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the following description is of the best - contemplated mode of carrying out the invention . this description is made for the purpose of illustrating the general principles of the invention and should not be taken in a limiting sense . the scope of the invention is best determined by reference to the appended claims . fig1 shows a signal processing module 100 according to an embodiment of the invention . the signal processing module 100 comprises a single - ended to differential conversion circuit 110 and a differential signal processing circuit 120 . the single - ended to differential conversion circuit 110 is capable of converting a single - ended input signal into a pair of intermediate signals ( labeled as the differential current signals i cm + i sig and i cm − i sig , wherein i cm represents the dc component and i sig represents the ac component ). in some embodiments , the pair of intermediate signals may be the voltage signals , and the single - ended to differential conversion circuit 110 is capable of converting the single - ended input signal into the voltages ( e . g . the differential voltage signals v cm + v sig and v cm − v sig ) corresponding to the pair of intermediate signals . the differential signal processing circuit 120 is capable of processing the pair of intermediate signals and providing a pair of differential output signals out p / out n according to the pair of intermediate signals ( e . g . i cm + i sig and i cm − i sig ). for example , in some embodiments , the differential signal processing circuit 120 amplifies the pair of intermediate signals ( e . g . i cm + i sig and i cm − i sig ) to obtain the pair of differential output signals out p / outn . as another example , in some embodiments , the differential signal processing circuit 120 modifies the pair of intermediate signals ( e . g . i cm + i sig , i cm − i sig ) according to a modification signal ( not shown ) to obtain the pair of differential output signals out p / out n . it should be noted that the operation of the differential signal processing circuit 120 is used as an example , and not to limit the invention . fig2 shows a signal processing module 200 according to another embodiment of the invention . the signal processing module 200 comprises a single - ended to differential conversion circuit 210 and a differential signal processing circuit 220 . the single - ended to differential conversion circuit 210 is capable of converting a single - ended input signal v cm + v in into a pair of differential intermediate signals . in the embodiment , the pair of differential intermediate signals are a pair of differential current signals ( e . g . the current ( i p1 + i p2 ) at the node n2 and the current — i n at the node n3 in fig2 ). it should be noted that , v cm may represent a dc voltage , and v in may represent an ac component containing the ac voltage . for example , when v cm = 0v , v in can be used to represent a pure ac signal without a dc component . of course , v in can also be used to represent an ac signal with a dc component . in particular , the embodiments are used as the examples , and not to limit the invention . in the embodiment , the single - ended to differential conversion circuit 210 comprises an amplifier 230 ( as shown in fig2 , the amplifier 230 is a single - ended amplifier ), and six resistors r 1 - r 6 . in some embodiments , the resistor r 6 could be omitted . in other words , the resistor r 6 is optional . the differential signal processing circuit 220 comprises a fully - differential amplifier 240 , and two feedback units 250 and 260 . the feedback unit 250 is coupled between an inverting input terminal and a non - inverting output terminal of the fully - differential amplifier 240 , and the feedback unit 260 is coupled between a non - inverting input terminal and an inverting output terminal of the fully - differential amplifier 240 . in some embodiments , the differential signal processing circuit 220 further comprises two input units ( not shown ), wherein one input unit is coupled between the inverting input terminal of the fully - differential amplifier 240 and a node n2 of the single - ended to differential conversion circuit 210 ( for example , between one differential output terminal of the single - ended to differential conversion circuit 210 and the inverting input terminal of the fully - differential amplifier 240 ), and another input unit is coupled between the non - inverting input terminal of the fully - differential amplifier 240 and the resistor r 3 of the single - ended to differential conversion circuit 210 ( for example , between the other differential output terminal of the single - ended to differential conversion circuit 210 and the non - inverting input terminal of the fully - differential amplifier 240 ). thus , a gain is determined according to the input units and the feedback units 250 and 260 for the fully - differential amplifier 240 . in practice , if the fully - differential amplifier 240 is an ideal amplifier , the input voltages of its inverting input terminal and its non - inverting input terminal are equal . if the fully - differential amplifier 240 is a non - ideal amplifier , the input voltages of its inverting input terminal and its non - inverting input terminal are the differential voltages . in the embodiment , no matter whether the fully - differential amplifier 240 is an ideal amplifier , the two input currents of the fully - differential amplifier 240 are the differential currents . therefore , in the embodiment , for the convenience of explanation , the differential intermediate signals are the differential current signals , and the fully - differential amplifier 240 is an ideal amplifier 240 . it should be noted that the specific type of the fully - differential amplifier 240 is used as an example , and not to limit the invention . the reason is that , for a particular type of fully - differential amplifier 240 , the fully - differential amplifier 240 will automatically adjust the voltages of its input terminals , such that the voltages of the input terminals can meet the objective requests of the particular type of fully - differential amplifier . in the embodiment , for the convenience of description , the voltages of two input terminals of the fully - differential amplifier 240 are maintained at the voltage v cm ( i . e . the voltage v n2 of the node n 2 and the voltage v n3 of the node n 3 are equal to the voltage v cm , e . g . v n2 = v n3 = v cm ), and it should be noted that the invention is not limited thereto . in the single - ended to differential conversion circuit 210 of fig2 , the amplifier 230 has an inverting input terminal coupled to a terminal of the resistor r 1 and a terminal of the resistor r 2 , a non - inverting input terminal for receiving a reference signal v ref , and an output terminal coupled to another terminal of the resistor r 1 , a terminal of the resistor r 3 , and a terminal of the resistor r 4 . in some embodiments , the reference signal v ref has a constant voltage value . for example , the voltage level of the reference signal v ref is equal to that of the dc voltage v cm . for convenience of description , the reference signal v ref is equal to that the dc voltage v cm in the embodiment , and it should be noted that the invention is not limited to this . because , if the voltage level of the dc voltage v cm is not equal to that of the reference signal v ref , v can be replaced by ( v cm − v ref + v in ). thus , based on the following embodiments , the resistance value of the resistor r 3 , and the equivalent impedance of the single - ended to differential conversion circuit 210 can be obtained accordingly . the resistor r 6 is coupled to a node n 1 , and the resistor r 6 is an input resistor for receiving the input signal v in . the resistor r 2 is coupled between the node n 1 and the inverting input terminal of the amplifier 230 , and the inverting input terminal of the amplifier 230 can receive the input signal v in via the resistor r 2 . the resistor r 1 is coupled between the inverting input terminal and the output terminal of the amplifier 230 . the resistor r 3 is coupled between the output terminal of the amplifier 230 and the non - inverting input terminal of the fully - differential amplifier 240 . the resistor r 4 is coupled between the output terminal of the amplifier 230 and the node n 2 . the resistor r 5 is coupled between the node n 2 and the node n 1 . furthermore , the resistors r 4 and r 5 form a resistor string coupled between the node n 1 and the output terminal of the amplifier 230 . in some embodiments , the resistance value of the resistor r 3 is determined according to the resistors r 1 , r 2 , r 4 and r 5 . in one embodiment , the resistance ( or impedance ) of the resistor r 5 is r , which is a unit resistance for the single - ended to differential conversion circuit 210 . the resistance of the resistor r 6 is m × r . the resistance of the resistor r 2 is x × r . the resistance of the resistor r 1 is y × r . the resistance of the resistor r 4 is n × r . according to the resistances of the resistors r 1 , r 2 , r 4 and r 5 , the resistance of the resistor r 3 is obtained according to the following formula ( 1 ): furthermore , according to a virtual ground concept of circuit analysis in operational amplifier , the nodes at the non - inverting input terminal and inverting input terminal of the amplifier 230 , and the nodes at the non - inverting input terminal and inverting input terminal of the fully - differential amplifier 240 are maintained at a steady reference potential ( i . e . a virtual ground ). thus , a voltage v n1 at the node n 1 is obtained according to the following formula ( 2 ): furthermore , according to the voltage v n1 at the node n 1 , and the resistors r 1 and r 2 , a voltage v 2 at the output terminal of the amplifier 230 is obtained according to the following formula ( 3 ): according to the voltages v n1 , v n2 and v 2 , the current i p1 flowing through the resistor r 5 , the current i p2 flowing through the resistor r 4 , and current i n flowing through the resistor r 3 are respectively obtained according to the following formulas ( 4 )-( 6 ): from the formulas ( 4 ) - ( 6 ), by appropriately setting the resistance value of the resistor r 3 , the output currents of the single - ended to differential conversion circuit 210 are always a pair of differential signals based on the architecture shown in fig2 , i . e . i n =−( i p1 + i p2 ). furthermore , by determining the relationship between the voltage / current of the inverting input terminal and the voltage / current of the non - inverting input terminal of the fully - differential amplifier 240 , a common mode or a differential mode is determined for the signal processing module 200 , so as to estimate the common mode or differential mode perturbations for the pair of intermediate signals , and then the equivalent impedance r eq _ p observed at the inverting input terminal of the fully - differential amplifier 240 ( in other words , observing the single - ended to differential conversion circuit 210 from the inverting input terminal of the fully - differential amplifier 240 ) and the equivalent impedance r eq _ n observed at the non - inverting input terminal of the fully - differential amplifier 240 are obtained ( in other words , observing the single - ended to differential conversion circuit 210 from the non - inverting input terminal of the fully - differential amplifier 240 ). in some embodiments , the equivalent impedances r eq _ p and r e q_n may be set to the same . in some embodiments , the equivalent impedances r eq _ p and r eq _ n are the output impedances for the single - ended to differential conversion circuit 210 . in order to calculate the output impedances , the voltages v cm + v p and v cm + v n are applied to the output terminals of the single - ended to differential conversion circuit 210 , without receiving the single - ended input signal at its input terminal . for example , in order to calculate the common mode output impedances of the single - ended to differential conversion circuit 210 ), the voltage v cm + v p applied to the inverting input terminal and the voltage v cm + v n applied to the non - inverting input terminal of the fully - differential amplifier 240 are assumed to be the same , i . e . vp = v p = v n . furthermore , in a common mode , if the equivalent impedances r eq _ p and r eq _ n are equal , a current from the inverting input terminal of the fully - differential amplifier 240 to the single - ended to differential conversion circuit 210 is equal to a current from the non - inverting input terminal of the fully - differential amplifier 240 to the single - ended to differential conversion circuit 210 , i . e . i p1 + i p2 = i n . thus , the equivalent impedances r eq _ p and r eq _ n are obtained according to the following formulas ( 7 )-( 8 ): is satisfied , the equivalent impedances r eq _ p and r eq _ n are the same in the common mode . correspondingly , in order to calculate the differential mode output impedances of the single - ended to differential conversion circuit 210 , the voltage v cm + v p applied to the inverting input terminal and the voltage v cm + v n applied to the non - inverting input terminal of the fully - differential amplifier 240 are the differential signals , e . g . v p =− v n . furthermore , in a differential mode , if the equivalent impedances r eq _ p and r eq _ n are equal , a current from the single - ended to differential conversion circuit 210 to the inverting input terminal of the fully - differential amplifier 240 is equal to a current from the non - inverting input terminal of the fully - differential amplifier 240 to the single - ended to differential conversion circuit 210 , i . e . i p1 + i p2 =− i n . thus , the equivalent impedances r eq _ p and r eq _ n are obtained according to the following formulas ( 9 )-( 10 ): when is satisfied , the equivalent impedances r eq _ p and r eq _ n are the same in the differential mode . it should be noted that if the common - mode output impedances or the differential mode output impedances are respectively equal , the absolute value of the sum of the currents i 1 and i 2 is equal to the absolute value of the current i 3 , i . e . | i p1 + i p2 |=| i n |. furthermore , according to actual application , the equivalent impedances r eq _ p and r eq _ n can be obtained for a common mode or a differential mode perturbation . typically , it can not meet that the common - mode equivalent impedances and the differential - mode equivalent impedances are respectively equal . specifically , according to actual requirements , it is possible to set that the common - mode equivalent impedances are equal or the differential - mode equivalent impedances are equal , and the invention does not make this any limitation . for example , since the circuit ( e . g . the single - ended to differential conversion circuit 110 ) disposed in front of the differential signal processing circuit 120 usually has a common - mode noise , the common - mode noise can be cancelled between the two differential input terminals of the fully - differential amplifier 240 by setting the equivalent impedances r eq _ p and r eq _ n are the same in the common mode , thereby decreasing noise . for another example , by setting the equivalent impedances r eq _ p and r eq _ n are the same in the differential mode , distortion is decreased in the applications with a differential mode feedback . by adding the resistor r 4 between the node n 2 and the output terminal of the amplifier 230 , only a single single - ended amplifier ( i . e . the amplifier 230 ) is used in the single - ended to differential conversion circuit 210 . thus , compared with the conventional single - ended to differential conversion circuits ( e . g . using two single - ended amplifiers solution , or a fully - differential amplifier solution , and so on ), the layout area and the power consumption are decreased in the single - ended to differential conversion circuit 210 . furthermore , trade - off between the input magnitude of the single - ended input signal and the performance of the amplifier 230 can be optimized . with the introduction of the resistor r 4 ( e . g . a resistance of n × r ), the equivalent input is scaled by 1 - 1 / n ( n & gt ; 1 ), and the non - idealities of the amplifier 230 can be cancelled to be | 1 / n −( 1 ( y / x )×( 1 / n ))/( y / x )|. for example , assuming that the resistors r 1 and r 2 are equal to the resistor r 5 ( i . e . x = y = 1 ) and the resistor r 4 is twice as big as the resistor r 5 ( i . e . n = 2 ), the noise and distortion caused by the amplifier 230 can be cancelled completely . specifically , the noise and distortion caused by the amplifier 230 can be decreased by appropriately controlling the ratio of the resistors r 1 , r 2 , r 4 and r 5 . it should be noted that , x , y , m and n of the embodiments are not limited to an integer . while the invention has been described by way of example and in terms of the preferred embodiments , it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiments . on the contrary , it is intended to cover various modifications and similar arrangements ( as would be apparent to those skilled in the art ). therefore , the scope of the appended claims should be accorded the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and similar arrangements . | 7 |
as briefly stated above , the gruel cooker of the present invention is made up of a bowl 1 , a rice container 2 and a lid 3 . the bowl 1 is made of a heatproof glass and provided with a bottom skirt 1a . the rice container 2 is made of microwave permeable , heatproof synthetic resin such as polyester resin . the rice container 2 is made up of an inverted bowl section 2a open at the bottom end and a lid supporter 2b projecting upwards from the top end of the bowl section 2a . more specifically , the bowl section 2a defines a space s for accommodating rice in cooperation with the inside bottom of the bowl 1 when the latter is assembled with the rice container 2 as shown in fig2 . for stable assembly with the bowl 1 , the rice container 2 is provided with a bottom brim 2c . a number of slits 2d are formed side by side in the bowl section 2a near the bottom of the rice container 2 in order to allow free passage of water . these slits 2d are sized so as not to allow free passage of rice contained in the space s . in addition , presence of these slits 2d provides the bottom portion of the rice container 2 with flexibility large enough to allow snap engagement of the portion with the bottom skirt 1a of the bowl 1 . further , a number of small openings 2f are formed side by side in the bowl section 2a near its top end . these openings 2f are also sized so as not to allow free passage of rice contained in the space s . the lid supporter 2b is sized so as to project above the upper edge of the bowl 1 when the rice container 2 is assembled with the bowl 1 and provided , at its top end , with an upstanding positioning piece 2e for engagement with the lid 3 . the lid 3 is made of microwave permeable heatproof synthetic resin such as polypropylene resin and somewhat larger than the top end opening of the bowl 1 . the lid 3 is provided with a center recess 3a open downwards for receiving the positioning piece 2e on the rice container 2 . a knob 3b is formed above the center recess 3a . the center recess 3a and the positioning piece 2e are sized and configurated so that a proper gap should be left between the lid 3 and the upper edge of the bowl 1 when the lid 3 is overlaid on the lid supporter 2b of the rice container 2 placed in the bowl 1 . the size of the gap should be chosen so that no overflow of boiled water should occur during preparation of gruel in microwave ranges . preferably , the gruel cooker further includes a bottom tray 4 made of heatproof , and more preferably microwave permeable , synthetic resin such as polypropylene resin . the tray 4 has a center recess 4a receptive of the bottom skirt 1a of the bowl 1 and four corners 4b suited for manual handling of the gruel cooker . in preparation of rice gruel , the rice container is turned upside down to receive uncooked rice in its bowl section 2a as shown in fig3 a . next , the open end of the rice container 2 is force inserted into the skirt 1a of the bowl 1 for the snap engagement . as a consequence , the rice is confined within the space s defined by the bowl section 2a of the rice container 2 and the inside bottom of the bowl 1 . the capacity of the space s should preferably be five to six times larger than the usual volume of uncooked rice used for one time of preparation . in other words , the proper volume of uncooked rice used for one time of preparation is one - sixth to one - fifth of the capacity of the space . water is next supplied into the bowl 1 while shaking the latter in order to cleanse the uncooked rice . the old water is discharged and new water is supplied into the bowl 1 to a level just above the top end of the bowl section 2a of the rice container 2 as shown in fig3 b . the bowl 1 with the rice container 2 is placed in a position in a microwave range m as shown in fig3 c for boiling . during boiling water circulates into and out of the rice container 2 through the slits 2d and the openings 2f and , as a result of this boiled water circulation , the rice in the rice container 2 can be boiled quite uniformly without producing cores in particles . since the lid 3 is kept at a position somewhat above the top end opening of the bowl 1 , scattering and over flow of the boiled water are well prevented . after complete boiling , the bowl 1 is taken out of the microwave range m preferably with assistance of the bottom tray 4 and the rice container 2 is disassembled from the bowl 1 . next , the boiled rice in the rice container 2 is mixed with boiled water in the bowl 1 and the top end opening of the bowl 1 is closed by the lid 3 now disassembled from the rice container 2 for steaming of the rice gruel in the bowl 1 . as a substitute of the uncooked rice , cooked rice can be used also for preparation of rice gruel with the gruel cooker in accordance with the present invention . the rice container 2 can be assembled with the bowl 1 in many known manners other than the snap engagement . in accordance with the present invention , active boiled water circulation through a space containing rice causes uniform boiling of the rice without producing cores in particles , thereby greatly improving relish of prepared rice gruel . no scattering and overflow of boiled water is in particular suited for cooking in microwave ranges . | 8 |
the invention will be described in terms of preferred embodiments which represent the best mode known to the applicant at the time of this application . in - depth metabolic studies on the part of applicant has revealed the surprisingly unexpected and unobvious superiority of potassium citrate therapy over sodium alkali therapy in the management of nephrolithiasis . ( sakhaee et al ., kidney international , v 24 , pp 348 - 352 , ( 1983 )). specifically , in patients with both uric acid and calcium nephrolithiasis , potassium citrate therapy causes a greater decline in urinary calcium and a greater rise in urinary citrate . urinary sodium increases with sodium citrate therapy but not with potassium citrate . no significant or consistent changes occur in urinary uric acid , phosphate or oxalate . with both treatments , urinary ph rises to about an equivalent degree . as reflected by the above described changes , potassium citrate is effective in lowering urinary saturation of calcium oxalate , does not cause a rise in sodium urate saturation , and produces a rise in urinary inhibitor activity against calcium oxalate nucleation . in contrast , sodium citrate raises the saturation of sodium urate and increases formation calcium oxalate stones . moreover , in patients with uric acid lithiasis , treatment with sodium alkali is associated with calcium stone formation ( pak , et al ., kidney international , v 30 , pp 422 - 428 , ( 1986 )). the substitution of potassium citrate for sodium citrate inhibits calcium stone formation . consistent with the clinical findings of applicant &# 39 ; s research , potassium citrate therapy is useful in the prevention of uric acid or cystine lithiasis since it is a good alkalizing agent . more importantly , potassium citrate therapy averts the complication of calcium stone formations in patients afflicted with uric acid or cystine lithiasis ( as contrasted with treatment with sodium alkali which may potentiate calcium stone formation ). further , potassium citrate therapy is effective in restoring normal citrate in patients with hypocitraturia linked calcium nephrolithiasis and coincidently inhibits and dissolves calcium stone formations . the ability to dissolve calcium stones is heretofore an unreported finding with any medical treatment ; conventional alkali therapy has customarily been associated with formation of calcium stones as stated in textbooks , pointing to uniqueness of this invention . coincidentally , thiazide treatment has been shown to cause hypocitraturia and recurrent calcium stone formation . adding potassium citrate could prevent hypocitraturia and avert calcium stone formation , emphasizing another very novel finding of this invention . typically , a dosage range of 30 - 120 meq potassium citrate per day given in divided doses is effective in preventing and treating calcium renal stones in patients afflicted with or susceptible to calcium stone formation . generally recognized solid or liquid pharmaceutical form such as tablets , capsules , effervescent tablets , chewable tablets , solutions or syrups , are acceptable in delivering potassium citrate . examples of medicinal formulations in accordance with the present invention include : ______________________________________potassium citrate drink mix percent ( w / w ) potassium citrate , u . s . p . 21 . 63fructose , u . s . p . 70 . 00flavor 2 . 37citric acid , u . s . p . 5 . 00calcium phosphate , tribasic , n . f . 1 . 00to be dissolved in water ( sufficient to produce 2 meq / ml ) prior to patient administration . potassium citrate tablet ( 5 meq ) mg / tabletpotassium citrate , u . s . p . 540 . 5carnauba wax , n . f . 200 . 0talc , u . s . p . 40 . 0magnesium stearate , n . f . 5 . 0______________________________________ in addition , k - lyte ( mead johnson pharmaceutical division , evansville , ind .) a mixture of potassium bicarbonate and potassium citrate is useful in the methods prescribed by this invention . another useful preparation may be a mixture of potassium bicarbonate or potassium carbonate and citric acid . in order that the invention may be more clearly understood , preferred embodiments will be further described in terms of the following examples ( updated since the original patent application ), which should not be construed to limit the scope of this invention . the data describing these examples have largely been published in peer - reviewed reputable medical journals since the original patent application , indicating novelty and importance of this invention . potassium citrate has also been approved as a prescription drug by the fda ( food and drug administration ) for the treatment of calcium renal stones as described herein , further supporting uniqueness of the invention . ( nda no . 19 , 071 was granted to the inventor in july , 1985 ). an important determinant for the formation of uric acid stones is the passage of uncommonly acid urine . the urinary ph in patients with uric acid lithiasis is typically less than the dissociation constant ( pka ) of uric acid of 5 . 47 ; thus , their urinary environment is supersaturated with respect to uric acid . because uric acid is unstable and more soluble at a higher ph , it has been customary to recommend alkalinization of urine for management of uric acid nephrolithiasis . principally owing to their ready commercial availability , sodium rather than potassium salts of bicarbonate and citrate have been used as alkalinizing agents . although it may cause dissolution or inhibit formation of uric acid stones , sodium alkali therapy is often complicated by the development of calcium - containing renal stones ( calcium phosphate and / or calcium oxalate ). this study indicates that potassium alkali therapy may avert such a complication in uric acid lithiasis . moreover , the treatment with potassium citrate has shown to correct hypocitraturia ( low urinary citrate ), a defect frequently encountered in calcium nephrolithiasis . thus , these findings suggest that potassium alkali is also useful in the management of calcium urolithiasis associated with hypocitraturia . five patients with documented uric acid lithiasis , who developed calcium stone complication on sodium alkali treatment , participated in this study ( sakhaee , nicar , hill and pak , kidney international , v 24 , pp 348 - 352 , ( 1983 )). all subjects had adequate endogenous creatinine clearance , ranging from 75 - 130 ml / min . none of the participating subjects suffered from hyperkalemia , fluid retention , urinary tract infection , or urinary tract obstruction during the study . among patients with uric acid lithiasis , one suffered from gout . none had chronic diarrheal syndrome . the study comprised three phases , consisting of control phase ( no drug ), potassium citrate phase , and sodium citrate phase , conducted in random order . the dosage of the two forms of alkali were the same ( 60 mg ./ day in three divided doses orally ). all other drugs were withheld during the study . each phase was four weeks in duration . after three weeks of stabilization in an outpatient setting , patients underwent an inpatient evaluation during the last week . during each inpatient evaluation , subjects were maintained on a constant metabolic diet with a daily composition of 400 mg calcium , 800 mg phosphorous , 100 meq sodium , 60 meq potassium and sufficient fluid to ensure approximately two liters of urine daily for the entire study period of six days . after three days of stabilization , urine was collected daily in 24 - hour pools during last three days for total volume , ph , calcium , oxalate , phosphorous , sodium , potassium , magnesium , ammonium , citrate , sulfate , and uric acid ; relative saturation ration ( rsr ) of monosodium urate and monopotassium urate ; activity product ration ( apr ) of brushite ( cahpo 4 . 2h 2 o ) and calcium oxalate ; and formation product ration ( fpr ) of brushite and calcium oxalate . table i______________________________________effect of alkali therapies on urinary chemistries andcrystallization in patients with uric acid lithiasis potassium sodium control citrate citrate______________________________________total volume 2456 ± 290 2525 ± 359 2669 ± 296ml / dayph 5 . 35 ± 0 . 18 6 . 68 ± 0 . 14 6 . 73 ± 0 . 20calcium , mg / day 154 ± 47 99 ± 23 139 ± 24citrate , mg / day 398 ± 119 856 ± 103 799 ± 89uric acid , mg / day 417 ± 121 522 ± 171 512 ± 132activity product ratio ( apr ) calcium oxalate 3 . 21 ± 0 . 96 1 . 69 ± 0 . 76 2 . 21 ± 0 . 63brushite 0 . 04 + 0 . 03 0 . 74 ± 0 . 22 1 . 17 ± 0 . 44formation product ratio ( fpr ) calcium oxalate 16 . 1 ± 5 . 6 22 . 2 ± 6 . 6 14 . 1 ± 5 . 3relative saturation ratio ( rsr ) monosodium urate 0 . 51 ± 0 . 20 0 . 95 ± 0 . 33 1 . 45 ± 0 . 44monopotassium 0 . 05 ± 0 . 02 0 . 33 ± 0 . 07 0 . 12 ± 0 . 04urate______________________________________ a review of the above results indicates that , in patients with uric acid lithiasis , both alkali therapies caused a significant decline in urinary saturation ( apr ) of calcium oxalate ; however , the decline was more prominent during potassium citrate therapy than during sodium alkali therapy . thus , urinary saturation of calcium oxalate declined during alkali therapies , more so when potassium citrate was given . urinary apr ( saturation ) of brushite increased during both alkali therapies ; the rise was more prominent during sodium citrate therapy . urinary environment became supersaturated ( apr 1 ) with respect to brushite during sodium alkali treatment , whereas it remained undersaturated when potassium citrate was given . the urinary fpr ( a measure of inhibitor activity ) of calcium oxalate rose significantly during oral potassium citrate treatment . thus , spontaneous precipitation of calcium oxalate commended at a higher lever of supersaturation when potassium citrate was given . however , fpr of calcium oxalate did not change significantly during sodium citrate therapy . the difference in fpr between the two alkali phases was significant . in 2 of 5 patients , fpr decreased by more than 30 %; thus , spontaneous precipitation was facilitated in some patients . the saturation of monosodium urate ( rsr ) rose significantly during both alkali phases , more so during sodium citrate therapy . the urinary environment became supersaturated with respect to monosodium urate during sodium citrate therapy , but remained undersaturated when potassium citrate was given . the saturation of monopotassium urate ( rsr ) increased significantly during both alkali treatments , but more so during potassium citrate therapy . the results of this study disclose that both potassium citrate and sodium citrate are effective in the prevention of uric acid lithiasis since both alkali increased urinary ph ( and therefore increased the solubility of uric acid ). however , the results suggest that sodium citrate does not prevent the complication of calcium nephrolithiasis when given to patients with uric acid stones . it might cause this complication because of increased urinary saturation of calcium phosphate , and in some patients when the effect of monosodium urate - induced calcium oxalate crystallization overrides the inhibitory action of citrate . in contrast to the action of sodium citrate , potassium citrate at an equimolar dosage significantly reduced urinary calcium excretion while increasing urinary citrate excretion . this study therefore indicated that potassium citrate , unlike sodium citrate , prevent the complication of calcium oxalate nephrolithiasis when given to patients with uric acid lithiasis . this prevention involved reducing urinary saturation by calcium oxalate and inhibiting spontaneous precipitation of calcium oxalate . the potassium citrate - containing compositions of the present invention preferably comprise less than about ten weight percent sodium salts and more preferably are substantially free of sodium salts . potassium citrate is effective in preventing calcium stone formation ( in 5 patients with uric acid stones ) caused by sodium alkali therapy detailed case reports were obtained in 5 patients with uric acid nephrolithiasis showing different response between sodium alkali and potassium alkali treatment ( pak et al ., kidney international , v 30 , pp 422 - 428 , ( 1986 )). before treatment , they had surgically removed or spontaneously passed stones which were pure uric acid in composition . when sodium alkali was given ( as bicarbonate or citrate , 60 - 118 meq / day , in one case as a mixture with potassium alkali ), new stone formation continued in 4 patients , and a radiolucent ( uric acid ) stone became &# 34 ; calcified &# 34 ; in the remaining patient . the stone analysis disclosed calcium oxalate in 5 patients and calcium phosphate in three patients . when potassium citrate ( in 4 cases ) or potassium bicarbonate ( in 1 patient ) was administered in place of the sodium alkali over 1 to 3 . 5 years ( at a dosage of 60 - 80 meq / day , no new stones were formed ( one passed by case 5 was a preexisting stone ) ( fig1 ). in summary , five patients with known uric acid stones had a complication of calcium stones during sodium alkali therapy ( alone or in combination with potassium alkali ). both calcium and uric acid stone formation ceased when patients were treated with potassium citrate ( or bicarbonate ). long - term prevention of stone formation by potassium citrate therapy in patients with uric acid nephrolithiasis with or without complication of calcium renal stone eighteen patients with uric acid nephrolithiasis ( six with uric acid stones alone and 12 with both uric acid and calcium stones ) underwent long - term treatment ( 1 - 5 . 33 years ) with potassium citrate ( 30 - 80 meq / day ) ( pak , et al , kidney international , v 30 , pp 422 - 428 , ( 1986 )), urinary ph increased from low ( 5 . 3 ± 0 . 31 ) to normal ( 6 . 19 to 6 . 46 ) during treatment ( fig2 ). consequently , the urinary content of undissociated uric acid , which was high to begin with , decreased to the normal range during treatment , making uric acid precipitation unlikely ( fig2 ). urinary citrate rose from 503 ± 225 mg / day to 852 - 998 mg / day . urinary saturation of calcium oxalate declined with potassium citrate treatment . new stone formation ( either uric acid or calcium stone ) declined from 1 . 20 ± 1 . 68 stone / patient year to 0 . 01 + 0 . 04 stones / patient year ( fig3 ). 94 . 4 % of patients did not form further stones . these results , showing that potassium citrate is effective in the management of uric acid lithiasis presently with or without calcium stones , are the basis for the fda approval of potassium citrate as a prescription drug for this condition in july , 1985 . the above observation has since been confirmed by dr . nector tomyez ( endocrinologist ) and dr . richard lewis ( urologist ) who have written to the inventor &# 39 ; s group ( letters available upon request ). potassium citrate therapy is effective in dissolving existing calcium containing renal stones prior to institution of potassium citrate therapy , 33 patients had preexisting radiopaque calculi ( calcium stones ) visualized on abdominal roentgenograms ( pak et al ., trans . assoc . amer . physic , v 96 , pp 294 - 305 , ( 1983 )). repeat examination after 8 months to 2 years of potassium citrate therapy showed a reduced number of stones in 14 patients . in 4 of them , this reduction could be attributed to the passage of stones . however , there were fewer stones visualized in 6 patients even though they did not remember passing stones . in the remaining patients , the number of stones passed could not entirely account for the reduced number of stones . thus , long - term potassium citrate treatment dissolved calcium stones located in kidneys of patients with stones . there is no prior known documented report of dependably dissolving calcium stones by any medical treatment . a case history showing dissolution of calcium stones by potassium citrate therapy a 62 - year - old white woman with incomplete renal tubular acidosis passed approximately 400 stones during the preceding three years , as often as one a day in recent months . stones were composed of calcium phosphate and calcium oxalate . urinary citrate was very low at 34 mg / day . on potassium citrate therapy ( 20 meq four times / day ), urinary citrate increased to 333 - 376 mg / day . she passed only eight stones during twenty months of treatment . abdominal x - ray taken at fourteen months of treatment disclosed marked changes . before treatment , she had numerous radioopaque calculi in both kidneys . after treatment , stones in the mid and lower pole of right kidney and mid - portion of left were no longer seen . potassium citrate effectively prevents new stone formation in patients with distal renal tubular acidosis distal renal tubular acidosis is a common cause of hypocitraturia and intractible calcium nephrolithiasis . the effect of oral potassium citrate therapy in 9 patients with incomplete distal venal tubular acidosis was examined ( preminger et al ., j . urology , v 134 , pp 20 - 23 ( 1985 )). potassium citrate ( 60 - 60 meq / day in divided doses ) significantly increased urinary citrate , and lowered urinary calcium thus , the urinary saturation of calcium oxalate significantly decreased during treatment while that of brushite ( ca phosphate ) did not change . during a mean treatment period of 34 months , none of nine patients formed new stones , although the same patients had formed an average of 39 . 3 stones / year during the three years prior to treatment . thus , potassium citrate therapy was effective in correcting biochemical abnormalities and preventing recurrent calcium stone formation in patients with distal renal tubular acidosis . the novelty of this finding was supported by the acquisition , by the inventor , of a new drug application from the fda for this condition in july , 1985 . recent studies by the inventor &# 39 ; s laboratory in 6 patients with distal renal tubular acidosis indicated that sodium citrate was not as advantageous a treatment agent as was potassium citrate . urinary calcium remained high at 216 mg / day ( from a control value of 214 mg / day ) during sodium citrate ( 60 meq / day ) treatment , whereas it decreased to 178 mg / day during potassium citrate ( 60 meq / day ) treatment . urinary citrate increased to a lesser degree ( 493 mg / day from 253 mg / day ) during sodium citrate therapy , then during potassium citrate treatment ( 575 mg / day ). the urinary saturation of calcium phosphate rose by 37 % during sodium citrate treatment , whereas it was unaltered by potassium citrate treatment . thus , sodium alkali therapy may not be an effective in , or may even exaggerate , calcium stone formation in renal tubular acidosis . potassium citrate effectively prevents new stone formation in patients with chronic diarrheal syndrome long - term effects of potassium citrate therapy ( 60 - 80 meq / day in 3 - 4 divided doses ) on urinary biochemistry and on stone formation were examined in 10 patients with calcium oxalate nephrolithiasis due to chronic diarrheal syndrome ( regional enteritis , jejuno - ileal bypass surgery , partial gastrectomy or ulcerative colitis ). urinary citrate was low ( 320 mg / day ) in 9 patients , and urinary oxalate was high in 4 patients . potassium citrate therapy caused a sustained increase in urinary citrate from 148 ± 154 ( sd ) mg / day to 333 - 615 mg / day , and produced a sustained reduction in urinary saturation ( rsr ) of calcium oxalate ( fig4 ). during a mean treatment period of 3 . 2 years , stone formation rate declined from 4 . 69 ± 10 . 12 to 0 . 71 ± 1 . 44 stones / patient year ( p 0 . 01 ), and 7 patients ( 70 %) remained stone - free ( fig5 ). thus , potassium citrate represents an important therapeutic modality in the management of hypocitraturic calcium oxalate nephrolithiasis due to chronic diarrheal syndrome . the failure of rudman et al ., n . engl . j . med ., v 303 , pp 657 - 661 ( 1980 )) to show a significant rise in urinary citrate with sodium citrate - citric acid in patients with hypocitraturia of gastrointestinal origin emphasizes the uniqueness of potassium citrate action . potassium citrate therapy prevents hypocitraturia caused by thiazide treatment of hypercalciuric calcium nephrolithiasis thirteen patients with hypercalciuric calcium renal stones were treated with thiazide , a treatment widely used for this condition because of its ability to lower urinary calcium . even though urinary calcium decreased from 303 ± 119 mg / day to 193 ± mg / day on treatment , they continued to form kidney stones ( 6 . 62 to 5 . 12 stones / patient year ) ( pak et al ., amer . jrnl . of med ., v 79 , pp 284 - 288 ( 1985 )). because they had hypocitraturia ( 250 mg / day ), potassium citrate ( 30 - 60 mg / day in divided doses ) was added to the ongoing treatment program . during combined treatment with thiazide and potassium citrate , urinary ph significantly rose and normal urinary citrate was restored . ten patients stopped forming stones . stone formation significantly declined from 5 . 12 stones / patient year to 0 . 05 stones / patient year ( fig6 ). this novel discovery , showing effectiveness of potassium citrate in patients who continue to form stones on thiazide , was the basis for the nda approval acquired by the inventor for potassium citrate to be used concurrently with thiazide in hypercalciuric nephrolithiasis . this finding has been confirmed by cooperative studies of dr . donald griffith at houston ( a part of nda 19 , 071 report , available upon request ). in that study , dr . griffith studied 29 patients with hypercalciuric calcium nephrolithiasis who continued to form stones on thiazide therapy . potassium citrate was added to the ongoing thiazide treatment program . none of 29 patients formed any stone on combined thiazide - potassium citrate treatment . new stone formation declined from 0 . 64 stones / patient year to zero . potassium citrate is effective in preventing stone formation in patients with idiopathic hypocitraturic calcium oxalate nephrolithiasis the effects of long - term treatment with potassium citrate ( 30 - 80 meq / day ) were examined in 37 patients with idiopathic - hypocitraturic calcium oxalate nephrolithiasis , in whom the main causes of hypocitraturia ( renal tubular acidosis , chronic diarrhea or hypokalemia ) were excluded or considered unlikely ( pak , et al ., annuls of internal . med ., v 104 , pp 33 - 37 ( 1986 )). potassium citrate treatment produced a sustained increase in urinary citrate excretion from an initially low value ( 223 to 253 mg / day ) to within normal limits ( 470 to 620 mg / day ). urinary ph rose significantly and was maintained at 6 . 5 to 7 . 0 . along with these changes , urinary saturation of calcium oxalate significantly declined to normal . further stone formation ceased in 89 . 2 % of patients during treatment , and new stone formation rate declined from 2 . 11 stones / patient year to 0 . 28 stones / patient year ( fig7 ). this indication for potassium citrate treatment was again approved by the fda in awarding an nda to the inventor in july , 1985 . prevention of calcium stone formation by potassium citrate in patients with hyperuricosuric calcium oxalate nephrolithiasis previous examples , all updated and validated by publications in peer - reviewed journals , were contained or described , at least in a preliminary form , in the original patent application ( u . s . ser . no . 483 , 678 ). however , this example represents a new finding heretofore not specifically mentioned ( published in may , 1986 ). calcium renal stone formation in patients with high urinary uric acid ( hyperuricosuric calcium oxalate nephrolithiasis ) is believed to be due to the induction of the crystallization of calcium oxalate by monosodium urate . the present example shows that citrate , when added to a synthetic solution metastably supersaturated with respect to calcium oxalate , inhibited heterogeneous nucleation ( induction of crystallization ) of calcium oxalate by monosodium urate ( pak et al ., archive internal . med ., v 146 , pp 863 - 867 , ( 1986 )). long - term treatment with potassium citrate ( 60 - 80 meq / day ) was undertaken to determine whether induced hypercitraturia could prevent calcium oxalate stone formation in 19 patients with hyperuricosuria . the treatment produced a sustained rise in urinary ph and citrate , and a reduction in urinary saturation of calcium oxalate and in the urinary content of undissociated uric acid . stone formation declined from 1 . 55 / patient year to 0 . 38 / patient year and ceased in 16 of 19 patients ( fig8 ). this finding , showing effectiveness of potassium citrate in preventing calcium stone formation in patients with hyperuricosuria , represents a heretofore unreported unique demonstration . while the methods of this invention have been described in terms of preferred embodiments , it will be apparent to those of skill in the art that various changes may be made in the methods disclosed without departing from the scope of the invention , which is defined by the following claims . | 8 |
fig1 is a diagrammatic view of a vortex flowmeter in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention . flowmeter 100 includes process fluid conduit 102 , vortex sensor 104 and transmitter electronics 106 disposed within electronics housing 108 . flow conduit 102 includes vortex bluff body 110 that extends within , and preferably across flow passageway 112 . bluff body 110 is operably coupled to member 114 that conveys movement , such as vibrations , to vortex sensor 104 . these minute movements are caused by bluff body 110 generating vortices within the process fluid as the process fluid flows through passageway 112 . vortex sensor 104 is electronically responsive to these slight movements . known vortex sensors generally employ a piezoelectric sensor that , in accordance with known piezoelectric properties , generates an electrical characteristic , such as a voltage , in response to a mechanical input , such as stress , or movement . vortex sensor 104 is electrically coupled to transmitter electronics , disposed within housing 108 via connection 116 within shell 118 . as illustrated in fig1 , transmitter electronics 106 are disposed within housing 108 , which in many embodiments is disposed directly upon shell 118 . however , in other embodiments , enclosure 108 and transmitter electronics 106 may be disposed remotely from shell 118 and merely connected thereto via suitable conductors . transmitter electronics 106 includes known circuitry that measures or otherwise senses the electrical characteristic of the vortex sensor and generates a value , or data , related to the velocity of the process fluid flowing through passageway 112 . further , electronics 106 generally includes communication circuitry to communicate the calculated velocity to other devices , such as a control room , or other field devices via a process communication loop illustrated diagrammatically at reference numeral 120 . examples of process communication loops include those in accordance with the highway addressable remote transducer ( hart ®) protocol , the foundation ™ fieldbus protocol , or other process communication protocols . additionally , or alternatively , wireless data transmission protocols can also be employed . in some wired embodiments , flowmeter 100 is able to be wholly powered by energy received through the wire process communication lines through which it communicates . flowmeter 100 is considered a field device in that it is generally able to be mounted in the field . the “ field ” is generally an external area in a process installation that may be subject to climatic extremes , vibrations , changes in humidity , electromagnetic or radio frequency interference , or other environmental challenges . thus , the robust physical package of flowmeter 100 provides flowmeter 100 with the ability to operate in the “ field ” for extended periods ( such as years ) at a time . fig2 is a diagrammatic exploded perspective view of vortex sensor 104 in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention . sensor 104 includes vortex sensor body 150 . body 150 includes a passageway to allow connection 116 therethrough thereby facilitating passage of electrical conductors from transmitter electronics 106 ( shown in fig1 ) to piezoelectric element 160 disposed upon pedestal 162 , which is attached , preferably by brazing , to sensor body 150 . the electrical connection allows changes in stress mechanically imparted upon crystal 160 to be measured , or otherwise observed , by transmitter electronics 106 . as set forth above , flowmeter 100 is typically used in industrial environments . accordingly , piezoelectric crystals within flowmeter sensors are commonly sealed within body 150 , which is generally comprised of steel , to protect piezoelectric crystal 160 from the industrial environment . in this regard , cap 163 is generally placed over crystal 160 and welded , or otherwise sealed , to body 150 thereby sealing crystal 160 within body 150 . however , piezoelectric crystals are susceptible to certain reducing atmospheres . accordingly , steel body 150 is frequently pre - oxidized to prevent a severe reducing atmosphere from forming within body 150 . as used herein , “ reducing atmosphere ” is intended to mean an environment surrounding the piezoelectric crystal wherein the piezoelectric crystal is apt to gain electrons or otherwise decrease oxidation number . when the piezoelectric crystal gains electrons , it decreases the oxidation number of molecules of the crystal , and this activity is believed to adversely affect the effectiveness of the piezoelectric crystal in transducing changes in mechanical stress . it is believed that within the sealed body of piezoelectric sensor , the reducing atmosphere has catalyst , or some mechanism , that essentially steals oxygen from the crystal and deposits it in the surrounding body , or otherwise affects the piezoelectric crystal . as set forth above , the metallic components of body 150 are preferably pre - oxidized in order to hopefully reduce the degree to which the metallic bodies steal oxygen . however , in some applications , such as high - temperature applications , even the pre - oxidized parts are believed to continue to oxidize over time . therefore , it is believed that even hermetically sealed parts can leak very slowly , on the order of & lt ; 10 − 9 cubic centimeters per minute ( cc / m ). this substantially hermetic enclosure allows oxygen to be stolen from the crystal and deposited within the meter body . embodiments of the present invention generally address this perceived problem of oxygen being stolen from the piezoelectric crystal by generating a deliberate slow oxygen leak into the crystal cavity . however , since the vortex sensor may be exposed to various process fluids in industrial environments , it is also important that the deliberate oxygen leak not allow liquid or other process fluids to pass therethrough . in one embodiment , the deliberate leak is introduced by changing the construction of one of the component metal parts that seals the chamber proximate the piezoelectric crystal . specifically , the part known as a “ pull post ”, illustrated diagrammatically as reference number 164 in fig2 and 3 , is changed from being constructed from a solid metal , such as stainless steel , to a powdered metal . preferably , the powdered metal pull post has a density of approximately 90 % the density of a solid metal part . however , this is merely a preference , and variations in the porosity can be practiced as long as a suitable amount of oxygen can pass therethrough while simultaneously preferably inhibiting liquids . one of the reasons that this embodiment is preferred , is that the entire invention can be practiced merely by replacing a prior art pull post with a powdered metal pull post . however , it is contemplated that embodiments of the present invention can be practiced by deliberately introducing any suitable passageway into the sensor body . further still , other components , such as pedestal 162 , could be constructed , in whole or in part , from powdered metal . further , while embodiments of the present invention are generally directed to a piezoelectric - based vortex sensor for use in high - temperature industrial settings , embodiments of the present invention are practicable with any industrial piezoelectric - based sensor that experiences oxygen depletion effects in the presence of a reducing atmosphere . fig3 is a diagrammatic cross sectional view of a portion of vortex sensor 104 in accordance with embodiments of the present invention . as illustrated in fig3 , pull post 164 engages aperture 170 to seal aperture 170 . accordingly , pull post 164 is one of the components that forms the substantially hermitic seal . further , aside from the oxygen diffusion path through powdered metal pull post 164 , chamber 172 is substantially sealed . as can be appreciated in fig3 , embodiments of the present invention can also be practiced by providing a hole , or passageway , extending from an external portion of body portion 154 , or pedestal 162 to chamber 172 . moreover , the hole could be filled , or otherwise constructed , with powdered metal therein , or some other suitable material that is substantially impervious to the process liquid , while allowing oxygen therethrough . fig4 is a diagrammatic elevation view of pull post 164 in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention . pull post 164 resembles prior art pull posts , but instead is constructed from a material that allows oxygen therethrough . preferably , pull post 164 is constructed from powdered metal , such as stainless steel , having a density that is a fraction of that of a solid pull post . more preferably , the density is approximately 90 % of that of a solid pull post . however , it is also expressly contemplated that pull post 164 can be constructed as a solid piece , drilled to include a passageway therethrough , and then provided with a liquid barrier , such as powdered metal , or other suitable material , that would inhibit the flow of liquid to a suitably low level while still allowing oxygen to pass therethrough . fig5 is a chart of insulation resistance ( ir ) which can be used as a proxy for piezo crystal health , comparing prior art vortex sensor performance to vortex sensor performance for sensor in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention . the larger dashed line ( 200 ) illustrates that for prior art vortex sensor , insulation resistance shows a marked decline beginning at around eight days . in contrast to prior art vortex sensors , vortex sensors constructed in accordance with embodiments of the present invention perform more reliably . specifically , the shorter dashed line ( illustrated at reference numeral 202 ) shows that insulation resistance is relatively steady for over 100 days . in fact , the insulation resistance increases slightly . further still , the insulation resistance is substantially less variable over the duration than that for vortex sensors constructed in accordance with the prior art . accordingly , it is believed that vortex sensors , and vortex flowmeters , constructed in accordance with embodiments of the present invention will provide more reliable operation in response to high - temperature applications . although the present invention has been described with reference to preferred embodiments , workers skilled in the art will recognize that changes may be made in form and detail without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention . | 6 |
