases or decreases , as compared with the r - r interval for patient &# 39 ; s normal heart rate , it is envisioned that the start times t pq ( 502 ) and t st ( 504 ) and / or the durations d pq ( 506 ) and d st ( 508 ) could be adjusted depending upon the r - r interval 507 for a specific beat or the average r - r interval for an entire electrogram segment . a simple technique for doing this would vary the start times t pq and t st and the durations d pq and d st in proportion to the change in r - r interval . for example , if the patient &# 39 ; s normal heart rate is 60 beats per minute , the r - r interval is 1 second . at 80 beats per minute the r - r interval is 0 . 75 seconds , a 25 % decrease . this could automatically produce a 25 % decrease in the values of t pq , t st , d pq and d st . alternately , the values for t pq , t st , d pq and d st could be fixed for each of up to 20 preset heart rate ranges . in either case , it is envisioned that after the device has been implanted , the patient &# 39 ; s physician would , through the programmer 68 of fig1 , download from the cardiotracker 5 to the programmer 68 , a recent electrogram segment from the recent electrogram memory 472 ( of fig3 ). the physician would then use the programmer 68 to select the values of t pq , t st , d pq and d st for the heart rate in the downloaded recent electrogram segment . the programmer 68 would then allow the physician to choose to either manually specify the values of t pq , t st , d pq and d st for each heart rate range or have the cardiotracker 5 automatically adjust the values of t pq , t st , d pq and d st based on the r - r interval 507 for each beat of any electrogram segment collected in the future by the cardiotracker 5 . it is also envisioned that only the start times , t pq and t st , might be automatically adjusted and the time durations d pq and d st would be fixed so that the average values of the st and pq segments v pq ( 512 ), v st ( 514 ), v ′ pq ( 512 ′) and v ′ st ( 514 ′) would always use the same number of data samples for averaging . while the simplest method of adjusting the start times t pq and t st is to adjust them in proportion to the r - r interval 507 from the preceding r wave to the r wave of the current beat , a preferred embodiment of the present invention is to adjust the start times t pq and t st in proportion to the square root of the r - r interval 507 from the preceding r wave to the r wave of the current beat . it is also envisioned that a combination of linear and square root techniques could be used where t st and d st could be set to be proportional to the square root of the r - r interval while t pq and d pq could be linearly proportional to the r - r interval . when pacemaker circuitry 170 is used with the cardiotracker 5 , it envisioned that the start time t st and duration d st of the st segment may have different values depending on whether or not the heart is being paced . when the pacemaker is pacing the heart , the st segment shifts so as to occur later relative to the start of the r wave as compared to the position of the st segment when the pacer is not pacing the heart . it is also envisioned , that the offset for the start of the st segment may be better measured from the s wave instead of the r when the pacemaker is not pacing . the technique of using different timing parameters for start and duration when pacing can be applied to analysis of any sub - segment of the electrogram including the sub - segment that includes the t wave peak . when the pacemaker circuitry 170 is used with the cardiotracker 5 the algorithm for measurement of the st segment can be adjusted to respond to either the pacing or no - pacing condition of the pacemaker circuitry 170 . an example of a sequence of steps used to calculate the st deviation 510 for the normal beat 500 is as follows : 1 . identify the time t r ( 509 ) for the peak of the r wave for the beat 500 , 2 . calculate the r - r interval 507 and use that value to look up in a table or calculate the values of the start times t pq , t st and the time durations d pq and d st , 3 . average the amplitude of the pq segment 501 between the times ( t r − t pq ) and ( t r − t pq + d pq ) to create the pq segment average amplitude v pq ( 512 ), 4 . average the amplitude of the st segment 505 between the times ( t r + t st ) and ( t r + t st + d st ) to create the st segment average amplitude v st ( 514 ), and 5 . subtract v pq ( 512 ) from v st ( 514 ) to produce the st deviation , δv ( 510 ) for the beat 500 . at preset time intervals during the day the cardiotracker 5 will calculate the “ average baseline st deviation ” δv base defined as the average of the st deviations δv ( 510 ) for at least two beats of a baseline electrogram segment . typically the st deviation of 4 to 8 beats of the baseline electrogram segment will be averaged to produce the average baseline st deviation δv base which can be used for later comparison with the st deviation of recent beats to identify changes indicative of a cardiac event such as an acute myocardial infarction . fischell et al in u . s . pat . no . 6 , 609 , 023 describe in detail the methods for detecting ami and exercise induced ischemia . as ( for example ) the st deviation , δv ( 510 ) or the qrs voltage , v qrs ( 511 ) for each beat is calculated , one or more histograms stored in the histogram data memory 43 of fig3 and 5 will be incremented with that specific value of that heart signal parameter . fig5 is an example of a structure for the histogram data memory 43 of the cardiotracker 5 of fig3 . the histogram data memory 43 contains two types of histogram data , raw histogram data stored in the memory sections 430 through 43 n and extracted histogram data stored in the extracted histogram data memory 439 . one of the raw histogram data sections 430 through 43 n will always be the section currently being incremented as individual beats are processed by the processor 44 of fig3 to compute the value of one or more heart signal parameters for each processed beat . the other histogram sections will usually be the histograms collected during prior data collection time periods . in this example , each section 430 through 43 n has 5 histograms ( e . g ., section 430 has histograms 4301 , 4302 , 4303 , 4304 and 4305 ). each of the 5 histograms in each section has a multiplicity of bins ( e . g ., histogram 4301 has bins 4301 a , 4301 b through 4301 y ). each bin is a counter that is typically stored in one to 3 bytes of the histogram data memory 43 . as the cardiotracker 5 processes a beat of the patient &# 39 ; s electrogram , one or more heart signal parameters will be measured or computed for the beat . for each processed beat , the counter value of one bin in one of the histograms of the current histogram section will be incremented by one . the choice of which bin in which histogram is incremented will be based on two heart signal parameters . the selection of one of the 5 histograms will be based on the value of a first heart signal parameter and the choice of which bin is to be incremented will depend upon the value of a second heart signal parameter . specifically , a specific histogram will be selected if the value of the first heart signal parameter is within the range of the first heart signal parameter associated with that specific histogram . similarly , a bin within the selected histogram will be incremented if the value of the second heart signal parameter is within the range of the second heart signal parameter associated with that bin . for example , if the data collection time period used for tracking a heart signal parameter , like st deviation , is one day and collected data retention time period is one week , then n = 7 ( i . e ., section 43 n is section 437 ) and there will be 8 sections 430 through 437 in the histogram memory 43 with seven sections storing the data for each one of seven prior days and the eighth section storing the data for the current day . in this example , each of the five histograms per section correspond to a different range of r - r interval ( or heart rate ) [ the first heart signal parameter ] and each bin within a histogram corresponds to a different range of st deviation [ the second heart signal parameter ]. as a further example , section 4301 corresponds to heart rates that are between 50 and 80 bpm and each of the bins 4301 a through 4301 y would correspond to a 5 % wide (± 2 . 5 %) range of st deviation as a percentage of baseline r height . furthermore bin 4103 a would correspond to a range of st deviation of − 60 %+ 2 . 5 % of baseline r height and bin 4301 y would correspond to a range of st deviation of + 60 %+ 2 . 5 % of baseline r height . therefore the bin 4301 n ( not shown ) would correspond to a range of st deviation between + 2 . 5 % and + 7 . 5 % ( i . e ., 5 %+ 2 . 5 ) of the average baseline level of st deviation . this bin 4301 n would have the data shown as the highest bar of graph 601 in fig6 a . in fig6 a it is shown that there are a total of 25 bins in each of the histograms 601 - 605 inclusive . these bins run from − 60 % plus or minus 2 . 5 % to + 60 % plus or minus 2 . 5 %. the 14 th bin is 4301 n which is + 5 % plus or minus 2 . 5 % and the 25 th bin in section 4301 is 4301 y which is + 60 % plus or minus 2 . 5 %. the five different heart rate ranges shown for the histograms 601 to 605 inclusive of fig6 a would ( for example ) correspond to the sections 4301 to 4305 inclusive of fig5 . it is envisioned that the levels of st deviation can be representative of actual voltages ( e . g ., millivolts ) or they may be a normalized value with respect to the signal amplitude of the beat or electrogram segment . examples of such a signal amplitude is the qrs voltage v qrs ( 511 ) or the r wave height above the pq segment which is v pqr ( 519 ) of fig4 . in fig5 , if section 432 is the present day &# 39 ; s current histogram , then section 431 is from the day before , section 430 from 2 days before , and because the data rolls over , 437 ( not shown ) is the histogram for 3 days before , 436 ( not shown ) from 4 days before , 435 ( not shown ) from 5 days before , 434 ( not shown ) from 6 days before and section 433 ( not shown ) from 7 days before . for each beat analyzed by the cardiotracker for the current day &# 39 ; s histogram , the r - r interval ( heart rate ) for that beat is used to select one of the histograms 4321 through 4325 and the value of st deviation computed for that beat will be used to select the bin in the selected histogram that will be incremented by 1 . further using the labeling of fig4 , assume the r - r interval for the beat just analyzed is within the heart rate range of the first histogram 4321 of the current section 432 and the st deviation 510 of the beat analyzed is − 0 . 1 millivolts which is − 1 % of the r height 519 . in this case the bin corresponding to a range of st deviations that includes − 1 % of r height will be incremented by 1 . in this way each beat is counted in one bin of one histogram of the current section , in this case , section 432 . over a 24 hour period as the patient &# 39 ; s heart rate ( r - r interval ) goes up and down , the histograms will track the st deviation of each beat processed in each of the ranges of heart rate . at the end of the data collection time period ( 24 hours in this example ) during which section 432 is the current section , the cardiotracker will clear section 433 ( the section with the oldest data ) of all previously stored data and make section 433 ( now empty ) the current section for data collection . the previous current section 432 now becomes the section from one day before and is saved until the cycle repeats . on the day following the day where section 437 is the current day , section 430 will become the current section . it is envisioned that before clearing section 433 , the cardiotracker might extract or analyze the data in 433 and save the extracted data in the extracted histogram data memory 439 . for example , the median value of st deviation could be calculated for section 432 and that data could be time stamped as to the day of the year and placed into the extracted histogram data memory 439 . alternately , the extracted data placed in the extracted histogram data memory 439 may be calculated for the current histogram section 432 at the end of the data collection time period where the section 432 was designated as the current section . examples of extracted data for any data collection time period can include any one , some or all of the following : 1 . number of beats in a histogram exceeding an st deviation or st shift threshold , 2 . average st deviation or average st shift , 3 . standard deviation of st deviation or st shift distribution ( may include both positive and negative standard deviation values ), 4 . total number of beats in the histogram ( if there are very few beats in a particular histogram , using the average and / or standard deviation could be misleading ), 5 . st deviation or st shift bin with greatest number of beats , 6 . the moving average over 2 or more data collection time periods of any of items 1 through 5 immediately above , 7 . the average of the qrs or rs width , and 8 . the average qrs voltage . when the patient &# 39 ; s physician downloads the data from the histogram data memory 43 ( of fig3 ), the histograms for the current data collection time period up to the time of download , and the complete histograms for the previous collected data retention time period can all be viewed using the physician &# 39 ; s programmer 68 of fig1 . although the examples above used one day per section as the data collection time period , shorter or longer periods are envisioned . although 8 sections , ( representing 7 days plus a current day &# 39 ; s histogram section ) are described above , with sufficient memory , a month ( 32 sections ), a year ( 367 sections ) or more of data can be saved in this format . although 5 histograms per section are described in the example above , it is envisioned that as few as one and as many as 100 could be used to collect relevant data . there are a number of heart signal parameters including qrs width or rs width of the electrogram wave form and r - r interval variability indicative of changes in the balance of the patient &# 39 ; s sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems that are most likely to be tracked in a single histogram per data collection time period . other heart signal parameters such as st deviation , st segment voltage , st shift ( st deviation relative to average baseline st deviation ), t wave height , qrs voltage and / or r wave height may be preferably tracked with respect to heart rate ( determined from r - r interval ) using multiple histograms per section . it is envisioned , that the data collection time period could be as short as a minute and as long as many months . a preferred embodiment uses a data collection time period of one day as collection on a daily basis would eliminate any affects from daily cycles ( i . e ., from circadian rhythm ). a data collection time period of less than an hour would be useful to collect st deviation vs . heart rate data during a stress test in the doctor &# 39 ; s office . the data collected during such a stress test could be compared to earlier tests using analysis tools built into the physician &# 39 ; s programmer 68 of the tracker system 10 . histogram data does not require large amounts of data storage . for example , each of the five histograms 4321 through 4325 of fig5 might have 25 bins 4321 a , 4321 b through 4321 y , with each bin requiring 2 bytes of data storage . thus only 50 bytes are needed per histogram and 250 bytes for the entire section 432 . the eight sections would therefore require only 2 kilobytes , approximately 7 . 5 kilobytes would suffice for a month &# 39 ; s ( 30 days ) data and approximately 90 kilobytes for a year of data . being able to store a one week to twelve month history of cardiovascular condition within the cardiotracker would be of tremendous value to cardiologists in diagnosing the progression of cardiovascular disease . two byte bins are typically sufficient for a day &# 39 ; s data as the cardiotracker is designed to only monitor some fraction of the beats ( e . g ., 10 seconds out of every 30 seconds ) and a two byte counter could handle every third beat for 54 hours . if a longer data collection time period than 4 days is required , three bytes could handle more than year &# 39 ; s worth of data where a third of all beats are captured . four bytes per bin would be sufficient to count every heart beat for one hundred years . it is also envisioned that the physician &# 39 ; s programmer 68 of fig1 could include the capability to manually clear the data in the current histogram . this would allow a “ clean slate ” for data collection from a stress test where , as each beat is analyzed , the st deviation data build up is a representation of the patient &# 39 ; s cardiovascular condition . it is also envisioned that a special cardiotracker data collection mode where every beat is analyzed could be enabled to collect more data during such a stress test . if every beat is too high a burden on the cardiotracker processor , then the cardiotracker might process a higher percentage of beats than during standard cardiotracker operation . the actual turnover time for automated clearing of the oldest histograms at the end of each data collection time period would be programmable ( e . g ., midnight of the patient &# 39 ; s time zone for a one day data collection time period ). if the manual clearing function is used , it is envisioned that the current section of histogram memory would still be used until the next turnover time . fig6 a is an example of a histogram set 600 consisting of five histograms 601 through 605 inclusive representing an example of a programmer display screen of a single section of histogram data memory 43 of fig3 for a single data collection time period ( viz ., one day ). in fig6 a , the horizontal scale is the st deviation ( i . e ., st segment voltage minus pq segment voltage ) as a percent of the r height , v pqr ( 519 ) of fig4 . also in fig6 a , the vertical scale of each histogram 601 through 605 is the number of beats in the data collection time period ( viz ., one day ) where the st deviation was in one of the ranges listed on the horizontal scale of the histogram . each of the five histograms 601 through 605 represents all the beats processed ( during the data collection time period of one day ) that had r - r intervals corresponding to the heart rate range for that histogram . it is envisioned that the heart rate ( or r - r interval ) ranges for each histogram 601 through 605 may be either permanently set or programmable using the physician &# 39 ; s programmer 68 of fig1 . in the histograms 601 through 605 each bin represents a range of st deviation expressed as a percentage of the r height , v pqr ( 519 ) as shown in fig4 . each bin represents the shown value of − 60 , − 55 , − 50 , . . . + 60 , in percent of r height plus or minus 2 . 5 %. therefore , each bin covers a range ( i . e ., a class interval ) of 5 % of the r height 519 . the bin showing the value 5 ( i . e ., + 5 %) in histogram 601 would be incremented by one every time a beat with an r - r interval corresponding to a heart rate of 50 to 80 bpm had an st deviation between 2 . 5 % and & lt ; 7 . 5 % of the r height of that beat . the next higher bin would be 7 . 5 % to & lt ; 12 . 5 % of the r height , and so on . it is also envisioned that instead of using the r height 519 of each beat as the reference , the average r height of a multiplicity of beats of a baseline electrogram segment would be used as a reference . although the heart rate range for histogram 602 in fig6 a is shown as 81 to 100 bpm , the cardiotracker will classify any beat whose r - r interval corresponds to a heart rate greater than 80 bpm and less than or equal to 100 bpm as belonging in this heart rate range . similarly the heart rate range labels of 101 to 120 bpm ( histogram 603 ), 121 to 140 bpm ( histogram 604 ) and 141 to 160 bpm ( histogram 605 ) will include beats with r - r intervals corresponding to heart rates of & gt ; 100 to ≦ 120 bpm , & gt ; 120 to ≦ 140 bpm and & gt ; 140 to ≦ 160 bpm . this correspondence is also applied to the charts in fig6 b , 7 a , 7 b , 8 a and 8 b wherever heart rate ranges are specified . the technique of expressing st deviation as a percentage of r height 519 compensates for signal level variations from causes such as long term changes in electrode impedance or changes in the gain of an amplifier . as an alternative , it is also envisioned that the actual voltage or signal level or the percentage of a preset maximum signal level for the st deviation ( e . g ., millivolts ) could be used as the range for each bin in the histograms 601 through 605 . for example , the bins in 601 might represent between − 60 % to + 60 % of a maximum signal level of 10 millivolts . thus the bin labeled 5 would be incremented if the st deviation was between 2 . 5 % and 7 . 5 % of 10 millivolts ( i . e ., 0 . 25 to 0 . 75 millivolts ). the technique described here will work with preset bin ranges . preferably , this invention envisions bin ranges that can be set by the physician using the physician &# 39 ; s programmer 68 of fig1 . also shown in fig6 a are the median ( or average ) values 611 through 615 inclusive of the histograms 601 through 605 respectively . the median value and number of beats counted in a histogram are useful extracted data that would typically be saved in the extracted histogram data memory 439 of fig5 . the medians and numbers of beats can also be used to compute moving averages by either the cardiotracker 5 or programmer 68 of fig1 . it is envisioned that comparison of the medians and / or the moving averages to pre - set thresholds can be used to alert the patient to a significant change in their cardiovascular condition . fig6 b shows a set of histograms 650 consisting of the histograms 651 , 652 and 653 at three different ranges of heart rate ( 50 to 80 , 81 to 100 and 101 to 120 bpm ) for the heart signal parameter qrs voltage calculated as a percent deviation from the baseline qrs voltage . in fig6 b , the horizontal scale represents 41 histogram bins ( from − 20 % to + 20 %) with each bin corresponding to the labeled percent deviation of qrs voltage from the baseline qrs voltage plus or minus 1 %. also in fig6 b , the vertical scale represents the number of heart beats whose percentage deviation from the baseline qrs voltage fell within each of the 41 bins during the data collection time period ( e . g ., one day ). for example , for the histogram 651 , in the bin labeled “− 2 ” there were 3 , 000 recorded beats that had a percentage difference between the measured qrs voltage and the baseline qrs voltage between − 3 % and − 1 %. for example , if the baseline qrs voltage was 10 millivolts , histogram 651 shows that there were 3 , 000 beats with measured qrs voltage between 9 . 7 and 9 . 9 millivolts . similarly , the bin to the right of the − 2 % bin of histogram 651 indicates that approximately 600 beats during the data collection time period had a qrs voltage within + 1 % of the baseline qrs voltage . the dashed lines 661 , 662 and 663 represent the average values − 2 %, − 4 % and − 8 % of the histograms 651 , 652 and 653 respectively . the average value dashed lines 661 , 662 and 663 represent respectively the median ( or mean ) values of the percent qrs voltage deviation for three different heart rate ranges , namely : 50 - 80 bpm , & gt ; 80 - 100 bpm and & gt ; 100 to 120 bpm for the histograms 651 , 652 and 653 . the heart rate ranges can be set and adjusted by the medical practitioner using the programmer 68 of fig1 . fig7 a is a histogram display 700 that shows five different heat rate ranges of histograms for three different days 701 , 703 and 707 . this representation would typically be shown as a screen on the physician &# 39 ; s programmer 68 of fig1 . the display 700 of fig7 a would allow the physician to examine trends in the st deviation vs . heart rate over time . this example clearly shows in day 7 ( chart 707 ) that there is a significant change in the distribution of st deviation at higher heart rates as compared with days 1 and 3 . this would be indicative of a narrowing or partial occlusion of one or more coronary arteries in the heart . although this is a good way to look at changes between two different time periods , the display of fig8 a is a preferred means to clearly see such changes . it is also envisioned that instead of the distributions of st deviation as shown in fig7 a , the average or median st deviations for each heart rate range could be displayed as a single vertical bar or line . fig7 b is a histogram display 750 that shows three different heart rate ranges for three different days 751 , 753 and 757 . comparable to fig7 a , fig7 b shows the histograms for qrs voltage for a multiplicity of beats plotted as a percent deviation from the baseline qrs voltage . fig8 a is a graphical representation 800 of the five day moving average of the average daily st deviation for each of five heart rate ranges 801 through 805 inclusive for a period of 26 weeks ( 6 months ). the display 800 as shown in fig8 a , would be of tremendous value to a cardiologist in recognizing a gradual but potentially life threatening change in a patient &# 39 ; s cardiovascular condition . as a patient with the cardiotracker 5 of fig1 goes about daily activities their heart rate will go up and down . each beat analyzed by the cardiotracker ( typically between 6 and 80 beats in any particular minute ) will increment the appropriate heart rate range related histogram allowing the cardiotracker 5 to store the daily distributions of st deviation in the five different heart rates . while the cardiotracker 5 may only store the histogram data for a week or two , the extracted histogram data memory 439 of fig5 could be used to store extracted histogram data for a much longer period of time . in fact , the use of extracted histogram data is an extremely efficient way to track the changes in heart signal parameters over an extended period of time . for example storing the average st deviation and number of beats in each of five daily histograms ( 5 heart rate ranges ) requires only 15 bytes per day within the extracted histogram data memory 439 . this translates to approximately 450 bytes per month and 5 , 500 bytes per year . this efficient data storage can be compared with electrogram data storage where at 200 samples per second , 30 seconds of electrogram storage requires 6 , 000 bytes of data storage . the display 800 could result from calculations made by the programmer 68 of fig1 after downloading six months worth of daily histograms or extracted histogram data from the cardiotracker 5 . alternatively , the programmer 68 could combine data downloaded from the cardiotracker 5 on multiple occasions . moving averages could also be calculated within the cardiotracker 5 or within the programmer 68 from the daily average or median value for st deviation using the beat count extracted from the histogram data . such calculations would not overly tax the power consumption on the cardiotracker 5 as the calculations would require at most a few seconds of processor time per day . it is also envisioned that the cardiologist might set an alarm threshold 820 for any or all heart rate range curves so that when one or more of the five day moving averages of st deviation crosses the limit , the patient would be alerted . different thresholds for each heart rate range could also be implemented . in the example of fig8 a , the alarm threshold 820 for the 121 - 140 bpm heart rate range 804 was set to − 12 % of the r height , and a see doctor alert would have been initiated by the cardiotracker 5 two weeks before the current date . it is envisioned that the programmer 68 would allow the physician to set these detection thresholds . the programmer 68 would also allow the physician to specify what type of alarm will be generated by the cardiotracker 5 if the detection threshold is passed , e . g ., either a see doctor alert or an emergency alarm . it is also envisioned that detection thresholds could be set for the slope of the curves of fig8 a so that significant downward slope of st deviation would initiate a patient alert . also , it is envisioned that a combination of a specific value above the threshold 820 when combined with a specific downward slope could also be used to trigger a see doctor alert . instead of using the fixed threshold 820 for triggering a see doctor alert from the 5 day moving average of the average st deviation for each heart rate range , an adaptive threshold that is based on the difference between the maximum and minimum of the 5 day moving average curves exceeding a preset threshold is a preferred embodiment for the present invention . the processing of extracted histogram data would typically be performed once per day although longer and shorter data collection time periods are also envisioned . an example of the extraction process for average st deviation would be as follows : 1 . once per data collection time period ( e . g ., once per day ), the st deviation histogram data collected during the previous data collection time period is summarized , stored and analyzed . for each heart rate range , estimates are made of the average ( e . g ., mean and / or median ) st deviation , the average − 1 sigma and the average + 1 sigma of the st deviation . 2 . other data , e . g ., number of analyzed beats in each heart rate range and the average 24 hour baseline signal amplitude ( e . g ., r height or qrs voltage ) may also be stored as part of the summary data . 3 . an n day moving average ( n is typically between 1 and 30 ) of the daily average ( e . g ., mean or median ) st deviation for each heart rate range is then determined , along with the maximum and minimum values of the n day moving averages for each heart rate range . if the difference between the maximum moving average and the minimum moving average of the st deviation for any of the st deviation moving average curves 801 through 805 exceeds a preset threshold , an st deviation histogram trending event for that heart rate range can be detected . if enabled , a see doctor alert would then be triggered . the hour at which the daily extraction would occur is programmable by the doctor so that detection of such a trending event would trigger the see doctor alert at time that is convenient to the patient ( e . g ., not while he would be sleeping ). once a see doctor alert has been triggered and the patient has had therapy ( e . g ., a stent or angioplasty procedure ) that relieves the st depression ( or elevation ) the programmer 68 of fig1 can be used to reset the start date for future histogram trending analysis so that the st shift data that caused the alert in the past is not used in future analysis . an alternative technique to accomplish this is to clear all previously stored histogram data from the cardiotracker memory once the st shift has been treated . therefore any new analysis would not include the data that caused the histogram trending event . the prior data would however , remain in the programmer 68 for later review and tracking of the patient &# 39 ; s history . for example , once per day at noon , to avoid alerting the patient when he might be asleep , the cardiotracker could calculate the daily average ( mean or median ) st deviation from the histogram for each heart rate range ( e . g ., 601 through 605 ) of fig6 a . the cardiotracker would then calculate the 5 day moving average that includes the just calculated daily average st deviation and the averages from the four previous days . the cardiotracker could then identify the maximum and minimum values of the moving average data for each heart rate range after a start date set by the programmer 68 . if the difference between the maximum and minimum values exceeds a preset threshold for any heart rate range , then a histogram trending event is detected and , if enabled , a see doctor alert would be triggered in the implanted cardiotracker 5 . fig8 b illustrates a display 850 on the physician &# 39 ; s programmer 68 for the median ( or mean ) value of the percent deviation of qrs voltage over a six month period compared to a baseline qrs voltage . the display 850 shows the percent deviation for qrs voltage for three different heart rate ranges corresponding to the heart rate ranges shown for fig6 b and 7b . the three curves , 851 , 852 and 853 correspond respectively to the heart rate ranges of 50 - 80 bpm , 81 - 100 bpm and 101 to 120 bpm . it is expected that the display 850 of fig8 b would be of great value to doctors who treat heart transplant patients . specifically , it has been shown by warnecke , et al that a decrease of 8 % in the qrs voltage from a baseline qrs voltage value from a time when the heart is not being rejected can indicate rejection of a transplanted heart at an early enough time to change the patient &# 39 ; s medication to save that heart . the present “ gold standard ” for detecting rejection is a biopsy that ( starting two years after implant ) is typically carried out only once each six month time period . this biopsy is done in a catheterization laboratory and it is typically difficult for the patient and quite expensive . also , if rejection occurs starting at some time between the six month biopsy procedures , then that early detection of rejection will not be possible . if however , a patient has an implanted cardiotracker 5 that has an alarm that is triggered by the − 8 % decrease in qrs voltage , then that see doctor alert setting 860 as shown in fig8 b will occur and the heart in that transplant patient can be saved by appropriate medication therapies . it is envisioned that the setting of the level 860 for triggering a see doctor alert could be between − 1 % and − 20 % below the baseline value of the qrs voltage . furthermore , one could combine a negative slope of any of the curves of fig8 b with a higher value for triggering the see doctor alert . for example , if a slow descent of the percent deviation of qrs voltage utilized a − 8 % drop as the level to set off the see doctor alert , it is envisioned that a level of ( let us say ) − 6 % could be used to set off the see doctor alert if the downward slope corresponded to ( let us say ) a − 1 % per week decrease in qrs voltage . thus the patient would be warned two weeks earlier that he is going to reach the level of − 8 % when his doctor would prescribe a change in the patient &# 39 ; s medication regime . while it may be sufficient to detect transplant rejection when the deviation of average daily qrs voltage as compared to the baseline qrs voltage exceeds a preset threshold for a single day , it may be more reliable to require that the threshold be exceeded for two or more consecutive days . an example of the extraction process for average ( mean or median ) qrs voltage would be as follows : 1 . once per data collection time period ( e . g ., once per day ), the qrs voltage data collected during the previous data collection time period is summarized , stored and analyzed . for each heart rate range , calculations are made of the average ( e . g ., mean and / or median ) qrs voltage and the average − 1 sigma and average + 1 sigma deviations of the qrs voltage . 2 . other data , e . g ., number of analyzed beats in each heart rate range baseline r height for the past 24 hours could also be stored as part of the summary data . if the average qrs voltage has declined more than a preset percentage of the baseline qrs voltage , a transplant rejection event for that heart rate range will be detected . if enabled , a see doctor alert would then be triggered . the baseline qrs voltage is an average qrs voltage captured at an earlier time when the transplanted heart was not experiencing rejection . it is also envisioned that to reduce the possibility of a false positive detection , a see doctor alert would only be triggered alter a specified number of successive transplant rejection events . for example , it might require two or three successive transplant rejection events to trigger the alert . the hour at which the daily extraction of collected data would occur is programmable by tile doctor so that detection of such an event would trigger the see doctor alert at a time that is convenient to the patient ( e . g ., not while the patient would be sleeping ). once a see doctor alert has been triggered and the patient has had therapy ( e . g ., an increase in cyclosporine ) that reverses the rejection episode , the programmer 68 of fig1 can be used to reset the baseline qrs voltage so that the data that caused the alert is in the past and is not used in future analysis . for example , once per day at noon , the cardiotracker will calculate the daily average ( mean or median ) qrs voltage from the histogram for each heart rate range ( e . g ., the heart rate ranges 651 through 653 of fig6 b ). if the difference between the recently calculated average qrs voltage and the baseline qrs voltage exceeds a preset threshold 860 for any heart rate range , then a transplant rejection event is detected and if enabled , a see doctor alert ( or possibly an emergency alarm ) is triggered . although a decline in the average qrs voltage is cited here as a known means for early detection of rejection for a transplanted heart , it is also envisioned that some other heart signal parameter may be equally or better suited for that purpose . specifically , st deviation or st shift , r wave slope , qrs complex width or another heart signal parameter could be used for the early detection of rejection of a transplanted heart . furthermore , it is envisioned to place an accelerometer onto the end of an epicardial or endocardial lead , which end is firmly attached to the heart muscle , to detect a change in heart wall motion that could be indicative of early rejection . the combination of a means to measure heart wall motion with a second means to detect a change in a heart signal parameter is also envisioned as a means for early detection of the rejection of a transplanted heart . although st deviation and qrs voltage have been the primary examples used here for histogram data collected based on a patient &# 39 ; s heart rate , it is envisioned that any other heart signal parameter measured or calculated can be usefully used with this histogram methodology . examples of such parameters include qrs or rs complex width , st shift ( st deviation compared to a baseline st deviation ), r wave width , t wave shape , t wave alternans , changes in r - r interval variability and number of overly long r - r intervals . these parameters may be monitored independent of the patient &# 39 ; s heart rate , or separate histograms could be used for each of multiple heart rate ranges . although the present invention has described the use of histogram memory for cardiovascular electrical signals , these techniques are also applicable for electrical signals collected using electrodes from other portions of the human body . such electrical signals include signals from the human brain , gastrointestinal tract , the liver , the pancreas and musculature . any of these organs may ( for example ) have a change in their electrical signal that might indicate an early stage of rejection . furthermore , although only electrogram related histograms have been described herein , it should be understood that other measurements including measurements by heart motion sensors , temperatures at certain places in the body and devices to measure pressure and / or po 2 may be used to generate histograms of cardiovascular condition of the patient . it is also envisioned that all of the processing techniques described herein for an implantable cardiotracker are applicable to a tracker system configuration using skin surface electrodes and a non - implanted cardiotracker . for systems that were totally external to the patient , the term “ electrogram ” would be replaced by the term “ electrocardiogram ”. thus the cardiotracker device described in fig1 through 3 inclusive would also function as a monitoring device that is completely external to the patient . it is important to note that many of the functions of the tracker system as described herein that are programmable by a medical practitioner could be preset in manufacture to typical settings that are useful for most patients . thus the doctor could use this default mode instead of trying to set particular alarm parameters for a particular patient . furthermore , the physician &# 39 ; s programmer 68 could have a default mode to restore all the settings of either or both the cardiotracker 5 and external alarm system 60 to values that are recommended by the manufacturer . there may also be separate default settings for men and woman and others that would be related to a specific medical problem that the patient has . although the histogram technique is a preferred embodiment of the present invention as it greatly reduces the amount of memory needed to store the values of a heart signal parameter for each beat analyzed during a data collection time period , it is also envisioned that the each measured or calculated value of one or more heart signal parameters could be directly stored in memory . for example , the value of st deviation would be measured for each beat during a one hour data collection time period ( e . g ., during a stress test ). these values would all be stored in memory and at the end of the data collection time period , the average st deviation for each heart rate range could be calculated from the stored values . this technique would be of greatest value where the data collection time period is shorter than a day . various other modifications , adaptations , and alternative designs are of course possible in light of the above teachings . therefore , it should be understood at this time that , within the scope of the appended claims , the invention can be practiced otherwise than as specifically described herein . | 0 |
embodiments of the present invention will be described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings , in which exemplary embodiments of the invention are shown . as those skilled in the art would realize , the described embodiments may be modified in various different ways , all without departing from the spirit or scope of the present invention . in the drawings , like reference numerals designate like elements throughout the specification . it will be understood that when an element such as a layer , film , region , or substrate is referred to as being “ on ” another element , it can be directly on the other element or intervening elements may also be present . firstly , an organic light emitting device according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to fig1 to fig4 . fig1 is a block diagram of an organic light emitting device according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention , fig2 is an equivalent circuit diagram of one pixel in an organic light emitting device according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention , fig3 is a cross - sectional view of a driving transistor and an organic light emitting element in one pixel of an organic light emitting device according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention , and fig4 is a schematic diagram of an organic light emitting element in an organic light emitting device according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention . as shown in fig1 , an organic light emitting device according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention includes a display panel 300 , a scan driver 400 and a data driver 500 connected thereto , and a signal controller 600 for controlling them . referring to the equivalent circuit , the display panel assembly 300 includes a plurality of signal lines g 1 - gn and d 1 - dm and a plurality of pixels px connected to the signal lines g 1 - gn and d 1 - dm and arranged substantially in a matrix structure . the signal lines g 1 - gn and d 1 - dm include a plurality of gate lines g 1 - gn transmitting scanning signals , and a plurality of data lines d 1 - dm transmitting data signals . the gate lines g 1 - gn extend substantially in a row direction and are substantially parallel to each other , and the data lines d 1 - dm extend substantially in a column direction and are substantially parallel to each other . as shown in fig2 , each pixel px of the organic light emitting device according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention includes an organic light emitting element oled , a driving transistor qd , a capacitor cst , and a switching transistor qs . the control terminal of the driving transistor qd is connected to the switching transistor qs , the input terminal thereof is connected to the driving voltage vdd , and the output terminal thereof is connected to the organic light emitting diode oled . the driving thin film transistor qd outputs through the output terminal to the organic light emitting element oled a current ioled having a magnitude that changes according to a voltage between the control terminal and the output terminal of transistor qd . each switching thin film transistor qs has a control terminal , an input terminal , and an output terminal , and the control terminal thereof is connected to a gate line g 1 - gn , the input terminal thereof is connected to a data line d 1 - dm , and the output terminal thereof is connected to a driving thin film transistor qd . the switching thin film transistor qs transfers a data signal that is applied to the data line dj to the driving thin film transistor qd in response to a scanning signal that is applied to the gate line gi . the switching transistor qs and the driving transistor qd include an n - channel metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistor ( mosfet ) comprising amorphous silicon . however , the transistors qs and qd may include a p - channel mosfet , and in this case , because the p - channel mosfet and the n - channel mosfet are complementary , an operation , a voltage , and a current of the p - channel mosfet are opposite to those of the n - channel mosfet . the capacitor cst is connected between the control terminal and the input terminal of the driving thin film transistor qd . the capacitor cst charges the data voltages vdat applied to the control terminal of the driving transistor qd and maintains them during one frame . the organic light emitting element oled has an anode connected to the output terminal of the driving transistor qd and a cathode connected to a common voltage vcom . the organic light emitting element oled emits light having an intensity depending on an output current ioled of the driving transistor qd . next , the structure of the driving transistor qd and the organic light emitting element oled of an organic light emitting device will be described with reference to fig3 and fig4 . fig3 is a cross - sectional view of a driving transistor and an organic light emitting element in one pixel of an organic light emitting device according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention , and fig4 is a schematic diagram of an organic light emitting element in an organic light emitting device according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention . as shown in fig3 , a control electrode 124 is formed on an insulation substrate 110 . the control electrode 124 may be made of an aluminum - based metal of aluminum ( al ) or aluminum alloys , a silver - based metal of silver ( ag ) or silver alloys , a copper - based metal of copper ( cu ) or copper alloys , a molybdenum - based metal of molybdenum ( mo ) or molybdenum alloys , chromium ( cr ), tantalum ( ta ), titanium ( ti ), etc . however , the control electrode 124 may have a multi - layer structure including two conductive layers ( not shown ) that have different physical properties to each other . one of the conductive layers may be formed using a metal having low resistivity , such as an aluminum - based metal , a silver - based metal , or a copper - based metal , to reduce signal delay or voltage drop . unlike the above , other conductive layers may be formed using a material having good physical , chemical , and electrical contact characteristics with , particularly , indium tin oxide ( ito ) and indium zinc oxide ( izo ), such as a molybdenum - based metal , chromium , tantalum , titanium , or the like . examples of the combination may include a lower chromium film and an upper aluminum ( alloy ) film , and a lower aluminum ( alloy ) film and an upper molybdenum ( alloy ) film . however , the control electrode 124 may be made of various metals or conductors . side surfaces of the control electrode 124 are inclined to a surface of the substrate 110 , and an inclination angle thereof may be about 30 ° to about 80 °. a gate insulating layer 140 , which is made of silicon nitride ( sinx ), silicon oxide ( siox ), or so on , is formed on the control electrode 124 . a semiconductor island 154 that is made of hydrogenated amorphous silicon ( a - si ), polysilicon , or so on , is formed on the gate insulating layer 140 . a pair of ohmic contacts 163 and 165 is formed on the semiconductor island 154 . the ohmic contacts 163 and 165 may be made of a material such as n + hydrogenated amorphous silicon in which an n - type impurity such as phosphorus is doped with high concentration , or of silicide . the semiconductor island 154 and the ohmic contacts 163 and 165 are also inclined with respect to a surface of the substrate 110 , and an inclination angle thereof is about 30 ° to about 80 °. an input electrode 173 and an output electrode 175 are formed on the ohmic contacts 163 and 165 , and the insulating layer 140 . the input electrode 173 and the output electrode 175 may be made of a refractory metal such as molybdenum , chromium , tantalum , and titanium , or alloys thereof , and have a multi - layered structure including a refractory metal layer ( not shown ) and a low resistance conductive layer ( not shown ). a multi - layered structure includes , for example , a dual - layer of a chromium or molybdenum ( alloy ) lower layer and an aluminum ( alloy ) upper layer , and a triple - layer of a molybdenum ( alloy ) lower layer , an aluminum ( alloy ) middle layer , and a molybdenum ( alloy ) upper layer . however , the input electrode 173 and the output electrode 175 may be made of various other metals or conductors . side surfaces of the input electrode 173 and the output electrode 175 may also be inclined to the surface of the substrate 110 , and an inclination angle thereof is about 30 ° to about 80 °. the input electrode 173 and the output electrode 175 are separated from each other and are disposed on the other side with respect to the control electrode 124 . the control electrode 124 , the input electrode 173 , and the output electrode 175 form the driving transistor qd along with the semiconductor 154 , and the channel thereof is formed in the semiconductor 154 between the input electrode 173 and the output electrode 175 . the ohmic contacts 163 and 165 are interposed only between the underlying semiconductor island 154 and the overlying input electrode 173 and output electrode 175 thereon , and reduce contact resistance therebetween . the semiconductor islands 154 include exposed portions that are not covered by the input electrode 173 and the output electrode 175 . a passivation layer 180 is formed on the input electrode 173 , the output electrode 175 , and the exposed semiconductor 154 . the passivation layer 180 may be made of an inorganic insulator or an organic insulator and may have a flat surface . the example of the inorganic insulator may be silicon nitride or silicon oxide . the organic insulator may have photosensitivity and the dielectric constant thereof may be less than about 4 . 0 . also , the passivation layer 180 may have a dual - layered structure of a lower inorganic layer and an upper organic layer to prevent damage to the exposed portions of the semiconductors 154 while maintaining insulating characteristics of the organic layer . the passivation layer 180 has a contact hole 185 exposing the output electrode 175 . a pixel electrode 190 is formed on the passivation layer 180 . each respective pixel electrode 190 is physically and electrically connected to an output electrode 175 through a contact holea 185 , and may be made of a transparent conductive material such as ito or izo , or a reflective conductor such as silver , aluminum , or alloys thereof . partitions 361 are formed on the passivation layer 180 . the partitions 361 define a plurality of openings enclosing edges of the pixel electrodes 190 like a bank , and are made of an organic insulator or an inorganic insulator . an organic light emitting member 370 is formed in the opening defined by the partitions 361 on the pixel electrodes 190 . as shown in fig4 , the organic light emitting member 370 has a multi - layer structure including an auxiliary layer for improving light emitting efficiency of an emitting layer eml in addition to the emitting layer eml . the auxiliary layer includes an electron transport layer etl and a hole transport layer htl for adjusting the balance of electrons and holes , and an electron injecting layer eil and a hole injecting layer hil for solidifying the injection of electrons and holes . the accessory layers may be omitted . the common electrode 270 is formed on the partition 361 and the organic light emitting member 370 . the common electrode 270 is applied with a common voltage vcom and is made of a transparent conductive material such as ito or izo or a reflective metal including calcium ( ca ), barium ( ba ), aluminum ( al ), magnesium ( mg ), aluminum , and silver ( ag ). the pixel electrode 190 , the organic light emitting member 370 , and the common electrode 270 comprise the organic light emitting diode oled shown in fig2 , and the pixel electrode 190 can be an anode and the common electrode 270 can be a cathode , or the pixel electrode 190 can be a cathode and the common electrode 191 can be an anode . the organic light emitting diode oled emits light of one primary color according to a material of the organic light emitting member 370 . the primary color may include , for example , three primary colors of red , green , and blue , and a desired color may be displayed with a spatial combination of the three primary colors . this organic light emitting device emits light toward the upper side of the substrate 110 to display images . an opaque pixel electrode 190 and a transparent common electrode 270 are applied to a top emission organic light emitting device for displaying an image in an upper direction of the display panel 300 , and a transparent pixel electrode 190 and an opaque common electrode 270 are applied to a bottom emission organic light emitting device for displaying an image in a lower direction of the display panel 300 . referring to fig1 , the gate driver 400 is connected to the gate lines g 1 to gn of the display panel 300 , and applies scanning signals obtained by combining a gate - on voltage von for turning on the switching elements qs and a gate - off voltage voff for turning them off to the gate lines g 1 to gn . the data driver 500 is connected to the data lines d 1 to dm of the display panel 300 , and applies the data voltages representing image signals to the pixels . the gate driver 400 or the data driver 500 may be integrated on and mounted in the display panel 300 in the form of at least one ic chip , or may be mounted on a flexible printed circuit film ( not shown ) and attached to the liquid crystal panel assembly 300 in a tape carrier package ( tcp ). alternatively , the driving apparatuses 400 and 500 may be integrated with the display panel 300 . the signal controller 600 controls the operations of the scan driver 400 and the data driver 500 , and compensates the image signals . next , the operation of the organic light emitting device will be described . the signal controller 600 receives input image signals r , g , and b , and an input control signal to control the display of the image signals r , g , and b from a graphics controller ( not shown ), and examples of the input control signals may include a vertical synchronization signal vsync , a horizontal synchronizing signal hsync , a main clock signal mclk , a data enable signal de , and the like . the signal controller 600 processes the input image signals r , g , and b in such a way to be suitable for the operating conditions of the display panel 300 based on the input image signals r , g , and b and the input control signal . the signal controller 600 generates a gate control signal cont 1 , a data control signal cont 2 , and so on , and it sends the gate control signal cont 1 to the scan driver 400 and the data control signal cont 2 and a processed image signal dat to the data driver 500 . the gate control signal cont 1 includes a scanning start signal ( stv ) to initiate scanning , and at least one clock signal to control an output cycle of the gate - on voltage von . the data control signal cont 2 includes a horizontal synchronization start signal ( sth ) to indicate the start of image data transmission for a row of pixels ( px ), a load signal ( load ) to apply the data signal to the data lines ( d 1 - dm ), and a data clock signal ( hclk ). the data driver 500 sequentially receives image data dat for the pixels of one row according to the data control signal cont 2 from the signal controller 600 , shifts them , and applies the data voltages corresponding to each image data dat to the corresponding data lines d 1 to dm . the scan driver 400 applies the gate - on voltage von to the gate lines g 1 to gn according to the gate control signal cont 1 from the signal controller 600 to turn on the switching elements qs connected to the gate lines g 1 to gn . then , the data voltage that is applied to the data lines d 1 to dm is applied to the corresponding control terminal of the driving transistor qd and the capacitor cst through the turned - on switching elements qs , and the capacitor cst charges the data voltages . the voltage charged to the capacitor cst is sustained during one frame , even though the scanning signal becomes the gate - off voltage voff , thereby turning off the switching transistor qs such that the control terminal voltage of the driving transistor qd is uniformly maintained . the driving transistor qd outputs the output current ioled , whose value depends on the data voltage , to the organic light emitting element oled , and the organic light emitting element oled emits with a strength that changes according to the magnitude of the driving current ioled thereby displaying the corresponding image . when one horizontal period ( or 1h ) ( one period of the horizontal synchronization signal hsync and the data enable signal de ) lapses , the data driver 500 and the scan driver 400 perform the same operation repeatedly over the next row of pixels . in this manner , the scan signals are sequentially applied to every scan signal line g 1 - gn during one frame period to thus apply the data voltage to every pixel . next , an image signal compensation driving method of a signal controller of the organic light emitting device according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to fig5 to fig8 . fig5 is a block diagram of a signal controller in an organic light emitting device according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention , fig6 is a flowchart of a driving method of an organic light emitting device according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention , fig7 is a photo showing an example of the portion where a same image signal is input during a predetermined frame , and fig8 is a waveform diagram of an input signal in a driving method of an organic light emitting device according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention . an image signal compensation method of the signal controller 600 shown in fig5 will be described with reference to fig5 and fig6 . as shown in fig5 , the signal controller 600 includes a comparing unit 610 and a signal converter 620 . although not shown in the drawings , the comparing unit 610 includes a plurality of frame memories ( not shown ) and assistance memories ( not shown ). referring to fig5 and fig6 , the comparing unit 610 stores the input image signals r , g , and b , which are input every frame , to each frame memory ( step 110 ). the comparing unit 610 compares the input image signal r , g , and b , which is stored in each frame memory , to each other ( step 120 ) to determine whether the same input image signal r , g , and b is supplied during the predetermined frame ( step 130 ). here , in each pixel , the input image signal r , g , and b which is supplied to the frame is compared and it is determined whether the input image signal r , g , and b is repeated during a plurality of frames for each pixel . if a different image signal r , g , and b is supplied during the predetermined frames ( a ), the signal controller 600 directly processes the input image signal r , g , and b and outputs the image signal dat to the data driver 500 ( step 160 ). if the same image signal r , g , and b is supplied ( b ), the location information and the input image signal r , g , and b of the ( m × n ) portion of pixels where the input image signal r , g , and b is repeated among the pixels are stored to an assistance memory ( not shown ) ( step 140 ). here , the assistance memory does not store the signals for all pixels , but only the information related to the ( m × n ) portion of pixels where the input image signal r , g , and b is repeated , such that the capacity thereof may be smaller than that of the frame memory . the comparing unit 610 transmits to the signal converter 620 the stored location information and the input image signal r , g , and b of the m × n portion of pixels where the input image signal r , g , and b is repeated . the signal converter 620 converts the input image signal r , g , and b of the m × n portion of pixels ( step 150 ) to generate a compensation image signal and transmits it as the image signal dat ( step 160 ). similarly , the signal converter 620 converts the image signal r , g , and b of the m × n pixel portion that is repeated during the predetermined frame of the input image signal r , g , and b to generate the compensation image signal to prevent the afterimage due to the repeat of the image signal . the comparing unit 610 of the signal controller 600 determines the m × n portion of pixels that is repeated during the predetermined frame of the input image signal r , g , and b , not the entire frame , and converts the signal , obtaining faster processing . next , the signal conversion of the signal converter 620 will be described with reference to fig7 and fig8 . fig7 is a photo showing an example of the portion where image signal is repeated during a predetermined frame , and fig8 is a waveform diagram of an input signal in a driving method of an organic light emitting device according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention . referring to fig7 , the logo of the broadcasting company is an example of a portion where the images are displayed for a predetermined period of the time among the entire screen when the motion picture is displayed . in fig7 , a circle indicates the portion where the images are repeated . the input image signal r , g , and b for the pixel portions that are repeated is repeatedly input during the predetermined period of time , as shown in fig8 ( a ). the signal converter 620 of the organic light emitting device according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention receives the location information and the input image signal r , g , and b of the m × n portion of pixels that are repeated during the predetermined period of time . this is shown in fig8 ( a ) which corresponds to the circled portion of fig7 . the signal converter 620 then inserts black data to the input image signal r , g , and b to convert the signal , as shown in fig8 ( b ). this black data may be a data signal for temporarily turning off the current in the organic light emitting member 370 . accordingly , the image signal for the m × n portion of pixels that is supplied to the data driver after passing the signal converter 620 includes normal data based on the input image signal r , g , and b and the black data with minimal luminance . as described , black data is inserted to the repeated input image signal r , g , and b with a predetermined period to prevent the signals from being continuous during the several frames , thereby preventing screen afterimages . as described , according to embodiments of the present invention , the portion of pixels where the data signals are repeated during the predetermined frame is determined , and black data signal is inserted to the data signal of the repeated pixel portions to quickly prevent afterimages using little memory . while embodiments of the invention have been described in connection with what is presently considered to be practical exemplary embodiments , it is to be understood that the invention is not 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 . | 6 |