the preferred embodiment herein described is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise form disclosed . it is chosen and described to explain the principles of the invention , and its application and practical use to enable others skilled in the art to follow its teachings . the process of this invention provides for the synthesis of compounds having the formula ia below : wherein r 1 and r 2 are each individually amino or n - alkyl substituted amino ; hydroxy ; alkoxy ; keto ; lower alkyl ; or a nitrogen or oxygen protecting group ; r 3 is hydrogen ; hydroxy ; alkoxy ; trifluoromethyl alkoxy ; halo ; sulfhydryl or alkylthio ; x 1 - x 4 are each individually carbon or nitrogen . the formula i compounds are commonly referred to as antifolates , because of their inhibitory effects on the folic acid nutritional pathways . for purposes of identification , the formula i antifolates are possessed of three linked moieties : ( i ) a 2 , 4 ( 5 ) di ( tri ) substituted heterocyclic moiety ; ( ii ) a p - benzoic acid alkylene moiety ; and ( iii ) an amino acid residue . the moieties as described above are shown below as formula ib : as shown in scheme 1 , the process to synthesize the critical intermediate end product involves two general steps , each step preferably including multiple steps to achieve the desired result . in the scheme , cg 1 and cg 2 are moieties capable of reacting with an annulation agent to form the desired fused ring heterocycle , a 1 is a leaving group , and the r and x variables have the same meaning as in formula i . the starting material is first annulated and if necessary , derivatized to add leaving group a 1 , to form intermediate compound 2 . preferred annulation groups include guanidine or a derivatized guanidine , or other known reagents . derivatization , if necessary , is employed using conventional techniques to add the leaving group a 1 , which is preferably a halogen group , but may be any suitable leaving group . intermediate 1 is then converted to the desired end product in one or two steps through a modified wittig reaction . if the desired r 4 value is an amino acid , the amino acid residue may be coupled to the p - benzoic acid moiety by any known process , such as the processes described above . it should be noted that , if desired , reactable moieties may be protected by conventional means prior to any of the steps of the inventive process . to a solution of 5 - methyl - 2 - nitrobenzoic acid ( 50 . 0 g , 0 . 276 mol ) in dichloromethane ( 1380 ml ) and triethyl amine ( 50 . 24 ml , 1 . 3 equiv ) was added isobutyl chloroformate ( 43 . 0 ml , 1 . 2 equiv ) over syringe at − 10 ° c . the ice bath was removed and the reaction solution in dark red color was stirred at room temperature for 2 hours ( tlc monitored ). ammonia was bubbled in the solution for 2 hours until a strong basic solution resulted ( ph 10 ). brown solid was formed and the resulting suspension was stirred for 18 hours at room temperature ( tlc monitored the reaction ). the reaction was quenched by addition of 1000 ml of saturated sodium bicarbonate aqueous solution . the mixture was extracted with ethyl acetate ( 1500 ml , 3 × 1000 ml ). vigorous shaking was performed during extraction . the combined organic layers were dried with sodium sulfate and concentrated to give a dark brown solid , which was recrystallized from ethyl acetate at 0 ° c . for 14 hours to give 29 . 8 g ( 60 %) of brown solid . the mother solution was concentrated and kept at 0 ° c . to give the second crop of product ( 7 . 5 g , 15 %, combined yield 75 %). 1 h nmr ( acetone - d 6 ): δ 2 . 47 ppm ( s , 3h , ch 3 ), 6 . 95 ( s , br , nh 2 ), 7 . 45 ( d , 2h , aromatic ), 7 . 90 ( d , 2h , aromatic ). to a solution of 5 - methyl - 2 - nitrobenzamide from example 1 ( 29 . 8 g , 0 . 165 mol ) in 329 . 6 ml of n , n - dimethyl formamide was added phosphorous oxychloride ( 16 . 96 ml , 1 . 1 equiv ) through syringe over 20 min . at − 10 ° c . the resulting mixture was stirred at 25 ° c . for 40 minutes , then heated and stirred at 100 ° c . for 15 minutes . the reaction mixture was poured into ice ( 750 g ) and ammonia ( 75 ml ) was added to the resulting suspension until ph of aqueous solution reached between 9 - 10 . the aqueous layer was extracted with ethyl acetate ( 1000 ml , 2 × 600 ml ). the combined organic layers were dried over sodium sulfate and concentrated to give a yellow solid ( 25 . 7 g , 96 %), which was used directly to next step without further purification . 1 hnmr spectrum confirmed the presence of substantially pure title compound . 1 h nmr ( cdcl 3 ): δ 2 . 54 ppm ( s , 3h , ch 3 ), 7 . 59 ( d , j = 8 . 4 hz , aromatic ), 7 . 71 ( s , aromatic ), 8 . 24 ( d , j = 8 . 4 hz , aromatic ). to a solution of 5 - methyl - 2 - nitrobenzonitrile from example 2 , ( 25 . 7 g , 0 . 158 mol ) in 643 ml of acetonitrile was added sodium dithionate ( 128 . 5 g , 0 . 739 mol ), followed by addition of 600 ml of deionized water at 0 ° c . the reaction mixture was stirred for 30 minutes at 25 ° c . the aqueous layer was extracted with ethyl acetate three times , and the combined organic layers were dried over sodium sulfate and evaporated under vacuum to afford a crude yellow solid , which was dried under high vacuum for 24 hours to give 16 . 4 g of substantially pure title compound ( 78 . 4 %). 1 h nmr ( cdcl 3 ): δ 2 . 23 ppm ( s , 3h , ch 3 ), 6 . 65 ( d , j = 8 . 4 hz , aromatic ), 7 . 18 ( s , aromatic ), 7 . 14 ( d , j = 8 . 4 hz , aromatic ). a mixture of 2 - amino - 5 - methylbenzonitrile from example 3 ( 47 . 0 g , 0 . 356 mol ) and cyanoguanidine ( 37 . 4 g , 1 . 25 equiv ) in 355 ml of 1n hydrochloric acid aqueous solution was heated at reflux for 1 . 5 hours . 828 ml of deionized water and 355 ml of 1n hydrochloric acid were added to the reaction mixture . the mixture was filtered while hot . the filtrate was neutralized with 473 ml of 2n sodium hydroxide aqueous solution and the resulting yellow precipitate was filtered . 573 ml of deionized water was added to the yellow solid , followed by addition of 95 ml of formic acid . the resultant suspension was stirred for 2 hours and the white precipitate was filtered . 1 . 6 l of deionized water was added and 154 ml of ammonium hydroxide was added to the white solid . the suspension was stirred for 1 hour . the pale yellow solid was filtered and dried under high vacuum to give 22 . 0 g of substantially pure title compound . 1 h nmr ( acetone - d 6 ): δ 2 . 35 ppm ( s , 3h , ch 3 ), 5 . 42 ( s , br , nh 2 ), 6 . 63 ( s , br , nh 2 ), 7 . 20 ( d , aromatic ), 7 . 38 ( dd , aromatic ), 7 . 77 ( s , aromatic ). to a suspension of 2 , 4 - diamino - 6 - methylquinazoline from example 4 ( 34 . 0 g , 0 . 195 mol ) and anhydrous triethyl amine ( 136 ml , 5 equiv ) in 1 l of 1 , 4 - dioxane was added benzoyl chloride ( 50 . 6 ml , 2 . 5 equiv ) at reflux for 30 minutes . the resultant mixture was stirred for 30 minutes at reflux , and solid was filtered and washed with hot 1 , 4 - dioxane . the filtrate was concentrated and the crude solid was recrystallized from ethanol to give 61 . 0 g of the title product ( 82 %). 1 h nmr ( cdcl 3 ): δ 2 . 56 ppm ( s , 3h , ch 3 ), 7 . 53 ( m , aromatic ), 8 . 08 ( d , 2h , aromatic ), 8 . 60 ( d , 3h , aromatic ). a refluxing mixture of 2 , 4 - dibenzamido - 6 - methylquinazoline from example 5 ( 19 . 1 g , 0 . 05 mol ), 1 , 3 - dibromo - 5 , 5 - dimethyl - imidazolidine - 2 , 4 - dione ( 8 . 50 g 0 . 60 equiv ) and 1 . 40 g of benzoyl peroxide in 1 l of carbon tetrachloride was irradiated with a high intensity lamp ( 600 w , 120v ). the reaction mixture was kept at this condition for 1 hour . the mixture was allowed to cool to 25 ° c . and saturated sodium bicarbonate aqueous solution was added and stirred for 1 hour . solid was filtered , washed with ether , and dried under high vacuum to give 24 . 6 g of crude end product ( 82 % from proton nmr ), which was used for next step without further purification . 1 h nmr ( cdcl 3 ): δ 4 . 68 ppm ( s , 2h , ch 2 ), 7 . 57 ( m , aromatic ), 7 . 82 ( dd , 1h , aromatic ), 8 . 08 ( d , 2h , aromatic ), 8 . 56 ( d , 2h , aromatic ). 8 . 73 ( s , 1h , aromatic ). hrms calcd for c 23 h 18 n 4 o 2 382 . 14 , found 383 . 14072 ( protonated ). a mixture of 2 , 4 - dibenzamido - 6 - bromomethylquinazoline from example 6 ( 19 . 68 g , 42 . 66 mmol ) and triphenylphosphine ( 12 . 31 g , 1 . 1 e ) in 427 ml of tetrahydrofuran was heated at reflux for 2 hours . the reaction mixture was allowed to cool to 25 ° c . and the precipitate was filtered . to this white solid was added 3 . 81 g of methyl 4 - formylbenzoate and 220 ml of tetrahydrofuran ( thf ). the resultant mixture was stirred at − 10 ° c . for 20 minutes and potassium t - butoxide ( 1m in thf , 44 . 22 ml ) was added . the reaction mixture was stirred at 25 ° c . for 24 hours , and saturated aqueous sodium bicarbonate was added . the aqueous layer was extracted three times with ethyl acetate . the combined organic layers were washed with brine , dried over sodium sulfate , and evaporated to give a crude yellow oil , which was treated with ethyl acetate to yield 12 g of the title product . 1 h nmr ( cdcl 3 ): δ 3 . 94 ppm ( s , 3h , och 3 ), 7 . 30 ( d , 1h , olefin ), 7 . 39 ( s , 1h , olefin ), 7 . 57 ( m , aromatic ), 7 . 67 ( d , 2h , aromatic ), 8 . 08 ( m , aromatic ), 8 . 58 ( d , 2h , aromatic ). 8 . 80 ( s , 1h , aromatic ). a mixture of the olefin from example 7 ( 7 . 0 g , 13 . 2 mmol ) and 10 % palladium on carbon ( 700 mg , 10 %) in 400 ml of dmf was hydrogenated for 20 hours at a hydrogen pressure of 20 psi . the catalyst was removed by filtration over celite and the filtrate was evaporated to give 6 . 5 g of pure title product . 1 h nmr ( cdcl 3 ): δ 3 . 05 ppm ( m , 4h , ch 2 ch 2 ), 3 . 88 ( s , 3h , och 3 ), 7 . 53 ( m , aromatic ), 8 . 02 ( m , 4h , aromatic ), 8 . 52 ( d , 2h , aromatic ). a mixture of the hydrogenation product from example 8 ( 6 . 5 g , 12 . 3 mmol ), 183 ml of 1 n koh , and 123 ml of acetonitrile was heated at reflux for 42 hours . the reaction solution was neutralized with acetic acid at 25 ° c . the resulting white precipitate was filtered , washed with a solution of acetonitrile and water , and dried to give 3 . 7 g of the desired title product . 1 h nmr ( dmso , d 6 ): δ 2 . 90 ppm ( m , 4h , ch 2 ch 2 ), 6 . 08 ( s , br , nh 2 ), 7 . 03 ( d , 2h , aromatic ), 7 . 2 ( m , 5h , aromatic ), 7 . 76 ( d , 2h , aromatic ), 7 . 80 ( s , 1h , aromatic ). hrms calcd for c 23 h 18 n 4 o 2 h + 309 . 134602 , found 309 . 13477 ( protonated ). to a suspension of 3 . 4 g of 4 - amino - 4 - deoxy - 5 , 8 , 10 - trideaza pteroic acid from example 9 in 80 ml of dmf was added 3 . 6 g of l - diethyl - 4 - methylene glutamate hydrochloride , 0 . 34 g of 1 - hydroxy benzotriazole , and 4 . 23 g of 1 -[( 3 - dimethylamino ) propyl ] 3 - ethyl carbodiimide hydrochloride . the mixture was stirred for 30 minutes at 25 ° c ., and 3 . 10 ml of anhydrous triethylamine was added through syringe . the reaction mixture was stirred at 25 ° c . for 18 hours . hplc monitored the reaction until no starting material was observed . the reaction mixture was poured into 300 g of ice . the white precipitate was filtered and dried to afford 5 . 5 g of the title product ( 99 %). 1 h nmr ( dmso , d 6 ): δ 1 . 12 ( m , 6h , ch 3 ), 2 . 64 ( m , 1h ), 2 . 88 ( m , 5h ), 4 . 06 ( m , 4h , ch 2 ), 4 . 57 ( m , 1h ), 5 . 63 ( s , 1h , olefin ), 5 . 83 ( s , br , nh 2 ), 6 . 05 ( s , 1h , olefin ), 7 . 04 ( d , 1h , aromatic ), 7 . 14 ( s , br , nh 2 ), 7 . 24 ( d , 2h , aromatic ), 7 . 32 ( d , 1h , aromatic ), 7 . 68 ( d , 2h , aromatic ), 8 . 53 ( d , 1h , aromatic ). 7 . 79 ( s , 1h , aromatic ). hrms calcd for c 27 h 31 n 5 o 5 na + 528 . 221738 , found 528 . 22225 . a mixture of diethyl - 4 ′- methylene - 5 , 8 , 10 - trideazaminopterin from example 10 ( 5 . 5 g , 11 mmol ), 544 ml of 1 n naoh , and 220 ml of acetonitrile was stirred at 25 ° c . for 16 hours . the reaction solution was neutralized with acetic acid at 25 ° c . the resulting white precipitate was filtered , washed with a solution of acetonitrile and water , and dried to give 4 . 2 g ( 85 %) of the title product . 1 h nmr ( dmso , d 6 ): δ 2 . 58 ( m , 1h ), 2 . 84 ( m , 5h ), 4 . 44 ( m , 1h ), 5 . 5 ( s , 1h , olefin ), 5 . 95 ( s , 1h , olefin ), 6 . 88 ( s , 2h , nh 2 ), 7 . 20 ( dd , 3h , aromatic ), 7 . 41 ( d , 1h , aromatic ), 7 . 75 ( d , 2h , aromatic ), 7 . 95 ( s , 1h , aromatic ), 9 . 03 ( s , br , cooh ). the above description is illustrative of the process of this invention , is not limitative thereof , and may be modified within the scope of the following claims . | 2 |
referring now to the drawings , wherein like reference numerals designate identical or corresponding parts throughout the several views . it is noted that as used in the specification and the appending claims the singular forms “ a ,” “ an ,” and “ the ” can include plural references unless the context clearly dictates otherwise . the following description relates to a pick - up header and a merger including the pick - up header , and a conveyor , which are supported by skid shoes that rest on the ground . the skid shoes may be attached to a frame member of the pick - up header and / or a main pivot shaft which may be connected to a system of linkages . in exemplary embodiments including the main pivot shaft and the system of linkages , an elevation of the pick - up header and an orientation of the skid shoes may be adjusted with an operation of the system of linkages . the system of linkages may be positioned within components of a pick - up header frame , a conveyor frame , and a merger frame . during operation , material that is picked up by the pick - up header and conveyed in a longitudinal direction of the merger may remain on a conveyor belt on a return side of the conveyor . with the skid shoes attached to the frame of the pick - up header and / or the main pivot shaft , an arrangement of the skid shoes , with or without the main pivot shaft and the system of linkages , may not require an external frame to be provided beneath the conveyor in exemplary embodiments of a merger according to the present disclosure . as a result , material that lags on the return side of the conveyor may fall to the ground keeping the return side of the conveyor belt free from obstructions . fig1 a - c illustrate an exemplary embodiment of a windrow merger assembly 1 according to the present disclosure that is supported by wheels 3 on the ground and may be towed by a vehicle ( not shown ) via a tongue 5 extending from a trailer 7 . as illustrated in fig1 b , the windrow merger assembly 1 includes mergers 100 operably connected to the trailer 7 that is supported by the wheels 3 . arms 9 extend from behind a deflector 101 mounted to vertical frame members 103 of each merger 100 . the arms 9 extend over a conveyor 130 of each merger 100 and attach to a bar 11 , from which guides 13 extend . the guides 13 extend from the bar 11 over a plurality of pick - up teeth 151 between end plates 153 of a pick - up header 150 according to the present disclosure . the pick - up teeth 151 are positioned to alternate with pick - up guards 155 on a front of the pick - up header 150 along a longitudinal direction ( x axis ) of the merger 100 ( fig1 c ). at least one of the end plates 153 may support a drive shaft ( not shown ) which transfers rotational force to drive the plurality of pick - up teeth 151 . skid shoes 170 are provided under each merger 100 . during operation , the skid shoe 170 may contact the ground to maintain a minimum clearance ( s ) between the ground and the pick - up header 150 as illustrated in fig2 a . fig2 a - 2c illustrate the merger 100 including the pick - up header 150 according to the present disclosure in more detail . as illustrated in fig2 a , a deflector 101 is mounted on the vertical frame members 103 of the merger 100 . the vertical frame members 103 are attached to a horizontal frame member 105 as illustrated in fig2 a and 2b , which extends in the longitudinal direction ( x axis ) of the merger 100 . the conveyor 130 is positioned between the horizontal frame member 105 of the merger 100 and the pick - up header 150 . as illustrated in fig2 a and 2c , the conveyor 130 includes a conveyor belt 131 that is driven to rotate around the merger 100 to convey material on a top side 130 a in the longitudinal direction ( x axis ) of the merger 100 . the conveyor belt 131 may be an endless conveyor belt driven by rollers and supported by a frame as described in more detail below . because a frame is not provided under a return side 130 b of the conveyor 130 , lagging material does not fall and accumulate on a structural element immediately below the conveyor belt 131 . thus , an issue of material accumulating and forming catch points that may slow or stop the conveyor 130 may be avoided with the merger 100 of the present disclosure . fig3 and 4 illustrate various aspects of the pick - up header 150 according to the present disclosure . the pick - up header 150 includes a header frame 157 . one side of the header frame is attached to the pick - up teeth 151 and the pick - up guards 155 , and an opposite side is attached to the conveyor 130 , which extends in the longitudinal direction ( x axis ) of the merger 100 between the endplates 153 ( fig4 ). the conveyor 130 is attached to the header frame 157 just above a lower rear frame member 159 and below an upper rear frame member 161 . the lower rear frame member 159 and the upper rear frame member 161 extend in the longitudinal direction ( x axis ), while projecting from the pick - up header 150 in a front to rear direction ( z axis ) of the merger 100 ( fig1 c ). fig3 further illustrates support plates 163 positioned under a longitudinal guide 165 mounted onto the lower rear frame member 159 of the header frame 157 . the support plates 163 help support the main pivot shaft 180 . individual guide members 167 are attached to the header frame 157 below attachment points for cross members ( 135 a 1 , 135 a 3 ) of the conveyor 130 described in more detail below . the conveyor belt 131 ( see fig2 a and 2c ) may fit in a space defined between the longitudinal guide plate 165 and the individual guide members 167 , such that a movement of the conveyor belt 131 is guided by the guide members 167 in the longitudinal direction ( x axis ). the guide members 167 also prevent an inner side of the conveyor belt 131 from contacting lower sides of the cross members ( 135 a 1 , 135 a 3 , and 134 ), which could impede the movement of the conveyor belt 131 . fig3 - 5a describe the present disclosure having an internal structure of the merger 100 including an internal structure of the conveyor 130 . fig3 illustrates a perspective view from a back of the merger 100 similar to fig2 c , and fig4 illustrates a bottom view of the merger 100 according to the present disclosure . in fig3 and 4 , the conveyor belt 131 is removed in order to show primary rollers 133 and a conveyor frame ( 134 , 135 a 1 , 135 a 2 , 135 b ) of the conveyor 130 . primary rollers 133 are positioned on opposite ends of the merger 100 in the longitudinal direction ( x axis ). a drive mount 137 is connected on to a rear of the horizontal frame member 105 in a location corresponding to one of the primary rollers 133 . the drive mount 137 connects to the primary roller 133 in order to rotate the primary roller 133 and drive the conveyor belt 131 ( see fig2 a and 2c ). as illustrated in fig5 a , the conveyor frame ( 134 , 135 a 1 , 135 a 3 , 135 b ) includes first cross members 135 a 1 and second cross members 134 extending in the front to rear direction ( z axis ) and attached to the pick - up header frame 157 and the horizontal frame member 105 . the first and second cross members ( 135 a 1 , 134 ) support horizontal cross members 135 b extending in the longitudinal direction ( x axis ). a surface belt rides on the horizontal cross member 135 b , which also connects to the conveyor cross members 135 a 1 , 135 a 3 , and 134 . the first and second cross members ( 135 a 1 , 134 ) attach the deflector 101 ( fig2 a - 2c ), vertical frame members 103 , and horizontal frame member 105 to the pick - up header 150 ( fig1 and 3 ) and support the overall structure of the merger 100 ( fig2 a ). a description of the arrangement of a system of linkages ( 180 - 200 ) and is provided with reference to fig2 b , 5a , 5b , 6a , and 6b . fig5 a and 5b illustrate an embodiment of the system of linkages ( 180 - 200 ), including a main linkage 181 extending in the front to rear direction ( z axis ), the main pivot shaft 180 , and a linear actuator 200 . fig5 a illustrates the merger 100 according to the present disclosure without the deflector 101 and the pick - up teeth 151 , and shows the main pivot shaft 180 and the main linkage 181 of the system of linkages ( 180 - 200 ). the main pivot shaft 180 is attached to each skid shoe 170 , and the main linkage 181 extends through the horizontal frame member 105 at one end , and the header frame 157 at an opposite end . fig5 b illustrates the merger 100 according to the present disclosure without the deflector 101 , the pick - up teeth 151 , or portions of header frame 157 including the lower frame member 159 . a first linkage arm 185 is also shown attached to the first pivot plate 183 by a linkage arm pin 183 b ( fig5 b ). the first linkage arm 185 extends through a second opening 157 b in the header frame 157 ( fig5 a ), to connect with a first connection member 187 by a first connection pin 187 a ( fig5 b ). the first pivot plate 183 is connected to the first linkage arm 185 in order to translate the motion of the main linkage 181 to the main pivot shaft 180 via the first connection member 187 . a connection between the main linkage 181 and the main pivot shaft 180 is described with reference to fig5 a , 5b , 6a , and 6b . the main linkage 181 extends within the conveyor unit 130 in the front to rear direction ( z axis ). specifically , the main linkage 181 is positioned between the first cross members 135 a 1 along the longitudinal direction ( x axis ), and attaches at one end to a first pivot plate 183 . the main linkage 181 extends through a header frame opening 157 a ( fig5 a ), to attach to the first pivot plate 183 positioned in front of the header frame 157 in the front to rear direction ( z axis ) as shown in fig5 b . the main linkage 181 is attached to the first pivot plate 183 with a first main linkage pin 183 a . fig6 a and 6b illustrate respective connections between the main linkage 181 , first pivot plate 183 , first linkage arm 185 , and first connection member 187 by the first main linkage pin 183 a , linkage arm pin 183 b , and first connection pin 187 a . as illustrated in fig5 b , 6a , and 6b , the first linkage arm 185 may be connected to the main pivot shaft 180 by the first connection member 187 . in other embodiments , the first linkage arm 185 may be directly connected to the main pivot shaft 180 . fig6 b is an exemplary embodiment according to the present disclosure , the main pivot shaft 180 may extend in the longitudinal direction ( x axis ) and be attached to second connection members 189 positioned at or near shaft ends 180 a of the main pivot shaft 180 . in one embodiment , two connection members 189 may be connected symmetrically at one end to the main pivot shaft 180 , and the other ends of the connection members 189 may be connected to pivot members 173 that are connected to the skid shoe 170 . a second linkage arm 191 may be connected to another pivot member 173 at one end , and support plates 163 ( fig5 a , 5b ) at the other end . the support plates 163 may also be connected to the 159 lower rear frame member and aid in the support of the longitudinal guide plate 165 . in addition , to the shaft ends 180 a , the second connection members 189 may be positioned at intermediate positions on the main shaft 180 between the first connection member 187 and the shaft ends 180 a . the second connection members 189 may attach the main pivot shaft to the skid shoes 170 by connecting to respective pivot members 173 described in detail below . in addition , a second linkage arm 191 may connect one of the support plates 163 ( fig5 a , 5b ) to one of the pivot members 173 ( fig6 a - 6c ) of the skid shoe 170 . the support plates 163 also aid in the support of the longitudinal guide plate 165 ( fig3 and 5a ). bearings 182 may be provided to support the main pivot shaft 180 in rotation . the bearings 180 may be ball bearings , roller bearings , oil - film bearings , or any other type of appropriate bearing . further , the bearings 182 may be provided near the shaft ends 180 a of the main pivot shaft 180 and in a vicinity of the first connection member 187 that is attached to the first linkage arm 185 . in addition , the bearings 182 may be attached to support plates 163 ( fig5 a - 5 b ) that may be positioned in locations corresponding to the shaft ends 180 a of the main pivot shaft 180 . a connection between the main linkage 181 and the linear actuator 200 is described with reference to fig2 b , 5a , 5b , 6a and 6b . an end of the main linkage 181 ( fig5 b ) passes through both a merger frame opening 105 b ( fig2 b ), and a frame slot 105 a ( fig5 a - 5b ) mounted on the horizontal frame member 105 . with reference to fig5 a and 5b , the linear actuator 200 may be provided at a rear of the conveyor 130 . this location of the linear actuator 200 may provide easier access for manual adjustment of the skid shoe 170 . the linear actuator 200 may be actuated manually or may be powered . the linear actuator 200 may be mechanical , hydraulic , electrical , or pneumatic . for example , the linear actuator 200 may include a ball screw , a solenoid , hydraulic cylinder , pneumatic cylinder , or a combination thereof . further , the linear actuator 200 may be manually controlled or electronically controlled by a controller ( not shown ). the linear actuator 200 may move in a vertical direction ( y axis ) which is identified in fig6 a , and may be connected to the main linkage 181 . the actuator is a linear applicator or a pivot , or a rotary actuator . as illustrated in fig6 a and 6b , the system of linkages ( 180 - 200 ) includes a first pivot pin 195 extending through the first pivot plate 183 , and a second pivot pin 197 extending through the second pivot plate 193 . the first pivot pin 195 is provided to mount the first pivot plate 183 on to the pick - up header frame 157 ( fig5 a ) such that the first pivot plate 183 can rotate about an axis perpendicular to the front and rear direction ( z axis ) and parallel to the longitudinal direction ( x axis ). the second pivot pin 197 is provided to mount the second pivot plate 193 on to the pick - up header frame 105 a ( fig5 a ) such that the second pivot plate 193 can rotate about another axis perpendicular to the front and rear direction ( z axis ) and parallel to the longitudinal direction ( x axis ). the actuator for this application could be any type of linear actuator or a pivot could be replaced with a rotary actuator . the embodiment shown ( fig2 c ) is a manual screw type linear actuator . the housing is rotated causing the internal screw to either extend or retract . fig6 a and 6b illustrate the system of linkages ( 180 - 200 ) without the pick - up header frame 157 or the horizontal frame member 105 of the merger 100 . the main linkage 181 is attached to a second pivot plate 193 by a second main linkage pin 193 a . a linkage actuator pin 193 b attaches the second pivot plate 193 to the linear actuator 200 , while a second pivot pin 197 attaches the second pivot plate 193 to the horizontal frame member 105 . in other embodiments , the linear actuator may be provided in the system of linkages in place of any of the linkage members that operate in a linear manner , including the main linkage 181 . replacing one of the linkages with the linear actuator may reduce the number of linkages in the system . in one embodiment shown in fig9 a , a linear actuator 200 may be connected to the first connection member 187 , which is connected to and controls the rotation of the main pivot shaft 180 . the linear actuator 200 to operate or replace linkages may comprise , but is not limited to , a hydraulic , pneumatic , or mechanical system , or some combination thereof . fig6 a - 6c describe skid shoes 170 . the skid shoes 170 may be provided beneath the conveyor 130 ( fig1 a ) and the pick - up header 150 ( fig3 ), and may include a flat portion 170 a , like a flat plate , and angled lip portions 170 b on opposite sides of the flat portion 170 a in the front to rear direction ( z axis ). the flat portion 170 a may include a flat lower surface which may contact the ground . each skid shoe 170 may include at least one pivot member 173 for connecting the skid shoe 170 to the main pivot shaft 180 . further , a plurality of pivot members 173 may be provided on each skid shoe 170 in exemplary embodiments according to the present disclosure . as illustrated in fig6 b and 6c , each pivot member 173 may be provided on a reinforcement member 171 which provides increased stiffness and rigidity to the skid shoe 170 . the reinforcement member 171 may attach to the angled lip portions 170 b of the skid shoe 170 . in other exemplary embodiments , the pivot members 173 may be mounted directly to the flat portion 170 a of the skid shoe 170 . during operation , each skid shoe 170 may contact the ground to maintain the minimum clearance ( s ) between the ground and the pick - up header 150 illustrated in fig2 a . an exemplary operation of the skid shoes 170 and system of linkages ( 180 - 200 ) according the present disclosure will now be described . the linear actuator 200 may be provided to actuate at least one linkage in the system of linkages ( 180 - 200 ). the main linkage 181 may be driven by the linear actuator 200 so as to move in a linear direction , such as the front to rear direction ( z axis ). specifically , the movement of linear actuator 200 will cause the second pivot plate 193 to rotate so that the main linkage 181 may move in the front to rear direction ( z axis ), as shown in fig6 a . as previously provided , the second pivot plate 193 is rotatably connected to the horizontal frame member 105 of the merger 100 ( fig2 c ). the movement of the main linkage 181 in the front to rear direction ( z axis ) as shown in fig5 a and 5b , will be translated to the main pivot shaft 180 by the first pivot plate 183 , the first linkage arm 185 and the first connection member 187 . specifically , the first pivot plate 183 will rotate relative to the pick - up header frame 157 , causing the first linkage arm 185 to move in the front to rear direction ( z axis ). an end of the first linkage arm 185 connected to the first connection member 187 is rotatable about the first connection pin 187 a . as a result of this connection , the movement of the first linkage arm 185 in the front to rear direction ( z axis ) causes the first connection member 187 , and thereby the main pivot shaft 180 , to rotate in a rotational direction ( r ) identified in fig2 a . the first linkage arm 185 can move back and forth along the front to rear direction ( z axis ). as such , the direction of rotation of the main pivot shaft 180 corresponds to the direction movement of the main linkage 181 and the first linkage arm 185 along the front to rear direction ( z axis ), shown in fig6 a . when the main linkage 181 moves towards the pick - up teeth 151 , the first linkage arm 185 moves towards the deflector 101 , and the main pivot shaft 180 rotates in a first rotational direction ( r 1 ) as illustrated in fig6 a . when the main linkage 181 moves towards the deflector 101 , the first linkage arm 185 moves towards the pick - up teeth 151 , and the main pivot shaft 180 rotates in a second rotational direction ( r 2 ) as illustrated in fig6 a . when the main pivot shaft 180 rotates due to the movement of the main linkage 181 , the position of the skid shoe 170 is adjusted due to the connections between second connection members 189 and respective pivot members 173 , and with second linkage arms 191 which are connected to respective pivot members 173 ( fig6 b ). the adjustment of the skid shoe 170 may include a change in its angle and / or a change in vertical displacement . according to one exemplary embodiment , rotation of the main pivot shaft 180 in the first rotational direction ( r 1 ) may vertically lower the skid shoe towards the ground , and rotation of the main pivot shaft 180 in a second rotational direction ( r 2 ) may vertically raise the skid shoe away from the ground ( fig6 a ). further , rotation of the main pivot shaft 180 in one rotational direction may increase an angle between the skid shoe 170 and the ground , and rotation of the main pivot shaft 180 in another rotational direction may decrease the angle between the skid shoe 170 and the ground . in other embodiments , the angle and the vertical displacement of the skid shoe 170 may both be changed depending on the rotational direction of the main pivot shaft 180 . the linkage member 191 may attach to a support plate 163 in a parallel linkage arrangement , maintaining a constant angle between the shoe and the bottom of the merger throughout the range of adjustment . the support plate 163 may be slotted which allows for the change in the angle of the shoe for improved ground following . in one embodiment , the end of at least one joint of the second linkage arm 191 has a slot 201 ( fig8 a - 8b ), allowing adjustment of the angle the skid shoe 170 makes with the horizontal . as illustrated in fig1 a - 6c , and described herein , multiple skid shoes 170 may be connected to the main pivot shaft 180 . the rotation of the main pivot shaft 180 due to the movement of the main linkage 181 may adjust the position of each of the multiple skid shoes 170 . the skid shoes 170 may be provided near each shaft end 180 a of the main pivot shaft 180 ( fig6 b ). multiple second connection members 189 may connect the main pivot shaft 180 to multiple pivot members 173 ( fig6 c ). as illustrated in fig6 b and 6c , for each skid shoe 170 , multiple second linkage arms 191 may be arranged in parallel with one second connection member 189 to form a four bar linkage , the second linkage arm 191 connected directly to the support plate 163 and one of the pivot members 173 . the rotation of the main pivot 180 shaft may change the displacement of the skid shoe 170 relative to the bottom of the pick - up header 150 with the movement of the second linkage arm 191 . fig8 a - 8b illustrate the pick - up header 150 and conveyor 130 , connected to the skid shoe 170 . the position and movement of the skid shoe 170 may be controlled by the system of linkages , detailed in fig6 a - 6c , or by a linear actuator 200 , as shown in fig9 a , to pivot the second pivot plate 193 about the second pivot pin 197 , which translates rocking motion into linear movement of the main linkage 181 along the z axis , which in turn actuates the linear movement of the first linkage arm 185 by rocking the first pivot plate 183 . as a result of the linear motion of the first linkage arm 185 acting on the first connection member 187 , the main pivot shaft 180 rotates and moves the second connection member 189 and second linkage arm 191 , which cause the skid shoe 170 to move vertically . the embodiments of fig9 a - b depict the result of rotating the main pivot shaft 180 to move the skid shoe 170 to different positions . in one position , the skid shoe 170 is in a flat , lowered position of vertical displacement ( a ) due to rotation of the main pivot shaft 180 in the direction r 2 , as shown in fig9 a . in another position the skid shoe 170 is in a flat , extended position of vertical displacement ( a + b ) due to rotation of the main pivot shaft 180 in the direction r 1 , as shown in fig9 b . the rotation of the skid shoe 170 about the angles θ and α is due to contact between the skid shoe 170 and the ground surface as the skid shoe 170 passes over uneven terrain . the skid shoe 170 is free floating . the angular position of skid shoe 170 is independent of the adjustment of the pivot shaft 180 and movement of the main linkage 181 . the center of gravity of the skid shoe 170 is located rearward of the leading pivot member 173 , which causes the skid shoe 170 to maintain a standard rotation angle θ of greater than zero , with the leading edge of the skid shoe 170 at an elevation above that of the trailing edge to help prevent the leading edge from digging into the ground when the pick - up header 150 is returned to the ground . fig8 a shows the skid shoe rotating to an angle ( θ ), generally zero to 12 degrees from the horizontal as allowed by the slotted member 191 to permit the shoe to follow the contour of the ground . fig9 b shows the result of rotating the linkage in the r 1 direction . the shoe lowers to raise the pick - up header 150 from the ground . fig8 b shows the ground following capabilities in the opposite direction to that shown in fig8 a with the skid shoe rotating to an angle ( α ), generally zero to 5 degrees from the horizontal . as illustrated in fig6 a and 6b , the system of linkages ( 180 - 200 ) includes a first pivot pin 195 extending through the first pivot plate 183 , and a second pivot pin 197 extending through the second pivot plate 193 . the first pivot pin 195 is provided to mount the first pivot plate 183 on to the pick - up header frame 157 ( fig5 a ) such that the first pivot plate 183 can rotate about an axis perpendicular to the front and rear direction ( z axis ) and parallel to the longitudinal direction ( x axis ). the second pivot pin 197 is provided to mount the second pivot plate 193 on to the pick - up header frame 105 a ( fig5 a ) such that the second pivot plate 193 can rotate about another axis perpendicular to the front and rear direction ( z axis ) and parallel to the longitudinal direction ( x axis ). the actuator for this application could be any type of linear applicator or a pivot could be replaced with a rotary actuator . the embodiment shown ( fig2 c ) is a manual screw type linear actuator . the housing is rotated causing the internal screw to either extend or retract . fig6 a and 6b illustrate the system of linkages ( 180 - 200 ) without the pick - up header frame 157 or the horizontal frame member 105 of the merger 100 . the main linkage 181 is attached to a second pivot plate 193 by a second main linkage pin 193 a . a linkage actuator pin 193 b attaches the second pivot plate 193 to the linear actuator 200 , while a second pivot pin 197 attaches the second pivot plate 193 to the horizontal frame member 105 . portions of the system of linkages ( 180 - 200 ) may be located within the conveyor 130 and surrounded by the conveyor belt 131 . in one embodiment , the merger frame opening 105 b may be provided in the horizontal frame member 105 of the merger 100 , and the main linkage 181 may pass through the merger frame opening 105 b to be substantially provided inside the conveyor 131 . further , in the exemplary embodiments of merger 100 and pick - up header 150 according to this disclosure , one end of the main linkage 181 passes through the merger frame opening 105 b and the other end of the main linkage 181 passes through the pick - up header frame opening 157 a ( fig5 a ). with the main linkage 181 substantially provided inside the conveyor 130 , the main pivot shaft 180 and the skid shoe 170 may be disposed below the conveyor 130 and behind the pick - up header 150 . the main pivot shaft 180 may be disposed outside of the conveyor 130 , and the support plates 163 may contact against the lower rear frame member 159 of the pick - up header 150 ( fig5 a ). with this configuration , the main linkage 181 may be free from obstructions below the conveyor belt 131 and may still allow for adjustment of the skid shoe 170 . in some embodiments , equipped with linkages described , any or all of the components could be positioned outside the conveyor except for the 181 . in another embodiment , the skid shoe 170 may be fixed to a support on the pick - up header frame 157 or the lower rear frame member 159 of the pick - up header frame 157 . the skid shoes 170 may be fixed such that the skid shoes 170 are not adjustable . in other exemplary embodiments , the skid shoes may be attached to the pick - up header 157 and adjustable at an attachment point . the skid shoe 170 in this configuration may be adjusted directly by a mechanical device or remotely by remote control . the attachment point may include a ball - and - socket joint , a servo , a ratchet joint , or a pin joint . in other embodiments , the skid shoes 170 may be replaced with at least one roller . the roller may be fixed or ground following . although only certain embodiments of this invention have been described in detail above , those skilled in the art will readily appreciate that many modifications are possible in the exemplary embodiment without materially departing from the novel teachings and advantages of this disclosure . accordingly , all such modifications are intended to be included within the scope of this disclosure . further , it is to be understood that within the scope of the appended claims , the invention may be practiced otherwise than as specifically described herein . | 0 |
fig1 shows part of a nuclear fuel assembly 10 of closely packed fuel pins 11 arranged in an array with their longitudinal axes in parallel . each fuel pin 11 consists of generally tubular cladding 12 which has a plurality of longitudinally extending fins 13 formed as part of the outer surface of the cladding and spaced circumferentially thereabout . a nuclear fuel 14 , consisting of a mixture of fissile and fertile material , is contained within the cladding 12 . the fuel pins 11 in fig1 are arranged so that the extremity of each fin 13a abuts with the extremity of a fin 13b of a juxtaposed fuel pin ; fins of peripheral fuel pins may abut the fuel assembly can structure 15 . the extremities of the fins shown in fig1 are joined to each other and to the reactor can structure by means of brazing at 16 and 17 , respectively , to form the integral fuel assembly 10 . the fins 13 , in one embodiment , extend without interruption along the longitudinal surface of the fuel pin forming channels 20 in the interspaces of the fuel pins which direct reactor coolant flow ( not shown ) therewithin generally in parallel with the longitudinal axis of the pins the fins 13 , however , need not extend continuously along the length of the fuel pins but can be interrupted fins 21 , as shown in fig2 and 3 , so as to allow transverse flow and intermixing of the coolant through the fuel pin interspaces . the axially interrupted fins 21 of juxtaposed fuel pins may be brazed to each other at 22 ( fig2 ) or , as shown in fig3 directly to the tubular portion of the fuel pin at 23 . an assembly utilizing a combination of both arrangements shown in fig2 and 3 , i . e ., fin to fin contact and fin to tube contact , is also possible . a finned fuel pin 26 design utilizing broad fins 24 brazed to each other at 25 is shown in fig4 . broad fins may be utilized to further limit the moderator volume fraction at some sacrifice of specific core power . elimination of conventional spacer grids and the formation of fins as part of the tube cladding permits reduction of the reactor core moderator volume fraction to values consistent with the achievement of the desired moderator to fuel atom ratios . illustrative physical design parameters are set forth in table 1 . table i______________________________________example 1 2 3______________________________________fuel pin diameter , inches . 35 . 40 . 40fuel pin pitch , inches . 39 . 43 . 43clad thickness , inches . 015 . 020 . 020clad material incoloy type 316 type 316 800 stainless stainless steel steelpitch - diameter , inches . 040 . 030 . 030number of fins per pin 6 3 3fin height , inches . 020 . 030 . 030fin width , inches . 020 . 030 . 030fin interruption , percent of 0 0 30lengthfuel volume fraction . 6105 . 6357 . 6357structural volume fraction . 1381 . 1659 . 1541coolant volume fraction . 2514 . 1984 . 2102fuel / coolant volume fraction 2 . 43 3 . 20 3 . 02ratiomoderator / fuel atom ratio . 82 . 624 . 66______________________________________ the fuel pins in the examples of table i are formed in the shapes of rods . the fuel pins of examples 1 and 2 are provided with continuous fins along their length . example 3 illustrates an alternate embodiment of example 2 wherein the fins traverse approximately thirty percent of the length of the rods . the values for the moderator to fuel atom ratios shown in table i approximate normal pressurized water reactor operating pg , 9 conditions including primary coolant temperature and pressure , fuel pellet shape , clearances between the fuel pellets and clad , and percent of theoretical uo 2 density achieved in the pellet . the fuel assemblies of table i would be typically formed by furnace brazing in a hydrogen atmosphere at 1950 ° to 2000 ° f . with a brazing alloy tradenamed &# 34 ; nicrobraz 50 &# 34 ; ( available from the wall - colmonoy corp ., detroit , mich .) using jigs , fixtures and methods of braze alloy placement known in the furnace brazing art . in still another embodiment , fig5 illustrates a design for low temperature reactors suitable for breeding plutonium and low heat generation purpose , e . g . residential heating . in this embodiment a fuel assembly is fabricated from a block 32 of metal , e . g ., aluminum alloy . transversely spaced parallel channels are formed for flow passage 31 and for fuel 30 . the surfaces of the flow channels may be roughened where needed to increase critical heat flux . illustrative design parameters for a block type reactor are shown in table ii . table ii______________________________________example 1 2______________________________________fuel channel diameter , inches . 40 . 325fuel channel pitch , inches . 500 . 40coolant channel diameter , inches . 156 . 125coolant channel pitch , inches . 500 . 40fuel volume fraction . 503 . 518structure volume fraction . 421 . 405coolant volume fraction . 076 . 0766fuel / coolant volume fraction ratio 6 . 62 6 . 76moderator / fuel atom ratio . 44 . 43______________________________________ the moderator to fuel atom ratio of table ii corresponds to a primary coolant water temperature of about 250 ° f . at low pressure . other process parameters are similar to those assumed for table i . the geometry of the coolant and fuel channels in the block type fuel assembly will produce a degree of what might be termed &# 34 ; moderator escape probability &# 34 ; which will serve to harden the neutron spectrum and improve the core conversion or breeding ratio . this occurs because each fuel channel is not completely surrounded by moderator . hence , some neutrons produced in a fuel channel can pass to another fuel channel without traversing a volume containing moderator , thereby improving the breeding or conversion ratio since the average neutron energy at which fission occurs is increased . this , combined with a moderator to fuel ratio less than that which can be achieved with touching fuel pins , should yield a uniquely high breeding ratio for either h 2 o or d 2 o cooling . by virtue of the moderator to fuel atom ratios made possible by these approaches to fuel assembly design , fast reactor physics can be applied to pressurized water reactor tehnology . this combination has important advantages including : a . avoidance of gas or liquid metal coolants otherwise used for fast reactors . c . availability of additional methods of reactivity control , namely , chemical shim and spectral shift control . availability of additional methods of reactivity control reduces the normal dependence of fast reactors on control rods . they allow a general reduction in required control rod worth and provide a means for continuous adjustment of excess reactivity to a minimum value , thereby greatly enhancing the safety of fast reactor cores . this would include operation with higher worth rods out of the core . | 8 |
fig1 a , 2b , 3a , 3b , 4a , and 4b depict typical groups of bullet holes resulting from test firing of a ruger caliber . 223 mini - 14 with leupold 8 × telescopic sight installed . all firing was done from a bench rest at a range of 100 yards and with 10 round groups . the figures were created by first digitizing the location of each bullet hole on test targets , entering the data in a computer , and then reproducing the pattern of holes at full scale with exact bullet diameter circles . each group was then enclosed in a rectangle drawn tangent to the widest vertical and horizontal bullet holes in the group . the group in fig1 indicated at 1 was fired using hornady varmint express 55 grain factory ammunition with the rifle in unmodified configuration . the group shown in fig2 a indicated at 3 was fired using the same type of hornady ammunition with the rifle incorporating standard accuracy modifications commonly employed on u . s . m14 rifles , including polymer bedding of the rifle action . incorporation of standard accuracy modifications were done to prevent looseness of the gun action within its stock . the group shown on fig2 b indicated at 5 was fired using the same type of hornady ammunition with above mentioned accuracy modifications plus an optimized barrel stabilizer system of the present invention installed . the change between the group on fig1 indicated at 1 to the group on fig2 a indicated at 3 constitutes a modest reduction in extreme spread by less than 25 %. the change , between the group on fig2 a at 3 and the group on fig2 b at 5 , constitutes at dramatic reduction by nearly a factor of three in extreme spread . the groups depicted in fig3 a , 3b , 4a , and 4b were fired with the ruger rifle with above mentioned accuracy modifications first without ( on fig3 a at 7 and fig4 a at 11 ) and then with ( on fig3 b at 9 and fig4 b at 13 ) the same barrel stabilizer system of the present invention . groups depicted in fig3 a and 3b were fired with winchester 69 grain match ammunition . groups depicted in fig4 a and 4b were fired with ammunition representative of recent u . s . military 55 grain ball ammunition . fig3 a , 3b , 4a , and 4b show that the stabilizers of the present invention achieve accuracy improvement for all ammunition compatible with a given gun without change or adjustment of the stabilizer . the groups depicted in fig1 a , 2b , 3a , 3b , 4a , and 4b were not selected to exaggerate the performance of the present invention but rather represent typical performance of the configuration under test as described above . accuracy improvement in this ruger rifle has been found typical for guns of various types after installation of the present invention . the minimum reduction in group size for any gun , so far equipped with an optimized barrel stabilizer system of the present invention , was 50 % and occurred with a rifle already possessing excellent accuracy . a factor of five was the maximum reduction in average group size for guns under test during development of the subject invention . with the exception of the ruger rifle described above , all rifles tested after installation of optimized barrel stabilizer systems of the present invention produced average ten shot groups measuring under one minute of angle for center to center for extreme spread on the widest holes . the forward portion of a model gun is shown in fig5 responding to the forces , represented at 14 , generated by firing . the depicted forward portion of the gun consists of the barrel 15 , the forestock 16 , the muzzle 17 with distal end 18 , and a contact point 19 with the barrel at the forward end of said forestock 16 . the barrel 15 including the muzzle 17 is shown with exaggerated angular deflection for the purposes of illustration . fig6 depicts the same gun of fig5 now shown with the system of the invention , including a stabilizer indicated generally at 20 greatly exaggerated for purposes of illustration . a transition piece shown generally at 21 joins the stabilizer 20 to the barrel 15 at the muzzle 17 . the stabilizer 20 is shown resisting and correcting the angular deflection of the muzzle 17 by virtue of its cantilever nature , extending rearwards from the barrel muzzle 17 , when exposed to the same forces 14 generated by firing . the stabilizer 20 is shown extending rearward from the distal end 18 of the barrel 15 to the contact point 19 between the forestock 16 and the barrel 15 . the contact point 19 is a point of transition from relatively low section modulus to relatively high section modulus . optimized embodiments of the present invention will have barrel stabilizer systems which extend rearward from gun muzzles to positions short of , beyond , or to such points , based on the configuration of the gun and desired appearance and features of the stabilizer . fig7 depicts a first preferred embodiment including a segment of rifle barrel shown generally at 25 including barrel bore 26 and distal end 27 . a tubular stabilizer 28 is shown installed via a transition piece 29 using internal threads which cooperate with external threads on the barrel at 30 . the transition piece 29 is joined to the stabilizer 28 by interference fit at 31 . the stabilizer 28 is held in position through contact between the transition piece 29 and a shoulder on the barrel at 32 . the stabilizer 28 extends rearward from the distal end 27 almost to a point of transition 33 on the rifle barrel 25 from smaller diameter to larger diameter . point 33 serves as the transition from relatively low section modulus to relatively high section modulus . fig8 depicts the attachment details of a second preferred embodiment similar to that shown in fig7 including a segment of an air rifle barrel shown generally at 40 including distal end 41 . a tubular stabilizer 42 is shown installed via a transition piece 43 using internal threads which cooperate with external threads on the barrel at 44 . the transition piece 43 is joined to the stabilizer 42 by bonded attachment at 45 . the stabilizer 42 is secured to the barrel 40 through contact with a lock nut 46 incorporating internal threads which cooperate with external threads on the barrel at 47 . fig9 depicts the attachment details of a third preferred embodiment similar to that shown in fig7 including a segment of rifle barrel shown generally at 50 including distal end 51 . a tubular stabilizer 52 incorporates an integral transition piece shown generally at 53 . the stabilizer 52 is connected to the barrel by a lock nut 54 with a conical interface shown at 55 on the transition piece 53 . the transition piece 53 further cooperates with a second conical interface 56 on an enlarged segment of barrel shown at 57 . internal threads on the lock nut 54 engage external threads on the barrel at 58 . close alignment is maintained by the conical interfaces shown at 55 and 56 , and is repeatable should the stabilizer 52 be removed from the barrel 50 . fig1 depicts the attachment details of a fourth preferred embodiment similar to that shown in fig9 including a segment of rifle barrel distal end 65 . a tubular barrel stabilizer 66 incorporates a horizontal slot 67 that bisects stabilizer 66 in the region where stabilizer 66 contacts the barrel . the slot 67 cooperates with clamping screws shown typically at 68 to produce a clamping force attaching the stabilizer 66 to the barrel . relief cuts shown typically at 69 accommodate the clamping screws . fig1 depicts a cross section view of fig1 with the gun barrel shown at 70 . the stabilizer , including integral transition piece , is shown generally at 66 . external threads , on the clamping screws shown at 68 , cooperate with internal threads in the stabilizer at 71 , and with slot 67 , to produce a clamping force at the stabilizer - barrel interface shown generally at 72 . fig1 depicts the attachment details of a fifth preferred embodiment similar to that shown in fig7 including a segment of artillery barrel shown generally at 80 . a tubular stabilizer 81 is shown with clearance space 82 . the stabilizer 81 is connected to the barrel by a clamping collet 83 with conical interfaces shown at 84 and 85 . the clamping collet 83 forms the transition from the stabilizer 81 to the barrel 80 . a lock nut including integral muzzle brake shown generally at 86 incorporates internal threads which cooperate with external threads on the stabilizer at 87 to capture and compress the clamping collet 83 onto the barrel 80 . the lock nut incorporating integral muzzle brake 86 includes two pairs of opposing vent holes shown typically at 88 and 89 , plus internal baffles shown generally at 90 . the lock nut incorporating integral muzzle brake further includes a central bore 91 larger than the gun bore 92 , and distal end shown at 93 . fig1 shows an enlarged detail of the clamping collet 83 from fig1 including conical surfaces shown typically at 96 . multiple longitudinal slots shown typically at 97 and 98 extend from opposite ends of the clamping collet 83 accommodating the flexibility necessary for the clamping collet 83 to perform its function . fig1 is an end view of the clamping collet 83 of fig1 including longitudinal slots shown typically at 97 and 98 plus central bore 99 matching the artillery barrel outside diameter . fig1 depicts a sixth preferred embodiment including the forward segment of a ruger mini - 14 . 223 caliber rifle , shown generally at 105 , including the forward section of barrel 106 with distal end 107 . a tubular stabilizer 108 is shown installed via a transition piece 109 which is bonded inside the stabilizer 108 . a retaining pin 110 is installed by interference fit into a hole which passes thought the stabilizer 108 , transition piece 109 , and barrel 106 , centered on a cord line which is tangent to the transition piece and barrel interface diameter . the pin 110 serves to lock the stabilizer 108 to the barrel 106 against rotation and axial movement . the stabilizer 108 is shown with a front sight 111 installed to a sight base 112 . the stabilizer 108 extends forward beyond the distal end of the barrel 107 to form the outer casing of a muzzle brake at 113 including vent holes shown typically at 114 . the muzzle brake system further includes a baffle piece 115 with central bore 116 installed by bonded connection inside the muzzle brake casing 113 . the stabilizer 108 extends rearward from the distal end of the barrel at 107 almost to a point of transition 117 on the rifle barrel 106 resulting from the presence of the mini - 14 gas block 118 . point 117 constitutes a transition from relatively low section modulus to relatively high section modulus . the barrel stabilizer system further includes an adjustable counterweight 119 with internal threads , and lock 120 with internal threads , which cooperate with external threads on the stabilizer at 121 . the adjustable counterweight 119 is moved to different positions along the stabilizer 108 by rotation on the threads shown at 121 , and then locked in position for gun firing by tightening the lock 120 against the counterweight 119 . the adjustable counterweight 119 and lock 120 provide a means of empirically achieving final matching of the stabilizer to the gun during prototype development or as components of a production stabilizer system . fig1 depicts a seventh preferred embodiment including a forward segment of a u . s . m14 rifle generally indicated at 125 including gas cylinder plug 126 , gas cylinder lock 127 , gas cylinder 128 , and special extended barrel 129 . a stepped tubular stabilizer 130 is shown in section installed via a transition piece 131 with integral flash suppressor 132 , sight 133 , sight base 134 , and bayonet lug 135 ; using lock nut 136 with internal threads engaging external threads on the barrel 129 . the stabilizer 130 is joined to the transition piece 131 by bonded attachment at 137 . the stabilizer 130 extends rearward from a point behind the sight base 134 beyond a point of transition 138 from relatively low section modulus to relatively high section modulus formed by the intersection of the barrel 129 with the forward surface of the gas cylinder lock 127 . the stabilizer 130 is cut away to allow clearance for the gas cylinder lock screw 126 , gas cylinder lock 127 and gas cylinder 128 . the stabilizer 130 in this embodiment , as with all embodiments of this invention , does not contact the gun barrel or any components connected to the gun barrel rearward of the transition piece 131 . a splined interface shown at 139 between the barrel 129 and the transition piece 131 serves to maintain rotational alignment between the barrel stabilizer system and the remainder of the rifle . spline grooves shown typical at 140 are cut longitudinally at several locations around the barrel 129 in the area of interface with the transition piece 131 . fig1 is an enlarged section view of the splined interface from fig1 showing the barrel 129 , stabilizer 130 , transition piece 131 , and spline grooves 140 . fig1 depicts an eighth preferred embodiment including a smith & amp ; wesson revolver shown generally at 145 with modified barrel 146 and distal end 147 . a tubular stabilizer 148 is shown in section installed via a transition piece 149 , including double chamber compensator 150 using a bonded connection at 151 . the compensator includes upward facing ports shown typically at 152 and baffles shown typically at 153 . the barrel stabilizer 148 extends rearward from the barrel distal end 147 beyond a point of transition 154 formed by the junction of the barrel 146 with the revolver frame 155 . point 154 serves as the transition from relatively low section modulus to relatively high section modulus . the barrel stabilizer 148 is shown with a front sight 156 and adjustable rear sight 157 installed . the stabilizer 148 which extends rearward from point 154 , including rear sight assembly 157 , constitutes an extended mass which serves to counteract the added mass of the compensator 150 and front sight 156 , and reduced mass resulting from the cutaway at 158 . the cutaway at 158 serves to accommodate the ejector rod 159 . the stabilizer 148 is joined to the transition piece 149 using an interference fit at 160 . while preferred embodiments of the invention have been disclosed , it is intended that the invention be limited only by the appended claims , including reasonable equivalents and combinations of identified features . | 5 |
turning now to fig1 & amp ; fig1 a , there is shown a sill plate 10 in cross section of one preferred embodiment of the present invention . the sill 10 has a generally elongated configuration defining the sill . it should be understood that the sill plate 10 could have any other suitable configuration as partially described in fig2 and 3 , without departing from the scope of the present invention as long as it includes a plurality of vent slots 28 running perpendicular to the longitudinal axis , with corresponding base abutment segments 26 , formed thereon . typically , the sill 10 defines a pair of longitudinally opposed beam end surfaces 11 , ( only one being shown in fig1 .) a pair of transversely opposed sill lateral surfaces 12 , and 22 , with one side 12 facing the exterior and embodying the drip edge 14 leading to the chamfered surface 16 which ties into the secondary transversely opposed sill lateral surface 18 . the opposing surface 22 faces the interior of the building structure known as the “ crawlspace ”, with the vent slots 28 and their corresponding base segments 26 , shown throughout the figures as having a generally square configuration . it should be understood that the slotted base segments 26 and the corresponding slots 28 , could have other configurations without departing from the scope of the invention . defining factors would be compressive strength of the sill 10 material and net free air flow desired per running lineal foot of sill 10 . the preferred embodiment would incorporate a flat top abutment surface 13 for floor joists to rest upon , parallel to and opposing the base abutment surface 24 , which rest upon the top of the foundation wall . “ a ” continuous longitudinal base segment 14 extending away from the lateral edge 12 at an oblique angle θ . for example , in the illustrated embodiment , the angle θ is on the order of 95 degrees . however , a variety of other oblique angles could be used including a compound steeper angle shown by longitudinal segment 16 , without departing from the scope of the present invention . fig1 . illustrates just such a compound sloped edge 16 as a means of draining away water at approximately 45 degrees , but a variety of other angles could be used . by way of example the sill plate 10 is of integral construction and is typically made in the preferred embodiment of recycled polymer - wood fiber composite , to preserve the longevity and durability of the drip edge slope 14 and 16 . the exterior face of the sill 18 is a solid lateral surface parallel and offset from the shear nailing lateral surface 12 , outward by a ratio of 1 . 5 times the vent channel height 28 , to maintain proper venting and provide enough material for structural integrity of the face 18 . it is possible for the face 18 to extend beyond fig1 .&# 39 ; s embodiment , if finish siding material thickness warrants this , as in the use of stucco or faux stone work . additionally , the invention embodies a shape that channels water away from the vent channels and foundation . water drips off the bottom edge of the lateral face 18 directly to grade . to prevent water from wicking into the crawl space through the vent channels openings 27 , a drip cut groove 20 runs laterally along the edge of the base 24 abutment surface exposed to the exterior , near the outer lateral face 18 . typically , the base 24 abutment surface of the sill 10 is shaped like a plurality of the letters “ t ” strung substantially continuous side by side relative to each other , forming the solid portion of the vent channel segments 26 . the intermediate spaces 27 between the solid “ t ” segments in conjunction with the abutting foundation , delimit the venting channel 27 . the relationship of the solid segments 26 in the base 24 to the vent channel openings 27 , is currently shown as 1 to 1 . this creates a continuous running net free air flow “ a ” of six square inches per lineal foot of sill 10 plate . ratio &# 39 ; s allowing more net free air flow “ a ”, per running lineal foot of sill 10 plate are expected by adjusting the ratio listed above and increasing either the height of the vent channel opening 28 , or the width of the channel 27 , or both without departing from the scope of the present invention . preferably , the ratio of vent channel height 28 is 33 percent of the total sill plate 10 height such that maximum ventilation of the crawlspace is achieved , while maintaining enough rigid material for the drip edge 18 , drain slope 16 , and drip base 14 , therefore preserving 40 to 50 percent of said height for lateral nailing surface 12 . in other words the overall vent height 28 directly relates to the lateral nailing surface 12 height . this will become evident in fig3 and 5 . from the edge of the drip cut 20 in towards the lateral surface 22 by roughly 1 / 3 , a mesh screen is applied directly to the abutment surface 24 to provide a pest and insect barrier 36 , by means of fasteners 34 , or bonding at regular intervals running longitudinally along the base length of the sill plate 10 . furthermore , the adjacent foundation abutment surface acts to secure one side of the length of the mesh screen 36 . preferably , the mesh screen 36 would be comprised of a fine stainless steel weave to prevent termites from gaining access to the interior of the crawlspace . although , any mesh material may be used without departing from the scope of the present invention , invariably there is a direct relationship between the mesh 36 and the net free openings of the vent channels 27 . in fig1 ., the vent channel openings 27 run perpendicular from the lateral surface 22 towards the exterior lateral surface 18 , at measured intervals , define the plurality of air flow openings “ a ” stopping short of the drip cut groove 20 just outside the foundation wall . to avoid penetrating the sill material 10 at drip edge 16 , the vent channels 27 have a radius turn 30 on the upper edge of the vent channel surface . other embodiments which do not have the sloped drip surface 16 , do not require the vent radius 30 . it will become a function of the methodology of manufacturing the various embodiments that determines the shape . for example molding or extrusion will lend themselves to a radius 30 , whereas milling the material does not . fig2 is substantially similar in scope to fig1 with the exception of the vent channels 27 which do not have a radius bend , but rather a straight angle cut 31 . this idea depends upon this embodiments method of manufacture , if milled and not molded or extruded , a straight cut 31 is preferred . as a result this object slopes the drip plane 14 outward towards the lateral front surface 18 at an angle θ , reasonable to achieve positive drainage of fluid away from the sub - structure . additionally , the sill plate 10 has a taller front lateral surface 18 to join directly with the sloped drip plane 14 . in lieu of a drip cut , this embodiment has extending outward from the bottom of the front lateral surface 18 a drip lip 21 to break the capillary action of the water and prevent such fluids from wicking into the vent channels 27 . fig3 is a simplified embodiment of fig1 and 2 , with the vent hood and drip edge structure being left off flush with the lateral nailing surface 12 to facilitate wider finished exterior wall fascia &# 39 ; s like brick or stone . in this case the vent screen 36 must wrap up the lateral nailing surface 12 and attach 34 to that surface as well as the abutment base 24 . in this instance the vent openings “ a ” will be exposed unless modified trim is used to conceal the vent channels 27 from view . nailed structural sheathing should extend down no farther than the top of the vent openings 28 , so as not to obstruct the air flow “ a ”. the height of the lateral nailing surface 12 being similar to a standard wood sill plate . the adjacent lateral surfaces 13 and 22 are similar in all embodiments . fig3 represents a sill plate 10 that is most similar to existing construction practices . fig1 a is an isometric view of fig1 showing substantially the view of the abutment surface 24 and vent channel openings 27 with air flow “ a ”, as viewed from the interior of the potential crawl space . here one can see the plurality of channel openings 27 running perpendicular to the longitudinal axis , and the relationship of the mesh screen 36 as it is attached 34 to the abutment surface 24 . the channels 27 and remaining material segments 26 may be formed when using a plastic or fiber composite during the molding or extruding phase of manufacture . conversely the same profile or shaped shown in fig1 a can also be milled out of the abutment surface 24 of the sill 10 , with the height of the channels 28 and the width of the solid segments 26 becoming a direct function of the structural integrity of the chosen material of manufacture . fig2 a illustrates a sill 10 in accordance with the second embodiment of the invention shown in fig2 being used as a part of a foundation , floor and wall sheathing assembly . the sill 10 is shown mounted in its preferred position laterally along the top of the masonry foundation wall 44 assembly , to better illustrate the function of the abutment surface 24 with the top of the foundation wall 44 , in defining the trough air channels 27 and the passage of air “ a ” thru said channels . the sill 10 is also shown mounted to the top of the foundation wall 44 by means of standard anchor bolts 40 set in the masonry wall 44 prior to curing of said wall . an opening hole 21 is created in the sill 10 to facilitate the passage of the anchor bolt 40 , which is typically fastened using a combination of anchor bolts 43 and anchor bolt washers 45 , in order to secure the building to the foundation . the placement of the anchor bolts 40 can occur anyplace along the length of the sill 10 without departing from the inventions scope . preferably , the channel opening width 27 and 28 are the same at the interior of the crawlspace and the exterior of the foundation , in order to maintain the prescribed trough air flow “ a ”. thus a indicium or , mark 42 may be manufactured laterally along the abutting solid segments 26 to facilitate the accurate placement of the abutting surface 24 to the foundation 44 . conventional fastening means such as nails 56 , attaching the building sheathing 50 to the lateral nailing surface 12 , is flush with the floor system rim and joists 48 , in much the same manner as conventional sill nailing . the relationship of the floor insulation 46 demonstrates little or no impact on the trough air flow “ a ” functioning , as it rarely is installed below the top surface 13 of the sill 10 plate . additionally , the function of the drip edge feature of this invention can be seen clearly , as the sloping θ surface 14 carries moisture off both the finish siding 54 and the building sheathing membrane 52 , down the front surface 18 and off the drip edge 21 . the width of the sloping θ surface 14 can vary according to siding types and styles without departing from the scope of this invention . the construction and use of the ventilating sill plate forming the elements of the instant invention are considered to be apparent from the above description . this instant invention constituting a significant advance in the art by the simplification and combination of heretofore bothersome and unsightly building elements , in an attractive and functional manner which insures , in the finished wall structure , a uniform and hidden venting solution . 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 as claimed . | 4 |
referring to the drawings in greater detail and by reference characters thereto , there is illustrated in fig1 a trailer body and which trailer body is generally designated by reference numeral 10 . for purposes of clarity , the wheels and associated structure such as the axels are not shown . however , it will be understood that the trailer body would be mounted on a suitable structure . trailer body 10 includes a pair of i beam structures 12 and 14 which are substantially identical and hence only i beam 12 will be described in detail herein . transverse connecting members 15 extend between i beam structures 12 and 14 . i beam structure 12 includes a bottom flange portion 16 , a top flange portion 20 , and a web 18 extending therebetween . the bottom flange portion 16 is illustrated in fig3 and as may be noted , has a pair of protrusions 17 and 19 which are designed to receive therebetween web 18 . as may be seen from fig1 , i beam structures 12 and 14 extend for substantially their full depth for a length of the trailer . however , at the front end of the trailer , the depth of web 18 diminishes in what may be referred to as a transition section which is generally designated by reference numeral 21 . at the front end of the trailer , there is no i beam structure present . the floor has a rear portion generally designated by reference numeral 22 and a front portion generally designated by reference numeral 24 . it will be noted that the front portion 24 starts at the transition section 21 . a portion of the floor structure is illustrated in fig1 and reference will now be had thereto . as illustrated , the floor is comprised of a plurality of cell modules 26 each comprising three cells . there is provided a top plate 28 , a bottom plate 30 and vertical members 32 . side walls 39 and 41 complete the structure . in side wall 39 , there is provided a recess 34 while in side wall 41 , a projection 36 is provided . thus , projection 36 will seat within a corresponding recess 34 of an adjacent module and adjacent modules are welded together . the front portion 24 of the floor is also comprised of a plurality of cells ; the structure is set forth in greater detail in fig5 and 6 . as shown therein , the cell module 38 includes a top plate 40 , a bottom plate 42 and vertical members 44 . side walls 49 and 51 complete the structure with a recess 46 being provided in side wall 49 and a projection 48 formed on side wall 51 . as to was the case previously , projections 48 are designed to mate with an adjacent recess 46 and again , adjacent modules are welded together . as will be noted , the shape of the two cell structures 26 and 38 are somewhat different . thus , the structure shown in fig1 and 12 is used for the rear portion 22 of the floor and generally are formed with both the top plate and the bottom plate preferably having a thickness of between ⅛ and ½ inch and wherein each of the individual cells has a width of between 2 and 3 inches . the height of each cell would be in the area of 1 to 3 inches with a preferred height of approximately 2 inches . cell structure 38 , on the other hand , will have a thicker top plate and bottom plate and preferably each plate 40 , 42 having a thickness of between ¼ and ½ inch and more preferably between 3 / 16 and 5 / 16 inch . the overall height would be in the range of 2½ to 4 inches with a preferred range being between 3 and 3½ inches . as may be seen in fig2 , at the end of transition section 21 , there are provided a plurality of flat bars ( fig8 and 9 ) 56 , flat bars 56 being spaced from each other by a space 58 . at the front of the structure of the trailer body 10 , there is provided a metal plate generally designated by reference numeral 62 and which has a front portion 64 extending only partially the width of the trailer floor . metal plate front section 64 is designed to accept a king pin 66 . metal plate 62 also includes a metal plate central section 68 over flat bar 56 . an offset 70 is provided to account for the thickness difference of flat bars 56 . finally , there is provided a metal plate rear section 72 which extends onto bottom flange 16 for a portion of the transition section 21 . turning to the embodiment of fig1 to 21 , similar reference numerals in the 100 &# 39 ; s are used to describe components similar to the embodiment of fig1 to 14 . as shown in fig1 , there is provided a trailer body which is generally designated by reference numeral 110 and as in the previous embodiment , the wheels and associated structure are not shown . trailer body 110 includes a pair of i beam structures 112 and 114 which are substantially identical . as in the previously described embodiment , there are provided transverse connecting members 115 which extend between i beam structures 112 and 114 . i beam structure 112 includes a bottom flange portion 116 , a top flange portion 120 , and a web 118 extending therebetween . as may be seen in fig2 , 15 and 16 , i beam structures 112 and 114 continue for the length of the trailer . the depth of web 118 diminishes in the transition section ; however , the i beam structure continues forward as a single piece of material . as seen in profile in fig2 , i beam 112 has a slightly different configuration at both the front and the rear . thus , at the rear ( left side of fig2 ), web 118 has a slightly narrower depth compared to the middle section . at the front end , top flange portion 116 extends to the front of the trailer . a portion of the floor structure is illustrated in fig1 , and it will be noted that the floor is comprised of a plurality of cell modules each comprising four cells . thus , there is provided a top plate 128 , a bottom plate 130 , vertical members 132 , and side walls 139 and 141 . in side wall 141 , there is provided a recess 134 while on side wall 139 , a projection 136 is provided . at the front of the trailer body , there is provided a metal plate generally designated by reference numeral 162 and which is substantially flat and rectangular . it will be understood that the above described embodiments are for purposes of illustration only and that changes and modifications may be made thereto without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention . | 1 |
fig1 schematically shows a known short - time tomosynthesis apparatus . it comprises a plurality of radiation sources 2 , for example x - ray tubes , which are arranged in a radiation - source plane 1 . only three sources are shown for the sake of clarity . the radiation sources 2 may be switched on , for example , consecutively or simultaneously . underneath the radiation source plane 1 an object 3 to be examined is disposed . object 3 is irradiated from different perspectives by the radiation beams 4 , which are emitted by the radiation sources 2 . beams 4 may be stopped down by means of diaphragms ( not shown ). for simplicity it is assumed that the object 3 comprises only two object layers s1 and s2 . the object layer s1 contains , for example , a circle 5 . the object layer s2 contains a square 6 . the perspective images 5a - 5c and 6a - 6c produced by the object structures 5 and 6 are recorded , either separately or superimposed , on a record carrier 7 , for example an x - ray film , disposed underneath the object 3 . if , for example , the object layer s2 is to be reconstructed from the perspective images 5a - 5c and 6a - 6c thus recorded , the perspective images 6a - 6c should be superimposed by appropriate shifting and should be added to each other ( autocorrelation of the perspective images ). however , all the other perspective images 5a - 5c are then also shifted . the layer image s2 &# 39 ; of the object layer s2 shown in fig2 is then obtained . in its center , the layer image s2 &# 39 ; contains the square 6 &# 39 ;, reconstructed from the superimposed perspective images 6a - 6c . image s2 &# 39 ; also contains a plurality of square secondary images 6a &# 39 ;, 6b &# 39 ;, 6c &# 39 ;, which correspond to the perspective images 6a - 6c . the perspective images 6a &# 39 ;, 6b &# 39 ;, 6c &# 39 ;, which represent the object layer s2 , form one group of artefacts in the layer image s2 &# 39 ;. in addition , the layer image s2 &# 39 ; contains the circular perspective images 5a &# 39 ;- 5c &# 39 ;, which correspond to the prespective images 5a - 5c . they form a second group of artefacts in the layer image s2 &# 39 ;. the perspective images 5a &# 39 ;- 5c &# 39 ;, however , do not represent the object layer s2 , but the object layer s1 . they are perspective images of other object layers projected into the layer image . when considering the circular artefacts 5a &# 39 ;- 5c &# 39 ; in fig2 they may again be divided into two sub - groups . these sub - groups are ( i ) artefacts situated near the center of the layer image s2 &# 39 ; ( within the dashed border 8 ), and ( ii ) artefacts situated near the image periphery ( outside the border 8 ). in principle , these two sub - groups differ in that the perspective images 5a &# 39 ;, 6a &# 39 ;; 5b &# 39 ;, 6b &# 39 ;; 5c &# 39 ;, 6c &# 39 ; which are situated within the border 8 are generated in pairs by imaging the perspective images 5a , 6a ; etc . by means of their associated optical imaging elements . on the other hand , a perspective image 5a &# 39 ; situated outside the border 8 is , for example , generated by the optical elements associated with the perspective images 5b , 5c etc . this is shown in more detail in fig3 . in order to improve the quality of the reconstructed layer images s2 &# 39 ; the perspective images 5a &# 39 ;- 5c &# 39 ;, or artefacts , situated within the frame 8 are blurred . for this reference is made to fig3 which represents an apparatus for reconstructing such enhanced layer images . the apparatus of fig3 comprises a light box 9 for transilluminating of the perspective images 5a and 6a , 5b and 6b , and 5c and 6c on the record carrier 7 arranged in front of the box . a superimposed image of the perspective images is formed on a detector surface 12 by means of an imaging matrix 10 , which is disposed parallel to the record carrier 7 . an optical axis 11 extends perpendicularly through the center of matrix 10 . for this purpose the imaging matrix 10 comprises separate imaging elements 13a - 13c , for example biconvex lenses . each lens is associated with a perspective image 5a and 6a , etc . in this way layer images of the object , which correspond to the layer image s2 &# 39 ; shown in fig2 are formed on the detector surface 12 , for example a ground - glass screen or the entrance face of an opto - electronic image processing system . when the perspective images 5a - 5e are transmitted by their associated imaging elements 13a - 13c ( i . e . 5a with 13a , 5b with 13b and 5c with 13c ), the artefacts 5a &# 39 ;- 5c &# 39 ; situated within the border 8 in fig2 are produced . however , when they are transmitted by nonassociated imaging elements ( i . e . 5a with 13b and 13c , 5b with 13a and 13c , and 5c with 13a and 13b , the artefacts 5a &# 39 ;- 5c &# 39 ; are formed outside the border 8 . in order to blur the perspective images 5a &# 39 ;- 5c &# 39 ; situated inside the border 8 in fig2 optical deflection elements 14a - 14c are arranged in the radiation paths between the imaging elements 13a - 13c and the detector surface 12 , in the vicinity of the imaging elements 13a - 13c . the deflection elements 14a - 14c may blur the perspective images 5a - 5c along , for example , straight paths . for this purpose , they have grating - like structures . alternatively , the deflection elements 14a - 14c may be arranged in the radiation paths between the perspective images 5a - 5c and 6a - 6c and the deflection elements 13a - 13c . blurring will now be explained in more detail with reference to fig4 which represents the area of the layer image s2 &# 39 ; within the border 8 on an enlarge scale . this is the relevant area of the layer image s2 &# 39 ;, because only in this area are enough perspective images are superimposed for the reconstructing images of object layers . the layer image area outside the border 8 is generally not considered because here the perspective images are superimposed inadequately or not at all . in fig4 the perspective images 5a &# 39 ;- 5c &# 39 ; are blurred along straight lines 15 , that is , according to patterns having one major direction ( in this case the directions of the straight lines ). the grating - like deflection elements 14a - 14c are then so arranged in the radiation paths that the major directions of the patterns formed as a result of the light deflection are substantially perpendicular to the paths b1 , b2 , b3 ( fig2 ). paths b1 , b2 , and b3 are those paths along which the artefacts or perspective images 5a &# 39 ;- 5c &# 39 ; travel over the detector surface when the detector 12 is moved along the optical axis 11 in order to reconstruct different layers of the object 3 . thus , the major directions h , as shown in fig5 projected onto a plan view of the matrix surface , are substantially perpendicular to a connecting line 16 between the optical axis 11 of the imaging matrix and the center of the respective imaging element 13a - 13c in the matrix plane . for the sake of clarity , fig5 shows only one imaging element 13a in the matrix plane ( plane of the drawing ). the deflection element 14a shown is an optical grating . such an arrangement of the deflection elements 14a - 14c is advantageous , because the perspective images 5a &# 39 ;- 5c &# 39 ; which are blurred along the straight line 15 ( fig4 ) cannot disturb the image of the reconstructed object structure 6 &# 39 ;. moreover , in order to obtain a substantially uniform image background , it is necessary to distribute as uniformly as possible the directions along which the perspective images 5a &# 39 ;- 5c &# 39 ; are blurred within the layer image s2 &# 39 ;. therefore , the angles θ between every pair of straight lines 15 should be substantially equal . this arrangement of the deflection elements 14a - 14c ensures that in comparison with the actual object structure 6 &# 39 ; ( which corresponds to the superposition of the perspective images 6a &# 39 ;, 6b &# 39 ;, 6c &# 39 ;) the artefacts 5a &# 39 ;- 5c &# 39 ; are attenuated . the attenuation of the artifacts enhances the perceptibility of details in the actual object structure 6 &# 39 ;. by means of the deflection elements 14a - 14c the object structure 6 &# 39 ;, comprising the superimposed perspective images 6a &# 39 ;- 6c &# 39 ;, is also blurred along straight lines 17 , which extend parallel to the straight lines 15 . however , this does not significantly affect the quality of the layer images s2 &# 39 ; because in the common area where all of the straight lines 17 are superimposed , the object structure 6 &# 39 ; is imaged more frequently than outside the superposition area . therefore , with a large number of straight lines 17 the observer will have the impression that the reconstructed object structure 6 is concentrated only in the area where the straight lines 17 are superimposed . as already stated , the deflection elements 14a - 14c comprise optical elements which change the phase of the incident light . the elements may , for example , be holograms or kinoforms , which may for example act as diffraction gratings . however , as an alternative an optical line grating may be employed . the gratings may be nonperiodical , for example in the kinoforms , so that the radiation distribution will be as uniform as possible in a preselected deflection range . the light box 9 may , for example , emit quasi - monochromatic radiation , for example the light from a sodium - vapor lamp . however , it may also emit polychromatic radiation , for example white light . furthermore , it is simple to obtain phase patterns by means of kinoform or holograms , by means of which patterns the transmitted perspective images are deflected or blurred along two - dimensional paths . fig6 b and 6c show two examples of this deflection , while fig6 a again illustrates blurring according to fig4 . the continuous lines in fig6 a and 6c represent the blurring paths of the object structure 6 &# 39 ;, while the broken lines represent the blurring paths of the perspective images 5a &# 39 ;- 5c &# 39 ;. the major directions of the paths are those along which the paths extend over the greatest length . moreover , it will be appreciated that blurring of the perspective images 5a &# 39 ;- 5c &# 39 ; may alternatively be effected along different paths . in an advantageous embodiment of the invention each imaging element and each deflection element are combined to form a single optical element which changes the phase of the incident light . the elements 13a - 14a , 13b - 14b and 13c - 14c may then , for example , be replaced by a single kinoform or a single hologram . | 0 |
for the purposes of promoting an understanding of the principles of the invention , reference will now be made to the embodiments illustrated in the drawings and specific language will be used to describe the same . it will nevertheless be understood that no limitation of the scope of the invention is thereby intended , such alterations and further modifications in the illustrated device , and such further applications of the principles of the invention as illustrated therein being contemplated as would normally occur to one skilled in the art to which the invention relates . referring to fig1 , there is illustrated an automatic pistol 20 that represents a fully functional firearm for the purpose of explaining the structure and use of the present invention . while the present invention is suitable for use with a variety of firearms , a glock ® automatic pistol has been selected for describing the preferred embodiment of the present invention , due in part to the name recognition of this firearm and due in part to the popularity of this firearm with law enforcement personnel . referring to fig2 , an exploded view of pistol 20 is illustrated , showing the primary component parts or subassemblies that can be disassembled . pistol 20 includes a frame or receiver 21 , slide 22 , barrel 23 , recoil spring assembly 24 , and magazine 25 . anyone familiar with this brand and type of pistol would likely be familiar with these primary component parts as well as their structural and functional relationships . as will be described herein , the focus of the present invention is directed to the removal of the fully functional barrel 23 from pistol 20 and the step of replacing barrel 23 with a unitary , “ dummy ” barrel that does not permit a round of ammunition to be fired therethrough . in the limited sense of the pistol being unable to fire a round of ammunition with the dummy barrel installed , the dummy barrel converts pistol 20 to a “ nonfunctioning ” status . however , this descriptive term is not used relative to the entire pistol because all other aspects of pistol 20 are intended to remain fully functional . for example , such as being able to remove the magazine from the receiver and reinsert the magazine or insert a new magazine into the receiver and being able to operate the slide and / or trigger mechanism . in order to be able to remove barrel 23 for replacement with the present invention dummy barrel , certain preliminary steps need to be taken , some for safety and some to be able to have access to barrel 23 within pistol 20 . since the present invention is directed to a firearm safety device , a few precautionary steps are recommended whenever handling any firearm , including pistol 20 , for the ultimate removal of barrel 23 . first , it is advisable to remove the magazine and thereafter verify that the pistol is unloaded . these procedures are well known to those familiar with a glock ® pistol of the type illustrated in fig1 and 2 . while the steps are being performed , the pistol should be pointed in a safe direction away from any individuals . the first “ structural ” step is slide 22 removal . the position of the hand is illustrated in fig3 . holding the pistol 20 , as illustrated in fig3 , pull and hold the slide 22 back approximately 0 . 10 inches ( 2 . 5 mm ). the trigger 29 has to be in the rear position to be able to disassemble the slide 22 from receiver 21 . the next step ( see fig4 ) is to simultaneously pull down the slide lock 30 and hold both sides of it using the thumb and index finger of the other hand . the concluding step for slide removal is to push the slide 22 forward until it is fully separated from the receiver 21 . removal of slide 22 exposes the recoil spring assembly 24 and therebeneath the removable barrel 23 . in order to remove barrel 23 , the first step is to remove the recoil spring assembly 24 from the slide 22 . the recoil spring assembly 24 includes a recoil spring guide or tube 31 and a surrounding coil spring 32 . step one in this process is to push the recoil spring tube 31 slightly forward while lifting the recoil spring assembly 24 upwardly away from barrel 23 ( see fig5 ). with the recoil spring assembly 24 removed , the barrel 23 is exposed as it lays in the slide 22 . referring now to fig6 , in order to remove barrel 23 , first grasp the barrel lug 35 and , while raising the chamber end , move the barrel 23 slightly forward . the concluding step is to lift barrel 23 from the slide 22 . in order to install the present invention dummy barrel 36 ( see fig7 ) into slide 22 , or to reinstall the fully functioning barrel 23 , the foregoing steps for barrel removal are simply followed in the reverse order . barrel 23 includes the lug portion 35 and the barrel end portion 37 . extending through the entire length of barrel 23 is bore 38 . in the dummy barrel 36 of the present invention , as illustrated in fig7 , there is no bore extending through the entire length of barrel 36 due to the solid , unitary construction . this in turn prevents the “ converted ” pistol from being able to receive a round of ammunition in the barrel . the “ dummy ” barrel 36 is constructed and arranged to be identical in all respects to barrel 23 , except that the bore 38 is closed and except for the selected material to be used for barrel 36 . preferably , barrel 36 is a unitary molded ( or cast ) structure that has an exterior size and shape that is substantially identical to barrel 23 in all respects . whether the barrel is hollow or solid , the important structural point to note is that there is no bore and thus no opening to receive ( chambering ) or pass a round of ammunition . the material options for barrel 36 include plastics and synthetic resins as well as metals and metal alloys . it is contemplated that whatever material is selected for the unitary molding or casting , it will have a contrasting appearance relative to the remainder of the pistol . the contrasting appearance is preferably color based by adding pigment to the molding of any plastic or synthetic resin and by a post - casting surface treatment , such as anodizing for metals and metal alloys . the contrasting appearance for barrel 36 according to the present invention provides an immediate and positive confirmation to the user of the pistol as well as those nearby that the pistol 20 has been converted for safety concerns and cannot discharge a round of ammunition . being able to recognize that a “ dummy ” barrel 36 has been installed into pistol 20 in order to convert it to a non - firing training firearm will reduce , if not eliminate , any anxiety that might otherwise be present when one has simply been told that the firearm is safe . the obvious problem with being told that the firearm is safe is that there is no way to independently verify that fact except by personal inspection . it should be understood that barrel 36 , while unitary and preferably solid , can have voids and openings in nonfunctional or noncritical areas so as to not interfere with the otherwise normal operation of pistol 20 and its various component parts . since barrel 36 is preferably molded , if made out of plastic or a synthetic resin , and cast if metal , the only perceived “ needs ” to provide voids or openings as part of barrel 36 might be to reduce weight and / or use less material . however , in order to provide the most realistic simulation of barrel 23 by barrel 36 , their respective weights should be substantially the same . for a plastic material , this could require some type of filler in order to increase the weight of barrel 36 . importantly , the chamber of the barrel is closed or partially closed or reduce in inside diameter ( i . e . by solid molded plastic or cast metal ) so that a round cannot be chambered . while the prior art includes the use of one - piece molded firearms in plastic , typically colored in blue or red , as training aids , there is a limited amount of training that can actually be done using these types of simulated firearms because there is nothing functional as part of this artificial firearm . in contrast , the present invention retains every component part of the otherwise fully functional pistol , with the only exchange or replacement being the barrel . with regard to training , much more can be taught with the modified pistol of the present invention as compared to the referenced red plastic training aid . for example , when a law enforcement officer has one arm or hand that is injured or in some way disabled , the normal procedures for changing the magazine cannot be performed . law enforcement officers need to be trained with alternate techniques , such as using the one “ good ” hand and another aid , such as a belt edge or buckle . the blue ( or red ) plastic training aid is obviously unacceptable for this type of training since there is no functioning magazine and no functioning receiver . there is also no functioning slide and no functioning trigger . preferably , barrel 36 is identical to barrel 23 in all aspects relative to the exterior size and shape . this then permits all other portions of pistol 20 to function in their normal manner . for example , the recoil spring assembly 24 can be used with barrel 36 as well as the slide 22 and the slide action . the use and loading or unloading action of the magazine has already been described and remains fully functional , even with replacement barrel 36 installed . since the portion of barrel 36 that corresponds to bore 38 of barrel 23 is closed by the molded or cast material of barrel 36 , it is not possible for a round of ammunition to be fired . with the entire length of the bore portion closed with molded or cast material as part of the unitary structure of barrel 36 , no round of ammunition can be placed into barrel 36 . even with only part of the bore portion closed , it is still not possible to fire a round . other prior art firearm safety devices have similar negative issues to what has already been mentioned for the molded , red plastic training aid . most of these similar negative issues are due to the manner in which these other safety devices interfit into the firearm or structurally add something that alters the exterior size and shape of the firearm . if a safety item is added without otherwise changing the firearm , removal of that safety item returns the firearm to its functional status and this is a concern . with the present invention , securing the original barrel prevents tampering . the present invention provides a complete and identical barrel replacement so that virtually every other aspect or facet of the firearm remains fully functional , except that rounds of ammunition cannot be loaded into the barrel 36 and nothing can be fired from the modified pistol . the size and shape of the modified or converted pistol , in other words pistol 20 with barrel 36 , remains the same . the result is a totally and absolutely safe pistol that can be used for all phases and aspects of training and can be visually identified as a “ safe ” pistol that is not capable of firing rounds of ammunition . with the original barrel 23 safely secured , even if barrel 36 is removed , whether inadvertently or deliberately , the firearm is not functional . while the present invention has been described in the context of a glock ® brand pistol , the present invention is suitable for any firearm that includes a barrel that can be removed by the user . in this way , the present invention enables the conversion of a fully functional firearm into a training firearm that is totally safe and that can be used for virtually all aspects of explaining firearm safety and firearm training . the method of converting the pistol enabled by the present invention also permits the training firearm to be converted back to a fully functional firearm by removing the dummy barrel 36 and reinstalling the original barrel 23 . the present invention includes the design , construction , and use of a firearm safety device in the form of a unitary firearm barrel that is not capable of receiving a round of ammunition ( chambering ) and that replaces the functioning barrel 23 . this replacement barrel 36 converts a fully functioning firearm into a training firearm that can be restored to its fully functioning condition by simply removing barrel 36 and reinstalling the original barrel 23 . the present invention allows any law enforcement officer to take his issued firearm and convert it into a training firearm at any time with a minimum number of steps , noting that the resultant training firearm is totally safe and , except for the barrel , is fully functional . whenever the training use is concluded , barrel 36 is removed and the original barrel 23 is reinstalled , also with a minimum number of steps , thereby restoring the firearm to its fully functional condition . another facet of the present invention is the method of converting a fully functioning firearm into a training firearm by the addition of the present invention safety device . related to this facet of the present invention is the method of converting a training firearm to a fully functioning firearm by removal of the present invention safety device and reinstalling the original barrel . yet another facet of the present invention is the design and construction of a training firearm that can be converted into a fully functional firearm . while the invention has been illustrated and described in detail in the drawings and foregoing description , the same is to be considered as illustrative and not restrictive in character , it being understood that only the preferred embodiment has been shown and described and that all changes and modifications that come within the spirit of the invention are desired to be protected . | 5 |