the invention permits a small footprint ( i . e . small vlsi size ) system that can reconfigure its underlying hardware structure in a way that optimally implements a complex n - point parallel fft butterfly stage , a complex division vector operation , or a complex multiplication vector operation . by doing so , the system may be configured in 802 . 11a mode for optimum ofdm - fft processing and may be reconfigured in 802 . 11a or 802 . 11b mode for channel estimation or time domain filtering . moreover , the system circumvents the need for traditional two &# 39 ; s complement multiplication modules anywhere in the computation or data path stages through the incorporation of flexible cordic hardware module . this makes the implementation much more amenable to vlsi implementation . for ieee 802 . 11a , the system may implement a 64 - point complex fft in 38 clock cycles ; it also may perform point - wise multiplication or division of a complex vector by a complex vector in 51 clock cycles . the fft refers to the computationally efficient implementation of the dft ( discrete fourier transform ) by exploiting the following properties of w n , a multiplying factor : a direct computation of the dft involves n 2 complex multiplications and n *( n − 1 ) complex additions . the dft is defined as x r = ∑ k = 0 n - 1 x k w n rk for r = 0 , 1 , 2 , … , n - 1 the multiplying factors w n are known as “ phase factors ” or “ twiddle factors .” the inverse discrete fourier transform ( idft ) is defined as x k = 1 n ∑ r = 0 n - 1 x r w n - rk for k = 0 , 1 , 2 , … , n - 1 as the idft only differs from the dft in sign of phase of w n and a scaling factor , for the purposes of discussion , only the dft is used . however , all derivations below apply to idft with simple sign manipulation and scaling factor application . based on the equations for the dft , the equation for a 64 - point fft , as used in the ieee 802 . 11 protocol , may be written as x r = ∑ k = 0 63 x k w n rk x k = 1 64 ∑ r = 0 63 x r w n - rk where both x k and x r are , in general , complex vectors . the point - wise complex vector multiplication and division may be described as where x , y , and z , are complex vectors of equal length . the point - wise vector multiplication and division performs z [ i ]= x [ i ]× y [ i ] and z [ i ]= x [ i ]/ y [ i ] for each element i of input vectors x and y . the cordinate rotation digital computer ( cordic ) algorithm is an iterative procedure to compute various elementary functions . the cordic algorithm uses a single core routine to evaluate sines , cosines , multiplications , divisions , exponentials , logarithms , and transcendental functions . the cordic algorithm computes these functions with n - bits of accuracy in n iterations , where each iteration requires only a small number of shifts and additions . the basic cordic equations are as follows : where m identifies circular ( m = 1 ), linear ( m = 0 ), or hyperbolic ( m =− 1 ) co - ordinate systems , and for each iteration i = 0 , 1 , . . . , n . s ( m , i ) = ( 0 , 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , … m = 1 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , … m = 0 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 4 , 5 , … m = - 1 ( repeat at 3 i + 2 - 1 2 ) α m , i = { a tan ( 2 - s ( m , i ) ) m = 1 2 - s ( m , i ) m = 0 a tan ( 2 - s ( m , i ) ) m = - 1 σ i = { sign ( z i ) for rotation - sign ( x i ) · sign ( y i ) for vectoring k m = ∏ i = 0 n 1 + m σ i 2 2 - 2 s ( m , i ) = ∏ i = 0 n 1 + m2 - 2 s ( m , i ) it should be noted that this scale factor is fixed for each mode m , and thus can be pre - calculated . furthermore , this scale factor may be approximated as sum - of - powers - of - 2 , thus simplifying its implementation to few adders and multiplexers instead of a multiplier . table 1 shows the different elementary functions that can be evaluated by the cordic algorithm . the multiplication and division operations using cordic have a restriction in that their results must be bounded by the input word length . if fractional fixed - point format is assumed , the multiplication output is always fractional , and thus satisfies the criterion . for division operation , the two fractional inputs must be scaled such that the division result is guaranteed to be fractional . fig2 shows a typical hardware implementation of cordic algorithms using adders / subtractors 200 , 201 , 202 , shifters 208 , 209 , and registers 204 , 206 , 207 in a cordic core engine 203 under the signal 212 from the controller 211 . hardware reduction is significant due to elimination of multiplier and divider . referring to fig3 a and 3b , the invention may be used to implement an n - point fft / ifft using a radix - k fft kernel 300 and cordic core engine 301 for complex rotations of twiddle factors . the embodiment of the invention shown in fig3 a may be used in various ways , as shown in the fig3 b , in relation to wlan . the invention may be used for wlan data transfers between data centers 309 and desktop computers 303 , laptops 302 , personal handheld device 307 , cell phones 306 , and tvs 304 . the invention may also accommodate various protocol types besides the ones currently used , such as ieee 802 . 11b . as shown in fig3 a , the output of the radix - k kernel 300 is applied to the cordic core engine 301 , and may also be fed back into the radix - k kernel 300 as needed for the calculation . the processes of the radix - k kernel 300 and the cordic module 301 are overseen by the controller 311 which sends control signals to the radix - k kernel 312 and control signals to the cordic module 313 . this radix - k kernel may be implemented using two radix - k / 2 kernels and a twiddle factor 401 of w k 1 =− j . for example , as shown in fig4 two radix 2 kernels 400 may be used to construct a radix 4 kernel 402 . the radix - 2 stage may be re - arranged such that it uses the same interconnect geometry in both radix - 2 stages , thus avoiding multiplexers . the interconnect geometries used may depend on the operation being performed by the radix 4 stages 402 . the specific geometry or pattern used is not important if it is implemented in software . however , the interconnect geometry becomes more important when implemented in hardware . the n - point fft may use h stages of radix - k kernels . the same interconnect geometry is utilized for each radix - k fft stage , thus allowing the sharing of hardware among all the stages . to determine the number of iterations or stages needed when implementing a n - point fft using a radix - k kernel , the following equation is used : the twiddle factors required between the two radix - k stages are computed using the cordic algorithm using rotation mode in the circular co - ordinate system , as shown in table 1 . the twiddle factors for fft and ifft differ only in sign of their respective phases . this n - point fft / ifft structure of the present invention may be modified to incorporate n / 2 - element complex vector point - wise multiplication or division , which is defined as follows this is possible because the same cordic core engine for twiddle factors may also be used to compute multiplication and division of two real numbers , as shown in table 1 ( above ) using the rotation / vectoring mode in the linear co - ordinate system . to calculate complex number multiplication / division , complex inputs ( real and imaginary ) are first converted into their polar co - ordinates ( magnitude and phase ) using the cordic in vectoring mode in circular co - ordinate system . the multiplication and / or division of input magnitudes is performed using rotation / vectoring mode in linear co - ordinate system of cordic . the input phases are added or subtracted for multiplication and division respectively by using cordic adders / subtractors . finally , the resultant magnitude and phase are converted into real and imaginary components of output . fig5 - 7 show the different modes of cordic engine used in fft / ifft twiddle factor multiplication and a complex multiplication / division , in accordance with the present invention . fig5 is twiddle factor multiplication using the cordic core engine 203 . fig6 is an embodiment of complex multiplication using an adder / subtractor 600 and the cordic core engines 203 a , 203 b , 203 c and 203 d . fig7 is an embodiment of complex division using the adder / subtractor 600 and the cordic core engines 203 a , 203 b , 203 c and 203 d . in the alternative , the complex multiplication may also be carried out directly in cartesian co - ordinates by ( i 1 + jq 1 )×( i 2 + jq 2 )=( i 1 i 2 − q 1 q 2 )+ j ( i 1 q 2 + i 2 q 1 ) which involves 4 real multiplications ( using cordic in rotation mode in linear co - ordinate system ) and 2 real adders . however , the multiplication in polar co - ordinates is used here as it &# 39 ; s very similar to division operation , thus permitting the reuse of the same control logic . the terms a or an , as used herein , are defined as one or more than one . the term plurality , as used herein , is defined as two or more than two . the term another , as used herein , is defined as at least a second or more . the phrase any integer derivable therein , as used herein , is defined as an integer between the corresponding numbers recited in the specification , and the phrase any range derivable therein is defined as any range within such corresponding numbers . the terms n and k are any positive integer . specific embodiments of the invention will now be further described by the following , nonlimiting examples which will serve to illustrate in some detail various features and advantages of the present invention . the following examples are included to facilitate an understanding of ways in which the invention may be practiced . it should be appreciated that the examples which follow represent embodiments discovered to function well in the practice of the invention , and thus can be considered to constitute preferred modes for the practice of the invention . for ieee 802 . 11a , a system can implement a 64 - point complex fft in 38 clock cycles ; it also can perform point - wise multiplication of a complex vector by a complex vector in 51 clock cycles . for ieee 802 . 11a , the required length of a fft / ifft transform is 64 . one embodiment of the invention implements this 64 - point fft / ifft using a radix - 4 fft kernel and cordic core engine for complex rotations of twiddle factors . the radix - 4 fft kernel performs the following operation : [ x ( 0 ) x ( 1 ) x ( 2 ) x ( 3 ) ] = [ 1 1 1 1 1 - j - 1 1 1 - 1 1 - 1 1 j - 1 - 1 ] [ x ( 0 ) x ( 1 ) x ( 2 ) x ( 3 ) ] this radix - 4 kernel may be implemented using two radix - 2 kernels 400 and a trivial twiddle factor 401 of w 4 1 =− j , as shown , for example , in fig4 . the radix - 2 stage is re - arranged such that it uses the same interconnect geometry in both radix - 2 stages , thus avoiding multiplexers . the interconnect geometries used may depend on the operation being performed by the radix 2 stages . the 64 - point fft may use three identical stages of radix - 4 kernels . an embodiment of one such radix - 4 kernel is shown in fig8 . in accordance with the present invention , since the same interconnect geometry is utilized for each radix - 4 fft stage , this allows the sharing of hardware among all the three stages . in one embodiment of the invention , the actual hardware implementation may only incorporate a single stage 800 of radix - 4 kernels , comprised of 16 radix - 4 elements 402 , which receives in the input signal 803 and feeds back the output 804 to the input 803 , passing through the twiddle factor 802 , and computes the 64 - point fft / ifft in 3 sequential iterations . in operation , under control of controller 311 , the output 804 is fed back to the input 803 for two interations , and is sampled every 3 rd time to obtain the results of the 64 - point fft / ifft . this 64 - point fft / ifft structure may be modified to incorporate 32 - element complex vector point - wise multiplication or division , which is defined as follows referring now to fig9 a - 9 d , disclosed is an embodiment of the invention for the reconfigurable combined complex vector - fft / ifft and vector - multiplier / divider module . the architecture may be reconfigured ( i . e . with multiplexers 913 under control of controller 311 ) to implement 64 - point complex fft / ifft , 32 - point complex vector multiplication , or 32 - point complex vector division depending upon the particular mathematical operation desired at any particular time . the reconfiguration may be done by controller 311 during the receiving and multiplexing of the incoming signals , where it is controlled by software . this reconfiguration may also take place each time a signal is received as many microprocessor chips have clock rates faster than that of the transmission rate . reconfiguration may also be implemented , as a state machine in a microprocessor chip as variables such as delays and the number of bits transmitted are known . the lines in fig9 a - 9 d indicate the signal flow in fft / ifft 900 , multiplication 903 , division 904 , and all modes 901 , as presented in more detail below with reference to fig9 b - d . lines also indicate signal flow for paths 902 shared by multiplication and division , and paths 900 shared by all modes . fig9 a shows signal paths used for all of the modes . fig9 b shows only the signal pathways used for computing fft / ifft , fig9 c shows only the signal pathways used for multiplication mode , and fig9 d shows only the signal pathways used for division mode . fig9 c and 9d do not explicitly show the radix 4 stage 800 shown in fig9 a and 8 and the complex storage registers 918 - 925 , as both figures have been simplified to show only one example of the signal pathways used for these functions . in actual operation , signal processing may pass through the radix 4 stage 800 . only a 4 - point vector slice out of 64 - point vector is shown in fig9 a - 9 d . however , the remaining fifteen 4 - point slices are identical to the one shown . for clarity , the control signals for multiplexers 913 that are used to reconfigure the circuit to perform the different individual functions are not shown as they change constantly . however , they can be derived for multiplication , division , and the twiddle factor based upon the input and output connections between each cordic module 203 a - 203 d as shown in fig6 and 7 . in fft / ifft mode , the architecture of fig9 a - 9 d uses a 64 - point complex vector input ( shown using thick lines 900 , which also denotes signal pathways used in all modes ) and outputs a 64 - point complex fft / ifft vector . in vector multiplication and division mode 902 , the two 32 - point complex vector inputs x and y are assumed to be on even 909 , 917 and odd 907 , 908 input indices respectively , and the resulting 32 - point complex multiplier / divider vector is outputted on all even output indices 911 , 912 . it should be noted that in the fft / ifft mode of operation , a radix - 2 kernel is used to construct a radix - 4 kernel , consistent with the earlier discussion with reference to fig4 . the gain 906 of 0 . 5 is used in radix - 2 300 to scale both fft and ifft equally by ⅛ , instead of scaling only the ifft by { fraction ( 1 / 64 )}. all of the signals received at the inputs 907 - 909 , 917 proceed through the radix 4 stage 800 shown in fig8 and into complex storage registers 918 - 925 and into the cordic module 301 for calculations . the outputs of the cordic engines are then fed back through multiplexers 913 to the input indices and through the complex storage registers 918 , 921 , 922 , 925 before re - entering the radix - 4 stage 800 . the cordic engines 914 shown could be implemented in the manners shown earlier to calculate a twiddle factor ( fig5 ), to multiply ( fig6 ), or to divide ( fig7 ). table 2 shows the number of clock cycles required to compute vector fft / ifft , multiplication and division functions , for ic cordic iterations in accordance with the present invention . to achieve w - bit accuracy at the output , one needs to perform ( w + log 2 w ) iterations of the cordic algorithm . as shown in fig2 and fig9 a - 9 d , the architecture may have a small footprint or gate - area with only 64 × 7 = 448 real registers ( each of the 64 units having 3 from cordic hardware 204 , 206 - 207 and 2 - complex storage registers 918 - 925 ), and 64 × 5 = 330 real adders 916 ( each of the 64 units having 3 from cordic hardware 200 - 202 and 1 - complex adder from radix - 2 926 - 929 ). another embodiment of the invention can solve a 32 - point fft / ifft using a radix - 2 fft kernel and cordic core engine for complex rotations of twiddle factors . the 32 - point fft may use five stages of radix - 2 kernels 1000 as shown in fig1 . the same interconnect geometry is utilized for each radix - 2 fft stage , thus allowing the sharing of hardware among all of the five stages . in one embodiment of the invention , the actual hardware implementation may only incorporate a single stage of radix - 2 kernels , comprising of 16 radix - 2 elements ( kernels ) 1000 , which feeds its output 1002 back to itself as an input 1001 , and computes the 32 - point fft / ifft in 5 sequential iterations . the output 1002 is sampled every 5 th time to obtain the necessary results . this 32 - point fft / ifft structure may be modified to incorporate 16 - element complex vector point - wise multiplication or division , which is defined as follows the architecture for the current embodiment of the invention may be reconfigured to implement a 32 - point complex fft / ifft , 16 - point complex vector multiplication , or 16 - point complex vector division . the reconfiguration may be done during the receiving and multiplexing of the incoming signals , where it is controlled by software . this reconfiguration may also take place each time a signal is received as many microprocessor chips have clock rates faster than that of the transmission rate . reconfiguration may also be implemented in the form of a state machine in a microprocessor chip as variables such as delays and the number of bits transmitted are known . another embodiment of the invention can solve a 16 - point fft / ifft using a radix - 4 fft kernel and cordic core engine for complex rotations of twiddle factors . the 16 - point fft may use 2 stages of radix - 4 kernels 1100 as shown in fig1 . the same interconnect geometry is utilized for each radix - 4 fft stage , thus allowing the sharing of hardware among all of the five stages . in one embodiment of the invention , the actual hardware implementation may only incorporate a single stage of radix - 4 kernels , comprising of 4 radix - 4 elements 1100 , which feeds its output 1102 back to itself as an input 1101 , and computes the 16 - point fft / ifft in 2 sequential iterations . the output 1102 is sampled every 2 nd time to obtain the necessary results . this 16 - point fft / ifft structure may be modified to incorporate 8 - element complex vector point - wise multiplication or division , which is defined as follows the architecture for the current embodiment of the invention may be reconfigured to implement a 16 - point complex fft / ifft , 8 - point complex vector multiplication , or 8 - point complex vector division . the reconfiguration may be done during the receiving and multiplexing of the incoming signals , where it is controlled by software . this reconfiguration may also take place each time a signal is received as many microprocessor chips have clock rates faster than that of the transmission rate . reconfiguration may also be implemented in the form of a state machine in a microprocessor chip as variables such as delays and the number of bits transmitted are known . a practical application of the invention that has value within the technological arts is that it enables mapping of generic algorithms used in digital communications and wireless modems . one embodiment of the invention , as shown in fig1 , may 20 also use a fft from an ofdm demodulator 1200 to map many of the major computational needs of wlan ieee 802 . 11a and 802 . 11b protocols for modulation / demodulation and channel estimation . the channel estimation 1201 portion requires complex division and fft / ifft , while the denoising algorithm 1202 that follows the channel estimation uses complex multiplication and fft / ifft . each of these blocks 1201 and 1202 may be implemented using the same reconfigurable hardware and may use an embodiment of the invention , 900 a , to process the incoming data signal and to perform the different required mathematical operations ( fft , ifft , multiplication , division ) at different times to perform the 802 . 11 a channel estimation function shown in fig1 . the invention may be implemented in various types of digital signal processing , including those featuring fft / ifft or complex multiplication and division operations . there are virtually innumerable uses for the invention , all of which need not be detailed here . a reconfigurable vector - fft / ifft and vector - multiplier / divider with a vlsi micro - footprint , representing an embodiment of the invention , is cost effective and advantageous for at least the following reasons . one such embodiment of the invention is reconfigurable so that different operations are based on the same underlying cordic kernel . an embodiment of the invention does not utilize multipliers or dividers , thus reducing the area it requires and costing less to make . the invention enables improved bit - level accuracy for traditionally , computationally intensive functions , such as division and fft . the invention also allows for wlan 802 . 11 as well as other possible forms of fft / ifft and complex number operations . the invention improves quality and / or reduces costs compared to previous approaches . each of the reference listed are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety . 1 . despain , alvin m ., “ fourier transform computers using cordic iterations ”, ieee transactions on computers , vol . c - 23 , no . 10 , october 1974 . 2 . despain , alvin m ., “ very fast fourier transform algorithms hardware for implementation ”, ieee transactions on computers , vol . c - 28 , no . 5 , may 1979 . 3 . p . jarvis , “ implementing cordic algorithms ”, dr . dobb &# 39 ; s journal , october 1990 . 4 . r . sarmiento and k . eshraghian , “ implementation of a cordic processor for cfft computation in gallium arsenide technology ”, edac — the european conference on design automation , etc — european test conference , euroasic — the european event in asic design , proceedings , pp . 23 8 - 244 , 1994 . 5 . s . wang and e . e . swartzlander jr ., “ merged cordic algorithm ”, int . symp . on circuits and systems , iscas &# 39 ; 95 , vol . 3 , pp . 1988 - 1991 , 1995 . 6 . j . s . walther , “ a unified algorithm for elementary functions ”, 1971 spring joint computing conference , afips proc ., vol . 38 , montvale , n . j ., pp . 379 - 385 , 1971 . | 7 |
an example of the operation of a preferred embodiment of the invention will be described as applied to the monitoring of rotating components in a paper processing machine as depicted in fig1 . in this example , a lumpbreaker roll having a diameter of 34 . 063 inches and rotating at 3 . 78 hz ( referred to herein as the faster asset ) is nipped to a couch roll having a diameter of 54 . 030 inches and rotating at 2 . 52 hz ( referred to herein as the slower asset ). although the diameter ratio for these components ( 0 . 63045 ) does not result in a ratiometric problem , the simple speed ratio is 0 . 6666 , which is about 2 : 3 . as depicted in the zoomed view of the couch roll and the lumpbreaker roll in fig1 , this speed relationship results in two locations on the lumpbreaker roll repeatedly contacting three locations on the couch roll . this situation can result in serious barring vibration problems as discussed at length in the background section . although the example of the lumpbreaker roll and couch roll applies to two components that are in contact with each other , it should be appreciated that the methods described herein could be applied to components that are widely separated in a process or machine . in this case , despite a process time delay between their positions , their ratio relationship can be accurately calculated in a steady speed process . fig2 depicts an embodiment of a computer - executable method for calculating an integer ratio of speeds of two rotating assets in a production process or machine . first , the rotational speeds of the two rotating assets are acquired simultaneously , such as using magnetic or optical tachometers or speeds provided by a control system ( step 10 ). these can be instantaneous values rather than a stream of tachometer pulses . in some embodiments , this may involve monitoring speeds of every relevant rotating asset within a process or machine , and selecting speeds of two of the assets to be compared . in the present example , the speed of the faster asset , s f , is 3 . 78 hz and the speed of the slower asset , s s , is 2 . 52 hz . the speed values are provided to a microprocessor of a process monitoring computer . the microprocessor calculates the simple speed ratio r as : this and other steps in the process are preferably performed by the microprocessor based on computer executable instructions loaded into the memory of the computer . two arrays are created in memory accessible to the microprocessor . a first array is created having x 1 number of array positions , such as x 1 = 1024 ( step 14 ). this first array represents the virtual circumference of the slower asset , a first scalar value y 1 is created ( step 15 ) where this first scalar value y 1 represents the virtual circumference ( 682 . 666 . . . ) of the faster asset . next , the second array is created having x 2 number of array positions ( step 16 ), such as x 2 = 1024 , and a second scalar value y 2 is created ( step 17 ) where this second scalar value y 2 represents the virtual circumference ( 1536 ) of the slower asset . the first scalar value y 1 is synchronously averaged into the first array over n 1 number of rotations of the faster asset ( step 18 ). essentially , the first scalar value ( 682 . 66 ) is wrapped around the first array ( 1024 ), as if the first array was a closed loop of samples . at each array position in the first array at which the first scalar value terminates , a value of one is added ( new value v 1 = old value v 1 + 1 ). for values of n 1 greater than one , the subsequent wrappings of the first scalar value begin again at the fractional position where the previous wrap terminated . this process is performed n 1 times . at the completion of this step , there may be several positions in the first array having values greater than one , meaning that the wrapping of the first scalar value ended at those positions more than one time . a count is then made of the number ( a ) of array positions in which the intensity i 1 of a is greater than the second scalar value y 2 is synchronously averaged into the second array over n 2 number of rotations of the slower asset ( step 22 ). this involves wrapping the second scalar value ( 1536 ) around the second array ( 1024 ), as if the second array was a closed loop of samples . at each array position in the second array at which the second scalar value terminates , a value of one is added ( new value v 2 = old value v 2 + 1 ). for values of n 2 greater than one , the subsequent wrappings of the second scalar value begin again at the fractional position where the previous wrap terminated . this process is performed n 2 times . at the completion of this step , there may be several positions in the second array having values greater than one , meaning that the wrapping of the second scalar value ended at those positions more than one time . a count is then made of the number ( b ) of array positions in which the intensity i 2 of b is greater than in preferred embodiments , n 1 = n 2 . however , it is not necessary that n 1 = n 2 , and the invention is not limited to any particular relationship between n 1 and n 2 . if both a and b are both non - zero ( step 26 ), the speed ratio of the faster asset to the slower asset is expressed as a to b ( step 28 ). if a and b are both non - zero and the intensity i 1 of a or the intensity i 2 of b or both are more than some predetermined threshold , for example larger than 1 % ( step 30 ), then a significant ratio match has been detected . in this situation , an alert message may be generated ( step 32 ). in various embodiments , the alert message may comprise a warning indicator or message displayed on an operator &# 39 ; s computer display , an email or text message sent to appropriate personnel , a warning light on a control panel , or all of the above . the predetermined intensity threshold of step 30 is preferably programmable , and its value is determined based on the particular process / machine being monitored and the particular components within the process / machine that are being compared . in preferred embodiments , the threshold is based on the intensity of a and / or b , where the intensity is the value of each position divided by the number of averages . intensity is a value from 0 to 1 and is preferably expressed as a percentage . in preferred embodiments , when a ratio match is detected , actions are suggested from which an operator may choose to address the situation . these optional actions may be listed on a computer display device as discussed in more detail hereinafter . preferably , each action introduces some incremental change in the operation of the machine or process that will break up the detrimental ratiometric relationship . for example , ( 1 ) in systems that provide for speed adjustment , the rotational speed of one or both of the assets in the ratio may be slightly increased or decreased , ( 2 ) in a roll press , nip pressures may be changed slightly , ( 3 ) felt stretch may be changed slightly , ( 4 ) valve openings may be adjusted ( since a change in load can slightly change speed ), and ( 5 ) the physical diameter of components may be slightly changed , such as by grinding . with continued reference to fig2 , if a or b or both are zero ( step 26 ), then either there is no integer ratiometric relationship between the speeds of the two assets , or a very high integer relationship exists and more averages or a larger array will be needed to calculate it . preferred embodiments of the method provide for automatic adjustments of the calculation such as resampling using a larger value of x ( more samples in the two arrays — steps 34 and 36 ) or increasing the number of averages ( larger values of n 1 or n 2 — steps 40 and 42 ) or both . fig3 depicts a graphical representation of the wrapping of the two scalar values y 1 and y 2 around the two arrays over six sampling periods ( n 1 = n 2 = 6 ). this depiction corresponds to the example described above with reference to fig2 ( r = 0 . 666 . . . , x 1 = x 2 = 1024 , y 1 = 682 . 666 . . . , y 2 = 1536 ). as shown in the upper right portion of fig3 , after the sixth sampling period , there are three positions in the first array having values of two ( positions 342 , 683 and 1024 ). thus , there are three positions in the first array having values of greater than 1 / n 1 ( 1 / 6 ), indicating that a = 3 . as shown in the lower right portion of fig3 , after the sixth sampling period , there are two positions in the second array having values of three ( positions 512 and 1024 ). thus , there are two positions in the second array having values of greater than 1 / n 2 ( 1 / 6 ), indicating that b = 3 . fig4 depicts another way to visualize the sampling process for the example described above . preferred embodiments of a ratiometric analyzer application may generate a user interface screen 100 such as shown in fig5 . the interface screen preferably includes an asset column 102 that lists the rotating assets in a machine or process and a speed column 104 listing the rotational speeds of the assets . if the rotational speed of any asset is related to the rotational speed of another asset by an integer ratio , and the intensity of the integer ratio is more than the predetermined threshold , then the speeds of those two assets are deemed to “ match ” each other . in this situation , the matching assets are listed in the match column 106 and their speed ratio is listed in the ratio column 108 . an intensity column 110 indicates how significant the ratio matching is based on the repeat rate of the impact per rotation . for example an intensity of 0 . 5 or 50 % means that the same spots match together every 2 rotations . a delay s column 112 indicates the last time a speed measurement was updated . if a speed is not updating then the calculations based on that speed would be unreliable . as shown in fig6 , if a user clicks on any of the assets in the asset column 102 , a dialog box 114 appears showing the asset speed and a divisor . a devisor would be needed for speed encoder output , for example if an encoder generated 100 pulses per rotation then a devisor of 100 would have to be used to get to its basic rotational speed . if the user clicks on the actions button 116 in the dialog box 114 . an actions dialog box 118 is displayed . this box lists one or more actions 120 that could affect the rotational speed of the selected asset , thereby affecting the ratio of the selected asset speed to the speed of other assets in the system . for example , for the filler fan pump asset , the user has the options of directly adjusting the speed of the pump motor by ± 0 . 01 hz , adjusting the setting of the discharge valve of the pump , and adjusting the setting of the inlet valve of the pump . in embodiments wherein this application resides within a dcs or other control system or device , the adjustments to relieve a harmful ratiometric condition could be done automatically within defined criteria . the foregoing description of preferred embodiments for this 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 form disclosed . obvious modifications or variations are possible in light of the above teachings . the embodiments are chosen and described in an effort to provide the best illustrations of the principles of the invention and its practical application , and to thereby enable one of ordinary skill in the art to utilize the invention in various embodiments and with various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated . all such modifications and variations are within the scope of the invention as determined by the appended claims when interpreted in accordance with the breadth to which they are fairly , legally , and equitably entitled . | 6 |
please refer to fig2 . fig2 is a block diagram of an optical recorder 20 according to the present invention . the optical recorder 20 comprises an encoder 30 for encoding data received from a computer , and a processor 26 for controlling operations of the encoder 30 . furthermore , the optical recorder 20 includes a dram buffer 22 for storing data transmitted from the computer . when the computer sends data to the encoder 30 , the data is first stored in the dram buffer 22 before being encoded . the data from the computer is sent to the encoder 30 through an integrated drive electronics ( ide ) bus 24 . the encoder 30 further comprises a host interface ( hi ) 32 electrically connected to the ide bus 24 for receiving data from the computer . an encoder sector processor ( esp ) 34 is used to encode data according to a mode of the data such as audio mode and data mode . an encoder ram arbiter ( era ) 36 is connected to the hi 32 , the dram buffer 22 , and the esp 34 . the era 36 is used to store data from the hi 32 into the dram buffer 22 , for transferring data in the dram buffer 22 to the esp 34 , and for storing data encoded by the esp 34 into the dram buffer 22 . moreover , the encoder 30 also includes a subcode generator 38 connected to the era 36 for generating sub - channel data , and a cross interleave reed - solomon code ( circ ) 40 connected to the era 36 for generating main channel data . the encoder 30 uses an 8 - to - 14 modulator 42 connected to both the subcode generator 38 and the circ 40 for converting the sub - channel data and the main channel data in order to generate a serial data stream . then , the serial data stream is converted into switch commands by a write controller ( wc ) 44 connected to the modulator 42 . these switch commands are used by the wc 44 to control write strategy of the encoder 30 . the encoder 30 receives absolute time information from an absolute time in pre - groove decoder ( atip decoder ) 46 connected to the wc 44 . the encoding method for the present invention optical recorder 20 involves a series of steps . first , the hi 32 is used to receive data from the computer . then , the era 36 stores data from the hi 32 into the dram buffer 22 , and transfers data in the dram buffer 22 to the esp 34 . the esp 34 then encodes data transmitted from the era 36 according to modes of the data . these modes include data mode and audio mode , although other modes may be used as well . when the esp 34 finishes encoding data , the era 36 overwrites data stored in the dram buffer 22 with data encoded by the esp 34 . next , the subcode generator 38 generates sub - channel data , and the circ 40 interleaves data , which was encoded by the esp 34 and is stored in the dram buffer 22 , to generate main channel data . finally , the modulator 42 converts the subchannel data and the main channel data into a serial data stream . the wc 44 then converts the serial data stream into switch commands of write strategy and outputs the switching commands with reference to the absolute time information provided by the atip decoder 46 . please refer to fig3 . fig3 is a block diagram of the era 36 of the optical recorder 20 . the era 36 comprises a trigger register 48 for generating initial triggers 52 and change mode triggers 50 . specifically , the trigger register 48 outputs one change mode trigger 50 in order to latch last data that was stored in the dram buffer 22 . the change mode trigger 50 also notifies the esp 34 and the subcode generator 38 that the last data and data following the last data need to be encoded with the next mode . then , a mode type of the next mode is stored in a data mode field register 56 . when the change mode trigger 50 is received from the trigger register 48 , the data mode field register 56 is updated with the next mode . in addition , the era 36 further comprises a dram arbiter 54 that is used to access data stored in the dram buffer 22 . please refer to fig4 . fig4 is a block diagram of the esp 34 of the optical recorder 20 . the esp 34 comprises a sector processor 58 for encoding data transmitted from the era 36 , a first level encoder register 60 for storing a data format of the current mode , and a second level encoder register 62 for storing a data format of the next mode . during the encoding process , the esp 34 is notified that the last data and data following the last data need to be encoded with the next mode when receiving the latched data from the era 36 . then , the data format of the next mode is loaded from second level encoder register 62 into the first level encoder register 60 . please refer to fig5 . fig5 is a block diagram of the dram buffer 22 of the optical recorder 20 . the dram buffer 22 comprises a sector data area 64 for storing data transmitted from the hi 32 and data encoded by the esp 34 , and a q channel program page area 66 for storing program codes for the subcode generator 38 . during the encoding process , program codes of the current mode can be stored in a first storage space 68 in the q channel program page area 66 . likewise , program codes of the next mode can be stored in a second storage space 70 in the q channel program page area 66 . later , when the encoding mode of the optical recorder 20 changes , the next mode program codes stored in the second storage space 70 will be referred to as the current mode program codes . similarly , the following mode program codes will be referred to as the next mode program codes , and will be stored in the first storage space 68 . in this way , the first storage space 68 and the second storage space 70 will alternatively hold the current mode and next mode program codes . please refer to fig6 . fig6 is a block diagram of the subcode generator 38 of the optical recorder 20 . the subcode generator 38 comprises a subcode source register 80 for selecting a source of the sub - channel data , a sub - channel auto generator 82 for generating sub - channel data , and a multiplexer 84 for outputting sub - channel data . the subcode source register 80 is used to select a source on the multiplexer 84 in order to receive program codes from the q channel program page area 66 or to receive sub - channel data from the sector data area 64 . the sub - channel auto generator 82 is used to generate the sub - channel data according to the program codes if the q - channel program page area 66 is selected . the multiplexer 84 is used to output the sub - channel data received from the sub - channel auto generator 82 if the q - channel program page area 66 is selected , or to output the sub - channel data received from the sector data area 64 if the sector data area 64 is selected . compared to the prior art , the present invention optical recorder 20 is capable of receiving data of the next mode while simultaneously encoding data of the current mode . by receiving the data of the next mode well before the next mode data is encoded , the optical recorder 20 significantly reduces the likelihood that buffer under - run will occur . those skilled in the art will readily observe that numerous modifications and alterations of the device may be made while retaining the teachings of the invention . accordingly , the above disclosure should be construed as limited only by the metes and bounds of the appended claims . | 6 |
any crosslinkable polymer can be used as the thermosetting organic plastic . preferably , however , use is made of casting resins which can be cured by suitable additives as is known in the art ( see handbook of plastics , 2nd edition , h . r . simonds , a . j . weith and m . h . bigslow , d . van nostrand company , inc ., new york , especially pages 920 - 921 , which are incorporated by reference in their entirety , and principles of high - polymer theory and practice , 1st edition , a . x . schmidt and c . a . marlies , mcgraw - hill book company , inc ., new york , 1948 , especially pages 663 - 664 which are incorporated by reference in their entirety ). the fillers can be the known materials used in plastics technology , particularly finely - dispersed silica , silicates or aluminum powder . the main precious metals used are gold , silver or platinum , preferably in a powder size of 1 to 100 μm . in addition , a percentage of non - toxic base metals can be alloyed with the precious metals . advantageously the materials and articles of jewelry are manufactured by mixing the precious - metal powder and the crosslinkable polymer , placing them in a mold corresponding to the jewelry or in the cavity of a hollow jewelry article , and hardening them by action of known chemical reagents and / or energy . during manufacture , the precious - metal material is liquid to pasty , of homogeneous composition and can be cast and shaped as required . after a certain time it hardens , resulting in solid articles of jewelry which are dimensionally stable and can be subsequently electroplated with precious metals . the organic crosslinkable polymers are advantageously room temperature curing organic casting resins with a sufficiently long pot life . two - component epoxy resin systems , two - component acrylate systems , polyurethanes , phenolic resins or silicone casting resins are examples . in order to manufacture the materials , precious - metal powders and organic crosslinkable polymer corresponding to the desired precious - metal content ( e . g ., 18 carat = 75 % au , 25 % casting resin ) are weighed together and homogenized . the mixture is then filled into , for example , a silicone mold or placed in an electroformed hollow article of jewelry . subsequent hardening at room temperature occurs without shrinkage or blistering . it has unexpectedly been found that the mixture has a very high dimensional stability upon removal from the mold . the materials according to the invention have a lower density than known jewelry alloys containing the same amount of precious metal . they are easy to work with and are corrosion - resistant . example 1 : the following components were weighed together and thoroughly homogenized in a container : the result was a pasty homogeneous mixture , filled for further processing into a dispensing cartridge . the processing time after adding the accelerator was 30 minutes . the substance was suitable for producing 18 - carat gold jewelry . the two components were mixed , resulting in a gold - epoxy resin paste containing 75 % gold ( 18 - carat ). the pasty material was poured into a dispensing device and subsequently processed . the pot life was equal to the processing time , i . e . about 30 minutes . example 3 : the pasty gold and acrylic resin preparation manufactured in example 1 was filled into an electroformed article of hollow jewelry by a dispensing device . a slightly negative pressure was applied to prevent blisters during filling . the amount filled in was determined by measuring the weight of the jewelry before and after filling , so as to check that the article was completely filled . after filling , excess gold / acrylic resin was removed by a solvent , thereafter the material was hardened at room temperature in about 24 hours . after hardening , the jewelry can be engraved and optionally electroplated with gold . the jewelry had a solid , massive sound and was much less sensitive to impact and pressure than the corresponding article of hollow jewelry before filling . example 4 : the pasty gold and acrylic resin preparation manufactured in example 1 was filled directly into the silicone mold for casting an article of jewelry . the silicone mold had previously been treated with a releasing agent ( e . g ., teflon spray ). the preparation had excellent dimensional stability after removal from the mold . after the material had been cast , it hardened at room temperature in about 24 hours . the silicone mold was then removed , the sprue channel was cut off and the jewelry was electroplated with gold . the thickness of the coating was between 3 and 10 μm . thicker coatings are possible . the result was a solid article of jewelry which did not contain heavy metals and had a low weight . the gold content was 75 % ( 18 carat ). example 5 : the following components were weighed together and thoroughly homogenized in a container : 1 . 0 g acrylate resin ( component 2 , analogous to example 1 ), and the result was a pasty homogeneous mixture , which was filled for further processing into a dispensing cartridge . the preparation was subsequently processed as described in examples 3 and 4 , resulting in articles of jewelry with a platinum content of 850 / 1000 . further variations and modifications of the foregoing will be apparent to those skilled in the art and such variations and modifications are attended to be encompassed by the claims that are appended hereto . german priority application p 44 12 715 . 4 , filed on apr . 13 , 1994 , is relied on and incorporated by reference in its entirety . | 2 |
exemplary embodiments of the present application will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings hereafter . the following embodiments are given by way of illustration to help those skilled in the art fully understand the spirit of the present application . hence , it should be noted that the present application is not limited to the embodiments herein and can be realized by various forms . further , the drawings are not precise scale and components may be exaggerated in view of width , height , length , etc . herein , the similar or identical reference numerals will denote the similar or identical components throughout the drawings . fig1 is a diagram of the apparatus for flipping a semiconductor device in accordance with an embodiment of the present application . the apparatus for flipping a semiconductor device comprises : a platform 1 comprising an upper surface 1 a , a roller system 2 and a carrier 3 on the upper surface 1 a ; a positioning unit 5 comprising an upper surface 5 d above the platform 1 and comprising a circular opening 5 a ; and an elevating unit 6 connecting the platform 1 and the positioning unit 5 . in the present embodiment , the roller system 2 comprises a roller 2 a and a track 2 b , wherein the roller 2 a moves along the track 2 b . the roller 2 a comprises non rigid body or elastic material , such as rubber . more preferably , the roller 2 a is composed of rubber . the roller 2 a can roll and exert a downward pressure on an object . the roller 2 a can roll with a constant speed , variable speed , or a constant acceleration . besides , the shape of the roller 2 a can be a cylinder or a barrel - shaped cylinder with two extending cylinder ends . specifically , the barrel - shaped cylinder is defined as a cylinder having a lager thickness in the middle portion than the other portion . the carrier 3 comprises a heating unit ( not shown ). the apparatus for flipping a semiconductor device further comprises a fixture 3 a on the carrier 3 . besides , an adhesive substance ( not shown ) is adhered to the fixture 3 a , wherein the stickiness of the adhesive substance changes with the change of temperature . in the present embodiment , the adhesive substance can be a foam sealing agent . the positioning unit 5 is above the platform 1 and comprises the circular opening 5 a . furthermore , a movable heater 4 is fixed on a pillar 7 . the pillar 7 can move along the vertical direction so as to change the position of the movable heater 4 above the positioning unit 5 . the elevating unit 6 is between the platform 1 and the positioning unit 5 and connects the platform 1 and the positioning unit 5 . the elevating unit 6 further comprises a pneumatic cylinder ( not shown ) for providing driving force . in the present embodiment , the elevating unit 6 comprises 4 adjustable uniaxial cylinders . the elevating unit 6 moves along the vertical direction so as to move the positioning unit 5 toward or away from the platform 1 . the apparatus for flipping a semiconductor device in accordance with the present application is capable of flipping a semiconductor device so as to reverse a top surface and a bottom surface of the semiconductor device , wherein the semiconductor device is in wafer form or in chip form , such as light - emitting diode wafer or light - emitting diode chip . in the present embodiment , the semiconductor device comprises multiple light - emitting diode chips 8 . the steps of the operation method of the apparatus for flipping a semiconductor device are described as follows . 1 . the light - emitting diode chips 8 are fixed on an adhesive substance 5 c attached to an iron ring 5 b as shown in fig2 a to 2 c . specifically , referring to fig2 a , an iron ring 5 b is provided . referring to fig2 b , an adhesive substance 5 c is applied to associate with the iron ring 5 b . in the present embodiment , the adhesive substance 5 c can be an adhesive film . referring to fig2 c , the light - emitting diode chips 8 are fixed to the iron ring 5 b by directly connecting each bottom surface of the light - emitting diode chips 8 to the adhesive substance 5 c , wherein each top surface of the light - emitting diode chips 8 faces upwardly . in the present embodiment , the stickiness of the adhesive substance 5 c changes with the change of the temperature , and the change of the stickiness does not contaminate and affect the light - emitting diode chips 8 . 2 . the iron ring 5 b is fixed to the positioning unit 5 . specifically , the iron ring 5 b attached to the adhesive substance 5 c is fixed at the circular opening 5 a and each top surface of the light - emitting diode chips 8 faces downwardly while the positioning unit 5 is at a position where a distance between the upper surface 5 d of the positioning unit 5 and the upper surface 1 a of the platform 1 is d , wherein the position is defined as starting position . 3 . the positioning unit 5 is set to a predetermined position . specifically , referring to fig3 , a substrate ( not shown ) is disposed on the fixture 3 a , wherein the substrate comprises al 2 o 3 . besides , an adhesive substance ( not shown ) such as a foam sealing agent is adhered to the substrate . the heating unit of the carrier 3 is then turned on to heat the adhesive substance so as to enhance the stickiness of the adhesive substance . the relative position and the distance between the circular opening 5 a and the fixture 3 a of the carrier 3 are adjusted by moving the elevating unit 6 so as to facilitate the following flipping step . in the present embodiment , the distance d between the iron ring 5 b and the fixture 3 a is not more than 0 . 2 cm . 4 . the light - emitting diode chips 8 are flipped . specifically , referring to fig3 , after the positioning unit 5 being completely set to the predetermined position , the roller 2 a rolls and exerts a downward pressure while moving along the track 2 d as shown in fig1 . in the present embodiment , the roller 2 a rolls on the surface of the adhesive substance 5 c attached to the iron ring 5 b back and forth at least one time . in general , the movement of the rolling and exerting a downward pressure of the roller 2 a can be carried out by a programmable logic controller ( plc ) ( not shown ). the pillar 7 then moves downwardly to change the position and the distance of the movable heater 4 above the adhesive substance 5 c attached to the iron ring 5 b . the movable heater 4 is then turned on to heat the adhesive substance 5 c so as to change the stickiness of the adhesive substance 5 c with the change of the temperature . as a result , the light - emitting diode chips 8 that were originally adhered to the adhesive substance 5 c are now transferred to the adhesive substance of the substrate of the fixture 3 a . finally , the top surface and the bottom surface of each light - emitting diode chip are reversed . 6 . the light - emitting diode chips 8 are taken out from the adhesive substance of the substrate of the fixture 3 a . 7 . in the present embodiment in accordance with the present application , the semiconductor device comprises multiple light - emitting diode chips 8 , wherein each light - emitting diode chip 8 comprises algainp - based material , algainn - based material or zno - based material . the foregoing description of preferred and other embodiments in the present disclosure is not intended to limit or restrict the scope or applicability of the inventive concepts conceived by the applicant . in exchange for disclosing the inventive concepts contained herein , the applicant desires all patent rights afforded by the appended claims . therefore , it is intended that the appended claims include all modifications and alterations to the full extent that they come within the scope of the following claims or the equivalents thereof . | 1 |