fig1 is a diagram showing a plan view of a semiconductor integrated circuit chip in which the present invention is applied . as shown in fig1 in a semiconductor integrated circuit chip 11 , one or more test areas 12 are arranged in which a number of test terminals 13 ( electron beam test terminals ) are concentrated . the size of the test area 12 , as described above , is a rectangular shape having a dimension on the order of , for example , 250 μm × 250 μm so as to permit observation of the entire test area 12 using the image test mode of eb tester . the test terminals 13 are formed by the ends of connection wires 14 which are themselves extensions of signal wires 15 that connect semiconductor elements such as mosfets with each other . the test area 12 is formed in a circuit area 16 of the chip 11 , and around the circuit area 16 , bonding pads 17 are formed . fig2 is a diagram showing the test area of fig1 together with its surrounding region . as shown in fig2 the connection wires 14 diverge or extend from the signal wires 15 on the chip , and their ends are concentrated in the test area 12 to form the test terminals 13 . the portion of the test terminals 13 existing in the test area 12 is defined as the electron beam test terminal . not all of the signal wires 15 need be connected to the test terminals 13 . as shown in fig2 for each group of test terminals 10 drawn from the four directions , the test terminals adjacent the corners of the test area 12 are shorter than the remaining test terminals . the test terminals 13 , connection wires 14 and signal wires 15 are made of metal such as al . some of the signal wires 15 connected to the connection wires 14 may be made from a lower conductive layer in the chip such as a lower al or poly - si layer . in such a case , a contact hole is formed at their connecting position . by concentrating a plurality of test terminals 13 within the relating small test area 12 ( small as compared to the area of the whole chip ) and by subsequently performing the image test mode of the eb tester against the test terminals 13 within the test area 12 , a large number of electric states of the signal wires 15 may be determined for all test terminals at one time as , for example , the existence of abnormalities such as disconnections or short circuits , etc . fig3 is a diagram of an eb tester which may be used with the semiconductor integrated circuit chip shown in fig1 and fig2 . as shown in fig3 a vacuum chamber 21 is provided in which is housed an electron gun 22 , an x -- y scanning coil 23 and an x -- y stage 24 . number 25 denotes an electron beam . the irradiated position of the chip 26 is raster - scanned with the scanning coil 23 after being positioned by the stage 24 via a motor 27 . in the vacuum chamber 21 , electron detectors 28 are attached to detect the secondary electrons from the chip 26 . for each bonding pad of the chip 26 , electrodes 29 are contacted for supplying test signals . the test signals may simple be fixed potential level as in fig3 or alternately may be test signal pulses . fig3 further shows a test signal generator 30 , a stage controller 31 , an image processing means 32 , a scanning controller 33 and a control computer 34 . the image processing means 32 comprises a signal processor 35 , a frame memory 36 and a crt display 37 . in the image test mode , the electron beam is scanned across the test area so that the electric potential distribution in the chip can be obtained as an image . in fig3 the scanning coil 23 makes the electron beam 25 raster - scan the test area in the chip 26 . secondary electrons from the test terminals are observed by the electron detectors 28 and are converted to electric potential contrast signals with the signal processor 35 . these signals are then stored in the frame memory 36 . after storing the contrast signals for the entire test area , the electric potential image is displayed on the display 37 . the control computer 34 controls operations of the eb tester . as described above , according to this embodiment of the invention , a number of test terminals are concentrated at one or more predetermined test areas on the chip . hence in the case of the image test mode of the eb tester for testing signal wires , by testing only the relatively small number of test areas each having only a relatively small size , the states of an extremely large number of signal wires can be tested at once thereby greatly improving the efficiency of the eb tester . as a result , determination of chip quality that was difficult in the past becomes relatively easy to perform . in this embodiment , an electron beam was scanned ; however , scanning may be performed by moving the x -- y stage 24 instead of the electron beam scanning . in the above embodiment , signal wires and connection wires use the highest or uppermost conductive layer , but a lower conductive layer may also be used . fig4 a is a diagram showing another embodiment of the invention and illustrates a plan view of the test area 12 and its surroundings as in fig1 . fig4 b is a sectional view along line a -- a &# 39 ; of fig4 a . in the embodiment of fig4 a and 4b , connection wires 14 diverge or extend from the signal wires ( not shown ) of the highest conductive layer ( in this embodiment , a higher al layer ) and connection wirings 14 &# 39 ; diverge or extend from signal wires ( not shown ) of a lower conductive layer ( in this embodiment , a lower al layer ). these connection wires 14 and 14 &# 39 ; are concentrated together in the test area 12 . the portions of connection wires 14 existing in the test area 12 form test terminals 13 similar to those shown in fig2 . the connection wires 14 and 14 &# 39 ; are isolated from each other by an insulative film 43 ( cvd sio 2 ) formed between them . contact holes 44 are formed in the cvd sio 2 film 43 above the vicinity of the lower connection wires 14 &# 39 ;. the lower connection wires 14 &# 39 ; may be used as electron beam test terminals in this condition . however in this figure , a conductive layer ( al ) 13 &# 39 ; is formed which makes contact through the contact holes 44 with the lower connection wirings 14 &# 39 ;. the conductive layer 13 &# 39 ; forms an electron beam test terminal . number 45 is a si substrate , and 46 is a cvd sio 2 film . semiconductor devices may be formed at the surface of si substrate of the test area 12 . according to this embodiment , into the test area 12 , the test terminals 13 of the highest connection wires 14 and the test terminals 13 &# 39 ; that connect lower connection wires 14 &# 39 ; are both formed so that high terminal density is achieved . the burried conductive layer ( terminal 13 &# 39 ;) is produced by sputter deposition and is effective to substantially even the surface level of the test terminals in the test area . this is useful to unify the test condition of the electric potential detection . in the embodiment shown in fig4 a and fig4 b , the highest connection wires 14 and the corresponding test terminals 13 may be omitted . in such a case , it is possible to form only the openings 44 or one wide opening in the cvd sio 2 film 43 and to use the exposed portions of the connection wires 14 &# 39 ; as the test terminals instead of burring the conductive layers 13 &# 39 ;. fig5 a is a diagram showing another embodiment of the invention . fig5 a shows a part of a semi - custom ic . fig5 b is a diagram showing an enlarged view of a test area of fig5 a . at the surface of si substrate , cell regions 51 and interconnection regions 52 are formed alternately as shown in fig5 a . logic cells 53 are arranged as a line in each cell region . many kinds of logic cells are stored in a cell library of a computer . using these library cells , the position of each cell in the cell regions 51 and their interconnections are designed with cad . this type of ic is called a standard cell semi - custom ic . in the interconnection region 52 of fig5 a , vertical wires ( solid lines ) are made from the highest conductive layer ; on the other hand , lateral wires ( broken lines ) are made from a lower conductive layer with the wires contacting each other at via contact holes c . the highest conductive layer diverge or extend from a signal wires 15 and are gathered in the test area 12 to form test terminal 13 as shown in fig5 a and fig5 b . in fig5 a , only some connection wires 14 and signal wires are shown for the sake of simplicity . fig6 a is a diagram showing another embodiment of the invention . fig6 a also shows a part of the standard cell semi - custom ic . fig6 b is a diagram showing an enlarged view of a test area of fig6 a . in fig6 a , the vertical wires ( solid lines ) are made from the highest conductive layer ( for instance , a third al layer ), and lateral wires are made from the lower conductive layer ( for instance , a first al layer ). other vertical wires ( broken line ) made of middle conductive layer ( for instance , a second al layer ) are added for increasing the number of test terminals . that is , in fig6 b , connection wires 14 &# 39 ; of a second al layer are added . test terminals 13 &# 39 ; on the same level as the highest al layer are attached to the connection wires 14 &# 39 ; via through holes in the same manner as shown in fig4 a . this invention is not restricted to the specific embodiments described above . for example , other conductive materials such as mo , w or poly - si with high concentration dopants may be used for test terminals and connection wirings instead of al . other modifications and improvements of the invention will also become apparent to these of skill in the art , and the invention is intended to cover such modifications and improvements as defined by the appeared claims . | 7 |
a vibrating structure gyroscope for use in an inertial measurement unit (“ imu ”) in accordance with the disclosure will now be described . vibrating structure gyroscopes typically use the principles of the coriolis effect to output a rotation rate , or otherwise detect rotational motion . a vibrating structure gyroscope may include a vibrating structure or sensor such as a vibrating element in the form of a mechanical resonator , such as a beam , tuning fork or ring resonator . the vibrating structure may be excited into resonance by an electromagnetic drive means , and may be fabricated using a microelectromechanical systems (“ mems ”) process . other drive means may be employed , such as those including optical , thermal expansion , piezo - electric or electrostatic effects . the vibrating element may be caused to vibrate along a primary axis , and the response of the vibrating element in a secondary axis ( which is different to the primary axis ) during rotation may be used to give a measure of the rotation rate . one or more control loops may be used to activate the primary axis and adjust the amplitude and frequency of the drive signals in order to establish the primary axis motion at its resonant frequency . the primary axis response and the secondary axis response of the vibrating structure , such as a mechanical resonator in a spring - mass system , when considered around their resonant frequencies can each be described by the classical 2 nd order transfer function as follows : where s is the complex frequency used in laplace transform notation , ω n is the natural frequency of the mechanical resonator and q is the magnification factor . the resonant frequency of the secondary axis may be designed and adjusted to match the resonant frequency of the primary axis to a high degree of accuracy in which case the two transfer functions ( for each of the primary and secondary axes ) can be considered identical . as the system is operated at its natural resonant frequency ( ω n ) the response can be transformed to a baseband equivalent response by using the substitution s = j ( ω n + co ) where ω n is the natural resonant frequency and co is now the baseband ( modulation ) frequency of interest . the baseband equivalent transfer function of the resonator can thus be rewritten as : which is a simple first order low pass filter with a time constant defined by 2q / ω n and therefore a bandwidth defined by ω n / 2q . in an example ω n = 100 , 000 , q = 30 , 000 and the time constant may typically be 0 . 6 seconds and the bandwidth may be 1 . 66 rad / s , or more conveniently expressed as 0 . 26 hz . the natural bandwidth of such a sensor may , then , be very low ( 0 . 26 hz ) and high performance , balanced systems may require an output bandwidth nearer 100 hz . it has been found that some means of extending the bandwidth may be necessary , so that the output , or rate measurement bandwidth is larger than the natural bandwidth of the sensor . in this regard , the electronic control system of the gyroscope may comprise one or more separate control loops to preferably detect and control the motion on the secondary axis . these control loops may also be used to modify the output , or rate measurement bandwidth , so that it may be above the natural bandwidth of the sensor and in order to suit the system requirements ( for example 100 hz ). a control loop of the electronic control system of the gyroscope is shown in fig2 , and may include one or more of a summing junction 12 , a sensor or sensor head 14 , loop filter 16 , and integrator 20 . the control loop may be for detecting and / or controlling motion on the secondary axis of the gyroscope . the actual angular rate may refer to the real motion that the gyroscope is trying to measure . this may also be termed input angular rate . the measured angular rate may refer to the estimate made by the gyroscope of the input angular rate , and may be referred to as the output angular rate . the components of the loop introduce various phase lags , which together with the phase lag produced by natural bandwidth of the sensor may require the inclusion of a phase lead to provide a stable loop . therefore the loop filter 16 may be a phase lead filter . in accordance with the disclosure , the time constant of the loop filter 16 may be adapted or varied , preferably so as to match and track a characteristic , for example the natural bandwidth of the sensor or vibrating structure 14 . the characteristic may also be or comprise frequency , q - factor or temperature of the vibrating structure . this may advantageously provide a flat low frequency gain response and a constant , or temperature independent output bandwidth of the signal output from the control loop . in this manner , the disclosure preferably compensates for q - factor and frequency variations , and minimises noise . the time constant of the loop filter 16 may initially be determined based on the natural bandwidth of the vibrating structure 14 calculated from knowledge of its resonant frequency and / or nominal q - factor . the adaptation of the time constant may then be achieved by tracking the resonant frequency and / or the q - factor of the vibrating structure in use . both the resonant frequency and the q - factor of the vibrating structure may vary significantly with its temperature . that is , there may exist a strong correlation between the resonant frequency and q - factor of the vibrating structure with its temperature . this correlation is defined by a very simple relationship as follows : where q ( t ) is the q at any temperature t , qtc is the temperature coefficient of q ( generally a constant value of typically 0 . 006 ) , t 0 is the reference temperature and q 0 is the nominal q at this reference temperature . conventionally the transfer function of a loop filter in the control loop may be determined by constants that are derived from the gyroscope and inertial measurement unit (“ imu ”) design in order to achieve a given bandwidth and gain peaking . the present disclosure may improve on such arrangements by providing a transfer function for the loop filter of the closed loop that preferably adapts or varies with a determined or estimated characteristic of the vibrating structure in use , so as to adapt or vary the time constant of the loop filter in use . in one example , the transfer function tf ( s ) of the loop filter of the present disclosure may be represented as : where b is a constant , which may be derived from the gyroscope and inertial measurement unit (“ imu ”) design , ω n is the resonant frequency of the vibrating structure , and q ′ is an estimated q - factor or estimated magnification factor of the vibrating structure . q ′ may be a function based on one or more of the measured frequency , temperature and design parameters of the vibrating structure . in one example , q ′ takes the form of q ( t ) in the relationship given above in equation [ 3 ]. the time constant of the loop filter 16 may be adapted or varied , preferably so as to match and track the natural bandwidth of the vibrating structure , so as to preferably provide a constant output bandwidth for the control loop . this may have the benefit that the overall frequency response can then be optimised , for example made as large as possible , without compromising the noise and dynamic range of the system . this may minimise the effect of minor mismatches in the bandwidth of the vibrating structure and the frequency of the loop filter . fig3 a shows the effects of dynamically adjusting the time constant of the loop filter to match and track the natural bandwidth of the vibrating structure in accordance with the disclosure . fig3 b shows that there are no frequency variations across the low frequency range of interest . this can be compared to a conventional response , shown in fig1 , in which the time constant of the loop filter does not match and track the natural bandwidth of the vibrating structure . fig3 c shows the effects of dynamically adjusting the time constant of the loop filter to match and track the natural bandwidth of the vibrating structure in accordance with the disclosure , but with added gain compensation to provide a consistent second order response . the bandwidth and gain peaking may be adjusted using the parameters of the control loop . the present disclosure may address the frequency response of the control loop using the recognition that the frequency response of the vibrating structure of the gyroscope ( which has a dominant effect ) may be related to the q - factor of the vibrating structure , and the further recognition that the q - factor may vary strongly with temperature . the temperature of the vibrating structure may be measured with a suitable temperature sensor , or it may be estimated based on the frequency of the vibrating structure , which may enable a good estimate of the q - factor of the vibrating structure in use . this estimate of the q - factor may be used to calculate a time constant for a filter in the control loop so as to preferably compensate for the variation of the q - factor of the vibrating structure over time . this improved time constant can then be used to improve or optimise the frequency response of the control loop or gyroscope . the q - factor of the vibrating structure is correlated with resonant frequency and bandwidth and these could be referred to in place of q - factor in the above discussion as well . although certain embodiments have been described , it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and detail may be made without departing from the scope of the disclosure as set forth in the accompanying claims . | 6 |
the following embodiments and aspects thereof are described and illustrated in conjunction with systems , apparatuses and methods which are meant to be exemplary and illustrative , not limiting in scope . fig1 illustrates a typical lto tape cartridge 10 and fig2 illustrates a typical lto tape drive housing 200 with the cartridge 10 of fig1 inserted . cartridge 10 is inserted into drive 200 in a direction specified by arrow 12 . cartridge 10 also includes grip lines 14 for easy handling . additionally , cartridge 10 includes various lock depressions 18 ( also repeated on the opposite side ) that mate with a male counterpart , in drive 200 , to ensure a snug fit after cartridge 10 is inserted into drive 200 . drive 200 includes an eject button 202 and various indicators 204 . the drive 200 may be designed to fit into a 5 . 25 inch form factor for installation into a bay of a desktop or server box . of course , other implementations are possible . for example , the drive 200 may be a stand - alone unit , such as a desktop drive that is external from a host computing system . fig3 is a top - down view of the cartridge 10 inserted into the tape drive 200 which includes a head actuator assembly of the claimed embodiments . a full description of the various components of drive 200 is intentionally not included in order to not unnecessarily obscure the claimed embodiments . however , some of the major components include a take - up hub 300 , various tape - threading roller guides ( 302 , 306 ), magnetic head 102 and flex cables ( 134 , 136 ). drive 200 will also typically contain one or more processors , a memory and a controller . area 500 will be referred to later . fig4 and 5 show a head actuator assembly 100 comprising a magnetic head 102 , and a head carriage 104 . the magnetic head 102 is preferably retained in a forked shaped portion 103 ( see fig8 a and 9 ) of the head carriage 104 preferably by an adhesive . of course other types of fasteners may be used to fasten the magnetic head 102 to the head carriage 104 such as an interference fit or mechanical fasteners such as screws , for example . the actuator assembly 100 , illustrated in fig4 and 5 , further includes a coarse actuator and a fine actuator . in one implementation , the head carriage 104 is operably attached to the fine actuator , while the fine actuator is attached to the coarse actuator . in one implementation , the coarse actuator comprises an actuator base 106 ( to which the head carriage 104 and fine actuator are attached ). the coarse actuator , in one implementation , includes a drive assembly 109 that displaces the coarse actuator base 106 along shafts 107 that protrude from base plate assembly 108 . the second shaft 107 is located on an opposite side of magnetic head 102 . in one implementation , the coarse actuator translates the entire fine actuator assembly across the tape for a travel distance of about 9 mm to , for example , move magnetic head 102 between tracks . magnetic head 102 may include one to several bumps and each bump will usually include a plurality of read and write elements . it should be noted that the phrases “ fine actuator ” and “ moving mass ” can be used interchangeably and generally refer to the following collection of parts : coarse actuator base 106 , head carriage 104 , magnetic head 102 , voice coil motor 160 and top and bottom flexure springs ( 140 , 142 / refer to fig7 - 8b ). additionally , the phrase “ coarse actuator ” generally refers to the following collection of parts : base plate assembly 108 , shafts 107 , drive assembly 109 and the coarse actuator base 106 . the fine actuator controls the head carriage assembly 102 / 104 , relative to coarse actuator base 106 , using a voice coil motor ( vcm ) assembly ( see fig8 a & amp ; 8b ). the voice coil motor assembly includes a voice coil portion 160 and magnetic housing assembly 162 . the voice coil portion 160 is attached to the head carriage 104 to translate with the head carriage 104 , while the outer portion 162 is attached to the coarse actuator base 106 . in one implementation , the vcm of the fine actuator is a flat voice coil motor . the voice coil portion 160 is suspended in a magnetic field produced by one or more magnets in the magnetic housing assembly 162 of the voice coil motor . in one implementation , the fine actuator moves magnetic head 102 based on analysis of the servo signals , contained on a tape , to keep the magnetic head 102 in substantial alignment with a selected track . the voice coil motor assembly and associated magnets located in the magnetic housing assembly 162 are oriented relative to the direction of travel of the coarse actuator base 106 . this configuration also contributes to a reduced actuator assembly 100 size . in one implementation , the fine actuator functions under closed loop servo control , while the coarse actuator utilizes open loop control . the trigger point of the reference hall sensor magnet assembly 122 provides a known location for the head with respect to tape . the linear hall sensor magnet 124 ( see fig5 ) along with the reference hall sensor magnet assembly 122 provides the translation information of the fine actuator . in one implementation , this information is used to provide the damping of the first mode resonance of the spring - mass system of the fine actuator . regarding the reference hall sensor 800 ( refer to fig8 a and 8b ) and the reference hall sensor magnet assembly 122 ( refer to fig4 - 5 ), during a read - write process of the tape drive 200 , the magnetic head 102 traverses across a tape width to seek a relevant track . there are a number of incidents when the magnetic head 102 is parked at a given known / reference location . such events may include booting up the tape drive 200 , tape - loading sequence , etc . in order to send the magnetic head 102 to this reference location , the reference hall - sensor magnet assembly 122 and reference hall sensor 800 are utilized . the reference hall magnet assembly 122 is secured to the actuator base plate 108 and the reference hall sensor 800 is secured to the coarse base actuator 106 . the actuator base plate 108 is stationary to the drive 200 . thus , when the reference hall sensor 800 arrives in the vicinity of the reference hall magnet assembly 122 , the reference hall sensor 800 is triggered . this information is utilized to locate the magnetic head 102 with respect to the tape . in reference to the linear hall sensor 124 and an associated dual pole magnet 125 , the fine actuator of the head actuator assembly 100 is utilized to keep the head on a track under a servo control . it should be noted that the dual pole magnet 125 is only partly visible in fig5 . any movements in the tape or head carriage 104 can create a misalignment between a read / write element of the magnetic head 102 and a corresponding track on the tape . the linear hall sensor 124 is attached to the flex cable 134 which is attached to the head carriage 104 . the corresponding dual pole magnet 125 is attached to the coarse actuator base 106 . when the head carriage 104 moves , the linear hall sensor 124 will also move with respect to the dual pole magnet 125 . the dual pole magnet 125 has two poles — north and south . when the linear hall sensor 124 is aligned to a null line of the dual pole magnet , there is no signal . when the magnetic head 102 moves up , the linear hall sensor 124 produces the signal which is proportional to the head - translation . the same is true when the magnetic head 102 moves in the negative direction . as a result , the linear hall sensor 122 provides the signal which is proportional to the head translation . this information can be used in number of ways . some examples include 1 ) damping of the servo loop and 2 ) when tape is at the end and it reverses the direction to move from forward to reverse , there is no servo information from the tape . the linear hall sensor 124 provides the head location information during this phase . with reference to fig6 - 8b , flex cables ( 134 , 136 ) are each attached to one of a pair of laterally extending arms ( 104 a , 104 b ) of head carriage 104 . in one implementation , the flex cables ( 134 , 136 ) are attached to the laterally extending arms ( 104 a , 104 b ) via an adhesive . flex cables 134 and 136 provide the electrical connection between the magnetic head 102 and a printed circuit board ( not shown ). the head flex circuit portion 132 also connects to the voice coil 160 via pad 178 . the screws 176 going through clamp 174 provide the force between the pads of the voice coil flex cable portion 132 and the vcm 160 for electrical continuity . this eliminates any need to provide additional wires between the voice coil and the main pcb ( not shown ). thus , in this implementation , the voice coil 160 terminates at the main pcb via the traces in the flex cable 134 . top flexure spring 140 further includes holes 180 that are utilized to secure top flexure spring 140 to the coarse actuator base 106 via additional screws ( not shown ). in one implementation , clamps may also be included with the screws . it should be noted that fig7 is an exploded view of various parts . as such , top flexure spring 140 is shown on one side of flex cables 134 and 136 for clarity . fig8 a and 8b correctly characterize the placement of top flexure spring 140 in relation to flex cables 134 and 136 . as the head carriage 104 is secured to top flexure spring 140 via screws 176 and the top flexure is further secured to the coarse actuator base 106 via screws ( not shown ), it can be seen that head carriage 104 is mounted between opposing arms ( 106 a , 106 b ) in area 103 of the coarse actuator base 106 . head carriage 104 is also coupled to the actuator base 106 via a bottom flexure spring 142 . similar to top flexure spring 140 , bottom flexure spring 142 is coupled with the head carriage 104 at an inner set of holes 184 via a clamp 186 and screws 188 ( note only one screw 188 is intentionally included in fig8 a for clarity of the view ). bottom flexure spring 142 is further coupled to the coarse actuator base at holes 190 via clamps 192 and screws ( not shown ). actuator assembly 100 has two separate resonance frequency vibration modes referred to as the first mode and the second mode . the first mode refers to up and down frequency vibrations of the actuator assembly and is generally low frequency . the second mode refers to torsional frequency vibration of the moving mass and is generally preferred to be kept as high as possible and preferably five to eight times higher than the closed - loop bandwidth frequency . top and bottom flexures springs 140 and 142 each further include various ribs 194 that are oriented perpendicular to each flexure . in one implementation , the top and bottom flexure springs 140 and 142 are metal springs that apply opposing forces to bias the head carriage 104 towards a center position relative to the fine actuator thus providing a resonance frequency dampening effect . in one implementation , flexure springs are 140 and 142 are made from 300 series stainless steel . the ribs 194 allow for reductions in the width of top and bottom flexure springs 140 and 142 while maintaining desired spring forces . this is accomplished because ribs 194 add torsional stiffness to the top and bottom flexure springs 140 and 142 . since the width of the flexures is reduced , the overall size of the actuator assembly 100 can be reduced accordingly to fit into a smaller drive enclosure . as previously indicated , it is also desirable to maintain a high second resonance mode . the placement of the top and bottom flexure springs 140 and 142 help to contribute the high second mode of vibration . the top and bottom flexure springs 140 and 142 , in one implementation , are mounted to be substantially aligned with the center of gravity of the moving mass corresponding to the fine actuator . this can be seen , for example , via fig8 a - 8b wherein the top and bottom flexure springs 140 and 142 are arranged at the top and bottom of head carriage 104 such they coincide at a lateral midpoint of head carriage 104 wherein the lateral midpoint divides head carriage 104 into front and back parts . it should also be noted that since the top and bottom flexure springs 140 and 142 are inline with the moving mass , the ribs 194 are also in - line with the moving mass . as a result , the ribs therefore also help to contribute to a higher second resonance mode . furthermore , under servo control , the voice coil motor 160 is electrically coupled with a corresponding magnetic circuit that generates a force required to move the magnetic head 102 such that it stays aligned with a particular track on a tape . a magnetic moment caused by the force can also excite the shafts 107 and their associated spring - mass system . since the voice coil 160 is in - line with the shafts 107 , the residual force of the moment arm is substantially zero and the resonance of the shaft &# 39 ; s spring - mass system is also reduced substantially . another advantage of the claimed embodiments is that the flex cables 134 and 136 are mounted parallel to the tape travel path and this allows for further separation of the two flex cables . laterally extending arms ( 104 a , 104 b / refer to fig7 ) are configured in a manner that defines the orientation of the flex cables ( 134 , 136 ) such that the flex cables ( 134 , 136 ) are parallel to the tape travel path . it is desirable to keep the flex cable as far apart as possible in order to minimize electrical interference between the two flex cables 134 and 136 . this aspect of the claimed embodiments is further explained via fig9 which is a top - down block diagram view 900 illustrating flexible circuit orientation in relation to a tape travel path . included in top - down view 900 are the flex cables 134 and 136 , a portion of the head carriage 104 , magnet head 102 , tape / tape travel path 902 and prior art flex cable orientations 904 . as can be seen , the flex cable portions ( 134 a , 136 a / also refer to fig6 ) of the flex cables ( 134 , 136 ) are parallel to the tape / tape travel path 902 . the laterally extending arms ( 104 a , 104 b ) extending of the head carriage 104 are oriented substantially parallel to the tape path in the opposing regions proximal to magnetic head 102 . this configuration allows the physical distance between the flex cables 134 and 136 , as they extend from the flex cable portions 134 a & amp ; 136 a , to be increased . this increased separation reduces the effects of interference or noise associated with a read signal traversing flex cable 136 caused by , for example , write signals traversing flex cable 134 . if the flex cables ( 134 , 136 ) were not oriented parallel to the tape / tape travel path 902 , the distance between the flex cables ( 134 , 136 ) would decrease as can be seen via prior - art flex cable orientations 904 . furthermore , prior art flex cable orientations 904 are additionally limited in that there is very little room to further separate the two orientations 904 from each other . this is due to the fact that if either orientation 904 is moved away from the other , the flex cable will move into the area of the tape / tape travel path 902 . orienting the flex cables ( 134 , 136 ) parallel to the tape / tape travel path 902 resolves this deficiency of prior art tape drive systems . in one implementation , laterally extending arms ( 104 a , 104 b ) form approximately 10 degree angles at either side of fork - shaped portion 103 as indicated by areas 906 and 908 . since the flex cables ( 134 , 136 ) are attached to the laterally extending arms ( 104 a , 104 b ), flex cable portions 134 a and 136 a ( refer to fig6 ) therefore also are oriented about 10 degrees inward in relation to the magnetic head 102 . advantageously , the claimed embodiments provide for a reduced fingerprint actuator assembly capable of fitting into next generation lto tape drives . additionally , a higher second mode vibration is achieved by placing flexures with ribs inline with the moving mass / fine actuator . furthermore , the reduced footprint actuator assembly provides the required extra room in a tape drive housing for tape grabber mechanics as well as providing the option to install the housing in various orientations due to multiple sets of mounting holes for screws . more specifically , area 500 of drive 200 ( refer to fig3 ) is freed up to allow for additional mounting screw holes . another advantage of the claimed embodiments is that a flat voice coil motor design is employed by the claimed embodiments . prior art voice coils are typically circular . using a circular voice coil results in an increased fine actuator moving mass . that increase in mass necessitates the use of wider flexures . in turn , wider flexures results in an enhanced width for the actuator as a whole . by using a flat voice coil , those prior art issues are avoided . additionally , the flat voice coil contributes to the moving mass being concentrated in a small area which in turn helps to achieve the in - line / center of gravity aspects of the claimed embodiments . while a number of exemplary aspects and embodiments have been discussed above , those of skill in the art will recognize certain modifications , permutations additions and sub - combinations thereof . it is therefore intended that the following appended claims and claims hereafter introduced are interpreted to include all such modifications , permutations , additions and sub - combinations as are within their true spirit and scope . | 6 |
in accordance with one embodiment of the invention claimed hereafter and as shown in fig1 , a fuel channel 10 is inserted into an outer sleeve 12 that is sealed on top by a cover 16 and a bottom cover 28 . the sleeve 12 , bottom cover 28 and top cover 16 completely seal the fuel channel 10 within the interior of the sleeve 12 . alternatively , the sleeve 12 and bottom cover 28 can be constructed as an integral can in which the fuel channel 10 can be loaded and sealed by the cover 16 . the sleeve or can completely encompasses the channel &# 39 ; s length and is preferably made from a malleable metal such as aluminum , copper or other relatively malleable , inexpensive metal . the sleeve , for example , may be on the order of one - eighth inch ( 0 . 32 cm ) thick . the can or sleeve can have a prefabricated bottom 28 and a “ lid ” or “ top ” 16 that will be installed following insertion of the fuel channel 10 . portions of the sleeve or can 12 ( i . e ., sidewalls , top and / or bottom ) will be perforated and screened or otherwise trapped with a trap such as shown at 26 in fig1 , to allow water to escape without permitting debris within the sleeve enclosure from escaping . once the fuel channel is secured within the sleeve enclosure 12 , the enclosure will be subjected to a full length hydraulic compactor 20 which will compact the sleeve enclosure in the lateral direction , i . e ., a compacting force applied laterally to opposite sides of the sleeve enclosure , preferably over the entire length of its elongated dimension . the sleeve enclosure will then contain shattered fuel channel material which will be isolated by the sleeve from the spent fuel pool . following compaction , the sleeve enclosure containing the fuel channel may be laterally segmented to a desired length by use of hydraulic shears 22 . the physical limitations of the storage facility or transport casks and the radiation levels of the incremental sections of the sleeve containing the fuel channel will dictate the optimal location along the length of the fuel channel at which lateral segmentation is desired . the can or sleeve is intended to limit or eliminate fuel channel spring back and capture shattered metal that has been embrittled by neutron exposure . similarly , the can or sleeve is intended to provide a seal at the lateral shearing locations which will continue to contain the shattered material after the segments are separated . the seal is formed from the shear blades forcing the opposite walls of the sleeve against each other as the blades penetrate the sleeve and fuel channel metal . once sheared , the canned fuel channel sections may be handled and packaged in a cask 30 in a manner that optimizes physical and radiological efficiency . in an alternate embodiment an inner sleeve 14 that extends at least the length of the fuel channel 10 may be inserted inside the fuel channel and the top of the inner sleeve 14 may be drawn to the top of the outer sleeve 12 and the bottom of the inner sleeve 14 may be drawn to the bottom of the outer sleeve 12 in place of the top 16 and bottom 28 seals previously noted . alternatively the tops and bottoms of the inner and outer sleeves 14 and 12 may be welded together to form the debris seal between the sleeves . the liner container enclosing the fuel channel may then be crushed and sheared as previously noted . regardless of the method used , the entire process is carried out under water in the spent fuel pool 18 . while specific embodiments of the invention have been described in detail , it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that various modifications and alternatives to those details could be developed in light of the overall teachings of the disclosure . accordingly , the particular embodiments disclosed are meant to be illustrative only and not limiting as to the scope of the invention which is to be given the full breadth of the general concepts disclosed and any and all equivalents thereof . | 6 |
the process steps described below do not form a complete process flow for manufacturing integrated circuits . the present invention can be implemented together with the integrated circuit manufacturing techniques presently used in this field , and only those commonly used process steps which are necessary to understand the present invention are in the description . the figures representing cross sections of portions of an integrated circuit during the manufacturing are not drawn to scale . they are instead drawn to show the important features of the invention . with reference to fig2 to 30 , a first embodiment of the method for manufacturing insulating structures according to the invention , particularly of the sti type , is described . for convenience of illustration , elements being structurally and functionally similar to the prior art will be given the same reference numerals . a first insulating layer 2 , for example a very thin oxide layer , being about 10 nm thick , is formed on a semiconductor substrate 1 , whereon a stopping layer 3 is formed , for example a silicon nitride layer , being traditionally 100 – 200 nm thick . the stopping layer 3 serves as a barrier for the following planarization treatments , while the insulating layer 2 is used as a buffer since the stopping layer 3 and the semiconductor substrate 1 generally have a very different network pitch . according to the invention , a barrier layer 8 or hard mask is formed on the stopping layer 3 . advantageously , the barrier layer 8 is formed with a material having a good selectivity with respect to the stopping layer 3 . advantageously , the barrier layer 8 is formed with a material which can be etched by a non - fluorine - based chemistry . also advantageously , according to the invention , the hard mask 8 can be removed in a step following a definition step of the stopping layer 3 . in a preferred embodiment , described below by way of a non - limiting example , the barrier layer 8 is formed with a semiconductor layer , for example polysilicon . advantageously , a second very thin insulating layer 7 , for example silicon oxide , is interposed between the semiconductor layer 8 and the stopping layer 3 . advantageously , the second insulating layer 7 is 150 å thick and the semiconductor layer 8 is 1000 å thick . in particular , this semiconductor layer 8 is used as a hard mask for the following etching steps of the semiconductor substrate 1 , and thus this semiconductor layer 8 should be thick . the thickness thereof is thus advantageously within a range between 80 å and 2000 å . afterwards , a mask 4 or screening layer , for example a resist layer , is formed through a traditional photolithographic technique on the semiconductor layer 8 , wherein openings 9 are defined . as shown in fig2 , the semiconductor layer 8 is then etched with a first removal step through the openings 9 to expose a portion of the second insulating layer 7 . the second insulating layer 7 and the stopping layer 3 are then etched with a second removal step . advantageously according to the invention , the second removal step is highly selective with respect to the semiconductor layer 8 , as shown in fig2 , and is capable of removing the screening layer 4 . in this second etching step a fluorocarbon of the c x h y f z type is used , whose selectivity is commonly determined by the ratio between the indexes z / x . the lower this ratio , the lower is the etch rate on the semiconductor layer 8 , particularly polysilicon ( thus , the selectivity is high ) and vice - versa . for example , by etching with a ch 3 f - based chemistry a very good selectivity on the semiconductor layer would be obtained . on the contrary , by etching with a cf 4 the semiconductor layer 8 would also be rapidly removed because of the selectivity that is lacking on this layer . according to the invention , by forming a hard mask in the semiconductor layer 8 , all the effects of the poor etching side resistance , the excessive resist wear , and the ler is considerably reduced since it is just the semiconductor layer 8 to act as a mask during the etching step of the stopping layer 3 and not the resist screening layer 4 . at this point of the manufacturing process the semiconductor layer 8 is removed . advantageously , in the method according to the invention , the semiconductor layer 8 removal is performed by chemical etching . in fact , this semiconductor layer 8 , having to serve as a hard mask , considerably thick and other removal techniques such as cmp for example , are not suitable . in particular , through the cmp technique a very long overetch should be used , which would damage the entire device planarization due to the etch rate difference between the semiconductor layer 8 and the second insulating layer 7 . a first embodiment of the method according to the invention to remove the semiconductor layer 8 is shown in fig2 , wherein the insulating layer 2 is removed first and then the semiconductor layer 8 is removed and the semiconductor substrate 1 is simultaneously etched to form a trench 5 within the semiconductor substrate 1 . advantageously , the etching step of the semiconductor substrate 1 and of the semiconductor layer 8 is performed by plasma etching . advantageously , the chemistry by which the formation of the trench 5 in the semiconductor substrate 1 and the removal of the semiconductor layer 8 are performed , for example hbr / o 2 , are highly selective both on the oxide layer 2 and on the nitride layer 3 . therefore , after removing the whole semiconductor layer 8 , the second insulating layer 7 will still serve as a hard mask for the underlying layers . moreover , by using a plasma etch for removing the semiconductor layer 8 , the plasma undergoes a variation in its chemical composition . in fact , before wearing the semiconductor material hard mask 8 , silicon - based reaction products are the great majority and they come from the trench 5 in the semiconductor substrate 1 and from the semiconductor layer 8 , while after wearing the semiconductor material hard mask 8 , they considerably decrease since the contribution deriving from the semiconductor layer 8 removal is missing . to avoid the chemical variation from affecting the shape of the trench 5 , an optimization of the parameters of the trench etching step is performed . low polymerizing chemistry is very effective in this regard . a second embodiment of the method for removing the semiconductor material hard mask 8 provides the same process steps of the previous embodiment until the selective removal of the nitride layer 3 , then the methods continues with a semiconductor layer 8 etching step . this etching step is highly selective with respect to oxide and nitride . afterwards , this latter etching step is followed by a very short removal step of the layer 2 to expose the semiconductor substrate 1 and preserve the second insulating layer 7 on the nitride layer 3 . then it continues with the trench 5 etching , as shown in fig3 . an important advantage offered by the polysilicon hard mask 8 is given by the possibility to form lower - sized openings 9 with respect to photolithographic ones . in particular , with reference to fig3 to 39 , an alternative embodiment of the method according to the invention is described , wherein a supplementary layer 10 , for example a barc layer , is formed between the resist layer 4 and the semiconductor layer 8 . etching of the supplementary layer 10 is performed through the openings 9 with a very polymerizing chemistry to obtain a trench in the supplementary layer 10 to expose the semiconductor layer 8 . the side walls of the trench in the supplementary layer 10 are formed substantially sloped to reduce the size df of the exposed semiconductor layer 8 with respect to the size di of the opening 9 , as shown in fig3 . these sloped walls are formed by polymeric - material spacing elements which are formed during the plasma etching step of the supplementary layer 10 . the sloped walls mask the semiconductor layer 8 during etching when the etching chemistry does not comprise fluorine which would remove the organic - polymer spacing elements , thus returning to the original size . therefore , the active area size can be controlled with great accuracy . the method according to the invention is completed by the modes being already described for the previous embodiments . in conclusion , the method according to the invention allows the hard mask 8 to be removed in situ , i . e ., during the same semiconductor substrate 1 etching to form the sti structure or by adding a suitable step before the etching to form the sti structure . this allows a trench 5 to be formed in the semiconductor substrate 1 whose depth / amplitude [ aspect ratio ] is far lower for the same depth p of the trench 5 than the prior art . in fact , by removing the hard mask 8 in situ , the total depth of the trench 5 is lower . this allows the trench 5 filling processes , which is very critical , like the ones shown in fig1 , to be favored . in the prior art , a trench is filled , having the same length , but is deeper because of the thickness of the hard masks on the layers to be removed . it is thus possible to have a predetermined active area size , with the profile of the nitride layer 3 being more vertical with respect to the semiconductor substrate 1 , as shown in fig4 , and a considerable ler improvement , as shown in fig4 . | 7 |
in manufacturing the improved panel according to the invention , a core is first prepared , which in the example shown in fig1 and 2 comprises a honeycomb structure of phenolic resin - impregnated kraft paper produced in the form of a sheet a , advantageously about 12 mm in thickness , the cells open at each face and the cell walls extending perpendicularly to the general plane of the sheet . this material is commercially available . the paper core sheet a is faced on each face with a thin sheet of resin - impregnated harboard b , c a firm bond between the paper sheet 1 and the hardboard skins b , c , being effected by a suitable adhesive , for example , an epoxy resin , or polyester resin . the backing is secured by adhesive to the surface of a marble slab from which the lamina of marble is to be sawn off , after which the lamina d may be cut from the slab by the aid of a diamond - toothed band - saw or a circular saw , the lamina being from 2 to 5 mm in thickness . as the backing a , b , c supports the lamina d while the latter is being sawn from the crude slab , the risk of cracking the lamina is greatly reduced and remarkably thin marble laminae may be obtained . it has been found that for the backing a core of a phenolic resin - impregnated paper honeycomb between 1 and 2 cms in overall thickness and having a resin - impregnated hardboard skin on both faces of the order of 0 . 5 mm thick , is adequate for most purposes , for example if tiles or panels for wall cladding are required . the skin or skins , may , however , vary in thickness between 0 . 4 mm and 6 mm . the surface elements of the invention may , for example , be used to form partition walls in which case the paper core may be up to 15 cm in thickness or more and , if desired , the panel may be formed with a marble lamina on both faces by following out the method of manufacture referred to above . one form of apparatus for carrying out the method of the invention is shown in fig3 to 5 of the drawings . the apparatus comprises a band - saw 1 mounted between two steel columns 2 and 3 . the upper ends of the uprights are joined by a steel beam 4 . the band - saw is commercially available and basically comprises a diamond - toothed endless saw - blade 5 which travels about two spaced - apart drums or rollers ( not shown ) rotatably mounted within casings 6 and 7 , respectively . the saw - blade 5 and the drum may be raised or lowered along racks 8 provided on the face of the columns 2 and 3 , by means of a motor 9 . the columns 2 and 3 are bolted to a concrete foundation 10 which also serves to support two spaced apart parallel steel rails 11 and 12 . the steel rails support the flanged wheels 13 of two carriages 14 and 15 each of which may carry a block of marble 16 . the rails 11 and 12 are of sufficient length to accomodate at least two block carriages both to the front and to the rear of the band - saw 1 . the carriages 14 and 15 are moved along the rails by means of hydraulic rams 17 and 18 respectively . sanding rollers 19 are arranged both to the front and to the rear of the band - saw . each sanding roller 19 is horizontally mounted in the frame 20 which comprises two steel upright members 21 joined by a steel beam 22 . the sanding roller 19 is rotated by an electric motor 23 . the frame 20 is mounted on wheels 24 which run along rails 25 arranged parallel to but outside the rails 11 , 12 . as shown in fig4 the rails 25 are provided both to the front and to the rear of the band - saw 1 , for a distance at least equal to the length of two block carriages . each sanding roller 19 may be raised or lowered along the uprights 21 in well known manner and the frame 20 is sufficiently light in weight to be pushed manually along the rails 25 . in carrying out the method of the invention a block of marble is loaded on each of the block carriages , a and b . the carriages are each about 3 m . in length and about 11 / 2 m . in width . the side of the marble blocks is preferably of the order of 1 m . in length by 65 mm in width by 1 m . in height , and they each weigh approximately 21 / 2 tons . block b is immediately passed through the saw and the rough back of the block is removed . this leaves a flat level surface on the top of the block . however , there may be some inaccuracy in cutting , leaving waves or ridges on the surface of the block as explained above . the substantially plane surface of the block is thoroughly dried and a fine film of impact adhesive is sprayed on the marble . the adhesive is sprayed to a thickness of about 2 / 1000 of an inch . a suitable adhesive is a molecular cross - linked neoprene . a sheet of resin - impregnated paper honeycomb material has previously been coated with a similar adhesive . this is applied to the surface of the marble and it follows any undulations on the surface of the marble . the sanding roller 19 is then passed over the outer surface of the honeycomb until a plane surface is obtained . the surface of the honeycomb is sprayed with an adhesive and a rigid skin , which itself has been pre - sprayed with adhesive , is applied to the surface of the honeycomb . the preferred skin is a sheet of oil - tempered hardboard of a thickness of 1 / 8 of an inch . however , if desired , a backing comprising a sheet of resin - impregnated glass - fiber may be applied in the wet state and allowed to dry . during the application of the backing on the block of carriage b , carriage a is passed through the band - saw to remove the rough back from the block carried by carriage a . the saw is then raised and the two block carriages are moved back under the saw to the left of the saw , as shown in fig4 . carriage b is then passed forward again to remove a marble lamina from the surface of the block while a backing is applied to the block of carriage a in the manner described above . when carriage b is passed through the saw the lamina with the attached backing is removed and a further backing is applied to the surface of the block while the lamina is being cut from the block of carriage a . the process is then repeated . if desired , instead of loading each carriage with one large marble block the carriage may be loaded with up to four blocks and the spacings between the blocks filled with a plaster filling . the apparatus shown in fig6 is suitable for cutting marble laminae of up to 2 feet ( about 70 cm ) in width . the apparatus comprises a diamond - toothed circular saw 31 vertically mounted alongside a pair of spaced apart parallel steel rails 33 which support the flanged wheels 34 of carriages 35 . the carriages are adapted to carry blocks of marble 36 , and are preferably five in number . the carriages may be moved along the rails by means of hydraulic rams or similar apparatus . the circular - saw 31 is powered by an electrical motor 32 and the saw and motor are mounted on a cross - bar or gantry 37 which is arranged parallel to the rails 33 . the saw and motor are movable lengthways along the gantry 37 to effect cutting . the gantry 37 is mounted on two concrete supports 38 which run in a direction normal to the rails 33 . the gantry 37 is movable along the supports 38 so as to move the saw laterally away from and towards the rails 33 . in carrying out the method , rough - cut blocks 36 of marble or other stone are loaded on their edges on the carriages 35 . the carriages are then moved passes the saw and the rough back of each block is removed to leave a flat level surface on the side of each block . a circular saw normally cuts very accurately so that there should be no waves or ridges on the surface of the block as might be obtained using a band - saw . however , if there are any inaccuracies of this kind a backing may be applied and sanded to obtain a plane surface in substantially the same manner as described above with reference to fig3 to 5 , and the laminae and attached backings then removed by moving the carriages again passed the saw . alternatively , the blocks are moved passed the saw without first applying a backing and the cut lamina are retained on their edge but resting against the block 36 . an upright frame 39 is arranged behind the saw 31 and is provided with a number of suction pads 40 . the frame is movable along grooves or rails 41 arranged at right angles to the carriage rails 33 such that the suction pads can be moved forward to the grip the surface of the cut lamina . the frame with the lamina gripped by the suction pads is then moved backwards to remove the lamina laterally from the block 36 . the backing can then be applied to the lamina , substantially as described with reference to fig1 and 2 , while the lamina is held upright and supported by the suction pads . the frame 39 is supported by means of rods 42 which rest on bars 43 arranged alongside the supports 38 . the rods can be moved along the bars by hand and , if desired , can be turned to lay the lamina on a horizontal surface to facilite bonding of the backing . the suction pads 40 may be connected to a vacuum pump by flexible piping . the depth of cut of the saw can be adjusted by raising or lowering th slab 36 by means of a hydraulic jack or the like . the methods and apparatus described above are particularly suitable for use in the manufacture of marble - faced composite surface elements . however , they may also be used in the manufacture of composite elements having other natural stone facings such as granite and onyx . | 8 |
fig1 and 2 illustrate an exemplary embodiment of the device according to the invention showing a section of the conveying track f and a transport element 1 movable along the conveying track f . a gripper arm 2 is arranged on the transport element . one gripper or a plurality of grippers 3 is arranged on the gripper arm 2 . fig1 illustrates this as a schematic , three - dimensional view , fig2 as a section transverse to the conveying track f . the device comprises a multitude of advantageously identical transport elements 1 , which are movable along the conveying track f being connected together in the manner of a chain with fixed and regular distances or with variable distances between one another or which are movable in a manner independent of one another . for moving the transport elements 1 , a suitable drive ( not illustrated ) is provided . one part of the transport element 1 is designed as a roller part or sliding part 4 rolling or gliding along in a guide channel 5 . the gripper arm 2 , for example , is attached to a transport element part 6 projecting from the guide channel 5 . the gripper arm 2 with the gripper 3 is arranged on the transport element 1 in an asymmetrical manner such that the conveying track f is at a distance d from a symmetry plane s cutting the gripper 3 into two functionally equivalent halves ( or a plurality of grippers into two equal parts ). the distance or projection d is such that the flat articles 10 to be gripped and to be conveyed in a gripped manner do not come into contact with the guide channel 5 . if the articles , as illustrated in the fig1 and 2 , are to be gripped in the middle of one edge , then d is to be greater than half the length of the gripped edge . the gripper 3 comprises , in a per se known manner , two gripper jaws 3 . 1 and 3 . 2 movable relative to one another . these jaws are , for example , driven towards each other into a closed position by a compression force and can be moved away from one another into an open position against the compression force . for the gripper positioning , the gripper arm is installed in a bearing in the transport element 1 such that it can be rotated around its own axis substantially without limitation . for the gripper actuation , the gripper arm comprises two coaxial arm parts 2 . 1 and 2 . 2 capable of rotating relative to one another within limits , wherein on each of the arm parts 2 . 1 and 2 . 2 one of the gripper jaws 3 . 1 and 3 . 2 is attached such that the gripper 3 is able to be actuated ( opened and closed ) by relative rotation of the arm parts 2 . 1 and 2 . 2 . for generating the compression force between the two gripper jaws 3 . 1 and 3 . 2 , a pre - tensioned spring 11 is provided between the two gripper arm parts 2 . 1 and 2 . 2 . the gripper is controlled with respect to its rotational position and with respect to its opening condition , for taking over articles , during conveyance of the articles and for delivering the articles . in fig1 and 2 , the gripper 3 is depicted only in its closed state and in two rotational positions differing from one another by 180 ° ( positions 3 and 3 ′ of the gripper or positions 10 and 10 ′ of a flat article held by the gripper ). for gripper control , for example , each arm part 2 . 1 and 2 . 2 carries one control roller 12 . 1 and 12 . 2 on the gripper arm side opposite the gripper . for guiding the control rollers , cams 13 . 1 and 13 . 2 are provided along at least part of the conveying track f , the control rollers 12 . 1 and 12 . 2 roll along the cams when the transport element 1 is conveyed along the conveying track f . the control roller 12 . 2 is arranged on the outer arm part 2 . 2 and cam 13 . 2 , along which the control roller 12 . 2 rolls , determines the rotational position of the gripper 3 . in sections of the conveying path f , in which the rotational position of the grippers 3 is not relevant or in which the grippers are to be freely rotating , cam 13 . 2 can be omitted . the control roller 12 . 1 is arranged on the central arm part 2 . 1 , which itself is connected with the outer arm part 2 . 2 through the pre - tensioned spring 11 . cam 13 . 1 , along which the control roller 12 . 1 rolls , determines the opening condition of the gripper 3 . in sections of the conveying track f , in which the grippers are to be constantly closed , the cam 13 . 1 can be omitted . as is evident from fig2 the free end of the gripper arm 2 may be extended such that it projects beyond a held flat article 10 on the side opposite the transport element 1 . the gripper arm 2 may comprise a supporting roller 15 side , which rolls along or in a guide 16 . such an arrangement is advantageous in cases in which the grippers 3 have to hold large articles and the gripper arms 2 for this purpose have to project a long way , in cases in which the grippers 3 have to bear the full weight of the articles 10 and / or in cases in which very accurate positioning of the grippers 3 is necessary . in place of the supporting roller 15 , it is also possible to provide a further transport element 1 . the fundamental characteristics of the transport element 1 , gripper arm 2 , gripper 3 and gripper control in accordance with the invention are clearly evident from fig1 and 2 . for one skilled in the art it is very easily possible to modify the embodiments illustrated in these drawings in order to create further embodiments of the device according to the invention . in particular , the transport elements 1 , the active connection between the two gripper jaws 3 . 1 and 3 . 2 and the gripper control means 12 . 1 / 12 . 2 and 13 . 1 / 13 . 2 can be designed in the most diverse ways being known by one skilled in the art . in particular , instead of the as such stationary cam 13 . 1 and 13 . 2 , which act on all grippers conveyed past in the same manner , control means may also be provided , which , for example , for selective delivery of flat articles by the grippers , only act on selected ones of the grippers . furthermore , it is possible to provide a plurality of grippers 3 on each gripper arm 2 and simultaneously actuating and rotating the grippers 3 . fig3 and 4 show in a very schematic manner and viewed transverse to the conveying track f , positions 10 . 1 to 10 . 18 , which a flat object 10 conveyed by a device in accordance with the invention is able to assume ( the flat articles are illustrated to be printed products held gripped at their folded edge ), when the gripper 3 , which holds the article 10 , is rotated clockwise ( fig3 ) or counter - clockwise ( fig4 ) around the axis of the gripper arm ( not depicted in fig3 and 4 ). to be noted in particular is the manner in which the article between positions 10 . 2 and 10 . 5 , 10 . 6 and 10 . 8 as well as 10 . 17 and 10 . 18 is moved through between two adjacent grippers 3 from one side of the conveying track f to the other side . from fig3 and 4 it is also evident that such movement of the flat articles may call for an adjustment of the distances between the grippers to the size and to the flexibility of the flat articles 10 . fig3 and 4 can also be perceived as a hypothetical snapshot of a conveying stream in which the gripper positions are continually changed . if a gripper actuation is superimposed on this hypothesis , in the case of which the grippers are closed in a first position and are opened again in a second position downstream of the first position . it also becomes clear that with the help of the - device in accordance with the invention flat articles can be taken over from conveying streams with substantially any orientation of the articles and that , by delivering the flat articles by the device according to the invention , other conveying streams with substantially any orientation of the articles can be established . this is made even more clear by fig5 ( viewed transverse to the conveying tracks f and f ′), which shows folded printed products held on their folded edge and having a front side ( unbroken line ) and a back side ( broken line ) and serving as examples of flat articles 10 . the printed products are shown in sections a . 1 to a . 12 of conveying streams , in which these articles can be conveyed with the help of a device according to the invention . every one of the sections a . 1 to a . 12 , which is illustrated on the conveying track f , or f ′ respectively , can be established starting from another section depicted on the same conveying track f or f ′ respectively by simple rotation of the grippers . every section a . 7 to a . 12 illustrated on the conveying track f ′ can be established from a section a . 1 to a . 6 illustrated on the conveying track f ( and vice - versa ) by twisting the conveying track or by a deflection of the conveying track in combination with a gripper rotation . each one of the illustrated conveying stream sections a . 1 to a . 12 can depict a just picked up conveying stream , i . e . a conveying stream not yet changed after taking over or a conveying stream ready for delivery . obviously , all possible conveying streams ( front side on top or underneath , folded edge leading or trailing , leading edge on top or underneath ) can be taken over and established using the device in accordance with the invention with corresponding gripper positioning and synchronisation between gripper conveyance and supply stream . the same is applicable for conveying streams in which the flat articles are oriented exactly transverse to the direction of conveyance ( front side in front or behind , folded edge on the bottom or on the top ). fig6 to 9 show still schematically but in somewhat more detail than fig3 to 5 applications of the device according to the invention , particularly take - over and handing - over of flat articles 10 by the device in accordance with the invention . fig6 illustrates a stream transformation by a device in accordance with the invention . with an as such known conveying device 20 , folded printed products ( flat articles 10 ) are supplied , being held gripped and suspended at their edges opposite the folded edges and are taken over by grippers 3 of a device according to the invention 30 . the conveying stream being taken over corresponds with respect to the article orientation to section a 2 or a 11 of fig5 . after the take - over of the printed products , the grippers 3 are rotated such that the printed products are brought into a suspended position ( section a . 5 or a . 8 of fig5 ) in which the edges opposite the folded edges are positioned on the bottom . the articles are opened with suitable means ( not illustrated ) and , for example , deposited on to saddle - shaped supports 31 of a collecting drum 32 . from fig6 it is clearly evident , how easily the illustrated stream transformation can be implemented using the device according to the invention . fig7 illustrates , viewed parallel to the conveying track f , the take - over of the articles by the device 30 according to the invention from the conveying device 20 , which take - over is viewed transverse to the conveying track f in fig6 . conveying device 20 comprises transport elements 20 . 1 with grippers 20 . 2 and with roller or sliding parts rolling or sliding in a conveying channel . in this case , however , the conveying track of the transport elements 20 . 1 lies in the one plane s ′ separating the grippers 20 . 2 into two functionally equivalent parts . in the case of the device according to the invention this does not apply ( refer to fig2 and the corresponding parts of the specification ). fig8 illustrates , viewed again transverse to the conveying track f , a further possible handing - over or delivery of flat articles 10 ( folded printed products ) by a device in accordance with the invention 30 , the articles to be delivered having been , for example , taken over as shown in fig6 . with their held edges leading , the articles are deposited on l - shaped supports 40 , for example , for producing stacks . thanks to the projection of the gripper arms relative to the conveying elements and relative to the guide channel , which guides the movement of the conveying elements , meshing of grippers and supports necessary for such deposition is easily possible . it goes without saying that the handing - over illustrated in fig8 can be preceded by a different type of taking - over than the taking - over depicted in fig6 which then , if so required , calls for a re - orientation of the products 10 prior to the handing - over being implemented by gripper rotation . in the same manner as illustrated in fig8 for the grippers of a device according to the invention and l - shaped supports of a further device , it is possible also for grippers of two devices in accordance with the invention to pass through one another in a comb like or meshing manner . furthermore , it is possible for grippers of two devices according to the invention to be conveyed alternately in a common conveying stream , wherein the two conveying devices are arranged on opposite sides of the conveying stream and the gripper arms of the two devices are arranged as projecting towards the conveying stream from opposite sides . printed products conveyed in a common conveying stream of this kind can have alternatingly different orientations and , therefore , for example , are capable of being directly stacked in cross stacks . fig9 depicts a further example of a take - over of flat articles by a device 30 in accordance with the invention . the supplied stream of flat articles 10 is an imbricated stream of folded printed products with folded edges leading and lying on top of the stream , which , for example , is supplied on a conveyor belt 41 from a rotation . the grippers 3 of the device according to the invention 30 approach the imbricated stream from above and , in the take - over zone , have a lower speed than the conveyor belt 41 so that the printed products or their folded edges respectively are pushed into grippers 3 for being taken over . thereupon , the grippers 3 are closed . it is clearly evident from fig9 that an imbricated stream ( for example , from a coil ), in which the folded edges of the printed products are lying on top in the conveying stream , but are trailing , can also be taken over by the device in accordance with the invention . for such take - over , the grippers are solely rotated by about 180 ° relative to the gripper position of fig8 so that the gripper mouths are directed forwards in conveying direction , and the supply speed is adjusted such that the grippers catch up with the products from behind and thereby slide over the folded edges . the device according to the invention 30 and the supply device 41 as illustrated in fig9 can therefore be adapted to selective use for taking - over printed products with leading or with trailing folded edges lying on top by a very simple conversion , wherein the products independent of the manner of their supply can be brought into a predefined handing - over position . necessary for the conversion is , in essence , a displacement of the cam controlling the gripper position in the take - over zone . fig1 illustrates a further embodiment of the device according to the invention , which is suitable in particular for taking - over or for establishing imbricated streams , in which the flat articles 10 are arranged without edges aligned transverse to the conveying track f . for this purpose , the gripper arms 2 , in contrast to the depiction in the preceding drawing figures , are not arranged as projecting transverse to the conveying track f , but rather projecting at an angle α . this angle α , for example , may be 60 °, 45 °, 120 ° or 135 °. | 1 |
a vehicle suspension system 10 , constructed in accordance with the present invention and illustrated in fig1 through 5 of the accompanying drawings , includes a conventional multi - leaf mainspring 12 that is connected to the frame 14 of a vehicle by a hanger 16 . the mainspring 12 is connected to the front axle of a vehicle in the conventional manner as shown in fig1 of u . s . pat . no . 4 , 175 , 772 . the hanger 16 has been modified to permit one end of the mainspring 12 to move vertically within a limited range of travel . it includes a downwardly projecting member 18 , welded to the frame 14 and having a link 20 pivotably connected to its lower end . at the end of the spring 12 is a cross pin 22 received by a pair of vertically elongated slots 24 in the link 22 , as best shown in fig1 and 5 . vertical travel of the spring 12 is permitted by movement of the cross pin 22 in the slot 24 ( the pin being shown at the bottom of the slot in fig5 ) and by pivotal action of the link 20 about a mounting pin 21 . those skilled in the art will understand that a wide variety of alternative hanger constructions can be employed to permit vertical travel of the mainspring 12 . a bracket 26 is bolted to the frame 14 so that it projects downwardly toward the mainspring 12 . secured to the top of this bracket 26 near the bottom of the frame 16 is an auxiliary leaf spring 28 . this auxiliary spring 28 extends from the bracket 26 away from the hanger 16 , between the frame 14 and the mainspring 12 , and generally parallel to the mainspring 12 . having a slightly s - shaped curvature , the auxiliary spring 28 is spaced below the frame 14 at its movable end 29 ( opposite the bracket 26 ) so that the frame does not interfer with flexing of the auxiliary spring . in this embodiment , the auxiliary spring 28 has two leaves 30 and 31 , the lower leaf 31 being shorter . it will be understood , however , that the optimum contruction of the auxiliary spring 28 is dependent upon the spring rate required and the room available . a pivot pin 32 extends horizontally from the bracket 26 and cross - wise with respect to the frame 14 between the auxiliary spring 28 and the mainspring 12 . a lever 33 of a dog - leg configuration is pivoted on the pin 32 . it is made of two parallel side pieces 33 &# 39 ; ( see fig2 and 3 ) that act in unison as a single lever . the side pieces 33 &# 39 ; form a bifurcated first arm 34 that is angled downwardly from the pivot pin 32 toward the auxiliary spring 12 ( see fig2 and 4 ). a rotatable cross piece 36 connects the two side pieces 33 &# 39 ; at the end of the first arm 34 , as best shown in fig3 and rests on the generally horizontal top surface of the mainspring 12 . a second arm 38 of the lever 33 is longer than the first arm 34 and forms an oblique angle with the first arm . it has an upwardly facing u - shaped member 40 that connects the two side pieces 33 &# 39 ; at one end and receives the movable end 29 of the auxiliary spring 28 . a connection pin 42 extends through aligned apertures in the u - shaped member 40 and the auxiliary spring 28 . a connection spring 44 encircles the pin 42 , being retained at its top end by a nut 46 that threadedly engages the pin 42 , so that the connection spring 44 resiliently urges the auxiliary spring 28 and lever 33 together . apart from the effect of the connection spring 44 , the lever 33 and the auxiliary spring 28 are positively connected by the connection pin 42 so as to permit only limited separation . the operation of the suspension system 10 described above will now be explained . assuming that the vehicle is lightly loaded , the upward pull of the auxiliary spring 28 on the lever 33 causes the first arm 34 of the lever to move downwardly , pushing the mainspring 12 to the lower limit of its vertical travel , as shown in fig1 . flexing of the auxiliary spring 28 will then permit movement of the frame 16 relative to an axle ( not shown ) to which the mainspring 12 is connected . it is important to note that the lever 33 and its pivot pin 32 not only apply the force of the auxiliary spring 28 to the mainspring 12 , but also serve as a mechanism for muliplying this force . the multiplication of the force is achieved because the distance &# 34 ; a &# 34 ; from the pivot pin 32 to the engagement of the mainspring 12 by the cross piece 36 of the lever 33 is considerably less than the distance &# 34 ; b &# 34 ; from the pivot pin to the connection of the lever to the auxiliary spring 28 . for this reason , the auxiliary spring 28 , which can fit readily within the limited space available between the frame 14 and the mainspring 12 , can provide the force necessary even in this close ratio system in which the auxiliary spring might typically be required to provide a spring rate of about half that of the mainspring . if the load is increased sufficiently , the auxiliary spring 28 will deflect downwardly , allowing its movable end 29 to move downwardly with the second arm 38 of the lever 33 so that the mainspring 12 can move upwardly to the upper limit of its range of vertical travel permitted by the hanger 16 ( see fig4 ). the mainspring 12 then has a fixed position with respect to the frame 14 and the frame is supported by the suspension system 10 with an appropriately high effective spring rate to handle the load imposed . it should be noted that the manner of connecting the auxiliary spring 28 to the lever 33 is highly effective and advantageous . standard components can be used to connect the auxiliary spring 28 even though the vertical thickness of that spring may vary depending upon the parameters required by an individual installation . a thicker auxiliary spring will simply cause the connection spring 44 to be compressed to a greater extent . moreover , the resiliency of the connection will tend to dampen any vibrations transmitted through the lever 33 . it will be understood from the following that while particular forms of the invention have been illustrated and described , various modifications can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention . accordingly , it is not intended that the invention be limited except as by the appended claims . | 1 |
the term “ dietary compositions ” comprises any type of ( fortified ) food , ( fortified ) ( animal ) feed and beverages including also clinical nutrition , and also dietary supplements as well as the corresponding additives : food additives , beverage additives , feed additives . also encompassed is functional food / feed i . e . a food / feed that has been enhanced with vitamins or pharmaceuticals to provide further specific health benefits , as well as a nutraceutical , i . e . a pill or other pharmaceutical product that has nutritional value . the dietary compositions according to the present invention may further contain protective hydrocolloids ( such as gums , proteins , modified starches ), binders , film forming agents , encapsulating agents / materials , wall / shell materials , matrix compounds , coatings , emulsifiers , surface active agents , solubilizing agents ( oils , fats , waxes , lecithins etc . ), adsorbents , carriers , fillers , co - compounds , dispersing agents , wetting agents , processing aids ( solvents ), flowing agents , taste masking agents , weighting agents , jellyfying agents , gel forming agents , antioxidants and antimicrobials . another object of the present invention is a pharmaceutical composition containing at least one compound of the formula i - iv as defined and with the preferences given as above and a conventional pharmaceutical carrier . beside a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier and at least one compound of the formula i - iv the pharmaceutical compositions according to the present invention may further contain conventional pharmaceutical additives and adjuvants , excipients or diluents , including , but not limited to , water , gelatin of any origin , vegetable gums , ligninsulfonate , talc , sugars , starch , gum arabic , vegetable oils , polyalkylene glycols , flavoring agents , preservatives , stabilizers , emulsifying agents , buffers , lubricants , colorants , wetting agents , fillers , and the like . the carrier material can be organic or inorganic inert carrier material suitable for oral / parenteral / injectable administration . the dietary and pharmaceutical compositions according to the present invention may be in any galenic form that is suitable for administrating to the animal body including the human body , especially in any form that is conventional for oral administration , e . g . in solid form such as ( additives / supplements for ) food or feed , food or feed premix , fortified food or feed , tablets , pills , granules , dragees , capsules , and effervescent formulations such as powders and tablets , or in liquid form such as solutions , emulsions or suspensions as e . g . beverages , pastes and oily suspensions . the pastes may be filled into hard or soft shell capsules , whereby the capsules feature e . g . a matrix of ( fish , swine , poultry , cow ) gelatin , plant proteins or ligninsulfonate . examples for other application forms are forms for sublingual , transdermal , parenteral or injectable administration . the dietary and pharmaceutical compositions may be in the form of controlled ( delayed ) release formulations . furthermore , it has been demonstrated that by binding the compounds of the present invention to secondary molecules , such as certain peptides , increased is stability prolonging the active period is achieved . the present invention also encompasses pro - drugs which are metabolised into more active entities . beverages encompass non - alcoholic and alcoholic drinks as well as liquid preparations to be added to drinking water and liquid food . non - alcoholic drinks are e . g . soft drinks , sport drinks , fruit juices , lemonades , near - water drinks ( i . e . water - based drinks with a low calorie content ), teas and milk based drinks . liquid food is e . g . soups and dairy products . the compounds of the formula i - iv as well as ( mixtures of ) plant materials and plant extracts containing them , and dietary / pharmaceutical compositions containing them are thus suitable for the treatment of animals including humans . therefore , the invention relates to a method for the treatment of t1d and / or non - autoimmune t2d , obesity and / or syndrome x in animals including humans , said method comprising the step of administering an effective dose of a compound of the formula i as defined above to animals including humans which are in need thereof . animals in the context of the present invention may be mammals including humans . preferred examples of mammals beside humans are other primates , dogs , cats , guinea pigs , rabbits , hares , ferrets , horses , and ruminants ( cattle , sheep and goats ). for humans a suitable daily dosage of a compound of the formula i - iv may be within the range from 0 . 00003 mg per kg body weight to 60 mg per kg body weight per day . more preferred may be a daily dosage of 0 . 0003 to 6 mg per kg body weight , preferred may be a daily dosage of 0 . 0003 to 3 mg per kg body weight per day , especially preferred may be a daily dosage of 0 . 003 to 0 . 3 mg per kg body weight per day , most preferred may be a daily dosage of 0 . 015 to 0 . 06 mg per kg body weight per day . compounds of the present invention may crystallize in more than one form , a characteristic known as polymorphism , and such polymorphic forms (“ polymorphs ”) are within the scope of compounds of the invention . polymorphism generally can occur as a response to changes in temperature , pressure , or both , and can also result from variations in the crystallization process . polymorphs can be distinguished by various physical characteristics such as x - ray diffraction patterns , solubility , and melting point . certain of the compounds described herein may be capable of existing as stereoisomers such as by having a chiral carbon , sulfoxide sulfur or double bond whereby the compounds may exist as r or s enantiomers or e or z isomers . the scope of the present invention includes all such individual isomers , racemates , purified enantiomers , and enantiomerically enriched mixtures of the compounds of the present invention . typically , but not absolutely , the salts of the present invention are pharmaceutically acceptable salts . salts encompassed within the term “ pharmaceutically acceptable salts ” refer to non - toxic salts of the compounds of this invention . salts of the compounds of the present invention may comprise acid addition salts . representative salts include acetate , benzenesulfonate , benzoate , bicarbonate , bisulfate , bitartrate , borate , calcium edetate , camsylate , carbonate , clavulanate , citrate , dihydrochloride , edisylate , estolate , esylate , fumarate , gluceptate , gluconate , glutamate , glycollylarsanilate , hexylresorcinate , hydrabamine , hydrobromide , hydrochloride , hydroxynaphthoate , iodide , isethionate , lactate , lactobionate , laurate , malate , maleate , mandelate , mesylate , methylsulfate , monopotassium maleate , mucate , napsylate , nitrate , n - methylglucamine , oxalate , pamoate ( embonate ), palmitate , pantothenate , phosphate / diphosphate , polygalacturonate , potassium , salicylate , sodium , stearate , subacetate , succinate , sulfate , tannate , tartrate , teoclate , tosylate , triethiodide , trimethylammonium , and valerate salts . other salts , which are not pharmaceutically acceptable , may be useful in the preparation of compounds of this invention and these should be considered to form a further aspect of the invention . included within the scope of the invention compounds are solvates of compounds of the depicted formula . “ solvate ” refers to a complex of variable stoichiometry formed by a solute ( in this invention , a compound of the present invention , or a salt or physiologically functional derivative thereof ) and a solvent . such solvents , for the purpose of the invention , should not interfere with the biological activity of the solute . preferably the solvent used is a pharmaceutically acceptable solvent such as water , ethanol , and acetic acid . the compounds according to the invention may be obtained using methods of synthesis known in principle . preferably the compounds are obtained by the following methods according to the invention which are described in more detail hereinafter . the following descriptions of preferred methods of synthesis relate to end products in a β - d - glucopyranosyl and β - d - galactopyranosyl configuration . the synthesis of the corresponding compounds in the α - d - glucopyranosyl or α - l - glucopyranosyl configuration ( or any other pyranoses or furanoses ) will be evident to the skilled man by analogy , and for this reason no further explanations and synthesis diagrams are provided , in the interests of clarity . general synthetic routes to obtain the compounds of the compounds of the present invention are given in the following schemes . the synthesis was performed according to khour and skibo ( j . org . chem . 2007 , 72 , 8636 - 8647 ). to a slurry of potassium t - butoxide ( 1 . 64 g , 14 . 58 mmol ) in 10 ml of dry benzene under nitrogen was added diethyl oxalate ( 2 . 1 g , 14 . 58 mmol ). a solution of 2 - nitrotoluene ( 2 g , 14 . 56 mmol ) in 30 ml of dry benzene was added dropwise and a red solid formed immediately . the reaction mixture was further stirred at room temperature for 45 min . the red solid precipitate was collected by filtration and washed with benzene to afford the potassium salt of ethyl 3 -( 2 - nitrophenyl )- 2 - oxopropanoate b2 in 68 % yield . a solution of the potassium salt of 2 - nitrophenylpyruvate b2 ( 100 mg , 0 . 36 mmol ) in dry dmf ( 3 ml ) was added dropwise over a period of 15 min , to a pre - cooled stirred solution of 2 , 3 , 4 , 6 - tetra - o - acetyl - α - d - glucose ( 149 mg , 0 . 36 mmol ) in dry dmf ( 2 ml ) at 0 ° c . under nitrogen atmosphere . the temperature was gradually raised to room temperature . reaction mixture was allowed to stir for 15 h , and the reaction was quenched with chilled , saturated aq . nacl ( 25 ml ). extraction with ethyl acetate ( 3 × 30 ml ), drying ( mgso 4 ), concentration under reduced pressure , and purification by flash chromatography ( sio 2 , hexane - benzene - acetone - methanol , 5 : 4 : 5 : 1 ) to isolate the pure resultant compound c2 in 40 % yield . the solution of potassium salt of 2 - nitrophenylpyruvate b2 ( 100 mg , 0 . 36 mmol ) in dry dmf ( 3 ml ) was added dropwise over a period of 15 min , to a pre - cooled stirred solution of 2 , 3 , 4 , 6 - tetra - o - acetyl - α - d - galactose ( 149 mg , 0 . 36 mmol ) in dry dmf ( 2 ml ) at 0 ° c . under nitrogen atmosphere . the temperature was gradually raised to room temperature . reaction mixture was allowed to stir for 15 h , and the reaction was quenched with chilled , saturated aq . nacl ( 25 ml ). extraction with ethyl acetate ( 3 × 30 ml ), drying ( mgso 4 ), concentration under reduced pressure , and purification by flash chromatography ( sio 2 , hexane - benzene - acetone - methanol , 5 : 4 : 5 : 1 ) to isolate the pure resultant compound c3 in 50 % yield . the ester c2 ( 20 mg , 0 . 035 mmol ) was dissolved in thf ( 0 . 4 ml ) and added a solution of lioh ( 8 . 44 mg , 0 . 352 mmol ) in 0 . 3 ml water . the reaction mixture was stirred at room temperature for 3 hours . the solvent was evaporated and reaction mixture was acidified by using 0 . 1 % tfa solution in water until ph & lt ; 5 . the solution was filtered and freeze - dried to give rx - 2 as light yellow solid along with lithium trifluoroacetate salt , which was further purified by preparative hplc using acetonitrile - water as an eluent and isolated the product as a white solid in quantitative yield after freeze drying : 1 h nmr ( 400 mhz , meoh - d 4 ): δ 8 . 22 ( d , j = 7 . 9 hz , 1h ), 7 . 90 ( dd , j = 8 . 2 , 1 . 2 hz , 1h ), 7 . 70 - 7 . 56 ( m , 1h ), 7 . 52 - 7 . 38 ( m , 1h ), 7 . 03 ( s , 1h ), 5 . 04 ( d , j = 7 . 4 hz , 1h ), 3 . 74 ( dd , j = 12 . 0 , 2 . 4 hz , 1h ), 3 . 63 ( dd , j = 12 . 0 , 5 . 2 hz , 1h ), 3 . 44 - 3 . 34 ( m , 3h ), 3 . 21 ( m , 1h ); esi - hrms m / z : calcd for c 15 h 17 no 10 na + : 394 . 0745 . found 394 . 0755 . the ester c3 ( 20 mg , 0 . 035 mmol ) was dissolved in thf ( 0 . 4 ml ) and added a solution of lioh ( 8 . 44 mg , 0 . 352 mmol ) in 0 . 3 ml water . the reaction mixture was stirred at room temperature for 3 hours . the solvent was evaporated and reaction mixture was acidified by using 0 . 1 % tfa solution in water until ph & lt ; 5 . the solution was filtered and freeze - dried to give the compound rx - 3 as light yellow solid along with lithium trifluoroacetate salt , which was further purified by preparative hplc using acetonitrile - water as an eluent and isolated as a white solid in quantitative yield after freeze drying : 1 h nmr ( 400 mhz , meoh - d 4 ): δ 8 . 12 ( d , j = 7 . 8 hz , 1h ), 7 . 86 ( d , j = 8 . 1 hz , 1h ), 7 . 55 ( t , j = 7 . 6 hz , 1h ), 7 . 39 ( t , j = 7 . 8 hz , 1h ), 7 . 19 ( s , 1h ), 4 . 96 ( d , j = 7 . 7 hz , 1h ), 3 . 73 ( d , j = 3 . 0 hz , 1h ), 3 . 65 - 3 . 44 ( m , 3h ), 3 . 39 ( dd , j = 9 . 7 , 3 . 3 hz , 1h ), 3 . 34 ( t , j = 6 . 1 hz , 1h ); 13 c nmr ( 101 mhz , meoh - d 4 ): δ 149 . 85 , 146 . 87 , 133 . 87 , 133 . 83 , 129 . 83 , 129 . 76 , 125 . 01 , 119 . 00 , 103 . 57 , 77 . 10 , 74 . 96 , 72 . 76 , 69 . 93 , 61 . 90 ; esi - hrms m / z : calcd for c 15 h 17 no 10 na + : 394 . 0745 . found 394 . 075 . to a suspension of mg turnings ( 0 . 231 g , 9 . 51 mmol ) in diethyl ether ( 1 . 5 ml ) was added a solution of 2 - fluorobenzyl chloride ( 1 . 25 g , 8 . 65 mmol ) in diethyl ether ( 9 ml ) dropwise to the refluxing reaction mixture . the mixture was stirred for 10 min , cooled to room temperature and added dropwise to a solution of diethyl oxalate ( 2 . 53 g , 17 . 29 mmol ) in diethyl ether ( 17 ml ) at 0 ° c . the reaction mixture was stirred at room temperature for 2 hours , quenched with 1m aqueous hydrochloric acid and extracted with diethyl ether . the combined extracts were washed with brine , dried over magnesium sulfate , and concentrated under reduced pressure . the excess of diethyl oxalate was removed by bulb to bulb distillation at room temperature and the residue was purified by flash chromatography ( sio 2 , 15 - 20 % ethyl acetate in petroleum ether ) to give the resulting compound b4 as colorless oil in 70 % yield which was used instantly in next step . the reactions were preformed according to marais et al . ( j . chem . soc ., perkin trans . 1 , 1996 , 2915 - 2918 ): the ethyl 3 -( 2 - fluorophenyl )- 2 - oxopropanoate b4 ( 100 mg , 0 . 476 mmol ) in dry dmf ( 3 . 3 ml ) was transferred dropwise under anhydrous conditions and nitrogen atmosphere ( over a period of 15 min ) to a vigorously stirred suspension of sodium hydride ( 13 mg , 0 . 523 mmol ) in dmf ( 3 . 0 ml ) at 0 ° c . this mixture was stirred for a further 1 h at 0 ° c . and was added dropwise to a vigorously stirred solution of 2 , 3 , 4 , 6 - tetra - o - acetyl - α - d - glucose bromide ( 196 mg , 0 . 476 mmol ) in dry dmf ( 3 ml ) at 0 ° c . the temperature was raised to room temperature , stirring was continued for 15 h , and the reaction was quenched with chilled , saturated aq . nacl ( 10 ml ). extraction with ethyl acetate ( 3 × 25 ml ), drying ( mgso 4 ), concentration under reduced pressure , and purification by flash chromatography ( sio 2 , hexane - benzene - acetone - methanol , 5 : 4 : 5 : 1 ) to isolate the resulting compound along with glycal impurity which was further purified by preparative hplc to isolate the pure resultant compound c4 in the form of white solid in 22 % yield . the ester c4 ( 20 mg , 0 . 037 mmol ) was dissolved in thf ( 0 . 4 ml ) and added a solution of lioh h 2 o ( 8 . 86 mg , 0 . 37 mmol ) in water ( 0 . 3 ml ). the reaction mixture was stirred at room temperature for one hour and then acidified until ph & lt ; 3 with dowex 50 - x8 resin , filtered and concentrated , and the residue was purified by preparative hplc using acetonitrile - water as an eluent . after freeze drying , the final product was isolated in 87 % yield : 1 h nmr ( 400 mhz , meoh - d 4 ): δ 8 . 31 ( t , j = 7 . 1 hz , 1h ), 7 . 24 ( dd , j = 13 . 6 , 5 . 8 hz , 1h ), 7 . 14 ( s , 1h ), 7 . 07 ( t , j = 7 . 6 hz , 1h ), 7 . 03 - 6 . 96 ( m , 1h ), 5 . 17 ( d , j = 7 . 4 hz , 1h ), 3 . 66 ( dd , j = 12 . 0 , 2 . 2 hz , 1h ), 3 . 52 ( dd , j = 12 . 0 , 5 . 2 hz , 1h ), 3 . 41 - 3 . 23 ( m , 3h ), 3 . 17 - 3 . 11 ( m , 1h ); 13 c nmr ( 101 mhz , meoh - d 4 ): δ 166 . 72 , 161 . 83 ( d , 1 j c , f = 249 . 7 hz ), 144 . 28 , 132 . 66 , 131 . 71 , 125 . 15 , 122 . 48 , 115 . 93 ( d , 1c ), 115 . 78 ( d , 1c ), 102 . 66 , 78 . 59 , 78 . 07 , 75 . 64 , 71 . 35 , 62 . 50 ; esi - hrms m / z : calcd for c 15 h 17 fo 8 na + : 367 . 0800 . found 367 . 0800 . the title compound was prepared as described for b4 using 3 - fluorobenzyl bromide ( 1 . 250 g , 8 . 64 mmol ), magnesium ( 0 . 231 g , 9 . 51 mmol ) and diethyl oxalate ( 2 . 52 g , 17 . 30 mmol ) in the form of colorless oil in 80 % yield and used instantly in next step . the title compound was prepared as described for c4 by using ethyl 3 -( 3 - fluorophenyl )- 2 - oxopropanoate b5 ( 100 mg , 0 . 476 mmol ), sodium hydride ( 13 mg , 0 . 523 mmol ) and 2 , 3 , 4 , 6 - tetra - o - acetyl - α - d - galactose bromide ( 196 mg , 0 . 476 mmol ). the compound was isolated in the form of white solid in 79 % yield . the title compounds was prepared as described for rx - 4 to give the product as a white solid in 85 % yield : 1 h nmr ( 400 mhz , meoh - d 4 ): δ 7 . 66 ( d , j = 10 . 9 hz , 1h ), 7 . 47 ( d , j = 7 . 8 hz , 1h ), 7 . 23 ( m , 1h ), 6 . 92 ( m , 1h ), 6 . 87 ( s , 1h ), 5 . 05 ( d , j = 7 . 8 hz , 1h ), 3 . 79 - 3 . 68 ( m , 2h ), 3 . 56 ( m , 2h ), 3 . 47 - 3 . 36 ( m , 2h ); 13 c nmr ( 101 mhz , meoh - d 4 ): δ 167 . 75 , 164 . 06 ( d , 1 j c , f = 243 . 1 hz ), 137 . 21 ( d , 3 j c , f = 8 . 6 hz ), 130 . 79 ( d , 3 j c , f = 8 . 3 hz ), 127 . 62 , 127 . 59 , 123 . 12 , 117 . 71 ( d , 2 j c , f = 23 . 0 hz ), 116 . 29 ( d , 2 j c , f = 21 . 6 hz ), 103 . 66 , 77 . 27 , 75 . 15 , 72 . 99 , 70 . 03 , 61 . 99 ; esi - hrms m / z : calcd for c 15 h 17 fo 8 na + : 367 . 0800 . found 367 . 0796 . the title compound was prepared as described for b4 using benzyl bromide ( 1 . 250 g , 7 . 31 mmol ), magnesium ( 0 . 195 g , 8 . 04 mmol ) and diethyl oxalate ( 2 . 136 g , 14 . 62 mmol ) in the form of colorless oil in 80 % yield and used instantly in next step . the title compound was prepared as described for c4 using ( ethyl 3 -( phenyl )- 2 - oxopropanoate b6 ( 100 mg , 0 . 520 mmol ), sodium hydride ( 13 . 73 mg , 0 . 572 mmol ) and 2 , 3 , 4 , 6 - tetra - o - acetyl - α - d - galactose bromide ( 214 mg , 0 . 520 mmol ). the resulting compound was isolated in the form of white solid in 37 % yield . the title compound was prepared as described for rx - 4 to give the product as a white solid in 92 % yield : 1 h nmr ( 400 mhz , meoh - d 4 ) δ 7 . 86 ( d , j = 7 . 3 hz , 2h ), 7 . 30 ( t , j = 7 . 4 hz , 2h ), 7 . 23 ( m , 1h ), 6 . 81 ( s , 1h ), 4 . 97 ( d , j = 7 . 6 hz , 1h ), 3 . 90 - 3 . 81 ( m , 2h ), 3 . 72 - 3 . 62 ( m , 2h ), 3 . 58 - 3 . 48 ( m , 2h ); esi - hrms m / z : calcd for c 15 h 18 clo 8 na + : 348 . 0821 . found 348 . 0812 . the title compound was prepared as described for b4 using 4 - chlorobenzyl chloride ( 1 . 250 g , 7 . 76 mmol ), magnesium ( 0 . 208 g , 8 . 54 mmol ) and diethyl oxalate ( 2 . 269 g , 15 . 53 mmol ). the product was isolated in the form of colorless oil in 74 % yield and used instantly in next step . this was prepared as described for c4 using ethyl 3 -( 4 - chlorophenyl )- 2 - oxopropanoate b7 ( 100 mg , 0 . 441 mmol ), sodium hydride ( 11 . 65 mg , 0 . 485 mmol ) and 2 , 3 , 4 , 6 - tetra - o - acetyl - α - d - galactose bromide ( 181 mg , 0 . 441 mmol ). the resulting compound was isolated in the form of white solid in 66 % yield . this was prepared as described for ( rx - 4 ) in the form of white solid in 93 % yield : 1 h nmr ( 400 mhz , meoh - d 4 ): δ 7 . 74 ( d , j = 8 . 6 hz , 2h ), 7 . 17 ( d , j = 8 . 6 hz , 2h ), 6 . 64 ( s , 1h ), 4 . 88 ( d , j = 7 . 8 hz , 1h ), 3 . 78 - 3 . 66 ( m , 2h ), 3 . 57 ( m , 2h ), 3 . 41 ( m , 2h ); 13 c nmr ( 101 mhz , meoh - d 4 ): δ 171 . 46 , 150 . 37 , 134 . 73 , 134 . 15 , 132 . 59 ( 2c ), 129 . 13 ( 2c ), 118 . 94 , 104 . 39 , 77 . 36 , 75 . 63 , 73 . 17 , 70 . 13 , 62 . 15 ; esi - hrms m / z : calcd for c 15 h 17 clo 8 na + : 383 . 0505 . found 383 . 0515 . the title compound was prepared as described for ( b4 ) using 2 - bromobenzyl bromide ( 1 . 250 g , 5 . 00 mmol ), magnesium ( 0 . 134 g , 5 . 50 mmol ) and diethyl oxalate ( 1 . 462 g , 10 . 00 mmol ). the product was isolated in the form of colorless oil in 80 % yield and used instantly in next step . the title compound was prepared as described for c4 using ethyl 3 -( 2 - bromophenyl )- 2 - oxopropanoate b8 ( 100 mg , 0 . 369 mmol ), sodium hydride ( 9 . 74 mg , 0 . 406 mmol ) and 2 , 3 , 4 , 6 tetra - o - acetyl - α - d - glucose bromide ( 152 mg , 0 . 369 mmol ). the resulting compound was isolated in the form of white solid in 17 % yield . the title compound was prepared as described for rx - 4 to give the product as a white solid in 88 % yield : 1 h nmr ( 400 mhz , meoh - d 4 ): δ 8 . 21 ( d , j = 7 . 8 hz , 1h ), 7 . 51 ( d , j = 8 . 0 hz , 1h ), 7 . 33 - 7 . 21 ( m , 2h ), 7 . 10 ( t , j = 8 . 4 hz , 1h ), 5 . 13 ( d , j = 7 . 4 hz , 1h ), 3 . 67 ( dd , j = 12 . 0 , 2 . 2 hz , 1h ), 3 . 54 ( dd , j = 12 . 0 , 5 . 1 hz , 1h ), 3 . 32 - 3 . 23 ( m , 3h ), 3 . 12 ( m , 1h ); 13 c nmr ( 101 mhz , meoh - d 4 ): δ 166 . 77 , 144 . 20 , 134 . 41 , 133 . 66 , 133 . 26 , 131 . 14 , 128 . 38 , 125 . 54 , 123 . 