the novel compositions of this invention comprise : ( i ) a polyamide resin ; ( ii ) a reactive siloxane ; ( iii ) a hindered amine ; and ( iv ) a phosphite or phosphonite . commercially available polyamides may be used in the compositions of this invention . preferred polyamides are selected from the following classes : wherein n and m are integers chosen from the set 4 , 6 , 9 , 10 , 11 and 12 . many of these materials are commercially available . they may be purchased for example from alliedsignal inc . of morristown , n . j ., toray of tokyo , japan , basf of ludwigschafen , germany , ato chemie of la defense , france , or emser - chemie ag of zurich , switzerland . alternately , they may be synthesized by using the methods disclosed in u . s . pat . nos . 2 , 071 , 250 ; 2 , 071 , 251 ; 2 , 130 , 523 ; 2 , 130 , 948 ; within the preferred classes of polyamides , the following subclasses are preferred : nylon - 6 ( polycaprolactam ), nylon - 6 , 6 ( polyhexamethylene adiparide ), nylon - 12 ( polydodecanamide ), nylon - 6 , 10 ( polyhexamethylene sebacarnide ), and nylon - 6 , 12 ( polyhexamethylene dodecanamide ). among the compounds within the nylon 6 ( polycaprolactam ) subclass , the following are preferred : capron ® 8267ghs nylon , capron 8267g nylon , capron 8233ghs nylon , capron 8233g nylon , capron 8202 nylon , capron 8202hs nylon , capron 8202c nylon , capron 8202cq nylon , capron 8351 nylon , capron 8351hs nylon , capron 8350 nylon , capron 8350hs nylon , capron 8352 nylon , capron 8352hs nylon , capron hpn ® 9233g nylon , capron hpn 9233ghs nylon , capron hpn 9240gm nylon , capron hpn 9240gmhs nylon , capron hpn 9333g nylon , capron hpn 9333ghs nylon , capron 8330ghihs nylon , capron 8331ghihs nylon , capron 8333ghi nylon , and capron 8333ghihs nylon ( products of alliedsignal inc .). of this preferred group , the following compounds are more preferred : capron 8267ghs nylon , capron 8267g nylon , capron 8233ghs nylon , capron 8233g nylon , capron 8202 nylon , capron 8202hs nylon , capron 8351 nylon , capron 8351 hs nylon , capron 8350 nylon , capron 8350hs nylon , capron hpn 9240gm , capron hpn 9240gmhs , capron hpn 9333g , capron hpn 9333ghs nylon , capron 8352 nylon , and capron 8352hs nylon . among the compounds within the nylon - 6 , 6 ( polyhexamethylene adipamide ) subclass , the following materials are preferred : ultramid ® a3 nylon , a4 nylon , and a5 nylon ( products of basf corporation ) and zytel ® 101 nylon , fe3574 nylon , and fe3071 nylon ( products of dupont ). among the compounds within the nylon - 12 ( polydodecanamide ) subclass , the following material is preferred : ube 3035c2 nylon ( a product of ube industries america , inc .) among the compounds within the nylon - 6 , 12 ( polyhexamethylene dodecanamide ) subclass , the following materials are preferred : ube 7024b nylon , and 7034b nylon ( products of ube industries america , inc . ), and grilon ® cr9 nylon , and ca6 nylon ( products of ems - american grilon ). the most preferred polyamide resins within the preferred subclasses of polyamides include : capron 8267ghs nylon , capron 8267g nylon , capron 8233ghs nylon , capron 8233g nylon , capron 8202 nylon , capron 8351 nylon , capron 8350 nylon , capron hpn 9240gmhs nylon , capron hpn 9333ghs nylon , and capron 8352 nylon . the capron hs grades of nylon - 6 based resin have essentially the same physical properties as the equivalent grades without hs . the only difference between them is that the hs grades are thermally stabilized with from about 50 to about 150 ppm of a copper salt . the polyamide resins are generally used in an amount of from about 30 to about 99 wt . %, preferably from about 40 to about 98 wt . % and most preferably from about 50 to about 98 wt . %. as used in this application , the term &# 34 ; reactive siloxane &# 34 ; means a siloxane containing at least one organic radical capable of forming a chemical bond with the polyamide resin . these materials are well known in the art . suitable classes of reactive siloxanes include : siloxanes containing reactive : epoxy groups ; primary amine groups ; carboxylic acid groups ; anhydride groups ; isocyanate groups ; and mixtures thereof . many of these materials are commercially available . they may be purchased for example from genesee polymers corporation of flint , mich ., dow corning of midland , mich ., great lakes chemical of west layfayette , ind . alternatively , they may made by adapting the methods disclosed in u . s . pat . no . 5 , 216 , 103 to enichem preferred siloxanes containing reactive epoxy groups include those described by structure 1 !, ## str1 ## wherein x is between about 75 and about 2000 and y is between about 1 and about 20 . specific examples include : gp 298 wherein x = 670 and y = 6 , gp 297 wherein x = 330 and y = 6 , and gp exp32 wherein x = 96 . 5 and y = 5 . 5 . these compounds are commercially available from genessee polymers . preferred siloxanes containing reactive primary amine groups include those described by structure 2 !, ## str2 ## wherein a is between about 75 and about 2000 and b is between about 1 and about 20 . a specific example is : gp 316 wherein x = 400 and y = 8 ( genessee polymers ). preferred siloxanes useful in the invention may also have the structure 3 !, ## str3 ## wherein c is between about 75 and about 2000 , d is between about 1 and about 20 , and e is between about 1 and about 20 , r 1 is be any substituted or unsubstituted : alkyl including straight chain , branched chain and cyclic compounds ! of from 1 to 25 carbon atoms , aryl including , but not limited to , phenyl , biphenyl , napthyl , and fluorenyl !, hetero aryl including but not limited to pyridyl , thiophenyl , pyrazinyl , pyridazinyl , and triazinyl , wherein the heteroatom may include but not be limited to oxygen , nitrogen and sulfur ! and wherein when r 1 is substituted it is substituted with any of the following : cyano , alkoxy , halogen ( including fluorine , chlorine and bromine ), partially or fully halogenated alkyl or aryl ( including , but not limited to , trifluoromethyl , 4 - fluorophenyl , 4 - trifluoromethylphenyl , and 1 , 1 , 1 - trichloro ethyl ), phenyl , substituted phenyl , alkyl , substituted alkyl , and silyl ( including but not limited to trimethyl silyl ) wherein when these groups are substituted they are substituted with any of the groups from which r 1 may be selected , and r is an isocyanate , anhydride , carboxylic acid , amine , or epoxy group . other siloxanes which may be useful in this invention include dow corning 4 - 7051 epoxy resin modifier , and dow corning 1 - 9641 amine resin modifier . the more preferred siloxanes for use in this invention are those of structure 1 ! wherein x is between about 300 and about 1500 and y is between about 5 and about 15 , those of structure 2 ! wherein a is between about 300 and about 1500 and b is between about 5 and about 15 , and those of structure 3 ! wherein c is between about 300 and about 1500 , d is between about 5 and about 15 , e is between about 3 and about 8 , and r and r 1 are any of the groups listed in the discussion of these respective groups in structure 3 ! above . the most preferred siloxanes for use in this invention are those of structure 1 ! wherein x is between about 300 and about 1000 , and y is between about 5 and about 10 specifically including gp - 298 and gp - 297 , and those of structure 2 ! wherein a is between about 600 and about 1500 , and b is between about 5 and about 10 . two or more reactive siloxanes may be used in combination in the present invention provided that they are not present in excess of the loading set forth below . the reactive siloxanes are generally used in an amount of from about 0 . 5 to about 10 wt . %, preferably from about 1 to about 6 wt . % and most preferably from about 2 to about 4 wt . %. applicants have discovered that the best results are obtained when the siloxane component is present in greater than 2 . 4 wt . %. see table 2 , example 2 , samples 11 and 12 . any hindered amine which processes under standard polyamide processing conditions with less than 10 % loss through volatilization or decomposition ( as determined by extraction and chromatographic analysis of extractable additives ), and which does not chemically react with the composition or any of its essential components may be used in the compositions of the invention . many of these materials are commercially available . they may be purchased for example from ciba - geigy corporation of ardsley , n . y ., cytec corporation of stamford , conn ., ferro - bedford chemicals inc . of walton hills , ohio , basf corporation of clifton , n . j ., clariant corporation of charlotte , n . c ., and great lakes chemical of west layfayette , ind . a list of available hals compounds and suppliers can be found in j . f . rabek , &# 34 ; photostabilization of polymers ; principles and applications &# 34 ;, elsevier applied science , ny , 1990 . the following hindered amines are preferred : chimassorb ™ 119 hindered amine { n , n &# 34 ;&# 39 ;- 1 , 2 - ethanediylbis 4 , 6 - bis butyl ( 1 , 2 , 2 , 6 , 6 - pentamethyl - 4 - piperidinyl ) amino !- 1 , 3 , 5 - triazin - 2 - yl ! imino !- 3 , 1 - propanediyl ! ! bis n &# 39 ; n &# 34 ;- dibutyl - n &# 39 ;, n &# 34 ;- bis ( 1 , 2 , 2 , 6 , 6 - pentamethyl - 4 - piperidinyl )!- 1 , 3 , 5 - triazine - 2 , 4 - 6 - triamine }, chimassorb 944fl hindered amine { n , n &# 34 ;- bis ( 2 , 2 , 6 , 6 - tetramethyl - 4 - piperidinyl )- 1 , 6 - hexanediamine , polymer with 2 , 4 , 6 - trichloro - 1 , 3 , 5 - triazine and 2 , 4 , 4 - trimethyl - 1 , 2pentamine }, tinuvin ® 144 hindered amine { bis ( 1 , 2 , 2 , 6 , 6 - pentamethyl - 4 - piperidinyl )( 3 , 5 - di - tert - butyl - 4 - hydroxyl ) butylpropanedioate )}, tinuvin 622 hindered amine { dimethyl succinate polymer with 4 - hydroxy - 2 , 2 , 6 , 6 - tetramethyl - 1 - piperidineethanol }, tinuvin 765 hindered amine { bis ( 1 , 2 , 2 , 6 , 6 - pentamethyl - 4 - piperidinyl ) sebacate ) and tinuvin 770 hindered amine { bis ( 2 , 2 , 6 , 6 - tetramethyl - 4 - piperidinyl ) sebacate } all products of ciba - geigy corporation , cyasorb ® tv - 3346 hindered amine { poly ( 6 - morpholino - s - triazine - 2 , 4 - diyl ) 2 , 2 , 6 , 6 - tetramethyl - 4 - piperidylimino !- hexamethlene ( 2 , 2 , 6 , 6 - tetramethyl - 4 - piperidyl - imino !!} a product of cytec corporation , uv - check ® am806 hindered amine { 2 , 2 , 6 , 6 - tetramethylpiperide - 4yl - acrylate , methylmethacrylate copolymer } a product of ferro - bedford chemicals inc ., uvinul ® 4050h hindered amine ( formamide , n , n &# 39 ;- 1 , 6 - hexanediylbis { n -( 2 , 2 , 6 , 6 - tetramethyl - 4 - piperidinyl )}, and uvinul 5050oh hindered amine a polymer of about 3000 to about 4000 molecular weight having the structure : ## str4 ## wherein n is about 5 to about 9 , both products of basf corporation . the most preferred hindered amine compounds are : cyasorb 3346 hindered amine , uv - check am 806 hindered amine , uvinul 5050 hindered amine , tinuvin 944 hindered amine , tinuvin 144 hindered amine , and tinuvin 622 hindered amine . it is possible that the combination of two or more hindered amine compounds ( not to exceed the loadings given below ) may provide enhanced performance . although the hindered amine component of the invention includes compounds in which a hindered amine moiety is bonded to a siloxane , as per u . s . pat . no . 5 , 216 , 103 to enichem , such compounds are not preferred . the hindered amines are generally used in an amount of from about 0 . 1 to about 4 wt . %, preferably from about 0 . 25 to about 3 wt . % and most preferably from about 0 . 25 to about 1 . 5 wt . %. any phosphite or phosphonite which processes under standard polyamide processing conditions with less than 10 % loss through volatilization or decomposition ( as determined by extraction and chromatographic analysis of extractable additives ), and which does not chemically react with the composition or any of its essential components may be used in the compositions of the invention . preferred compounds include : inorganic phosphites such as : sodium hypophosphite , potassium hypophosphite , magnesium hypophosphite , calcium hypophosphite , and ammonium hypophosphite , organic phosphites such as : irgaphos ® 12 phosphite 2 - 2 , 4 , 8 , 10 - tetrakis ( 1 , 1 - dimethylethyl ) dibenzo d , f ! 1 , 3 , 2 ! dioxaphosphepin - 6 - yl ! oxy !- n , n - bis 2 - 2 , 4 , 8 , 10 - tetrakis ( 1 , 1 - dimethylethyl ) dibenzo d . f ! 1 , 3 , 2 ! dioxaphosphepin - 6 - yl ! oxy ! ethyl ! ethanamine }, irgaphos168 phosphite { tris ( 2 , 4 - di - tert - butylphenyl ) phosphite } ( products of ciba - geigy corporation of ardsley , n . y . ), ultranox ® 626 phosphite , { bis ( 2 , 4 - di - tert - butylphenyl ) pentaerythritol diphosphite }, weston ® 618 phosphite { distearyl pentaerythritol diphosphite } ( products of general electric specialty chemicals of pittsfield , mass .) and those materials disclosed in u . k . patent 803 , 557 , and u . s . pat . no . 3 , 516 , 963 which are incorporated by reference , organic phosphonites such as : sandostab ® p - epq phosphonite , { tetrakis ( 2 , 4 - di - tert - butylphenyl ) 4 , 4 &# 39 ;- diphenylenediphosphonite } ( a product of sandoz chemicals corporation of charlotte , n . c . ), ethanox ® 398 phosphonite { 2 , 2 &# 39 ;- ethilidinebis ( 4 , 6 - di - tert - butyl - m - phenyl ) fluorophosphonite } ( a product of albemarle corporation of baton rouge , la .) and those described in patent be - a - 774 , 363 to sandoz which is incorporated by reference , and the fluorophosphorus compounds described in u . s . pat . no . 4 , 912 , 155 to burton which is incorporated by reference . the preferred phosphorous - containing compounds include : sodium hyposhosphite , sandostab p - epq phosphonite , ethanox 398 phosphonite , irgaphos 12 phosphite , and irgaphos 168 phosphete . the most preferred phosphorus compounds include : sodium hypophosphite , sandostab p - epq phosphonite , and irgaphos 12 phosphite . the phosphite and phosphonite compounds are generally present in the subject invention in an amount of from about 0 . 05 to about 2 wt . %, preferably from about 0 . 05 to about 1 wt . % and most preferably from about 0 . 05 to about 0 . 25 wt . %. the compositions of the invention may also include other additives known to be useful in polyamide compositions , such as flame retardants , lubricating agents , release agents , impact modifiers , plasticizers , and colorants . a detailed description of suitable impact modifiers for polyamide - based compositions and their preparation is provided in the u . s . pat . no . 4 , 174 , 358 to e . i . du pont de nemours and company and the references cited therein which are incorporated herein . the amount and identity of modifier used in the compositions of the invention is application dependent . the selection will readily occur to those skilled in the art . generally the modifiers comprise no more than 50 % by weight of the polyamide resin . preferably , the modifiers comprise from about 5 to about 30 %, and most preferably from about 15 to about 30 % of the total weight of the composition . essentially any filler material known to be useful in polyamide - based formulations may be used in the compositions of the invention . suitable fillers include talc , clay , mica , silica , calcium silicate , graphite , alumina , and potassium carbonate of varying particle sizes . the size and variety of filler chosen is application dependent . the specific selection will readily occur to one skilled in the art . the filling agents may comprise up to 60 % by weight of the composition . preferably , they are used in an amount of from about 10 to about 60 %, and most preferably in an amount of from about 10 to about 40 % by weight of the composition . any reinforcing agent known to be useful in polyamide - based formulations may be used in the compositions of the invention . suitable reinforcing agents include glass fibers , graphite fibers , other carbon fibers , glass flakes , ceramic fibers , fibers of synthetic polymers and other materials obvious to those well versed in the art . the reinforcing agents and fillers may be treated with bonding agents to insure adequate adhesion to the polymer matrix . the reinforcing agents may be present in an amount of from about 5 to about 60 % by weight of the composition . preferably the reinforcing agents are used at loadings of from about 15 to about 40 % by weight of the composition ( provided that any combination of reinforcing and filling agents does not exceed 60 % by weight of the composition ). suitable colorants for use in the present invention are carbon blacks , inorganic pigments , organic pigments and dyes . preferred carbon blacks are uv grade blacks defined as carbon black with an absorption coefficient ( astm d3349 - 74 ) of greater than 400 , dispersed in a suitable carrier ; specific examples are swbk - 411a ( a product of southwest chemical of houston , tex . ), 690345 - ny ( a product of ampacet corporation of terrytown , n . y .) and 7932 - a1 ( a product of americhem of cuyahoga , ohio ). the most preferred carbon blacks are highly dispersed uv grade carbon blacks in a nylon or eva carrier . a specific example is swbk - 411a . the degree of dispersion of a carbon black is measured by comparing a standard tape or blown film with a set of reference standards compiled by various suppliers . alternatively , the quality of dispersion can be observed directly on a thin film under a microscope at 100 × magnification . observation of the size and frequency of aggregates determines the quality of dispersion with fewer and smaller aggregates indicating greater dispersion . those individuals skilled in the art can readily classify the degree of dispersion by comparing samples to suitable control specimens . preferred inorganic pigments are those that do not contain heavy metals such as cadmium , mercury or lead . specific examples include 2gtm bismuth vanadate yellow cas # 14059 - 33 - 7 ! ( a product of ciba - geigy corporation of newport , del . ), red iron oxide pigment cas # 1309 - 37 - 1 ! ( a product of pfizer inc . of new york , n . y . ), and cerium sulfide red and orange ( products of rhone - polenc inc . of dayton , ohio ). preferred organic pigments are those that are stable to common polyamide processing conditions , and are stable to uv light . specific examples are phalocyanine blue p . b . 15 - 4 ( a product of sun chemical corporation of cincinnati , ohio ), phtalocyanine green p . g . # 7 ( a product of hoechst - celanese colorants of coventry , r . i . ), and magenta pigment red 202 quinacridone ci # 73907 ( a product of ciba - geigy corporation of newport , del .). preferred dyes are those that are stable to common polyamide processing conditions and are stable to uv light . specific examples are filamid red gr solvent , red 225 ( a product of ciba - geigy corporation of newport , del . ), and macrolex red e2g , solvent red 179 ( a product of bayer corp . of pittsburgh , pa .). colorants are generally used in combinations to obtain a desired color . the process of mixing the colorants is well known to those skilled in the art . the colorants used in the present invention are generally present in an amount of from about 0 . 5 to about 5 wt . %, preferably from about 1 to about 3 . 5 wt . % and most preferably from about 1 . 5 to about 3 wt . %. applicants have unexpectedly discovered that when a highly dispersed carbon black is added to the compositions of the invention the color change after weathering is greatly diminished . in fact , of all of the compositions tested this embodiment produces the least change in color . see table 2 , example 2 , samples 12 - 14 . suitable other commercially available stabilizers with which the novel composition of the invention may be combined include , phenolic antioxidants ( aos ), thioethers , metal dithiolates , sulfoxides , among others and ultraviolet light absorbers such as benzotriazoles ( bzts ), hydroxybenzophenones ( hbps ), cinnamates , benzylidene malonates , nickel chelates , oxanilides , copper - based heat stabilizers and combinations and permutations thereof any combination that creates significant color changes , or does not result in an improvement in color or gloss retention relative to a composition excluding the additional additive would of course be avoided . other stabilizers which can be used in combination with the novel compositions of the invention can be found in the book by j . f . rabek , &# 34 ; photostabilization of polymers ; principles and applications &# 34 ;, elsevier applied science , ny , 1990 . the compositions of this invention may be prepared by any method well known in the art . preferred methods are disclosed in the examples which follow . the compositions used in the examples which follow were prepared by adding to a dry blend of base resin , a siloxane or siloxane master batch , a hindered amine , a phosphite or phosphonite , and any other additives through an upstream feeder on a w & amp ; p 40 mm twin screw extruder . the bulk of the base resin was added down the extruder throat and filling and reinforcing agents were added down stream . the extruder was run with a temperature profile of 250 , 250 , 260 , 260 , 260 , 260 , 260 , 260 , 260 , 280 ( all in ° c .) at 400 rpm and full vacuum . the extrudate was chipped and dried . masterbatches were prepared using essentially the same procedure . the final compounded chips were molded into standard 21 / 2 &# 34 ;× 6 &# 34 ;× 1 / 4 &# 34 ; 20 gloss plaques using a 15 ton cincinnati molding machine using temperatures of rear : 520 °, center 540 °, front 560 °, nozzle 580 °, and mold 250 ° ( all in fahrenheit ), pressures of : 1100 injection , 600 hold , and 50 back ( all in psi ), and times of : injection 8 seconds , forward 10 seconds , and closed 15 seconds . the plaques formed served as test specimens to evaluate the effect of weathering on appearance . the color shift and gloss of the specimens were measured after weathering in an atlas ci - 65a xenon arc weatherometer in accordance with ae j - 1960 . some samples were weathered using sae j - 1960 at an industry approved independent testing laboratory , and these samples are labeled accordingly . the length of exposure for each sample is expressed as the total length of the test in hours , and the total irradiance dose is expressed in kilojoules per square meter ( kj / m 2 ). the color shift of the samples was measured in a color spectrophotometer in accordance with astm d - 2244 . the results are reported as δe relative to the initial color of the samples . the samples were also measured for gloss in accordance with astm 523 . when samples were weathered at an independent laboratory , that laboratory also performed the color shift and gloss measurements . the results are presented in the tables which follow . the amount of each component present in the compositions is expressed in wt . % of the total composition . when copper salts are used , they are expressed in terms of copper content . a variety of stabilizers were evaluated in glass and mineral filled nylon - 6 . the compositions were prepared according to the process described above . the gp - 298 siloxane material was added as a 5 % masterbatch in unfilled nylon - 6 . weathering and final measurement of the color shift and gloss of the samples was performed by an independent testing laboratory . the color shift and gloss retention results are the averages of two samples . table 1______________________________________color shift and gloss retention of samples weathered for 1000 hours ( 1316 kj / m . sup . 2 ) at an independent testing laboratory according tosae j - 1960 . sample a 1 2 3 4______________________________________nylon ( capron ® 98 . 49 98 . 09 97 . 49 97 . 89 95 . 218267g ). sup . 1cui / ki 0 . 01 0 . 01 0 . 01 0 . 01 0 . 01irgaphos 168 0 . 2irganox ® 1010 . sup . 2 0 . 2cyasorb 3346 1 . 0 0 . 5 0 . 5sodium 0 . 1 0 . 1hypophosphitegp - 298 siloxane 2 . 68bk6304 - 6b . sup . 3 1 . 5 1 . 5 1 . 5 1 . 5 1 . 5δe 3 . 9 3 . 2 2 . 6 3 . 3 0 . 6gloss 6 . 7 7 . 4 7 . 4 7 . 4 9 . 7______________________________________ . sup . 1 capron 8267 nylon is a 40 % glass and mineral filled nylon 6 polyme with ultimate elongation of 4 % ( astm d638 ), notched izod of 0 . 9 ft . lbs ./ in ( astm d256 ), and a flexural modulus of 1 , 110 , 000 psi ( astm d790 ). . sup . 2 irganox ® 1010 antioxidant is a product of the cibageigy corporation . . sup . 3 bk63046b ( a uv black colorant concentrate ) is a product of americhem . the data of table 1 clearly show the dramatic and unexpected improvement in resistance to color shift of the compositions of the present invention . samples 1 and 2 represent compositions which those skilled in the art would reasonably expect to give improvements in light stability relative to control ( sample a ). a comparison of the performance of samples 2 and 3 with that of sample 4 demonstrates the unexpected synergy achieved through the combination of a nylon base resin , a reactive siloxane , a hindered amine and a phosphite or phosphonite . variations of the composition of the invention in a glass and mineral filled nylon - 6 were evaluated in an effort to demonstrate the reproducibility of performance of the invention . the compositions were made according to the process described above . the gp - 298 siloxane material was added as a 5 % masterbatch in unfilled nylon - 6 . weathering and final measurement of the color shift and gloss of the samples were performed by an independent testing laboratory . the color shift and gloss retention results are the averages of two samples . table 2__________________________________________________________________________color shift and gloss retention of samples weathered for 1000 hours ( 1316kj / m . sup . 2 ) at anindependent testing lab using sae j - 1960 . sample b 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14__________________________________________________________________________nylon ( capron 98 . 34 98 . 34 97 . 99 97 . 99 96 . 99 97 . 34 94 . 01 96 . 07 94 . 96 94 . 96 95 . 118267g ) cui / ki 0 . 01 0 . 01 0 . 01 0 . 01 0 . 01 0 . 01 0 . 01 0 . 01cui / lii 0 . 01 0 . 01 0 . 01tinuvin 770 . sup . 4 1 . 0uv check am - 0 . 5806cyasorb 3346 1 . 0 0 . 5 0 . 5 0 . 5 0 . 5sodium 0 . 1 0 . 1 0 . 1 0 . 1 0 . 1hypophosphiteuv check am - 0 . 5340 . sup . 5tinuvin 234 . sup . 4 0 . 5gp - 298 siloxane 2 . 38 1 . 32 2 . 43 2 . 43 2 . 63690345ny . sup . 6 2 . 0 2 . 0 2 . 0 2 . 0 2 . 07932 - a1 . sup . 7 2 . 0 2 . 0bk - 411a sw . sup . 8 1 . 65 1 . 65 1 . 65 1 . 65 1 . 65δe 2 . 4 2 . 4 3 . 6 3 . 0 3 . 8 2 . 8 2 . 7 2 . 5 1 . 2 1 . 6 0 . 3gloss 9 . 1 8 . 8 7 . 3 7 . 0 7 . 6 8 . 6 10 . 0 8 . 4 10 . 0 9 . 6 10 . 2__________________________________________________________________________ . sup . 4 tinuvin 770 hindered amine , and tinuvin 234 benzotriazole are products of cibageigy corporation . . sup . 5 uv check am340 benzoate is a product of ferrobedford chemicals . . sup . 6 bk690345ny ( a uv black colorant concentrate ( is a 25 % 9a32 black in a nylon6 carrier . it is a product of ampacet . . sup . 7 7932a1 ( a uv black colorant concentrate ) is a 25 % 9a32 black in a nylon6 carrier . it is a product of americhem . . sup . 8 bk411a sw ( a uv black colorant concentrate ) is a 42 % 9a32 black in an eva carrier with a melt index (@ 190 ° c ., 21 . 6 kg ) 16 - 30 gms / 10 min . ( astm d1238 ) and a pellet weight of 1 . 8 - 2 . 6 g / 100 pellets . southwest has given this concentrate a dispersion rating of d at a 15 . 8 ; 1 let down in the film evaluation described previously . it is a product of southwest chemical . a comparison of samples 12 , 13 , and 14 with control sample b demonstrates that the beneficial effects of this invention can be realized in a variety of carbon black pigments , but that the effect is most pronounced when a highly dispersed carbon black is used . the compositions of table 3 are made using the process described above . the amount of each component present in each composition is reported in the table as wt . % with the balance of the compositions made up of the nylon component . table 3__________________________________________________________________________ phosphorus anti - sample nylon siloxane hals compound colorant oxidant other__________________________________________________________________________15 capron 8202 . sup . 9 gp - 298 cy 3346 shp ( 0 . 1 ) bk - 411a ( 2 . 6 ) ( 0 . 5 ) ( 2 . 0 ) 16 capron 8202 gp - 298 cy 3346 shp ( 0 . 1 ) bk - 411a hs . sup . 10 ( 2 . 6 ) ( 0 . 5 ) ( 2 . 0 ) 17 capron 8233g . sup . 11 gp - 298 cy 3346 shp ( 0 . 1 ) bk - 411a ( 2 . 6 ) ( 0 . 5 ) ( 2 . 0 ) 18 capron gp - 298 cy 3346 shp ( 0 . 1 ) bk - 411a 8267g . sup . 12 ( 2 . 6 ) ( 0 . 5 ) ( 2 . 0 ) 19 capron 8351 . sup . 13 gp - 298 cy 3346 shp ( 0 . 1 ) bk - 411a ( 2 . 6 ) ( 0 . 5 ) ( 2 . 0 ) 20 capron 8352 . sup . 14 gp - 298 cy 3346 shp ( 0 . 1 ) bk - 411a ( 2 . 6 ) ( 0 . 5 ) ( 2 . 0 ) 21 capron gp - 298 cy 3346 shp ( 0 . 1 ) bk - 411a hpn9233g . sup . 15 ( 2 . 6 ) ( 0 . 5 ) ( 2 . 0 ) 22 capron gp - 298 cy 3346 shp ( 0 . 1 ) bk - 411a hpn9333g . sup . 16 ( 2 . 6 ) ( 0 . 5 ) ( 2 . 0 ) 23 capron 8330 gp - 298 cy 3346 shp ( 0 . 1 ) bk - 411a ghihs . sup . 17 ( 2 . 6 ) ( 0 . 5 ) ( 2 . 0 ) 24 ube 3035c2 . sup . 18 gp - 298 cy 3346 shp ( 0 . 1 ) bk - 411a ( 2 . 6 ) ( 0 . 5 ) ( 2 . 0 ) 25 ultramid a4 . sup . 19 gp - 298 cy 3346 shp ( 0 . 1 ) bk - 411a ( 2 . 6 ) ( 0 . 5 ) ( 2 . 0 ) ultramid a5 . sup . 20 gp - 298 cy 3346 shp ( 0 . 1 ) bk - 411a ( 2 . 6 ) ( 0 . 5 ) ( 2 . 0 ) zytel 101 . sup . 21 gp - 298 cy 3346 shp ( 0 . 1 ) bk - 411a ( 2 . 6 ) ( 0 . 5 ) ( 2 . 0 ) zytel 42a . sup . 22 gp - 298 cy 3346 shp ( 0 . 1 ) bk - 411a ( 2 . 6 ) ( 0 . 5 ) ( 2 . 0 ) 26 nylon 6 , 10 gp - 298 cy 3346 shp ( 0 . 1 ) bk - 411a ( 2 . 6 ) ( 0 . 5 ) ( 2 . 0 ) 27 capron 8202 gp - 298 cy 3346 shp ( 0 . 1 ) 2gtm ( 2 . 6 ) ( 0 . 5 ) yellow ( 2 . 0 ) 28 capron 8233g gp - 298 cy 3346 shp ( 0 . 1 ) 2gtm ( 2 . 6 ) ( 0 . 5 ) yellow ( 2 . 0 ) 29 capron 8267g gp - 298 cy 3346 shp ( 0 . 1 ) 2gtm ( 2 . 6 ) ( 0 . 5 ) yellow ( 2 . 0 ) 30 capron 8351 gp - 298 cy 3346 shp ( 0 . 1 ) 2gtm ( 2 . 6 ) ( 0 . 5 ) yellow ( 2 . 0 ) 31 capron 8352 gp - 298 cy 3346 shp ( 0 . 1 ) 2gtm ( 2 . 6 ) ( 0 . 5 ) yellow ( 2 . 0 ) 32 capron gp - 298 cy 3346 shp ( 0 . 1 ) 2gtm hpn9233g ( 2 . 6 ) ( 0 . 5 ) yellow ( 2 . 0 ) 33 capron gp - 298 cy 3346 shp ( 0 . 1 ) 2gtm hpn9333g ( 2 . 6 ) ( 0 . 5 ) yellow ( 2 . 0 ) 34 capron 8330 gp - 298 cy 3346 shp ( 0 . 1 ) 2gtm ghihs ( 2 . 6 ) ( 0 . 5 ) yellow ( 2 . 0 ) 35 ube 3035c2 gp - 298 cy 3346 shp ( 0 . 1 ) 2gtm ( 2 . 6 ) ( 0 . 5 ) yellow ( 2 . 0 ) 36 ultramid a4 gp - 298 cy 3346 shp ( 0 . 1 ) 2gtm ( 2 . 6 ) ( 0 . 5 ) yellow ( 2 . 0 ) 37 nylon 6 , 10 gp - 298 cy 3346 shp ( 0 . 1 ) 2gtm ( 2 . 6 ) ( 0 . 5 ) yellow ( 2 . 0 ) 38 capron 8202 dow 4 - cy 3346 shp ( 0 . 1 ) 2gtm 7051 ( 0 . 5 ) yellow ( 2 . 6 ) ( 2 . 0 ) 39 capron 8202 gp - 316 cy 3346 shp ( 0 . 1 ) 2gtm ( 2 . 6 ) ( 0 . 5 ) yellow ( 2 . 0 ) 40 capron 8202 dow - 1 cy 3346 shp ( 0 . 1 ) 2gtm 9641 ( 0 . 5 ) yellow ( 2 . 6 ) ( 2 . 0 ) 41 capron 8202 silox - 1 . sup . 23 cy 3346 shp ( 0 . 1 ) 2gtm ( 0 . 5 ) yellow ( 2 . 0 ) 42 capron 8202 silox - 2 . sup . 24 cy 3346 shp ( 0 . 1 ) 2gtm ( 0 . 5 ) yellow ( 2 . 0 ) 43 capron 8202 silox - 3 . sup . 25 cy 3346 shp ( 0 . 1 ) 2gtm ( 0 . 5 ) yellow ( 2 . 0 ) 44 capron 8202 silox - 4 . sup . 26 cy 3346 shp ( 0 . 1 ) 2gtm ( 0 . 5 ) yellow ( 2 . 0 ) 45 capron 8202 dow 4 - cy 3346 shp ( 0 . 1 ) bk - 411a 7051 ( 0 . 5 ) ( 2 . 0 ) ( 2 . 6 ) 46 capron 8202 gp - 316 cy 3346 shp ( 0 . 1 ) bk - 411a ( 2 . 6 ) ( 0 . 5 ) ( 2 . 0 ) 47 capron 8202 dow 1 - cy 3346 shp ( 0 . 1 ) bk - 411a 9641 ( 0 . 5 ) ( 2 . 0 ) ( 2 . 6 ) 48 capron 8202 silox - 1 cy 3346 shp ( 0 . 1 ) bk - 411a ( 0 . 5 ) ( 2 . 0 ) 49 capron 8202 silox - 2 cy 3346 shp ( 0 . 1 ) bk - 411a ( 0 . 5 ) ( 2 . 0 ) 50 capron 8202 silox - 3 cy 3346 shp ( 0 . 1 ) bk - 411a ( 0 . 5 ) ( 2 . 0 ) 51 capron 8202 silox - 4 cy 3346 shp ( 0 . 1 ) bk - 411a ( 0 . 5 ) ( 2 . 0 ) 52 capron 8202 gp - 298 tinuvin shp ( 0 . 1 ) bk - 411a ( 2 . 6 ) 770 ( 0 . 5 ) ( 2 . 0 ) 53 capron 8202 gp - 298 uv shp ( 0 . 1 ) bk - 411a ( 2 . 6 ) check ( 2 . 0 ) am - 806 ( 0 . 5 ) 54 capron 8202 gp - 298 tunivin shp ( 0 . 1 ) bk - 411a ( 2 . 6 ) 622 ( 0 . 5 ) ( 2 . 0 ) 55 capron 8202 gp - 298 uvinul shp ( 0 . 1 ) bk - 411a cui / ki ( 2 . 6 ) 5050 ( 2 . 0 ) ( 0 . 01 ) ( 0 . 5 ) 56 capron 8202 gp - 298 cy 3346 irgaphos 12 bk - 411a irganox cui / ki ( 2 . 6 ) ( 0 . 5 ) ( 0 . 1 ) ( 2 . 0 ) 1010 ( 0 . 1 ) ( 0 . 01 ) 57 capron 8202 gp - 298 cy 3346 sandostab bk - 411a ( 2 . 6 ) ( 0 . 5 ) p - epq ( 0 . 1 ) ( 2 . 0 ) 58 capron 8202 gp - 298 cy 3346 irgaphos bk - 411a ( 2 . 6 ) ( 0 . 5 ) 168 ( 0 . 1 ) ( 2 . 0 ) 59 capron 8202 gp - 298 cy 3346 ethanox bk - 411a ( 2 . 6 ) ( 0 . 5 ) 398 ( 0 . 1 ) ( 2 . 0 ) 60 capron 8202 gp - 298 cy 3346 shp ( 0 . 1 ) bk - 411a irganox ( 2 . 6 ) ( 0 . 5 ) ( 2 . 0 ) 1010 ( 0 . 1 ) 61 capron 8202 gp - 298 cy 3346 shp ( 0 . 1 ) bk - 411a irganox ( 2 . 6 ) ( 0 . 5 ) ( 2 . 0 ) 1098 . sup . 27 ( 0 . 1 ) 62 capron 8202 gp - 298 cy 3346 shp ( 0 . 1 ) p . b . 15 - 4 irganox ( 2 . 6 ) ( 0 . 5 ) ( 2 . 0 ) 565 . sup . 28 ( 0 . 1 ) 63 capron 8202 gp - 298 cy 3346 shp ( 0 . 1 ) p . g . # 7 irganox ( 2 . 6 ) ( 0 . 5 ) ( 2 . 0 ) 1010 ( 0 . 1 ) 64 capron 8202 gp - 298 cy 3346 shp ( 0 . 1 ) solvent irganox ( 2 . 6 ) ( 0 . 5 ) red 225 1098 ( 0 . 1 ) ( 2 . 0 ) 65 capron 8202 gp - 298 cy 3346 shp ( 0 . 1 ) 2gtm irganox 565 ( 2 . 6 ) ( 0 . 5 ) yellow ( 0 . 1 ) ( 2 . 0 ) 66 capron 8202 gp - 298 cy 3346 shp ( 0 . 1 ) 2gtm cui / ki ( 2 . 6 ) ( 0 . 5 ) yellow ( 0 . 1 ) ( 2 . 0 ) 67 capron 8202 gp - 298 cy 3346 shp ( 0 . 1 ) 2gtm cui / ki ( 2 . 6 ) ( 0 . 5 ) yellow ( 0 . 01 ) ( 2 . 0 ) 68 capron 8202 gp - 298 cy 3346 shp ( 0 . 1 ) bk - 411a cui / ki ( 2 . 6 ) ( 0 . 5 ) ( 2 . 0 ) ( 0 . 01 ) 69 capron 8202 gp - 298 cy 3346 shp ( 0 . 1 ) bk - 411a irganox cui / ki ( 2 . 6 ) ( 0 . 5 ) ( 2 . 0 ) 1010 ( 0 . 1 ) ( 0 . 01 ) 70 capron 8202 gp - 298 cy 3346 shp ( 0 . 1 ) bk - 411a irganox cui / ki ( 2 . 6 ) ( 0 . 5 ) ( 2 . 0 ) 1098 ( 0 . 1 ) ( 0 . 01 ) 71 capron 8202 gp - 298 cy 3346 shp ( 0 . 1 ) p . b . 15 - 4 irganox 565 cui / ki ( 2 . 6 ) ( 0 . 5 ) ( 2 . 0 ) ( 0 . 1 ) ( 0 . 01 ) 72 capron 8202 gp - 298 cy 3346 shp ( 0 . 1 ) p . g . # 7 irganox cui / ki ( 2 . 6 ) ( 0 . 5 ) ( 2 . 0 ) 1010 ( 0 . 1 ) ( 0 . 01 ) 73 capron 8202 gp - 298 cy 3346 shp ( 0 . 1 ) solvent irganox cui / ki ( 2 . 6 ) ( 0 . 5 ) red 225 1098 ( 0 . 1 ) ( 0 . 01 ) ( 2 . 0 ) 74 capron 8202 gp - 298 cy 3346 shp ( 0 . 1 ) 2gtm irganox 565 cui / ki ( 2 . 6 ) ( 0 . 5 ) yellow ( 0 . 1 ) ( 0 . 01 ) ( 2 . 0 ) 75 capron 8202 gp - 298 cy 3346 shp ( 0 . 1 ) 2gtm cui / ki ( 2 . 6 ) ( 0 . 5 ) yellow 1164 ( 0 . 5 ) ( 2 . 0 ) 76 capron 8202 gp - 298 cy 3346 shp ( 0 . 1 ) 2gtm cyasorb ( 2 . 6 ) ( 0 . 5 ) yellow 1164 ( 0 . 5 ) 77 capron 8202 gp - 298 cy 3346 shp ( 0 . 1 ) bk - 411a cyasorb ( 2 . 6 ) ( 0 . 5 ) ( 2 . 0 ) 1164 ( 0 . 5 ) 78 capron 8202 gp - 298 cy 3346 shp ( 0 . 1 ) bk - 411a cyasorb ( 2 . 6 ) ( 0 . 5 ) ( 2 . 0 ) 1164 ( 0 . 5 ) 79 capron 8202 gp - 298 cy 3346 shp ( 0 . 1 ) bk - 411a mixxim ® ( 2 . 6 ) ( 0 . 5 ) ( 2 . 0 ) bb - 100 ( 0 . 5 ). sup . 2980 capron 8202 gp - 298 cy 3346 shp ( 0 . 1 ) 2gtm mixxim ® ( 2 . 6 ) ( 0 . 5 ) yellow bb - 100 ( 0 . 5 ( 2 . 0 ) 81 capron 8202 gp - 298 cy 3346 shp ( 0 . 1 ) p . b . 15 - 4 mixxim ® ( 2 . 6 ) ( 0 . 5 ) ( 2 . 0 ) bb - 100 ( 0 . 582 capron 8202 gp - 298 cy 3346 shp ( 0 . 1 ) p . g . # 7 mixxim ® ( 2 . 6 ) ( 0 . 5 ) ( 2 . 0 ) bb - 100 ( 0 . 583 capron 8202 gp - 298 cy 3346 shp ( 0 . 1 ) solvent ( 2 . 6 ) ( 0 . 5 ) red 225 ( 2 . 0 ) 84 capron 8202 gp - 298 cy 3346 shp ( 0 . 1 ) 2gtm ( 2 . 6 ) ( 0 . 5 ) yellow ( 2 . 0 ) 85 capron 8202 gp - 298 cy 3346 shp ( 0 . 1 ) p . b . 15 - 4 ( 2 . 6 ) ( 0 . 5 ) ( 2 . 0 ) 86 capron 8202 gp - 298 cy 3346 shp ( 0 . 1 ) p . g . # 7 ( 2 . 6 ) ( 0 . 5 ) ( 2 . 0 ) 87 capron 8202 gp - 298 cy 3346 shp ( 0 . 1 ) solvent ( 2 . 6 ) ( 0 . 5 ) red 225 ( 2 . 0 ) __________________________________________________________________________ . sup . 9 capron 8202 nylon is a nylon 6 polymer with ultimate elongation of 70 % ( astm d638 ), notched izod of 1 . 0 ft . lbs ./ in ( astm d256 ), a flexural modulus of 410 , 000 psi ( astm d790 ), and is white in color . . sup . 10 capron 8202hs nylon is a nylon 6 polymer with ultimate elongation of 70 % ( astm d638 ), notched izod of 1 . 0 ft . lbs ./ in ( astm d256 ), a flexural modulus of 410 , 000 psi ( astm d790 ), a copper content of 50 - 150 ppm , and is pale yellow in color . . sup . 11 capron 8233g nylon is a 33 % glass nylon 6 polymer with ultimate elongation of 3 % ( astm d638 ), notched izod of 1 . 2 ft . lbs ./ in ( astm d256 ) and a flexural modulus of 1 , 110 , 000 psi ( astm d790 ). . sup . 12 capron 8267g nylon is a 40 % glass and mineral filled nylon 6 polymer with ultimate elongation of 4 % ( astm d638 ), notched izod of 0 . 9 ft . lbs ./ in ( astm d256 ), and a flexural modulus of 1 , 360 , 000 psi ( astm d790 ). . sup . 13 capron 8351 nylon is an impact modified nylon 6 polymer with ultimate elongation of 200 % ( astm d638 ), notched izod of no break ( astm d256 ), and a flexural modulus of 230 , 000 psi ( astm d790 ). . sup . 14 capron 8352 nylonis an impact modified nylon 6 polymer with ultimate elongation of 100 % ( astm d638 ), notched izod no break ( astm d256 ), and a flexural modulus of 280 , 000 psi ( astm d790 ). . sup . 15 capronhpn 9233g nylon is a 33 % glass filled nylon 6 polymer with notched izod of 2 . 4 ft . lbs ./ in ( astm d256 ), and a flexural modulus of 1 , 360 , 000 psi ( astm d790 ). . sup . 16 capron hpn 9333g nylon is a 30 % glass nylon 6 polymer with notche izod of 4 . 0 ft . lbs ./ in ( astm d256 ), and a flexural modulus of 1 , 120 , 000 psi ( astm d790 ). . sup . 17 capron 8333 ghihs nylon is a high impact nylon 6 polymer with notched izod of 4 . 0 ft . lbs ./ in ( astm d256 ), and a flexural modulus of 490 , 000 psi ( astm d790 ). . sup . 18 ube 3035c2 nylon is a nylon 12 polymer . . sup . 19 ultramid a4 nylon is a nylon 6 , 6 material supplied by basf with a formic acid viscosity of 93 and a melt flow index of 3 . 2 ( astm d1238 ). . sup . 20 ultramid a5 nylon is a nylon 6 , 6 material supplied by basf with a formic acid viscosity of 241 and a melt flow index of 0 . 5 ( astm d1238 ) . sup . 21 zytel 101 nylon is a nylon 6 , 6 material supplied by dupont with a formic acid viscosity of 50 and a melt flow index of 10 . 6 ( astm d1238 ). . sup . 22 zytel 42a nylon is a nylon 6 , 6 material supplied by dupont with a formic acid viscosity of 250 and a melt flow index of 0 . 5 ( astm d1238 ). . sup . 23 silox1 is a siloxane of structure 3 ! wherein r &# 39 ; is -- ch . sub . 3 , c is 400 , d is 5 , e is 5 , and r is -- co . sub . 2 h . . sup . 24 silox2 is a siloxane of structure 3 ! wherein r &# 39 ; is -- ch . sub . 3 , c is 1500 , d is 5 , e is 5 , and r is -- co . sub . 2 h . . sup . 25 silox3 is a siloxane of structure 3 ! wherein r &# 39 ; is -- ch . sub . 3 , c is 400 , d is 5 , e is 5 , and r is -- nco . . sup . 26 silox4 is a siloxane of structure 3 ! wherein r &# 39 ; is -- ch . sub . 3 , c is 1500 , d is 5 , e is 5 , and r is -- nco . . sup . 27 irganox 1098 antioxidant {( n , nhexamethylene bis ( 3 , 5di - t - butyl - 4 - hydroxyhydrocinnammamide )} is a product of cibageigy company . . sup . 28 irganox 565 antioxidant { 2 , 4bis ( n - octylthio )- 6 -( 4 - hydroxy - 3 , 5 - di - t - butylanilino )- 1 , 3 , 5 - triazine } is a product of cibageigy company . . sup . 29 mixxix bb100 benzotriazole { bis { 2hydroxy - 5 - t - octyl - 3 -( benzotriazol - 2 - yl ) phenylmethane } is a product of fairmont chemicals of newark , new jersey . test plaques are molded from the compositions as described above . the samples 15 - 87 are found to leave a reduced amount of residue on mold surfaces during injection molding relative to samples produced using a non - reactive siloxane . this observation is made by noting the number of shots or parts molded before a reduction in surface quality is observed . residue on the mold generally results in a reduction of surface quality and necessitates cleaning of the mold to restore the quality of the moldings . samples 15 - 87 are found to exhibit diminished color shift δe ( astm d - 2244 ) and improved retention of surface integrity gloss , ( astm 523 ) upon weathering to 1000 hours ( 1316 kj / m 2 ) under sae j - 1960 , relative to appropriate control samples . thus , the compositions of the invention retain gloss and color upon weathering . each of samples 15 , 16 , 24 - 27 , and 34 - 87 are dry blended and extruded on a haake tw - 100 twin screw extruder equipped with conical feed screws and a mixing element . the polymer melt is maintained at 273 ° c . and the barrel sections are heated to 215 °, 235 °, and 240 ° c . respectively . the extruder screws are maintained at 50 rpm which results in a torque of approximately 1400 . the polymer melt is formed into film using a 6 &# 34 ; film die maintained at 240 ° c . with a die gap of 0 . 021 &# 34 ; to give film with a nominal thickness of 0 . 0017 cm . the quality of the films is judged on % haze ( astm di 003 ), 20 ° gloss ( astm d2457 ), a visual rating of dirt / gels , and yellowness index ( yi , astm d1925 , macbeth ci - 3100 ). the films are weathered to 100 hours using sae j - 1960 . the resulting films exhibit gloss and haze similar to those of control samples . after weathering , these films have a ayi of less than 10 . each of samples 15 , 16 , 24 - 27 , and 34 - 87 are dry blended on a twin screw extruder , with a melt temperature of 260 ° c . and a residence time of approximately one minute , into approximately 1 / 8 &# 34 ; filament and pelletized after cooling using standard equipment . the compounded material is dried for 16 hours under vacuum at 160 ° c . this material is spun into fiber by extruding the polymer at a spinning temperature of 260 ° c . into 30 filaments having a total denier of 250 . the breaking strength retention ( bsr ) of these fibers is determined according to 49 cfr ch . v ( oct . 1 , 1986 ) federal motor vehicle standard no . 209 . bsr values are the average of five measurements . the bsr of the fibers is determined after 112 , 150 , 225 , and 450 kj / m 2 doses in the sae j1885 test . the compositions of this invention are found to give at least a 10 % greater bsr than control samples . | 2 |
in the following , preferred embodiments of the present invention are more specifically described with reference to the accompanying figures . [ 0036 ] fig5 is a plan view of a writing device according to a first embodiment of the present invention and fig6 is a sectional side view of the writing device according to the first embodiment . parts corresponding to those shown in fig2 and fig4 are denoted with the same numerical references and the descriptions of which are omitted . in the writing device 10 according to the first embodiment of the present invention , a first blocking plate 11 is integrally formed on the polygon cover 8 a of the polygon motor 8 so as to block the first flare beam fl 1 . this eliminates the possibility of forming a gap between the first blocking plate 11 and the polygon cover 8 a of the polygon motor 8 , and at the same time , the removal of the polygon motor 8 is not obstructed since the first blocking plate 11 is simultaneously removed with the polygon motor 8 . since the polygon mirror 5 is normally arranged with high precision with respect to the ld unit 1 and other optical components , it is possible to arrange the first blocking plate 11 at the ultimate position where the first blocking plate 11 can block the first flare beam fl 1 but does not block the chief ray l . however , since the distance between the first blocking plate 11 and the aperture 2 is shorter than the distance between the first blocking plate 11 and the mirror 4 , there is a possibility that a part of the first flare beam fl 1 may pass through due to a slight error . therefore , it is preferable that an auxiliary blocking plate 12 may be provided in parallel with the first blocking plate 11 on the optical housing 10 a of the writing device 10 between the first blocking plate 11 and the mirror 4 in order to completely block the first flare beam fl 1 . the auxiliary blocking plate 12 may be also integrally formed on the polygon cover 8 a of the polygon motor 8 as is the first blocking plate 11 . as for the second flare beam fl 2 , as shown in fig7 a second blocking plate 13 is provided on the optical housing 10 a of the writing device 10 as is the auxiliary blocking plate 12 . the second blocking plate 13 can be arranged comparatively easily since there are no particular intricate movable / stationary members in its surroundings . according to the first embodiment of the present invention , it is possible to achieve an efficient and effective blocking of the flare beams emitted from the ld unit , which is conventionally said to be very difficult , and to prevent the degradation in image quality by simply modifying a part of the shape of the polygon cover 8 a of the polygon motor 8 configuring the deflector . [ 0041 ] fig8 through fig1 describe a writing device according to a second embodiment of the present invention . fig8 is a perspective view illustrating the exterior of the cover of the polygon motor in the writing device according to the second embodiment . fig9 shows a magnified view of a part of the optical path of the flare beams in the surroundings of the polygon motor . fig1 is a plan view illustrating an overall configuration of the writing device according to the second embodiment . according to the second embodiment of the present invention , a first blocking plate 14 , which is integrally formed on the polygon cover 8 a of the polygon motor 8 , is extended to a position across the chief ray l . an opening 15 with a predetermined shape for allowing the chief ray l to pass therethrough is formed in the first blocking plate 14 . the opening 15 substitutes for the aperture 2 for forming the chief ray l and thus the independent aperture 2 such as shown in fig5 and fig6 is eliminated . as previously mentioned , since the arrangement accuracy of the polygon motor 8 is essentially very high , the position accuracy the first blocking plate 14 that is integrally formed on the polygon motor 8 and the opening 15 formed in the blocking plate 14 is also high . it is possible to make the opening 15 sufficiently fulfill the function of an aperture . since the first flare beam fl 1 emitted from the ld unit 1 is reliably blocked by the portions of the first blocking plate 14 other than the opening 15 , the auxiliary blocking plate 12 provided in the first embodiment of the present invention is not necessary any more . as for the second flare beam fl 2 , the second blocking plate 13 as shown in fig5 and fig7 is provided . according to the second embodiment of the present invention , since the function of the aperture , which is conventionally provided in the ld unit 1 or on the optical housing 10 a as an independent member , can be combined with the opening 15 in the first blocking plate 14 , it is possible to reduce the production cost in addition to the blocking of the flare beams . accordingly , by integrally forming an opening having the function of the aperture on the polygon cover of the polygon motor , further effects can be obtained as described below . in general , when the writing densities of the plurality of image forming apparatus differ , it is necessary to change the diameter of the beam incident on the photoconductor drum as required by the image formation process . for example , an image forming apparatus with a writing density of 600 dpi needs a smaller beam diameter than an image forming apparatus with a writing density of 400 dpi . in order to obtain the required beam diameter , an appropriate ld unit and superior performance of the lens system that focuses the laser beam emitted from the ld unit onto the photoconductor and forms images thereon are essential . however , as a method for changing the beam diameter without modifying the lens system , changing the shape or the dimension of the aperture may be effectively implemented . for example , in order to configure a plurality of device types having different writing densities as series devices of the image forming apparatus , it may be only necessary to change the number of rotations of the polygon motor and the shape of the opening from an optical point of view . according to the second embodiment of the present invention shown in fig8 through fig1 , since the polygon cover 8 a of the polygon motor 8 and the opening 15 configuring the aperture of the first blocking plate 14 are integrally formed on the same component , it is possible to readily achieve the configurations of the series devices by combining a plurality of polygon motors having different numbers of rotations and a plurality of openings having different dimensions during production . in addition , it is possible to provide an image forming apparatus with a plurality of grades by simply replacing the above - mentioned integral component . therefore , it is possible to achieve good productivity . [ 0046 ] fig1 shows a schematic configuration of a digital copier provided with such a writing device as mentioned above . it is noted that , as a matter of convenience , the writing device 10 has an optical path that travels in the opposite direction as compared to that shown in fig6 . the writing device 10 is configured as shown in fig8 through fig1 . the digital copier comprises , from the top to the bottom , the automatic document feeder 20 , the document reading unit 30 , the writing device 10 , the transfer unit 40 , and the feeder unit 50 . the automatic document feeder 20 feeds document sheets one by one from a pile of document sheets placed on a table for the document sheets ( not shown ) to the contact glass 21 and discharges the document sheet when it is finished copying . the document reading unit 30 comprises a first carriage 30 a provided with a light source configured from an illumination lamp 31 and a reflection mirror 32 , and a first mirror 33 and a second carriage 30 b provided with a second mirror 34 and a third mirror 35 . at the time of reading out the document sheet , the first carriage 30 a moves in the direction indicated by an arrow x with predetermined velocity and the second carriage 30 b follows the first carriage 30 a in the direction indicated by the arrow x at half of the predetermined velocity of the first carriage 30 a . this enables the document sheet on the contact glass 21 , which is illuminated by the illumination lamp 31 provided with the reflection mirror 32 , to be optically scanned , and a corresponding image is formed on the ccd sensor 38 through a color filter 36 and a lens 37 . the document sheet is read by the ccd sensor 38 , which performs the photoelectric transfer on the reflective light image of the document sheet so as to provide an analog signal . after reading of the document sheet is completed , the first carriage 30 a and the second carriage 30 b return to their original positions . when a 3 - line ccd provided with a red ( r ) filter , a green ( g ) filter , and a blue ( b ) filter is used as the ccd sensor 38 , color images can be read . the analog image signals provided from the ccd sensor 38 are converted to digital image signals by an a / d converter and various image processes including digitization , a gradation process , a magnification process , and a compilation process are applied on the digital image signals at an image processing plate 39 . the digital image signals having been processed are sent to the writing device 10 via a semiconductor drive plate ( not shown ) and a laser beam is emitted from the ld 1 a in the ld unit 1 in accordance with the provided digital signals . as previously mentioned , the laser beam emitted from the ld 1 a becomes a substantially parallel light beam by passing through the collimator lens 1 b and become a chief ray l having a cross - section shaped as necessary for image formation by the opening 15 ( fig9 ) of the first blocking plate 14 . the first flare beam fl 1 and the second flare beam fl 2 ( fig9 ) other than the chief ray l are blocked by the first blocking plate 14 and the second blocking plate 13 . the chief - ray that passes through the opening 15 is condensed in the sub - scanning direction by the cylindrical lens 3 and is reflected by the mirror 4 so as to enter the polygon mirror 5 via the soundproof glass 5 a . the chief ray l entering the polygon mirror 5 is deflected by the polygon mirror 5 and enters the fθ lens 6 . the direction of the chief ray l is changed by a turning mirror 16 and the chief ray l exits to the interior of the transfer unit 40 through a window portion 10 b of the optical housing 10 a and a dustproof glass 17 . the chief ray l emitted to the interior of the transfer unit 40 is focused on the photoconductive image carrier , which is the photoconductor drum 7 , and forms an image thereon . the photoconductor drum 7 is rotationally driven by a drive ( not shown ) during copying and uniformly charged by a charging device 41 . afterward , electrostatic latent images are formed by being exposed to the image light beams from the writing device 10 and the latent images are developed by a developing device 42 . meanwhile , the feeder unit 50 comprises a plurality of feeding cassettes 50 a , 50 b , and 50 c corresponding to different dimensions . transfer papers are fed to resist rollers 43 from the required feeding cassette in precise timing with the images on the photoconductor drum 7 . the latent images formed on the photoconductor drum 7 are transferred to the transfer paper by a transfer device 44 and the transfer paper is separated from the photoconductor drum 7 by a separation device 45 . after being conveyed by a conveying device 46 , the transfer paper is discharged into a tray 48 as a copy . remaining toner is removed from the photoconductor drum 7 by a cleaning device 49 after the transfer paper is separated therefrom . in the digital copier shown in fig1 , a double - side copier , etc . may be provided inside , however , the descriptions of which are omitted since they are not directly related to the present invention . further , the present invention is not limited to these embodiments , and variations and modifications may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention . the present application is based on japanese priority application no . 2002 - 053929 filed on feb . 28 , 2002 , the entire contents of which are - hereby incorporated by reference . | 6 |
with reference now to the drawings , wherein like reference characters designate like or corresponding parts throughout the several views , there is shown in fig1 a finer 13 constructed in accordance with the present invention . finer 13 includes front wall 11 at its outlet end , back wall 25 at its inlet end , crown 35 , breastwalls 33 , sidewalls 39 , bottom surface 19 , inlet slot 23 , and exit trough 41 defined by front wall 11 and ledge 53 at the outlet end of bottom surface 19 . the finer receives molten glass from a premelter ( not shown ) by means of pipe 15 , e . g ., a molybdenum pipe ( see spremulli , u . s . pat . no . 4 , 029 , 887 ). the premelter serves the functions of 1 ) dissolving raw materials , and 2 ) homogenizing ( mixing ) the molten glass so that it enters the finer with uniform properties and a low level of solid inclusions , but typically with a high level of bubbles . various constructions known in the art can be used for the premelter . in general , the connection between the premelter and the finer should be chosen so that the thermal profile in the finer is essentially independent of thermal changes in the premelter . the finer serves the functions of ( 1 ) removing bubbles from the molten glass and ( 2 ) completing the dissolution of any solids not fully dissolved in the premelter . these functions are accomplished by subjecting the molten glass to a time - temperature profile as it passes over the finer &# 39 ; s bottom surface 19 , i . e ., as it passes through the finer &# 39 ; s processing zone . the time - temperature profile is selected based on the particular type of glass being processed . preferably , as taught in the &# 39 ; 653 patent , the distance between glass line 17 and bottom surface 19 ( i . e ., the depth of the glass in the processing zone ) is kept shallow , e . g ., the depth is set to be approximately 10 % of the finer &# 39 ; s width , so that significant convection currents do not develop in the molten glass as it passes over the bottom surface . in this way , the time - temperature profile to which the glass is exposed as it passes through the finer can be accurately controlled . when a shallow bed is used , the molten glass flows across bottom surface 19 with a substantially parabolic velocity profile , the maximum velocity being along the centerline of the flow . the width and length of the finer are chosen so that all of the glass remains in the finer for a minimum residence time sufficient to allow the bubbles in the glass to rise to the glass &# 39 ; upper surface . in practice , a length / width ratio of 2 / 1 is preferred . larger aspect ratios can be used , if desired , but they increase the cost of the furnace and result in greater heat losses . aspect ratios less than 2 / 1 , on the other hand , make it more difficult to effectively distribute the glass across the full width of the finer and to control the temperature profile along the length of the finer . as shown in fig1 molten glass ( identified by arrows 21 ) enters finer 13 through inlet slot 23 which is in the form of a vertical channel . this slot distributes the molten glass uniformly across the back of the finer . other approaches for introducing glass into the finer can be used . for example , the glass can be introduced through a central opening in the finer &# 39 ; s back wall 25 . glass introduced in this way will initially start to flow rapidly down the center of the finer . accordingly , to achieve a selected minimum residence time for the glass in the finer , the finer must be longer for the central opening approach than for the slot approach . when an inlet slot of the type shown in fig1 is used , it should have a width sufficient to receive vertical electrodes 27 and to ensure that sufficient heat will be radiated to the bottom of the slot so that glass flow can be started . in practice , a width of about one foot has been found to be sufficient . electrodes 27 are used to ensure that the bottom of slot 23 is hot enough during start - up so that glass will start to flow out of pipe 15 and up through the slot . for many types of glasses , heating by electrodes 27 will not be necessary and thus when these glasses are being processed , the electrodes will not be energized . as shown in fig1 slot 23 includes sloping sides 29 . these sides help to 1 ) minimize heat losses , and 2 ) prevent stagnant glass from accumulating at the lower corners of the slot . the operating energy for finer 13 can come from combustion , resistance heating , or from joule heating . generally , but not necessarily , some heating in the finer &# 39 ; s superstructure is desirable . this heating can be by combustion or from resistance heating elements inserted through the crown . the finer shown in the figures includes burners 31 in breastwalls 33 for this purpose . these burners are used to compensate for heat losses from the breastwalls and from crown 35 . alternatively , resistance heating elements , such as moly disilicide , could be inserted through the crown . the breastwalls can also include exhaust vents 45 for removing combustion products when burners are used . the glass flowing through finer 13 is heated by electrodes 37 , e . g ., molybdenum rod electrodes , inserted through side walls 39 , with the electrodes on one side of the finer firing to electrodes on the other side . if desired , electrodes can also be installed through the bottom surface 19 of the finer . the electrode locations are chosen so that the electrodes can provide sufficient power to create the desired temperature profile along the length of the finer . it is also desirable for the electrodes , to produce a uniform temperature across the width of the finer . many electrode locations and circuit configurations known in the art can be used to achieve this result . in practice , the cross - firing approach described above has been found to work successfully . in order to monitor the temperatures within the glass as it flows through the finer , bottom surface 19 can include thermocouple blocks ( not shown ) for measuring the temperature of the glass at different locations along the bottom of the finer . after flowing in a shallow layer over the finer &# 39 ; s bottom surface , the molten glass enters exit trough 41 and flows downward until it reaches outlet pipe 43 . typically , trough 41 will have a width on the order of one foot and a depth sufficient to achieve the desired cooling of the molten glass . preferably , the width of the trough , i . e ., the distance between ledge 53 and wall 11 , should be on the order of about 0 . 5 to about 1 . 5 of the depth of the glass flowing over bottom surface 19 . since the molten glass fills the trough ( see , for example , fig2 ), the ratio of the thickness of the substantially vertically - flowing molten glass in trough 41 to the depth of the substantially horizontally - flowing molten glass flowing over bottom surface 19 is also between about 0 . 5 and about 1 . 5 . of course , troughs having different dimensions can be used if desired . as discussed above , exit trough 41 is a key feature of the present invention . this trough ensures that the fined glass is removed uniformly across the full width of the finer . in particular , the convergence of the molten glass as it exits the finer takes place in the vertical trough , rather than while the glass is over bottom surface 19 . in this way , the trough preserves the relatively flat horizontal flow front of the glass right up to the end of bottom surface 19 . the trough also helps prevent scums from forming in the finer . specifically , scums generally do not develop in the trough and , in particular , at the upper corners of the trough because the glass in the trough and , in particular , the glass in the upper corners of the trough is in motion . this motion is due to the fact that the corners of the trough are areas of high heat losses . accordingly , the glass which flows into the corners becomes somewhat cooler than the rest of the glass in the trough and thus tends to flow downwardly into the depth of the trough at increasing speeds due to its increasing density . this downward flow keeps the glass in the corners active ( i . e ., not stagnant ) and thus for most glasses , scums do not form . for glasses that are particularly susceptible to scumming or in situations where even a minimal amount of scumming cannot be tolerated , an overflow can be added at each corner of the trough to remove any residual scum , although in most cases such overflows will not be necessary . exit trough 41 also serves the important function of cooling the hot glass to a temperature suitable for passage through an exit pipe or throat . the amount of cooling can be readily controlled by simply adjusting the depth of the trough . electrodes 47 can also be used for obtaining accurate control of the temperature of the exiting glass , as well as to ensure that the bottom of the trough is hot enough during start - up so that glass will flow into and out of the trough . as shown in fig1 - 3 , trough 41 can include sloping sides 49 which direct the molten glass to a centrally located exit , e . g ., a throat ( not shown in these figures ) or a pipe 43 . a suitable exit pipe for use with the finer of the present invention is a molybdenum pipe . to ensure flow during start - up , the molybdenum pipe can be inductively heated in the manner disclosed in fogle et al ., u . s . pat . no . 4 , 726 , 831 . in addition to directing the molten glass to the center of the trough , sloping sides 49 also minimize corners within the trough where off composition glass or corrosion products could collect . it should be noted that the walls of the trough need not be sloped and indeed a trough with vertical walls and a flat bottom will have more heat loss and thus can be used when more cooling of the molten glass is desired . fig4 shows a trough which has a flat bottom and also has multiple exit throats . in particular , this trough has a central exit throat 51 and two side throats 52 . in this way , the trough not only serves to cool the glass but also as a means for distributing the fined glass to multiple forming machines . although specific embodiments of the invention have been described and illustrated , it is to be understood that modifications can be made without departing from the invention &# 39 ; s spirit and scope . for example , furnaces having different configurations from those shown in the figures can be used in the practice of the invention . similarly , the principles of the invention can be used in glass processing furnaces other than finers . | 2 |