23 , 102 . 58 , 78 . 52 , 77 . 99 , 75 . 51 , 71 . 29 , 62 . 45 ; esi - hrms m / z : calcd for c 15 h 17 bro s na + : 427 . 0000 . found 427 . 0002 . the title compound was prepared as described for b4 using 3 - methoxybenzyl bromide ( 1 . 5 g , 7 . 46 mmol ), magnesium ( 0 . 199 g , 8 . 21 mmol ) and diethyl oxalate ( 2 . 18 g , 14 . 92 mmol ). the product was isolated in the form of colorless oil in 74 % yield and used instantly in next step . the title compound was prepared as described for c4 using ethyl 3 -( 3 - methoxyphenyl )- 2 - oxopropanoate b9 ( 100 mg , 0 . 369 mmol ), sodium hydride ( 11 . 88 mg , 0 . 495 mmol ) and 2 , 3 , 4 , 6 tetra - o - acetyl - α - d - galactose bromide ( 185 mg , 0 . 450 mmol ). the resulting compound was isolated in the form of white solid in 62 % yield . the title compound was prepared as described for rx - 4 to give the product as a white solid in 94 % yield : 1 h nmr ( 400 mhz , meoh - d 4 ): δ 7 . 73 ( s , 1h ), 7 . 30 - 7 . 17 ( m , 2h ), 7 . 05 ( s , 1h ), 6 . 86 ( dd , j = 7 . 1 , 2 . 3 hz , 1h ), 5 . 14 ( d , j = 7 . 7 hz , 1h ), 3 . 89 - 3 . 80 ( m , 5h ), 3 . 66 ( ddd , j = 25 . 2 , 11 . 2 , 6 . 2 hz , 2h ), 3 . 54 ( dd , j = 9 . 6 , 3 . 4 hz , 1h ), 3 . 48 ( t , j = 6 . 0 hz , 1h ); 13 c nmr ( 101 mhz , meoh - d 4 ): δ 167 . 38 , 160 . 97 , 142 . 92 , 135 . 86 , 130 . 10 , 126 . 16 , 124 . 56 , 117 . 14 , 115 . 56 , 103 . 57 , 77 . 19 , 75 . 01 , 73 . 09 , 70 . 00 , 62 . 08 , 55 . 98 ; esi - hrms m / z : calcd for c 16 h 20 o 9 na + : 379 . 1107 . found 379 . 1010 . the title compound was prepared as described for b4 using 3 - trifluoromethylbenzyl bromide ( 2 . 5 g , 10 . 46 mmol ), magnesium ( 0 . 280 g , 11 . 50 mmol ) and diethyl oxalate ( 3 . 06 g , 20 . 92 mmol ). the product was isolated in the form of colorless oil in 78 % yield and use instantly in next step . the title compound was prepared as described for c4 using ethyl 3 -( 3 -( trifluoromethyl ) phenyl )- 2 - oxopropanoate b10 ( 100 mg , 0 . 384 mmol ), sodium hydride ( 10 . 14 mg , 0 . 544 mmol ) and 2 , 3 , 4 , 6 tetra - o - acetyl - α - d - galactose bromide ( 158 mg , 0 . 384 mmol ). the resulting compound was isolated in the form of white solid in 22 % yield . the title compound was prepared as described for rx - 4 to give the product as a white solid in 96 % yield : 1 h nmr ( 400 mhz , meoh - d 4 ): δ 8 . 16 - 7 . 99 ( m , 2h ), 7 . 46 ( m , 2h ), 7 . 00 ( s , 1h ), 5 . 10 ( d , j = 7 . 7 hz , 1h ), 3 . 79 - 3 . 69 ( m , 2h ), 3 . 55 ( m , 2h ), 3 . 47 - 3 . 37 ( m , 2h ); 13 c nmr ( 101 mhz , meoh - d 4 ): δ 166 . 82 , 144 . 41 , 135 . 74 , 135 . 03 , 131 . 85 , 131 . 53 , 130 . 09 , 128 . 11 , 126 . 14 , 123 . 80 , 103 . 55 , 77 . 20 , 75 . 01 , 72 . 94 , 69 . 97 , 61 . 97 ; esi - hrms m / z : calcd for c 16 h 17 f 3 o 8 na + : 417 . 0768 . found 417 . 0767 . the title compound was prepared as described for b4 using 2 - chlorobenzyl chloride ( 1 . 250 g , 7 . 76 mmol ), magnesium ( 0 . 208 g , 8 . 54 mmol ), diethyl oxalate ( 2 . 269 g , 15 . 53 mmol ). the product was isolated in the form of colorless oil in 74 % yield and use instantly in next step . the title compound was prepared as described for c4 using ethyl 3 -( 2 - chlorophenyl )- 2 - oxopropanoate b11 ( 100 mg , 0 . 441 mmol ), sodium hydride ( 11 . 65 mg , 0 . 485 mmol ) and 2 , 3 , 4 , 6 tetra - o - acetyl - α - d - glucose bromide ( 181 mg , 0 . 441 mmol ). the resulting compound was isolated in the form of white solid in 16 % yield . the title compound was prepared as described for rx - 4 to give the product as a white solid in 88 % yield : 1 h nmr ( 400 mhz , meoh - d 4 ): δ 8 . 26 ( d , j = 9 . 1 hz , 1h ), 7 . 31 ( m , 2h ), 7 . 26 - 7 . 12 ( m , 2h ), 5 . 15 ( d , j = 7 . 0 hz , 1h ), 3 . 67 ( d , j = 12 . 0 hz , 1h ), 3 . 54 ( dd , j = 12 . 0 , 5 . 1 hz , 1h ), 3 . 35 - 3 . 23 ( m , 3h ), 3 . 13 ( m , 1h ); 13 c nmr ( 101 mhz , meoh - d 4 ): δ 166 . 76 , 144 . 33 , 135 . 08 , 133 . 11 , 132 . 60 , 130 . 99 , 130 . 31 , 127 . 83 , 120 . 38 , 102 . 58 , 78 . 54 , 78 . 00 , 75 . 54 , 71 . 29 , 62 . 45 ; esi - hrms m / z : calcd for c 15 h 17 clo 8 na + : 383 . 0505 . found 383 . 0490 . the title compound was prepared as described for c4 using ethyl 3 -( 4 - chlorophenyl )- 2 - oxopropanoate b7 ( 100 mg , 0 . 441 mmol ), sodium hydride ( 11 . 65 mg , 0 . 485 mmol ) and 2 , 3 , 4 , 6 tetra - o - acetyl - α - d - glucose bromide ( 181 mg , 0 . 441 mmol ). the resulting compound was isolated in the form of white solid in 22 % yield . the title compound was prepared as described for rx - 4 to give the product as a white solid in 84 % yield : 1 h nmr ( 400 mhz , meoh - d 4 ) δ 7 . 76 ( d , j = 8 . 6 hz , 2h ), 7 . 25 ( d , j = 8 . 6 hz , 2h ), 6 . 92 ( s , 1h ), 5 . 12 ( d , j = 7 . 5 hz , 1h ), 3 . 66 ( dd , j = 12 . 0 , 2 . 2 hz , 1h ), 3 . 52 ( dd , j = 12 . 0 , 5 . 2 hz , 1h ), 3 . 33 ( ddd , j = 28 . 5 , 18 . 0 , 8 . 6 hz , 3h ), 3 . 17 - 3 . 10 ( m , 1h ); 13 c nmr ( 101 mhz , meoh - d 4 ): δ 166 . 98 , 143 . 40 , 135 . 62 , 133 . 48 , 133 . 10 ( 2c ), 129 . 47 ( 2c ), 124 . 26 , 102 . 87 , 78 . 58 , 78 . 09 , 75 . 65 , 71 . 32 , 62 . 50 ; esi - hrms m / z : calcd for c 15 h 17 clo 8 na + : 383 . 0505 . found 383 . 0506 . the title compound was prepared as described for ( c4 ) by using ethyl 3 -( 2 - fluorophenyl )- 2 - oxopropanoate b4 ( 100 mg , 0 . 476 mmol ), sodium hydride ( 13 mg , 0 . 523 mmol ) and 2 , 3 , 4 , 6 - tetra - o - acetyl - α - d - galactose bromide ( 196 mg , 0 . 476 mmol ). the compound was isolated in the form of white solid in 79 % yield . the title compound was prepared as described for rx - 4 to give the product as a white solid in 96 % yield : 1 h nmr ( 400 mhz , meoh - d 4 ): δ 8 . 36 ( td , j = 7 . 8 , 1 . 6 hz , 1h ), 7 . 23 ( ddd , j = 15 . 4 , 5 . 4 , 1 . 7 hz , 1h ), 7 . 14 ( s , 1h ), 7 . 07 ( t , j = 7 . 7 hz , 1h ), 6 . 98 ( ddd , j = 10 . 7 , 8 . 3 , 1 . 1 hz , 1h ), 5 . 09 ( d , j = 7 . 7 hz , 1h ), 3 . 76 ( dd , j = 3 . 4 , 0 . 8 hz , 1h ), 3 . 70 ( dd , j = 9 . 7 , 7 . 7 hz , 1h ), 3 . 55 ( ddd , j = 26 . 3 , 11 . 2 , 6 . 2 hz , 2h ), 3 . 43 ( dd , j = 9 . 7 , 3 . 4 hz , 1h ), 3 . 39 ( td , j = 6 . 2 , 1 . 0 hz , 1h ); 13 c nmr ( 101 mhz , meoh - d 4 ): δ 169 . 41 , 164 . 35 ( d , 1 j c , f = 249 . 6 hz ), 146 . 85 , 135 . 46 , 134 . 20 , 127 . 77 , 124 . 99 , 118 . 45 ( d , 1c ), 118 . 37 ( d , 1c ), 105 . 94 , 79 . 73 , 77 . 48 , 75 . 47 , 72 . 53 , 64 . 48 ; esi - hrms m / z : calcd for c 15 h 17 fo 8 na + : 367 . 0800 . found 367 . 0809 . the title compound was prepared as described for b4 using 3 - phenylbenzyl bromide ( 1 . 250 g , 5 . 06 mmol ), magnesium ( 0 . 135 g , 5 . 56 mmol ) and diethyl oxalate ( 1 . 478 g , 10 . 12 mmol ). the resulting compound was isolated in the form of colorless oil in 80 % yield and use instantly in next step . the title compound was prepared as described for c4 using methyl 3 -( 3 - arylphenyl )- 2 - oxopropanoate b12 ( 100 mg , 0 . 373 mmol ), sodium hydride ( 9 . 0 mg , 0 . 373 mmol ) and 2 , 3 , 4 , 6 - tetra - o - acetyl - α - d - galactose bromide ( 153 mg , 0 . 373 mmol ). the compound was isolated in the form of white solid in 26 % yield . the title compound was prepared as described for rx - 4 to give the product as a white solid in 98 % yield : 1 h nmr ( 400 mhz , meoh - d 4 ): δ 8 . 24 ( t , j = 1 . 7 hz , 1h ), 7 . 70 - 7 . 58 ( m , 3h ), 7 . 53 - 7 . 47 ( m , 1h ), 7 . 38 - 7 . 29 ( m , 3h ), 7 . 26 - 7 . 19 ( m , 1h ), 7 . 06 ( s , 1h ), 5 . 05 ( d , j = 7 . 8 hz , 1h ), 3 . 78 ( m , 2h ), 3 . 56 ( ddd , j = 32 . 3 , 11 . 2 , 6 . 1 hz , 2h ), 3 . 46 ( dd , j = 9 . 7 , 3 . 4 hz , 1h ), 3 . 41 ( td , j = 6 . 1 , 0 . 9 hz , 1h ); 13 c nmr ( 101 mhz , meoh - d 4 ): δ 167 . 41 , 143 . 18 , 142 . 36 , 141 . 97 , 135 . 12 , 130 . 78 , 130 . 17 , 129 . 94 ( 2c ), 129 . 81 , 128 . 52 , 128 . 41 , 128 . 17 ( 2c ), 126 . 29 , 103 . 89 , 77 . 23 , 75 . 06 , 73 . 08 , 69 . 99 , 62 . 09 ; esi - hrms m / z : calcd for c 21 h 22 o 8 na + : 425 . 1207 . found 425 . 1216 . the title compound was prepared as described for c4 using methyl 2 - oxo - 3 -( thiophen - 2 - yl ) propanoate b13 ( otava , 100 mg , 0 . 543 mmol ), sodium hydride ( 13 . 03 mg , 0 . 373 mmol ) and 2 , 3 , 4 , 6 - tetra - o - acetyl - α - d - galactose bromide ( 223 mg , 0 . 543 mmol ). the compound was isolated in the form of white solid in 23 % yield . the title compound was prepared as described for rx - 4 to give the product as a brown solid in 98 % yield : 1 h nmr ( 400 mhz , meoh - d 4 ): δ 7 . 40 ( d , j = 5 . 1 hz , 1h ), 7 . 28 ( d , j = 4 . 1 hz , 1h ), 7 . 21 ( s , 1h ), 6 . 94 ( dd , j = 5 . 1 , 3 . 7 hz , 1h ), 5 . 21 ( d , j = 7 . 8 hz , 1h ), 3 . 86 ( dd , j = 9 . 6 , 7 . 8 hz , 1h ), 3 . 77 ( d , j = 3 . 0 hz , 1h ), 3 . 55 ( m , 2h ), 3 . 45 ( dd , j = 9 . 7 , 3 . 4 hz , 1h ), 3 . 40 ( t , j = 6 . 1 hz , 1h ); 13 c nmr ( 101 mhz , meoh - d 4 ): δ 166 . 82 , 140 . 45 , 137 . 54 , 131 . 89 , 130 . 34 , 127 . 58 , 120 . 02 , 102 . 99 , 77 . 18 , 75 . 13 , 73 . 06 , 70 . 12 , 62 . 08 ; esi - hrms m / z : calcd for c 13 h 16 o 8 sna + : 355 . 0459 . found 355 . 0469 . the title compound was prepared as described for c4 using methyl 2 - oxo - 3 -( 2 - chloro - 6 - fluorophenyl ) propanoate b14 ( otava , 100 mg , 0 . 434 mmol ), sodium hydride ( 10 . 41 mg , 0 . 434 mmol ) and 2 , 3 , 4 , 6 - tetra - o - acetyl - α - d - galactose bromide ( 178 mg , 0 . 434 mmol ). the compound was isolated in the form of white solid in 26 % yield . the title compound was prepared as described for rx - 4 to give the product as a brown solid in quantitative yield : 1 h nmr ( 400 mhz , meoh - d 4 ) δ 7 . 22 ( m , 2h ), 6 . 99 ( t , j = 8 . 7 hz , 1h ), 6 . 92 ( s , 1h ), 4 . 52 ( d , j = 7 . 4 hz , 1h ), 3 . 67 ( d , j = 2 . 5 hz , 1h ), 3 . 45 ( m , 2h ), 3 . 33 - 3 . 24 ( m , 2h ), 3 . 11 ( m , 1h ); esi - hrms m / z : calcd for c 15 h 16 clfo 8 na + : 401 . 0410 . found 401 . 0409 . the title compound was prepared as described for c4 using ethyl 3 -( 3 - fluorophenyl )- 2 - oxopropanoate b5 ( 100 mg , 0 . 476 mmol ), sodium hydride ( 13 mg , 0 . 523 mmol ) and 2 , 3 , 4 , 6 - tetra - o - acetyl - α - d - glucose bromide ( 196 mg , 0 . 476 mmol ). the compound was isolated in the form of white solid in 19 % yield . the title compound was prepared as described for rx - 4 to give the product as a white solid in 92 % yield : 1 h nmr ( 400 mhz , meoh - d 4 ): δ 7 . 69 - 7 . 60 ( m , 1h ), 7 . 45 ( d , j = 7 . 8 hz , 1h ), 7 . 25 ( m , 1h ), 6 . 96 ( ddd , j = 8 . 4 , 2 . 6 , 0 . 8 hz , 1h ), 6 . 92 ( s , 1h ), 5 . 17 ( d , j = 7 . 6 hz , 1h ), 3 . 68 ( dd , j = 12 . 0 , 2 . 3 hz , 1h ), 3 . 52 ( dd , j = 12 . 0 , 5 . 4 hz , 1h ), 3 . 32 ( m , 3h ), 3 . 15 ( m , 1h ); 13 c nmr ( 101 mhz , meoh - d 4 ): δ 166 . 78 , 164 . 04 ( d , 1 j c , f = 243 . 2 hz ), 143 . 86 , 137 . 04 ( d , 3 j c , f = 8 . 5 hz ), 130 . 90 ( d , 3 j c , f = 8 . 4 hz ), 127 . 66 , 127 . 63 , 124 . 04 , 117 . 69 ( d , 2 j c , f = 23 . 0 hz ), 116 . 56 ( d , 2 j c , f = 21 . 7 hz ), 102 . 68 , 78 . 63 , 78 . 11 , 75 . 69 , 71 . 45 , 62 . 61 ; esi - hrms m / z : calcd for c 15 h 17 fo 8 na + : 367 . 0800 . found 367 . 0800 . the title compound was prepared as described for b4 using 3 - methylbenzyl bromide ( 1 . 250 g , 6 . 75 mmol ), magnesium ( 0 . 181 g , 7 . 43 mmol ) and diethyl oxalate ( 1 . 974 g , 13 . 51 mmol ). the resulting compound was isolated in the form of colorless oil in 72 % yield and use instantly in next step . the title compound was prepared as described for c4 using ethyl 3 -( 3 - methylphenyl )- 2 - oxopropanoate b15 ( 100 mg , 0 . 485 mmol ), sodium hydride ( 11 . 64 mg , 0 . 485 mmol ) and 2 , 3 , 4 , 6 - tetra - o - acetyl - α - d - galactose bromide ( 199 mg , 0 . 485 mmol ). the compound was isolated in the form of white solid in 25 % yield . the title compound was prepared as described for rx - 4 to give the product as a white solid in 96 % yield : 1 h nmr ( 400 mhz , meoh - d 4 ): δ 7 . 64 ( s , 1h ), 7 . 58 ( d , j = 7 . 7 hz , 1h ), 7 . 13 ( t , j = 7 . 7 hz , 1h ), 7 . 03 ( d , j = 7 . 6 hz , 1h ), 6 . 94 ( s , 1h ), 4 . 97 ( d , j = 7 . 7 hz , 1h ), 3 . 82 - 3 . 69 ( m , 2h ), 3 . 61 - 3 . 49 ( m , 2h ), 3 . 47 - 3 . 33 ( m , 2h ), 2 . 24 ( s , 3h ); 13 c nmr ( 101 mhz , meoh - d 4 ): δ 167 . 69 , 142 . 77 , 139 . 05 , 134 . 43 , 132 . 40 , 130 . 83 , 129 . 23 , 129 . 00 , 126 . 37 , 103 . 76 , 77 . 11 , 75 . 02 , 73 . 02 , 70 . 04 , 61 . 99 , 21 . 40 ; esi - hrms m / z : calcd for c 16 h 20 o 8 na + : 363 . 1051 . found 363 . 1055 . the title compound was prepared as described for c4 using ethyl 3 -( 3 - methylphenyl )- 2 - oxopropanoate b18 ( 100 mg , 0 . 485 mmol ), sodium hydride ( 11 . 64 mg , 0 . 485 mmol ) and 2 , 3 , 4 , 6 - tetra - o - acetyl - α - d - glucose bromide ( 199 mg , 0 . 485 mmol ). the compound was isolated in the form of white solid in 19 % yield . the title compound was prepared as described for ( rx - 4 ) to give the product as a white solid in quantitative yield : 1 h nmr ( 400 mhz , meoh - d 4 ): δ 7 . 60 ( s , 1h ), 7 . 57 ( d , j = 7 . 8 hz , 1h ), 7 . 14 ( t , j = 7 . 7 hz , 1h ), 7 . 04 ( d , j = 7 . 6 hz , 1h ), 6 . 94 ( s , 1h ), 5 . 08 ( d , j = 7 . 7 hz , 1h ), 3 . 66 ( dd , j = 12 . 0 , 2 . 3 hz , 1h ), 3 . 51 ( dd , j = 12 . 0 , 5 . 3 hz , 1h ), 3 . 45 - 3 . 23 ( m , 3h ), 3 . 16 - 3 . 09 ( m , 1h ), 2 . 24 ( s , 3h ); 13 c nmr ( 101 mhz , meoh - d 4 ): δ 166 . 64 , 141 . 90 , 138 . 26 , 133 . 76 , 131 . 51 , 130 . 02 , 128 . 46 , 128 . 08 , 125 . 43 , 102 . 13 , 77 . 71 , 77 . 30 , 74 . 92 , 70 . 62 , 61 . 82 , 20 . 64 ; esi - hrms m / z : calcd for c 16 h 20 o 8 na + : 363 . 1051 . found 363 . 1044 . the title compound was prepared as described for c4 using ethyl 3 -( 3 -( trifluoromethyl ) phenyl )- 2 - oxopropanoate b10 ( 100 mg , 0 . 384 mmol ), sodium hydride ( 10 . 14 mg , 0 . 544 mmol ) and 2 , 3 , 4 , 6 - tetra - o - acetyl - α - d - glucose bromide ( 158 mg , 0 . 384 mmol ). the resulting compound was isolated in the form of white solid in 22 % yield . the title compound was prepared as described for rx - 4 to give the product as a white solid in 82 % yield : 1 h nmr ( 400 mhz , meoh - d 4 ): δ 8 . 22 ( s , 1h ), 7 . 93 ( d , j = 7 . 7 hz , 1h ), 7 . 48 ( m , 2h ), 7 . 03 ( s , 1h ), 5 . 22 ( d , j = 7 . 4 hz , 1h ), 3 . 70 ( dd , j = 12 . 0 , 2 . 2 hz , 1h ), 3 . 50 ( dd , j = 12 . 0 , 5 . 5 hz , 1h ), 3 . 44 - 3 . 31 ( m , 2h ), 3 . 28 - 3 . 15 ( m , 2h ); 13 c nmr ( 101 mhz , meoh - d 4 ): δ 166 . 56 , 144 . 23 , 135 . 80 , 134 . 97 , 131 . 79 , 131 . 47 , 130 . 09 , 128 . 00 , 126 . 16 , 123 . 97 , 102 . 69 , 78 . 66 , 78 . 01 , 75 . 72 , 71 . 59 , 62 . 75 ; esi - hrms m / z : calcd for c 16 h 17 f 3 o 8 na + : 417 . 0768 . found 417 . 0757 . the title compound was prepared as described for c4 using ethyl 3 -( 2 - chlorophenyl )- 2 - oxopropanoate b11 ( 100 mg , 0 . 441 mmol ), sodium hydride ( 11 . 65 mg , 0 . 485 mmol ) and 2 , 3 , 4 , 6 tetra - o - acetyl - α - d - galactose bromide ( 181 mg , 0 . 441 mmol ). the resulting compound was isolated in the form of white solid in 36 % yield . the title compound was prepared as described for rx - 4 to give the product as a white solid in 89 % yield : 1 h nmr ( 400 mhz , meoh - d 4 ): δ 8 . 31 ( m , 1h ), 7 . 39 - 7 . 26 ( m , 2h ), 7 . 24 - 7 . 13 ( m , 2h ), 5 . 07 ( d , j = 7 . 7 hz , 1h ), 3 . 76 ( d , j = 4 . 2 hz , 1h ), 3 . 65 ( dd , j = 9 . 7 , 7 . 7 hz , 1h ), 3 . 62 - 3 . 50 ( m , 2h ), 3 . 44 - 3 . 36 ( m , 2h ); 13 c nmr ( 101 mhz , meoh - d 4 ): δ 166 . 99 , 144 . 50 , 135 . 13 , 133 . 42 , 132 . 62 , 131 . 03 , 130 . 29 , 127 . 98 , 120 . 52 , 103 . 40 , 77 . 26 , 74 . 98 , 72 . 94 , 70 . 07 , 62 . 02 ; esi - hrms m / z : calcd for c 15 h 17 clo 8 na + : 383 . 0505 . found 383 . 0495 . the title compound was prepared as described for c4 using ethyl 3 -( 3 - methoxyphenyl )- 2 - oxopropanoate b9 ( 100 mg , 0 . 369 mmol ), sodium hydride ( 11 . 88 mg , 0 . 495 mmol ) and 2 , 3 , 4 , 6 tetra - o - acetyl - α - d - glucose bromide ( 185 mg , 0 . 450 mmol ). the resulting compound was isolated in the form of white solid in 22 % yield . the title compound was prepared as described for rx - 4 to give the product as a white solid in 84 % yield : 1 h nmr ( 400 mhz , meoh - d 4 ): δ 7 . 58 - 7 . 53 ( m , 1h ), 7 . 24 - 7 . 11 ( m , 2h ), 6 . 94 ( s , 1h ), 6 . 79 ( ddd , j = 7 . 4 , 2 . 5 , 1 . 9 hz , 1h ), 5 . 14 ( d , j = 7 . 6 hz , 1h ), 3 . 72 ( s , 3h ), 3 . 67 ( dd , j = 12 . 0 , 2 . 4 hz , 1h ), 3 . 52 ( dd , j = 12 . 0 , 5 . 3 hz , 1h ), 3 . 43 - 3 . 23 ( m , 3h ), 3 . 14 ( m , 1h ); 13 c nmr ( 101 mhz , meoh - d 4 ): δ 167 . 18 , 160 . 95 , 142 . 87 , 135 . 93 , 130 . 17 , 125 . 92 , 124 . 47 , 116 . 70 , 115 . 89 , 102 . 78 , 78 . 57 , 78 . 10 , 75 . 82 , 71 . 46 , 62 . 57 , 55 . 84 ; esi - hrms m / z : calcd for c 16 h 20 o 9 na + : 379 . 1000 . found 379 . 1007 . the title compound was prepared as described for c4 using ethyl 3 -( 3 - arylphenyl )- 2 - oxopropanoate ( b14 ) ( 100 mg , 0 . 373 mmol ), sodium hydride ( 9 . 0 mg , 0 . 373 mmol ) and 2 , 3 , 4 , 6 - tetra - o - acetyl - α - d - glucose bromide ( 153 mg , 0 . 373 mmol ). the compound was isolated in the form of white solid in 16 % yield . the title compound was prepared as described for rx - 4 to give the product as a white solid in 91 % yield : 1 h nmr ( 400 mhz , meoh - d 4 ): δ 8 . 27 ( s , 1h ), 7 . 75 ( d , j = 7 . 7 hz , 1h ), 7 . 70 - 7 . 64 ( m , 2h ), 7 . 58 ( d , j = 8 . 4 hz , 1h ), 7 . 44 ( m , 3h ), 7 . 33 ( m , 1h ), 7 . 13 ( s , 1h ), 5 . 25 ( d , j = 7 . 6 hz , 1h ), 3 . 77 ( dd , j = 12 . 0 , 2 . 3 hz , 1h ), 3 . 60 ( dd , j = 12 . 0 , 5 . 5 hz , 1h ), 3 . 55 - 3 . 33 ( m , 3h ), 3 . 29 - 3 . 22 ( m , 1h ); esi - hrms m / z : calcd for c 21 h 22 o 8 na + : 425 . 1207 . found 425 . 1205 . the title compound was prepared as described for b4 using 3 - bromobenzyl bromide ( 1 . 250 g , 5 . 00 mmol ), magnesium ( 0 . 134 g , 5 . 50 mmol ) and diethyl oxalate ( 1 . 462 g , 10 . 00 mmol ). the product was isolated in the form of colorless oil in 80 % yield and use instantly in next step . the title compound was prepared as described for c4 using ethyl 3 -( 3 - bromophenyl )- 2 - oxopropanoate b16 ( 100 mg , 0 . 369 mmol ), sodium hydride ( 9 . 74 mg , 0 . 406 mmol ) and 2 , 3 , 4 , 6 tetra - o - acetyl - α - d - glucose bromide ( 152 mg , 0 . 369 mmol ). the resulting compound was isolated in the form of white solid in 24 % yield . the title compound was prepared as described for rx - 4 to give the product as a white solid in quantitative yield : 1 h nmr ( 400 mhz , meoh - d 4 ): δ 8 . 03 ( t , j = 1 . 8 hz , 1h ), 7 . 66 ( d , j = 7 . 8 hz , 1h ), 7 . 34 ( m , 1h ), 7 . 16 ( t , j = 7 . 9 hz , 1h ), 6 . 83 ( s , 1h ), 5 . 13 ( d , j = 7 . 5 hz , 1h ), 3 . 69 ( dd , j = 12 . 0 , 2 . 3 hz , 1h ), 3 . 53 ( dd , j = 12 . 0 , 5 . 5 hz , 1h ), 3 . 41 - 3 . 22 ( m , 3h ), 3 . 16 ( m , 1h ); 13 c nmr ( 101 mhz , meoh - d 4 ): δ 167 . 62 , 145 . 44 , 137 . 31 , 133 . 97 , 132 . 36 , 130 . 97 , 130 . 17 , 123 . 19 , 122 . 68 , 102 . 89 , 78 . 66 , 78 . 17 , 75 . 73 , 71 . 49 , 62 . 75 ; esi - hrms m / z : calcd for c 15 h 17 bro 8 na + : 427 . 0000 . found 427 . 0011 . the title compound was prepared as described for b4 using 3 - bromobenzyl bromide ( 1 . 250 g , 5 . 00 mmol ), magnesium ( 0 . 134 g , 5 . 50 mmol ) and diethyl oxalate ( 1 . 462 g , 10 . 00 mmol ). the product was isolated in the form of colorless oil in 80 % yield and use instantly in next step . the title compound was prepared as described for c4 using ethyl 3 -( 3 - bromophenyl )- 2 - oxopropanoate b17 ( 100 mg , 0 . 369 mmol ), sodium hydride ( 9 . 74 mg , 0 . 406 mmol ) and 2 , 3 , 4 , 6 - tetra - o - acetyl - α - d - galactose bromide ( 152 mg , 0 . 369 mmol ). the resulting compound was isolated in the form of white solid in 24 % yield . the title compound was prepared as described for rx - 4 to give the product as a white solid in 98 % yield : 1 h nmr ( 400 mhz , meoh - d 4 ) δ 7 . 98 ( t , j = 1 . 7 hz , 1h ), 7 . 75 ( d , j = 7 . 9 hz , 1h ), 7 . 39 - 7 . 33 ( m , 1h ), 7 . 16 ( t , j = 7 . 9 hz , 1h ), 6 . 89 ( s , 1h ), 5 . 06 ( d , j = 7 . 7 hz , 1h ), 3 . 81 - 3 . 69 ( m , 2h ), 3 . 57 ( ddd , j = 29 . 4 , 11 . 2 , 6 . 2 hz , 2h ), 3 . 41 ( m , 2h ); esi - hrms m / z : calcd for c 15 h 17 bro 8 na + : 427 . 0000 . found 427 . 8897 . the title compound was prepared as described for c4 using ethyl 3 -( 2 - bromophenyl )- 2 - oxopropanoate b8 ( 100 mg , 0 . 369 mmol ), sodium hydride ( 9 . 74 mg , 0 . 406 mmol ) and 2 , 3 , 4 , 6 - tetra - o - acetyl - α - d - galactose bromide ( 152 mg , 0 . 369 mmol ). the resulting compound was isolated in the form of white solid in 24 % yield . the title compound was prepared as described for rx - 4 to give the product as a white solid in quantitative yield : 1 h nmr ( 400 mhz , meoh - d 4 ) δ 8 . 26 ( dd , j = 7 . 8 , 1 . 6 hz , 1h ), 7 . 50 ( dd , j = 8 . 1 , 1 . 2 hz , 1h ), 7 . 29 - 7 . 21 ( m , 2h ), 7 . 13 - 7 . 06 ( m , 1h ), 5 . 05 ( d , j = 7 . 7 hz , 1h ), 3 . 76 ( d , j = 2 . 6 hz , 1h ), 3 . 67 - 3 . 49 ( m , 3h ), 3 . 39 ( m , 2h ); esi - hrms m / z : calcd for c 15 h 17 bro 8 na + : 427 . 0000 . found 427 . 0012 . the title compound was prepared as described for c4 using methyl 2 - oxo - 3 -( thiophen - 2 - yl ) propanoate b15 ( otava , 100 mg , 0 . 543 mmol ), sodium hydride ( 13 . 03 mg , 0 . 373 mmol ) and 2 , 3 , 4 , 6 - tetra - o - acetyl - α - d - glucose bromide ( 223 mg , 0 . 543 mmol ). the compound was isolated in the form of white solid in 18 % yield . the title compound was prepared as described for rx - 4 to give the product as a brown solid in 84 % yield : 1 h nmr ( 400 mhz , meoh - d 4 ) δ 7 . 42 ( dd , j = 4 . 3 , 0 . 9 hz , 1h ), 7 . 29 - 7 . 22 ( m , 2h ), 6 . 95 ( dd , j = 5 . 1 , 3 . 8 hz , 1h ), 5 . 31 ( d , j = 7 . 8 hz , 1h ), 3 . 67 ( dd , j = 12 . 1 , 2 . 3 hz , 1h ), 3 . 53 ( ddd , j = 26 . 3 , 10 . 6 , 6 . 7 hz , 2h ), 3 . 36 - 3 . 23 ( m , 2h ), 3 . 18 - 3 . 12 ( m , 1h ); esi - hrms m / z : calcd for c 13 h 16 o 8 sna + : 355 . 0459 . found 355 . 0443 . the title compound was prepared as described for c4 using methyl 3 -( 2 - chloro - 6 - fluorophenyl )- 2 - oxopropanoate b16 ( 100 mg , 0 . 434 mmol ), sodium hydride ( 10 . 41 mg , 0 . 434 mmol ) and 2 , 3 , 4 , 6 - tetra - o - acetyl - α - d - glucose bromide ( 178 mg , 0 . 434 mmol ). the compound was isolated in the form of white solid in 8 % yield . the title compound was prepared as described for rx - 4 to give the product as a white solid in 94 % yield : 1 h nmr ( 400 mhz , meoh - d 4 ): δ 7 . 28 - 7 . 15 ( m , 2h ), 7 . 01 ( t , j = 8 . 2 hz , 1h ), 6 . 88 ( s , 1h ), 4 . 67 ( d , j = 6 . 7 hz , 1h ), 3 . 47 ( qd , j = 11 . 9 , 3 . 6 hz , 2h ), 3 . 19 - 3 . 11 ( m , 3h ), 2 . 89 - 2 . 81 ( m , 1h ); 13 c nmr ( 101 mhz , meoh - d 4 ): δ 165 . 61 , δ 160 . 88 ( d , 1 j c , f = 251 . 8 hz ), 145 . 81 , 134 . 89 ( d , 3 j c , f = 5 . 0 hz ), 130 . 59 ( d , 3 j c , f j = 9 . 5 hz ), 125 . 13 ( d , 3 j c , f = 3 . 5 hz ), 121 . 77 ( d , 2 j c , f = 19 . 6 hz ), 115 . 22 , 1114 . 58 ( d , 2 j c , f = 22 . 7 hz , 102 . 59 , 77 . 22 , 76 . 96 , 74 . 41 , 70 . 18 , 61 . 47 ; esi - hrms m / z : calcd for c 15 f 16 clfo 8 na + : 401 . 0410 . found 401 . 0407 . the synthesized was performed by a route corresponding to the one described by busca et al . ( org . bioorg . chem . 2004 , 2 , 2684 - 2691 ). a mixture of 4 - bromobenzaldehyde ( 2 . 88 g , 35 . 10 mmol ), n - acetyl - glycine ( 3 . 80 g , 32 . 40 mmol ) and sodium acetate ( 2 . 88 g , 35 . 1 mmol ) in acetic anhydride ( 13 . 79 g , 135 mmol ), was refluxed for 1 h with continuous stirring . after cooling , the reaction was quenched with ice and vigorously stirred for 1 h in an ice bath to allow precipitation . filtration afforded compound in 64 % yield . a suspension of 4 -( 4 - bromobenzylidene )- 2 - methyloxazol - 5 ( 4h )- one ( 1 . 00 g , 3 . 76 mmol ) in 3 m aqueous hydrochloric acid ( 3 ml , 9 . 00 mmol ) was stirred at reflux for 3 h . the reaction mixture was cooled to reach at room temperature to allow crystallization . filtration afforded the title compound in 72 % yield . to a solution of 3 -( 4 - bromophenyl )- 2 - oxopropionic acid ( 70 . 0 mg , 0 . 288 mmol ) in dmf ( 2 ml ) at 0 ° c . was added dbu ( 72 . 2 mg , 0 . 288 mmol ) and iodomethane ( 204 mg , 1 . 440 mmol ). the reaction mixture was stirred for 2 . 5 hours at the same temperature . the reaction was acidified with 1 m hcl and extraction with ether ( 3 × 25 ml ), drying ( mgso 4 ), concentrated under reduced pressure and dried on vacuum to get the light brown oily compound b18 in 68 % yield and used as such in next step . the title compound was prepared as described for c4 using methyl 3 -( 4 - bromophenyl )- 2 - oxopropanoate b18 ( 100 mg , 0 . 389 mmol ), sodium hydride ( 10 . 27 mg , 0 . 428 mmol ) and 2 , 3 , 4 , 6 - tetra - o - acetyl - α - d - glucose bromide ( 160 mg , 0 . 389 mmol ). the resulting compound was isolated in the form of white solid in 34 % yield . the title compound was prepared as described for rx - 4 to give the product as a white solid in 94 % yield : 1 h nmr ( 400 mhz , meoh - d 4 ) δ 7 . 69 ( d , j = 8 . 5 hz , 2h ), 7 . 41 ( d , j = 8 . 6 hz , 2h ), 6 . 91 ( s , 1h ), 5 . 12 ( d , j = 7 . 5 hz , 1h ), 3 . 66 ( dd , j = 12 . 0 , 2 . 3 hz , 1h ), 3 . 52 ( dd , j = 12 . 0 , 5 . 2 hz , 1h ), 3 . 32 ( m , 3h ), 3 . 17 - 3 . 11 ( m , 1h ); esi - hrms m / z : calcd for c 15 h 17 bro 8 na + : 427 . 0000 . found 427 . 0016 . the title compound was prepared as described for c4 using methyl 3 -( 4 - bromophenyl )- 2 - oxopropanoate b18 ( 100 mg , 0 . 389 mmol ), sodium hydride ( 10 . 27 mg , 0 . 428 mmol ) and 2 , 3 , 4 , 6 - tetra - o - acetyl - α - d - galactose bromide ( 160 mg , 0 . 389 mmol ). the resulting compound was isolated in the form of white solid in 11 % yield . the title compound was prepared as described for rx - 4 to give the product as a white solid in 96 % yield : 1 h nmr ( 400 mhz , meoh - d 4 ) δ 7 . 71 ( d , j = 8 . 6 hz , 2h ), 7 . 39 ( d , j = 8 . 6 hz , 2h ), 6 . 90 ( s , 1h ), 5 . 03 ( d , j = 7 . 7 hz , 1h ), 3 . 78 - 3 . 67 ( m , 2h ), 3 . 55 ( ddd , j = 28 . 8 , 11 . 2 , 6 . 2 hz , 2h ), 3 . 46 - 3 . 36 ( m , 2h ); esi - hrms m / z : calcd for c 15 h 17 bro 8 na + : 427 . 0000 . found 427 . 0017 . the enolic glucoside of phenylpyruvic acid ( here rx1 ) was isolated by solvent extraction followed by spe and semi - preparative hplc from a batch of rooibos ( aspalathus linearis ). alternatively , the compound can be isolated as described by marais et al ( tetrahedron letters , 1996 ). as shown in fig1 rx1 is able to reduce the blood sugar of monkeys for prolonged periods of time . fig1 shows reduction in plasma glucose level of a diabetic primate m1081 ( baseline glucose 6 . 3 mmol / l ) over 6 h after a single dose of rx1 ( tested at ca . 70 . 5 ug / 6 . 78 kg animal = 10 . 4 ug / kg bw ). glucose stimulated insulin secretion rate auc values of untreated and rx - 1 treated prediabetic monkeys prediabetic vervet monkeys ( fasting plasma glucose levels between 4 . 0 and 5 . 5 mm ) were treated with 10 ug / kg rx - 1 3 times daily with meals for 7 days . blood samples were collected following 1 . 75 g / kg oral glucose stimulation at 0 , 5 , 10 , 15 , 30 , 60 , 90 , 120 and 180 minutes . auc values calculated mean glucose stimulated insulin secretion values over the time interval 0 - 120 min . four monkeys were used in each group ( untreated , rx1 - treated ). as appears from fig2 rx - 1 treatment decreased insulin secretion by 46 % while achieving a better glycaemic control . 3t3 - l1 cells were transformed in culture using modified dmem differentiation media supplemented with insulin , dexametasone and isobutylmethylxanthine and cultured for 3 days . the transformed 3t3 - l1 adipocytes were then cultured for a further 5 days in modified dmem supplemented with 10 % fcs before being exposed to insulin , metformin and compounds of the present invention ( see table 1 ). glucose uptake over a three ( 3 ) hour period was determined after the 5 days of treatment using a colourometric glucose oxidase method ( biovision inc , usa ). table 1 shows the glucose uptake data of 3t3 - l1 adipose cells following two ( 2 ) days of pre - sensitization with the relevant extracts , followed by a three ( 3 ) hour glucose uptake assay with media containing 8 mm glucose . the glucose concentration column represents the glucose concentration remaining in the media following three ( 3 ) hour exposure to the cells . the glucose uptake column represents glucose uptake from the media after a 3 hour exposure . sd represents the standard deviation . the percentage increases calculated from the relevant solvent vehicle and the p = values are reflected in the last two columns respectively . the 3t3 - l1 adipose cell glucose uptake assay showed that 3 - phenyl - 2 -( 3 , 4 , 5 - trihydroxy - 6 - hydroxymethyl - tetrahydro - pyran - 2 - yloxy )- acrylic acid ( r x - 1 ), ( 2r , 3r , 4s , 5r , 6s )- 2 -( acetoxymethyl )- 6 -(( z )- 3 - methoxy - 3 - oxo - 1 - phenylprop - 1 - en - 2 - yloxy ) tetrahydro - 2h - pyran - 3 , 4 , 5 - triyl triacetate ( rx - 1 - triacetate ), and ( z )- methyl 3 - phenyl - 2 -(( 2s , 3r , 4s , 5s , 6r )- 3 , 4 , 5 - trihydroxy - 6 -( hydroxymethyl ) tetrahydro - 2h - pyran - 2 - yloxy ) acrylate ( rx - 1 acrylate ) significantly increased the glucose uptake over a 3 hour culture period . the aim of the study was to determine whether the glucose - lowering properties of rx - 1 is related to the expression of genes involved in glucose uptake , insulin signalling , fatty acid oxidation , cytokine signalling and the glucagon receptor in liver and muscle , and the expression of genes involved in glucagon processing , insulin expression and transcription factors important for β - cell development in the pancreas . three week old male rats were fed a high fat diet for 24 weeks to induce obesity and insulin resistance . thereafter , rats were treated with 0 . 3 mg / kg rx - 1 daily for two weeks , and then with 3 mg / kg rx - 1 daily for seven days . fasting glucose concentrations were measured before treatment , after two weeks treatment with 0 . 3 mg / kg rx - 1 and then again after seven days treatment with 3 mg / kg rx - 1 . after treatment with 3 mg / kg rx - 1 rats were terminated and liver , muscle and pancreas biopsies were taken . quantitative real - time pcr was used to measure the expression of 12 genes in liver and muscle samples , and ten genes in pancreas samples . rats were housed at the primate unit ( medical research council , south africa ). rat management including feeding , glucose measurements and terminations , were done according to standard operating procedures ( diabetes discovery platform , medical research council ). briefly , three week old rats were fed a high fat diet for 24 weeks to induce t2d . the study group consisted of thirteen rats , eight rats were treated by daily gavage with 0 . 3 mg / kg rx - 1 for two weeks , and then with 3 mg / kg rx - 1 for seven days . five rats were used as controls and were treated with water only for three weeks . rats were terminated after treatment and liver , muscle and pancreas tissue harvested and stored in rnalater ( ambion ) as recommended by the manufacturer . the study was approved by the ethics committee of the medical research council of south africa . tissue was removed from rna / ater , weighed ( 80 - 100 mg ), and placed in a 2 ml microfuge tube containing 1 ml of trizol ( invitrogen ) and a stainless steel bead ( qiagen ). tissue was homogenised in the tissuelyser ( qiagen ) at 25 hz for 6 min , centrifuged at 12 , 000 g for 10 min at 4 ° c ., and the supernatant removed and incubated at room temperature for 5 min . thereafter , 0 . 2 ml of chloroform ( sigma ) was added , shaken vigorously for 15 sec , and then incubated at room temperature for 3 min with occasional mixing . samples were centrifuged 12 , 000 g for 15 min at 4 ° c . and the aqueous phase was transferred to a new tube . rna was precipitated by adding 0 . 5 ml isopropanol , mixed well for 30 sec , and placed at − 20 ° c . overnight . the following day , tubes were centrifuged at 12 , 000 g for 20 min at 4 ° c . the pellet was washed with 1 ml of 75 % ethanol and centrifuged at 12 , 000 g for 15 min at 4 ° c . the wash step was repeated . after the second wash , the pellet was air dried by placing tubes with their lids open ( on ice ) in a pcr cabinet for 2 hours . excess liquid was removed by blotting tubes on paper towel occasionally during this incubation . the pellet was resuspended by adding 100 μl rnase - free water and incubating at 55 ° c . for 10 min . rna concentrations were determined using a spectrophotometer ( nanodrop technologies ). thereafter , rna was purified with the rneasy mini kit according to the manufacturer &# 39 ; s instructions ( qiagen ) and concentrations again determined with the nanodrop . genomic dna was removed by treating rna with turbo dna - free dnase ( ambion ) and incubating at 37 ° c . for 90 min according to the manufacturer &# 39 ; s instructions , but using 1 . 5 × the units of dnase and incubation time recommended by the kit . in brief , 20 μg rna was incubated with 1 . 5 μl ( 3 units ) dnase , 5 μl dnase buffer , and nuclease - free water in a final reaction volume of 50 μl for 45 min at 37 ° c ., thereafter , another 3 units of dnase was added and incubated for a further 45 min . dnase was inactivated by adding ⅕ volume ( 10 μl ) of the dnase inactivation reagent supplied with the kit . reactions were incubated at room temperature for 2 min , and centrifuged at 14 , 000 rpm for 1 . 5 min . the supernatant was removed and rna concentrations were measured using the nanodrop . the quality of the dnase - treated rna was determined with the rna 6000 nano kit using the 2100 bioanalyser lab - on - a - chip system as recommended by the manufacturers ( agilent technologies ). rna extracted from liver , muscle and pancreas tissue was converted to cdna using the high capacity reverse transcription kit as recommended by the manufacturers ( applied biosystems ). in brief , 2 μg of dnase - treated rna was added to nuclease - free water in a volume of 10 μl . thereafter , 2 μl reaction buffer , 0 . 8 μl dntps , 2 μl random primers , 1 μl rnase - inhibitor , 1 μl reverse transcriptase , and 3 . 2 μl nuclease - free water were added . the same reaction without the reverse transcription enzyme ( minus rt reaction ) was set - up to investigate genomic dna contamination . reactions were incubated at 25 ° c . for 10 min , 37 ° c . for 120 min , and 85 ° c . for 5 s to inactivate the reverse transcriptase . cdna samples were stored at − 20 ° c . until expression analysis . the extent of genomic dna contamination was investigated by performing qrt - pcr of the rt reactions . undiluted cdna ( plus and minus rt reactions ) prepared from liver , muscle , and pancreas were mixed with 12 . 5 μl sybr green mix ( applied biosystems ), 2 . 25 μl 10 μm gapdh forward primer ( 900 nm ), 2 . 25 μl 10 μm gapdh reverse primer ( 900 nm ), and h 2 o in a final volume of 25 μl . after all the reagents had been added , the pcr tubes were briefly spun to ensure that all solutions were at the bottom of the tubes . the pcr reactions were conducted on the abi 7500 sequence detection system instrument ( applied biosystems ) using the absolute quantification ( aq ) software ( sds v1 . 4 ), and labelling all samples as unknowns . universal cycling conditions ; 50 ° c . for 2 min and 95 ° for 10 min , followed by 40 cycles of 95 ° c . for 15 s and 60 ° c . for 1 min were used . a dissociation curve was added . data was acquired during the extension step ( 60 ° c . for 1 min ). after the run , default settings for the threshold cycle ( c t ) and baseline were used and ct values were exported to excel for analysis . for analysis of gene expression , 25 ng of cdna prepared from liver , muscle and pancreas was mixed with 12 . 5 μl taqman universal pcr master mix ( applied biosystems ), 1 . 25 μl gene - specific primer and probe mixtures ( predeveloped taqman gene expression assays , applied biosystems ), and h 2 o in a final volume of 25 μl . the taqman assays that were used are listed in table 1 . the suffix _m represents an assay whose probe spans an exon - exon junction of the associated gene and therefore will not detect genomic dna , while the suffix _s represents an assay whose primers and probes are designed within a single exon , such assays will detect genomic dna . the pcr reactions were conducted on the abi 7500 sequence detection system instrument ( applied biosystems ) using universal cycling conditions as described before . all samples were run in duplicate . data generated on the abi 7500 instrument were analysed with the abi relative quantitation ( rq ) software ( sds v1 . 4 ) using a ct threshold of 0 . 1 . relative expression levels were determined by using the 2 − δδct method , where δδct =( ct gene studied − ct housekeeping gene ) treated −( ct gene studied − ct housekeeping gene ) control . the gene expression was normalised to housekeeping genes to correct for differences in cdna loading . two gene expression assays , β - actin ( actb ) and glyceraldehyde - 3 - phosphate dehydrogenase ( gapdh ) ( table 1 ) were used as endogenous controls . relative gene expression data generated by the rq software for each of the two endogenous controls individually or the data normalised to the average of the two endogenous controls were imported into microsoft excel and analysed . statistical analysis of normalised gene expression data before and after treatment was performed using two - tailed unpaired t tests ( graphpad prism version 3 . 02 software , san diego , calif ., usa ). statistical significance was indicated by a p value ≦ 0 . 05 . the aim of this study was to determine whether treatment with rx - 1 affected expression levels of genes involved in glucose uptake , insulin signalling , fatty acid oxidation , cytokine signalling and carbohydrate metabolism in the liver and muscle of ob / ir wistar rats . the affect of rx - 1 treatment on the expression of genes involved in glucagon processing , insulin expression and transcription factors were analysed in the pancreas . analysis of gene expression profiles after treatment may give insight into the mechanisms of action of rx - 1 . gene expression levels in rx - 1 treated and control rats were normalised to actb , gapdh or the average of actb and gapdh . although gene expression varied according to the endogenous control used , generally , rx - 1 treatment upregulated genes involved in glucose uptake ( glut1 and glut2 ), insulin signalling ( ir and irs2 ), fatty acid oxidation ( ppara ), cytokine signalling ( socs3 ) and carbohydrate metabolism ( gcgr ) in the liver . rx - 1 treatment did not affect the expression of these genes in muscle samples . in the pancreas , rx - 1 treatment increased the expression of genes involved in glucagon processing , glp - 1r , gcg and gcgr , the genes encoding insulin , ins1 and ins2 and the transcription factors isl1 and pdx1 . none of the changes observed in the pancreas were statistically significant . the expression of pcsk2 and nestin was unaffected by rx - 1 treatment . neuro3 could not be detected in this study . rx - 1 treatment increased gck gene expression in the liver of ob / ir rats . however , the increase was not statistically significant . gck is an enzyme predominantly expressed in the liver where it senses glucose and converts it to glucose - 6 - phosphate , the first step of glycolysis ( agius , 2008 ). a number of factors , including insulin ( iynedjian et al . 1988 ) and phenolic compounds ( valentova et al . 2007 ) have been reported to upregulate gck gene expression in the liver . rx - 1 treatment decreased gck mrna levels in muscle . it has previously been reported that muscle is not a major source of gck activity . this study showed increased expression of glut1 and glut2 in the liver of ob / ir wistar rats treated with rx - 1 . glut4 mrna levels in the muscle of these animals were unaffected by treatment . glucose is important for cellular metabolism and the synthesis of atp through glycolysis and the citric acid cycle . facilitative glucose transport into cells is mediated by members of the glut protein family that belong to a much larger superfamily of 12 transmembrane segment transporters . at present , thirteen mammalian glucose transporter isoforms have been identified ( joost et al . 2002 ). these proteins are expressed in a tissue - and cell - specific manner . glut1 is a widely expressed and mediates glucose transport into red cells and throughout the blood brain barrier , and provides most cells with their basal glucose requirement . it also plays a role in transporting glucose across epithelial and endothelial barrier tissues . makni et al . ( 2008 ) reported that glut1 polymorphisms are associated with t2d in the tunisian population . glut2 is a high - km isoform expressed in hepatocytes , pancreatic beta cells , and the basolateral membranes of intestinal and renal epithelial cells . single nucleotide polymorphisms ( snps ) in the glut2 gene of finnish subjects with impaired glucose tolerance were associated with a threefold risk for developing t2d ( laukkanen et al . 2005 ). glut4 is expressed exclusively in the insulin - sensitive tissues , fat and muscle . it is responsible for increased glucose disposal in these tissues in the postprandial state and is important in whole - body glucose homeostasis . insulin stimulation results in glut4 translocation from intracellular vesicles within a cell to the plasma membrane and increased glucose uptake . failure of glut4 translocation results in insulin resistance and t2d . glut4 gene expression and function is decreased during insulin resistance , t2d , obesity , and aging ( karnieli et al . 2008 ). ir mrna levels was increased in the liver of treated rats , whereas levels were unchanged in the muscle of these animals . the ir is a transmembrane protein that consists of an extracellular domain to which insulin binds and an intracellular domain with tyrosine kinase activity . following insulin binding , the substrate tyrosine kinase activity of the ir initiates a cascade of cellular phosphorylation reactions where it phosphorylates a number of substrates including irs1 and irs2 . these phosphorylated substrates then serve as docking molecules that bind to and activate cellular kinases , such as pi3k , leading to glucose uptake , cell growth and protein synthesis ( youngren , 2007 ). impaired ir function and signaling is associated with insulin resistance and t2d . rx - 1 treatment increased irs2 gene expression in the liver of treated rats . irs1 mrna levels were unchanged in the liver , while both irs1 and irs2 mrna levels were unchanged in the muscle of these animals . four isoforms of insulin receptor substrate ( irs ) proteins have been identified ( thirone et al . 2006 ), with irs1 and irs2 being the most important . there are tissue - specific differences in the roles of the irs proteins , with irs1 playing a prominent role in skeletal muscle , while irs2 is more important in the liver ( white , 2002 ). pi3k was upregulated in the liver only . however , the upregulation was not significant . pi3k plays a key role in insulin signalling and has been shown to be blunted in tissues of patients with t2d . a number of studies have provided evidence suggesting that insulin resistance , the main cause of t2d can potentially be treated by targeting pi3k itself or its up and down - stream modulators ( jiang and zhang , 2002 ). pparα was significantly upregulated in the liver after rx - 1 treatment . pparα is predominantly expressed in the liver , and to a lesser extent in muscle , where it controls lipid metabolism and glucose homeostasis ( lefebvre et al . 2006 ). ppara agonists have been used to treat obesity , insulin resistance and t2d . one of the mechanisms whereby ppara improves insulin resistance is by upregulating the genes for fatty acid metabolism . the expression of socs1 and socs3 mrna was increased in the liver and muscle of rx - 1 treated rats . only the upregulation of socs3 in the liver was statistically significant . socs1 and socs3 are two of a family of eight proteins that are thought to regulate cellular responses to cytokines in a negative feedback manner ( yasukawa et al . 2000 ). studies have shown that socs1 and socs3 expression is increased in the liver of ob / ir mice ( ueki et al . 2005 ). antisense - mediated knockdown of liver socs1 or 3 expression reverses insulin resistance in obese , diabetic mice , strongly supporting a role for socs proteins in obesity related insulin resistance ( ueki et al . 2005 ). the contradictory results obtained in this study highlights the complex gene networks involved in cytokine signalling , insulin resistance and t2d . the main function of the socs proteins are as negative regulators of cytokine signalling , therefore , increased expression of these genes may result in decreased cytokine signalling which is beneficial during insulin resistance and t2d ( krebs and hilton , 2001 ). rx - 1 treatment increased the expression of the gcgr gene in the liver and muscle after treatment . the upregulation of gcgr was not statistically significant . charbonneau reported that high fat diet feeding of rats decreased total hepatic gcgr by about 55 % ( charbonneau et al . 2007 ). our data therefore suggests that rx - 1 treatment reverses the diet - induced downregulation of the gcgr . glp1r gene expression was increased in the pancreas after rx - 1 treatment . the incretin hormones , glucagon like peptide 1 ( glp1 ) and glucose - dependent insulinotropic peptide or also known as gastric inhibitory peptide ( gip ) stimulate insulin release after the ingestion of carbohydrates and fats , maintaining glucose homeostasis ( kieffer and habener , 1999 ). disruption of the gene encoding the glp1r results in glucose intolerance and the inability to secrete insulin in response to glucose ( scrocchi et al ., 1996 ). activation of the glp1r induces β - cell neogenesis and proliferation ( xu et al . 1999 ), while inhibiting apoptosis ( li at al . 2003 ). rx - 1 treatment increased pdx1 , ins1 and ins2 gene expression in the pancreas . previous studies have reported that glp1 treatment increases mrna and protein levels of the transcription factor pdx - 1 ( also known as idx - 1 , stf1 and iuf1 ), and of insulin in the pancreas ( doyle and egan , 2007 ). other studies in our laboratory showed that circulating glp1 levels were increased in the blood of rx - 1 treated ob / ir rats ( louw et al . 2008 ). since it has been shown that rx - 1 can increase the expression of glp - 1 gene expression and the circulating plasma levels of glp - 1 , it is possible that rx - 1 acts by binding to one of the receptors associated with the regulation of incretin secretion . these are known as gpr 40 , 43 , 119 , 120 and 131 ( also known as tgr5 ) ( e . g . zhao y f , pei j , chen c . j endocrinol . 2008 september ; 198 ( 3 ): 533 - 40 . epub 2008 jun . 12 . activation of atp - sensitive potassium channels in rat pancreatic beta - cells by linoleic acid through both intracellular metabolites and membrane receptor signalling pathway ). cornish j , macgibbon a , lin j m , watson m , callon k e , tong p c , dunford j e , van der does y , williams g a , grey a b , naot d , reid i r . modulation of osteoclastogenesis by fatty acids . endocrinology . 2008 november ; 149 ( 11 ): 5688 - 95 . epub 2008 jul . 10 . robert m jonest , james n leonard , daniel j buzard & amp ; juerg lehmann gpr119 agonists for the treatment of type 2 diabetes expert opin . ther . patents ( 2009 ) 19 ( 10 )). alternatively rx - 1 could interact with molecules like the sodium - dependent glucose cotransporters ( the sglt family ) ( gribble f m , williams l , simpson a k , reimann f . diabetes . 2003 may ; 52 ( 5 ): 1147 - 54 . a novel glucose - sensing mechanism contributing to glucagon - like peptide - 1 secretion from the glutag cell line .) ( o &# 39 ; malley d , reimann f , simpson a k , gribble f m . diabetes . 2006 december ; 55 ( 12 ): 3381 - 6 . sodium - coupled glucose cotransporters contribute to hypothalamic glucose sensing ). ( krimi r b , letteron p , chedid p , nazaret c , ducroc r , marie j c . resistin - like molecule - beta inhibits sglt - 1 activity and enhances glut2 - dependent jejunal glucose transport . diabetes . 2009 september ; 58 ( 9 ): 2032 - 8 .). pdx1 activates insulin gene expression by binding to its promoter and also prolongs the half - life of insulin mrna ( poitout et al . 2006 ). in vitro and in vivo studies in rodents have shown that insulin gene expression is greatly reduced under circumstances of chronically elevated levels of glucose and fatty acids ( poitout et al . 2006 ). insulin is encoded by the genes , insulin 1 ( ins1 ) and insulin 2 ( ins2 ). it is speculated that in rodents ins1 arose from ins2 due to an rna mediated duplication - transposition process . humans only have one insulin gene , with homology to the highly conserved rodent ins2 ( madadi et al . 2008 ). gcg , the gcgr and isl1 mrna levels were increased in the pancreas of ob / ir rats after rx - 1 treatment . glucagon is a hormone expressed in the liver where it stimulates glucose production . isl1 has a critical role in the embryonic development of pancreatic endocrine cells ( ahlgren et al . 1997 ). in 2008 , koya et al . reported that treatment of streptozotocin - induced diabetic mice with recombinant pdx - 1 enhances β - cell regeneration and liver cell differentiation , restoring normoglycaemia . they further showed that isl1 and gcg mrna levels in the liver and pancreas of these mice were upregulated after recombinant pdx - 1 treatment . charbonneau et al . ( 2007 ) showed that total hepatic gcgr protein content was decreased in rats fed a high fat diet and that gcgr protein levels were increased slightly after exercise . nestin is a marker of pancreatic islet stem cells and it has been suggested that nestin - positive cells represent a multipotent pancreatic stem cell population , which could be used in future cell replacement therapies to cure diabetes ( lumelsky et al . 2001 ). in contrast , delacour et al . ( 2004 ) showed that nestin is expressed in adult pancreatic exocrine cells , and suggests that nestin is not a specific marker of islet endocrine cells . in our study , nestin mrna levels were unaffected by rx - 1 treatment . neurogenin 3 was not detected in the untreated or treated rats . neurogenin - 3 is a transcription factor expressed in endocrine progenitor cells and is required for endocrine - cell development in the pancreas ( habener et al . 2005 ). lee et al . ( 2006 ) reported that neurogenin - 3 is not expressed in adult mouse pancreatic tissue . these results are in agreement with others ( dor et al . 2004 ) who have reported that replication of existing β - cells is the primary mechanism of β - cell regeneration in adult mice . pcsk2 or proconvertase 2 ( pc2 ) mrna levels were unaffected by rx - 1 treatment . in α - cells pc2 cleaves proglucagon to produce glucagon ( wideman et al . 2006 ). in summary , this study showed upregulation of the genes involved in glucose uptake , insulin signalling , fatty acid metabolism and cytokine signalling in the liver of rx - 1 treated rats . the expression of genes encoding the hormones insulin and glucagon were increased in the pancreas of these rats , while the transcription factors pdx1 and isl1 were also upregulated . gcgr mrna levels were increased in both the liver and pancreas of rx - 1 treated rats . taken together , these results suggest that rx - 1 treatment may reverse insulin resistance and increase fatty acid oxidation in ob / ir rats . genes involved in glucose uptake ( glut1 and glut2 ), insulin signalling ( ir and irs2 ), fatty acid oxidation ( ppara ), cytokine signalling ( socs1 and socs3 ) and the glucagon receptor were upregulated in the liver of rx - 1 treated rats . only the glucagon receptor was upregulated in the muscle . the expression of the other genes was essentially unchanged . genes involved in glucagon processing ( glp1r , gcg and gcgr ), insulin expression ( ins1 and ins2 ) and the transcription factors ( isl1 and pdx1 ) were upregulated in the pancreas of rx - 1 treated rats . the expression of pcsk2 and nestin was unaffected by rx - 1 treatment , while neuro3 could not be detected . gene expression analysis is a useful technique that may give insight into the glucose - lowering mechanism of action of rx - 1 . results from this study suggest that rx - 1 acts in the liver where it stimulates glucose uptake , insulin signalling and fatty acid oxidation . in addition , rx - 1 seems to inhibit cytokine signalling , a hallmark of insulin resistance and type two diabetes . in the pancreas , rx - 1 treatment increased the expression of genes encoding insulin , the transcription factors , isl1 and pdx1 , and glp1r . interestingly , glp1 levels were also increased in the blood of these rats . taken together , our results suggest that rx - 1 may reverse insulin resistance and increase glucose uptake and fatty acid oxidation in obese , insulin resistant rats . the glucose uptake of rx - 1 and selected analogues after administration of test compounds to chang cell cultures were determined in an operating protocol for the 2 - deoxy -[ 3 h ]- d - glucose . the protocol , which is described in more detail below , has been designed to test for the rx - 1 ( and rx - 1 analogues ) mediated glucose uptake . in table the ec50 values for the uptake for rx - 1 and representative analogues is shown . stock solutions of the rx - 1 analogues supplied in cryo vials ( drugmode ) was prepared by diluting the compound with 200 sterile tissue culture grade water . this will yield a 5 mm stock solution . if the analogue does dissolve completely an additional 50 μl methanol will be added ( this will be recorded clearly on the log sheet ). this will yield a 4 mm stock solution . stock solutions will be kept on ice at all times and analogues will be stored in 20 μl aliquots at − 80 c for subsequent use . tubes that have been thawed will be clearly marked on the label . to prepare a 10 μm rx - 1 solution as positive control . add 30 μl to 2970 μl modified dmem media supplemented with 8 mm glucose . to prepare a 31 . 6 μm rx - 1 analogue test solution . add 19 μl of the 5 mm to 2981 μl modified dmem media supplemented with 8 mm glucose . to prepare a 31 . 6 μm rx - 1 analogue test solution from a 4 mm stock solution , add 24 μl to 2976 μl modified dmem media supplemented with 8 mm glucose . chang cells are cultured according to procedures described in mrc cell culture sops : tc - b2a thawing of cells and tc - b1a cell line maintenance — general principles . make sure cells are in the log phase ( i . e . & lt ; 70 % confluence ) and less than 20 passages . harvest cells using 0 . 25 % ( w / v ) trypsin / 0 . 53 mm edta solution . count cells and resuspend to 30 000 cells / ml ( chang cell seeding density for 24 - well plate = 30 000 cells / ml ) in emem ( with pyruvate and neaa , but without l - glutamate ( lonza , usa ) containing 10 % fbs ( gibco , uk ) and pipette 1 ml / well cell suspension to a 24 - well plate corresponding to 30 000 cells / well . after 3 days of cell growth , aspirate medium wash cells once with pre - warmed dpbs at 37 ° c . add 500 μl of pre - warmed 37 ° c . dmem / 0 . 1 % bsa ( without phenol red , glucose and pyruvate ) to serum starve cells to remove residual glucose and fbs incubate at 37 ° c . in humidified air and 5 % co 2 for 30 min aspirate dmem / 0 . 1 % bsa ( without phenol red , glucose and pyruvate ) prepare test dilutions as specified in the plate layout ( see below ) add 500 μl pre - warmed 37 ° c . of test dilution per well according to plate layout incubate at 37 ° c . in humidified air and 5 % co 2 for 3 hrs remove test medium and wash cells once with dpbs ( 37 ° c .) add 250 μl of test medium containing 0 . 5 μci / ml 3 h - 2 - dog to each well use ( 0 . 5 μl 3 h to 1 ml medium ) incubate cells at 37 ° c . in humidified air and 5 % co 2 for 15 min aspirate medium to stop the reaction , wash cells twice with ice - cold dpbs aspirate dpbs and ensure that wells are as dry as possible lyse cells by adding 1 ml of 0 . 3n naoh / 1 % sds and incubate at 37 ° c . for at least 45 min mix cell lysate thoroughly before subsequent use in lsc and bradford protein determination | 2 |
the phosphide containing fumigating compositions are introduced into the stored products in a conventional manner that is dependent only on the specific form in which these compositions are available commercially . metal phosphide containing compositions , for instance , are frequently sold in the form of a powder or granular material packed in individual porous bags ( sachets ) or an assembly of interconnected porous bags . such bags may be evenly distributed among the stored products by hand or by manually operated mechanical devices ; individual bags are suitably tied to each other by strings threaded through loops at the ends of such bags . some vertical practical devices for spreading out such fumigating compositions have already been described ; these devices ( known in the art as &# 34 ; bag blankets &# 34 ;) comprise a plurality of connection bags in rolled - up or folded form which may then be easily unrolled or unfolded for use . all of the above modes of application are suited for the method according to the invention . the subsequent covering of the stored products with a flexible foil or sheet is to be illustrated in the following by way of a specific embodiment of the invention , namely fumigation in a granary . grain stock is usually stored in large containers with wooden walls . the method of the invention is , however , also applicable when grain is piled up on the floor of some other storage facility . important is only that those sides of the grain pile where gas exchange is most likely to occur are covered by at least one flexible foil or sheet , e . g . of plastics . by practically isolating the stored products from the surrounding storage space in this manner , the gas exchange , including the diffusion of hydrogen phosphide into the storage space is obstructed to a greater or lesser extent . generally , two working principles are conceivable for the method of the invention : in the first case , gas exchange between the space directly above ( and among ) the stored products and the remaining storage space is impeded only to such an extent that during the fumigation period of several days or even several weeks substantially the entire phosphine diffuses from the gas space immediately above the stored products into the surrounding storage space where it is then bound and / or decomposed in the described manner . in the second case , the gas containing space above the stored products is sealed off so tightly that binding and / or decomposition of the hydrogen phosphide confined within that space is substantially effected only after fumigation is completed . the latter working principle is preferred to the method of the invention , as far as is practical . however , any embodiment that constitutes a transition between the above described working principles is also conceivable for the method of the invention . the desired extent to which gas exchange between the space abvoe the stored products and the surrounding storage space is to be impeded determines the measures required for covering the stored products and the selection of the material constituting the flexible foils or sheets . an essential criterion of the foil or sheet material is its inertness to the fumigating composition and stored products as well as adequate flexibility to ensure satisfactory covering of grain or other products to be fumigated . a large number of suitable plastic films or foils showing a variety of gas permeability values are available on the market . the extent of gas exchange between the gas space above the stored products and the surrounding storage space may thus be controlled to some degree by proper selection of the films from the variety of commercially available film materials . when more than one panel of film is required for covering the stored products , the edges of such panel must overlap . to improve the sealing effect of the covering films , one may simply apply a suitable adhesive to the overlapping film portions . useful adhesives are commercially available and require no description . when the grain to be covered is heaped on the floor of some storage facility , the covering film should suitably extend over a sufficiently large section of the floor so as not to leave too much room for unhindered or unsatisfactorily hindered gas exchange . in this case , too , a temporary sealing between film and floor may be obtained by use of an adhesive . adhesives may also be used for fastening the covering film to the side walls of storage tanks or the like . where the gas space above ( and among ) the stored products is isolated from the storage space by an impervious or practically impervious covering , means are suitably provided for exhausting the gas space above the stored products at the end of the fumigation period and for simultaneously binding or decomposing the hydrogen phosphide contained in the exhaust gas . as mentioned before , any hydrogen phosphide diffusing from the gas space above the stored products is bound and / or decomposed in accordance with the invention . a large number of suitable methods of adsorption , chemical or physical absorption , and chemical or physical decomposition is known in the art so that a brief summary of such methods should suffice here . a variety of materials having large surface areas may be used for adsorbing hydrogen phosphide . illustrative of such materials are active carbon , molecular sieves , silica gel or aluminum hydroxide , the latter being preferably used in the form of pellets . useful in phosphine absorption are e . g . liquid media such as cyclohexanol , isopropanol , methanol and vegetable oils . if desired , the loaded adsorbents or absorbents may subsequently be freed of phosphine by conventional procedures such as washing , heating , pressure reduction or the like , and may then be re - used . treatment of the above type may of course be conducted in a closed system where the released phosphine no longer constitutes a molestation or a hazard . hydrogen phosphide may also be decomposed by chemical or physical means . chemical decomposition is normally effected by oxidative treatment . a large number of oxidants are known for this purpose ; mentioned as illustrative shall be only cuprous oxide , alkali and alkaline earth hypochlorites , particularly sodium and potassium hypochlorite , and potassium permanganate . the use of known catalysts is frequently advantageous for the chemical decomposition of phosphine . active carbon impregnated with specific transition metal compounds is particularly suited for the oxidative decomposition of phosphine . it is also known that active carbon thus impregnated may be subjected to thermal treatment before being used as a catalyst ; the metal salt , e . g . copper sulphate or silver nitrate , used for impregnating the active carbon is thus converted into the corresponding oxide . it has now been found that active carbon impregnated with alkali iodide provides excellent results in the oxidative decomposition of hydrogen phosphide . preferred alkali iodides are potassium iodide and sodium iodide . the impregnated active carbon catalyst advantageously comprises from 0 . 1 to 4 % by weight and preferably from 1 to 2 % by weight of potassium iodide . thus , active carbon impregnated with an alkali iodide is part of the invention . in such chemical decomposition methods , oxidation of phosphine is effected by means of atmospheric oxygen and promoted by the above mentioned catalysts . hydrogen phosphide may also be decomposed by physical means , particularly by radiation such as ultraviolet radiation , or by thermal or electric treatment , provided the equipment required for such treatment is available at the fumigation site . in cases where the resulting decomposition products might lead to problems , it is a simple matter to further react the respective decomposition products in a manner known per se . according to a specific embodiment of the method of the invention , the storage facility may be provided with air circulation means which permit circulation of the complete gas volume within a period of less than one hour , or from one to several hours , or from 10 to 24 hours . hydrogen phosphide diffusing from the gas space above the stored products need not necessarily be bound and / or decomposed within the respective storage facility . a gas purification system may also be disposed outside the storage facility if care is taken that air exhausted from the storage space is first passed through the gas purification unit and released into the atmosphere in a purified state . the embodiment wherein the gas from the space above the stored products , which is then passed through gas purifying equipment for binding and / or decomposing any hydrogen phosphide contained therein , is exhausted only at the end of fumigation , is not the only possible approach , one may also continuously withdraw gas and pass it through the purifying equipment during the entire fumigation period , thus creating a pressure slightly below atmospheric in the space directly above the stored products or within the storage facility itself , respectively . in this manner , diffusion of phosphine containing gases is reduced or prevented at some other location . it will be appreciated by a person skilled in the art that it is most desirable to carry out the process continuously , i . e . without interruption , until the hydrogen phosphide has been removed completely . gas purifying equipment suitable for use in the method of the invention may comprise a suction fan , proceded according to a particularly advantageous embodiment by a throttle , followed by connecting pipes and one or preferably several beds of a substance capable of binding and / or decomposing hydrogen phosphide , particularly a catalyst . in order to ensure a most effective use of said substance it should form as uniform a bed as possible . the flow rate of the gases to be purified is suitably kept between 0 . 1 and 0 . 5 m / s , e . g . at 0 . 32 m / s . when using a catalyst consisting of impregnated active carbon , the residence time of the gases within the catalyst bed may range from about 0 . 16 to 0 . 8 seconds and is e . g . 0 . 25 seconds . the thickness of the catalyst bed may suitably vary between 40 and 120 mm , particularly suited being a thickness of e . g . 80 mm . under these conditions , the loss in flow pressure is 3 . 25 pa / mm at 0 . 32 m / s . the drawing is a schematic representation of gas purifying equipment suitable for use in this invention . the gas purifying equipment used in this example is schematically represented in the accompanying drawing . it comprises a suction fan ( 1 ), connecting pipes ( 2 ), catalyst ( 3 ) and beds ( 4 ) of active carbon . the invention is not limited to the number of catalyst beds shown in the drawing . impregnated active carbon is present in the form of solid bed layers supported on perforated trays ( 5 mm perforations ), each of which is covered by a pad of polypropylene fleece material . exhaust gas flows through these layers at a rate of 0 . 28 m / s ; at a layer thickness of 80 mm , the residence time thus is 0 . 29 seconds . suitable particular sizes of the active carbon are for example in the range of 2 to 4 mm . the effective catalyst surface area may be selected at will by stacking a desired number of trays . in a particular case two stacks of six trays each were used plus one initial and one terminal piece . each tray contained 30 kg of active carbon over an area of 1 sq . m . the active carbon used contained 2 % of potassium iodide . gas thus purified showed no detectable traces of ph 3 ; according to present measuring standards , this means that the ph 3 content of the purified gas was always below 0 . 5 parts per billion even if the crude gas showed concentrations of several hundred parts per million . the oxidation product ( p 2 o 5 ) is deposited on the active carbon and shows hygroscopic behavior . extremely wet gases ( moisture content 80 to 90 %) cause the formation of highly viscous phosphoric acid which , when present in large amounts , may clog up the pores of the active carbon . catalyst loading is thus limited to 65 grams of ph 3 per 100 grams of active carbon . the dimensions of the catalyst beds were determined on the basis of the above load , a 100 % reserve being included . for the above reasons , the catalyst must be replaced at certain intervals or regenerated by e . g . washing to remove phosphoric acid deposited thereon . | 0 |
while the invention shall now be described with reference to the preferred embodiments shown in the drawings , it should be understood that the intention is not to limit the invention only to the particular embodiments shown but rather to cover all alterations , modifications and equivalent arrangements possible within the scope of appended claims . in all aspects of the present invention , references to “ camera ” mean any device or collection of devices capable of simultaneously determining a quantity of light arriving from a plurality of directions and or at a plurality of locations , or determining some other attribute of light arriving from a plurality of directions and or at a plurality of locations . similarly references to “ display ”, “ television ” or the like , shall not be limited to just television monitors or traditional televisions used for the display of video from a camera near or distant but shall also include computer data display means , computer data monitors , other video display devices , still picture display devices , ascii text display devices , terminals , systems that directly scan light onto the retina of the eye to form the perception of an image , direct electrical stimulation through a device implanted into the back of the brain ( as might create the sensation of vision in a blind person ), and the like . with respect to both the cameras and displays , as broadly defined above , the term “ zoom ” shall be used in a broad sense to mean any lens of variable focal length , any apparatus of adjustable magnification , or any digital , computational , or electronic means of achieving a change in apparent magnification . thus , for example , a zoom viewfinder , zoom television , zoom display , or the like , shall be taken to include the ability to display a picture upon a computer monitor in various sizes through a process of image interpolation as may be implemented on a body - worn computer system . references to “ processor ”, or “ computer ” shall include sequential instruction , parallel instruction , and special purpose architectures such as digital signal processing hardware , field programmable gate arrays ( fpgas ), programmable logic devices . as well as analog signal processing devices . references to “ transceiver ” shall include various combinations of radio transmitters and receivers , connected to a computer by way of a terminal node controller ( tnc ), comprising , for example , a modem and a high level datalink controller ( hdlcs ), to establish a connection to the internet , but shall not be limited to this form of communication . accordingly , “ transceiver ” may also include analog transmission and reception of video signals on different frequencies , or hybrid systems that are partly analog and partly digital . the term “ transceiver ” shall not be limited to electromagnetic radiation in the frequence bands normally associated with radio , and may therefore include infrared or other optical frequencies . moreover , the signal need not be electromagnetic , and “ transceiver ” may include gravity waves , or other means of establishing a communications channel . while the architecture illustrated shows a connection from the headgear , through a computer , to the transceiver , it will be understood that the connection may be direct , bypassing the computer , if desired , and that a remote computer may be used by way of a video communications channel ( for example a full - duplex analog video communications link ) so that there may be no need for the computer to be worn on the body of the user . the term “ headgear ” shall include helmets , baseball caps , eyeglasses , and any other means of affixing an object to the head , and shall also include implants , whether these implants be apparatus imbedded inside the skull , inserted into the back of the brain , or simply attached to the outside of the head by way of registration pins implanted into the skull . thus “ headgear ” refers to any object on , around , upon , or in the head , in whole or in part . when it is said that object “ a ” is “ borne ” by object “ b ”, this shall include the possibilities that a is attached to b , that a is part of b , that a is built into b , or that a is b . fig1 shows an embodiment of the invention built into eyeglass frames 100 , typically containing two eyeglass lenses 105 . an electronic wide - angle camera 110 is typically concealed within the nose bridge of the eyeglass frames 100 . in what follows , the wide - angle camera 110 may be simply referred to as the “ wide - camera ”. or as “ wide - angle camera ”,. in this embodiment of the wearable camera , a second camera , 120 , is also concealed in the eyeglass frames 100 . this second camera is one which has been fitted with a lens of longer focal length , and will be referred to as a “ narrow - angle camera ”, or simply a “ narrow - camera ” in what follows . the wide - camera 110 faces forward looking through a beamsplitter 130 . the narrow - camera 120 faces sideways looking through the beamsplitter . for clarity , the bearnsplitter 130 and camera 110 are shown separated in fig1 a , while in actual construction , the beamsplitter is cemented between the two cameras as shown in fig1 . the beamsplitter 130 is typically mounted at a 45 degree angle , and the optical axes of the two cameras are typically at 90 degree angles to each other . the optical axes of the two cameras should intersect and thus share a common viewpoint . thus the narrow camera 120 may have exactly the same field of view as the wide - camera 110 . typically eyeglasses with black frames are selected , and a cci ) sensor array for wide - camera 110 is concealed in a cavity which is also used as a nose bridge support , so that the eyeglasses have a normal appearance . typically , the body of the wide - camera is formed from epoxy , which sets it permanently in good register with the beamsplitter and the narrow - camera 120 . during setting of the epoxy , the cameras are manipulated into an exact position , to ensure exact collinearity of the two effective optical axes . the wide - camera 110 is typically fitted with a lens having a diameter of approximately { fraction ( 1 / 32 )} inch ( less than one millimeter ) — small enough that it cannot be easily seen by someone at close conversational distance to the person wearing the eyeglasses . the narrow - camera 120 is typically concealed in the upper portion of the eyeglass frames . the narrow - camera 120 is preferably custom - made , like the wide - camera , by encapsulating a ccd sensor array , or the like , in an epoxy housing together with the appropriate lens , so that cameras 110 and 120 are both bonded to beamsplitter 130 , and all three are in turn bonded to the eyeglass frame . a satisfactory narrow - camera , for use in small - production runs of the invention ( where it is difficult to construct the housing from epoxy ) is an elmo qn42h camera , owing to its long and very slender ( 7 mm diameter ) construction . in mass - production , a custom - made narrow - camera could be built directly into the eyeglass frames . since the narrow - camera 120 is typically built into the top of the eyeglass frames , the wide - camera 110 should also be mounted near the top of the frames , so the two optical axes can be made to intersect at right angles , making the effective optical axes ( e . g . that of camera 120 as reflected in beamsplitter 130 ) collinear . preferably , a complete camera system providing ntsc video is not installed directly in the eyeglasses . instead , wires 125 from the camera sensor arrays are concealed inside the eyeglass frames and run inside a hollow eyeglass safety strap 126 , such as the safety strap that is sold under the traders “ croakies ”. eyeglass safety strap 126 typically extends to a long cloth - wrapped cable harness 180 and , when worn inside a shirt , has the appearance of an ordinary eyeglass safety strap , which ordinarily would hang down into the back of the wearer &# 39 ; s shirt . wires 125 are run down to a belt pack or to a body - worn pack 128 , often comprising a computer as part of processor 182 , powered by battery pack 181 which also powers the portions of the camera and display system located in the headgear . the processor 182 , if it includes a computer , preferably contains also a nonvolatile storage device or network connection . alternatively , or in addition to the connection to processor 182 , there is often another kind of recording device , or connection to a transmitting device 186 . the transmitter 186 , if present , is typically powered by the same battery pack 181 that powers the processor . in some embodiments , a minimal amount of circuitry may be concealed in the eyeglass frames so that the wires 125 may be driven with a buffered signal in order to reduce signal loss . in or behind one or both of the eyeglass lenses 105 , there is typically an optical system 150 . this optical system provides a magnified view of an electronic display in the nature of a miniature television screen 160 in which the viewing area is typically less than one inch ( or less than 25 millimeters ) on the diagonal . the electronic display acts as a viewfinder screen . the viewfinder screen may comprise a ¼ inch ( approx . 6 mm ) television screen comprising an lcd spatial light modulator with a field - sequenced led backlight . preferably custombuilt circuitry is used . however , a satisfactory embodiment of the invention may be constructed by having the television screen be driven by a coaxial cable carrying a video signal similar to an ntsc rs - 170 signal . in this case the coaxial cable and additional wires to power it are concealed inside the eyeglass safety - strap and run down to a belt pack or other body - worn equipment by connection 180 . in some embodiments , television 160 contains a television tuner so that a single coaxial cable may provide both signal and power . in other embodiments the majority of the electronic components needed to construct the video signal are worn on the body , and the eyeglasses contain only a minimal amount of circuitry , perhaps only a spatial light modulator , lcd flat panel , or the like , with termination resistors and backlight . in this case , there are a greater number of wires 170 . in some embodiments of the invention the television screen 160 is a vga computer display , or another form of computer monitor display , connected to a computer system worn on the body of the wearer of the eyeglasses . wearable display devices have been described , such as in u . s . pat . no . 5 , 546 , 099 , head mounted display system with light blocking structure , by jessica l . quint and joel w . robinson , aug . 13 , 1996 , as well as in u . s . pat . no . 5 , 708 , 449 , binocular head mounted display system by gregory lee hcacock and gordon b . kuenster , jan . 13 , 1998 . ( both of these two patents are assigned to virtual vision , a wellknown manufacturer of head - mounted displays ). a “ personal liquid crystal image display ” has been described u . s . pat . no . 4 , 636 , 866 , by noboru hattori , jan . 13 , 1987 . any of these head - mounted displays of the prior art may be modified into a form such that they will function in place of television display 160 . in typical operation of the system of fig1 light enters the eyeglasses and is absorbed and quantified by one or more cameras . by virtue of the connection 180 , information about the light entering the eyeglasses is available to the body - worn computer system previously described . the computer system may calculate the actual quantity of light , up to a single unknown scalar constant , arriving at the glasses from each of a plurality of directions corresponding to the location of each pixel of the camera with respect to the camera &# 39 ; s center of projection . this calculation may be done using the pencigraphy method described above . in some embodiments of the invention the narrow - camera 120 , is used to provide a more dense array of such photoquanta estimates . this increase in density toward the center of the visual field of view matches the characteristics of the human visual system in which there is a central foveal region of increased visual acuity . video from one or both cameras is possibly processed by the body - worn computer 182 and recorded or transmitted to one or more remote locations by a body - worn video transmitter 186 or body - worn internet connection , such as a standard wa4dsy 56 kbps rf link with a kiss 56 eprom running tcp / ip over an ax25 connection to the serial port of the body - worn computer . the possibly processed video signal is sent back up into the eyeglasses through connection 180 and appears on viewfinder screen 160 , viewed through optical elements 150 . typically , rather than displaying raw video on display 160 , processed video is displayed thereupon , with reference also to fig1 b ( a close - up detail view of processor 182 ), as follows : the video outputs from cameras 110 and 120 pass through wiring harness 180 into vision analysis processor 183 . vision analysis processor 183 typically uses the output of the wide - camera for head - tracking . this head - tracking determines the relative orientation ( yaw , pitch , and roll ) of the head based on the visual location of objects in the field of view of camera 110 . vision analysis processor 183 may also perform some 3 - d object recognition or parameter estimation , or construct a 3 - d scene representation . information processor 184 takes this visual information , and decides which virtual objects , if any , to insert into the viewfinder . graphics synthesis processor 185 creates a computer - graphics rendering of a portion of the 3 - d scene specified by the information processor 184 , and presents this computer - graphics rendering by way of wires in wiring harness 180 to television screen 160 . typically the objects displayed are synthetic ( virtual ) objects overlaid in the same position as some of the real objects from the scene . typically the virtual objects displayed on television 160 correspond to real objects within the field of view of narrow - camera 120 . in this way , narrow camera 120 provides vision analysis processor 183 with extra details about the scene so that the analvsis is more accurate in this foveal region , while wide - camera 110 provides both an anticipatory role and a head - tracking role . in the anticipatory role , vision analysis processor 183 is already making crude estimates of identity or parameters of objects outside the field of view of the viewfinder screen 160 , with the possible expectation that the wearer may at any time turn his or her head to include some of these objects , or that some of these objects may move into the field of view of viewfinder 160 and narrow camera 120 . with this operation , synthetic objects overlaid on real objects in the viewfinder provide the wearer with enhanced information of the real objects as compared with the view the wearer has of these objects outside of the viewfinder . thus even though television viewfinder screen 160 may only have 240 lines of resolution , a virtual television screens of extremely high resolution , wrapping around the wearer , may be implemented by virtue of the head - tracker , so that the wearer may view very high resolution pictures through what appears to be a small window that pans back and forth across the picture by the head - movements of the wearer . optionally , in addition to overlaying synthetic objects on real objects to enhance real objects , graphics synthesis processor 182 ( fig1 b ) may cause the display of other synthetic objects on the virtual television screen . for example , fig1 c illustrates a virtual television screen with some virtual ( synthetic ) objects such as an emacs buffer upon an xterm ( text window in the commonly - used x - windows graphical user - interface ). the graphics synthesis processor 182 causes the viewfinder screen 160 ( fig1 ) to display a reticle seen in the viewfinder window at 192 . typically viewfinder screen 160 has 640 pixels across and 480 down , which is only enough resolution to display one xterm window since an xterm window is typically also 640 pixels across and 480 down ( sufficient size for 24 rows of 80 characters of text ). thus the wearer can , by turning the head to look back and forth , position viewfinder reticle 192 on top of any of a number of xterms 194 that appear to hover in space above various real objects 198 . the real objects themselves , when positioned inside the mediation zone established by the viewfinder , may also be visually enhanced as seen through the viewfinder . suppose the wearer is in a department store and , after picking up a $ 7 item for purchase , the wearer approaches the cashier , hands the cashier a $ 20 dollar bill , but only receives change for a $ 10 bill ( e . g . only receives $ 3 change from $ 20 ). upon realizing this fact a minute or so later , the wearer locates a fresh available , ( e . g . one that has no programs running in it so that it can accept commands ) xterm 196 . the wearer makes this window active by head movement up and to the right ,. as shown in fig1 d . thus the camera functions also as a head tracker , and it is by orienting the head ( and hence the camera ) that the cursor may be positioned . making a window active in the x - windows system is normally done by placing the mouse cursor on the window and possibly clicking on it . however , having a mouse on a wearable camera / computer system is difficult owing to the fact that it requires a great deal of dexterity to position a cursor while walking around . with the invention described here , the viewfinder is the mouse / cursor : the wearer &# 39 ; s head is the mouse , and the center of the viewfinder is the cursor . in fig1 c and fig1 d , windows outside the viewfinder are depicted in dashed lines , because they are not actually visible to the wearer . the wearer can see real objects outside the field of view of the viewfinder ( either through the remaining eye , or because the viewfinder permits one to see around it ). however only xterms in the viewfinder are visible . portions of the xterms within the viewfinder are shown with solid lines as this is all that the wearer will sec . once the wearer selects window 196 by looking at it , then the wearer presses the letter “ d ” to begin “ recording ”, as indicated on window 196 . note that the letter “ d ” is pressed for “ record ”, because the letter “ r ” means “ recall ” ( in some ways equivalent to “ rewind ” on a traditional video cassette recorder ). letters are typically selected by way of a small number of belt - mounted switches that can be operated with one hand , in a manner similar to the manner that courtroom stenographers use to form letters of the alphabet by pressing various combinations of pushbutton switches . such devices are commonly known as “ chording keyboards ” and are well known in the prior art . also note that the wearer did not need to look right into all of window 196 : the window accepts commands as long as it is active , and doesn &# 39 ; t need to be wholly visible to accept commands . recording is typically retroactive , in the sense that the wearable camera system , by default , always records into a 5 minute circular buffer , so that pressing “ d ” begins recording starting from 5 minutes ago , e . g . starting from 5 minutes before “ d ” is pressed . this means that if the wearer presses “ d ” within a couple of minutes of realizing that the cashier short - changed the wearer , then the transaction will have been sucessfully recorded . the customer can then see hack into the past 5 minutes , and can assert with confidence ( through perfect photogiaphic / videographic memory recall , e . g . by pressing “ r ”) to the cashier that a $ 20 bill was given . the extra degree of personal confidence afforded by the invention typically makes it unnecessary to actually present the video record ( e . g . to a supervisor ) in order to correct the situation . of course . if there was a belief that the cashier was dishonest , the customer could file a report or notify authorities while at the same time submitting the recording as evidence . typically the recording is also transmitted by way of transmitter 186 so that the cashier or other representatives of the department store ( such as a department store security guard who might be a close personal friend of the cashier ) cannot sieze and destroy the storage medium upon which the recording was made . note that here the drawings depict objects moved translationally ( e . g . the group of translations specified by two scalar parameters ) while in actual practice , virtual objects undergo a projective coordinate transformation in two dimensions , governed by eight scalar parameters , or objects undergo three dimensional coordinate transformations . when the virtual objects are flat , such as text windows , such a user - interface is called a “ reality window manager ” ( rwm ). in using the invention , typically various windows appear to hover above various real objects , and regardless of the orientation of the wearer &# 39 ; s head ( position of the viewfinder ), the system sustains the illusion that the virtual objects 194 ( in this example , xterms ) are attached to real objects 198 . the act of panning the head back - and forth in order to navigate around the space of virtual objects also may cause an extremely high - resolution picture to be acquired through appropriate processing of a plurality of pictures captured on narrow - camera 120 . this action mimicks the function of the human eye , where saccades are replaced with head movements to sweep out the scene using the camera &# 39 ; s light - measurement ability as is typical of peaocigraphic imaging . thus head movements are used to direct the camera to scan out a scene in the same way that eyeball movemerts normally orient the eye to scan out a scene . processor 182 is typically responsible for ensuring that the view rendered in graphics processor 185 matches the viewing position of the eve in front of optics 150 , and not the original position from which the video was presented from cameras 110 and 120 to vision processor 183 . thus there is a change of viewing angle , in the rendering , so as to compensate for the difference in position ( parallax ) between the cameras and the view afforded by the display . some homographic and quantigraphic image aiialysis embodiments do not require a 3 - d scene analysis , and instead use 2 - d projective coordinate transformations of a flat object or flat surface of an object , in order to effect the parallax correction between virtual objects and the view of the scene as it would appear with the glasses removed from the wearer . a drawback of the apparatus depicted in fig1 is that the optical elements 150 block the eye ( s ) of the wearer . the wearer may be able to adapt to this condition . or at least compensate for it through the display of video from the wearable camera to create an illusion of transparency , in the same way that a hand - held camcorder creates an illusion of transparency when it is on and running even though it would function as a vision - blocking eye patch when turned off . however , because of the parallax between cameras 110 and 120 and the actual eye position given by viewfinder optics 150 , creating the illusion of transparency requires parsing all objects through the analysis processor 183 , followed by the synthesis processor 185 , and this may present processor 182 with a formidable task . moreover , the fact that the eye of the wearer is blocked means that others cannot make eye - contact with the wearer . in social situations this creates an unnatural form of interaction . although the lenses of the glasses may be made sufficiently dark that the viewfinder optics are concealed , it is preferable that the viewfinder optics may be concealed in eyeglasses that allow others to see both of the wearer &# 39 ; s eves . a beamsplitter may be used for this purpose , but it is preferable that there be a strong lens directly in front of the eye of the wearer to provide for a wide field of view . while a special contact lens might be worn for this purpose . there are limitations on how short the focal length of a contact lens can be , and such a solution is inconvenient for other reasons . accordingly , a viewfinder system is depicted in fig2 in which an optical path 200 brings light from a viewfinder screen 210 , through a first relay mirror 220 , along a cavity inside the left temple - side piece of the glasses formed by an opaque side shield 230 , or simply by hollowing out a temple side - shield . light travels to a second relay mirror 240 and is combined with light from the outside environment as seen through diverging lens 250 . the light from the outside and from the viewfinder is combined by way of beamsplitter 260 . the rest of the eyeglass lenses 261 are typically tinted slightly to match the bearnsplitter 260 so that other people looking at the wearer &# 39 ; s eyes do not see a dark patch where the bearnsplitter is . converging lens 270 magnifies the image from the viewfinder screen 210 , while canceling the effect of the diverging lens 250 . the result is that others can look into the wearer &# 39 ; s eyes and see both eyes at normal magnification , while at the same time , the wearer can see the camera viewfinder at increased magnification . the rest of the system of fig2 is similar to that of fig1 ( and like parts have been given like reference numerals ill their last two digits ), except that the video transmitter 186 shown in fig1 has been replaced with a data communications transceiver 286 . transceiver 286 along with appropriate instructions loaded into computer 282 provides a camera system allowing collaboration between the user of the apparatus and one or more other persons at remote locations . this collaboration may be facilitated through the manipulation of shared virtual objects such as cursors , or computer graphics renderings displayed upon the camera viewfinder ( s ) of one or more users . similarly , transceiver 286 , with appropriate instructions executed in computer 282 , allows multiple users of the invention , whether at remote locations or side - by - side , or in the same room within each other &# 39 ; s field of view , to interact with one another through the collaborative capabilities of the apparatus . this also allows multiple users , at remote locations , to collaborate in such a way that a virtual environment is shared in which camera - based head - tracking of each user results in acquisition of video and subsequent generation of virtual information being made available to the other ( s ). multiple users , at the same location , may also collaborate in such a way that multiple camera viewpoints may be shared among the users so that they can advise each other on matters such as composition , or so that one or more viewers at remote locations can advise one or more of the users on matters such as composition or camera angle . multiple users , at different locations , may also collaborate on an effort that may not pertain to photography or videography directly , but an effort nevertheless that is enhanced by the ability for each person to experience the viewpoint of another . it is also possible for one or more remote participants at conventional desktop computers or the like to interact with one or more users of the camera system , at one or more other locations , to collaborate on an effort that may not pertain to photography or videography directly , but an effort nevertheless that is enhanced by the ability for one or more users of the camera system to either provide or obtain advice from or to another individual at a remote location . the embodiments of the wearable camera system depicted in fig1 and fig2 give rise to a small displacement between the actual location of the camera , and the location of the virtual image of the viewfinder . therefore , either the parallax must be corrected by a vision system 183 , followed by 3 - d coordinate transformation ( e . g . in processor 184 ), followed by re - rendering ( e . g . in processor 185 ), or if the video is fed through directly , the wearer must learn to make this compensation mentally . when this mental task is imposed upon the wearer , when performing tasks at close range , such as looking into a microscope while wearing the glasses , there is a discrepancy that is difficult to learn , and may also give rise to unpleasant psychophysical effects such as nausea or “ flashbacks ”. initially when wearing the glasses , the tendency is to put the microscope eyepiece up to one eye , rather than the camera 110 which is right between the eyes . as a result , the apparatus ; fails to record exactly the wearer &# 39 ; s experience , until the wearer can learn that the effective eve position is right in the middle . locating the cameras elsewhere does not help appreciably , as there will always be some error . it is preferred that the apparatus will record exactly the wearer &# 39 ; s experience . thus if the wearer looks into a microscope , the glasses should record that experience for others to observe vicariously through the wearer &# 39 ; s eye . although the wearer can learn the difference between the camera position and the eye position , it is preferable that this not be required , for otherwise , as previously described , long - term usage may lead to undesirable flashback effects . accordingly . fig3 illustrates a system whereby rays of light spanning a visual angle from ray , 310 to ray 320 enter the apparatus and are intercepted by a two - sided mirror 315 , typically mounted at a 45 degree angle with respect to the optical axis of a camera 330 . these rays of light enter camera 330 . camera 330 may be a camera that is completely ( only ) electronic , or it may be a hybrid camera comprising photographic emulsion ( film ) together with a video tap , electronic previewer , or other manner of electronic output , so that a film may be exposed and the composition may also be determined by monitoring an electronic output signal . such a camera that provides an electronic output signal from which photographic , videographic , or the like , composition can be judged , will be called an “ electronic camera ” regardless of whether it may also contain other storage media such as photographic film . the video output of the camera 330 is displayed upon television screen 340 possibly after having been processed on a body - worn computer system or the like . a reflection of television screen 340 is seen in the other side of mirror 315 , so that the television image of ray 310 appears as virtual ray 360 and the television image of ray 320 appears as ray 370 . since the camera 330 records an image that is backwards , a backwards image is displayed on the television screen 340 . since the television 340 is observed in a mirror , the image is reversed again so that the view seen at pencil of light rays 390 is not backwards . in this way a portion of the wearer &# 39 ; s visual field of view is replaced by the exact same subject matter , in perfect spatial register with the real world as it would appear if the apparatus were absent . thus the portion of the field of view spanned by rays 310 to 320 which emerges as virtual light , will align with the surrounding view that is not mediated by the apparatus , such as rays 311 and 321 which pass through the apparatus and enter directly into the eye without being deflected by two - sided mirror 315 . the image could , in principle also be registered in tonal range , using the pencigraphy framework for estimating the unknown nonlinear response of the camera , and also estimating the response of the display , and compensating for both . so far focus has been ignored , and infinite depth - of - field has been assumed . in practice , a viewfinder with a focus adjustment is used , and the focus adjustment is driven by a servo mechanism controlled by an autofocus camera . thus camera 330 automatically focuses on the subject matter of interest , and controls the focus of viewfinder 330 so that the apparent distance to the object is the same while looking through the apparatus as with the apparatus removed . it is desirable that embodiments of the wearable camera system comprising manual focus cameras have the focus of the camera linked to the focus of the viewfinder so that both may be adjusted together with a single knob . moreover , a camera with zoom lens may be used together with a viewfinder having zoom lens . the zoom mechanisms are linked in such a way that the viewfinder image magnification is reduced as the camera magnification is increased . through this appropriate linkage , any increase in magnification by the camera is negated exactly by decreasing the apparent size of the viewfinder image . the calibration of the autofocus zoom camera and the zoom viewfinder may be done by temporarily removing the mirror 315 and adjusting the focus and zoom of the viewfinder to maximize video feedback . this must be done for each zoom setting , so that the zoom of the viewfinder will properly track the zoom of the camera . by using video feedback as a calibration tool , a computer system may monitor the video output of the camera while adjusting the viewfinder and generating a lookup table for the viewfinder settings corresponding to each camera setting . in this way , calibration may be automated during manufacture of the wearable camera system . the apparatus of fig3 does not permit others to make full eye - contact with the wearer . accordingly , fig4 depicts a similar apparatus in which only a portion of the rays of the leftmost ray of light 310 is deflected by beamsplitter 415 which is installed in place of mirror 315 . the visual angle subtended by incoming light ray 310 to light ray 320 is deflected by way of beamrsplitter 415 into camera 330 . output from this camera is displayed on television 340 , possibly after processing on a body - worn computer or processing at one or more remote sites or a combination of local and remote image processing or the like . a partial reflection of television 340 is visible to the eye of the wearer by way of beamsplitter 415 . the leftmost ray of light 460 of the partial view of television 340 is aligned with the direct view of the leftmost ray of light 310 from the original scene . thus the wearer sees a superposition of whatever real object is located in front of ray 310 and the television picture of the same real object at the same location . the rightmost ray of light 320 is similarly visible through the beamsplitter 415 in register with the rightmost virtual ray reflected off the beamsplitter 415 . note that the partial transparency of beamsplitter 415 allows one to see beyond the screen , so it is not necessary to carefully cut beamsplitter 415 to fit exactly the field of view defined by television 340 , or to have the degree of silvering feather out to zero at the edges beyond the field of view defined by television 340 . rays 460 and 470 differ from rays 360 and 370 in that 460 and 470 present the viewer with a combination of virtual light an ( d real light . in order to prevent video feedback , in which light from the television screen would shine into the camera , a polarizer 480 is positioned in front of the camera . the polarization axis of the polarizer is aligned at right angles to the polarization axis of the polarizer inside the television assuming the television already has a built - in polarizer as is typical of small battery powered lcd televisions , lcd camcorder viewfinders , and lcd computer monitors . if the television does not have a built in polarizer , a polarizer is added in front of the television . thus video feedback is prevented by virtue of the two crossed polarizers in the path between the television 340 and the camera 33 ). the pencil of rays of light 490 will provide a mixture of direct light from the scene , and virtual light from the television display 340 . the pencil of rays 490 thus differs from the pencil of rays 390 ( fig3 ) in that 490 is a superposition of the virtual light as in 390 with real light from the scene . in describing this invention , the term “ pencil ” of rays shall be taken to mean rays that intersect at a point in arbitrary dimensions ( e . g . 