the choice of a solid support is a matter to be left to the user . preferably the support is non - porous so that the binding agent is disposed on its surface , for example as a monolayer . use of a porous support may cause the binding agent , depending on its molecular size , to be carried down into the pores of the support where its exposure to the analyte whose concentration is to be determined may likewise be affected by the geometry of the pores , so that a false reading may be obtained . porous supports such as nitrocellulose paper dotted with spots of binding agent are therefore less preferred , unlike the supports used in gb 2 , 099 , 578a , which seem to need to be porous because of the large number of molecules to be attached , the supports for use in the present invention use much smaller quantities and therefore need not be porous . the non - porous supports may , for example be of plastics material or glass , and any convenient rigid plastics material may be used , polystyrene is a preferred plastics material , although other polyolefins or acrylic or vinyl polymers could likewise be used . the support means may comprise microbeads , e . g . of such a plastics material , which can be coated with uniform layers of binding agent and retained in specified locations , e . g . hollows , on a support plate , alternatively the material may be in the form of a sheet or plate which is spotted with an array of dots of binding agent , it can be advantageous for the configuration of the support means to be such that liquid samples of approximately the volume v liters are readily retained in contact with the plurality of spaced apart locations marked with the different binding agents , for example , the spaced apart locations may be arranged in a well in the support means , and a plurality of wells , each provided with the same group of different binding agents in spaced apart locations , can be linked together to form a microliter plate for use with a plurality of samples . when the support means is to be used in conjunction with a measuring system involving light scanning , the material , e . g . plastics , for the support is desirably opaque to light , for example it may be filled with an opacifying material which may inter alia be white or black , such as carbon black , when the signals to be measured from the binding agent or the site - recognition reagent are light signals , as from fluorescent or luminescent markers . in general , reflective materials are preferred in this case to enhance light collection in the detecting instrument or photographic plate . the final choice of optimum material is governed by its ability to attach the binding agent to its surface , its absence of background signal emission and its possession of other properties tending to maximise the signal / noise ratio for the particular marker or markers attached to the binding agent situated on its surface . very satisfactory results have been obtained in the examples described below by the use of a white opaque polystyrene microliter plate commercially available from dynatech under the trade name white microfluor microliter wells . the binding agents used may be binding agents of different specificity , that is to say agents which are specific to different analytes , or two or more of them may be binding agents of the same specificity but of different affinity , that is to say agents which are specific to the same analyte but have different equilibrium constants k for reaction with it . the latter alternative is particularly useful where the concentration of analyte to be assayed in the unknown sample can vary over considerable ranges , for example 2 or 3 orders of magnitude , as in the case of hcg measurement in urine of pregnant women , where it can vary from 0 . 1 to 100 or more iu / ml . the binding agents used will preferably be antibodies , more preferably monoclonal antibodies . monoclonal antibodies to a wide variety of ingredients of biological fluids are commercially available or may be made by known techniques . the antibodies used may display conventional affinity constants , for example from 10 8 or 10 9 liters / mole upwards , e . g . of the order of 10 10 or 10 11 liters / mole , but high affinity antibodies with affinity constants of 10 12 - 10 13 liters / mole can also be used . the invention can be used with such binding agents which are not themselves labelled . however , it is also possible and frequently desirable to use labelled binding agents so that the system binding agent / analyte / site - recognition reagent includes two different labels of the same type , e . g . fluorescent , chemiluminescent , enzyme or radioisotopic , one on the binding agent and one on the site - recognition reagent . the measuring operation then measures the ratio of the intensity of the two signals and thus eliminates the need to place the same amount of labelled binding agent on the support when measuring signals from standard samples for calibration purposes as when measuring signals from the unknown samples . because the system depends solely on measurement of a ratio representative of binding site occupancy , there is also no need to measure the signal from the entire spot but scanning only a portion is sufficient . each binding agent is preferably labelled with the same label but different labels can be used . the binding agents may be applied to the support in any of the ways known or conventionally used for coating binding agents onto supports such as tubes , for example by contacting each spaced apart location on the support with a solution of the binding agent in the form of a small drop , e . g . 0 . 5 microliter , on a 1 mm 2 spot , and allowing them to remain in contact for a period of time before washing the drops away . a roughly constant small fraction of the binding agent present in the drop becomes adsorbed onto the support as a result of this procedure . it is to be noted that the coating density of binding agent on the microspot does not need to be less than the coating density in conventional antibody - coated tubes ; the reduction in the number of molecules on each spot may be achieved solely by reduction of the size of the spot rather than the coating density . a high coating density is generally desirable to maximise signal / noise ratios . the sizes of the spots are advantageously less than 10 mm 2 preferably less than 1 mm 2 . the separation is desirably , but not necessarily , 2 or 3 times the radius of the spot , or more . these suggested geometries can nevertheless be changed as required , being subject solely to the limitations on the number of binding agent molecules in each spot , the minimum volume of the sample to which the array of spots will be exposed and the means locally available for conveniently preparing an array of spots in the manner described . once the binding agents have been coated onto the support it is conventional practice to wash the support , in the case of antibodies as binding agents , with a solution containing albumen or other protein to saturate all remaining non - specific adsorption sites on the support and elsewhere . to confirm that the amount of binding agent in an individual spot will be less than the maximum amount ( 0 . 1 v / k ) required to conform to the principle of the present invention , the amount of binding agent present on any individual site can be checked by labelling the binding agent with a detectable marker of known specific activity ( i . e . known amount of marker per unit weight of binding agent ) and measuring the amount of marker present . thus , if the use of labelled binder is not desired on the solid support used in the method of the invention the binding agent can nevertheless be labelled in a trial experiment and identical conditions to those found in that trial to give rise to correct loadings of binding agent can be used to apply unlabelled binding agent to the supports to be actually used . the minimum size of the liquid sample ( v liters ) is correlated with the number of mole of binding agent ( less than 0 . 1 v / k ) so that only an insignificant proportion of the analyte present in the liquid sample becomes bound to the binding agent . this proportion is as a general rule less than 10 %, usually less than 5 % and desirably 1 or 2 % or less , depending on the accuracy desired for the assay ( greater accuracy being obtained , other things being equal , when smaller pro portions of analyte are bound ) and the magnitude of other error - introducing factors present . sample sizes of the order of one or a few ml or less , e . g . down to 100 microliters or less , are often preferred , but circumstances may arise when larger volumes are more conveniently assayed , and the geometry may be adjusted accordingly . the sample may be used at its natural concentration level or if desired it may be diluted to a known extent . the site - recognition reagents used in the method according to the invention may themselves be antibodies , e . g . monoclonal antibodies , and may be anti - idiotypic or anti - analyte antibodies , the latter recognising occupied sites . alternatively , for example for analytes of small molecular size such as thyroxine ( t4 ), unoccupied sites may be recognised using either the analyte itself , appropriately labelled , or the analyte covalently coupled to another molecule -- e . g . a protein molecule -- which is directly or indirectly labelled . the site - recognition reagents may be labelled directly or indirectly with conventional fluorescent labels such as fluorescein , rhodamine or texas red or materials usable in time - resolved pulsed fluorescence such as europium and other lanthanide chelates , in a conventional manner . other labels such as chemiluminescent , enzyme or radioisotopic labels may be used if appropriate . each site - recognition reagent is preferably labelled with the same label but different labels can be used in different reagents . the site - recognition reagents may be specific for a single one of the binding agent / analyte spots in each group of spots or in certain circumstances , as with glycoprotein hormones such as hcg and fsh which have a common binding site , they may be cross - reacting reagents able to react with occupied binding sites in more than one of the spots . in the assay technique the signals representative of the fractional occupancy of the binding agent in the test samples of unknown concentrations of the analytes can be calibrated by reference to dose response curves obtained from standard samples containing known concentrations of the same analytes . such standard samples need not contain all the analytes together , provided that each of the analytes is present in some of the standard samples . fractional occupancy may be measured by estimating occupied binding sites ( as with an anti - analyte antibody ) or unoccupied binding sites ( as with an anti - idiotypic antibody ), as one is the converse of the other . for greater accuracy it is desirable to measure the fraction which is closer to zero because a change in fractional occupancy of 0 . 01 is proportionately greater in this case , although for fractional occupancies in the range 25 - 75 % either alternative is generally satisfactory . in that embodiment of the present invention which relies on two fluorescent markers , the measurement of relative intensity of the signals from the two markers , one on the binding agent and the other on the site recognition reagent , may be carried out by a laser scanning confocal microscope such as a bio - rad lasersharp mrc 500 , available from bio - rad laboratories ltd ., and having a dual channel detection system . this instrument relies on a laser beam to scan the dots or the like on the support to cause fluorescence of the markers and wavelength filters to distinguish and measure the amounts of fluorescence emitted . time - resolved fluorescence methods may also be used . interference ( so - called crosstalk ) between the two channels can be compensated for by standard corrections if it occurs or conventional efforts can be made to reduce it . discrimination of the two fluorescent signals emitted by the dual - labelled spots is accomplished in the present form of this instrument , by filters capable of distinguishing the characteristic wavelength of the two fluorescent emissions ; however , fluorescent substances may be distinguished by other physical characteristics such as differing fluorescence decay times , bleaching times , etc ., and any of these means may be used , either alone or in combination , to differentiate between two fluorophores and hence permit measurement of the ratio of two fluorescent labelled entities ( binding agent and site - recognition reagent ) present on an individual spot , using techniques well known in the fluorescence measurement field . when only one fluorescent label is present the same techniques may be used , provided that care is taken to scan the entire spot in each case and the spots contain essentially the same amount of binding agent from one assay to the next when the unknown and standard samples are used . in the case of other labels , such as radioisotopic labels , chemiluminescent labels or enzyme labels , analogous means of distinguishing the individual signals from one or from each of a pair of such labels are also well known , for example two radioisotopes such as 125 i and 131 i may be readily distinguished on the basis of the differing energies of their respective radioactive emissions . likewise it is possible to identify the products of two enzyme reactions , deriving from dual enzyme - labelled antibody couplets , these being e . g . of different colours , or two chemiluminescent reactions , e . g . of different chemiluminescent lifetime or wavelength of light emission , by techniques well known in the respective fields . the invention may be used for the assaying of analytes present in biological fluids , for example human body fluids such as blood , serum , saliva or urine . they may be used for the assaying of a wide variety of hormones , proteins , enzymes or other analytes which are either present naturally in the liquid sample or may be present artificially such as drugs , poisons or the like . for example , the invention may be used to provide a device for quantitatively assaying a variety of hormones relating to pregnancy and reproduction , such as fsh , lh , hcg , prolactin and steroid hormones ( e . g . progesterone , estradiol , testosterone and androstene - dione ), or hormones of the adrenal pituitary axis , such as cortisol , acth and aldosterone , or thyroid - related hormones , such as t4 , t3 , and tsh and their binding protein tbg , or viruses such as hepatitis , aids or herpes virus , or bacteria , such as staphylococci , streptococci , pneumococci , gonococci and enterococci , or tumour - related peptides such as afp or cea , or drugs such as those banned as illicit improvers of athletes &# 39 ; performance , or food contaminants . in each case the binding agents used will be specific for the analytes to be assayed ( as compared with others in the sample ) and may be monoclonal antibodies therefor . further details on the methodology are to be found in my international patent publication w088 / 01058 , the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference . an anti - tnf ( tumour necrosis factor ) antibody having an affinity constant for tnf at 25 ° c . of about 1 × 10 9 liters / mole is labelled with texas red . a solution of the antibody at a concentration of 80 micrograms / ml is formed and 0 . 5 microliter aliquots of this solution are added in the form of droplets one to each well of a dynatech microfluor ( opaque white ) filled polystyrene microliter plate having 12 wells . an anti - hcg ( human chorionic gonadotropin ) antibody having an affinity constant for hcg at 25 ° c . of about 6 × 10 8 liters / mole is also labelled with texas red . a solution of the antibody at a concentration of 80 micrograms / ml is formed and 0 . 5 microliter aliquots of this solution are added in the form of droplets one to each well of the same dynatech microfluor microliter plate . after addition of the droplets the plate is left for a few hours in a humid atmosphere to prevent evaporation of the droplets . during this time some of the antibody molecules in the droplets become adsorbed onto the plate . next , the wells are washed several times with a phosphate buffer and then they are filled with about 400 microliters of a 1 % albumen solution and left for several hours to saturate the residual binding sites in the wells . thereafter they are washed again with phosphate buffer . the resulting plate has in each of its wells two spots each of area approximately 1 mm 2 . measurement of the amount of fluorescence shows that in each well one spot contains about 5 × 10 9 molecules of anti - tnf antibody and the other contains about 5 × 10 9 molecules of anti - hcg antibody . the wells are designed for use with liquid samples of volume 400 microliters , so that 0 . 1 v / k is 4 × 10 - 14 moles ( equivalent to 2 . 4 × 10 10 molecules ) for the anti - tnf antibody and 7 × 10 - 14 moles ( equivalent to 4 × 10 10 molecules ) for the anti - hcg antibody . a microliter plate prepared as described in example 1 is used in an assay for an artificially produced solution containing tnf and hcg . a test sample of the solution , amounting to about 400 microliters , is added to one of the wells and allowed to incubate for several hours . about 400 microliters of various standard solutions containing known concentrations ( 0 . 02 , 0 . 2 , 2 and 20 ng / ml ) of tnf or hcg are added to other wells of the plate and also allowed to incubate for several hours . the wells are then washed several times with buffer solution . as site - recognition reagents there are used for the tnf spots an anti - tnf antibody having an affinity constant for tnf at 25 ° c . of about 1 × 10 10 liters / mole and for the hcg spots an anti - hcg antibody having an affinity constant for hcg at 25 ° c . of about 1 × 10 11 liters / mole . both antibodies are labelled with fluorescein ( fitc ). 400 microliter aliquots of solutions of these labelled antibodies are added to the wells and allowed to stand for a few hours . the wells are then washed with buffer . the resulting fluorescence ratio of each spot is quantified with a bio - rad lasersharp mrc 500 confocal microscope . from the standard solutions dose response curves for tnf and hcg are built up , the figures for tnf being as follows : the artificially produced solution was found to give ratio readings of 5 . 9 on the tnf spot and 10 . 5 on the hcg spot , correlating well with the actual concentrations of tnf ( 0 . 5 ng / ml ) and hcg ( 0 . 5 ng / ml ) obtained from the dose response curves . using similar procedures to those outlined in example 1 a microliter plate containing spots of labelled anti - t4 ( thyroxine ) antibody ( affinity constant about 1 × 10 11 liters / mole at 25 ° c ), labelled anti - tsh ( thyroid stimulating hormone ) antibody ( affinity constant about 5 × 10 9 liters / mole at 25 ° c .) and labelled anti - t3 ( triiodothyronine ) antibody ( affinity constant about 1 × 10 11 liters / mole at 25 ° c .) in each of the individual wells is produced , the spots containing less than 1 × 10 - 12 v moles of anti - t4 antibody or less than 2 × 10 - 11 v moles of anti - tsh antibody or less than 1 × 10 - 12 v moles of anti - t3 antibody . the developing antibody ( site - recognition reagent ) for the tsh assay is an anti - tsh antibody with an affinity constant for tsh of 2 × 10 10 liters / mole at 25 ° c . this antibody is labelled with fluorescein ( fitc ). the site - recognition reagents for the t4 and t3 assays are t4 and t3 coupled to poly - lysine and labelled with fitc , and they recognise the unfilled sites on their respective first antibodies . using 400 microliter aliquots of standard solutions containing various known amounts of t4 , t3 and tsh , dose response curves are obtained by methods analogous to those in example 2 , correlating fluorescence ratios with t4 , t3 and tsh concentrations . the plate is used to measure t4 , t3 and tsh levels in serum from human patients with good correlation with the results obtained by other methods . using similar procedures to those outlined in example 1 a microliter plate containing spots of first labelled anti - hcg antibody ( affinity constant about 6 × 10 8 liters / mole at 25 ° c . ), second labelled anti - hcg antibody ( affinity constant about 1 . 3 × 10 11 liters / mole at 25 ° c .) and labelled anti - fsh ( follicle stimulating hormone ) antibody ( affinity constant about 1 . 3 × 10 8 liters / mole at 25 ° c .) in each of the individual wells is produced , the spots each containing less than 0 . 1 v / k moles of the respective antibody . a cross - reacting ( alpha subunit ) monoclonal antibody 8d10 with an affinity constant of 1 × 10 11 liters / mole is used as a common developing antibody for both the hcg and the fsh assays . using 400 microliter aliquots of standard solutions containing various known concentrations of hcg and fsh , dose response curves are obtained by methods analogous to those in example 2 , correlating fluorescence ratios with hcg and fsh concentrations , the curve obtained with the higher affinity anti - hcg antibody giving more concentration - sensitive results at the lower hcg concentrations whereas the curve from the lower affinity anti - hcg antibody is more concentration - sensitive at the higher hcg concentrations . the plate is used to measure hcg and fsh concentrations in the urine of women in pregnancy testing , giving good correlations with results obtained by other means and achieving effective concentration measurements for hcg over a concentration range of two or three orders of magnitude by correct choice of the best hcg spot and dose response curve . the labelling of the antibodies with fluorescent labels can be carried out by a well known and standard technique , see leslie hudson and frank c . hay , &# 34 ; practical immunology &# 34 ;, blackwell scientific publications ( 1980 ), pages 11 - 13 , for example as follows : the monoclonal antibody anti - fsh 3g3 , an fsh specific ( beta subunit ) antibody having an affinity constant ( k ) of 1 . 3 × 10 8 liters per mole , was produced in the middlesex hospital medical school , and was labelled with tritc ( rhodamine isothiocyanate ) or texas red , giving a red fluorescence . the monoclonal antibody anti - fsh 8d10 , a cross - reacting ( alpha subunit ) antibody having an affinity constant ( k ) of 1 × 10 11 liters per mole , was likewise produced in the middlesex hospital medical school and was labelled with fitc ( fluorescein isothiocyanate ), giving a yellow - green fluorescence . the general procedure used involved ascites fluid purification ( ammonium sulphate precipitation and t - gel chromatography ) followed by labelling , according to the following steps : 1 . add 4 . 1 ml saturated ammonium sulphate solution to 5 ml anti body preparation ( culture supernatant or 1 : 5 diluted ascites fluid ) under constant stirring ( 45 % saturation ). 2 . continue stirring for 30 - 90 min . centrifuge at 2500 rpm for 30 min . 3 . discard the supernatant and dissolve the precipitate in pbs ( final volume 5 ml .). repeat steps 1 and 2 , or . 4 . add 3 . 6 ml saturated ammonium sulphate ( 40 % saturation ) under constant stirring . repeat step 2 . 6 . dialyse overnight in cold against the same buffer ( using fresh , boiled - in - d / w dialysis bag ). 7 . determine the protein concentration either at a 280 or by lowry estimation . 1 . b . t - gel chromatography : ( buffer : 1m tris - cl , ph 7 . 6 . solid potassium sulphate ) 1 . clear 2 ml of ascites fluid by centrifugation at 4000 rpm . 2 . add 1m tris - cl solution to achieve final concentration of 0 . 1m . 5 . wash the column with 0 . 1m tris - cl buffer containing 0 . 5m potassium sulphate , until protein profile ( at a 280 ) returns to zero . 6 . elute the absorbed protein using 0 . 1m tris - cl buffer as the eluant . 7 . pool the fractions containing antibody activity and concentrate using amicon 30 concentrater . 8 . if hpht purification is to be carried out , use hpht chromatography starting buffer during step 7 . 1 . dialyse the purified 1 g protein into 0 . 25m carbonate - bicarbonate buffer , ph 9 . 0 to a concentration of 20 mg / ml . 2 . add fitc / tritc to achieve a 1 : 20 ratio with protein ( i . e . 0 . 05 mg for every 1 mg of protein ). | 8 |
reference will now be made to the drawings wherein like numerals refer to like structures throughout . fig4 is a section view of one embodiment of the soi cmos with reduced dibl 100 of the present invention showing the starting soi material , a separation by implanted oxygen ( simox ) wafer 102 . the simox wafer 102 is well known in the art and comprises a silicon substrate 104 in which a layer of the substrate 104 is converted to a buried silicon dioxide ( box ) 106 layer with a heavy oxygen implant and subsequent anneal . an epitaxial layer 110 of si approximately 500 å to 2500 å thick is then grown on top of the box layer 106 . the box layer 106 of the simox wafer 102 provides electrical insulation between the active region of the epitaxial layer 110 and the bulk silicon of the substrate 104 . thus , active devices formed in the epitaxial layer 110 are electrically isolated from the semiconductive substrate 104 . the simox wafer 102 also provides physical structure as well as reactive material for formation of the soi cmos with reduced dibl 100 in a manner that will be described in greater detail below . in the description of the soi cmos with reduced dibl 100 that follows , a single cmos 130 structure comprising pmos 132 and nmos 134 ( fig7 ) devices will be used to illustrate the invention . it should be appreciated that the process herein described for one cmos 130 device also applies to forming a plurality of soi cmos with reduced dibl 100 devices . it should also be appreciated that the invention herein described can be modified by one skilled in the art to achieve a pmos 132 , an nmos 134 , or other technology employing the methods herein described without detracting from the spirit of the invention . it should also be understood that fig4 - 7 are illustrative and should not be interpreted as being to scale . the method of forming the soi cmos with reduced dibl 100 then comprises creating n - well 112 and p - well 114 regions as shown in fig5 . the n - well 112 and p - well 114 regions are created , in this embodiment , by implanting a dose of approximately 1e13 / cm 2 of p @ 60 kev to create the n - well 112 and a dose of approximately 1e13 / cm 2 of b @ 30 kev to create the p - well 114 . the n - well 112 and p - well 114 are then driven at a temperature of approximately 800 ° c . for a period of approximately 30 minutes . the n - well 112 and p - well 114 provide regions for the subsequent formation of the pmos 132 and nmos 134 devices that comprise a cmos 130 device ( fig7 ). the method of forming the soi cmos with reduced dibl 100 then comprises high energy , high dose n - type diffusion source 116 and p - type diffusion source 120 implants into the p - well 114 and n - well 112 respectively as shown in fig5 . the n - type diffusion source 116 and p - type diffusion sources 120 comprise borophosphosilicate glass ( bpsg ). the n - type diffusion source 116 and p - type diffusion source 120 implant parameters should be tailored in such a way that the resultant n - type diffusion source 116 and p - type diffusion source 120 dopant profiles mainly reside in the box layer 106 . in one embodiment , the n - type diffusion source 116 implant comprises an implant of phosphorus through the n - well 112 of approximately 2 . 0e14 / cm 2 @ 220 kev into the box layer 106 and the p - type diffusion source 120 implant comprises an implant of boron through the p - well 114 of approximately 2 . 0e14 / cm 2 @ 100 kev into the box layer 106 . in this embodiment , the final n - type diffusion source 116 and p - type diffusion source 120 dopant concentration in the box 106 is preferably at least 10 20 cm − 3 . as will be described in greater detail below , the diffusion sources 116 , 120 provide a source of dopant atoms that can diffuse into the wells 112 , 114 respectively to create a retrograde dopant profile . the method of forming the soi cmos with reduced dibl 100 then comprises threshold voltage ( vt ) adjust implants 122 , 124 as shown in fig5 . the threshold voltage adjust implants 122 , 124 adjust the threshold voltage of the pmos 132 and nmos 134 devices either upwards or downwards in a manner known in the art . the threshold voltage adjust implants 122 , 124 comprise , in this embodiment , a pmos gate adjust 122 implant of bf 2 at a dose of approximately 5e12 to 1e13 @ 25 - 35 kev and an nmos gate adjust 124 implant of arsenic at a dose of approximately 5e12 to 1e13 @ 35 - 50 kev . the pmos gate adjust 122 and the nmos gate adjust 124 modify the dopant concentration in the gate region of the pmos 132 and nmos 134 devices so as to adjust the resultant threshold voltage of the pmos 132 and nmos 134 devices to a desirable level . the method of forming the soi cmos with reduced dibl 100 then comprises formation of a gate stack 136 as shown in fig6 . the gate stack 136 comprises a gate oxide 126 , sidewalls 140 , a nitride layer 142 , and doped polysilicon 144 . the gate oxide 126 in this embodiment comprises a layer of silicon dioxide approximately 50 å thick . the gate oxide 126 electrically isolates the n - well 112 and p - well 114 regions of the epitaxial silicon 110 from overlying conductive layers that will be described in greater detail below . the sidewalls 140 comprise silicon dioxide that is grown and subsequently anisotropically etched in a known manner to create the structures illustrated in fig6 . the sidewalls 140 electrically isolate the gate stack 136 from source / drain conductive layers and facilitates formation of source / drain extensions in a manner that will be described in greater detail below . the nitride layer 142 comprises a layer that is substantially silicon nitride approximately 450 å thick emplaced in a known manner . the nitride layer 142 inhibits subsequent passage of boron from the p + polysilicon layer 144 . the doped polysilicon 144 comprises heavily p - type doped polysilicon for the pmos 132 device and heavily n - type doped polysilicon for the nmos 134 . the doped polysilicon 144 provides a reduced work function for the gates of the pmos 132 and nmos 134 ( fig7 ) and thus a lower contact resistance and corresponding faster device response . the method of forming the soi cmos with reduced dibl 100 then comprises formation of the source 146 and drain 150 as shown in fig6 . the source 146 and drain 150 are formed by implanting bf 2 with a dose of approximately 2e15 / cm 2 @ 15 kev for the pmos 132 and as with a dose of approximately 2e15 / cm 2 @ 10 kev for the nmos 134 . as can be seen from fig6 the implantation of the source 146 and drain 150 is partially masked by the gate stack 136 and results in source / drain extensions 152 . the source / drain extensions 152 are lower concentration regions of the source 146 and drain 150 that partially extend under the sidewalls 140 . the source / drain extensions 152 reduce the peak electric field under the gate and thus reduce hot carrier effects in a known manner . the method of forming the soi cmos with reduced dibl 100 then comprises formation of a conductive layer 154 ( fig7 ). in this embodiment , the conductive layer 154 comprises a layer of metallic silicide ( titanium silicide or cobalt silicide ) emplaced in a well known manner . the conductive layer 154 is placed so as to be in physical and electrical contact with the source 146 , the drain 150 , and the doped polysilicon 144 of the gate stack 136 . the conductive layer 154 interconnects the cmos 130 with other circuit devices on the simox wafer 102 in a known manner . the method of forming the soi cmos with reduced dibl 100 then comprises formation of a passivation layer 156 ( fig7 ) overlying the structures previously described . in this embodiment , the passivation layer 156 comprises a layer of oxide , bpsg , or polysilicon approximately 3000 å thick formed in a known manner . the formation of the passivation layer 156 involves a high temperature process . the n - type diffusion source 116 and the p - type diffusion source 120 previously implanted into the box layer 106 in the manner previously described serve as solid - sources for dopant diffusion . when the passivation layer 156 is formed on the simox wafer 102 with attendant heat steps , dopants contained in the n - type 116 and the p - type 120 diffusion sources will outdiffuse into the epitaxial silicon 110 , creating a thin , highly doped retrograde profile region 160 as shown in fig7 . in the case of the p - well 114 , the retrograde profile region 160 will comprise boron and , in the n - well 112 , the retrograde profile region 160 will comprise phosphorus . the retrograde profile region 160 layer will act as a punchthrough prevention layer to control dibl . [ 0035 ] fig8 shows the net dopant profile in a vertical outline in the middle of the channel region . the boron concentration increases from 9 . 0e17 / cm 3 to 2 . 0e18 / cm 3 , which is nearly a 120 % increase , at the box 106 / silicon substrate 104 interface . fig9 shows the dopant profile in the source 146 and drain 150 regions . the source 146 and drain 150 implants in this embodiment of the soi cmos with reduced dibl 100 reach close to the box layer 106 as can be seen from fig9 . as such the source 146 and drain 150 implants will compensate the outdiffused dopants from the n - type 116 and p - type 120 diffusion sources in the retrograde profile region 160 close to the interface of the box 106 and the silicon substrate 104 . this will reduce the junction capacitance of the soi cmos with reduced dibl 100 even further as compared to a process with halo implants . the dopants contained within the retrograde profile region 160 will also create recombination centers near the box 106 / silicon substrate 104 interface . these recombination centers are an added benefit in the soi cmos with reduced dibl 100 since the recombination centers tend to reduce the floating body effects in the soi cmos with reduced dibl 100 . hence , the process of the illustrated embodiment provides a method in which a retrograde doping profile can be created in thin semiconductor active areas such as the active areas used in silicon - on - insulator ( soi ) applications . the process of the illustrated embodiment does not significantly add to the processing of the device as only discrete implantation steps are required and the diffusion is obtained through the additional thermal processing of the device . thus , retrograde profiles can be created in a manner that does not significantly increase the processing costs of the device . although the preferred embodiments of the present invention have shown , described and pointed out the fundamental novel features of the invention as applied to those embodiments , it will be understood that various omissions , substitutions and changes in the form of the detail of the device illustrated may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of the present invention . consequently , the scope of the invention should not be limited to the foregoing description but is to be defined by the appended claims . | 7 |
fig1 shows a motor vehicle door lock for the side door of a motor vehicle . in the understanding of the teaching of this patent application reference can be made to the statements at the start of the specification for the concept of motor vehicle door lock . fig1 shows first of all in a housing 1 or on a lock carrying plate a rotary latch 2 with a receiving opening 3 for the forward leg of a key collar 4 . instead of a key collar 4 which has two legs , there can of course also be a locking pin which represents only one leg . in housing 1 there is an inlet slot 5 for the key collar 4 . the rotary latch 2 on its main catch has a locking surface 6 . in this embodiment the rotary latch 2 moreover has a locking surface 6 ′ also on a preliminary catch . for hood locks there are for example versions without a preliminary catch . a pivotally mounted detent pawl 7 is pretensioned by a spring element 8 or the like in the engagement direction and has a counterlocking surface 9 with which it engages the locking surface 6 or 6 ′ on the rotary latch 2 for purposes of locking in the main catch or in the preliminary catch . according to the first teaching of the invention it is provided that the rotary latch 2 is pivotally mounted with a physically present swivel axle 10 on the housing 1 or on the lock carrying plate . the rotary latch 2 is located in a recess 11 which at least partially surrounds the rotary latch 2 in the housing 1 or on the lock carrying plate . on the rotary latch 2 on the peripheral surface at least one contact section 12 is formed . one section 13 on the peripheral surface of the recess 11 is arranged such that the contact section 12 of the rotary latch 2 is opposite this section 13 in the locked position ( this is the case in fig1 ). the position of the contact section 12 and section 13 , the contact area , in the locked position of the rotary latch 2 is such that the vector of the action of tearing forces which may occur , at least one major component of this force action vector , crosses the contact area . the swivel axle 10 of the rotary latch 2 is designed for normal operation in terms of material , shape and / or support , however when tearing forces occur which are much higher than in the case of normal operation ( crash ) it allows displacement of the rotary latch 2 such that the tearing forces are largely captured over the contact area . the advantages of this differentiated support of the rotary latch 2 have been explained in the general part of the specification . fig1 shows that the diameter of the swivel axle 10 which need only accommodate the forces in a normal case can be accordingly small . the friction forces which occur when the rotary latch 2 turns around the swivel axis 10 are also accordingly low . this is a major advantage in normal operation . the action vector for tearing forces in case of a crash is shown by the broken line in fig1 . it is apparent that it lies in the area ofthe inlet slot 5 between the two contact areas so that the tearing forces are transferred to these two contact areas . the detent pawl 7 is stressed only comparatively little in this case because the rotary latch 2 is made as a disk and in this embodiment the key collar 4 in the locked position lies directly on the action line of the tearing forces which occur in operation , which line runs through the swivel axle 10 . but the teaching of the invention can be implemented not only in this concept and arrangement , but in general for rotary latches 2 , even in those in the form of a fork latch with a larger lever arm ( explanation in the general part of the description ). this is detailed below . for the teaching of the invention it can be now provided that the swivel axle 10 and / or the support of the swivel axle 10 be permanently deformed or destroyed in case of a crash . but it also holds as a preferred alternative and thus also as provided in the embodiment that the swivel axle 10 of the rotary latch 2 be made elastic and / or be supported such that the rotary latch 2 is reversibly displaced transversely to the swivel axle 10 when considerable forces occur . in particular this embodiment can be well understood in conjunction with fig2 a of the drawings in which the double arrow indicates the displacement possibility of the swivel axle 10 . since the tearing forces in case of a crash are accommodated due to support of the rotary latch 2 on very large surfaces , which is accomplished as claimed in the invention , and are diverted into the housing 1 or the lock carrying plate , the surface load is much less than in the known receiver over a corresponding bearing pin . consequently the recess 11 in the housing 1 or on the lock carrying plate can optionally be made even of plastic . this is shown in fig2 a . fig2 b in conjunction with fig1 shows a corresponding approach for the detent pawl 7 . it is provided that the detent pawl 7 is pivotally mounted with a physically present swivel axle 20 on the housing 1 . but the detent pawl 7 is moreover also located in this partially surrounding recess 21 in the housing . on the detent pawl 7 on the peripheral surface there is a contact section 22 ( also indicated in fig2 b ) opposite a section 23 on the peripheral surface of the recess 21 in the locked position . a corresponding effect in case of a crash , as explained above for the rotary latch 2 , is the consequence . the support forces of the detent pawl 7 are therefore diverted into the housing 1 via large force transfer surfaces . this has the advantages explained above for the rotary latch 2 in the corresponding manner for the detent pawl 7 . fig3 furthermore shows that the swivel axle 10 of the rotary latch 2 is supported in a plastic bearing 14 with elastically deformable bearing bodies 15 . with this construction a specific design of the support of the swivel axle 10 of the rotary latch 2 is presented . the bearing bodies 15 of the plastic bearing 14 are hollow and can be deformed under loads which lie transversely to the axle direction , but after disappearance of the forces which occur they return to their original position . in this way the swivel axle 10 is also returned to the original position after a crash . a corresponding plastic bearing 14 is shown in fig2 b otherwise also for the detent pawl 7 with the corresponding advantages . if not subjected to deformations elsewhere , the motor vehicle door lock of the design as claimed in the invention is again serviceable after a crash . in this embodiment it is provided that the swivel axle 10 or 20 is a metal axle . but it could also consist of plastic which is for example the case in the embodiment from fig7 . basically the above explained teaching ofthe invention allows arrangement ofthe swivel axle 10 in the classical manner with a rotary bearing in the rotary latch 2 . but it applies according to one preferred teaching which can be recognized in the embodiment of fig4 that the swivel axle 10 is fixed in or on the rotary latch 2 , projects on either side from the rotary latch 2 and is supported on the housing 1 or on the lock carrying plate . this has the advantages explained in the general part ofthe description with respect to location and guidance ofthe rotary latch 2 relative to laterally directed forces . this also applies as one configuration possibility in the corresponding manner to the detent pawl 7 , as can be taken from fig2 a and 2 b . the embodiment which is detailed in fig5 , and 7 is characterized by another teaching of the invention , specifically by the rotary latch 2 consisting of a ring - like outer part 16 which consists of high resistance material and an inner part 17 which is located therein and which consists of plastic . in this embodiment as well according to the preferred teaching the rotary latch 2 is again made as a disk . here it is provided that the outer part 16 consists of metal , particularly of steel . the force transfer area between the rotary latch 2 and the detent pawl 7 is therefore made of metal , the inner area with optionally complicated recesses provided there in the inner part 17 consists of plastic . basically it would also be conceivable in further development of the teaching for the outer part 16 to consist of high resistance material , not metal , but for example of a high strength , fiber reinforced plastic . the outer part 16 could also consist of sinter material . in this embodiment , especially easily recognizable in fig7 the inner part 17 consists of several individual parts 17 a , 17 b . the inner part 17 could be clipped into the outer part 16 ; this is very feasible in terms of production engineering . but it is provided in this embodiment that the two individual parts 17 a , 17 b of the inner part 17 are clipped to one another with the interposition of the outer part 16 . the recesses used for clipping are implemented in this way in the individual parts 17 a , 17 b of the inner part 17 ; this has advantages for production engineering . fig7 shows the implementation of the swivel axle 10 as an integrated axle consisting of plastic in the individual part 17 a of the inner part 17 . for the detent pawl 7 corresponding configurations can be easily imagined , for example the ratchets of the detent pawl 7 which has the counterlocking surface 9 should feasibly be made of metal . fig8 shows another teaching of the invention which with respect to the rotary latch 2 likewise leads to a reduction of production costs . here it is specifically provided that , see fig8 d , the rotary latch 2 is made in a sandwich design , especially with a metal / plastic / metal layer sequence . here it can be taken from fig8 that the engagement surface of the rotary latch 2 and the detent pawl 7 on the locking surfaces 6 , 9 is profiled in the axial direction , therefore in the direction of the swivel axle 10 , such that the detent pawl 7 engages the rotary latch 2 in the axial direction here by form - fit . this is known from the prior art ( see the introductory part of the description ), but can be accomplished especially feasibly with the sandwich approach of the invention . the sandwich approach , as is shown especially in fig8 d , allows formation of form - fitting configurations 24 , 25 in the engagement area of the rotary latch 2 and the detent pawl 7 simply by different dimensioning of the layers of the layer sequence . fig8 a shows otherwise a rotary latch 2 not made using the sandwich technique and detent pawl 7 , fig8 c shows a construction made with only two layers . in any case it applies that via the fixing achieved through the wider support of the rotary latch 2 and optionally the detent pawl 7 using this technique lateral slippage ofthe detent pawl 7 away from the rotary latch 2 is made difficult . this increases the operating safety in normal operation and especially in case of a crash . above and beyond the aforementioned explanations on the detent pawl 7 it applies quite generally that the approaches presented above for the rotary latch 2 using various embodiments can be used accordingly also for the detent pawl 7 . | 4 |
referring to fig1 and 2 , a frame assembly is secured to a post or tree 14 or anchored independently . upper horizontal support members 16a and 16b are secured on either side of the tree 14 by bolts 15 . lower horizontal support members 18a and 18b are secured on either side of the tree 14 by bolts 19 . a vertical support member 20 , shown more clearly in fig2 is secured to the upper and lower members 18a and 18b such as by welding or bolting . the vertical support member 20 includes upper and lower lug plates 22a and b , shown most clearly in fig1 rotatably secured thereto . secured by bolts to the lug plates 22a and b are standard inflatable upper and lower pneumatic rubber tires comprising a rigid drive tire 24a and a soft idle tire 24b . the bearing surface of the rigid tire 24a includes a plurality of ridges 25 in equally spaced parallel relationship . the axes of the ridges 25 are transverse to the direction of travel of a tow line 25 passing therethrough . for example , standard tubeless automobile tires mounted on conventional rims may be used . the ridges may be formed by uniformly removing portions ( cleats ) from a standard tire such as a snow tire . alternatively a smooth surface tire may have rubber ridges , such as in the form of a prism secured to the tire 24a . for example prism - like ridges 25 of a composition similar or identical to the tire 24a may be cemented at their bases to the surface of the tire 24a . other methods for forming the ridges will be apparent to those skilled in the art . the opposed threaded or bearing surfaces are in frictional engagement . the ridges 25 are spaced such that a ridge 25 is always engaging the surface of the tire 24b . a crank arm 26 is bolted to the portion of the lugs which extend beyond the wheel 26a . a hollow cone - like guide 30 is fixedly secured to the member 20 by a guide arm 31 . the tow line 32 having a plurality of generally equally spaced protuberances 34 thereon passes through the guide 30 , between the engaged surfaces of the tires 24a and 24b , around the tree 14 and about a guide post 36 having a rotatable disc 38 with a concave outer surface over which the tow line travels . the protuberances 34 are formed simply by knotting the tow line . in the operation of the invention , the tow line 32 is formed into an endless loop and travels through the tires 24a and b , about the tree 14 and around the guide post 36 . the manual crank arm 26 bolted to the upper tire 24 is rotated , drawing the tow line therethrough . if desired , a power - driven mechanical device may be used . skiers wishing to ascend the slope simply hold onto one of the protuberances and are pulled up the slope . it is important to note that substantially all the tension on the tow line is upstream of the tires . once the tow line passes through , no structure is required to maintain any tension or take up any slack . the tow line essentially &# 34 ; goes limp .&# 34 ; the tree and guide post 36 merely serve to maintain the orientation of the tow line . as shown in fig3 because of the controlled resiliency of the tires through inflation , maximum gripping engagement is maintained at all times . fig3 illustrates the clamping action of the ridge 25 with the attendant elastic deformation of the tire 24b . the knots 34 are spaced in the tow line 32 to space properly the users of the tow device . whether or not the ridge engages a knot is immaterial . the contact between the bearing surfaces is substantially the same at all times . stated otherwise , if the engaged surface area as shown in between 6 - 12 square inches , this surface area will not diminish more than 10 % when a protuberance on the tow line passes through . in addition to maintaining the substantially constant surface area , the resiliency of the engaged surfaces prevents or inhibits the deformation and / or destruction of the protuberances . | 1 |
the preferred embodiments of the frequency management of processors in a multi - processor ( mp ) system , will now be described in detail with reference to the following figures , in which like numerals refer to like elements . with reference to fig1 of the drawings , there is illustrated therein a block diagram depicting one embodiment of the basic modular building blocks of a bladed architecture system , as generally designated by the reference numeral 100 . bladed architecture is one example of the many different types of computer architectures that the disclosure may benefit . it is to be appreciated that the innovations described herein may be applied to a variety of mp servers or mp computers . a management blade 110 supervises the functions of the chassis and provides a single interface to the consoles of all the servers installed . as shown in fig1 server blades 120 are in communication with the management blade 110 . the server blades 120 are , in turn , in communication with other blades that perform specific functions . for example , as seen in fig1 server blades 120 are in communication with fiber channel blades 130 and network blades 140 . it is to be appreciated that the various blades in a bladed architecture system may be processor blades , server blades , network blades , storage blades or storage interconnect blades , etc . performance optimization at the processor level allows for the intelligent usage of resources by allowing individual processors in a multi - processor ( mp ) arrangement to be configured according to their specific performance level and needs . by taking advantage of processors &# 39 ; requirements for higher or lower performance , each processor is allowed to run at an increased or decreased frequency , and thus consume more or less of the chassis thermal and power budget . processors that run background processes that require a lower level of performance , e . g . slave processors , are run at a lower frequency and thus consume less of the chassis thermal and power budget . processors that run processes that require a higher level of performance are run at a higher frequency and thus consume more of the chassis thermal and power budget . in either scenario , the overall system &# 39 ; s thermal and power requirements are still met with a more optimal overall processor performance . in pa architectures , the processor core frequency is asynchronous to the bus operating frequency . thus , a change to the processor core frequency can be made with virtually no impact . one skilled in the art would readily recognize that these principles can be applied to dec alpha , mips , powerpc , sparc , ia - 32 and ia - 64 architectures , and other processors from other mp architectures as well . fig2 - 7 illustrate various methods for the frequency management of processors in a mp system . in some architectures , the processor core frequency of the cpu is asynchronous to the bus operating frequency ; therefore , a change to the processor core frequency can be made independently of the system bus frequency . currently , hewlett packard uses the sphyr - t asic as a frequency - synthesizer for generating the processor clock of the pa - risc systems . however , one skilled in the art would readily recognize that other synthesizers may also be used . in other embodiments of processor architectures , e . g ., ia - 32 and ia - 64 , the processor core frequency of the cpu is not necessarily asynchronous to the bus operating frequency . in ia processors the processor core frequency runs at a programmable multiple of the bus operating frequency . managing the operating frequency of individual processors can be applied to both architectures by modifying the output of the clock chip , and thus , setting the processor frequency accordingly . generally , frequency synthesizer chips used to generate the processor &# 39 ; s clocks have parallel or serialized configuration bits that allow one to choose the ratio of the input clock to the output clock ( synthesized frequency ). this allows one to run the processors at a different frequency upon reboot . the frequency synthesizer typically has an input frequency from a core crystal . through controlling the serial or parallel pins , the frequency synthesizer provides the output frequency ratio that is sent to the processors . one skilled in the art would also appreciate that if multiple frequency synthesizers are utilized , i . e ., two ( for a 2 - way system ) or n ( for an n - way system ), to generate the processor &# 39 ; s clocks , the processors are able to operate at different frequencies within the range of frequencies supported by the processor . fig2 - 7 illustrate different methodologies of the how the ratio pins of the different frequency synthesizers can be controlled . with reference now to fig2 of the drawings , there is illustrated therein a block diagram depicting one methodology of managing the operating frequency of individual processors in a mp system by use of a manual configuration device 210 , as generally designated by the reference numeral 200 . as seen in the figure , the manual configuration device 210 is added to a readily accessible part of the system . thus , the operator is allowed to set the frequency of the processors upon reboot of the unit , based on predetermined performance requirements . one of ordinary skill in the art would recognize that there are many common manual configuration devices that are capable of performing the desired function , e . g ., dip switches , jumpers installed over pin headers , rotational configuration switches , and solder bridges , etc . the input frequency 230 and signal 220 from the manual configuration device 210 are used to generate an output frequency 250 at the clock generator , or frequency synthesizer 240 that is used by processor 260 . it is to be appreciated that this method of changing the frequency of the processor by use of a manual configuration device , and the other methods described herein below , may be applied to various types of mp architectures . with reference now to fig3 of the drawings , there is illustrated therein a block diagram depicting another method of managing the operating frequency of individual processors in a mp system , as generally designated by the reference numeral 300 . method 300 manages the operating frequency of individual processors by use of a resistor 310 . as is known in the art , resistor 310 may be a configuration resistor . as seen in fig3 the resistor 310 is added to a readily accessible part of the system . thus , the operator is allowed to set the frequency of the processors upon reboot of the unit , based on predetermined performance requirements . an input frequency 330 and signal 320 from the resistor 310 are used to generate an output frequency 350 at a clock generator 340 that is used by processor 360 . with reference now to fig4 of the drawings , there is illustrated therein a block diagram depicting the method of managing the operating frequency of processors in a mp system by use of a microcontroller or microprocessor 420 , as generally designated by the reference numeral 400 . the microcontroller or microprocessor 420 is used to interface with the user of the system to ask for the specific frequency at which each processor should run . as seen in fig4 microcontroller or microprocessor 420 receives a signal on an i 2 c ( inter - ic ) bus 410 from a gsp ( guardian service processor ) or other controller . as is known in the art , an i 2 c bus is a bi - directional two - wire serial bus that provides a communication link between integrated circuits further , a person of ordinary skill in the art would readily recognize that other control buses could perform the same functions and be substituted for the i 2 c bus described herein . the microcontroller or microprocessor 420 outputs a parallel or serial control 430 , based upon the specific frequency designated by the user . a clock generator 450 uses an input frequency 440 and parallel or serial control signal 430 to generate an output frequency 460 used by a designated processor 470 . the use of the microcontroller or microprocessor 420 allows the user to control the frequency synthesizers in a more transparent way than the above described register and manual configuration device methods , i . e ., the user does not necessarily need to know how the settings of the configuration bits will affect the output . with reference now to fig5 of the drawings , there is illustrated therein a block diagram depicting the method of managing the operating frequency of processors in a mp system by use of a fpga ( field - programmable gate array ) or pld ( programmable logic device ) 520 , as generally designated by the reference numeral 500 . as is known to those skilled in the art , a fpga is a chip that can be programmed in the field after manufacture . the fpga or pld 520 is used to receive commands from a higher - level device , e . g ., the gsp via an i 2 c bus 510 , to control the configuration bits for the frequency synthesizer ( or each synthesizer ). as seen in fig5 a clock generator 550 , uses an input frequency 540 and the control from the fpga / pld 530 to generate an output frequency 560 used by a processor 570 . like the use of the microcontroller / microprocessor 420 described in fig4 the fpga / pld 520 allows the user to control the frequency synthesizers in a more transparent way , i . e ., the user does not necessarily need to know how the settings of the configuration bits will affect the output . with reference now to fig6 of the drawings , there is illustrated therein a block diagram depicting the method of managing the operating frequency of the processors by use of an i / o - expander chip ( i / ox ) 620 , as generally designated by the reference numeral 600 . as known in the art , an i 2 c based i / ox 620 is an inexpensive and simple solution that can be used to transparently control each frequency synthesizer . i / ox chips 620 have i / o ports , which can be forced to a particular state by writing to the i / ox through an i 2 c command . since i / ox chips typically have multiple i / o ports , it is to be appreciated that one i / ox can be used to control multiple frequency synthesizers individually . since i / ox chips are i 2 c - based , they can be controlled by any device that supports an i 2 c interface . in hewlett packard &# 39 ; s pa - risc blades , a logical such device would be the service processor , or gsp , of the pa blade . the user - friendly interface of the gsp can be used to transparently allow the customer to control the frequency of the processors without need of any low - level information , e . g ., bit - settings . the input from the gsp is designated in fig6 by reference numeral 610 . the user at the gsp inputs commands to increase the frequency of the processor . the gsp then delivers the required bits to change the ratio of the frequency generator , so that the processor will run at the desired level . the bit stream 610 is received by the i / ox 620 . a clock generator 650 then uses an input frequency 640 and a control signal 630 to generate an output frequency 660 used by the processor 670 . with reference now to fig7 of the drawings , there is illustrated therein a block diagram depicting the methods of managing the operating frequency of individual processors in an ia based architecture system , as generally designated by the reference numeral 700 . as shown above , pa - based architectures have two frequency inputs that are taken into the processor : the processor core input and the bus input . in ia - based architectures the serial or parallel control is not modulated . ia - based architectures program the processor core frequency to generate a multiple of the bus frequency . the programming of the processor core frequency is done during early bus initialization using multipurpose bus lines 730 . this is typically controlled by the main core chipset that sits on the processor bus ( cec ) 720 . generally , a user interface , e . g ., a gsp 710 , is used to program the cec 720 to generate the appropriate control signal 730 during early system and bus initialization . the bus frequency is multiplied for a larger ratio to generate a higher frequency , performance and power , or for a smaller ratio to generate a lower frequency , performance and power , depending on the application at the particular processor 760 . with reference now to fig8 of the drawings , there is illustrated therein a block diagram depicting a series of processors in a mp system running at the same frequency , as generally designated by the reference numeral 800 . the shading of the individual processors indicates that each individual processors is operating at the same frequency level . operating processors at the same frequency is typical in current mp architecture systems . in addition , the shading illustrates that each processors is operating at a level below the maximum level in order to remain under the maximum power allocated to the system as a whole . as discussed , mp server systems are limited by an underlying power and thermal envelope . this is due to the heat produced and to the limited dimensions in the system . when the system consumes a given amount of the power , the system is typically limited in the amount of airflow that is available to cool the processors . as a result , the power limitation limits the frequency that the processors can run , and thus , limits the performance . the processors are therefore limited in their ability to operate at optimal performance and capacity because the processors are configured to operate at the same frequency — a frequency below their maximum level . with reference now to fig9 of the drawings , there is illustrated therein a block diagram depicting processors in a mp system running at different frequencies , as generally designated by the reference numeral 900 . the new configuration of processor frequencies shown in the figure is based upon intelligent usage of resources by allowing individual processors in the mp arrangement to be configured according to their specific performance level and needs . the shading in the figure indicates the level of the frequency at which the processor is being run , e . g ., processors with more shading are being run at a higher frequency . by taking advantage of process requirements for higher or lower performance , each processor is run at an increased or decreased frequency , and thus consumes more or less of the chassis thermal and power budget . slave processors that run background processes require a lower level of performance and are run at a lower frequency . thus , the slave processors consume a smaller portion of the chassis thermal and power budget . master processors , or monarch processors , that run processes that require a higher level of performance are run at a higher frequency . thus , the master processors consume a larger portion of the chassis thermal and power budget . additionally , when the relative performance requirements on the processors change , the frequencies can be changed , thus changing the performance and thermal and power budget allocation . running the individual processors at different frequencies still meets the system &# 39 ; s overall thermal and power requirements and a more optimal overall processor performance is attained . it is to be appreciated that the principles disclosed herein may be applied to a system comprised of processors that share a common chassis or to an architecture system that spans multiple chassis . that is , the principles may be applied to systems that are divided by either a physical or logical partition . for example , physically , a system may include three chassis , with each chassis having eight processors . logically , the same system could be partitioned into five different web servers for five different customers . power constraints within a chassis typically concern the physical partition of the system . power constraints imposed on a customer or application that is located in multiple chassis , typically concern logical partitions . one of ordinary skill in the art would readily recognize that the innovations described above may be applied to both physically and logically partitioned architectures . while the frequency management of processors in a mp system has been described in connection with exemplary embodiments , those skilled in the art will understand that many modifications in light of these teaching are possible , and this application is intended to cover any variation thereof . for example , the disclosed system and method has been generally applied to bladed architecture systems in some of the embodiments above . other computer architectures could likewise be used . thus , the mp architectures shown and referenced generally throughout this disclosure , and unless specifically noted , are intended to represent any and all architectures appropriate to perform the desired functions . likewise , there are disclosed several i 2 c devices that perform various operations . the specific i 2 c device is not meant to limit the disclosure . thus , it is not applicant &# 39 ; s intention to limit this disclosure to any particular form of i 2 c device or specific architecture . further examples exist throughout the disclosure , and it is not applicant &# 39 ; s intention to exclude from the scope of this disclosure the use of structures , materials , or acts that are not expressly identified in the specification , but nonetheless are capable of performing a claimed function . | 8 |
the present inventors have found that where the dispersion of the above - mentioned ferromagnetic particles are coated on a support , the ferromagnetic particles are subjected to orientation in a magnetic field perpendicular to the recorded surface and simultaneously or immediately the coated layer is radiated with electron beams , polymerization is very quickly carried out by electron beam radiation . accordingly , the ferromagnetic particles can maintain good dispersibility and orientation after being coated on a support , by polymerizing with electron beam radiation all or a part of the binder to increase the viscosity of the coating composition . the polymerization prevents coagulation and disturbance of the orientation of ferromagnetic particles . compounds polymerizable by electron beam include those having one or more carbon - carbon unsaturated bonds such as acryloyl group , methacryloyl group , acrylamide group , allyl group , vinyl ether group or vinyl thioether group and unsaturated polyesters . the typical examples are unsaturated fatty acids such as acrylic acid , or 2 - butenoic acid ; unsaturated polybasic acids such as maleic acid , fumaric acid , 2 - buten - 1 , 4 - dicarbonic acid or muconic acid ; unsaturated fatty acid amides such as acrylamide , crotonamide , 2 - penteneamide or maleinamide ; alkyl acrylates such as methyl acrylate ; styrenes such as α - methylstyrene or β - chlorostyrene ; acrylonitrile , vinyl acetate or vinyl propionate . two or more unsaturated bonds may be contained in one molecule of the compound . examples of those compounds are disclosed in light - sensitive resin data collection , pages 235 to 236 by sogo kagaku kenkyusho , published on december 1968 . particularly preferred , compounds are unsaturated esters of polyol such as ethylene diacrylate , diethylene glycol diacrylate , glycerol triacrylate , ethylenediacrylate or pentaerythritol tetraacrylate and glycidyl acrylate having an epoxy ring . most preferred compounds are diethylene glycol diacrylate , glycerol triacrylate and pentaerythritol tetraacrylate . a compound having one unsaturated bond in one molecule and a compound having two or more unsaturated bonds can be used in combination . the compounds can be high molecular weight compounds . the most preferred compound is a compound having acrylate groups at both terminals of or in the side of the main polymer chain . the examples of the compounds are illustrated by a . vrancken in fatipec congress , 11 , 19 ( 1972 ) such as the following compound . ## str1 ## the polyester skeleton of the above compounds can be a polyurethane skeleton , an epoxy resin skeleton , a polyether skeleton , a polycarbonate skeleton or a mixture thereof . the molecular weight of the compounds are preferably 1 , 000 to 20 , 000 but should not be limited . the above - described monomers and polymers can be used in combination as a compound polymerizable by electron beam radiation . a preferred ratio of monomer to polymer is from about 5 : 95 to about 40 : 60 by weight , with the most preferred ratio being from 10 : 90 to 25 : 75 by weight . thermoplastic resins such as vinyl chloride - vinyl acetate copolymers , vinyl chloride - vinyl acetate - vinyl alcohol copolymers , vinyl chloride - vinyl acetate - maleic acid copolymers , vinyl chloride - vinyl propionate copolymers , cellulose resins such as nitrocellulose , acetyl butyl cellulose , acetal resin , vinyl chloridevinylidene chloride resin , urethane resins such as polyester type polyurethane resins and polyether type polyurethane resins , or acrylonitrile - butadiene copolymers can be used alone or in combination in a magnetic coating composition of the present invention , if necessary . these thermoplastic resins can be used at a proportion of about 10 % to about 60 % by weight based on the amount of solid components in the binder . the compound polymerizable by electron beam radiation is present in the binder component ( i . e ., an organic substance of a magnetic coating composition excluding an organic solvent and additives ) in an amount of about 3 wt % or more , preferably 8 wt % to 100 wt %. if the above compound is present in an amount below the above ratio , the viscosity of the coating composition increases upon radiation with an electron beam and gelation is so low that the oriented magnetic particles are insufficiently fixed . the total amount of the binder component ( an organic substance of a magnetic coating composition excluding an organic solvent and additives ) is preferably contained in a weight ratio of 0 . 1 to 7 , more preferably 0 . 2 to 0 . 5 , based on the weight of the magnetic particles . ferromagnetic particles used in the present invention are plate - shaped and the axis of easy magnetization is perpendicular to the surface of the plate . specific examples of such particles include barium ferrite type ferromagnetic particles as disclosed in u . s . pat . no . 4 , 341 , 648 , and mnbi type ferromagnetic particles , which are hexagonal crystals . regarding barium ferrite type particles , a portion of the ba can be substituted with sr , pb or ca and a portion of the fe can be substituted with co , ni , mn , ti , v and / or nb ( preferably with co + ti or co + nb ) to control the coercive force and to adjust the particle size . regarding mnbi , a portion of the bi can be substituted with se or as . as to the size of ferromagnetic particles , the plate - shaped diameter is 1μ or less and preferably 0 . 3μ or less , and the thickness of the plate - shaped particles is preferably 1 / 3 of the diameter . useful organic solvents include ketones such as acetone , methyl ethyl ketone , methyl isobutyl ketone or cyclohexanone ; esters such as methyl acetate , ethyl acetate , butyl acetate , ethyl lactate or monoethyl ether glycol acetate ; glycol ethers such as ether , glycol dimethyl ether , glycol monoethyl ether or dioxane ; aromatic hydrocarbons such as benzene , toluene or xylene ; and chlorinated hydrocarbons such as methylene chloride , ethylene chloride , carbon tetrachloride , chloroform , ethylene chlorohydrin or dichlorobenzene . preferred examples of organic solvents are methyl ethyl ketone , cyclohexanone , tetrahydrofuran , ethyl acetate , butyl acetate , toluene and xylene . these organic solvents can be used in an amount of about 600 to about 1 , 500 parts by weight , preferably 700 to 1 , 200 parts by weight , per 100 parts by weight of solid components in the binder additives such as lubricants , abrasives , anticorrosion agents or antistatic agents such as carbon black or a graphite can be added to the magnetic coating composition of the present invention . useful lubricants include saturated or unsaturated higher fatty acids such as oleic acid , linolic acid and the like , fatty acid esters such as hexyl laurate , butyl laurate , ethyl palmitate , isopropyl myristate , butyl stearate and the like , higher fatty acid amides such as palmitic acid amide , stearic acid amide and the like , higher alcohols , each having 10 to 25 carbon atoms , silicone oils , mineral oils , edible oils or fluoride type compounds . these additives can be added to the magnetic coating composition in an amount of about 1 to about 5 parts by weight per 100 parts by weight of the binder . these additives can be added when a coating composition is prepared , or can be coated or sprayed on a surface of a magnetic layer with or without an organic solvent , after drying and smoothening the magnetic layer . ferromagnetic particles and the above - described compounds are simultaneously or separately charged into a mixing device where a coating composition is prepared . a dispersing agent can be preliminarily dispersed with the ferromagnetic particles which are then combined with a compound polymerizable with electron beam radiation and thermoplastic resins . various mixing kneading devices for mixing and kneading the composition of the invention can be used such as a two - roll mill , a ball mill , a sand grinder , a disper , a high speed impeller dispersing device , a high speed mixer or a homogenizer . useful methods for coating the magnetic coating composition on a support include doctor coating , blade coating , air knife coating , squeeze coating , reverse roll coating and gravure coating . the dry thickness of the magnetic layer is about 0 . 5 to 15 μm and is determined by factors such as the intended use , and the shape generally used for such a magnetic recording medium . orientation of the ferromagnetic particles are carried out under the following conditions . a direct current or alternating magnetic field of 1 , 000 to 10 , 000 gauss , preferably a direct current magnetic field of 1 , 500 to 5 , 000 oe , can be used . the direction of orientation of ferromagnetic particles is perpendicular or nearly perpendicular to the recorded surface for magnetic perpendicular recording . where acicular particles are subjected to orientation in a horizontal direction and coated on a support , the perpendicular magnetic recording layer of the present invention can be provided thereon . such combination is useful in a magnetic recording - reproducing system using a ring head in which the sensitivity of high density recording portion is increased by an upper perpendicular magnetic layer and the sensitivity of low density recording portion is increased by a lower layer . useful methods of orientation include methods which make use of a permanent magnet , a solenoid coil or an electric magnet where it is possible to use a magnetic field having its direction perpendicular to the recording surface . a van de graaff type scanning method , a double scanning method , a curtain beam method or a beam curtain method can be applied to accelerate the electron beam . a beam curtain method is relatively economical and can produce a high output . the electron beam is characterized by an accelerating voltage of 100 to 1 , 000 kv , preferably 150 to 400 kv , and an absorption dose of 0 . 5 to 20 megarads , preferably 2 to 10 megarads . where the accelerating voltage is not more than 100 kv , the transmitted amount of energy is short . where the accelerating voltage is more than 1 , 000 kv , the energy efficiency used for polymerization is lowered and is uneconomical . where the absorption dose is not more than 0 . 5 megarad , the curing reaction is insufficient to obtain a strong magnetic layer . where the absorption dose is not lower than 20 megarads , the energy efficiency used for the curing reaction is lowered or a radiated object generates heat and a plastic support deforms . the orientation steps for the ferromagnetic particles and the electron beam radiation should be finished before the solvent has completely evaporated and while the coating composition remains fluid . however , it is preferred that orientation and electron beam radiation are carried out simultaneously or that the electron beam radiation is carried out immediately after orientation , for example , within about 5 seconds , preferably within 3 seconds , after the orientation . the temperature for drying the magnetic layer with hot air is in the range of about 50 ° to 120 ° c ., preferably 70 ° to 100 ° c . and more preferably 80 ° to 90 ° c . the time required for drying varies widely depending upon the temperature of hot air used for drying and is not limitative , but is generally about 10 to about 30 seconds . a smoothing treatment with a calender roll which is used for preparing a conventional magnetic recording medium can be used in the present invention , if necessary . a calendering treatment with mirror surface rolls or with a mirror surface roll and an elastic roll can be applied to smooth a surface of the magnetic layer . a metal roll is useful as the mirror surface roll and the elastic roll may be a cotton roll or a synthetic resin ( nylon or polyurethane ) roll . after the magnetic layer which is obtained by coating the coating composition of the invention on the support is subjected to smoothing treatment with the above - described rolls , an electron beam can be further radiated on the magnetic layer as the final curing treatment . the radiation with an electron beam for final curing treatment can be effected under substantially the same conditions as those described previously , until the curing reaction is completed . in the present invention , the smoothing treatment with a mirror surface roll is carried out after an organic solvent is removed from the coating layer coated on a support . in this case , all of the organic solvent or a part of the organic solvent may be removed . for example , the smoothing treatment can be carried out after the coating layer is allowed to stand or dried under a normal condition to remove all or a part of an organic solvent . materials for the support include polyesters such as polyethylene terephthalate or polyethylene - 2 , 6 - naphthalate ; polyolefins such as polyethylene or polypropylene ; cellulose derivatives such as cellulose triacetate ; plastics such as polycarbonate , polyimide or polyamide imide ; non - magnetic metals such as aluminum , copper , tin , zinc or non - magnetic alloys including the above metals , and a kind of paper or a paper coated or laminated with polyolefins . preferred examples of supports are polyethylene terephthalate , polyethylene - 2 , 6 - naphthalate or polyimide film . the non - magnetic support may be in the form of a film , a tape , a sheet , a disc , a card or a drum and various materials can be selected depending upon the above shape . a backcoat can be provided on the support on the side opposite to the magnetic layer for the purposes of preventing electrostatic charge , print - through , wow flutter , improving the strength of the magnetic recording medium and making the back side of the support matted layer . such backcoat can be provided by known methods such as those described in u . s . pat . nos . 4 , 135 , 031 , 4 , 310 , 599 , etc . additives as disclosed in japanese patent publication no . 26890 / 81 can be incorporated into the magnetic layer of the present invention . in accordance with the invention , high orientation and squareness ratios can be obtained by the method which comprises using plate - shaped particles such as ba ferrite or sr ferrite type having an axis of easy magnetization perpendicular to the plate and a binder which is curable by electron beam radiation , providing orientation in a perpendicular magnetic field after coating the coating composition and , at the same time or immediately after orientation , radiating the composition with electron beams . the present invention is further illustrated in more detail by the following examples and comparative examples . however , the scope of the invention is not limited to these examples . in the examples and comparative examples , all parts are by weight . ______________________________________ parts______________________________________co - modified ba ferrite 100particle diameter : 0 . 08μthickness : 0 . 025μcoercive force : 810 oenitrocellulose (&# 34 ; rs1 / 2h &# 34 ; manufactured by 5daicel chemical industries , ltd .) urethane resin 5 ( condensation product of adipicacid / butane diol / tolyrenediisocyanate ) acrylic acid 0 . 5ester acrylate oligomer 12 (&# 34 ; aronics m6300 &# 34 ; manufactured bytoa gosei co ., ltd .) hexamethylene diacrylate 3methyl ethyl ketone 250stearic acid 1butyl stearate 1______________________________________ the above composition was kneaded with a ball mill for 50 hours to obtain a magnetic coating composition , which was then coated by a doctor blade in a dry thickness of 8μ on a polyethylene terephthalate support having a thickness of 20μ . the coated layer was subjected to orientation perpendicular to the surface of the support by passing the medium between a pair of a cobalt - rare earth metal alloy magnet ( 5 , 000 g ) facing opposite poles and within 1 minute an electron beam with an accelerating voltage of 3 , 000 kv and a beam current of 5 ma was radiated so that the absorption dose was 5 mrad . the solvent was evaporated at 100 ° c . for 1 minute . then , the medium was wound , subjected to a smoothing treatment with seven calender rolls at 80 ° c . and 150 kg / cm of a linear pressure and slit to a width of 1 / 2 inch to prepare a magnetic recording tape . the same procedure as in example 1 was repeated except that electron beam radiation was carried out after the solvent was evaporated . ______________________________________ parts______________________________________co - modified ba ferrite 100particle diameter : 0 . 1μthickness : 0 . 025μcoercive force : 800 oepolyester type urethane acrylate oligomer 20 (&# 34 ; aronics m110012 &# 34 ; manufactured bytoa gosei co ., ltd .) acrylic acid 2methyl ethyl ketone 150stearic acid 1butyl stearate 1______________________________________ the same procedure as in example 1 was repeated except that the above - described coating composition was used . the same procedure as described in example 2 was repeated except that the electron beam radiation was conducted after the solvent was evaporated . the squareness ratio ( residual flux density / maximum flux density ) of the thus obtained sample was determined and the results obtained are shown in table 1 below . the sample was then slit into a width of 1 / 2 inch . video signals at 4 mhz were recorded using the resulting tape by a vhs type video tape recorder and were compared with a playback output , with reference to the output in comparative example 1 as 0 db . table 1______________________________________example orcomparative squareness video outputexample ratio ( 4 mhz ) ______________________________________example 1 0 . 84 + 3 dbcomparative 0 . 66 0 dbexample 1example 2 0 . 83 + 2 . 5 dbcomparative 0 . 69 + 0 . 5 dbexample 2______________________________________ the same procedure of perpendicular orientation and subsequent electron beam radiation as described in example 1 was repeated except that the ferromagnetic particles in example 2 were replaced by acicular co - modified γ - fe 2 o 3 ( particle length : 0 . 3μ , particle width : 0 . 04μ , coercive force 810 oe ). the resulting tape was tested according to the procedure as described in comparative example 2 and the results obtained are shown in table 2 below . the same procedure as described in comparative example 3 was repeated except that the electron beam radiation was conducted after the solvent was evaporated . the resulting tape was tested according to the procedure as described in comparative example 2 and the results obtained are shown in table 2 below . table 2______________________________________comparative squareness video outputexample ratio ( 4 mhz ) ______________________________________comparative 0 . 73 - 1 . 0 dbexample 3comparative 0 . 61 - 3 . 0 dbexample 4______________________________________ it is apparent from the results shown in table 2 that , even though the acicular particles are subjected to perpendicular orientation and electron beam radiation , the squareness ratios thereof , i . e ., orientation , are markedly inferior to those of the plate - shaped hexagonal crystalline particles of the present invention . while the invention has been described in detail and with reference to specific embodiments thereof , it will be apparent to one skilled in the art that various changes and modifications can be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope thereof . | 6 |
in a preferred embodiment of the invention , as shown in fig1 and 2 , a pocket 13 at the back of the housing 10 forms a substantially right parallelpiped with an inwardly directed partition 20 having a first hole 22 coaxial with the central shaft 300 and pinion assembly 60 . at the back of the reel housing , is a back wall 21 with a second hole 23 which is substantially coaxial with hole 22 . the drag assembly 50 is positioned in the pocket 13 and respectfully adjacent are the concave disc spring 55 , the d - shaped washer 56 , the first frictional washer 57 , the disc drive 58 and the second washer 59 which is adjacent the partition 20 . in one embodiment , a knob 51 comprises a shank portion 501 with a proximal end 508 secured to the head 502 and a thrust bearing surface 506 on the distal end 509 that projects into the hole 23 . the shank 501 has a threaded section 503 that mates with the thread 24 in hole 23 and a passageway 504 that preferably does not extended out through the head 502 . in an alternative embodiment , the hole 23 has no threaded portion 24 but a flange nut 52 having square hexagonal flat sides 511 and a cylindrical extension 510 with a thread 527 therein is positioned in the hole 23 as shown in fig3 . in this embodiment , the housing 10 has a ridge 512 just adjacent the hole 23 that mates with one of the flats 511 of the nut 52 so that it will not rotate relative to the housing 10 . the threaded shank 501 is secured into the threads 24 or 527 until the bearing surface 506 is in contact with the disc spring 55 . until now , the drag assembly 50 parts can easily be removed from the pocket 13 ; however , when the back end 301 of the shaft 300 is slipped into the drag assembly 50 with the holes 513 , 514 , 515 , 517 and 504 , all being larger than the maximum diameter of the shaft 300 , the drag assembly 50 is confined within the pocket . since these holes are larger than the shaft 300 diameter , the shaft 300 can revolve freely . in order for the drag assembly 15 to function properly , the drag drive or disc drive 58 must be keyed to the back end 301 of the shaft 300 so that when the shaft 300 rotates , the disc drive 58 rotates . and , conversely , when the disc drive 58 is prevented from rotating , the shaft 300 cannot rotate . in one embodiment as shown in fig2 the back end 301 has opposed milled flats 302 forming a double - d shaped cross - section at the end of the shaft 300 . the disc drive 58 also has a double - d shaped hole mating with flats 302 . obviously , other types of keying means can be utilized such as only one milled flat at the end 301 and a mating d - shaped hole in the drive 58 . when the bearing surface 506 is just contacting the disc spring 55 , there is almost no compressive force pushing the d - shaped washer 56 , the first frictional washer 57 , the disc drive 58 and the second frictional washer 59 against the partition 20 . as the shank 501 of the knob 51 is screwed into the pocket 20 , the bearing surface 506 pushes against the disc spring 55 which forces the drag assembly 50 parts of the washers 56 , 57 and 59 surrounding the disc drive 58 and the drive 58 against the partition 20 . the greater the pressure against the spring 55 by the bearing surface 506 , the tighter the disc drive 58 is clamped against the partition 20 thereby limiting its ability to rotate . concomitantly , the less the disc drive 58 can rotate , the less the shaft 300 can rotate thus effectuating a very accurate control by the drag feature of the reel 1 . to prevent rotation of the drag assembly parts within the pocket 13 , the d - shaped washer 56 has ears 524 that bear against the side wall of the pocket 13 as shown in fig4 . thus , when the washers 57 and 59 and the disc spring 55 are rotated with the disc drive 58 , the d - shaped washer 56 acts as the nonrotational member of the drag assembly 50 . in the event that all the parts of the drag assembly 50 mounted in the pocket 20 were able to rotate as the shaft 300 rotated , the drag mechanism 50 could not keep the desired clamping pressure against the disc drive 58 to control its rotation . consequently , the d - shaped washer 56 is the means for preventing the drag assembly 50 from totally rotating in the pocket . since the drag adjusting knob 51 with its fluted surface 528 can be adjusted from the back of the reel , a fisherman &# 39 ; s fingers do not get in the way of the fishing line while adjusting the drag during fishing . the sensitivity of the drag assembly relies , in part , on the use of different materials for the respective parts of the drag assembly 50 . it has been found that the disc spring 55 can be made of flexible metal spring stock that will not take a permanent set when the spring is flattened out . the d - shaped washer 56 preferably can be made from metal such as cold roll steel , stainless steel , etc . the frictional washer 57 is preferably made from a non - metal material such as polytetrafluorothylene fluorocarbon in both castable and sheet form which has good shear strength , good frictional characteristics and very low creep . it has been found desirable that the second friction washer 759 be made from the same material whether it is in the flat rotational form as shown in fig5 and 6 or in the non - rotational form as shown in fig2 and 3 . in order to secure the shank 501 within the pocket 20 , a circular undercut groove 505 is provided on the shank 501 near the bearing surface 506 . a c - shaped retainer clip 53 is positioned in the groove 505 to keep the knob 51 within the pocket 13 . when the threaded flange 52 is used instead of the threaded hole 24 , the retainer clip 505 confines the nut 52 and the shank 501 together keeping both straddling the back wall 21 . in an alternative embodiment of the invention as shown in fig5 and 6 , the invention comprehends that two springs 55 and 520 , two d - shaped washers 56 and 522 and an additional washer 525 can be used for larger fishing reels requiring increased frictional surfaces . the respective holes of these additional parts , 521 , 523 and 526 are all larger in size than the maximum diameter of the shaft 300 ; thus , permitting the shaft 300 to also rotate relative to the second disc spring 520 , the second d - shaped washer 522 and the frictional washer 525 . in this embodiment , the washer 525 is preferably made of metal thus providing two frictional surfaces for the washer 59 &# 39 ; and at the same time preventing the washer 59 &# 39 ; from being chewed up by rotation against the partition 20 in the event that the partition 20 has a rough internal surface created when the housing 10 is die cast . in another embodiment of the invention , the washer 59 , as shown in fig2 and 4 , has a radially extending lug 518 and a cylindrical portion 519 . as shown in fig3 the projection 519 fits in the hole 22 . the lug 518 fits in the undercut slot 531 of the housing 10 thus reventing the washer 59 from rotating . the interface between the washer 59 and the disc drive 58 create a circumferential brake shoe type frictional contact area for the disc drive 58 when axial pressure is applied by the bearing surface 506 . likewise , there is also a circumferential brake shoe type functional contact area that occurs at the interface between the non - rotational d - shaped washer 56 and the frictional washer 57 . these two interfacial frictional engagements provide a great deal of frictional contact area for very small parts . for example , in one fishing reel incorporating such a drag assembly , the diameter of the elements of the assembly are each about one - half inch and the total thickness of the elements mounted between the bearing surface 506 and the partition 20 ( when the shaft is free to rotate ) is less than three - eighths inch and closely approaches one - quarter inch . thus , it has been found that such a small drag assembly can provide a larger amount of interfacial frictional surface engagement to produce , quite surprisingly , a very smooth and sensitive drag control . in another embodiment of the invention , a slot 530 is provided in the pocket 13 parallel to the partition 20 . a j - shaped elongated element 54 having a short leg 541 , a long leg 542 and a free nib end 543 is positioned in the slot 530 and is radially adjacent the serrated surface 533 of the disc drag 58 . the element 54 is fashioned such that the nib end 543 is in contact with the serrated surface 533 . when the shaft 300 keyed to the disc drive 58 rotates , the element 58 makes a clicking sound as the serrated surface 533 causes the nib end 543 to vibrate . the gear housing 28 and the cover plate 14 reinforce the clicking sound acting as a sounding box . the fisherman is acutely aware when the fishing line is being pulled off the spool over the line roller because of the telltale clicking sound . it should be understood , of course , that the specific forms of the invention illustrated and described herein are intended to be representative only , as certain changes and modifications may be made without departing from the scope of the teachings herein disclosed . accordingly , reference should be made to the appended claims in ascertaining the full scope of the invention . | 0 |
referring now to fig2 , a block filter 40 has been added to the motor system 10 as part of the filter 38 between the power supply 12 and the rectifier 20 of the motor drive unit 14 . that is , the block filter 40 has been added to the filter 38 and is arranged between the point of common connection ( pcc ) between the supply lines 26 and the input to the motor drive unit 14 . as will be described below , this filter configuration 38 including the block filter 40 will be referred to as an lcl - plus - c circuit . as will be described , the block filter 40 has an inductive reactance that is substantially equal to its capacitive reactance at the switching frequency of the rectifier . as illustrated , it is contemplated that the main inductor ( l m ) and block filter 40 may be formed as an integrated package that may be readily retrofitted into a traditional filter system 38 . however , as will be described , it is contemplated that the main inductor l m , and block filter 40 may be integrated with the other components of the filter 38 . referring now to fig3 - 5 , a variety of configurations for the main inductor l m and block filter 40 of fig2 are illustrated . specifically , fig3 shows a cascaded block filter 40 a coupled with the above - described lcl filter to form an lcl - plus - c circuit . fig3 also includes an equivalent circuit 42 of the cascaded block filter 40 a . additionally , fig4 shows the above - described lcl filter coupled with a direct - coupled block filter 40 b to form another lcl - plus - c circuit configuration . fig4 further shows an equivalent circuit 44 of the direct - coupled block filter 40 b . finally , fig5 shows the above - described lcl filter coupled with a transformer block filter 40 c to form still another lcl - plus - c circuit configuration and an equivalent circuit 46 of the transformer block filter 40 c . as illustrated in fig3 , the cascaded block filter 40 a can be readily separated from the main inductor l m . in this regard , the cascaded block filter 40 a can be used to retrofit a traditional lcl filter to create an lcl - plus c circuit . on the other hand , as illustrated in fig4 and 5 , the block filters 40 b , 40 c can be integrated with the main inductor l m by sharing a common core . in the configurations illustrated in fig4 and 5 , the main inductor l m has two windings for one phase . the main winding forms l m and the secondary winding forms l t . as such , the direct - coupled block filter 40 b and the transformer block filter 40 c have identical equivalent circuits 44 , 46 . however , as will be shown below , the value of the capacitor c t in the transformer block filter 40 c configuration shown in fig5 can typically be reduced over that required in the direct - coupled block filter 40 b configuration shown in fig4 . on the other hand , the direct - coupled block filter 40 b will typically have a higher q factor than the transformer block filter 40 c . in any case , each of the block filter configurations 40 a - 40 c operates as an lc resonator that can be configured to have substantially similar admittance and frequency characteristics . specifically , the resonant frequency of the lcl - plus - c circuit of 38 configured with the cascaded block filter 40 a of fig3 is given by : similarly , the resonant frequency of the lcl - plus - c circuit of 38 configured with the direct - coupled block filter 40 b of fig4 or the transformer block filter 40 c of fig5 , which have identical equivalent circuits 44 , 46 , is given by : the specific component values of the block filters 40 a , 40 b , 40 c , are selected based on the specific switching frequency of the rectifier 20 of the motor drive unit 14 of fig2 . in particular , the value of capacitor c t is selected to block the switching frequency component of injected harmonics . with respect to the direct - coupled block filter 40 b , capacitor c t is selected by : where f sw is the switching frequency of the rectifier 20 , k is the coupling factor of l m and l t windings , and m is the mutual inductance given by : m = k √{ square root over ( l m l t )} eqn . 4 . likewise , with respect to the cascaded block filter 40 a and the transformer block filter 40 b , capacitor c t is selected by : it is contemplated that when extended to a three - phase system , the above - described system may be embodied using three separate single - phase main inductors l m . on the other hand , it is contemplated that a single three - phase main inductor l m may also be used . a few additional considerations aid in guiding the selection of l 1 , l m , and l t . that is , since the high frequency current going through l 1 , especially switching frequency components , is suppressed by the block circuit 40 a , 40 b , or 40 c , the cost of including l 1 is relatively low because the current waveform is close to sinusoidal . likewise , since only high frequency current is seen by l t , the wire gauge of the coil can be relatively high , depending on the turn ratio of the coil in l t and l m , which reduces implementation costs . further cost and size savings can be realized when selecting the capacitance value , which can be relatively low , for example , 0 . 035 μf for 20 hp motor drive units . furthermore , since the high frequency current seen by l m is relatively high , the inductor design of l m should provide a relatively low core flux density or low high - frequency loss core , such as a ferrite or other inductor having a ferromagnetic compound core . the specific implementations of the above - described block filters 40 a , 40 b , 40 c may be readily scaled to a desired power rating . specifically , the percentage of harmonic components permitted by the block filters 40 a , 40 b , 40 c are determined by the percentage value relationship of l 1 , l m , and c m . . . referring now to fig6 , the filter configurations described above have been simplified to an lcl configuration for the purpose of illustrating that the use of fixed component percentages allows motor drive units with differing power ratings to have similar current total harmonic distortion values . specifically , the percentage of harmonic components permitted can be significantly controlled by the percentage value relationship of l 1 , l m , and c m , regardless of power ratings , as follows : where p l1 is the percentage value of l 1 , p lm is the percentage value of l m , p c is the percentage value of c , v n is the rated line voltage , i n is the rated line current , ω n is the rated line angular frequency , and ω res is the resonance angular frequency . the inductance / capacitance bases are : it should be noted that for simplicity , the above calculations have neglected the resistance of the filter . however , the inclusion of inductor resistance and damping resistance does not alter the fact that , as illustrated above , by maintaining fixed percentages of l 1 , l m and c , total harmonic distortions of i 1 , i 2 , and i c can be controlled across a variety of motor drives with a variety of power ratings . similarly , as illustrated below , the percentage value of c t does not vary with power ratings : where ω sw is the angular switching frequency of the rectifier of the motor drive and is equal to f sw multiplied by 2π . additionally , λ is the ratio of l t to l m , which , as described above , is typically a fixed ratio . when compared to a traditional lcl filter , such as illustrated in fig1 , the above - described filter systems including the block filters 40 to form an lcl - plus - c circuit are able to significantly suppress current harmonics with switching frequency current at the pcc . for example , residual high frequency harmonics may be suppressed to significantly less than 0 . 5 percent of peak phase current . since the above - described filter system significantly reduces the harmonic current at the switching frequency at the rectifier input , the current total harmonic distortion at the rectifier input is also reduced , even though some increase in the second and third order switching frequency harmonics may be experienced . the present invention has been described in terms of the various embodiments , and it should be appreciated that many equivalents , alternatives , variations , and modifications , aside from those expressly stated , are possible and within the scope of the invention . therefore , the invention should not be limited to a particular described embodiment . | 7 |
hereinafter , embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawing . referring to fig1 , a knife sharpening system according to an embodiment of the present invention is illustrated . the illustrated knife sharpening system includes a grinding device , and a dust - proof device for preventing scattering of dust produced in the grinding device . the grinding device includes a motor 1 to be driven by a battery of a vehicle , two pulleys 2 and 3 connected to the motor 1 , a polishing brush 4 mounted to a shaft of one of the pulleys 2 and 3 , for example , the pulley 2 , and cylindrical abrasive members 5 and 6 mounted to a shaft of the other of the pulleys 2 and 3 , for example , the pulley 3 , while being disposed below the polishing brush 4 at opposite sides of the polishing brush 4 . the grinding device further includes a support bar 10 disposed below the cylindrical abrasive members 5 and 6 in parallel with the shaft of the pulley 3 , knife support members 51 and 61 mounted on the support bar 10 , and water injection nozzles 52 disposed to inject water toward the abrasive members 5 and 6 , respectively . the dust - proof device includes a cover 7 for shielding upper , lower , left and right sides of the abrasive members 5 and 6 and polishing brush 4 , except for front sides of the abrasive members 5 and 6 and polishing brush 4 , and scattering material blocking units 8 and 9 for blocking a space between each of the abrasive member 5 and 6 and the operator . the cover 7 includes a lower cover member 71 , and an upper cover member 72 pivotally mounted to a rear top portion of the lower cover member 71 by hinges . as illustrated in fig2 , the upper cover member 72 includes an upper cover portion 721 , and a bottom plate 720 . the bottom plate 720 includes guide portions 722 and 723 mounted to a lower end of the upper cover portion 721 at opposite sides of the upper cover portion 721 , respectively , to guide discharge of scattering materials including metal powder . dust collected in the guide portions 722 and 723 is collected into a collection box 20 via a dust discharge tube 30 , together with water injected from the water injection nozzles 52 . the scattering material blocking units 8 and 9 are mounted to the support bar 10 beneath the abrasive members 5 and 6 , respectively . as illustrated in fig5 , the scattering material blocking unit 8 may include a front plate 81 mounted to a base of the system , a t - shaped blocking plate 82 mounted to an upper portion of the front plate 81 , a damper 83 mounted to an upper end of the t - shaped blocking plate 82 , and cover plates 84 for covering opposite opened side spaces of the t - shaped blocking plate 82 , respectively . since the scattering material blocking unit 9 has the same structure as the scattering material blocking unit 8 , no detailed description thereof will be given . two knife support members 51 are disposed at opposite sides of the abrasive member 5 , respectively . similarly , two knife support members 61 are disposed at opposite sides of the abrasive member 5 , respectively . as illustrated in fig3 , each knife support member 51 includes a body 512 , a round portion 511 formed at an upper end of the body 512 , and a fitting portion 513 formed at a lower end of the body 512 while being formed with a fitting hole . the knife support member 51 is fitted around the support bar 10 fixed to the system through the fitting hole of the fitting portion 513 . since the knife support members 61 have the same structure as the knife support members 51 , no detailed description thereof will be given . the support bar 10 has a flat portion 11 and , as such , the knife support members 51 and 61 are fastened to the support bar 10 by fastening screws 514 . the round portion 511 functions to adjust the contact angle of a knife contacting the abrasive member 5 . since the knife support members 51 and 61 are fastened to the support bar 10 by the fastening screws 514 , it is possible to freely adjust the mounting positions of the knife support members 51 and 61 while sliding the knife support members 51 and 61 along the support bar 10 in accordance with the widths of the abrasive members 5 and 6 . the flat portion 11 of the support bar 10 prevents the knife support members 51 and 61 from rotating unintentionally . in accordance with the above - described configuration , the knife support members 51 and 61 may be accurately position - adjusted to be positioned adjacent to the abrasive members 5 and 6 . thus , abrasive members having various sizes are applicable to the knife sharpening system of the present invention . since fastening of the knife support members 51 and 61 to the support bar 10 is achieved , using the fastening screws 514 , it is necessary to remove the scattering material blocking units 8 and 9 upon fastening or unfastening the fastening screws 514 . however , this removal is difficult . to this end , the t - shaped blocking plate 82 , which is formed with open spaces at opposite sides thereof , is preferably mounted to each of the scattering material blocking units 8 and 9 , to secure a working space allowing fastening or unfastening of the fastening screws 514 while covering the open spaces by the cover plates 84 , to block scattering materials . each cover plate 84 may be made of a flexible synthetic resin material , to be connected , at an upper end thereof , to the associated t - shaped blocking plate 82 while being engaged , at a lower end thereof , with an upper portion of the front plate 81 . that is , as illustrated in fig5 , the cover plate 84 , which is engaged with the upper portion of the front plate 81 , may be lifted to be separated from the front plate 81 and , as such , the space covered by the cover plate 84 is opened , to provide a working space . in this state , accordingly , it is possible to easily carry out fastening or unfastening of the fastening screws 514 . the damper 83 is provided to prevent a sharpened blade of the knife from being damaged due to striking thereof occurring when the knife is removed after being ground by the abrasive member between the knife support members 51 or 61 . accordingly , the damper 83 is preferably made of a material having low hardness , for example , synthetic resin . that is , in accordance with the present invention , when a switch operates under the condition that a knife contacts the abrasive member 5 or 6 between the knife support members 51 or 61 , the motor 1 is driven by power supplied from the battery of the vehicle . accordingly , the motor 1 rotates the abrasive member 5 or 6 via the pulleys 2 and 3 , thereby grinding the knife . at this time , the water injection nozzle 52 injects water , not only to reduce production of dust , but also to cool the knife , for hardening of the knife . as described above , dust or the like produced during grinding is blocked by the cover 7 and scattering material blocking units 8 or 9 , and is then collected . the collected dust is then fed to the dust collection box 20 via the dust discharge tube 30 . meanwhile , the polishing brush 4 is used to finish the sharpened knife . as apparent from the above description , the present invention provides effects of utilizing power from a battery of a small vehicle as drive power because high power is not required . that is , rotational force from a motor operating by power from the battery of the vehicle is transmitted to the abrasive member or polishing brush without being attenuated and , as such , it is possible to sharpen a knife using the rapidly rotating abrasive member or polishing brush . although the knife is sharpened by the rapidly rotating abrasive member or polishing brush , there is no deterioration of the working environment due to scattering of water or dust in accordance with the present invention . thus , effective knife sharpening is possible through operation of an abrasive member or polishing brush by a small - size motor operable by a battery of a vehicle . furthermore , it is possible to greatly reduce knife sharpening time because the abrasive member or polishing brush rotates at high speed and , as such , an enhancement in workability is achieved . although the preferred embodiments of the present invention have been disclosed for illustrative purposes , those skilled in the art will appreciate that various modifications , additions and substitutions are possible , without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention as disclosed in the accompanying claims . | 1 |
as described in the two articles cited above and hereby incorporated by reference herein , the possibility of detecting parkinson &# 39 ; s disease using mri has been a long - sought goal . in preferred embodiments described herein and in the two articles , this goal is met by using imaging that enhances changes in a brain area that are believed to be indicative of parkinson &# 39 ; s disease . using a combination of two mri imaging inversion - recovery sequences , the substantia nigra is imaged and a radiologic index is derived and used to quantify changes in a manner enabling detection even in asymptomatic patients and also enabling objective staging of the disease . structural changes in the substantia nigra , mainly in the pars compacta ( snc ), are highlighted using the preferred mri signals and processing , and numerical scored are derived to indicate the presence and / or staging of the disease . in a first method , described in detail in article ( 1 ), which is cited above and incorporated by reference herein , a white matter suppressed ( wms ) image and a grey matter suppressed ( gms ) images are obtained , using mri inversion - recovery pulse sequences with the parameters stated in article ( 1 ) for the indicated mri scanner , or using other sequences or parameters or mri scanners that produce wms and gms mri images differing from each other in a manner allowing for processing that highlights changes in the snc associated with parkinson &# 39 ; s disease . as described in article ( 1 ), it has been found that the gms signal tends to increase in snc areas affected by the disease while the wms signal tends to decrease in the same areas . a ratio image of the wms to gma mri images of an mri slice tends to have an increased sensitivity to changes in the substantia nigra due to parkinson &# 39 ; s disease than either of the gms and wms images alone . a numerical measure can be obtained , for example by taking a ratio of a medial - to - lateral regions of interest ( roi ) in the substantia nigra imaged in each mri slice . each roi can be about 200 pixels in size , although different sizes can be used , and this can also depend on the pixel resolution of the image . if the substantia nigra is imaged in two slices , an upper slice and a lower slice , a total of four roi are defined . a ratio ru is computed of the pixel values of the lateral to the medial roi in the upper slice , and a similar ration rl is computed for the lower slice . the resulting ratio values are further processed as described in article ( 1 ) to obtain a pair of numerical measures du and dl . in a plot of the type illustrated in fig4 of this application , which is the a copy of fig . a of article ( 1 ), the numerical measures du and dl give points that at in a cluster for parkinson &# 39 ; s disease patients that is well spaced from a cluster for patients without the disease , and also are at different positions for different stages of the disease , thus enabling detection and staging of the disease . for tr much greater than te , the ratio image depends only or mainly on t1 , so the signal values of the ratio image can be recast in the firm of a t1 map . this is so because for ir pulse sequences the pixel value p ( x , y ) at a pixel position ( x , y ) can be expressed as the value of t1 at the same position ( x , y ), thus creating a t1 map . such a t1 map can be similarly analyzed to compute similar numerical measures that highlight the presence and staging of parkinson &# 39 ; s disease . in another embodiment , described in detail in article ( 2 ), which is cited above and incorporated by reference herein , wms and gma mri signals are similarly obtained but are processed differently , to compute a numerical radiologic index or score ri that is similarly useful for both detecting and staging parkinson &# 39 ; s disease , as illustrated at fig3 and 4 of article ( 2 ). fig1 of this patent specification corresponds to fig2 in article ( 2 ) and illustrates an example of ratio images of the cerebral peduncle displayed in pseudocolors to show morphologic characteristics of the snc in two control participants ( 1 and c 2 ) in a study . the enhanced visualization of changes due to parkinson &# 39 ; s disease can be seen in the lower four images ( p 1 and p 2 ) fig2 illustrates the results of automated segmentation of the ratio images to isolate the snc . the segmentation can be carried out with commercially available segmentation software , using pixel values and other parameters that can be experimentally determined for images from a specific mri scanner . fig3 illustrates that the wms and gms images discussed above and in articles ( 1 ) and ( 2 ) can be used to provide indications of progressive supranuclear palsy ( psp ). as explained in the caption of the figure , the changes that are visualized allow distinguishing between the two forms of parkinsonism radiographically . fig4 in this patent specification is a non - color copy of fig . a in article ( 1 ) cited above . the upper row shows upper and lower ratio images of a normal object . the substania nigra pars compacta ( snc ) reaches the edge of the peduncle in the upper slice and becomes smaller in the lower slice . the substania nigra pars reticulata ( snr ) is also seen in the upper slice , extending into the corticospinal tracts anteriorly . the gray - scale bar shows the shade used for display and ranges from 0 to 225 ( bottom to top ). the ratio image of an early case shows , in the upper slice , thinning and loss of signal in the lateral part of the snc . the lower slice shows islands of destruction . the ratio images of an advanced stage show considerable signal loss in the snc in both upper and lower slices . in addition , the snc is essentially reduced to two rings of preservation in the lower slice . fig5 in this patent specification is a non - color copy of fig . b in article ( 1 ) cited above , in which the green dots in the color original are replaced with marks “ x ”. the graph is a plot of du and dl , defined in article ( 1 ) as a distance from a centroid of control subjects for the upper slices and lower slices , respectively . as stated in article ( 1 ), left column in page 817 , for each subject the ratio r of lateral to medial values was defined , both for the upper slice ( ru ) and for the lower slice ( rl ). these values were divided into a ratio for the left snc , denoted by subscript “ 1 ”, and the right snc , denoted by subscript “ r ”. therefore , each subject in the study was represented by two pairs of values ( ru 1 and ru r ) and ( rl 1 and rl r ), the first pair representing the upper slice and the second the lower . the centroid ( the mean value of the ratio ) of these values for normal subjects was defined as ru and rl . these values were also defined for both left and right snc . for each subject ( both patients and normal controls ) the distance from this centroid was defined as the pair of values ( du , dl ), where du ={( ru 1 − ru 1 ) 2 +( ru r − ru r ) 2 } 1 / 2 and dl ={( rl 1 − rl 1 ) 2 +( rl r − rl r ) 2 } 1 / 2 . the controls ( marks “ x ”) cluster at the origin and that the patients ( dots ) are distributed along a diagonal path in correspondence with hoehn and yahr disease stage ( indicated by roman numeral next to each dot ). fig6 in this patent specification is a copy of fig1 in article ( 2 ) cited above . the upper row displays an example of axial wms and gms mr acquisition images of the mesencephalon in a control participant . the cerebral peduncle ( second row , left ) extracted from the wms midbrain image serves as a template to extract the gms image of the cerebral the cerebral peduncle shown on the right . the snc is seen as bright arch in the peduncular wms image , whereas it appears as a dark band in the corresponding gms image . the substantia nigra pars reticula ( snr ) reaching across the crus cerebi toward the snc . the ratio image ( wms / gms ) of the two images in the second row yields the grayscale ratio image displayed on the bottom . all black and white images are shown using a standard display of 256 gray levels . the grayscale image uses a 256 - pseudocolour lookup table . fig7 in this patent specification is a copy of fig3 in article ( 2 ) cited above . radiologic indices are displayed for the six control participants and the six patients with parkinson &# 39 ; s disease . there is no overlap between the groups , which are distinct by student &# 39 ; s t test ( p & lt ; 0 . 00005 ). the error bars represent one sd . fig8 in this patent specification is a copy of fig4 in article ( 2 ) cited above . unified parkinson &# 39 ; s disease rating scale scores for the six patients ranging from 12 to 71 are plotted versus radio - logic indices . a linear regression analysis was conducted , yielding a linear correlation coefficient of r = 0 . 99 . while specific examples of embodiments are described in detail above and in the two articles incorporated by reference , it will be clear to those skilled in the relevant technology that alternative implementations are within the scope of the disclosure of the appended claims . | 6 |
referring to the attached schematic drawings , a conventional led 10 is connected as a light source with the reflected light emitted therefrom being detected by phototransistor 12 . the output of the phototransistor 12 is connected to an input of an operational amplifier 14 which has a pair of series connected diodes 16 , 18 connected between the output and input . the output of amplifier 14 is connected to the input of analog comparator 20 with capacitor 22 and resistors 24 , 26 forming a high frequency pass filter between the amplifier and the comparator . the biasing network comprises a zener diode 28 connected between a voltage source and ground through resistor 30 . resistors 32 , 34 are series connected across zener diode 28 and diode 36 is connected between the juncture of resistors 32 , 34 and potentiometer 38 . the bias network has three outputs a , b and c which are appropriately connected to the read channel of fig1 . the biasing network is arranged so that output c is one diode voltage drop above output a . since the inverting (-) input of amplifier 14 will equal the non - inverting (+) input in voltage , the collector of phototransistor 12 is biased one diode voltage drop more positive than the emitter . this results in a collector to base voltage ( vcb ) of zero for the phototransistor 12 and , therefore , there is no leakage current ( icbo ). this allows operation of the phototransistor 12 at light current levels at or near ordinary leakage current levels . the amplifier 14 is chose to have input current requirements well below the phototransistor 12 current levels . therefore all of the light current flows through diodes 16 and 18 . the dynamic output of amplifier 14 is the voltage change across diodes 16 and 18 resulting from light current changes . the basic equation for a silicon diode in the forward direction is : where k is boltzmans constant , q is electronic charge , n is a function of the particular diode type ( usually 1 . 0 to 1 . 3 ), t is absolute temperature and 1n is natural logarithm . i1 and i2 represent the currents through the diode producing the voltage change . an important point of the present invention is that the diode voltage change is independent of actual current magnitudes and depends on ratios only . since light intensities will vary for many reasons ( the particular led used , led aging , the particular phototransistor , the optical system , etc .) it is necessary to have a circuit which is ratio dependent rather than magnitude dependent . the result is that light intensity ratios ( contrast in light intensity ) produce voltage changes at the output of amplifier 14 which are stable and predictable . these voltage changes are ac coupled to comparator 20 which has a selectable threshold ( b minus a ). when the light signal reaches this threshold , comparator 20 switches digital levels at its output . diode 36 of the bias network has a second purpose in providing temperature compensation to the threshold . with a 6 . 8 volt zener diode 28 , approximately 2 ma . flows through resistor 32 . at room temperature , diode 36 will drop about 600 mv and slightly more than this is forced across resistor 34 . therefore , about 1 ma . flows through both diode 36 and resistor 34 . diode 36 will decrease about 2 mv per ° c . in drop resulting in less current through resistor 34 and more through diode 36 with increasing temperature . the voltage drop across potentiometer 38 increases with increasing temperature , thus increasing the threshold . this compensates for the &# 34 ; t &# 34 ; or absolute temperature term in the basic diode equation making contrast detection relatively immune to temperature . normally , there are a multiplicity of optical channels for reading a multi - column card , for example twelve . the subject biasing network is common to all channels and one potentiometer 38 sets a contrast thereshold for all . two diodes 16 and 18 are employed to simply double the voltage changes and reduce errors due to offset voltage errors of inexpensive comparators when a multiplicity of channels are employed . the electronics depicted presumes either a scanning technique or paper motion past a fixed optical reading head so that the contrast data is dynamic in nature . resistors 24 and 26 and capacitor 22 are chosen in value to preserve the lowest frequency components of interest and are small enought to reject slow background changes ( shading variations or document flutter ) which represent noise rather than signal . only abrupt contrast changes are thus detected , such as is the case with marks on paper . it may be pointed out that quad operational amplifiers and quad comparators are employed in a twelve channel system using only six total integrated circuits for data . the present invention may be subject to many changes and modifications without departing from the spirit or essential characteristics thereof . the present embodiment should therefore be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive of the scope of the invention . | 6 |
continuity check ( cc ) messaging is one of several valuable operation , administration , and maintenance ( oam ) tools for managing metro ethernet applications . traditionally , a single cpu card within a network element centrally handled the cc messaging for each line card in the network element . for network elements constructed as described herein , the handling of the cc messaging falls to the line cards . advantageously , distributing the cc messaging to the line cards enables network elements so constructed to scale to a greater number of simultaneous connections than are possible for those network elements that process cc messages at a central location . in addition , each line card employs hardware and firmware to generate and check cc messages , thereby achieving messaging rates unattainable using software - based message processing . in brief overview , each line card maintains a list of supported connections . a generate timer , a receive timer , and an age counter are associated with each connection in the list . the line card generates a cc message for a given connection when the generate timer expires and detects a loss of continuity for a given connection when its age counter exceeds a threshold . a state machine , implemented in hardware of the line card , generates cc messages for each supported connection in accordance with a variable interval associated with that connection . when the moment to generate a cc message arrives for a connection , the state machine produces a template packet . a network processor of the line card modifies the template packet to complete the cc message for subsequent transmission over the network . on receipt of a cc message , the network processor performs various checks . upon validating the cc message , the network processor sends a message to the state machine to signify that a valid cc message has arrived for a given connection . the state machine accesses this connection within the list of connections to modify certain timers used to maintain the aging of the connection . if a cc message for a connection is not received within a defined period , the state machine declares a loss of connectivity and initiates preparation of an exception message for delivery to the central processing card . fig1 shows an embodiment of a maintenance domain ( md ) 10 having a plurality of network elements 12 - 1 , 12 - 2 , 12 - 3 , 12 - 4 , 12 - 5 , 12 - 6 , and 12 - 7 ( generally , 12 ). network elements 12 can be any type of network device , examples of which include bridges , routers , and switches . the maintenance domain 10 may be implemented using various transport technologies according to different protocols related to an end - to - end carrier - grade ethernet service . examples of these technologies include , but are not limited to , ethernet over synchronous optical network / synchronous digital hierarchy ( sonet / sdh ), ethernet over asynchronous transfer mode ( atm ), ethernet over resilient packet ring ( rpr ), ethernet over multiprotocol label switching ( mpls ), and ethernet over internet protocol ( ip ). each network element 12 includes ethernet ports 14 . an ethernet port can implement multiple mes of different types . for network elements 12 - 1 , 12 - 5 , 12 - 6 , and 12 - 7 , one of its ports 14 implements a mep 18 and another port 14 implements a mip ( maintenance intermediate point ) 16 . for network elements 12 - 2 , 12 - 3 , and 12 - 4 , each port 14 implements a mip 16 . in general , the meps 18 and mips 16 are software entities executing at the network element , although aspects of the cc messaging are implemented in hardware , as described in more detail below . the meps 18 operate at an edge of the maintenance domain 10 , whereas the mips 16 are inside the domain 10 . whereas meps 18 are active entities that system operators may use to initiate and monitor cfm activity , mips 16 passively receive and respond to cfm flows initiated by meps . each mip 16 and mep 18 has a unique identifier , usually the mac address of the interface with which the mep or mip is associated , that uniquely identifies the mip or mep in the layer 2 network . a meg ( maintenance entity group ) includes a set of mes that satisfy the following conditions : ( 1 ) mes in an meg exist in the same administrative domain and have the same me level ; and ( 2 ) mes in an meg belong to the same service provider vlan ( s - vlan ). megs can also be called point - to - point or multipoint ethernet connections . for a point - to - point ethernet connection , a meg contains a single me . for a multipoint ethernet connection , a meg contains n *( n − 1 )/ 2 mes , where n is the number of ethernet connection end points . for example , in fig1 , there are four ethernet connection endpoints and , thus , six mes ( 4 * 3 / 2 ). in fig1 , the mep 18 of the network element 12 - 1 periodically sends a multicast cc message 20 within the md 10 . the period of this “ heartbeat ” message can range from 3 . 1 ms to 10 s ( the 802 . 1ag standard defines a set of discrete intervals : 3 . 1 ms , 10 ms , 100 ms , 1 s , and 10 s ). the cc message 20 passes through the mips to the other meps in the same vlan ( virtual local area network ) as the sending mep . in fig1 , these other meps are at network elements 12 - 5 , 12 - 6 , and 12 - 7 . each mep receiving this cc message 20 catalogs it and knows from the cc message 20 that the various maintenance associations ( mas ) are functional , including all intermediate mips . although not shown , these other meps are likewise periodically multicasting cc messages throughout the md 10 . each mep 18 also performs various checks on received cc messages . for instance , if the received cc message has a meg level that is lower than the meg level of the receiving mep , the mep has detected an unexpected meg level . when , instead , the meg levels are the same , but the incoming cc message has a meg id that is different from meg id of the receiving mep , the mep has detected a mismerge . when the cc message has a correct meg level and a correct meg id , but an incorrect mep id , the mep has detected an unexpected mep . when the cc message has a correct meg level , a correct meg id , and a correct mep id , but also has a period field value that is different from the cc message transmission period of the receiving mep , the mep has detected an unexpected period . in addition , if three consecutive cc messages from a given mep source are lost , the mep declares a loss of continuity for the connection to the mep . metro ethernet networks often encompass multiple administrative domains belonging to different organizations , network operators , and service providers . the customer subscribes to the services of a provider , and the provider subscribes to the services of two or more operators . accordingly , a service instance spans the provider network covering one or more operators . the provider has responsibility for the service from end to end , and each operator provides transport for the service across its particular sub - network . fig2 shows a multi - domain network model 30 . the network model 30 includes customer equipment 40 - 1 , 40 - 2 at opposite ends of the network , equipment for operator a , which includes network elements 42 - 1 , 42 - 2 , 42 - 3 , and equipment for operator b , which includes network elements 44 - 1 and 44 - 2 . an end - to - end path 46 extends from the customer equipment 40 - 1 to the customer equipment 40 - 2 through the equipment of the operators a and b . the service network is partitioned into a hierarchy of levels including a customer maintenance level 48 , a provider maintenance level 50 , an operator maintenance level 52 , and a server / transport level 54 , which consists of underlying packet transport links 56 . these links 56 may be single hop ethernet links , multi - hop mpls pseudowire , or sonet / sdh paths . each different domain corresponds to a particular maintenance level . in general , meps 18 are implemented at administrative domain boundaries . fig2 also shows that for a given ethernet connection , a port 14 of the network element can implement multiple meps and mips , depending upon the number of domain levels . fig3 shows an embodiment of the network element 12 - 1 of fig1 , as a representative example of network elements that are at an edge of the maintenance domain 10 and implement a mep 18 . the network element 12 - 1 includes a central processor ( cp ) card 60 in communication with a plurality of input / output modules or interface modules , referred to herein as line cards 62 - 1 , 62 - n ( generally , 62 ) through a midplane ( or backplane ) 64 . the cp card 60 includes a switch fabric ( sf ) 66 ( e . g ., an ethernet switch ). although shown to be part of the cp card 60 , the switch fabric 66 can alternatively be embodied on the midplane ( or backplane ) 64 . each line card 62 includes one or more ethernet ports 68 for sending and receiving ethernet frames externally of the network element ( e . g ., to and from a user network , a provider network , operator network ). examples of types of line cards 62 that can be used in the practice of the invention include , but are not limited to , sfp ( small form - factor pluggable )- based , gigabit ethernet services modules , 1000 basex for sfp modules , 10 gigabit ethernet xfp ( gigabit ethernet small form - factor pluggable ) module , gbic ( gigabit interface converter )- based gigabit ethernet services module , pos ( packet over sonet ) baseboard supporting up to 6 oc - 3 or 3 oc - 12 ports , 1000base - t , and fixed gigabit ethernet . in general , the network element 12 - 1 implements the ieee 802 . 1ag protocol in software . software components of the protocol for generating , transmitting , and receiving 802 . 1ag packets reside on the cp card 60 . as described below , aspects of generating , transmitting , receiving , and processing cc messages , referred to generally as cc messaging , are implemented in hardware on each line card 62 . fig4 shows a simplified embodiment of hardware architecture 100 for a data path of the line card 62 - 1 ( as a representative example ) in fig3 . the line card 62 - 1 includes a physical ethernet interface 102 ( i . e ., a mac or media access control device ), a frame analyzer 104 , one or more network processors ( also known as routing and switching processors or rsps ) 106 , and a switch fabric interface 108 . the ethernet interface 102 is in communication with an external network ( e . g ., user network , provider network ) for forwarding and receiving ethernet frames , including 802 . 1ag packets , to and from the line card 62 - 1 . in general , the frame analyzer 104 includes a general - purpose cpu for the line card and is in communication with the ethernet interface 102 to receive and forward 802 . 1ag packets therethrough . the frame analyzer 104 includes special - purpose hardware that provides a ccm state machine 110 . the state machine 110 is used for periodically generating new cc messages and for checking incoming cc messages . the special - purpose hardware can be implemented with a fpga ( field programmable gate array ) or an asic ( application - specific integrated circuit ). although shown to be part of the frame analyzer 104 , the ccm state machine 110 can alternatively be implemented in the physical ethernet interface 102 . the frame analyzer 104 is in communication with each network processor 106 — the number of network processors 106 on a given line card depends on the card type and number of ports 68 on the line card . each network processor 106 corresponds to a lane that supports a number of connections . in general , a network processor 106 performs packet processing of incoming cc messages and participates in the generation of outgoing cc messages . an asic device with some programmability features can be used to implement the network processor 106 . the switch fabric interface 106 provides a communication interface with the switch fabric 66 through which the line card 62 - 1 exchanges communications with the cp card 60 and other line cards 62 . fig5 shows an embodiment of hardware architecture 120 for operating the ccm state machine 110 . the architecture 120 includes the ccm state machine 110 , decode logic 122 , a central timer ( or strobe signal generator ) 124 , memory 126 , template memory 128 , and output logic 130 . the decode logic 122 receives and decodes internal messages from the network processor 106 related to a received cc message to produce a me index signal 132 and a reset signal 134 that the decode logic 122 provides to the state machine 110 . the me index signal 132 identifies a particular connection associated with the received cc message and the reset signal 134 indicates whether to reset a timer . the central timer 124 produces four strobe signals 136 - 1 , 136 - 2 , 136 - 3 , 136 - 4 ( generally , 136 ), each strobe signal corresponding to a different strobe rate at which a strobe signal is sent to the ccm state machine : 40 us , 320 us , 2 . 56 ms , and 20 . 48 ms , respectively . as illustrative examples , the central timer 124 issues a strobe signal on the 320 us strobe signal line 136 - 2 every 320 us and a strobe signal on the 2 . 56 ms strobe signal line 136 - 3 every 2 . 56 ms . the memory 126 stores a list of connections 138 for which the line card 62 generates outgoing cc messages and checks incoming cc messages . the state machine 110 reads from and writes to the list of connections 138 stored in memory 126 , as described in more detail below . the template memory 128 maintains a blank template used to generate cc messages and , optionally , exception messages . the cp card 60 stores the template in the template memory 128 upon start up of the line card 62 . the output logic 130 is in communication with the template memory 128 to obtain the template and , optionally , to fill certain fields of the template with information acquired from the ccm state machine 110 . fig6 shows an embodiment of a data structure 150 ( here , as an example , a table ) used to maintain the list of connections 138 stored in the memory 126 and accessed by the ccm state machine 110 . the data structure 150 has a plurality of entries 152 - 1 , 152 - 2 , 152 - 3 , 152 - n ( generally , 152 ). each entry 152 corresponds to a different virtual connection ( i . e ., an me ) between meps and includes a connection identifier ( or slot id ) 154 , a valid field 156 , an interval field 158 , a generate timer 160 ( called gentimer ), a receive timer 162 ( called rcvtimer ), and an age counter 164 . the connection identifier 154 holds a value for uniquely identifying the associated virtual connection or me . the valid field 156 indicates whether the associated connection is valid or invalid . the generate timer 160 holds a decrementing count , which , upon reaching zero , signals generation of a cc message for the associated connection . the receiver timer 162 holds a decrementing count which , upon reaching zero , signals expiration of an interval during which a cc message from the remote mep of the associated connection was expected , but not detected . the incrementing count within the age counter 164 corresponds to a number of consecutive cc messages that were expected but not received from the remote mep of the associated connection . the interval field 158 holds a code that maps to values that are initially preloaded and subsequently reloaded into the generate timer and receiver timer fields 160 , 162 for the associated connection . during operation , upon each clock cycle , the state machine 110 accesses one of the virtual connections in the data structure 150 , stepping through the list of connections in round - robin fashion . for example , consider that the data structure has 2000 entries corresponding to 2000 different virtual connections and that the state machine operates at 200 mhz . accordingly , the state machine 110 takes 10 us ( 2000 connections / 2m cycles / sec ) to step through every connection in the data structure 150 ; that is , the state machine 110 accesses each entry 152 in the data structure 150 periodically , once every 10 us . in one embodiment , the data structure 150 has a fixed number of connections 138 , which is determinative of the amount of time that the ccm state machine 110 takes to access every connection in the list once . in another embodiment , the data structure 150 is not fixed in its number of entries , and a variable delay can be added ( e . g ., at the beginning of the list or at the end ) to ensure that each connection is accessed at the desired rate . for instance , if the data structure has 1000 entries and the state machine operates at a 200 mhz clock cycle , the state machine takes 5 us to step through all of the entries . if 10 us is the desired rate , a 5 us delay can be added to the process . fig7 shows an example of a table 170 having five entries 172 - 1 , 172 - 2 , 172 - 3 , 173 - 4 , and 172 - 5 that each associates an interval code 174 with a cc message interval 176 , a decrement rate ( timer lsb ) 178 , and a preload value 180 . one of the five different interval codes 174 is stored in the interval field 158 for each connection in the data structure 150 . the state machine 110 uses the interval code 174 assigned to a given connection to determine which one of the strobe signals 136 , if any , applies to that connection . as shown in fig7 , the table 170 has a different interval code 174 for each different ccm interval of 3 . 33 ms , 10 ms , 100 ms , 1 s , and 10 s , but excludes interval codes for 1 minute and 10 minutes . such cc messaging intervals for such cc messages are sufficiently long for software executing at the cp card 60 to process . the accelerated processing achieved by the state machine and cooperating hardware at the line card 62 is not critical for such relatively long messaging intervals . notwithstanding , interval codes can be established for these and other ccm intervals . the interval code 174 assigned to a given connection also determines the preload values written initially , and upon each reset , to the generate timer and receive timer fields 160 , 162 for the connection . the particular preload values shown in fig7 are designed to achieve , in conjunction with the strobe signals , the corresponding ccm interval for the above - described embodiment in which the state machine 110 accesses each connection entry in the list once every 10 us . the preload values can differ for embodiments in which the state machine operates at a different clock rate ( e . g ., 250 mhz ), is configured to access each connection entry at a rate other than 10 us ( e . g ., because there are more or fewer than 2000 connections in the list of connections ), or uses different strobe rates from the four aforementioned strobe rates . for example , the state machine 110 relates the interval code of 010 ( binary ) to the 40 us strobe signal . the preload value initially written to the generate timer 160 and to the receive timer 162 for a connection assigned the interval code value of 010 is 0x0fa hex ( or 250 in decimal ). the values in the generate timer and receive timer 160 , 162 decrement by one every 40 us . accordingly , the counts in the generate timer and receive timer fields decrement from their preload values to zero in 10 ms , which corresponds to the 10 ms ccm interval associated with that connection . ( it is to be understood that instead of decrementing by one , other embodiments can be configured to increment by one or more , or to decrement by more than one .) as another example , the interval code value of 001 ( binary ) corresponds to a 3 . 33 ms ccm messaging interval . the preload values of connections assigned the interval code value of 001 is 0x14d hex ( i . e ., 333 decimal ). each timer field 160 , 162 is preloaded with the value of 333 , and decrements by one every 10 us ( 3 . 33 ms / 333 ). no strobe signal is used for this ccm messaging interval because the state machine accesses each connection once every 10 us , and thus a 10 us strobe signal is not needed to control whether the state machine examines and decrements the timer values . the counts in the generate timer and receive timer decrement from their preload values to zero in 3 . 33 ms . fig8 shows an embodiment of a process 200 for generating outgoing cc messages and checking incoming cc messages . the particular order of steps in fig8 is but one illustration of the process 200 ; some of the actions taken by the ccm state machine 110 can occur concurrently or in a different order from that described . at step 202 , the cp card constructs the list of connections 138 ( one list for each line card 62 ), by determining the cc message interval for each connection when that connection is established . for each connection , the cp card 60 provides an interval code 158 , flags the connection as valid , and writes the associated preload values to the generate timer and receive timer fields 160 , 162 . the list of connections 138 passes to the line card 62 for which it is prepared , where it is locally stored in the memory 126 in a data structure 150 . in one embodiment , the cp card 60 keeps track of each connection in the list for each line card and determines whether to add or invalidate connections in the list . during the process 200 , the ccm state machine 110 of a given line card steps through , in round robin fashion , the connections in the list of connections 138 . the ccm state machine 110 accesses ( 204 ) the first connection in the list of connections . to determine whether to examine the generate timer and receiver timer fields of the connection , the state machine 110 checks ( 206 ) if the connection is valid and if the appropriate strobe signal , based on the interval code , is asserted ( 208 ). if the connection is either invalid or the associated strobe signal is not asserted , the state machine 110 advances ( 204 ) to the next connection in the list . if the presently accessed connection is the last connection in the list , the state machine 110 returns to the first connection in the list . otherwise , the state machine 110 decrements ( 210 ) the generate timer 160 and the receive timer 162 for the connection . the state machine 110 examines ( 212 ) the present value in the generate timer field 160 and receive timer field 162 for the connection . a non - zero value in the generate timer field 160 indicates that the generate timer has not expired , whereas a zero value indicates expiration . upon expiration of the generate timer , the state machine 110 initiates generation ( 216 ) of a cc message for this connection . the value in the generate timer field is reset ( 218 ) to the preload value . in addition , the cc message is forwarded ( 220 ) towards its destination mep through an appropriate ethernet port 68 . similarly to the generate timer , a non - zero value in the receive timer field 162 indicates that the receive timer has not expired , whereas a zero value indicates expiration . if the receive timer 162 has not expired , the state machine 110 advances ( 204 ) to the next connection in the list . if , instead , the receive timer field 162 has expired , the state machine 110 increments by one ( 224 ) the count in the age counter 164 . if the count in the age counter 164 consequently reaches ( 226 ) a predefined threshold ( e . g ., 3 ), then the state machine 110 declares ( 228 ) a loss of continuity for the connection , and initiates a reporting of the continuity loss to the cp card 60 in an exception packet . otherwise , the state machine 110 advances ( 204 ) to the next connection in the list . in the generation of the exception packet , the state machine 110 acquires a template frame ( e . g ., from the template memory 128 ) and sends the template frame to the network processor 106 . the template frame includes the me index , thereby identifying the connection for which continuity has been lost . the network processor 106 adds any additional information to the template frame to complete building the exception packet . the network processor also encapsulates the exception packet for transport across the switch fabric to the cp card 60 . the state machine 110 subsequently advances ( 204 ) to the next connection in the list . the following pseudo code generally outlines the process 200 described in fig8 : fig9 shows an embodiment of a process 216 ( fig8 ) of generating a cc message . in the description of the process 216 , reference is also made to fig4 and to fig5 . when a generate timer 160 associated with a valid connection decrements to zero , the ccm state machine 110 generates ( 250 ) a template frame for a cc message for forwarding to the network processor 106 . more specifically , the state machine 110 sends a load command to the logic 130 , and the logic 130 acquires the template frame from the template memory 128 . fig1 shows an example format for the template frame , which is a standard 802 . 1ag oam frame format . returning to fig9 , the logic 130 adds ( 252 ) an me index identifying the connection to the template frame ( in one of the fields of the oam frame format ) and forwards ( 254 ) the partially filled template frame to the network processor 106 . the network processor 106 uses the me index passed along in the template frame to access ( 256 ) connection information from a data structure . this data structure maintains a correspondence between me indices and connection information about each destination mep in the me , for example , the destination address ( da ), source address ( sa ), vid ( vlan id ), for the mep . after acquiring the connection information , the network processor 106 completes ( 258 ) a cc message for each mep by filling in the remaining fields of the template frame and forwards ( 260 ) each completed cc message to the switch fabric 66 with an appropriate destination ethernet port . each completed cc message returns from the switch fabric 66 and passes ( 262 ) to the physical ethernet interface 102 ( through the state machine 110 ) for forwarding to the external network through the destination ethernet port . fig1 shows an embodiment of a process 280 for receiving and checking an incoming cc message . at step 282 , an ethernet frame ( or packet ) arrives at the ethernet interface 102 of one of the ethernet ports 68 . from the oam e - type 268 and opcode 273 fields of the ethernet frame , the frame analyzer 104 determines ( 284 ) that the ethernet frame is a cc message . the frame analyzer 104 sends ( 286 ) the ethernet frame to the network processor 106 , signifying that the frame is to undergo cc message reception processing . at step 288 , the network processor 106 performs a hash of the source address , destination address , and vlan id to acquire an me index . the network processor 106 then uses the me index to access ( 290 ) a database that contains connection information for the corresponding me . using this connection information , the network processor 106 examines ( 292 ) the cc message to determine if the ma level , the ma id , and the mep id are correct . if the comparisons fail ( 294 ), the network processor 106 sends ( 296 ) an exception packet to the cp card 60 . alternatively , if the comparisons pass ( 294 ), the network processor sends an internal message ( fig5 ) to the ccm state machine 110 . in general , the internal message operates to cause the ccm state machine 110 to reset ( 298 ) the receive timer field ( to the associated preload value ) and the age counter ( to 0 ) of the entry 152 corresponding to the connection associated with the cc message . in one embodiment , the internal message maps to a specific memory location . the decode logic 122 ( fig5 ) decodes this memory location as a reset command . decoding the internal message also provides the me index so that the ccm state machine 110 can determine the connection for which to reset the receive timer and age counter . program code ( or software ) of the present invention may be embodied as computer - executable instructions on or in one or more articles of manufacture , or in or on computer - readable medium . a computer , computing system , or computer system , as used herein , is any programmable machine or device that inputs , processes , and outputs instructions , commands , or data . in general , any standard or proprietary , programming or interpretive language can be used to produce the computer - executable instructions . examples of such languages include c , c ++, pascal , java , basic , visual basic , and visual c ++. examples of articles of manufacture and computer - readable medium in which the computer - executable instructions may be embodied include , but are not limited to , a floppy disk , a hard - disk drive , a cd - rom , a dvd - rom , a flash memory card , a usb flash drive , an non - volatile ram ( nvram or novram ), a flash prom , an eeprom , an eprom , a prom , a ram , a rom , a magnetic tape , or any combination thereof . the computer - executable instructions may be stored as , e . g ., source code , object code , interpretive code , executable code , or combinations thereof . further , although described predominantly as software , embodiments of the described invention may be implemented in hardware ( digital or analog ), software , or a combination thereof . while the invention has been shown and described with reference to specific preferred embodiments , it should be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and detail may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the following claims . | 7 |
fig3 is a perspective view of a bridge pin 100 according to one aspect of the invention . in the embodiment shown the pin has a top portion 110 and an enlarged diameter portion 115 therebelow . the pin includes a body 120 having two legs 121 , 122 that are separated to create a space 125 therebetween for accommodating a string as will be explained herein . considering fig3 - 6 together , the legs 121 , 122 include an anchoring arrangement made up of matching anchoring surfaces 130 a , 130 b formed at a rear and inside surface of each leg 121 , 122 . the surfaces are designed to retain a ball end of a string as the string is tensioned and pulled against the surfaces . in fig4 the surfaces 130 a , 130 b appear as a profile . fig3 and 5 illustrate the surfaces 130 a , 130 b as matching , angled surfaces formed in an inside , rear edge of each leg in a manner wherein they appear as a single tear drop shape best appreciated in fig5 . the angle 131 created by the surfaces is shown in fig6 , a section view taken along a line 6 - 6 of fig5 . in the embodiment of fig6 , angle 131 is about 45 degrees although the exact angle can vary based upon a number of factors including the size of the ball and the length of the pin legs that extend below the top of the instrument . fig7 is a partial section view of an instrument showing the various portions of the anchoring system prior to installation of the pin 100 and tensioning of a string 200 . a typical string is shown with a first diameter 210 and a larger diameter 220 portion having a cylindrical ball 225 attached at an end . shown in section is an instrument top 140 , a bridge 150 attached the top and a saddle 155 installed in the bridge . the saddle &# 39 ; s purpose is to provide an end point for the string &# 39 ; s vibration at the correct location for proper intonation and to transfer the vibrations through the bridge into the top wood of the guitar . for this reason it is necessary that the ball end of the string transitions to the smaller diameter 210 prior to contact with the bridge . an aperture 160 extends through the bridge and top and the string 200 is shown inserted through the aperture in a manner wherein the ball is housed in the body of the instrument . rather than a vertical slot , the aperture includes an angled opening 161 in the form of a slot or notch in the direction of the saddle to reduce bending of the tensioned string as it moves from an interior of the instrument to the saddle 155 . a pin 100 as described in reference to fig3 - 6 is shown above the aperture 160 . while not shown in fig7 , an optional bridge reinforcement plate can be utilized in a way that sandwiches the top between the bridge and an additional piece of strong hardwood glued to the underside of the top . fig8 is a partial section view of the anchoring system showing a string 200 prior to tensioning and fig9 is a rear view thereof . the string is shown inserted through the aperture 160 in the bridge and top and the pin is shown inserted in the aperture in a manner whereby the string runs along the angled portion 161 of the aperture and extends through space 125 formed between the legs 121 , 122 of the pin 100 . anchoring surface 130 b of the pin is visible and the ball 225 is shown adjacent that surface . arrow 165 illustrates the direction of the string 200 as it is tightened from an opposite end and tension is applied . in fig8 and 9 the ball is not in compression contact with the surfaces 130 a , 130 b of the pin legs and the legs have not been deformed due to forces between the pin and the ball . however , the tear drop shape of the surfaces , with their exaggerated length in the downward direction , serves as a guide to the ball 225 as the string 200 is initially tightened . fig1 is a partial section view of the anchoring system showing the string 200 retained after tensioning . fig1 is a rear view . the string 200 is shown in a tensioned condition and forces developed in the anchoring system are shown with arrows 168 , 170 , 172 . for example , the tensioning action has pulled the ball 225 into the pin 100 via surfaces 130 a , 130 b ( 130 b visible in fig8 ). those forces are shown with arrows 168 , 170 and have also caused the ball to be firmly in contact with a lower surface 141 of top 140 . the same forces serve to create a downward force ( arrow 172 ) on the pin 100 , thereby seating the enlarged diameter portion 115 of the pin firmly on the upper surface of the bridge 150 . considering fig1 , the force between the ball and the anchoring surfaces of the pin has deformed the legs in the area of the ball and surfaces and enlarged the space between the legs as shown by distance 175 . in this manner , the pin , and with it the string is further anchored in the aperture . in operation , one embodiment of the anchoring system includes the following steps : a ball - end of a string is inserted through an aperture and into the body of an instrument , like a guitar . typically , the aperture is formed in a bridge and top of the guitar and includes an angled slot . a pin like the one described herein is then inserted into the aperture in a manner whereby the string is straddled by two spaced - apart legs of the pin whereby the string enters the front of the pin and exists the rear of the pin . thereafter , the string is tightened and put into tension and the ball is urged into contact with anchoring surfaces at the rear of the legs of the pin . the surfaces , along with an underside of the guitar top , serve to anchor the ball end of the string in the instrument . in doing so , room is provided for the thickened end of the string prior to the string crossing a saddle . while simultaneously anchoring the string , the slot in which the string passes through alleviates severely tight radius bends in the string , allowing a more relaxed end condition and the elimination of distortion of the string , critical to accurate musical function . additionally , this arrangement provides clearance for the increased diameter of the doubly wrapped end of the string , and provides a more stable anchoring for the string overall which improves tuning stability of the complete instrument , enhanced clarity of the notes , and improves sustain of the string &# 39 ; s vibration . unlike conventional string mounting , the present invention utilizes a straight sided installation hole serving to anchor the string under the top and bridge at a point furthest from the saddle , with a space formed through the pin through which the string passes . the bridge features a clearance slot on the forward side of the hole . the bridge pin features a straight sided profile which mates to the straight sided , cylindrical hole . by utilizing a straight sided pin and matching straight sided bore , as well as a clearance ramp located entirely in the bridge , accurate manufacturing is greatly facilitated . while the foregoing is directed to embodiments of the present invention , other and further embodiments of the invention may be devised without departing from the basic scope thereof , and the scope thereof is determined by the claims that follow . for example , the invention as described presumes a bridge on an instrument top and an aperture that extends through both the bridge and top . it will be understood that these components can be combined or the invention can be used without a bridge . while the invention might typically be used with a 6 string guitar it is equally useful with a base guitar having fewer strings of a mandolin , 12 string guitar or any stringed instrument utilizing a ball that requires anchoring at one end . | 6 |
in fig1 there is illustrated a conventional can body maker apparatus . the can body maker 2 which has conventional drive means ( not shown ) for reciprocating a ram means 4 along its longitudinal axis 6 . a conveyor means 8 supports a continuous supply of cups 10 for movement thereof and delivery to a redraw assembly 12 . a tool pack assembly 14 is connected to the redraw assembly 12 by conventional means and comprises an elongated housing 16 having a cover means 18 removably secured thereto by conventional means . adjustable support means 20 have portions thereof located within the elongated housing 16 and clamping means 22 have portions located within the cover means 18 for purposes described below . can bottom doming means 24 are connected to the tool pack assembly by conventional means and include can body stripping means 26 for stripping the formed can body from the ram means 4 during the return stroke thereof . the elongated housing 16 is illustrated more specifically in fig2 and comprises a plurality of plate member means 28 , 30 and 32 , a spacer member 34 between the plate member means 30 and 32 and end plates 36 and 38 , all of which are held in assembled relationship by conventional means such as a plurality of bolts 40 . a central opening 42 extends through the elongated housing 16 . each of the plate member means 28 , 30 and 32 has slot means 44 having facing wall portions 46 and 48 for purposes described below . in fig5 - 7 , there is illustrated a work engaging tool member means 60 of this invention comprising holding means 62 and can ironing die means 64 . the holding means 62 has a front surface 66 , a rear surface 68 , a peripheral surface 70 , a central opening 72 and a longitudinal axis 74 . a recess is formed in the front surface 66 and comprises a generally cylindrical inner surface 76 and a radially extending surface 78 extending between the central opening 72 and the generally cylindrical inner surface 76 . the can ironing die means 64 has a generally cylindrical outer surface 80 radially opposite to the generally cylindrical inner surface 76 . the diameter of the generally cylindrical inner surface 76 is greater than the diameter of the generally cylindrical outer surface 80 to provide movement permitting means to allow relative radial movement in any direction between the holding means 62 and the can ironing die means 64 . a conventional die member 82 is mounted in the can ironing die means 64 . the can ironing die means 64 is mounted in the recess in the holding means 62 by retaining means 86 which permits the relative movement between the holding means 62 and the can ironing die means 64 when a sufficient radially directed force is applied to the can ironing die means 64 by the cup 10 so as to move the can ironing die means 64 from an initial location to a new location wherein the axes of the cup 10 and can ironing die means 64 coincide but functions to hold the can ironing die means 64 at the new location . the retaining means 86 includes a plurality of spaced apart threaded openings 88 in the radially extending surface 78 and a plurality of spaced apart bore means 90 , fig7 in the can ironing die means 64 . each of the bore means 90 has a first bore portion 92 having a relatively large cross - sectional configuration , preferably cylindrical , and a second bore portion 94 having a relatively small cross - sectional configuration , preferably cylindrical , so as to form an annular shoulder 96 . the can ironing die means 64 has a radially extending surface 98 axially opposite to the radially extending surface 78 . bolt means having a threaded end 100 for engagement in the threaded openings 88 , a central unthreaded portion 102 and an enlarged head portion 104 are secured in the threaded openings 88 . the central portion 102 is generally cylindrical and has a diameter less than the diameter of the second bore portion 94 to allow for the relative radial movement between the holding means 62 and the can ironing die means 64 . spring means 106 , such as a belleville spring , are mounted on the central portion 102 and are located between the annular shoulder 96 and the enlarged head portion 104 . the bolt means are threaded into the threaded openings 88 so that the spring means 106 urges the radially extending surfaces 78 and 98 into engagement with each other so that frictional forces therebetween function to prevent relative movement therebetween unless a sufficient amount of force is applied to the can ironing die means 64 to overcome such frictional forces . the mounting of the holding means 62 and the can ironing die means 64 in the elongated housing 16 is illustrated in fig3 and 4 . the holding means 62 is inserted into one of the slot means 44 so that the front and rear surfaces 108 and 110 of the ironing die means 64 are substantially in contact with the wall portions 46 and 48 so as to prevent axial movement of the holding means 62 . a cavity 112 is provided so that a hand or a removal tool may be used to remove the holding means 62 from the slot means 44 . the holding means 62 is inserted into the slot means 44 until it makes contact with the support surfaces 114 of the adjustable support means 20 which are then operated to position the longitudinal axis 74 of the can ironing die means 64 in alignment with the longitudinal axis of the ram means 4 . after a holding means 62 has been inserted into each of the slots 44 of the plate member means 28 , 30 and 32 , the cover means 18 is attached to the elongated housing 16 and the clamping means 22 are actuated to clamp the holding means 62 between the clamping means 22 and the support surfaces 114 so as to prevent radial movement of the holding means 62 . the diameter of the central opening 42 is greater than the diameter of the cylindrical inner surface 116 of the can ironing die means 64 . the axial distance between each of the can ironing die means 64 in the plate member means 28 and 30 is less than the axial distance between each of the can ironing die means in the plate member means 30 and 32 . a plurality of radially extending passageways 118 are formed in the holding means 62 for the expulsion of sludge . in operation , a holding means 62 and a can ironing die means 64 is placed in each of the plate member means 28 , 30 and 32 and secured therein with the die member 82 having the largest diameter in the plate member means 28 , the die member 82 having a smaller diameter in the plate member means 30 and the die member 82 having the smallest diameter in the plate member means 32 . the ram means 4 is moved into the redraw assembly 12 where it picks up a cup 10 and moves it into the can ironing die means 64 in the plate member means 28 . if the longitudinal axes of the cup 10 and the can ironing die means 64 coincide , no radial movement of the can ironing die means 64 occurs . if the longitudinal axes of the cup 10 and the can ironing die means 64 do not coincide , the cup 10 exerts sufficient radially directed force on the can ironing die means 64 to move them in a radial direction to a new location whereat the longitudinal axes of the cup 10 and the can ironing die means 64 do coincide . the retaining means holds the can ironing die means 64 at the new location . these operations are repeated at the plate member means 30 and 32 as the ram means 4 moves the cup 10 through the can ironing die means 64 in each of these plate member means . in one tool pack assembly 14 , the die member 82 in the can ironing die means 64 in the plate member means 28 has a diameter of about 2 . 4901 inches and the generally cylindrical outer surface 80 has a diameter of about 5 . 500 inches and the diameter of the generally cylindrical inner surface 76 has a diameter of about 5 . 520 inches so as to allow for radial movement therebetween of about ± 0 . 010 inch . the diameter of the second bore portion 94 is about 0 . 290 inch and the diameter of the central portion 102 is about 0 . 250 inch so as to allow for radial movement therebetween of about ± 0 . 020 inch . the die member 82 in the can ironing die means 64 in the plate member means 30 has a diameter of about 2 . 4873 inches and the generally cylindrical outer surface 80 has a diameter of about 5 . 500 inches and the diameter of the generally cylindrical inner surface 76 has a diameter of about 5 . 515 inches so as to allow for radial movement therebetween of about ± 0 . 0075 inch . the diameter of the second bore portion 94 is about 0 . 290 inch and the diameter of the central portion 102 is about 0 . 250 inch so as to allow for amount radial movement therebetween of about ± 0 . 020 inch . the die member 82 in the can ironing die means 64 in the plate member means 32 has a smallest diameter of about 2 . 4817 inches and the generally cylindrical outer surface 80 has a diameter of about 5 . 500 inches and the diameter of the generally cylindrical inner surface 76 has a diameter of about 5 . 510 inches so as to allow for radial movement therebetween of about 0 . 0005 inch . the diameter of the second bore portion 94 is about 0 . 290 inch and the diameter of the central portion 102 is about 0 . 250 inch so as to allow for amount radial movement therebetween of about ± 0 . 020 inch . another embodiment of the invention is illustrated in fig8 - 10 and comprises an outer housing 120 , a holding means 122 , a can ironing die means 124 and a retaining means 126 . the outer housing 120 has a generally cylindrical outer surface 128 and a generally cylindrical inner surface 130 . a pair of spaced apart annular grooves 132 are formed in the inner surface 130 and an o - ring sealing means 134 is located in each of the grooves 132 for purposes described below . another annular groove 136 is formed in the inner surface 130 and extends in an axial direction for a substantially greater distance than its extent in a radial direction for purposes described below . an annular flange 138 , lower portion of fig9 and 10 , projects radially inwardly from the inner surface 130 and has a generally cylindrical inner surface 140 and a generally planar inner surface 142 extending in a radial direction and a generally planar outer surface 144 . a plurality of spaced apart threaded openings 146 are formed in the planar inner surface 142 . the holding means 122 has a generally cylindrical outer surface 150 , lower portion of fig9 and 10 , having a diameter only slightly less than the diameter of the inner surface 130 for mating engagement therewith . the o - ring sealing means 134 functions to form seals between the inner surface 130 and the outer surface 150 . an annular inwardly directed recess 152 is formed in the outer surface 150 and has a generally planar surface 154 extending in a radial direction for mating engagement with the planar surface 142 and a generally cylindrical surface 156 for mating engagement with the cylindrical surface 140 . the holding means 122 has a generally planar outer surface 158 extending in a radial direction and lying in the same plane as the planar outer surface 144 . the holding means 122 has a generally cylindrical inner surface 160 . an annular flange 162 projects radially inwardly from the inner surface 160 and has a generally cylindrical inner surface 164 and a generally planar inner surface 166 extending in a radial direction . the holding means 122 has a generally planar outer surface 168 extending in a radial direction and lying in the same plane as a generally planar outer surface 170 on the outer housing 120 . the holding means 122 is provided with a plurality of spaced apart bore means 172 having shoulders 174 so that threaded bolts 176 may be threaded into the threaded openings 146 to secure the holding means 122 onto the outer housing 120 . the container ironing die means 124 has a generally cylindrical outer surface 180 having a diameter smaller than the diameter of the inner surface 160 so that an annular space 182 exists therebetween and a generally cylindrical inner surface 184 . the container ironing die means 124 has a generally planar outer surface 186 extending in a radial direction and adapted to mate with the generally planar surface 166 and a generally planar outer surface 188 extending in a radial direction . a recess 190 is formed in the inner surface 184 and a die member 192 is secured in the recess 190 in a conventional manner . the retaining means 126 has a generally cylindrical outer surface 200 having a diameter only slightly smaller than the diameter of the inner surface 160 so that the retaining means 126 is snugly received therein . the retaining means 126 has a generally planar outer surface 202 extending in a radial direction and when the retaining means 126 has been inserted into the holding means 122 , the planar surfaces 170 , 168 and 202 lie in the same plane . the retaining means also has a generally cylindrical inner surface 204 and a generally planar surface 206 so that the container ironing die means 124 is contained between the planar surfaces 166 and 206 in a manner to permit movement of the container ironing die means 124 in radial directions for purposes described below . the holding means 122 is provided with a plurality of spaced apart radially extending bore means 210 , fig8 and 10 , each of which having a first section 212 having a relatively large cross - sectional configuration and a second section 214 having a relatively small cross - sectional configuration so as to form a shoulder 216 therebetween . the first and second sections 212 and 214 preferably have cylindrical cross - sectional configurations . an insert sleeve 218 having a generally cylindrical inner surface 220 is secured in the first section 214 and the diameter of the inner surface 220 is greater than the diameter of the second section 214 . a piston 222 is mounted for reciprocal sliding movement in the bore means 210 and has a first portion 224 located in the first section 212 and a second portion 226 located in the second section 214 . the first portion 224 has an annular groove 228 therein in which is seated a cup washer 230 for providing a seal between the first portion 224 and the inner surface 220 but permitting the reciprocal sliding movement of the piston 222 . the second portion 226 has an outer end surface 232 adapted to contact the generally cylindrical outer surface 180 of the container ironing die means 124 . the outer surface 150 of the holding means 122 cooperates with the annular groove 136 to form an annular space 234 therebetween . the first section 212 is in fluid communication with the annular space 234 . the holding means 122 is provided with an axially extending opening 240 having a threaded portion 242 in which is mounted a leakproof zerk fitting 244 . the opening 240 connects with a passageway 246 which is in fluid communication with the annular space 234 . an oil or grease supply means ( not shown ) is connected to the leakproof zerk fitting and oil or grease is pumped therethrough into the annular space 234 . sufficient oil or grease is pumped into the annular space 234 so that it will flow into each of the first sections 212 and move each of the outer surface portions 232 of the pistons 222 into contact with the generally cylindrical outer surface 180 of the container ironing die means 124 . sufficient oil or grease is pumped into the annular space 234 until an equilibrium condition is reached and each of the outer surface portions 232 is exerting the same pressure against the cylindrical outer surface 180 . a pressure relief valve 248 is secured in the holding means 122 and is in fluid communication with the annular space 234 to ensure that sufficient pressure exists therein to maintain the equilibrium condition . in operation , the outer housing 120 and the holding means 122 are mounted in a fixed location so that the ram means 4 with a can blank 10 thereon can be moved through the can ironing die means 124 . if the longitudinal axes of the can blank 10 and container ironing die means 124 coincide , no radial movement of the can ironing die means 124 occurs . if the longitudinal axes of the can blank 10 and the can ironing die means 124 do not coincide , the can blank 10 will exert sufficient force against the can ironing die means 124 to move it in a radial direction to a new location whereat the longitudinal axes of the can blank 10 and the can ironing die means 124 do coincide . since the pressure exerted by each of the outer surface portions 232 on the generally outer surface 180 is the same , the can ironing die means 124 will remain at the new location until another moving force is applied thereto . another preferred embodiment of the invention is illustrated in fig1 which is similar to fig7 . all of the components illustrated in fig1 are annular and a front elevational view of fig1 would correspond generally to fig5 . in fig1 , there is illustrated another work engaging tool member means 260 of this invention comprising holding means 262 and can ironing die means 264 . the holding means 262 has a front surface 266 , a rear surface 268 , a peripheral surface 270 , a central opening 272 and a longitudinal axis 274 . a recess is formed in the front surface 266 and comprises a generally cylindrical inner surface 276 and a radially extending surface 278 extending between the central opening 272 and the generally cylindrical inner surface 276 . the can ironing die means 264 has an outer peripheral surface comprising a pair of spaced apart generally cylindrical surface portions 280 and 282 and between them a radially outwardly extending projection 284 having a radially extending surface portion 286 , a generally cylindrical central surface portion 288 and a generally radially extending tapered surface portion 290 . a conventional die member 292 is mounted in the can ironing die means 264 . a retainer ring 294 is provided for retaining the can ironing die means 264 in a position relative to the holding means 262 while permitting slight radial movement of the can ironing die means 264 in all directions and for permitting relative rotational movement therebetween and has a radially inner peripheral surface 296 in contact with the generally cylindrical central surface portion 288 , the generally radially extending tapered surface portion 290 and the generally cylindrical surface portion 282 . the can ironing die means 264 and the retainer ring 294 are mounted in the recess in the holding means 62 by retaining means 302 which permits the relative movement between the holding means 262 and the can ironing die means 264 when a sufficient radially directed force is applied to the can ironing die means 264 by the cup 10 so as to move the can ironing die means 264 from an initial location to a new location wherein the axes of the cup 10 and can ironing die means 264 coincide but functions to hold the can ironing die means 264 at the new location and also permits rotational movement of the can ironing and die means 264 relative to the holding means 262 and the retainer ring 294 . the retaining means 302 includes a plurality of circumferentially spaced apart threaded openings 304 in the radially extending surface 278 and a plurality of spaced apart bore means 306 in the can ironing die means 264 . each of the bore means 306 has a first bore portion 308 having a relatively large cross - sectional configuration , preferably cylindrical , and a second bore portion 310 having a relatively small cross - sectional configuration , preferably cylindrical , so as to form an annular shoulder 312 . the retainer ring 294 has a radially extending surface 314 axially opposite to and spaced from the radially extending surface 278 . the radially extending surface 286 of the can ironing die means 264 is also axially opposite to the radially extending surface 278 . bolt means having a threaded end 316 for engagement in the threaded openings 304 , a central unthreaded portion 318 and an enlarged head portion 320 are secured in the threaded openings 304 . the central portion 318 is generally cylindrical and has a diameter less than the diameter of the second bore portion 310 to allow for the relative radial movement between the holding means 262 , and the can ironing die means 264 and the retainer ring 294 . a space also exists between the generally cylindrical surface portion 280 of the can ironing die means 264 and a generally cylindrical surface 322 of the holding means 262 to allow for such radial movement . spring means 324 , such as a belleville spring , are mounted on the central portion 318 and are located between the annular shoulder 312 and the enlarged head portion 320 . the bolt means are threaded into the threaded openings 316 so that the spring means 324 urges the radially extending surfaces 278 and 286 into engagement with each other so that frictional forces therebetween function to prevent relative movement therebetween unless a sufficient amount of force is applied to the can ironing die means 264 to overcome such frictional forces . also , the can ironing die means 264 can rotate relative to the holding means 262 and the retainer ring 294 when a sufficient amount of force is applied thereto to overcome the frictional forces between the radially extending surfaces 278 and 286 and the radially inner peripheral surface 296 of the retainer ring 294 and the generally cylindrical central surface portion 288 , the generally radially extending tapered surface portion 290 and the generally cylindrical surface portion 282 . the mounting of the holding means 262 and the can ironing die means 264 in the elongated housing 16 and the operation thereof is similar to that described above in relation to the holding means 62 and the can ironing die means 64 . however , in addition to the movement of the can ironing die means 264 in the radial directions , they can also rotate relative to the holding means 262 and the retainer ring 294 as described above . another preferred embodiment of the invention is illustrated in fig1 and comprises a work engaging tool member means 340 which is similar to the embodiment illustrated in fig1 except for the shape of the outer peripheral surface of the can ironing die means 342 and the radially inner peripheral surface of the retainer ring 344 . corresponding reference numerals from fig1 have been applied to the similar structures in fig1 . the outer peripheral surface of the can ironing die means 342 has a pair of spaced apart generally cylindrical surface portions 346 and 348 and between them a radially outwardly extending projection 350 having a radially extending surface portion 352 , a generally cylindrical central surface portion 354 and a radially extending surface portion 356 . the retainer ring 344 has a radially inner peripheral surface 358 in contact with the radially extending surface portion 356 and the generally cylindrical surface portion 354 . the work engaging tool member means 340 functions in the same manner as the work engaging tool member means 260 described above and is mounted in the elongated housing 16 and operates in the same way as that described above . while an illustrative and presently preferred embodiment of the invention has been described in detail herein , it is to be understood that the inventive concepts may be otherwise variously embodied and employed and that the appended claims are intended to be construed to include such variations except insofar as limited by the prior art . | 1 |
the subject invention will be primarily described within the context of a general signal acquisition instrument , and then in the context of a digital storage oscilloscopes ( dsos ). it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the invention may be advantageously employed in many different systems where acquiring information referenced to one ground and then switching that information to another ground is desirable . fig1 depicts a high level block diagram of a signal acquisition system 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention . the signal acquisition system 100 receives at an input port 102 an input signal that is referenced to a user ground 110 . the input signal is amplified and / or otherwise processed ( e . g . filtered ) by an analog network 104 . the output of the analog network 104 is applied via a closed switch 106 to a digitizer 108 that includes a memory . the digitizer 108 is powered by + f and − f voltages from a floating power supply ( not shown in fig1 , but see fig6 for such a power supply ) that is referenced to the user ground 110 . the digitizer 108 converts the analog processed signal from switch 106 into digital values that are stored in its memory . at this time the digitizer 108 output is applied to an open switch 112 ( or switches ). the signal acquisition device 100 further includes an earth ground 134 referenced processor 130 , which is connected to the switch 112 , and an earth ground 134 referenced display 132 . the processor 130 and the display 132 are powered by voltages g + and g − from an earth grounded referenced power supply ( not shown in fig1 , but see fig6 for such a power supply ). for convenience all of the devices that are constantly powered by voltages g + and g − can be generically referred to as an instrumentation network . the earth ground 134 is , in one embodiment , connected to a ground input of ac input power . as shown in fig1 , the + f voltage is connected to the digitizer 108 via a switch 140 , the − f voltage is connected to the digitizer 108 via a switch 142 , and the user ground 110 is connected to the digitizer 108 via a switch 144 . thus , in fig1 the digitizer 108 is electrically isolated from the instrumentation network . because the input port 102 is referenced to user ground 110 the input signal is not impacted by ground loops , high voltage differentials , noise , or other factors that impact the earth ground 134 . for example , the earth ground 134 will usually be shared by other devices powered by a common ac power line , and those devices can produce ground loop voltage drops that will appear on the earth ground 134 . referring now to fig2 , after the digitizer 108 has digitized the signal from the analog network 104 , a set of switch - changes occurs . specifically , the switch 106 opens , which disconnects the digitizer 108 from the analog network 104 . then , the switch 144 disconnects the digitizer 108 from the user ground 110 and connects it to the earth ground 134 , and the switches 140 and 142 disconnect the + f and − f voltages from the digitizer 108 and connect the digitizer 108 to the + g and − g . finally , the switch 112 closes , connecting the digitizer 108 to the processor 130 . as shown in fig2 , the user ground 110 is no longer connected to the digitizer 108 . the switching of user ground 110 to earth - ground 134 is performed in a manner that avoids damage from differences between user and earth grounds , and thus possible damage to the input stage and / or the signal source while also providing the signal acquisition system 100 with the protection afforded by a common earth ground . it should be noted that in various embodiments switches 140 , 142 , and 144 operate in a break - before - make fashion . furthermore , while the switches 106 , 112 , 140 , 142 , and 144 are shown in fig1 and 2 as mechanical switches , in practice high voltage analog switches , e . g ., bipolar transistor , fet , diodes , or any other non - linear devices , are beneficial . for example , fig3 illustrates generic fet switches 160 - 174 , which may be any type of fet such jfet , mosfet , p - channel , n - channel , etc . such fet switches are faster , more reliable , and cheaper than mechanical switches . while fet switches are a good choice , again , other types of devices can also be used . as shown in fig3 , switches 160 and 162 switch user ground 110 and earth ground 134 , switches 164 and 166 switch + f and + g , switches 168 and 170 switch − f and − g , switch 172 switches analog inputs to memory , and switch 174 switches the output of the memory to the remainder of the system . the driving of the fet switches is controlled by logic , such as from a processor ( reference fig6 for a processor ). while fig1 and 2 illustrate switching a user ground 110 to earth - ground 134 after the acquired signal has been digitized , this is not required . switching of analog signals is also possible . for example , fig4 depicts a high level block diagram of a signal acquisition system 200 according to a second embodiment of the present invention . the signal acquisition system 200 receives an input signal that is referenced to a user ground 210 on an input port 202 . the input signal is amplified and / or otherwise processed by an analog network 204 . the output of the analog network 204 is applied via a closed switch 206 to an analog fast - in - slow - out ( fiso ) memory 208 . as shown in fig4 , the fiso memory 208 is powered by + f and − f voltages from a floating power supply ( which is not shown in fig4 , but reference fig6 ) that is referenced to the user ground 210 . the user ground 210 is also connected to the input port 202 . the fiso memory 208 retains an analog version of the input signal . the output of the fiso memory 208 is applied to an open switch 212 . the signal acquisition device 200 further includes an earth - referenced processor 230 , which is connected to the switch 212 , and a display 232 . the earth - referenced processor 230 and the display 232 are referred to an earth ground 234 and are powered by + g and − g voltages from an earth - grounded power supply ( which is not shown in fig4 , but reference fig6 ). the devices that are continuously connected to the + g and − g voltages can be referred to as an instrumentation network . as shown in fig4 , the + f voltage is connected to the fiso memory 208 via a switch 240 , the − f voltage is connected to the fiso memory 208 via a switch 242 , and the user ground 210 is connected to the fiso memory 208 via a switch 244 . thus , in fig4 the fiso memory 208 is electrically isolated from the earth - referenced processor 230 and the display 232 . because the analog signal input on input port 202 is referenced to user ground 210 the input signal is not impacted by ground loops , high voltage differentials , noise , or other factors that might impact the earth ground 234 . referring now to fig5 , after the fiso memory 208 has captured the signal from the analog network 204 , a set of switch - changes occurs . specifically , the switch 206 opens , which disconnects the fiso memory 208 from the analog network 204 . additionally , the switch 244 switches the fiso memory 208 from the user ground 210 to the earth ground 234 . at the same time , the switches 240 and 242 switch the fiso memory 208 from the + f and − f voltages to the + g and − g voltages . finally , the switch 212 closes , connecting the fiso memory 208 to the earth - referenced processor 230 . as in the embodiments illustrated in fig1 and 2 , the switches 240 , 242 , and 244 operate in a break - before - make fashion and all switches are beneficially high voltage analog ( fet ) switches ( see fig3 ). if bipolar transistor switches are used dc level changes might have to be corrected for . fig1 through 5 illustrate generic signal acquisition systems 100 and 200 that can be used for many purposes in many different systems . however , such signal acquisition systems are particularly useful in oscilloscopes . for example , fig6 illustrates a block diagram of an oscilloscope 600 that benefits from the principles of the present invention . as shown , the oscilloscope 600 includes an input 602 that is referenced to a user ground 604 . a signal on the input 602 is passed to an acquisition system 606 . the acquisition system 606 includes a user - selectable gain amplifier and an analog - to - digital converter ( adc ). the adc of the acquisition system 606 samples and quantizes the amplified signal and supplies the acquired information via closed switch 608 to an acquisition memory 610 . it is also possible for the acquisition system 606 to store an analog representation of the input signal in a fiso memory . however , for convenience , the oscilloscope 600 will be assumed to use an adc and a digital memory . during data acquisition , and as shown in fig6 , the acquisition memory 610 is powered by + f and − f voltages from a floating power supply 611 that is referenced to user ground 604 . the + f and − f voltages are applied via switches 612 and 613 , respectively , and the user ground 604 is applied by a switch 614 . it should be understood that the acquisition system 606 is directly powered by the floating power supply 611 and is directly wired to the user ground 604 . the output of the acquisition memory 610 is applied to a switch 615 which is open during data acquisition . after data acquisition is complete , a processor 616 causes the switch 608 to open and switch 615 to close . contemporaneously , the processor 616 also causes switches 612 , 613 , and 614 to switch such that the acquisition memory 610 is powered by + g and − g voltage from an earth ground 617 power supply 618 and such that the acquisition memory 610 is connected to earth ground 617 . with switch 615 closed , the output of the acquisition memory 610 passes to a display memory 622 that stores the acquisition memory 610 output . the contents of the display memory 622 are employed to generate a waveform display on a raster scan display device 626 . the processor 616 may provide additional information , such as the amplification factor and a waveform time - base to the display memory 622 for display . after the display memory 622 has stored the output of the acquisition memory 610 the processor 616 causes switch 615 to open and switch 608 to close . additionally , the processor 616 causes switches 612 , 613 , and 614 to connect the acquisition memory 610 back to the floating power supply 611 voltages + f and − f and to the user ground 604 . it should be understood that the earth grounded power supply 618 supplies power to the display 626 , to the processor 618 and to the display memory 622 . furthermore , the processor 616 causes the various switches to switch in a break - before - make fashion . in one embodiment , instead of mechanical switches high - voltage fet switches are used ( see fig3 ). all devices that are directly connected to the earth grounded power supply 618 and to earth ground 617 can be generically referred to as an instrumentation network . while the foregoing is directed to the preferred embodiment of the present invention , other and further embodiments of the invention may be devised without departing from the basic scope thereof , and the scope thereof is determined by the claims that follow . | 6 |
the description is given with reference to spiral membranes , but the method of the invention applies to all filtration membranes , especially hollow - fiber membranes or planar membranes . fig1 of the drawings shows a water , particularly seawater , desalination plant comprising a membrane filtration unit f . the raw water is supplied by a pump 1 , the outlet of which is connected , via a line 2 , to the inlet of the filtration unit f . the filtered water , also called the permeate , leaves the unit f via a line 3 . the concentrate , which corresponds to the fraction retained by the unit f , is discharged via a line 4 . a flowmeter 2 d giving the feedwater flow rate ; a pressure sensor 2 p giving the pressure of the feedwater at the inlet of the filtration unit ; and a salinity sensor 2 s giving the salinity of the feedwater . a flowmeter 3 d giving the permeate flow rate ; a pressure sensor 3 p giving the pressure of the permeate ; a salinity sensor 3 s giving the salinity of the permeate ; and a temperature sensor 3 t giving the temperature of the permeate . a flowmeter 4 d giving the flow rate of the concentrate ; a pressure sensor 4 p giving the pressure of the concentrate ; and a salinity sensor 4 s giving the salinity of the concentrate . all the information delivered by these sensors is sent to a control unit c , for example , a microcomputer programmed appropriately . the filtration unit f as illustrated in fig3 is advantageously made up of several spiral modules m 1 . . . m n arranged in series in a cylindrical casing 5 . such spiral membrane modules are known and described in particular in “ mémento technique de l &# 39 ; eau ” published by degremont , 10th edition , volume 2 , pages 1042 - 1043 . for clarity of the explanation , the description of a spiral module m 1 is recalled below . the other modules connected in series are similar . the number n of modules of a unit f is generally between 4 and 8 , limits inclusive . the module m 1 is shown respectively on a larger scale in fig3 and 4 . this module comprises at least one membrane element 6 wound in a spiral . the membrane element 6 is formed by a sandwich consisting of two planar filtration membranes 6 a , 6 b of rectangular outline . a flexible porous sheet 7 , also called a collector , is placed between the two planar membranes 6 a , 6 b . the sandwich thus formed is sealed along the three edges of the rectangular planar membrane 6 a , 6 b . the edge 8 of the sandwich , which remains open , is welded to a cylindrical collector tube 9 on either side of a generatrix pierced with holes 10 . several sandwiches may thus be formed , these being fastened to the tube 9 along a generatrix specific to the sandwich in question . the assembly is wound up in a spiral around the tube 9 , the sandwiches being separated from one another by a spacer 11 , formed especially by a mesh of flexible plastic . to simplify the drawings , only a single membrane element 6 is shown in fig3 and 4 , wound in a spiral , with the spacer 11 between the various turns of the spiral . the raw water to be treated flows into the spacer 11 parallel to the collector tube 9 . the permeate flows substantially radially through the membranes 6 a , 6 b . the porous sheet 7 of the sandwich drains the permeate as far as the open edge 8 of the sandwich in order to be discharged via the axial collector tube 9 . the fouling , especially biofouling , may thus affect not only the membranes 6 a , 6 b but also the spacer 11 . according to the invention , the thickness of the biofilm that forms on the membranes 6 a , 6 b and on the spacer 11 is continuously measured by a sensor 2 e consisting of a probe installed in situ , in contact with the raw water , being mounted on the line 2 as illustrated in fig1 and / or another probe ( not shown ) in contact with the concentrate , being mounted on the line 4 . the measurement is based on the change in the surface conductivity of the probe . the quantities measured may be an electrical or thermal conductivity , especially using a multi - electrode conductimetric microsensor from the company neosens ( french patent no . 2 911 186 ). the material of the probe is chosen to have a surface finish as close as possible to that of the desalination membranes 6 a , 6 b on which the microorganisms grow . the signal is measured continuously , or periodically at variable intervals , depending on the sensitivity of the medium so as to promote growth of the biofilm , especially by taking into account the temperature , when this is high , and the presence of nutrients . a sensor 2 d p is installed between the inlet of the filtration unit f , on the line 2 , and the outlet for the concentrate on the line 4 in order to deliver the pressure drop dp corresponding to the difference in pressure between the inlet of the filtration unit and the outlet of the concentrate . this pressure drop dp corresponds to that created by the spacer 11 during flow of the raw water , which concentrates while polluting , as far as the outlet 4 . the value of this pressure drop dp is sent to the control unit c and is normalized with respect to the viscosity , to the filtration rate and to the concentrate flow rate . the permeate flow rate is normalized according to the ast d 4516 - 00 standard . the method for managing the fouling of filtration membranes according to the invention is the following . the biofilm that grows on the probe of the sensor 2 e is a good representation of the biofilm that grows on the membrane elements of the filtration unit f . a maximum admissible setpoint value for the thickness of the biofilm is determined , especially according to experiment , overshooting of this maximum setpoint having to trigger a membrane rinsing operation . also determined is a minimum setpoint value for this biofilm thickness , the undershooting of which must cause the rinsing to stop . likewise , a maximum setpoint value for the pressure drop dp , the overshooting of which must trigger membrane rinsing , and a minimum setpoint value , the undershooting of which must stop the rinsing , are determined . finally , for the productivity of the filtration unit , corresponding to the permeate flow rate measured by the flowmeter 3 d , a minimum setpoint value is determined for which the membrane rinsing must be triggered when this setpoint is undershot . these various setpoint values are stored in memory in the control unit c , which may compare the information coming from the various sensors with these setpoint values . the rinsing is preferably carried out with desalinated water , generally produced by the desalination plant . for example , a bypass line 12 ( fig1 ) brings a controlled flow of filtered water taken from the permeate on the line 3 back to the inlet of the filtration unit f . a solenoid valve 13 and a recirculation pump 14 , both installed on the line 12 , are operated by the unit c when a rinsing operation is necessary . the rinsing is controlled according to the three control parameters consisting respectively of the thickness of the biofilm , the pressure drop and the productivity . as soon as the thickness of the biofilm or the pressure drop exceeds its respective maximum setpoint value ; or as soon as the productivity falls below its minimum setpoint value . thus , if the thickness of the biofilm reaches the maximum setpoint value even before the pressure drop dp has reached its maximum value , the rinsing operation is triggered . the same applies if one of the other two parameters reaches its setpoint value first : it is this parameter that triggers the rinsing . in the example illustrated in fig1 , the rinsing is carried out by opening the valve 13 controlled by the unit c . the rinsing time is determined by the change in the two parameters , namely the thickness of the biofilm and the flow pressure drop , during the rinsing phase . if the thickness of the biofilm has decreased sufficiently to undershoot the minimum setpoint value , even before the pressure drop has reached its minimum value , the rinsing operation is stopped . the same applies if the flow pressure drop has reached its minimum setpoint value before the thickness of the biofilm has reached its minimum setpoint value . the method of the invention makes it possible for the frequency of washing with treated water ( soft water ) to be optimally managed and for the consumption of soft water to be reduced , while still avoiding production stoppages . although rinsing with soft water is preferred , the method of the invention may also apply to rinsing with hypersaline water . the method of the invention was implemented on a pilot unit a treating seawater , with the objective of producing drinking water . the results obtained with this pilot unit a are given in the graph of fig5 . the time in weeks is plotted on the x - axis , the experiment lasting one year . seen on the y - axis on the left - hand side are : the temperature of the water in ° c ., represented by filled diamond symbols with a vertical diagonal ; the number of rinsing operations , represented by circles ; and the thickness h of the biofilm in microns , represented by crosses . plotted on the y - axis on the right - hand side are : the normalized dp pressure drop values , expressed in bar and represented by filled squares ; and the normalized flow rate q or productivity , expressed in m 3 / h and represented by triangles . at the same time as this pilot unit a , a pilot unit b was operated , for the same time and under the same conditions , with the fouling being controlled by chemical washing operations , the results of which are given in fig6 with the same x - axis and y - axis parameters , with the exception of the biofilm thickness , which was not measured in this method . another pilot unit , c , was operated under the same conditions with the fouling being controlled by rinsing with slightly saline water , and the results are given in fig7 . the pressure drop dp ( fig2 ) corresponds to the difference in pressure between the inlet of the membrane element and the outlet for the concentrated water at its end , normalized with respect to the viscosity , to the filtration rate and to the concentrate flow rate . the normalized flow rate corresponds to the permeate flow rate normalized according to the astd 4516 - 00 standard . the seawater treated is characterized by the following parameters during the period of the trials : total salinity : 38 . 2 to 38 . 9 g / 1 ; temperature : 15 to 26 ° c . ; ph : 8 . 1 to 8 . 2 ; dissolved organic carbon : 2 . 8 to 4 . 2 mg / l ; and bacteria ( epifluorescence measurement ): 4 × 10 4 to 10 5 / ml . the plant comprises three pilot units , namely small - capacity ( 4 m 3 / h unitary ) desalination systems supplied with the same water . pretreatment of the desalination units is carried out by ultrafiltration — one of the most advanced pretreatment processes in water pretreatment ,— for the purpose of desalinating it . ultrafiltration makes it possible in fact to eliminate more than 4 log microorganisms between the raw water to be desalinated and after pretreatment . despite this pretreatment , a drift in the operating parameters of the desalination units is observed after a few weeks of operation . the pilot unit a is equipped with the biofouling control system according to the invention . the parameters governing the frequency of rinsing with desalinated water are indicated below : maximum normalized pressure drop : 0 . 75 bar ; minimum normalized flow rate : 4 . 02 m 3 / h ; maximum biofilm thickness : 50 μm . the other two pilot units are managed using conventional fouling control methods ( chemical washing in the case of the pilot unit b and rinsing with slightly saline water in the case of the pilot unit c ). chemical washing is carried out when the normalized pressure drop increases by more than 15 % or when the normalized flow rate drops by more than 10 %. rinsing with slightly saline water is carried out with a frequency adjusted according to the temperature . the rinsing with desalinated water lasts 10 minutes and consumes 1 . 5 m 3 or 0 . 75 m 3 depending on the optimization . the chemical washing lasts 12 hours and consumes 45 m 3 . fig5 , 6 and 7 show the results of monitoring the operation of the pilot units a , b and c over a period of one year . after this period of operation , a hydraulic production assessment was carried out . the production of the pilot unit a , managed with the automatic osmotic - shock system , reached a production of 36 025 m 3 , whereas the pilot unit b , subjected to periodic chemical washing operations , produced only 32 475 m 3 while pilot unit c , subjected to rinsing with slightly saline water , carried out preventatively , produced 35 218 m 3 . | 2 |
referring now to fig1 a schematic diagram of a circuit for receiving feedback from the output and for detecting an under - voltage condition in the power line is shown . the circuit may be provided within an ic regulator . a first reference current source 102 and a second reference current source 104 in the regulator are connected to an external by - pass capacitor at the supply terminal ( by - pass ) of the regulator . the current reference sources 102 and 104 may be p - channel reference current sources and each reference current source may provide about 50 micro - amperes of current . the output of the current source 102 is provided to a node 109 which is connected to the drain of a transistor 106 . transistor 106 may be an n - mos transistor whose gate is tied to the sum of 1 . 5 volts and a threshold voltage . the source of transistor 106 is connected to a feedback / under - voltage terminal 107 . terminal 107 is connected to a resistor 132 ( fig2 ) which is connected to the input dc voltage of the power supply . current flowing through resistor 132 ( fig2 ) is used to detect under - voltage conditions . also connected to the feedback / under - voltage terminal 107 is transistor 108 which may be a p - mos transistor . the p - mos transistor 108 , whose gate is tied to 1 . 5 volts , isolates an under - voltage detector ( discussed below ) from the rest of the circuit . transistor 108 in turn is connected to a transistor 110 whose gate is commonly tied to the gate of another transistor 112 . the gate and drain of transistor 110 are connected . both transistors 110 and 112 may be n - mos type transistors . the combination of transistors 110 and 112 form a current mirror . the output of the transistor 112 is connected to the reference current source 104 at a junction 113 which provides a “ line - undervoltage ” signal to a fault detection circuit 116 . in this embodiment , transistors 108 , 110 and 112 , along with reference current source 104 , form the under - voltage detector . junction 109 between the reference current source 102 and transistor 106 drives one input of an and - gate 118 . the other input of the and - gate 118 is connected to an oscillator 114 which supplies a clock signal for the regulator . the output of the and - gate 118 is provided to a set input of a latch 122 . a second output from the oscillator 114 which supplies a second clock signal with a maximum clock duty cycle is provided to an inverted input of an or - gate 120 . the other input of or - gate 120 receives a current limit signal from the regulator . the output of or - gate 120 is provided to a reset input of the latch 122 . the output of the latch 122 is provided to one input of an and - gate 124 . another input of and - gate 124 is provided by auto - restart circuit 116 which performs fault detection . the third input of and - gate 124 is provided by the bypass pin regulator and power - up circuit 117 . this input will be in the low state during power - up until the bypass pin reaches its regulated voltage of 5 . 8 volts . the auto - restart circuit 116 receives an input under - voltage signal from junction 113 between the transistor 112 and the reference current source 104 . if transistor 112 pulls more current than current source 104 can supply , junction 113 goes low which indicates that an input under - voltage condition does not exist . alternatively , if transistor 112 pulls less current that supplied by the current source 104 , junction 113 goes high , indicating that an input under - voltage condition does exist . the auto - restart circuit alternatively enables and disables the power transistor 126 when the power supply is experiencing fault conditions such as output overload or output short . the presence of an input under - voltage condition during the off cycle ( disable ) of auto - restart causes circuit 116 to continue asserting a fault signal to and - gate 124 until the input under - voltage condition goes away . the bypass pin regulator and power - up circuit 117 regulates the bypass pin to 5 . 8 volts . there is an external capacitor connected to this pin . during power - up the bypass pin capacitor is charged by the bypass pin regulator until it reaches its regulated voltage of 5 . 8 volts . however , during power - up if the input under - voltage condition exists , the bypass pin will charge up only to 5 . 1 volts and held there . when the input under - voltage condition goes away , the bypass pin capacitor will charge up from 5 . 1 volts to its regulated voltage of 5 . 8 volts . the output of and - gate 124 in turn is provided to the gate of power transistor 126 connected between a drain input and a source input of the regulator . if a fault signal is asserted or if bypass pin has not reached 5 . 8 volts during power - up , and - gate 124 shuts off the power transistor 126 . in this manner , the input under - voltage condition causes power transistor 126 to be disabled until the input under - voltage condition goes away . the circuit of fig1 also receives a feedback signal through feedback / under - voltage terminal 107 . during operation , when current is pulled out of terminal 107 , the voltage at terminal 107 is lower than the voltage at the gate of the transistor 108 ( for example , 1 . 5 volts ), causing transistor 108 to turn off and isolate the under - voltage detection circuitry . further , transistor 106 is turned on , allowing current to flow through the transistor of optocoupler 144 ( fig2 ). if the current flowing through the transistor of optocoupler 144 at terminal 107 is less than the current supplied by the reference current source 102 at node 109 , node 109 goes high . when node 109 is high , and - gate 118 passes the clock signal from oscillator 114 to the set input of latch 122 . such setting of latch 122 in turn enables power transistor 126 to provide a pulse modulated signal to the transformer in the absence of a fault condition . alternatively , if the current flowing through the transistor of optocoupler 144 at terminal 107 is more than the current supplied by the reference current source 102 at node 109 , node 109 goes low , thus disabling and - gate 118 and power transistor 126 . although the feedback signal in this case is analog in form , it can also be a digital signal . in one embodiment of a power supply , the current through the transistor of optocoupler 144 is digital in nature , where when the output voltage is below its regulated voltage there is no current through optocoupler 144 , and when the output voltage is above the regulated voltage there is sufficient current through optocoupler 144 to pull terminal 107 low . [ 0028 ] fig2 illustrates a power supply employing the feedback and under - voltage handling circuitry of fig1 . the power supply of fig2 has a transformer 134 with a primary winding and a secondary winding . a first input of the primary winding of the transformer 134 is connected to the positive input voltage terminal , while a second input of the primary winding of the transformer 134 is provided to a drain input d of a regulator 146 which embodies the circuit of fig1 . additionally , the second input of the primary winding of the transformer 134 is connected to a clamp circuit consisting of a resistor 150 and a capacitor 152 connected in series to the input negative terminal . a source terminal s of the regulator 146 is also connected to the input negative terminal . further , a by - pass terminal bp of regulator 146 is connected to one end of capacitor 148 . the other end of the capacitor 148 is connected to the input negative terminal . capacitor 148 gets charged by the by - pass terminal bp of regulator 146 during power up , and after the by - pass terminal reaches 5 . 8 volts , the power transistor 126 can start switching . also a resistor 132 is connected between the input voltage terminal and a feedback / under - voltage terminal of regulator 146 . one output of the secondary winding of transformer 134 is provided to a schottky diode 136 which is connected to a capacitor 138 . the other output of the secondary winding of the transformer 134 is connected to the output negative terminal . the output of diode 136 is connected to a second zener diode 140 at one end . the other end of zener diode 140 is connected to a resistor 142 , the other terminal of which is connected to the output negative terminal . the other end of the zener diode 140 is connected to an optoisolator 144 whose output is connected between the feedback / under - voltage terminal of the regulator 146 and the output negative terminal . [ 0030 ] fig3 is a timing diagram illustrating the operation of the circuits of fig1 and 2 . referring to all three figs . in period 150 , input voltage v in rises from zero volts during power up . the input voltage rises from zero past a predetermined threshold to reach its full voltage . in this example , the threshold is set to be at about 100 volts . when the input voltage passes 100 volts , the drain of power transistor 126 begins to switch and to regulate the power output . alternatively , when the input voltage is below 100 volts , the by - pass terminal of the regulator 146 is prevented from charging to its full voltage of about 5 . 8 volts . this is accomplished by holding the by - pass terminal voltage at about 5 . 1 volts using an internal voltage regulator ( not shown ) to prevent power transistor 126 from switching . period 152 begins after the input voltage has exceeded the threshold of 100 volts . in this period , the by - pass terminal voltage is allowed to rise to about 5 . 8 volts to complete the power up sequence . after the by - pass terminal voltage passes about 5 . 8 volts , power transistor 126 switches at its frequency of approximately 130 khz in this example . since the output voltage starts at zero volts , it will take a predetermined time period ( typically two to ten milliseconds ) for output capacitor 138 to charge up . thus , at the beginning of period 152 , no cycle is skipped . once capacitor 138 reaches its full output voltage , it then enters a regulation mode and cycles may be skipped , as illustrated near the end of period 152 . here , the turn - on time associated with the auto restart circuit is longer than the normal power up time required to charge the output capacitor 138 . towards the end of the period 152 , regulator 146 is regulating properly . auto - restart operation of the power supply is discussed next . auto - restart operation is defined as alternatively enabling and disabling the power supply when it is experiencing one or more fault conditions such as over - load , open - loop , and short - circuit conditions . the disabling period is normally longer than the enabling period to limit excessive power delivery . the alternating enabling and disabling periods continue until the fault condition is removed . period 154 illustrates the auto - restart operation of regulator 146 when a short condition exists on the output of the power supply of fig2 ( d . c . out ). once the output is shorted , the output voltage collapses from its nominal voltage ( in this case , about five volts ) to ground . this condition demands that the regulator does not skip any switching cycles over a predetermined duration , typically 32 milliseconds . when the demand for full cycling exists for more than 32 milliseconds , regulator 146 detects a fault condition on the power supply output ( d . c . out ) and initiates the auto - restart operation where the power transistor 126 is prevented from switching for another period such as 128 milliseconds . the disabling of power transistor 126 during this period avoids the possibility of too much energy being shunted to output diode 136 . after the expiration of the 128 milliseconds , regulator 146 retries starting the power supply for 32 milliseconds to see if the short condition has disappeared . before trying a restart , regulator 146 ensures that the input voltage is not low . two possible situations may have created a continuous demand for cycling energy beyond the duration of 32 milliseconds : 1 ) a short condition or 2 ) an under - voltage condition . by checking for an input under - voltage condition before starting the power supply through the auto - restart circuit , the fault condition may be properly handled . in period 156 , the short condition is removed and the output is regulated as normal . in period 158 , when power is removed , the line voltage starts to drop . even as the line voltage drops , enough power exists to allow regulator 146 to provide a regulated output during period 158 . eventually , in period 160 , the input voltage falls to a level where the output of the power supply goes out of regulation and the feedback signal demands the regulator 146 to provide maximum power ( no skipped cycles ) for the period of 32 milliseconds . meanwhile , since the input voltage is low in period 160 , the output starts to decrease and less energy is provided to the secondary winding of transformer 134 . at the end of period 160 , regulator 146 initiates the auto - restart operation and prevents transistor 126 from switching . in period 162 , after the 128 millisecond period , regulator 146 checks the input voltage prior to restarting . if the input voltage is below the threshold , power transistor 126 is disabled to prevent the restart attempt to eliminate power - down glitches at the output . such power - down glitches may result in equipment malfunction , as the output voltage may drop from 5 volts to zero volts , then 128 milliseconds later , the regulator 146 may retry and cause the output to rise from zero to approximately 2 . 5 volts , for example , before collapsing to ground . this could repeat several times depending on the rate of decay of input voltage . as shown in this example , input voltage is checked during the power - up or during the off cycle of auto - restart operation . detecting under - voltage prevents power transistor 126 from starting to switch . this operation eliminates power - up and power - down glitches that would otherwise occur as a result of auto - restart . the foregoing disclosure and description of the invention are illustrative and explanatory thereof , and various changes in the size , shape , materials , components , circuit elements , wiring connections and contacts , as well as in the details of the illustrated circuitry and construction and method of operation may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention . | 7 |
one embodiment for an aircraft lighting system is disclosed in fig2 . in this system , the pilot makes adjustments to the lighting of the display through the martial lighting adjustment 20 . manual lighting adjustment 20 outputs a voltage to pulse width modulator system 22 which is proportional to the desired amount of lighting . the pulse width modulator system 22 periodically outputs pulses to inverter 24 , where the width of the pulses is a function of the manual adjustment voltage . the inverter 24 translates the pulses into an ac signal which is used to power the fluorescent backlight 26 . displays which are used in aircraft cockpits are required to work under some very extreme conditions . the lighting in the cockpit may vary from pitch black at night to sunlight shining directly on the display . as such , a display which operates in this environment must have an extremely high dimming ratio . when a display is operating at very low power output , there must be no flickering of the display . the invention described herein discloses a pulse width modulator which may be used in a dimming system where the pulse width modulator is able to operate at a very low duty cycle . disclosed in fig3 is a detailed system diagram for the pulse width modulator system 22 . pulse width modulator circuit 30 in the preferred embodiment is a model sgi 526 of linfinity , inc . of 11861 western avenue , garden grove , calif . 92641 . most commercial and custom pulse width modulators operate in a manner similar to the sg1526 , and the enhancement circuit described herein can be used with most of these pulse width modulators . the pulse width modulator circuit 30 receives an input voltage 32 on pin 1 which is the signal output from the manual lighting adjustment 20 . power for the circuit is provided by power supply 37 on pin 17 . the pulses output by the pulse width modulator are alternately transmitted over lines 33 and 35 to or gate 34 . so that the user may control the operating characteristics of the pulse width modulator circuit 30 , two external exponents , the timing resistor 38 on pin 9 and timing capacitor 36 on pin 10 are provided . in pulse width modulator circuit 30 , output pulses can be varied in width according to the input voltage . the pulses which are output at regular intervals , can fill a whole period or be a small fraction of it . in order to generate a pulse , a comparison is made between the charge that is built up on the timing capacitor 36 and the input voltage 32 . timing capacitor 36 is provided with a constant current so that the charge builds in a linear manner . in the present configuration , the amount of time that the pulse width is at a high level is a function of the period of time in which the charge on the timing capacitor 36 is less than input voltage 32 . this comparison can be seen very clearly in fig1 a and 1b . the slope of the ramping voltage is constant and the width of the pulse is dependent on the magnitude of the voltage which is input to the pulse width modulator . the higher the voltage , the larger the width of the pulse . the rate at which a capacitor is charged can be controlled by the user of the pulse width modulator circuit 30 . this is done with timing resistor 38 . a voltage is output from pin 9 of the pulse width modulator through timing resistor 38 to ground . the magnitude of the current exiting pin 9 can be changed by changing the value of the timing resistor . the precision current which is output from pin 10 through the timing capacitor 36 is a function of the current output from pin 9 . by changing timing resistor 38 , the rate at which the timing capacitor 36 is charged is changed . the remainder of the circuit in fig3 is as follows : a sync signal is output on line 46 to comparator 52 . also input into the comparator is voltage source 96 . the output of comparator 52 is in electrical contact with resistor 58 , capacitor 44 , as well as one of the inputs of comparator 54 . also input into comparator 54 is voltage source 50 . the output of comparator 54 is in contact with the anode of capacitor 40 and resistor 56 . a disadvantage of pulse width modulator circuit 30 is that it does not output accurate pulses when operating at very low duty cycles . this is shown clearly in fig1 b . different types of electronic noise can affect the shape of the ramping voltage built up on capacitor 36 ; especially a beginning and end of the ramp waveform . these irregularities affect the shape of the pulse at very low duty cycles . the width of the pulses in fig1 b vary greatly from period to period , thus affecting the brightness of the lcd backlight and causing the display to flicker . the purpose of the additional circuitry in fig3 is to provide pulses of a consistent width at very low duty cycles . normally , timing resistor 38 and timing capacitor 36 are used to set the internal clock frequency of the pulse width modulator . the additional components , resistor 56 , resistor 58 , capacitors 40 and 44 , and comparators 52 and 54 , are used to shape the ramp wave form created by the pulse width modulator on pin 10 . the pulse width modulator sync signal which is output over line 46 pulses at the operating frequency of the internal clock of the pulse width modulator circuit 30 . at the beginning of the sync pulse , a switch inside the pulse width modulator closes and capacitor 36 discharges to the minimum voltage of the waveform . when the sync pulse changes to the high state , the timing capacitor charges to the maximum voltage of the ramp waveform through a current source that is internal to the pulse width modulator . the amplitude of the current source that drives capacitor 36 is controlled by the value of resistor 38 . a large value of resistor 38 yields a low amplitude current source and a slow charge rate for capacitor 36 . when the pulse width modulator outputs the sync signal , comparator 52 senses the beginning of the sync pulse and discharges capacitor 44 through the low impedance output . comparator 52 holds capacitor 44 close to ground potential through the duration of the sync pulse . as long as the non - inverting input of comparator 54 is less than voltage source 50 , the output of comparator 54 discharges capacitor 40 and pulls resistor 56 to ground . when the left side of resistor 56 is grounded , the resistance from the timing resistor input of the pulse width modulator to ground is equal to the parallel combination of resistor 56 and timing resistor 38 . the lower pulse width modulating timing resistance results in an increased charge rate for timing capacitor 36 and an increased slope on the ramp waveform . at the end of the sync pulse , the comparator 52 output goes to a high impedance state and capacitor 44 charges up to 5 volts from voltage source 48 through resistor 58 . the charge rate for capacitor 44 is controlled by the rc time constant created by resistor 58 and capacitor 44 . after approximately 100 microseconds , the voltage across capacitor 44 reaches 2 volts and the output of comparator 54 goes to the high impedance state , disconnecting resistor 56 from ground . with the parallel connection between resistor 56 and timing resistor 38 broken , the slope of the ramp waveform is controlled again by timing resistor 38 and timing capacitor 46 for the remainder of the period . capacitor 40 is used to smooth the transition from the steep slope to the normal slope in the ramp waveform . the performance of the modified pulse width modulator is shown in fig4 . in this graph 400 , the charge v ramp on the timing capacitor 36 is shown with reference to the input voltage 32 , which is designated as v c in graph 400 . in this graph 400 , it is obvious that the slope of the charging voltage v ramp is very steep at the beginning of the period ( see slope 410 and 430 ) and then flattens out for the remainder ( see slopes 420 and 400 ). these steep slope , 410 and 430 , occur at the beginning of each period for a known period of time after the sync pulse is transmitted over line 46 to comparator 52 . as can be seen in fig4 the output pulses 412 and 432 , which are output from the pulse width modulator 30 , are of a consistent width w at a very low duty cycle . if this circuit 30 is used in a display , this will eliminate any flicker due to inconsistent pulse width at low dimming ranges for the displays . using this technique , the output pulse is consistent at widths less than one microsecond . the invention has been described herein in considerable detail in order to comply with the patent statutes and to provide those skilled in the art with the information needed to apply the novel principles and to construct and use such specialized components as are required . however , it is to be understood that the invention can be carried out by specifically different equipment and devices , and that various modifications , both as to the equipment details and operating procedures , can be accomplished without departing from the scope of the invention itself . | 6 |
typically , a displayed television image for a television broadcast that incorporates a news crawl or a fixed advertising band is divided into two portions : a main program portion and a fixed information band portion . the main program portion displays normal motion video . the band portion occupies about 5 % to 8 % of the total display area in a fixed rectangular area along the entire length of one edge of the television screen ( usually the bottom edge ) and displays scrolling text , advertisements or other information . the present inventive technique allows a television viewer to eliminate the band portion of the image ( e . g ., news crawls or fixed advertising bands ) from the television display by “ stretching ” the main program portion to fill the screen , effectively pushing the undesired crawl or advertising band off of the display . numerous efficient techniques for accomplishing video ( image ) stretching are known in the art . for example , u . s . pat . no . 5 , 781 , 241 , “ apparatus and method to convert computer graphics signals to television video signals with vertical and horizontal scaling requiring no frame buffers ”, issued jul . 14 , 1998 to donovan ( hereinafter “ donovan ”) describes a technique for scaling ( stretching ) a computer - generated television image vertically and / or horizontally to fit a television display screen . another example is given in u . s . pat . no . 5 , 574 , 572 , “ video scaling method and device ”, issued nov . 12 , 1996 to malinowski , et al . ( hereinafter “ malinowski ”), which describes an interpolative technique for vertical and / or horizontal scaling of a video image , with independent control over vertical and horizontal scale factors . fig1 is a block diagram of a system 100 for eliminating a fixed band portion of a television broadcast from a television display screen , according to the invention . a television receiver 110 receives a “ raw ” television broadcast and produces a corresponding “ raw ” pixel stream 120 . the raw television broadcast may contain a news crawl or fixed advertising band . the raw pixel stream 120 is processed by a video stretch device 150 , and produces an output pixel stream 160 . the output pixel stream 160 can then be displayed on a suitable television display 170 where it can be viewed . the raw television broadcast can be received via a conventional antenna system , via a cable , or via a satellite system . when not activated , the video stretch device 150 is set to a “ bypass ” mode , whereby the raw pixel stream is not scaled ( i . e ., it is set for 1 : 1 scaling in both horizontal and vertical directions ). if a user determines that the displayed television image contains a news crawl or fixed advertising band that he wishes to eliminate from the display , the user commands the system 100 to do so via a user input function 130 . as shown in fig1 , the user input function 130 receives user input from , e . g ., a remote control 102 . alternatively , such user input can come from a button provided on a set - top box , television appliance , or the like or from a network to which a user interface device ( e . g ., pda , pc , etc .) is connected . upon receiving the command from the user , the user input function 130 would recognize the user request and issue a command 140 to the video stretch device 150 to re - scale the output pixel stream 160 with respect to the raw pixel stream 120 . in this manner , the main program is scaled in the output pixel stream 160 to occupy substantially the entire television display area , thereby eliminating the fixed band portion ( the “ crawl ” or fixed advertising band ) from the output pixel stream 160 . the video stretch device 150 can be implemented by any suitable means , such as those described in donovan and malinowski . the scale factor and direction can be determined by prior knowledge of the television broadcast content ( e . g ., based upon the currently selected television channel ), can be user - specified ( e . g ., via scale factor buttons on the remote control or other user input device ), or can be fixed . the user input device can be provided with a single “ no crawl ” button , can be provided with one or more buttons for indicating which edge of the television display is associated with the fixed band portion of the television broadcast , or can be adapted to accept multi - button sequences from the user . in the case where prior knowledge of the television broadcast content is used , the user - input function can be provided with pre - stored information about the screen location and size of fixed band portions of television programming broadcast by specific channels . when the user signals that a “ no crawl ” display mode is desired , the user input device signals the video stretch device with appropriate scaling information based upon pre - stored fixed - band data associated with the currently selected channel . the pre - stored fixed - band data can be maintained , for example , in a look - up table ( e . g ., rom or non - volatile ram ) accessed by the video stretch device 150 upon receipt of the stretch command 140 . in the case where the location and / or size of the fixed - band portion is specified by the user , the user - input device can be provided with separate buttons for left - edge , right - edge , bottom - edge and top - edge “ crawl ” locations . alternatively , multiple presses of a single button can be used to “ cycle ” through a variety of location and / or size options . typically , a news crawl ( or advertising band ) appears in a fixed band along the bottom edge of the television display and occupies the bottom 5 % to 8 % of the display screen . this suggests a simpler , fixed - function “ no - crawl ” command that a user can issue ( e . g ., via a remote - control button ) to cause the raw pixels of the television broadcast to be expanded vertically by a fixed amount , e . g ., by a factor of 105 . 3 % starting at the top of the display , to fill the entire display screen on the assumption that the crawl is located in the bottom 5 % of the raw television broadcast . a simple enhancement to this fixed function approach is to permit additional button presses to cause the system 100 to cycle though a limited set of vertical ( or horizontal ) scale factors between 5 % and 8 %. a similar approach can be used in the case where the user specifies the edge location via a dedicated button . multiple presses of the same button can be used to cycle through a limited set of vertical or horizontal scale factors ( as appropriate for the selected edge ). upon changing channels ( or switching between video sources ) the stretch mode of operation can be cancelled , effectively resetting the video stretch device to a “ bypass ” mode . fig2 is a processing flow diagram showing display representations before and after scaling for a bottom justified fixed - band portion , in accordance with the invention . a raw image display 210 corresponding to a raw television broadcast ( for which a raw pixel stream has been received ) is divided into a main program portion 212 and a fixed band portion 214 . the fixed band portion 214 occupies a small portion of the image space ( display space ) along a bottom edge of the raw image display 210 . the main program portion 212 has a height 216 ( indicated by a dashed arrow line ) equal to the distance from the top of the raw image display 210 to the top of the fixed band portion 214 . a video stretch function 220 ( e . g ., implementing a suitable stretch technique such as those described in donovan and malinowski ) operates on the raw image pixel stream associated with the raw image display 210 to produce an output pixel stream represented by output display 230 . the video stretch function 220 is adapted to expand the main program portion 212 of the raw image display 210 vertically in top - down fashion to produce a stretched main program portion 212 a whose height 216 a is substantially equal to the height of the output display 230 . fig3 is a processing flow diagram showing display representations before and after scaling for a top justified fixed - band portion , in accordance with the invention . a raw image display 310 ( compare 210 ) corresponding to a raw television broadcast ( for which a raw pixel stream has been received ) is divided into a main program portion 312 and a top - justified fixed band portion 314 . the fixed band portion 314 occupies a small portion of the image space ( display space ) along a top edge of the raw image display 310 . the main program portion 312 has a height 316 ( indicated by a dashed arrow line ) equal to the distance from the bottom of the raw image display 310 to the bottom of the top - justified fixed band portion 314 . a video stretch function 320 ( compare 220 ) operates on the raw image pixel stream associated with the raw image display 310 to produce an output pixel stream represented by output display 330 ( compare 230 ). the video stretch function 320 is adapted to expand the main program portion 312 of the raw image display 310 vertically in bottom - up fashion to produce a stretched main program portion 312 a whose height 316 a is substantially equal to the height of the output display 330 . fig4 is a processing flow diagram showing display representations , before and after scaling , for a left justified fixed - band portion , in accordance with the invention . a raw image display 410 ( compare 210 , 310 ) corresponding to a raw television broadcast ( for which a raw pixel stream has been received ) is divided into a main program portion 412 and a left - justified fixed band portion 414 . the fixed band portion 414 occupies a small portion of the image space ( display space ) along a left edge of the raw image display 410 . the main program portion 412 has a width 416 ( indicated by a dashed arrow line ) equal to the distance from the right edge of the raw image display 410 to the right side of the fixed band portion 414 . a video stretch function 420 ( compare 220 , 320 ) operates on the raw image pixel stream associated with the raw image display 410 to produce an output pixel stream represented by output display 430 ( compare 230 , 330 ). the video stretch function 420 is adapted to expand the main program portion 412 of the raw image display 410 horizontally in right - to - left fashion to produce a stretched main program portion 412 a whose width 416 a is substantially equal to the width of the output display 430 . fig5 is a processing flow diagram showing display representations , before and after scaling , for a right - justified fixed - band portion , in accordance with the invention . a raw image display 510 ( compare 210 , 310 , 410 ) corresponding to a raw television broadcast ( for which a raw pixel stream has been received ) is divided into a main program portion 512 and a right - justified fixed band portion 514 . the fixed band portion 514 occupies a small portion of the image space ( display space ) along a right edge of the raw image display 510 . the main program portion 512 has a width 516 ( indicated by a dashed arrow line ) equal to the distance from a left edge of the raw image display 510 to a left side of the fixed band portion 514 . a video stretch function 520 ( compare 220 , 320 , 420 ) operates on the raw image pixel stream associated with the raw image display 510 to produce an output pixel stream represented by output display 530 ( compare 230 , 330 , 430 ). the video stretch function 520 is adapted to expand the main program portion 512 of the raw image display 510 horizontally in left - to - right fashion to produce a stretched main program portion 512 a whose width 516 a is substantially equal to the width of the output display 530 . fig6 is a before / after pair of television display images , illustrating the visual effect of removal of a fixed advertising band or news crawl from a television broadcast , in accordance with the invention . in fig6 , a “ before ” image 600 a exhibiting a main program portion 610 and a fixed - band “ news crawl ” portion 620 is shown . the fixed band portion 620 occupies a small space across a bottom edge of the “ before ” image 600 a . the “ before ” image is typical of a “ raw ” television broadcast with a “ news crawl ” feature , as described hereinabove . processing of the “ before ” image 600 a ( by operating on a raw pixel stream associated with the before image 600 a , as described hereinabove ) produces the resultant display shown in an “ after ” image 600 b , with a “ stretched ” main program portion 610 a ( derived from the main program portion 610 in the “ before ” image 600 a ) that has been stretched vertically in top - down fashion to fill the entire “ after ” image 600 b . although the aspect ratio of the stretched main program portion 610 a is different from that of the main portion 610 , it is only slightly different ( e . g ., 5 % to 8 % stretch ) such that the visual impact of this change in aspect ratio is quite subtle . it will be evident to those of ordinary skill in the art that the inventive “ stretching ” technique for removal of fixed information band portions of a television broadcast image is compatible with any other stretch or zoom modes that may be employed by a set - top box or tv set . if the viewer is using a horizontal stretch mode , for instance , to fill a 16 : 9 display with 4 : 3 video ( i . e ., for fitting standard 4 : 3 ntsc video to a wide screen television display ), the inventive video stretching technique is applied in addition to the horizontal stretch . for example , in the case where a bottom justified “ news crawl ” is present in a standard 4 : 3 aspect ratio ntsc image that is being stretched horizontally for display on a wide screen television display , the net result is a 33 % horizontal stretch to fill the 16 : 9 display with 4 : 3 tuned video and a 5 % to 8 % top - down vertical stretch to remove the news crawl from the bottom of the screen . although the invention has been shown and described with respect to a certain preferred embodiment or embodiments , certain equivalent alterations and modifications will occur to others skilled in the art upon the reading and understanding of this specification and the annexed drawings . for example , although a preferred embodiment is to incorporate the video stretch apparatus into a television set , so that the output signal from the receiver is already stretched to remove the objectionable region of the source video , other implementations are possible . one possible alternative implementation could comprise a stand - alone in - line stretch processor between the receiver ( e . g ., set - top box ) and the television set . such an in - line stretch device , however , would require extra connections and an extra remote control . moreover , with regard to the various functions performed by the above described components ( assemblies , devices , circuits , etc .) the terms ( including a reference to a “ means ”) used to describe such components are intended to correspond , unless otherwise indicated , to any component which performs the specified function of the described component ( i . e ., that is functionally equivalent ), even though not structurally equivalent to the disclosed structure which performs the function in the herein illustrated exemplary embodiments of the invention . in addition , while a particular feature of the invention may have been disclosed with respect to only one of several embodiments , such feature may be combined with one or more features of the other embodiments as may be desired and advantageous for any given or particular application . | 7 |
fig1 is a block diagram showing the basic constitution of an optical disc apparatus embodying the present invention . in this diagram are included a disc 1 , and a pickup 2 which comprises a focus lens 2a , a damper 2b for supporting the focus lens 2a , a drive coil 2c for driving the focus lens 2a in a tracking direction , and a tracking error detector 2d for detecting a tracking error . the damper 2b and the drive coil 2c constitute a fine actuator . actually the fine actuator includes another set of a damper and a drive coil for driving the focus lens in a focusing direction , which are not shown in the figure to avoid complexity . there are also shown a pickup - base 3 for mounting the pickup 2 thereon , a linear motor 4 for driving the pickup - base 3 , and a position detector 5 fixedly mounted on the pickup - base 3 for detecting , in the tracking direction , the position of the focus lens 2a . the position output signal obtained from the position detector 5 is converted to a velocity signal vv by a differential circuit 6 consisting of a capacitor 6a and a resistor 6b . the velocity signal vv is fed to a subtractor 8 , which compares the input signal v v with a reference velocity signal v s thereby to generate a velocity error signal ve . the velocity error signal ve thus obtained is fed to a power amplifier 10 via a phase compensation circuit 9 for advancing the phase in a higher frequency range and a selector switch 12 controlled by an access order signal as , and the output of the amplifier 10 is then fed to the drive coil 2c . a velocity servo loop is constituted by the above - described position detector 5 , differential circuit 6 , subtractor 8 , phase compensation circuit 9 , selector switch 12 , power amplifier 10 and drive coil 2c . in such velocity servo loop , the velocity of the focus lens 2a can be controlled to be zero , or locked , by setting the reference velocity signal vs to zero . reference numeral 11 denotes a phase compensation circuit for stabilizing the servo control by advancing the phase in a higher frequency range of the output signal of the tracking error detector 2d . a tracking servo loop is constituted by the above - described tracking error detector 2d , phase compensation circuit 11 , selector switch 12 , power amplifier 10 and drive coil 2c . such tracking servo loop enables a light beam , which is outputted from the pickup 2 , to exactly follow a desired track on the disc 1 . denoted by reference numeral 14 is a pickup - base control circuit which , in a normal reproduction mode , amplifies the output signal te of the tracking error detector 2d and feeds the amplified signal to the linear motor 4 or , when moving the pickup - base 3 fast , feeds a full acceleration signal to the linear motor 4 . the operation of the control circuit 14 is selectively switched by the access order signal at . a traverse control circuit is constituted by the above - described tracking error detector 2d , pickup - base control circuit 14 and linear motor 4 for controlling , in the normal reproduction mode , the motion of the pickup - base 3 in its radial direction . although there is not shown in fig1 a block of a focus servo to perform focus control between the disc 1 and the focus lens 2a , it is assumed here that the focus servo control is continuously effected with stability . fig2 is a timing chart showing the states of the individual servo loops and the relationship therebetween when an access is executed during reproduction of signals or data from a disc in the present invention . in fig2 ( a ) and ( b ) represent the state of the tracking servo loop and that of the velocity servo loop , respectively ; and ( c ) represents the position of connection of the selector switch 12 . furthermore , a and b indicate an access start point and an access end point , respectively . in the timing chart of fig2 the tracking servo loop is switched off or opened during the access time ( τ0 ) between the points a and b corresponding to the fast travel of the pickup - base 3 , and the velocity servo loop is switched on or closed with the reference velocity signal vs set to zero . accordingly the focus lens 2a is locked to the pickup - base 3 until the point b where the fast travel of the pickup - base 3 is terminated , and the velocity servo loop is switched over to the tracking servo loop in a state where the focus lens 2a is kept relatively still , so that proper servo pull - in can be executed with stability in a short period of time . since the focus lens 2a is locked to the pickup - base 3 during a rough access , if any vibration of the focus lens 2a is caused by a great acceleration derived from start or halt of the rough access or by the vibration generated during the travel of the pickup - base 3 , the velocity is controlled to zero by the velocity servo loop to consequently suppress such vibration of the focus lens 2a , whereby the tracking servo control can be effected with stability immediately after completion of the rough access . fig3 and 5 relates to a second embodiment of the optical disc apparatus according to the present invention , explaining the operation to control the position of the focus lens 2a to its optimal state for resuming the tracking servo control with rapidity and stability immediately after the fast travel of the pickup - base 3 . the basic block constitution of the second embodiment is the same as that of the first embodiment shown in fig1 . fig3 illustrates the states of the focus lens 2a immediately before and after a fast access . fig4 ( a ), ( b ), ( c ) and ( d ) are timing charts respectively showing the motion of the focus lens 2a , the state of the tracking servo loop , the state of the velocity servo loop , and the state of connection of the selector switch 12 . fig5 graphically shows the behavior of the focus lens 2a when it is suddenly shifted from an inclined state to a free state . hereinafter the operation of the second embodiment will be described in detail with reference to fig3 through 5 . in fig3 a denotes an access start point . suppose now that the focus lens 2a starts its travel from the point a together with the pickup - base 3 while being locked in an inclined posture at an angle θ due to the eccentricity of the disc . upon arrival of the pickup - base 3 at a point b after its fast travel , the servo loop is opened for a predetermined time , and then the focus lens 2a is urged to automatically return to its mechanically neutral point by the elasticity of the damper 2b , so that proper tracking can be achieved by closing the tracking servo loop in accordance with a shift of the focus lens 2a to the point of its upright posture , i . e ., from a position 2 to another position 3 . in the timing chart of fig4 the selector switch 12 is connected to the side a during the travel of the pickup - base 3 ( corresponding to time τ0 ) to form the velocity servo loop with the reference velocity vs set to zero , so that the inclination of the focus lens 2a is retained as represented by 1 and 2 in the chart . during the next time τ1 , the switch 12 is connected to the side c to open the entire servo loops , whereby the focus lens 2a is rendered free and then is returned automatically to its mechanically neutral point ( 3 in fig4 ) by the elasticity of the damper 2b . subsequently the switch 12 is connected to the side a again during the next time τ 2 , so that the velocity of the focus lens 2a caused by the motion of the damper 2b is controlled to zero at the position 3 of the upright posture , and therefore the focus lens 2a is brought to a halt to be ready for re - pulling in the tracking servo . due to the series of operations mentioned above , the focus lens 2a is retained in its upright posture and the velocity thereof can be controlled to zero even immediately after the fast drive of the pickup - base 3 , whereby the tracking servo control can be resumed with rapidity and stability . fig5 is a graphic representation for explaining the length of the time τ1 during which the entire servo loops are opened ( with the selector switch 12 connected to the side c ) in the operation described above . fig5 indicates that when the focus lens 2a is suddenly rendered free from the inclined state a , its inclination becomes zero at each of points b , d , f and so forth . although the focus lens 2a is thus retained upright at any of the points b , d , f and so forth , it is desired that normally the focus lens 2a be set at the first upright point b since the earlier the timing to pull in the tracking servo , the better the result attained . relative to the resonance frequency f0 ( hz ) of the damper 2b for holding the focus lens 2a therein , the time of its one period is approximately 1 / f0 ( which is slightly varied by the damping factor of the resonance system of the damper 2b including the focus lens 2a ). therefore , in this example , the time τ1 for opening the entire servo loops comes to be about 1 / 4 · f0 ( sec ). it follows that , after the travel of the pickup - base 3 , the focus lens 2a is rendered free for the time τ1 which is substantially equal to 1 / 4 of the resonance - frequency period of the pickup 2 including the focus lens 2a , so that it becomes possible to attain high stability when pulling in the tracking servo . the length of the time τ2 is determined by the gain of the velocity servo loop , and it can be reduced to a sufficiently small value which is normally less than several milliseconds . in the second embodiment mentioned , after the focus lens 2a is placed in its noncontrolled free state for the time τ1 , the velocity servo loop is closed merely during the time τ2 for reducing the velocity of the focus lens 2a to zero , and then the tracking servo loop is closed . however , in case the gain of the tracking servo loop is sufficiently high , a stable pull - in action is possible even when the focus lens 2a has a velocity , so that the time τ2 for closing the velocity servo loop may be omitted to execute direct pull - in of the tracking servo . fig6 is a block diagram of a third embodiment of the optical disc apparatus according to the present invention , and it is so constituted as to solve the known problem that , upon occurrence of any dropout during reproduction mode , the focus lens is deviated by a great disturbance signal generated in the servo loop ( in the focusing or tracking direction ). the constitution of fig6 is accomplished by providing , in addition to the aforementioned first embodiment of fig1 a dropout detection circuit 13 for detecting dropout data from the tracking error signal te , and a switch control circuit 15 for combining the access order signal as with the output of the dropout detection circuit 13 and controlling the selector switch 12 by such combined signal . in the third embodiment , the access order signal serves to directly control the switch 12 via the switch control circuit 15 , so that the operation performed in this case is exactly the same as that in the foregoing second embodiment . fig7 illustrates the behavior of the focus lens 2a upon occurrence of any dropout in the reproduction mode , so as to explain the effect of the third embodiment of the present invention . fig7 ( a ) represents an exemplary case where no particular countermeasure is taken , i . e . none of dropouts is detected and the servo loops are not switched either . fig7 ( b ) represents another case where a signal is generated by detecting the occurrence of a drop - out , and the tracking servo loop is opened during the time τ of such dropout in response to the detection signal , thereby placing the focus lens 2a in a noncontrolled free state to minimize the harmful influence derived from disorder of the tracking error signal . this operation is based on one of the conventional techniques known heretofore . and fig7 ( c ), which corresponds to the third embodiment of the present invention , represents a further case where the tracking servo loop is opened during the dropout time τ and simultaneously the velocity servo loop is closed with the reference velocity vs set to zero . in fig7 ( a ), ( b ) and ( c ): ( a ) shows the waveform of an rf signal detected from the disc by an rf signal detector omitted in the block diagram of fig6 ; ( b ) shows the waveform of a tracking error signal te ; ( c ) shows the waveform of a dropout detection signal d0 outputted from the dropout detection circuit 13 ; ( d ) shows the state of the tracking servo loop ; ( e ) shows the state of the velocity servo loop ; and ( f ) shows the behavior of the focus lens 2a . in the first case of fig7 ( a ) where no counter - measure is taken , a component tg different from the original tracking signal is generated in the tracking error signal te during the dropout time ( signifying in this embodiment the time period in which the tracking error signal te is disordered to a great extent ). consequently , there arises a trouble that the focus lens 2a is deflected widely by such disturbance component tg and , at the instant of termination of the dropout , the focus lens 2a is deviated far from the original track and is not returnable to the former state . in the conventional system of fig7 ( b ) where the tracking servo loop is opened during the dropout time , if any disturbance component tg not included in the original tracking signal is generated , the selector switch 12 is controlled by the dropout detection signal d0 of the dropout detection circuit 13 via the switch control circuit 15 , so that the switch 12 is connected to the side c to open the entire servo loops , whereby the disturbance component tg is not transmitted to the coil 2c for driving the focus lens 2a , which is consequently not deviated far as in the foregoing example of fig7 ( a ). however , the damper 2b holding the focus lens 2a therein has a specific elasticity and therefore exerts a mechanical restoring force on the focus lens 2a , which is thereby urged to automatically return to its mechanical neutral point . in most cases , accordingly , there arises a problem that a positional discrepancy is induced between the position of the focus lens 2a at the dropout start instant and that at the dropout end instant . that is , at the instant of termination of the dropout , tracking servo is effected on another track spaced apart slightly from the desired track , and consequently there also occurs a deviation of the light beam . according to the present invention of fig7 ( c ), the selector switch 12 is controlled by the dropout detection signal d0 during the dropout time τ in such a manner as to be connected to the side a to form the velocity servo loop with the reference velocity vs set to zero , so that the velocity of the focus lens 2a in the tracking direction is maintained at zero . in other words , the focus lens 2a is positionally locked and retained in this case , and therefore its position at the termination of the dropout remains unchanged in comparison with that at the beginning of the dropout . as a result , despite sudden switchover to the tracking servo loop , the tracking servo control can be resumed on the same track with stability . in any of the exemplary embodiments of the present invention explained hereinabove , the description has been given with respect to the operation performed in the tracking direction . it is to be understood , however , that the present invention is not limited to the above examples alone , and similar effects are also achievable with regard to the control action in the focusing direction as well . since the operation in the focusing direction is fundamentally the same as that in the tracking direction , a repeated explanation is omitted here . | 6 |
the invention provides a composition useful as an additive in lubricating oils or petroleum fuels , the composition being a stable flowable overbased magnesium oxide dispersion in a high boiling hydrocarbon carrier with a magnesium content of 10 - 40 %, and typically higher than 14 %, for example 15 - 40 %, 15 - 35 %, 20 - 40 % or 25 - 35 %, by weight based on the total weight of the composition , prepared by first heating at reflux in a high boiling hydrocarbon carrier , and optionally a lower boiling inert organic solvent , a mixture of magnesium oxide , water , a sulfonic or carboxylic acid dispersant such as an alkylbenzene sulfonic acid , a c 1 - 5 carboxylic acid , wherein the dispersant and c 1 - 5 carboxylic acid are present in less than one molar equivalent relative to the magnesium oxide , followed by heating to 280 - 360 ° c . with removal of water , wherein the reaction mixture before heating contains more than 8 % and typically at least 10 % by weight of water based on the total weight of the reaction mixture . in preparing the magnesium oxide dispersion , no acidic gas is passed through the mixture of mgo , dispersant , carboxylic acid , water , diluent and carrier . while alcohols are known as promoters in similar processes , it is found that their presence in the instant process is not necessary and may slow the reaction if present in appreciable amounts . for example , in many of embodiments of the invention , the reaction is carried out in the presence of less than 10 % by weight of components other than the mgo , dispersant , c 1 - 5 carboxylic acid , water , carrier and optional solvent , e . g ., 0 - 10 %, 0 - 5 % or 0 - 2 % other components are added . in one particular embodiment , no alcohols , amines or phosphorous compounds are added to the reaction mixture . the obtained dispersion can be stored and used as is . it is also possible to further purify the dispersion by diluting with solvent , such as a light hydrocarbon , and then allowing the product to settle or subject it to centrifuge . any coarse , large particles will settle out , however , this is typically minimal and is not required in most cases . the process prevents the formation of a gel and the product obtained is a free flowing dispersion of submicron particles . dispersed mgo particles with an average particle size of 1 micron or less and an average particle size of 500 nm is typically obtained . often an average particle size of 1 - 500 nm , for example , 1 - 100 or 10 - 50 nm are obtained and in certain embodiments , an average particle size is 1 - 20 nm is possible . many types and sources of magnesium oxide can be used as a starting material , most frequently , a commercial magnesium oxide in the light or active form is employed . the amount of magnesium oxide used is dependent upon the amount of metal desired in the final product as known in the art . in the process , there is less than a molar equivalent , relative to mgo , of the dispersant and the c 1 - 5 carboxlic acid , often much less than a molar equivalent , but there can be significantly more than a molar equivalent of water added . for example , in the present invention , the reaction mixture contains at least 8 %, typically at least 10 % by weight of water , based on the total weight of the mixture , and typically 12 % or more . in certain embodiments , the amount of water is comparable by weight to the amount of mgo and in some particular embodiments , the weight of water is higher than the amount of mgo . in terms of molar equivalents relative to mgo , the reaction mixture contains from about a 5 : 1 to 1 : 1 molar ratio of water to mgo , for example , from about 3 : 1 to 1 : 1 . ratios of from 2 . 5 : 1 to 1 : 1 , or from 2 : 1 to 1 : 1 are common , such as 1 . 5 , 1 . 8 , 2 , 2 . 2 and 3 molar equivalents of water relative to mgo can be employed . the process can also be used to prepare mgo dispersions starting with mg ( oh ) 2 instead of mgo , but in that case , less water is typically added . the c 1 - 5 carboxylic acid can be any such acid , for example , acetic acid , propionic acid , butyric acid , pentanoic acid ; excellent results have been obtained using acetic acid . a small amount of this acid relative to mgo is employed in the reaction , for example , the molar ratio of mgo to c 1 - 5 carboxylic acid is from about 100 : 1 to 2 : 1 , for example , from about 50 : 1 to about 5 : 1 , or from about 30 to 1 to 10 : 1 , such as a molar ratio of mgo to c 1 - 5 carboxylic acid of about 20 : 1 . the dispersant is a sulfonic acid or carboxylic acid . mixtures of dispersants may be used including mixtures of sulfonic acids , mixtures of carboxylic acids or mixtures including both sulfonic and carboxylic acids . excellent results have been obtained using sulfonic acid dispersants widely known by those skilled in the art as oil - soluble sulfonic acids . for example , sulfonic acid dispersants be derived from natural petroleum fractions or various synthetically prepared sulfonated compounds . typical oil - soluble sulfonic acids which may be used include : alkane sulfonic acids , aromatic sulfonic acids , alkaryl sulfonic acids , aralkyl sulfonic acids , petroleum sulfonic acids such as mahogany sulfonic acid , petroleum sulfonic acid , paraffin wax sulfonic acid , petroleum naphthene sulfonic acid , polyalkylated sulfonic acid , and other types of sulfonic acids which may be obtained by fuming sulfuric acid treatment of petroleum fractions . in one embodiment , an alkaryl sulfonic acid , i . e ., an alkylbenzene sulfonic acid , is used as dispersant with excellent results . carboxylic acid dispersants which may be used in some embodiments are also well known in the art . the carboxylic acid dispersants are not the same as the c 1 - 5 carboxylic acid required for the invention as the dispersants have more than 5 carbon atoms , typically much more than 5 carbon atoms . some examples include , lauric , myristic , palmitic , stearic , isostearic , archidic , behenic and lignoceric acids ; aromatic acids such as alkyl salicylic acids . mixtures of carboxylic acids include commercial grades containing a range of acids , including both saturated and unsaturated acids . such mixtures may be obtained synthetically or may be derived from natural products , for example , tall , cotton , ground nut , coconut , linseed , palm kernel , olive , corn , palm , castor , soybean , sunflower , herring and sardine oils and tallow . in many embodiments of the invention , the dispersant is a naturally occurring or synthetic sulfonic acid . excellent results have been obtained using , for example , alkyated arylsulfonic acids , for example , alkylated benzenesulfonic acids . in general , the sulfonic acid dispersant will have a mw of 300 or higher , often 350 or higher , for example 400 or higher . mixtures of sulfonic acids may be used , for example , alkylated benzene sulfonic acids may be mono - alkylated , di - alkylated or mixtures of mono - and di - alkylated compounds may be used and in some embodiments , benzene sulfonic acid may be alkylated by alkyl chains of varying lengths . in such cases , the mw is the number average molecular weight . for example , excellent results have been obtained using alkyated benzene sulfonic acids with an average mw of from about 350 to 1000 . in general , a molar ratio of mgo to dispersant of from about 10 : 1 to 200 : 1 is employed in the reaction , frequently the ratio is from about 20 : 1 to 200 : 1 . in certain embodiments the molar ratio of mgo to surfactant is from about 20 : 1 to 100 : 1 or from about 25 : 1 to 50 : 1 . in many embodiments , the molar ratio of mgo to c 1 - 5 carboxylic acid , for example acetic acid , is from about 50 : 1 to about 5 : 1 or from 30 : 1 to10 : 1 and the molar ratio of mgo to dispersant , for example , an alkylated sulfonic acid , is from about 20 : 1 to 100 : 1 or from about 25 : 1 to 50 : 1 . the high boiling hydrocarbon carrier is a material or mixture of materials well known in the art with a boiling point of 280 ° c . or higher , often much higher , for example , mineral oils , oligomers or polymers of alpha olefins , aromatic systems such as polycyclic aromatics and alkylated derivatives thereof , long chain alkanes including waxes and other similar natural or synthetic materials . obviously , part of the reasoning for choosing a high boiling carrier is that part of the process requires temperatures of 280 ° c . and higher . often , an inert organic solvent with a boiling point below 280 ° c . is also added to the reaction mixture . the presence of lower boiling solvents can be used to make the reaction mixture more fluid and stirrable , especially if very low amounts of carrier hydrocarbon are used . an inert solvent is a solvent which does not interfere with the overbasing process . for example , well known aliphatic or aromatic hydrocarbons with boiling points ranging from about 80 ° c . to about 240 ° c ., for example , boiling points ranging from about 80 ° c . to about 220 ° c . and mixtures thereof are conveniently used , including linear and cycloaliphatic compounds such as octanes , decanes etc , and aromatic hydrocarbons such as xylene , mesitylene , ethylbenzene , butyl benzenes , tetralin and the like . lower boiling solvents are optional and are readily removed , if desired , by distillation once the process reactions are complete . in the process , each of the components are mixed together , typically under ambient conditions , i . e ., room temperature and atmospheric pressure , and then heated with stirring or other agitation under reflux until the water , acid and dispersant bring the mgo into a uniform , light suspension . the temperature is then raised to 280 - 360 ° c ., typically temperatures of 300 - 340 ° c . are reached , and the water is removed , e . g ., via dean stark trap . heating and mixing are continued until all the water is removed , the amount of water collected is measured to ensure completion , and the mixture is allowed to cool . in some embodiments , some of the water is removed at temperatures lower than 280 ° c ., but full reaction and removal of all water is best completed at temperatures above 280 ° c ., for example 300 - 340 ° c . for example , upon combining all components , the mixture may be stirred at about 100 ° c . to obtain an appropriate initial suspension and then heated to an intermediate temperature , e . g ., between 120 and 220 ° c . during which time water is removed , and then the reaction mixture is heated to 280 - 360 ° c . to ensure complete reaction and removal of water . the product of the process and the process itself represent embodiments of the invention . while molar ratios cited above describe aspects of the invention , the practical aspects of the invention are more fully defined by physical amounts , i . e ., weight , of the individual components used . thus , a general process for carrying out many embodiments of the invention is as follows , percentages unless otherwise stated are weight percent based on the weight of total of the mixture or composition : a mixture of 2 - 15 % of a dispersant having a mw of 300 or higher , for example an alkylbenzene sulfonic acid , 5 - 40 % of mgo , 8 %- 30 % of water , 1 - 10 % of a carboxylic acid , e . g ., acetic acid 10 - 70 % of a high boiling hydrocarbon carrier 0 - 60 % of an organic solvent with a boiling point below 280 ° c ., for example a boiling point ranging from about 80 ° c . to about 210 ° c ., for example xylene or mesitylene , is stirred and heated under reflux for 0 . 25 to 5 hours , typically 0 . 5 to 4 hours , for example 1 to 3 hours , and then heated to over 280 ° c ., typically between 300 and 360 ° c ., for example , 300 - 340 ° c . the temperature remains above 280 ° c . until all the water is removed and the resulting mixture is allowed to cool yielding the inventive dispersion . the product produced by the inventive process comprises the mgo / dispersant product and high temperature hydrocarbon carrier and is bright and clear with very little to no sediment . the optional organic solvent may be removed by distillation if desired . it is also possible to remove some of the high boiling carrier if desired , in which case distillation under reduced pressure may provide advantages . in one embodiment , the overbased magnesium oxide dispersion is produced from a mixture of mgo , a mixture of alkylated benzene sulfonic acids such as a mixture comprising benzene sulfonic acids substituted with alkyl chains of from 14 to 24 carbon atoms , e . g ., 18 to 24 carbon atoms , acetic acid , water and an optional aromatic solvent such as xylene or mesitylene using a light natural oil , an alkylated benzene or mixture of alkylated benzenes , or alpha olefin oligomers as carrier , for example , a mixture of oligomers of 1 - decene . 2 - 10 %, for example 3 - 10 %, for example 3 - 7 % of a dispersant , for example an alkylbenzene sulfonic acid , 5 - 40 %, typically 10 - 40 %, for example 10 - 25 % of mgo , 10 %- 20 %, for example , 12 - 20 % or 12 - 18 % water 1 - 10 %, for example 1 - 7 %, for example 2 - 5 % of a carboxylic acid , e . g ., acetic acid 10 - 40 %, for example 15 - 30 %, of a high boiling hydrocarbon carrier 20 - 60 % for example 25 - 50 %, for example 30 - 45 % of an organic solvent with a boiling point ranging from about 80 ° c . to about 210 ° c ., for example xylene or mesitylene , is stirred and heated under reflux for 0 . 25 to 5 hours , typically 0 . 5 to 3 hours and then heated to over 280 ° c ., typically between 300 and 360 ° c ., for example , 300 - 340 ° c . the temperature remains above 280 until all the water is removed and the resulting mixture is allowed to cool yielding the inventive dispersion . 2 - 15 %, for example 4 - 10 %, for example 5 - 10 % of a dispersant having a mw of 300 or higher , for example an alkylbenzene sulfonic acid , 10 - 40 %, for example , 10 - 35 %, for example 15 - 30 % of mgo , 8 %- 30 %, for example , 10 - 20 % or 12 - 18 % water 1 - 10 %, for example 1 - 5 %, for example 1 - 4 % of a carboxylic acid , e . g ., acetic acid 10 - 70 %, for example 30 - 60 %, for example 40 - 55 %, of a high boiling hydrocarbon carrier 0 - 30 %, for example 0 - 10 %, for example 5 - 10 %, of an organic solvent with a boiling point below 280 ° c ., for example a boiling point ranging from about 80 ° c . to about 210 ° c ., for example xylene or mesitylene , is stirred and heated under reflux for 0 . 25 to 5 hours , typically 0 . 5 to 4 hours , for example 1 to 3 hours , and then heated to over 280 ° c ., typically between 300 and 360 ° c ., for example , 300 - 340 ° c . the temperature remains above 280 ° c . until all the water is removed , and the organic solvent is distilled off , and the resulting mixture is allowed to cool yielding the inventive dispersion . the product produced by the inventive process comprises the mgo / dispersant product and high temperature hydrocarbon carrier and is bright and clear with very little to no sediment . the reaction components need not be added to the reactor simultaneously . for example , in one embodiment the mgo is added first with mixing to the carrier and optional solvent , followed by dispersant and water , and the carboxylic acid is added last . there may be more than two heating stages , for example , in one embodiment the components are mixed at temperatures of 50 to 150 ° c . for 1 to 3 hours , the temperature is then raised , for example to temperatures higher than 150 ° c ., such as 155 to 220 ° c ., while removing excess water and solvent , and then after the excess water and solvent is removed , the reaction is heated to temperatures in excess of 280 ° c ., typically between 300 and 360 ° c ., and held until all water is removed . excess carrier may also be removed at this point but much of the carrier that distills over with the water is returned to the reaction vessel by using , for example , a liquid / liquid extractor or dean stark apparatus . the invention is very valuable for the production of mgo dispersions in a high boiling hydrocarbon carrier wherein the wt % of magnesium is greater than 14 %, for example , dispersions wherein the wt % of magnesium is 20 % or higher . in a particular embodiment , mgo dispersions comprising 20 - 40 % magnesium are prepared such as those containing about 30 - 35 % magnesium . the overbased magnesium containing dispersion can be used as an additive in fuels , lubricating oils , anti corrosive paints and as part of any formulation containing similar materials . for example , the dispersion is used as an additive in petroleum based lubricants and fuels . the typical uses and dose levels are found in the art cited above , additional additive art not previously cited such as u . s . pat . no . 4 , 094 , 801 , incorporated herein in its entirety by reference , standard texts and other commercial literature . for example , when used as a lubricant additive , the product of the inventive process is added in an amount of 1 - 40 %, for example 1 - 20 %, and typically at least 2 % or 5 % by weight based on the amount of magnesium present in the final composition . less is typically added to fuels ; for example less than 2 % and typically less than 1 %, for example 1 - 2 , 000 ppm often 1 - 1 , 000 ppm or 1 - 100 ppm by weight based on the amount of magnesium present in the final composition . when part of a fuel , lubricating oil or other commercial composition , other standard additives common to fuels or lubricants will obviously also be present . once the dispersion is prepared , the product of the present invention can be further processed if desired , or additional materials such as co - additives such as other dispersants , buffers etc , solvents , oils and the like can be added . to a 500 ml 3 - neck round bottom flask is charged 29 . 3 grams of mgo ( 98 %), 12 . 0 grams of an alkylated benzene sulfonic acid dispersant , 50 . 0 grams of pao - 4 ( a mixture of 1 - decene oligomers ), 100 . 0 grams of xylene , 30 . 0 grams of water , and 6 . 2 grams of glacial acetic acid . the mixture is then stirred and heated to reflux for 1 hr after which time the mixture was further heated to 350 ° c . using dean - stark trap to remove all water and return any oil that is distilled off . the resulting product is cooled down to room temperature ; it is bright and clear with very little sediment , yield ˜ 99 % according to the weight obtained and theoretical weight . the mg % is about 18 weight %. the procedure of example 1 is repeated using a different alkylated benzene sulfonic acid dispersant to obtain a bright , clear dispersion with very little sediment , yield ˜ 99 % according to the weight obtained and theoretical weight and the mg % is about 18 weight %. to a 500 ml 3 - neck round bottom flask is charged 45 . 3 grams of mgo ( 98 %), 16 . 0 grams of the sulfonic acid dispersant of ex 2 , 37 . 0 grams of pao - 4 ( a mixture of 1 - decene oligomers ), 100 . 0 grams of xylene , 30 . 0 grams of water , and 7 . 0 grams of glacial acetic acid . the mixture is then stirred and heated to reflux for 1 hr after which time the mixture was further heated to 350 ° c . using dean - stark trap to remove all water and return any oil that is distilled off . the resulting product is cooled to room temperature ; it is bright and clear with very little sediment , yield ˜ 99 % according to the weight obtained and theoretical weight . the mg % is about 26 weight %. under a nitrogen atmosphere at 4 psig , 22000 kg of a mixture of c 10 - 13 alkylated benzene distillation bottom and 2200 kg of xylenes are mixed and 8000 kg of mgo added under agitation for 15 minutes . 3100 kg of a mixture of c 6 - 24 alkylated benzene sulfonic acid is added with agitation to disperse , 5300 kg of deionized water is then added , followed by 880 kg of acetic acid . the resulting mixture is heated to 100 ° c . under full agitation for 2 - 3 hrs and then heated to 200 ° c . to remove water and xylene . the temperature is then raised to 330 ° c . and distilled until no more water is collected with alkylated benzenes being returned to the reaction vessel via a liquid / liquid extractor . vacuum is gradually applied to 50 mmhg to concentrate the reaction mixture slightly to a mg content of 33 %, the product is cooled and diluted with # 2 fuel to achieve 30 % mg content , and filtered . | 2 |
with reference to fig1 the optical system which is heated using the method according to the invention comprises a thin layer of an ion - conducting macromolecular material 10 ( polymeric solid electrolyte ) sandwiched between two electrodes 12 , 14 . a &# 34 ; thin layer &# 34 ; of the ion - conducting macromolecular material 10 means that a layer of the said material whose thickness , which actually corresponds to the distance separating the two electrodes 12 , 14 situated on both sides of the ion - conducting macromolecular material 10 , low in relation to the areas of this macromolecular material which are in contact with the adjacent layers formed by the electrodes 12 , 14 . the thickness of the thin layer of the ion - conducting macromolecular material 10 is advantageously between 5 μm and 2000 μm , it being necessary for the said thickness to be as uniform as possible . the ion - conducting macromolecular material 10 may be any one of the polymer - based materials capable of simultaneously exhibiting an ion conductivity of at least 10 - 7 siemens / cm at room temperature and an electron conductivity of less than than 10 - 10 siemens / cm . the ion - conducting macromolecular material 10 may , in particular , consist of a solid solution of at least one ionisable salt , especially an alkali metal salt and in particular a lithium salt , in a plastic polymeric material made up at least partly of one or more polymers and / or copolymers of monomers containing at least one heteroatom , especially oxygen or nitrogen , capable of forming bonds of the donor / acceptor type with the cation of the ionisable salt , the said polymer ( s ) being chosen in particular from polyethers and especially from ethylene oxide or propylene oxide homopolymers ( cf . ep - a - 0 , 013 , 199 ). in the improvements made to the solid solutions of the abovementioned type the plastic polymeric material may consist in particular of a copolymer of ethylene oxide and of at least one other cyclic oxide , the said copolymer having either the structure of a random copolymer ( u . s . pat . no . 4 , 578 , 326 ) which may be optionally crosslinked ( fr - a - 2 , 570 , 224 ) or else the form of a network of the urethane type resulting from the reaction of a block copolymer of ethylene oxide and of at least one other cyclic oxide with a coupling agent consisting of an organic polyisocyanate ( fr - a - 2 , 485 , 274 ). in addition , the ionisable salts mentioned in reference ep - a - 0 , 013 , 199 may be partly or wholly replaced by ionisable salts such as alkali metal closoboranes ( fr - a2 , 523 , 770 ), alkali metal tetrakistrialkylsiloxyalanates ( fr - a - 2 , 527 , 611 ), bis ( perhaloalkylsulphonyl ) imides or alkali metal bis ( perhaloacyl ) imides ( fr - a - 2 , 527 , 602 ), alkali metal tetraalkynylborates or aluminates ( fr - a2 , 527 , 610 ), alkali metal derivatives of perhaloalkylsulphonylmethane or perhaloacylmethane compounds ( fr - a2 , 606 , 218 ) or else alkali metal salts of polyethoxylated anions ( ep - a - 0 , 213 , 985 ). the ion - conducting macromolecular material 10 may further consist of a solid solution of an ionisable salt , for example a salt such as described in the abovementioned references , in a polymeric material consisting of an organometallic polymer in which at least two polyether chains are linked by a metal atom chosen from al , zn and mg ( fr - a - 2 , 557 , 735 ) or from si , cd , b and ti ( fr - a - 2 , 565 , 413 ) or else of a polymeric material consisting of a polyphosphazene carrying two polyether groups such as polyoxyethylene groups on each phosphorus atom . the ion - conducting macromolecular material 10 can also be chosen from mixtures of polymers of polar nature and / or solvating with any salt , acid or base sufficiently dissociated in the polymer to obtain the appropriate ion conductivity or else from polymers carrying ionisable functional groups producing anions or cations attached to the macromolecular chains or else from protonic conductors such as those described in reference fr - a2 , 593 , 328 or mixtures of inert polymers with inorganic or organic ion - conducting materials dispersed in the polymeric matrix . if need be , the ion - conducting polymeric material 10 may also contain one or more additives of a plasticising nature , especially one or more sulphones or sulphonamides such as tetraethylsulphonamide . with reference to fig2 when the optical system to be heated is an electrochromic system , at least one of the electrodes of the said system contains a material 26 , 28 , known as an electrochromic material , which is arranged in contact with the layer of polymeric solid electrolyte 10 and in which the insertion or the deinsertion of ions , especially alkali metal ions , in particular lithium , or of protons , results in a change in the light absorption and / or reflection spectrum of the said material . such an electrochromic material 26 , 28 may be especially based on a transition metal oxide or on a mixture or a solid solution of transition metal oxides , and in particular based on an oxide of a metal such as tungsten , molybdenum , vanadium or on a mixture or a solid solution of oxides of such metals . . as for the transparent conducting deposit 16 , 18 which at least one of the electrodes 12 , 14 of the optical system comprises and which is in contact with the inner face of the corresponding support plate 20 , 22 of the inorganic or organic transparent material , this is generally based on tin oxide and consists , for example , of mixed tin indium oxide or of tin cadmium oxide or else of tin oxide doped with antimony oxide or with fluorine . when the optical system to be heated contains an electrode provided with a transparent conducting deposit and an electrode comprising a nontransparent conductor , the latter may be especially made of a current - conducting material capable of forming a reflecting layer and , for example , made of a metal such as ag , al , ni ,, li , cr or stainless steel . when one of the electrodes 12 , 14 comprises a nontransparent current conductor , this conductor may take the form of a deposit on the associated support plate 20 , 22 or may also consist of the said support plate 20 , 22 , which is then chosen so that it will conduct . the conducting deposit may be produced on the appropriate face of the support plate 20 , 22 by any method which is suitable for this purpose and especially by chemical or physical vacuum deposition . the heating method according to the invention lends itself very well to the heating of an optical , especially electrochromic , system with polymeric solid electrolyte of the abovementioned type , since it permits rapid and uniform heating without altering in any way the transparency of the surfaces to be demisted or defrosted , and this is particularly useful for defrosting windows and / or rear - view mirrors of motor vehicles in wintertime . this is obviously not the case with the resistance heater wires printed at uniform intervals on the inner face of rear windows of motor vehicles which are currently being employed by most manufacturers and which cannot be employed for defrosting windscreens because of the interference with visibility due to the presence of these resistance wires . when the optical system to be heated is an electrochromic system the alternating component of electrical voltage which is applied between the conducting deposits 16 , 18 of the electrodes 12 , 14 of the said electrochromic device , in order to heat this device , it can be coupled or otherwise to the electrical voltage 24 determining the colour of the electrochromic device . when the optical device is being heated , the intensity of the alternating current generated within the polymeric solid electrolyte 10 by the application of the alternating voltage between the conducting deposits 16 , 18 of the electrodes of the said device tends to increase because of the decrease in the resistance of the polymeric solid electrolyte if need be , the temperature during the heating can be controlled so as not to exceed a predetermined value , it being possible for this control to be carried out as indicated above by controlling the effective voltage and / or the current of the alternating signal . the alternating voltage which can be employed for heating the optical system may be generated by any known alternating voltage source 24 capable of delivering an alternating electrical voltage in the shape of an uninterrupted signal or a noncontinuous signal exhibiting the frequency and amplitude characteristics defined above . this alternating voltage source 24 is connected to the conducting deposits 16 , 18 the electrodes 12 , 14 of the optical system to be heated . when the optical system is of the electrochromic system type the alternating voltage source 24 can be integrated into the system which controls the voltage for controlling the said electrochromic system . the invention is illustrated by the following examples , which are given without any limitation being implied . an electrochromic device was produced , comprising two windows , each with a thickness of 3 mm and each of whose facing sides served as a support for an electrode , the said electrodes consisting , one of a transparent ito ( indium tin oxides ) deposit and the other of a transparent ito deposit coated with a layer of wo 3 and both being separated by a 30 - μm layer of a polymeric solid electrolyte to which they adhere strongly , the wo : layer capable of inserting lithium reversibly under the effect of an electrical field being facing the polymeric solid electrolyte . the said electrolyte consisted of a solid solution containing 7 % by weight of liclo 4 in a copolymer of ethylene oxide and butylene oxide , containing 70 % by weight of ethylene oxide , this electrolyte being transparent to visible light and having an ionic conductivity , expressed in siemens / cm , ranging from 10 - 6 at 0 ° c . to 10 - 4 at 80 ° c . when a direct voltage of 3 volts was applied between the conducting deposits of the electrodes of the electrochromic device thus produced , this device changed colour at 20 ° c . after a period of approximately 300 seconds . this test was repeated by superposing onto the 3 - volt direct voltage employed to control the colour change of the device , an alternating electrical voltage with an amplitude of 5 volts at a frequency of 50 hz . a very rapid rise in the temperature of the electrochromic device was observed , its core reaching a temperature of approximately 60 ° c . after approximately 10 seconds and the change in the colour of the said device was produced after approximately 60 seconds . the kinetics of the heating phenomenon resulting from the application of the alternating voltage are substantially the same for a given alternating voltage , whatever the surface area of the device ; only the distributed current and hence the power dissipated by a joule effect varies proportionally to the said surface area . a &# 34 ; triplex &# 34 ; device was produced , consisting of two glass panes , each 3 mm in thickness , bonded together with a transparent adhesive . each of the facing sides of the two glass panes was coated with a conducting transparent deposit based on mixed indium tin oxide ( ito ), the said deposits forming the electrodes of the device . the adhesive bonding the two glass panes together consisted of a polymeric solid electrolyte consisting of a solid solution containing 7 % by weight of liclo 4 in a polymeric matrix of polyetherurethane obtained by the action of an aliphatic triisocyanate on a random α , ω - dihydroxylated copolymer derived from ethylene oxide and butylene oxide . the device thus produced formed a window whose surface area was 25 cm 2 and the thickness of the electrolyte adhesive was 50 μm . when a sinusoidal alternating voltage which had an effective value of 10 volts was applied between the conducting deposits or electrodes of the said device and a frequency of 50 hz an increase of 20 ° c . in the temperature of this device was observed after a few seconds . | 7 |
fig1 - a to 1 - c show the osi model and its application to this invention . fig1 - a show the osi layers in general , and fig1 - b show the osi layer affected by the link protocol . as shown in fig1 - b , a link protocol typically only operates at layer 2 the link layer , of the protocol stack . the link protocol provides a fixed set of services to layer 3 the network layer , and has no knowledge of the protocols used outside layer 2 . the present invention provides a method and apparatus for improving the quality of service ( qos ) for multimedia communications over a radio link , while giving priority to correctly delivering acknowledgments for information already received . according to the invention , a radio link adapter ( rla ) is designed to provide services that closely match the type of service ( tos ) requirements and that can be dynamically selected to transport information without having to recreate a connection . a link adapter may operate at any and all levels of the protocol stack used between the sender and the receiver . in practical terms , this means that the link adapter of the invention extracts information from anywhere in the communications environment and manipulates any of the protocols used between the sender and the receiver , as shown in fig1 - c . the radio link adapter concept falls into a general class of protocol enhancement techniques known as “ protocol boosters ” that are designed to provide improved end - to - end protocol performance without changing the semantics of the end - to - end protocol . thus , while the effects of the rla protocol booster may be apparent to the communicating end points , e . g . improved throughput , the mechanisms and protocols used internally by this rla protocol booster are transparent to the end points . the “ boosters ” known in the art so far are static boosters . dynamic selection of an rla allows the wireless system to determine the service requirements of an information flow and to quickly change the way that service is provided , as the needs of the flow change and as the conditions on the radio link change . the latter is particularly important in a wireless environment . protocols that are in widespread use today , like the transmission control protocol ( tcp ), have been developed for use in a wired environment where the link is very stable . however , the conditions on the radio link fluctuate rapidly due to fading and interference and therefore , the wireless system must be able to react quickly to shield protocols like tcp from those changes and to maintain the end - to - end quality of service ( qos ). fig2 illustrates a radio link protocol architecture illustrating a sample current network , showing a radio access network ( ran ) 101 and a mobile station ( ms ) 102 . for each type of service ( tos ), a communication link is established between ran 101 and mobile 102 over air interface 103 . the end of each link is intuitively shown in ran 101 by connection units 1 - 3 denoted with 11 , 12 , and 13 , linked with corresponding connections 21 , 22 , and 23 in ms 102 . the term “ connection ” is used to designate a unidirectional facility / mechanism that allows information to be exchanged between two or more points in a communication network . it includes both circuit and packet modes of communications . three different types of radio link protocols ( rlps ) are illustrated in fig2 each having a ran component and a ms component . these are a signaling rlp 14 , 24 , a voice rlp 15 , 25 and a packet data rlp 16 , 26 . signaling rlp 14 , 24 is designed to handle high - priority , packet - based signaling traffic between the ran and the ms . voice rlp 15 , 25 is designed to transport voice traffic between the ran and the ms . packet data rlp 16 , 26 is designed to transport packet data traffic between the ran 101 and the ms 102 on a “ best effort ” basis . the following steps are currently performed for sending information from ran 101 to ms 102 . a . a higher level entity ( not shown ) requests that a signaling connection 11 be established to transport information between the ran 101 and the ms 102 . no further information is needed since the quality of service ( qos ) afforded by connection 11 is dictated by the type of traffic , which is signaling in this example , and the rlp 14 is defined a priori to carry this traffic . b . ran 101 indicates to ms 102 that a signaling connection is required and they handshake using the air interface protocol ( aip ) to establish the corresponding connection 21 in ms 102 along with its corresponding rlp 24 . a voice connection 12 , 22 is created in a similar way through the voice rlps 15 , 25 , and a packet data connection 13 , 23 is created through the packet data rlps 16 , 26 . c . once the connections have been established , when information is to be sent from the ran 101 to the ms 102 , a higher - level entity ( not shown ) determines the type of information ( toi ) to be sent ( signaling , voice , or packet data ), and enqueues the information to be transmitted over the appropriate connection 11 , 12 or 13 , respectively . d . all signaling information sent on connection 11 is delivered using rlps 14 and 24 regardless of whether the information represents a high priority connection control message , or a low priority location management message . similarly , all voice information sent on connection 12 is delivered using rlps 15 and 25 regardless of whether the information represents an active speech spurt or background noise . it is to be noted that the channel coding used for an active speech spurt is different from that used for background noise . this may be considered a primitive form of dynamic radio link adaptation . all information transmitted over the ran connection 13 is delivered to ms connection 23 using the data rlps 16 and 26 , regardless of the characteristics of the information flow . for example , bulk file transfer often considered a “ low priority ” activity , uses the same rlps 16 and 26 as an interactive query , which is considered a “ high priority ” activity . by contrast , fig3 is a functional block diagram showing the dynamic allocation of a radio link adapter ( rla ) to a connection in a wireless multimedia communications system . the system of fig3 includes a number of radio link adapters ( rlas ) namely rlas 34 - 36 in the radio access network ( ran ) 111 paired with rlas 44 - 46 in the mobile station ( ms ) 112 . each rla communicates with its pair instance . for example , the rla 34 in the ran 111 only communicates with the rla 44 in the ms 112 , rla 35 with rla 45 , and rla 36 with rla 36 . each adapter is associated with a particular type of service ( tos ). fig3 illustrates ran adapters 34 - 36 , as well as ms adapters 44 - 46 , but any number of other rlas may also exist , as needed . for connections from ran 111 to ms 112 , rla selection is accomplished through the following procedure : a connection 31 is initially created in ran 111 to transport information from the ran 111 to a connection 41 in the ms 112 . based on information either included in the connection setup request , or derived from the ms 112 profile , or negotiated between the ms 112 and the ran 111 , an initial service requirement is determined , and a corresponding rla pair , let &# 39 ; s say rla 35 and rla 45 , is identified . other connections between the ran 111 and the ms 112 may also exist , like for example connection 32 - 42 , and may use the same adapter type , or a different type of rla . as ran 111 exchanges information with the ms 112 , the ran monitors connection 31 ( and all other active connections ) to determine if the service requirements of the connection 31 are still being met by the rla 34 . if ran 111 determines that the service requirements of an individual information element , e . g . a control packet , cannot be satisfied by the adapters 35 and 45 currently used , the information element ( ie ) is directed to another rla that can provide the appropriate type of service ( tos ), e . g . to the rla pair 34 , 44 . other information elements ( ies ) continue to flow through the rla 35 . at the ms 112 , all information elements ( ies ) are directed to connection 41 regardless of the adapters used to deliver the information element ( ie ) between the ran 111 and the ms 112 connections . if ran 111 determines that the service requirements of the entire connection cannot be satisfied by the currently used adapters , all future information elements meeting the new type of service ( tos ) traveling over connection 31 - 41 are redirected to an adapter that can satisfy the requirements . the selection of a new adapter may be triggered by any one of a number of mechanisms . these mechanisms may include an explicit request from the ms 112 received either over a separate signaling connection or in - band over the same connection used to carry information elements . a new adapter could be selected based on an analysis of the dynamic traffic characteristics exhibited by the information flowing over the connection , or the interpretation of the information or portions of the information elements like control information contained in an information element header . selection can also be made based on the recognition / identification of a particular information element carried over the connection e . g . an “ open file ” request , or based on the current conditions on the radio link , e . g . changes in congestion or bit error rate . for establishing a connection from the ms 112 to the ran 111 , a similar process takes place but with the roles reversed . the ms 112 monitors the connection and initiates changes in the adapters being used . fig4 is a functional block diagram showing a wireless multimedia communications system using dynamic radio link adaptation . the particular example shown in this figure refers to a bulk file transfer application , and it is described using also fig5 and 6 . fig5 illustrates an example of a radio link adapter frame according to the invention , while fig6 is a flow chart used to illustrate the method steps of the radio link adaptation . each of the radio access network 111 and the mobile station 112 includes instances of radio link adapters ( rlas ) 34 - 36 , and respectively 44 - 46 , each rla pair being associated with a particular type of service ( tos ). thus , rla 34 in the ran 111 only communicates with rla 44 in the ms 112 , rla 35 with rla 45 , and rla 36 with rla 46 . the capabilities of each rla are tailored to optimize the transportation of a specific information or class of information flow over the radio link 101 . it is to be understood that the number of rla pairs could be higher than three , depending on the services available to the respective network and the mobile station ( ms ). fig4 shows again only two connections , namely connection 31 - 41 and connection 32 - 42 . each ran connection is continuously monitored by a packet flow analyzer 10 for determining the type of service over the respective connection ; if the current rla associated with the connection can satisfy the required quality of service ( qos ); and if not , if there is another rla which could . packet flow analyzer 10 has knowledge of information flow requirements ( ifr ) for each connection , which are stored in a database 30 . analyzer 10 also uses a database 20 with bandwidth management policies ( bmp ), the policies being associated with the end user and / or the wireless system operator . in addition , the rla capabilities are stored in database 40 . packet flow analyzer 10 monitors the information flow over each ran connection , shown by arrow 17 . analyzer 10 also controls how the information flowing through the connection 32 should be transported over the radio link 103 to ms 112 , shown by arrow 18 . fig6 illustrates the steps of a radio link adaptation performed by the adapter of fig4 and using radio link adapter frames as illustrated in fig5 all according to the invention . in this example using a bulk file transfer , the operation begins with a higher - level entity ( not shown ) requesting a connection , step a , for linking the ran 111 and the ms 112 . let &# 39 ; s say that a connection 32 is established in ran 111 . based on information either included in the connection setup request , or derived from the ms 112 profile , or negotiated between the ms 112 and the ran 101 , an initial service requirement is determined , and rla 34 is identified for use by connection 32 , as shown in step b . the ran 111 indicates to the ms 112 that a connection is required and they handshake using the air interface protocol ( aip ), to establish the corresponding connection 42 in ms 112 , along with its corresponding rla 44 step b . the packet flow analyzer 10 receives monitoring data 17 related to connection 32 - 42 , as shown in step c . packet flow analyzer 10 determines that the information being carried on this connection is a part of a bulk file transfer , in this example . flow classification may be based on the content of information elements ( ies ) like well - known protocol identifiers found in a packet header , or on the dynamic behavior of the flow like the size and frequency of the packets , or on the network configuration parameters like the physical link identifier , or on the node address . the analyzer 10 uses the rla capabilities database 40 to compare the capabilities of the rla 34 to the information flow requirements 30 and to the bandwidth management policies 20 of the system , step d . let &# 39 ; s say that , from this comparison , analyzer 10 determines that the type of service ( tos ) requirements of the bulk file transfer information flow on connection 32 - 42 cannot be satisfied by the rla 34 , but can be satisfied by the rla 35 , shown by branch “ no ” of decision block d . the packet flow analyzer 10 sends a control signal 18 instructing connection 32 - 42 to select a new type of rla pair 35 - 45 for example , if it is more adequate for the type of service ( tos ) requested , step f , and redirects all its information elements to this rla pair , shown in step g . if the type of service can be handled satisfactory by the rla pair 34 - 44 , as shown by branch “ yes ” of decision block d , a new rla pair is not selected , and the transfer of information continues over the first rla pair 34 - 44 . the rla pair 35 - 45 ( or the like ) allocated to a required tos ( type of service ) then performs any operations defined by its behavior , including modifications or additions to the original information element , and then initiates transmission of rla frames over the radio link 103 to the ms 112 , step e . a rla frame 100 is shown in fig5 as an example . frame 100 includes a frame header 105 , an rla header 110 , and an information element ( ie ) 120 . a field 106 in frame header 105 is used by the ms 112 to determine which radio link rla should receive the information element ( ie ). in the example of fig4 field 106 will reference the rla 45 . rla 45 uses a connection identifier 107 , also contained in the rla frame header 105 , to determine which connection should receive the information element . in this case , the identifier 107 will reference connection 42 . the information elements received by rla 45 are regularly examined to ensure that they conform to the quality of service ( qos ) associated with this rla , steps h and i . information for use by the rla pair 35 , 45 may be contained in an rla header 110 associated with the rla frame 100 . the format and content of the rla header 110 is rla - specific and forms part of a protocol that originates with the ran rla 32 and terminates on the ms rla 42 . for example , let &# 39 ; s say that the service provided by the rlas 35 , 45 , requires to deliver all frames to connection 42 in the same order they were transmitted . in this case , a sequence number could be added to the frame by the ran rla 35 in field 115 , and used by the ms rla 45 to determine the correct position of the information element ( ie ) within the connection . in the case of a bulk file transfer information flow , the qos may include assured delivery of the information elements . frames 100 are examined in steps h and i to check if they have been received without errors . information elements ( ies ) meeting the qos ( quality of service ) defined by the rla 45 are delivered to the appropriate connection 42 , step j . if information elements ( ies ) do not correspond to the qos requested , the rla instances 35 , 45 interact using a protocol or other mechanisms unique to this rlas , to overcome the radio link impairment , shown in step 1 . if rla instances 35 , 45 cannot overcome the radio link impairments in order to provide an information element ( ie ) with the required qos , the treatment accorded non - conforming information elements is dependent on the exception - handling behavior defined for the rla 34 . this may include silently discarding the information element ( ie ); discarding the information element ( ie ) and signaling an error to the connection 42 ; forwarding the information element ( ie ) as - is to the connection 42 along with a warning that the element ( ie ) does not meet the tos criteria of the respective rla ; forwarding the information element ( ie ) as - is to connection 42 with no warning ; or terminating the connection 42 . in the case of bulk file transfer , the exception - handling behavior for rla 45 may be “ silently discard ”, knowing that the higher - level tcp incorporates its own retransmissions mechanisms , step p . steps k and m show the end of information transfer ( eot ) and of the connection . the rlas are dynamically assigned to a connection . the current rla pair may be changed for one of many reasons . at some point during information transfer , the higher - level entity ( not shown ) sends a tcp acknowledgment packet over connection 32 - 42 . the packet flow analyzer 10 receives monitoring data 17 related to connection 32 and determines that the acknowledgment is a control element that must be treated differently from the other information elements ( ies ) comprising the bulk file transfer . in this case , the packet flow analyzer 10 selects a new type of rla that can satisfy the requirements of the connection , step f , and sends control signal 18 instructing ran connection 32 to redirect the control element to rla 34 , step g . other information elements ( ies ) will continue to flow through the rla 35 . the rla is changed when the type of information ( toi ), or the quality of service ( qos ) requirements change . as indicated above , analyzer 10 monitors continuously the flow of information , steps c and d and the rlas attempt to overcome some or all of the failure in service of the transmission . the packet flow analyzer 10 compares the capabilities of the rla 35 to the information flow requirements ( ifr ) 30 and to the bandwidth management policies ( bmp ) 20 of the system , step d . let &# 39 ; s say that from these data , the analyzer 10 determines that the qos requirements of the information elements cannot be satisfied by the rla 35 but can be satisfied by the rla 36 , branch “ no ” of decision block d . at the ms 112 , the rla identifier 106 is used to determine that this radio link adapter frame should be processed by the ms rla 46 . the received information element is examined by the ms rla 46 to ensure that it conforms to the qos requirements associated with it , steps i . if it does not , e . g . due to errors on the radio link or congestion in the ran 111 , the ran rla 36 and the ms rla 46 components interact to overcome the radio link impairment , step 1 . as indicated above , they may use a protocol or other mechanisms unique to these rlas . the rla 36 uses the connection identifier 107 included in the received rla frame to identify the connection associated with the element and uses the sequence number 115 to determine the temporal ordering of elements within the connection . information elements meeting the qos requirements associated with the ran rla 36 are delivered to ms connection 42 . the treatment accorded to information elements that do not meet the qos requirements associated with the rla 36 is dependent on the exception - handling behavior defined for this rla ( step p ). numerous variations , modifications and adaptations may be made to the particular embodiments of the invention described above without departing from the scope of the invention as defined in its claims . | 7 |
with reference to the drawings , fig1 illustrates a microphone system 10 which includes two long , cylindrical microphones 12 and 14 mounted so that their sound receiving surfaces emerge from a front surface 16 of a box 18 . the box 18 also contains a pair of batteries 20 and 22 and a circuit board 24 . the batteries 20 and 22 and the microphones 12 and 14 are wired electrically to the circuit board 24 . the circuit board 24 generates an output signal that is applied to an output cable 26 . a preamplifier 400 is carried by the circuit board 24 . the details of the preamplifier 400 are set forth in fig4 which is described below . while the box 10 is shown open on one side with the circuit board 24 and batteries 20 and 22 outside of the box 10 , it will be understood that normally the elements 20 , 22 and 24 are mounted within the box 10 which is closed to form a microphone assembly . the system 10 is used in the same manner as any microphone . it can , for example , be hand - held before the lips of a speaker ( not shown ) who speaks directly into the front surface 16 of the system 10 . a highly directional microphone operation is thereby achieved . even very loud background noises coming from directions other than directly into the two microphones 12 and 14 perpendicular to the front surface 16 do not appear in the output signal carried by the cable 26 . but even when the speaker speaks in a normal voice directly perpendicular to the front surface 16 , a voice signal is captured , separated from the background signals , and applied to the cable 26 . fig2 illustrates another embodiment of the invention mounted as the microphone element of a telephone handset 202 , shown here with the cover 204 of its microphone housing removed , to reveal the microphone element 206 . two miniature microphone 212 and 214 are electrically connected to a two - element circuit board 224 which contains the preamplifier 400 that processes signals received from the two microphones 212 nd 214 and generates an output signal which appears on the microphone output leads 226 . the preamplifier 400 derives its power from the normal d . c . current that flows through a telephone line or from extra wires ( not shown ) that are included in the coiled cable 208 . fig3 illustrates another telephone handset 302 having a cover 304 for the microphone portion that is shaped to bring two miniature microphones 312 and 314 even closer to the mouth of the one who is speaking ( not shown ). the preamplifier 400 ( not shown in fig3 ) is contained within a box 316 that is connected to the handset 302 by a microphone and earpiece cable 308 and that has extending from it an output cable 320 containing output signals from the preamplifier 400 . mounted upon the box 316 is a sensitivity control 322 that permits the sensitivity of the microphone system to background noise to be adjusted as needed . fig4 is a block diagram of the preamplifier 400 , illustrating its major components as implemented in the embodiment of the invention shown in fig3 . a summing circuit 402 sums incoming signals 422 and 424 received from the microphones 312 and 314 and supplies a sum signal 403 through a gain control gating circuit 404 to an audio output 406 . a multiplier circuit 408 multiplies together the incoming signals 422 and 424 received from the microphones 312 and 314 and passes the resulting product signal through a low pass filter 410 and a rectifier 412 which produces a gain control signal 414 that controls the gain of the gating circuit 404 . low level incoming sound signals reach the audio output 406 greatly attenuated , since the gain of such signals is proportional to the square of their amplitude as determined by the multiplier 408 . as a signal weakens , its amplitude is attenuated in proportion to the square of the signal level . as the amplitude of a signal falls , the gain of the circuit falls much faster , and accordingly , a relatively small drop in signal level at the microphones produces a much larger drop in the amplitude of the signal in the audio output 406 . signals coming from other than directly perpendicular to the two microphones 312 and 314 are attenuated first by the summer 402 , since they may not be in phase , and secondly by the gain circuit 404 which is controlled by the multiplier 408 , since the product of signals not in phase falls off rapidly with increase in angle away from perpendicular . to emphasize this rejection of signals coming in from an angle , the low - pass filter 410 in conjunction with the rectifier 412 causes the multiplier 408 to function as a cross - correlation mechanism which effectively rejects all incoming signals that are not precisely in phase . when used together , as shown , there is synergy among all of the mechanisms just described that greatly accentuates the ability of this microphone system to reject and attenuate background signals while readily passing voice signals directly into the microphone elements . in actual tests , attenuation of background noises over 60 decibels have been achieved relative to voice signals spoken directly into the microphones 312 and 314 . fig5 illustrates the preferred embodiment of the preamplifier 400 in full detail and as just explained . the microphones 312 and 314 are provided with operating power from a positive source of supply 502 by 2 . 2k resistors 506 and 508 . 1 . 5 mfd capacitors 510 and 512 connect the microphones 312 and 314 to x and y input terminals ( pins 3 and 5 ) of the multiplier circuit 408 which is an exar model xr2208 operational multiplier . 2 . 2k resistors 514 and 516 connect these input terminals to ground 504 , and a 1k resistor 518 connects an x and y opposite polarity input terminal ( pin 4 ) of the multiplier circuit 408 to ground 504 . the sum circuit 402 comprises a pair of 10k resistors 520 and 522 that couple the capacitors 510 and 512 to an x input ( pin 3 ) of the gating circuit 404 which is also an exar xr - 2208 operational multiplier . this x input is connected to ground 504 by a 2 . 2k resistor 526 . the common x - y opposite polarity input ( pin 4 ) of the gain circuit 404 is connected to ground 504 by a resistor 524 . the gain of the x and y inputs of the multiplier circuit 408 is set by 1k resistors 528 and 530 , connected as shown ; and likewise , the gain of the gating circuit 404 multiplier x and y inputs is adjusted by a 1k resistor 532 , which adjusts the x gain applied to the sum signal 403 , and by a 47k resistor 534 , which adjusts the gain of the y input which receives the gain control signal 414 . the normal and inverted output signals 536 and 538 of the multiplier circuit 408 are applied through 10k resistors 540 and 542 to the normal and inverted inputs ( pins 13 and 14 ) of an operational amplifier contained within the multiplier circuit 408 . an output signal ( pin 11 ) flows through a 10k resistor 544 and a rectifier diode 546 to a non - inverted input of an operational amplifier 548 within the rectifier circuit 412 . the amplifier 548 &# 39 ; s non - inverted input is also connected to ground 504 by a 100k resistor 550 . to achieve the low - pass filter 410 , a parallel circuit comprising a 100k resistor 552 and 0 . 22 ufd capacitor 554 is connected in a negative feedback manner across the inverted input and output ( pins 14 and 11 ) of the multiplier circuit 408 &# 39 ; s operational amplifier , as shown . an eight picofarad capacitor 556 suppresses oscillations within the multiplier circuit 408 , in accordance with the manufacturer &# 39 ; s specifications . to permit adjustment of the input signal level threshold , the sensitivity control 322 is a 100k potentiometer and is connected from ground 504 in series with a 50k resistor 562 to the non - inverted input ( pin 13 ) of the operational amplifier within the multiplier circuit 408 . the inverted input of the operational amplifier 548 is connected to ground 504 by a 1k resistor 558 and to the amplifier 548 &# 39 ; s output by a 10k resistor 560 , giving a gain of 10 to 1 . serially - connected 470 ohm resistor 564 and 1k resistor 566 are connected from ground 504 to the positive supply 502 to provide a lower potential for the operational amplifier 548 , which is a 386 quad operational amplifier . the output of the operational amplifier 548 is connected to ground 504 by a parallel circuit comprising a 4 . 7k resistor 568 and a 4 . 7 ufd capacitor 570 . the gain control signal 414 appears at this output of the amplifier 548 and is fed directly into the y input of the gating circuit 404 which is another multiplier . the normal and inverted outputs ( pins 1 and 2 ) of the multiplier within the gating circuit 404 are connected to ground 504 by 0 . 1 ufd capacitors 572 and 574 and to the normal and inverted inputs ( pins 13 and 14 ) of an operational amplifier within the gating circuit 404 by 10k resistors 576 and 578 . the output ( pin 11 ) of this operational amplifier within the gating circuit 404 is connected to its inverting input ( pin 14 ) by a 100k resistor 580 and to the audio output 406 by a 1 . 5 ufd capacitor 582 . the non - inverting input ( pin 13 ) of this operational amplifier within the gating circuit 404 is connected to ground 504 by another 100k resistor 584 . a two picofarad capacitor 586 connects pins 11 and 12 , again to suppress oscillations in accordance with the manufacturer &# 39 ; s specifications . fig6 presents another embodiment of the invention wherein the two microphones 612 and 614 are separated and arranged symmetrically in front of the face of the speaker 602 , as illustrated . for example , fig7 a and 7b illustrate the two microphones mounted upon a podium or console . the source or speaker must be roughly equidistant from the two microphones , in the region where their best sensitivities overlap . this arrangement permits the speaker to be some distance from the two microphones or microphone systems . applications include self - contained podium public address systems , which minimize feed back and control gain or in surveillance situations where the subject must not know the location of the microphones . the microphones could be as much as several feet apart . as the microphones are more widely separated , the noise reduction qualities of the invention become better . the signals are fed into the preamplifier 400 , which may be modified to provide increased input gain . a source equidistant and not too far from the microphones can generate a control signal which increases the gain . in addition to pairs of microphones , arrays of microphones may also be used . for example , in fig8 a , 8b and 8c , application of the invention to a directional hearing aid is illustrated wherein an array of four left microphones 802 , 804 , 806 and 808 and also four right microphones 810 , 812 , 814 and 816 are shown mounted about the perimeter of glasses 818 worn by the subject 820 . the microphone array may be mounted in other ways . the arrays of microphones can be steered or set to omni - directional . the signals generated by the arrays may be fed to a device similar to the preamplifier 400 shown in fig4 . using the product of the output of a pair or more of arrays enhances the selectivity of the system and attenuates background noise even more . the preamplifier is adjusted so that the sound output to the ears of the hearing - impaired subject is turned off or attenuated when the distant speaker is not speaking . the difference in the signals presented at the microphones when the target source is active and when it is inactive can be further used to estimate a filter , which can be used to further improve the target signal to noise ratio . fig9 illustrates how the signals from the microphones in the first array 802 , 804 , 806 and 808 may be combined by a summer or mixer 904 to produce a single signal for presentation to the preamplifier 400 . likewise , the signals from the microphones in the second array 810 , 812 , 814 and 816 may be combined by a summer or mixer 902 to produce a single signal for presentation to the preamplifier 400 . the mixers 902 and 904 may simply add the signals together , or they may combine the signals in a more sophisticated way to steer or alter the directionality of each array , as is done in radar systems and the like . in this latter case , the signals are time - shifted relative to each other before they are summed , as by digital filtering or through the use of analog or digital delays . while the preferred embodiment of the invention has been described in complete detail , it will be understood that numerous modifications and changes will occur to those skilled in the art . the true spirit and scope of the invention is therefore defined precisely in the claims which follow . | 7 |
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