3d ) as well as 2d ) even though the term “ pencil ” usually only so - applies to 2d in common usage . this will simplify matters ( rather than having to use the word “ bundle ” in 3d and “ pencil ” in 2d ). it is desired that both the real light and virtual light be in perfect or near perfect registration . however , in order that the viewfinder provide a distinct view of the world , it may be desirable that the virtual light from the television be made different in color or the like from the real light from the scene . for example , simply using a black and white television , or a black and red television , or the like , or placing a colored filter over the television , will give rise to a unique appearance of the region of the wearer &# 39 ; s visual field of view by virtue of a difference in color between the television image and the real world upon which it is exactly superimposed . even with such chromatic mediation of the television view of the world , it may still be difficult for the wearer to discern whether or not video is correctly exposed . accordingly , a pseudocolor image may be displayed , or unique patterns may be used to indicate areas of over exposure or under exposure . once the wearer becomes aware of areas of improper exposure ( such as when an automatic exposure algorithm is failing ), the parameters of the automatic exposure algorithm ( such as setting of program mode to “ backlight ”, “ high contrast ”, “ sports mode ” or the like ) may be changed , or the automatic exposure may be overridden . television 340 may also be fitted with a focusing lens so that it may be focused to the same apparent depth as the real objects in front of the apparatus . a single manual focus adjustment may be used for both camera 430 and television 340 to adjust them both together . alternatively , an autofocus camera 430 may control the focus of television 340 . similarly , if a varifocal or zoom camera is used , a varifocal lens in front of television 340 should be used , and should be linked to the camera lens , so that a single knob may be used to adjust the zoom setting for both . the apparatus of fig4 may be calibrated by temporarily removing the polarizer , and then adjusting the focal length of the lens in front of television 340 to maximize video feedback for each zoom setting of camera 430 . this process may be automated if desired , for example , using video feedback to generate a lookup table used in the calibration of a servo mechanism controlling the zoom and focus of television 340 . the entire apparatus is typically concealed in eyeglass frames in which the beamsplitter is either embedded in one or both glass lenses of the eyeglasses , or behind one or both lenses . in the case in which a monocular version of the apparatus is being used , the apparatus is built into one lens , and a dummy version of the beamsplitter portion of apparatus may be positioned in the other lens for visual symmetry . these bearnsplitters may be integrated into the lenses in such a manner to have the appearance of ordinary lenses in ordinary bifocal eyeglasses . moreover , magnification may be unobtrusively introduced by virtue of the bifocal characteristics of such eyeglasses . typically the entire eyeglass lens is tinted to match the density of the beamsplitter portion of the lens , so there is no visual discontinuity introduced by the beamsplitter . fig5 depicts a foveated embodiment of the invention in which incoming light 500 and 501 is intercepted from the direct visual path through the eyeglasses and directed instead , by double - sided mirror 510 to beamsplitter 520 . a portion of this light passes through beamsplitter 520 and is absorbed and quantified by wide - camera 530 . a portion of this incoming light is also reflected by beamsplitter 520 and directed to narrow - camera 540 . the image from the wide - camera 530 is displayed on a large screen television 550 , typically of size 0 . 7 inches ( approx . 18 mm ) on the diagonal , forming a wide - field - of - view image of virtual light 551 from the wide - camera . the image from the narrow - camera 540 is displayed on a small screen television 560 , typically of screen size ¼ inch ( approx . 6 mm ) on the diagonal , forming a virtual image of the narrow - camera as virtual light 561 . real rays of light in the periphery of the mediation zone formed by the apparatus emerge as virtual rays from television 550 only . for example , real ray 500 emerges as virtual ray 551 . real rays near the central ( foveal ) region of the mediation zone emerge as virtual rays from both televisions ( e . g . they also emerge as virtual rays from television 560 ). television 560 subtends a smaller visual angle , and typically has the same total number of scanlines or same total number of pixels as television 550 , so the image is sharper in the central ( foveal ) region . thus television 560 is visually more dominant in that region , and the viewer can ignore television 550 in this region ( e . g . the blurry image and the sharp image superimposed appear as a sharp image in the central region ). thus , for example , unlike the real light ray 500 which emerges as virtual light from only one of the two televisions ( from only television 550 ), the real light ray 501 emerges as virtual light from both televisions . only one of the virtual rays collinear with real ray 501 is shown , in order to emphasize the fact that this virtual ray is primarily associated with television 560 ( hence the break between where the solid line 501 is diverted by mirror 510 and where the collinear portion continues after mirror 570 ). this portion of the dotted line between mirror 510 and mirror 570 that is collinear with real light ray 510 has been omitted to emphasize the visual dominance of television 560 over television 550 within the central ( foveal ) field of view , in this foveal region , it is the virtual light from television 560 that is of interest , as this virtual light will be perceived as more pronounced , since the image of television 560 will be sharper ( owing to its more closely packed pixel array or scanlines ). thus even though real light ray 501 emerges as two virtual rays , only one of these , 561 , is shown : the one corresponding to television 560 . a smaller television screen is typically used to display the image from the narrow - camera in order to negate the increased magnification that the narrow - camera would otherwise provide , when equal magnification lenses are used for both . in this manner , there is no magnification and both images appear as if the rays of light were passing through the apparatus , so that the virtual light rays align with the real light rays were they not intercepted by the double - sided mirror 510 . television 550 is viewed as a reflection in mirror 510 , while television 560 is viewed as a reflection in beamsplitter 570 . note also that the distance between the two televisions 550 and 560 should equal the distance between double - sided mirror 510 and beamsplitter 570 as measured in a direction perpendicular to the optical axes of the cameras . in this way , the apparent distance to both televisions will be the same , so that the wearer experiences a view of the two televisions superimposed upon one - another in the same depth plane . alternatively , the televisions may be equipped with lenses to adjust their magnifications so that the television displaying the image from the tele camera 540 subtends a smaller visual angle than the television displaying the image from wide camera 530 , and so that these visual angles match the visual angles of the incoming rays of light 500 . in this way , two television screens of equal size may be used , which simplifies manufacture of the apparatus . typically , the entire apparatus is built within the frames 590 of a pair of eyeglasses , where cameras 530 and 540 , as well as televisions 550 and 560 are concealed within the frames 590 of the glasses , while double - sided mirror 510 and beamsplitter 570 are mounted in , behind , or in front of the lens of the eyeglasses . in some embodiments , mirror 510 is mounted to the front of the eyeglass lens , while bearnsplitter 570 is mounted behind the lens . in other embodiments , one or both of mirror 510 and beamsplitter 570 are actually embedded in the glass of the eyeglass lens . two - sided mirror 510 may instead be a beamsplitter , or may be fully silvered in places ( to make a partial beamsplitter and partial full , silvered two - sided mirror ). for example , it may be silvered more densely in the center , where the visual acuity is higher , owing to the second television screen . it may also be feathered out , so that it slowly fades to totally transparent around the edges , so there is not an abrupt discontinuity between the real world view and the portion that has been replaced by virtual light . in this case , it is often desirable to insert the appropriate polarizer ( s ) to prevent video feedback around the edges . fig6 depicts an alternate embodiment of the wearable camera invention depicted in fig4 in which both the camera arid television are concealed within the left temple side - piece of the eyeglass frames . a first beamsplitter 610 intercepts a portion of the incoming light and directs it to a second bearnsplitter 620 where some of the incoming light is directed to camera 630 and some is wasted illuminating the television screen 640 . however , the screen 640 , when presented with a video signal from camera 630 ( possibly after being processed by a body - worn computer , or remotely by way of wireless communications , or the like ) directs light back through beamsplitter 620 , where some is wasted but is absorbed by the eyeglass frame to ensure concealment of the apparatus , and some is directed to beanmsplitter 610 . some of this light is directed away from the glasses and would be visible by others , and some is directed to the curved mirror 650 where it is magnified and directed back toward beamsplitter 610 . the portion that is reflected off of beamsplitter 610 is viewed by the wearer , while the portion that continues back toward beamsplitter 620 must be blocked by a polarizer 660 to prevent video feedback . implicit in the use of polarizer 660 is the notion that the television produces a polarized output . this is true of lcd televisions which comprise a liquid crystal display between crossed polaroids . if the television is of a type that does not already produce a polarized output , an additional polarizer should be inserted in front of television 640 . finally , if it is desired that the apparatus be unobtrusive , an additional polarizer or polarizing beams plitter should be used so that the television 640 is not visible to others by way of its reflection in beamsplitter 610 . alternatively , in certain situations it may actually be desirable to make the display visible to others . for example when the system is used for conducting interviews , it might be desirable that the person being interviewed see himself or herself upon the screen . this may be facilitated by exposing beamsplitter 620 to view , or allowing the reflection of the television to be seen in beamsplitter 610 . alternatively , another television may be mounted to the glasses , facing outwards . therefore , just as the wearer of an embodiment of the invention may see the image captured by the camera . along with additional information such as text of a teleprompter , the interview ( s ) may also be presented with an image of themselves so that they appear to be looking into an electronic mirror , or may be teleprompted by this outward - facing display , or both . in some embodiments of the invention , the use of two separate screens was useful for facilitation of an interview in which the same image was presented to both the inward - facing television and the outward - facing television , but the images were mixed with different text . in this way the wearer was teleprompted with one stream of text , while the interviewee was prompted with a different stream of text . while the optical elements of the camera system of the described embodiments are embedded in eyeglasses , equally these elements may be embedded in other headgear such as a helmet . the beamsplitter 415 of fig4 and 610 of fig6 could conveniently be implemented as a metallisation within a lens of the eyeglasses . these beamsplitters and diverging lens 250 of fig2 may be embedded within the eyeglass lens below the main optical axis of the eye in its normal position so that the embedded elements may appear to be a feature of bifocal eyeglasses . fig7 depicts a wearable camera system with automatic focus . while the system depicted in fig3 may operate with a fixed focus camera 330 , so long as it has sufficient depth of field , there is still the question of at what focus depth television 340 will appear . ideally the apparent depth of the display would match that of objects seen around the display , as represented by rays of light 311 , 321 , which are beyond two - sided mirror 315 . this may be achieved if display medium 340 is such that it has nearly infinite depth of field , for example , by using a scanning laser ophthalmoscope ( slo ), or other device which displays an image directly onto the retina of the eye . for display 340 , or if display 340 were a holographic video display . a lower - cost alternative is to use a variable focus display . the primary object ( s ) of interest , 700 are imaged by lens assembly 710 which is electronically focusable by way of a servo mechanism 720 linked to camera 730 to provide automatic focus . automatic focus cameras arc well known in the prior art , so the details of automatic focus mechanisms will not be explained here . a signal , 750 , from the automatic focus camera is derived by way of reading out the position of the servo 720 , and this signal 750 is conveyed to a display focus controller ( viewfinder focus controller ) 760 . viewfinder focus controller 760 drives , by way of focus control signal 770 , a servo mechanism 780 which adjusts the focus of viewfinder optics 790 . the arrangement of signals and control systems is such that the apparent depth of television screen 340 is the same as the apparent depth at which the primary object ( s ) of interest in the real scene would appear without the wearable camera apparatus . other objects , 701 , located in different depth planes , will not be in focus in camera 730 , and will thus appear blurry on screen 340 . they may appear slightly misaligned with where they would have appeared in the absence of the wearable camera system . the degree of misalignment will depend on eye position — the misalignment may or may not be present , or may be quite small . however , because the objects are out of focus , and are not the primary details of the scene , a small possible misalignment will not be particularly objectionable to the wearer of the apparatus . in this example , rays 310 and 311 are both in the depth plane of the central object of interest , so that there is no discontinuity between emergent virtual light 360 and real light 311 . thus there is no discontinuity in perceived depth at the leftmost edge of two - sided mirror 315 . there is , however , a difference in depth between virtual ray 370 of real ray 320 and almost adjacent real ray 321 , because virtual ray 370 is in the same depth plane as 310 , 311 , and 360 , while real ray 321 is in a more distant depth plane owing to the more distant facing surface of objects 701 . however , because the eye will be focused on the depth plane of 310 , 311 , and 360 , ray 311 from the real world will be out of focus by virtue of the limited depth of focus of the human eye itself . thus the real objects will appear blurry , and a discontinuity between these real objects and their blurry image on screen 340 will not be appreciably perceptible . fig8 depicts an embodiment of the wearable camera systems having a zoom lens . rays of light , for example , rays 500 and 501 , enter the wearable camera system and emerge from display 840 as virtual light rays 800 and 801 respectively . in this process of going from light input to virtual light output , two - sided mirror 510 serves to deflect light to autofocus camera 730 . autofocus camera 730 comprises lens 810 and servo mechanism 820 configured in such a manner as to function as a conventional automatic focus camera functions except that there is , provided to the rest of the system , a signal 750 that indicates the focus setting of the camera 730 and its lens 810 as selected by the camera &# 39 ; s control system and servo mechanism 820 and that the camera is also a zoom camera in which the zoom setting can be controlled remotely by zoom signal input 850 . zoom signal input 850 controls , by way of servo 820 , the relative position of various optical elements 810 , so that in addition to automatic focus , the camera can be given a desired focal length ( field of view ). the focus signal 750 goes into a focus and zoom controller 860 which accepts a zoom control signal input , 852 , from the user , and directs this zoom control signal to the camera by way of signal 850 , and also directs an appropriately processed version of this zoom control signal 851 to display controller 861 . in this embodiment , display zoom is achieved as an electronic zoom . while camera zoom is achieved optically display zoom is achieved electronically , by way of display controller 861 and display signal 870 . the camera zooms in by adjustment of lens 810 for longer focal length , increasing the focal distance from the lens to the sensor array in camera 730 , resulting in increased magnification . this increase in magnification is accompanied by a decrease , by operation of display controller 861 , of the image size displayed on television 840 . television 840 may differ from television 340 ( of fig7 ) in the sense that television 840 is optimized for display of resampled ( electronically resized ) images . this reduction in image size cancels out what would otherwise be an increase in magnification when zooming in with camera 730 . it is this precisely controlled cancellation of any magnification that ensures that rays of light entering the apparatus are collinear with rays of virtual light emerging from the other side of the apparatus . fig9 depicts a stereo embodiment of the wearable camera system . an eyeglass frame comprising left temple side - piece 910 and right temple side - piece 911 contains two complete assemblies , 920 and 921 , each one similar to the entire assembly depicted in fig7 or fig8 . rays of light , for example , ray 320 , enter the left eye assembly 920 , and emerge as rays of virtual light for example , 370 . as a result , a focus of autofocus camera 730 results , by virtue of the main object of interest before assembly 920 . the autofocus camera 730 includes a servo mechanism 720 , and the control voltage that the camera feeds to this servo mechanism to keep the camera in focus is also sent outside assembly 920 to focus controller 930 . focus controller 930 drives camera 731 inside the right eye assembly 921 . camera 731 is not an autofocus camera , but , instead is a remotely focusable camera . by remotely focusable , what is meant is that rather than having its servo mechanism 721 driven by the camera itself , as it hunts for best focus , the servo mechanism is instead driven by an external signal . this external signal comes from the camera 730 in the left eve assembly 920 . the reason for not having two independently automatically focusing cameras is that it is desired that both cameras will focus in the same depth plane irrespective of slight errors that might be present in the focus of either one . focus controller 930 also sets the focus of both left and right viewfinders by controlling left viewfinder lens servo 750 and right viewfinder lens servo 781 . moreover , focus controller 930 sends a signal to vergence controlled 940 which drives servo mechanism 950 to adjust the vergence of left eye assembly 920 and servo mechanism 951 to adjust the vergence of right eye assembly 921 . in this embodiment , the focus of both cameras , the focus of both displays , and the vergence of both assemblies are all controlled by the focus of the left camera , so that whatever object the left camera focuses itself onto , will define the depth plane perceived by both eyes looking at their respective displays . this depth plane will also correspond to the vergence of the displays , so that depth and disparity will match at all times . fig1 depicts the left eye portion of an embodiment of the wearable camera system where the camera focus and vergence are driven by the output of an eyetracker . eyetracker assembly 1010 ( comprising camera and infrared light sources ) illuminates and observes the eyeball by way of rays of light 1011 that partially reflect off beamsplitter 1020 . beamsplitter 1020 also allows the wearer to see straight through to mirror 315 and thus see virtual light from viewfinder 340 . the eyetracker 1010 reports the direction of eye gaze and conveys this information as a signal 1012 to eye tracker processor 1030 which converts this direction into “ x ” and “ y ” coordinates that correspond to the screen coordinates of viewfinder screen 340 . these “ x ” and “ y ” coordinates , which are expressed as signal 1031 , indicate where on the viewfinder screen 340 the wearer is looking . signal 1031 and the video output 1032 of camera 730 are both passed to focus analyzer 1040 . focus analyzer 1040 selects a portion of the video signal 1032 in the neighbourhood around the coordinates specified by signal 1031 . in this way , focus analyzer 1040 ignores video except in the vicinity of where the wearer of the apparatus is looking . because the coordinates of the camera match the coordinates of the display ( by way of the virtual light principle ), the portion of video analyzed by focus analyzer 1040 corresponds to where the wearer is looking . the focus analyzer 1040 examines the high - frequency content of the video in the neighbourhood of where the wearer is looking , to derive an estimate of how well focused that portion of the picture is . this degree of focus is conveyed by way of focus sharpness signal 1041 to focus controller 1050 which drives , by way of focus signal 1051 , the servo mechanism 720 of camera 730 . focus controller 1050 is such that it causes the servo mechanism 720 to hunt around until it sharpness signal 1041 reaches a global or local maximum . the focus analyzer 1040 and focus controller 1050 thus create a feedback control system around camera 730 so that it tends to focus on whatever object ( s ) is ( are ) in the vicinity of camera and screen coordinates 1031 . thus camera 730 acts as an automatic focus camera , but instead of always focusing on whatever is in the center of its viewfinder , it focuses on whatever is being looked at by the left eye of the wearer . in addition to driving the focus of the left camera 730 , focus controller 1050 also provides a control voltage 1052 identical to the control voltage of 1051 . control signal 1052 drives servo mechanism 780 of lens 790 , so that tile apparent depth of the entire screen 340 appears focused at the same depth as whatever object the wearer is looking at . in this way , all objects in the viewfinder appear in the depth plane of the one the wearer is looking at . focus controller 1050 provides further control voltages , 1053 and 1054 for the right eye camera and right eye viewfinder , where these signals 1053 and 1054 are identical to that of 1051 . moreover , focus controller 1050 provides the same control voltage to the vergence controller 940 so that it can provide the control signal to angle the left and right assemblies inward by the correct amount , so that all focus and vergence controls are based on the depth of the object the left eye is looking at . it is assumed left and right eyes are looking at the same object , as is normal for any properly functioning human visual system . in other embodiments of the invention , it may be desired to know which object is of interest when there are multiple objects in the same direction of gaze , as might happen when the wearer is looking through a dirty glass , window . in this case there are three possible objects of interest : the object beyond the window , the object reflected in the glass , and the dirt on the window . all three may be at different depth planes but in the same gaze direction . an embodiment of the wearable camera system with a human - driven autofocus camera ( e . g . driven by eye focus ), could be made from an eye tracker that would measure the focus of the wearer &# 39 ; s left eye . preferably , however , two eyetrackers may be used , one on the left eye , and one on the right eye , in order to attempt to independently track each eye and attempt to obtain a better estimate of the desired focus by way of the vergence of the wearer &# 39 ; s eyes . a reality window manager ( rwm ), similar to that depicted in fig1 c and fig1 d , may also be driven by the eyetracker , so that there can be an independent head position ( framing ) and cursor position ( where looking ), rather than always having the cursor in the center of the viewfinder . this arrangement would also facilitate movement of the cursor without moving the head , which may reduce head movements that appear unnatural to others watching the user of the wearable camera system . the apparatus of this invention allows the wearer to experience the camera over a long period of time . for example , after wearing the apparatus sixteen hours per day for several weeks , it begins to function as a true extension of the mind and body . in this way , photographic composition is much more optimal , because the act of taking pictures or shooting video no longer requires conscious thought or effort . moreover , the intentionally of the picture - taking process is not evident to others , because picture - taking is not preceeded by a gesture such as holding a viewfinder object up to the eye . the wearable viewfinder is an important element of the wearable camera invention allowing the wearer to experience everyday life through a screen , and therefore be always ready to capture anything that might happen , or even anything that might have happened previously by virtue of the retroactive record capability of the invention . moreover , additional information beyond just exposure and shutter speed may be displayed in the camera viewfinder . for example ., the camera allows the wearer to augment , diminish , or otherwise alter his or her perception of visual reality . this mediated - reality experience may be shared . the wearer may allow others to alter his or her perception of reality . in this way the invention is useful as a new communications medium , in the context of collaborative photography , collaborative videography , and telepresence . moreover , the invention may perform other useful tasks such as functioning as a personal safety device arid crime deterrent by virtue of its ability to maintain a video dairy transmitted and recorded at multiple remote locations . as a tool for photojournalists and reporters , the invention has clear advantages over other competing technologies . from the foregoing description , it will thus be evident that the present invention provides a design for a , wearable camera with a viewfinder . as various changes can be made in the above embodiments and operating methods without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention , it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawings should be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense . variations or modifications to the design and construction of this invention , within the scope of the invention , may occur to those skilled in the art upon reviewing the disclosure herein . such variations or modifications , if within the spirit of this invention , are intended to be encompassed within the scope of any claims to patent protection issuing upon this invention . | 6 |
the following detailed description is of the best currently contemplated modes of carrying out the invention . the description is not to be taken in a limiting sense , but is made merely for the purpose of illustrating the general principles of the invention , since the scope of the invention is best defined by the appended claims . although the invention is often referred to herein as a pickleball paddle , it is understood that such description is not limiting , such that the technology in this invention may be applied in numerous other products , including but not limited to table tennis paddles , platform tennis paddles , or other similar paddles that require a durable striking head . in general , the order of the steps of disclosed processes may be altered within the scope of the invention . it should be understood that a paddle of the present invention may be used from material cut into a paddle shape , material ( such as a foam material ) molded into a paddle shape , or other suitable methods of manufacture . the processes described herein constitute a means of fabricating a paddle in such a way as to eliminate the most common potential areas of the finished product &# 39 ; s failure , by eliminating the requirement to assemble dissimilar materials by means of a mechanical process . the invention in effect creates an integral piece , without the inherent weakness and increased manufacturing complexity inherent in a process in which multiple elements are assembled . the invention applies state - of - the - art materials and processes to an existing product type , thereby enhancing production efficiency , while at the same time improving product performance and eliminating the most common causes of product failure . fig1 shows a paddle 100 made from composite material . a substantially planar member 102 ( also known as a blade , head , or other names ) may be attached at a neck 104 to a handle 106 . the handle 106 may be covered with a grip 108 , which may be secured to the neck 104 with a binding 110 . an endcap 112 may be placed at an end of the handle 106 for support and protection of the paddle 100 . fig2 illustrates a paddle 200 according to another embodiment of the present invention . the paddle may comprise a substantially planar member 202 that is a unitary piece comprising a neck 204 and a handle 206 . a grip ( for example , as shown in fig1 ) may be applied to the handle 206 . fig3 is a view in section on broken line a - a of fig2 . optionally , one or more portions of the paddle 200 , such as the planar member or the handle , may be composed of a core and a covering . an exemplary display of various layers is shown in fig4 . the body of the paddle 400 may comprise a composite core 402 and one or more covering layers 404 , 406 . a pickleball paddle may be constructed of a rigid core , a rigid foam bonded to the rigid core after solidification of the rigid foam from a liquid state , and a handle composed of the rigid core . a high - density polyurethane foam , polymer , or plastic may be reinforced with layers of fiberglass , carbon fiber , kevlar , or any other rigid material that can reinforce the foam material that surrounds and is integrated with the core . a liquid foam , polymer or plastic may be poured over or otherwise applied to woven , rigid fibers such that the foam later solidifies after intimate contact with the woven , rigid fibers , resulting in a one - piece durable material that does not require a skin to be bonded to the material . a foamed molded item , such as a core , may be used to improve responsiveness and make for a lightweight paddle by using fiber - reinforced synthetic resin for a high mechanical strength . a core material , a covering material , and an optional skin may comprise a fiber - reinforced resin matrix resin such that reinforcing fibers are impregnated which may be arranged on both sides of the core material containing reinforcing fibers in the range of reinforcing fiber tensile modulus in the surface material may be within the range of 30 - 850 gpa with 40 gpa one option . the reinforcing fiber content in the surface skin material may be in the range of 40 to 80 weight percent ( wt %) while other suitable weight percentages may be used . the core material being less dense than a resin skin material and an optional fiber - reinforced plastic sandwich panel may have overall thickness in the range of 0 . 5 - 20 mm , often within the range of 3 - 20 mm . the present invention may be practiced without a sandwich panel arrangement . a method for producing a fiber - reinforced composite of the present invention may comprise using a mold cavity filled with expandable resin particles . on the surface of the particle packing bodies may be formed by filling the cavity , impregnating a thermosetting resin in an uncured multi - layer body forming step of forming a laminate fiber reinforcement by supplying a heating medium into the mold cavity , the thermosetting resin of the uncured heating . the expandable resin particles may be heated to be foamed as well as molding a foamed item , a molding step of deforming the fiber reinforcement along a cavity inner surface shape by blowing gas onto expandable resin particles . a curing step may be applied to the surface of the foamed molding of the fiber - reinforced material by curing the thermosetting resin of the fiber reinforcement . the fiber - reinforced composite synthetic resin may comprise expandable resin particles . other materials may be used in the production method of the present invention , but not particularly limited to , for example , polycarbonate resins , acrylic resins , thermoplastic polyester resins , and polymethacrylic imide resin . these and other aspects , objects , features and advantages of the present invention are specifically set forth in , or will become apparent from , the description herein of an exemplary embodiment of the invention . the foregoing description is of the best currently contemplated modes of implementing the invention . the description is not to be taken in a limiting sense , but is made merely for the purpose of illustrating the general principles of the invention . it should be understood , of course , that the foregoing relates to exemplary embodiments of the invention , and that modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention . furthermore , a method may be performed in one or more sequences other than the sequence presented expressly herein . this material can be turned into a pickleball paddle by machining the shape of the pickleball paddle from a single sheet of material or molding the material info the shape of a pickleball paddle . the solid material can be rounded on the edges for a better appearance . examples of this material are products such as “ coosa panels ” ( available from coosa composites , llc , located at 105 pardue road , pelham , ala . 35124 , u . s . a . ); “ thermo - lite boards ” ( closed cell composite manufactured with cross - linked polymer foam and fiberglass available from spaceage synthetics , ltd ., located at 1402 39 th street nw , fargo , n . dak . 58102 , u . s . a . ); airex ® pxw closed - cell fiber - reinforced sheet of structural foam available from baltek , inc . located at 5240 national center drive , colfax , n . c . 27235 , u . s . a ., a subsidiary of 3a composites ) and 3m ™ reinforced polyurethane foam ( available from 3m company , industrial adhesives and tapes division , located at 3m center , building 225 - 3s - 06 , st . paul , minn . 55144 - 1000 , u . s . a .). application of the process and technology described herein may result in a product that can be more efficiently produced , that is more aesthetically pleasing , that provides greater consistency of function , and more reliable than products produced using other technologies . it should be understood , of course , that the foregoing relates to exemplary embodiments of the invention and that modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the following claims . furthermore , a method herein described may be performed in one or more sequences other than the sequence presented expressly herein . | 0 |
the installation shown closer in fig3 to 7 serves to fasten at least one connecting element 1 , but preferably multiple connecting elements to the end 9 of a conveyor belt 10 . the connecting elements 1 attached to the end 9 of the conveyor belt 10 are shown in fig1 and 2 . each particular connecting element 1 is u - shaped and contains a somewhat semi - circular coupling eye 2 and two fastening legs 3 and 4 with entry openings 5 and 6 in their end areas for inserting a peg - shaped fastening pin or element 7 . two connecting elements 1 each form a modular unit by being linked at those halves of the fastening legs 3 and 4 facing the entry openings 5 and 6 by a connecting bridge 8 which is indented towards the outer surface of the fastening legs 3 and 4 . in the area of the connecting bridges 8 , each particular connecting element 1 surrounds the belt end 9 of the conveyor belt 10 . the middle area of the belt end 9 is identified by the reference number 11 . on the side facing the conveyor belt 10 around their entry apertures or openings 5 and 6 , the fastening legs 3 and 4 are provided with conical annular rings 12 or 13 , which press into the conveyor belt 10 . before attaching the fastening element 7 , the u - shaped connecting element 1 is spread apart and the peg - shaped fastening element 7 only passes through the opening 6 in the fastening leg 4 . the fastening element 7 has a constant diameter along its whole length and is flattened out or blunt in its two end face areas . the fastening element 7 , shown in fig2 does not have the upset or deformed , expanded face surface profile , until after it is inserted through the entry openings 5 and 6 of the fastening legs 3 and 4 and through the conveyor belt 10 . rams 33 and 36 that will be closer described later on , deform the peg - shaped fastening element 7 on both ends , while the end extending in the direction of the insertion and thus the end assigned to the entry opening 5 is additionally contoured or smoothed . for exact positioning of the many connecting elements 1 which connect to the conveyor belt 10 , connecting elements 1 are welded together with a rod 14 ( fig2 ) which runs perpendicular to the direction of the conveyor belt 10 . fig3 represents the installation for forming the connection shown in fig1 and 2 as well as its method of operation . within the frame 15 of the installation with a cross - section that is essentially u - shaped , there is attached a stationary upper tool 16 . it supports itself on a leg 17 of the frame 15 . movably attached in the area of the opposite leg 18 of the frame 15 there is a sliding part 19 . attached between the sliding part 19 and the upper tool 16 there is , furthermore , a lower tool 20 , which is also located movably within the frame 15 . the direction of the motion of the sliding part 19 and of the lower tool 20 is indicated by the double arrow &# 34 ; a &# 34 ;. attached within the leg 18 of the frame 15 there is a double acting hydraulic cylinder 21 with a supply line 22 to the pressure chamber 23 on the cylinder side , and a supply line 24 to the pressure chamber 25 on the piston rod side . the free end of the piston rod 44 of the hydraulic cylinder 21 is linked to the sliding part 19 . located on the sliding part 19 , there is a single acting hydraulic cylinder 26 with a supply line 27 leading to its pressure chamber 28 on the cylinder side . the piston rod 29 of the hydraulic cylinder 26 rests with its free end on the side of the lower tool 20 facing away from the upper tool 16 . a spring 46 acts counter to the retraction direction of the piston rod 29 on the piston of the hydraulic cylinder 26 . the pressure pipe 27 of the hydraulic cylinder 26 is supplied by the supply line 22 of the hydraulic cylinder 21 during the reverse movement of the same , while a portion of the hydraulic oil is fed from the hydraulic cylinder 21 to the supply line 27 and drives out the piston rod 29 of the hydraulic cylinder 26 . affixed to the supply line 27 is a pressure control valve 31 , which limits the maximum pressure in the hydraulic cylinder 26 to about a half or a third of the maximum pressure in the hydraulic cylinder 21 , where the hydraulic cylinder 21 displays a significantly larger piston surface than the hydraulic cylinder 26 . when the pressure in the supply line 27 reaches or surpasses the pressure set by the pressure control valve 31 , the piston rod 29 of the hydraulic cylinder 26 is pushed inside under constant pressure . the lower tool 20 contains a multitude of bores 32 , which , relative to the plane of projection according to fig3 to 7 , are aligned behind one another and each of them serves as a receptacle for a ram 33 , which can be slid into them . in the original position shown in fig3 the specific ram 33 juts into the gap 24 formed between the lower tool 20 and the sliding part 19 . aligned with the longitudinal central axis 35 of each ram 33 , the upper tool 16 has a cone - shaped ram 36 affixed tightly to the upper tool 16 . the moveable ram 33 contains a cone - shaped , raised end 47 in alignment with the ram 36 , that means in the area of its longitudinal central axis 35 . the piston rods 29 and 44 of the hydraulic cylinders 26 and 21 , as well as the ram 33 can be slid in the direction of the double arrow &# 34 ; a &# 34 ;. for positioning the many connecting elements 1 shown in fig1 and 2 on the belt end 9 , the lower tool 20 contains several locating points 37 , which are aligned relative to the plane of projection , on the side facing the upper tool 16 , on which the fastening elements 1 , with their coupling eyes 2 facing down , can be positioned for contact with their connecting bridges 8 . the belt end 9 also is inserted with its face edge against the locating points 37 between the spread apart holding legs 3 and 4 of each connecting element 1 . between the upper tool 16 and the lower tool 20 , a pressure bar 38 is located , which extends across the area where the connecting elements 1 are affixed to the conveyor belt 10 . the pressure bar 38 contains on the side facing the lower tool 20 , an even or flat , vertically oriented pressure bar surface 39 . the pressure bar 38 can be moved vertically by a pneumatic cylinder 40 . while in the completely raised position of the pressure bar 38 , the central area of the pressure bar surface 39 is located at the height of the longitudinal central axis 35 of the ram 33 . the level or flat back side 41 of the pressure bar 38 is also vertically oriented , faces the upper tool 16 , is aligned with the contour of the upper tool 16 , and conforms to the protrusions 42 on the upper tool . protrusions 42 extend past the ram 36 and act exclusively with the indented connecting bridges 8 between each pair of connecting elements 1 . when the connecting elements 1 are bent together , flexed locating points 45 on the upper tool 16 contact the indented connecting bridge 8 between the connecting elements and so permit each connecting element 1 to slide off when the upper tool 16 is bent together . relative to the plane of projection between the upper tool 16 and the lower tool 20 , several springs 43 are aligned behind one another . with the illustrated frame 15 , there is also a clamping device 48 for pressing the belt end 9 against the lower tool 20 . the clamping device 48 contains a pneumatic cylinder 49 , which is located within the frame 15 , and a piston 50 which is double acting . the piston rod 51 , which is moveable in the direction of the double arrow &# 34 ; a &# 34 ; is linked to the piston 50 , and carries in the area of its free end a stopper 52 with a clamping area which is arranged parallel to the facing surface of the belt end 9 or the plane of belt middle area 11 . a corresponding stop plate 53 is connected to the lower tool 20 , while the clamping surface of this plate 53 is aligned with the positioning surface of the belt end 9 on the lower tool 20 . the following is a description of the operating method of the installation according to the illustrated model . in the original position according to fig3 the clamping plate 52 of the clamping device 48 is extended and pushes the belt end 9 against the clamping plate 53 of the lower tool side . furthermore , the upper tool 16 and the lower tool 20 are moved apart , and the hydraulic cylinder 26 is pressurized . the pressure bar 38 is retracted . set on top of the locating points 37 , there are connecting elements 1 , which are fixed to one another by rod 14 and which have a fastening peg 7 preset in the area of each fastening leg 4 . the belt end 9 is pushed vertically against locating points 37 and passes through the leg area of the connecting elements 1 which are spread apart . at this time , the hydraulic system of the hydraulic cylinder 21 is activated , which causes the piston rod 44 of the hydraulic cylinder 21 to extend and move the sliding part 19 . the force transferred from the hydraulic cylinder 26 by the piston rod 29 to the lower tool 20 remains static . this is because the liquid locked in the pressure chamber 28 of the hydraulic cylinder 26 cannot flow off through the line 27 until the pressure is achieved or surpassed which is set in the pressure control valve 31 . thus the sliding part 19 pushes the partially extended piston rod 29 of hydraulic cylinder 26 and the lower tool 20 toward upper tool 16 against the force of the springs 43 between the upper and the lower tools 16 , 20 . the now open connecting elements 1 , glide along bending projections 45 and are then bent over or crimped onto belt end 9 as is illustrated in fig4 . as the hydraulic cylinder 21 is further activated , it moves the ram 33 directly abutting the sliding part 19 , so as to push the peg - shaped fastening elements 7 associated with connecting elements 1 through the corresponding entry openings 5 and 6 of each connecting element 1 and through the conveyor belt 10 . the surface areas of the rams 33 and 36 act upon the opposite ends of the peg - shaped fastening elements 7 and deform them . this deformed condition is shown in fig5 . thereafter , the hydraulic cylinder 21 is operated in the opposite direction , so the hydraulic cylinder 21 retracts the sliding part 19 and reactivates the pressure chamber 28 of the hydraulic cylinder 26 via the line 22 of the hydraulic cylinder 21 . the springs 43 ensure that the lower tool 20 remains pressed against the piston rod 29 of the hydraulic cylinder 26 . the ram 33 remains in its extended position . then the pressure bar 38 is extended as shown in fig6 . subsequently , hydraulic cylinder 21 is again activated , so that the stronger hydraulic cylinder 21 moves the sliding part 19 next to the lower tool 20 against the force of the weaker hydraulic cylinder 26 and thus presses again upon the connecting elements 1 linked to the conveyor belt 10 . this occurs , because the back side 41 of the pressure bar 38 supports itself on the protrusions 42 of the upper tool 16 , and the pressure bar 38 with its pressure bar surface 39 again deforms in a sort of smoothing operation the deformed preceding end of each fastening element 7 . this condition is shown in fig7 . afterward , the hydraulic cylinder 21 is again deactivated without pressure , and the installation returns to its original position as shown in fig3 where the belt end 9 with the connecting elements 1 attached can be removed . the pneumatic control of the clamping device 48 is designed , so that during the previously mentioned driving of the lower tool 20 in the direction of the upper tool 16 , the larger force of the lower tool 20 leads to a corresponding retraction of the piston rod 51 of the pneumatic cylinder 49 , and when the lower tool 20 moves away from the upper tool 16 , the pressure activation of the pneumatic cylinder 49 causes a synchronized extension of the piston rod 51 , so that the belt end 9 is securely retained between the stopper 52 and the stop plate 53 . only when the connecting elements 1 are attached to the belt end 9 and the smoothing operation has been performed by the pressure bar 38 , is the piston rod 51 of the clamping device 48 retracted , so that the belt end 9 with its attached connecting elements 1 can be removed from the installation . | 8 |
the invention and accompanying drawings will now be discussed in reference to the numerals provided therein so as to enable one skilled in the art to practice the present invention . the drawings and descriptions are exemplary of various aspects of the invention and are not intended to narrow the scope of the appended claims . turning now to fig1 , a top schematic view of a mobile of the present invention is shown . the term mobile is used because the device may be hung so as to be viewed by an infant in a bed . however , it will be appreciated that the device can be attached to various structures in a manner such that the mobile can be readily displayed to a child while not in bed . for example , the device can be attached to the side of a crib , on a frame adjacent a booster seat or even to the back of a seat in an automobile . the mobile 10 is primarily used to hold a book 14 in an open position so as to selectively display the pages 18 of the book to a child . the mobile 10 works best with books 14 that have thick cardboard pages 18 , such as conventional infant books as this allows the book to be held open even when the book is facing downward . specialized books 14 may be provided as is desired . for example , books 14 with plastic pages 18 may be provided for use in hospitals or the like as these books may be sterilized . clamps 22 , or other retention devices are used to hold the book 14 to the body 26 of the mobile 10 . it has been discovered that most of the thick paged infant books will stay open if a small inward pressure is applied to the front and back pages of the book in the directions indicated by arrows 30 . thus , the clamps 22 compress the book somewhat in the direction 30 and aid in keeping the book open . moving the two sides of the book 14 adjacent the spine 38 of the book in the directions shown by arrows 34 will turn the pages 18 of the book , while keeping the pages open so as to display the pages of the book to a child . a motor 42 , such as a stepper motor , with an output gear 46 may be selectively rotated to move gear members 50 , 54 in the directions shown by arrows 34 to turn the pages 18 of the book 14 . the motor 42 is typically controlled by signals from a computer controller 58 which is programmed to move the motor at the desired time to turn the pages , and to move the motor the desired amount to turn a single page at a time . the mobile 10 may include memory 62 which contains the operating firmware to operate the mobile , and may also contain a battery 66 to provide power . a power jack may also be provided . the book 14 is mounted to pivotable arms 70 or some other retaining device which pivot at pivot points 74 and which are moved by the motor 42 , gear 46 , and gear elements 50 , 54 to turn the pages . it will be appreciated that the pages 18 may alternatively be turned by control levers which clip onto the pages of the book and which are selectively moved by one or more motors , or other page turning means known in the prior art . however , the present configuration is desirable because it minimizes the number of moving parts . the book may have memory storage thereon as shown in fig6 , such as flash memory or some other circuitry attached to the book or partially embedded in a cover of the book . the memory may be connected to the mobile 10 when the book is attached to the mobile . alternatively , memory may be provided separately and separately connected to the mobile as will be discussed . the mobile 10 is thus optimized for books which have thick pages , such as infants books , as these pages will hold their shape . this allows the mobile to be placed above or adjacent the crib or chair of a child so as to be seen when the child is laying on their back , or to be placed at the side of a crib or chair with the book in an upright position . also shown in fig1 is a mounting device 75 . the mounting device 75 can be used for holding the device to a conventional arm of a mobile , for attachment of the device to the side of a crib , or for holding the device to some other structure , such as a car seat . fig2 illustrates how the mobile 10 typically includes a dome cover 78 which keeps the child from contacting the book 14 or the operational mechanism of the mobile 10 . the cover 78 protects both the child and the mobile from harm or damage . the cover 78 is sized to allow the pages 18 to turn freely without contacting the cover . the cover is preferably a turn - lock cover wherein the cover can be attached by putting it in place and then rotating it a few degrees . this prevents the infant from removing the cover while making removal easy for an adult . of course , other attachment mechanisms can also be used . fig3 shows a front view of the mobile 10 , illustrating how the book 14 is easily viewed from the front of the mobile . the mobile will typically contain a speaker 82 which is used to present the audio recording to the child . alternatively , the means for presenting an audio recording may be detached from the main body of the mobile such as a separate speaker system . additionally , the mobile may also contain a light 86 . the light 86 may be used to illuminate the book 14 when the mobile is in use , allowing the room lights to be off . this may aid in drawing the child &# 39 ; s attention to the book . the light 86 will typically be directed towards the book and not towards the child , and thus may utilize a guard to prevent the light from shining at the child . additionally , the light may be mounted on a positionable arm , such as a flexible arm or an arm with joints therein , to allow the light to be properly aimed at the book . such an arm may allow the light to be better positioned to illuminate the book 14 . the light 86 may then be turned off after the book and audio recording are presented to the child to allow the child to sleep . the light 86 may also function as a nightlight or to present lighting effects such as soft changing colors if desired . the mobile 10 may also include letters , numbers , etc . ( as indicated at 90 ) which may be selectively illuminated as desired . the letters , numbers , etc . may be used as decoration , or may be used to teach the child in combination with books about letters , numbers , etc . the letters or numbers may have individual lights for illumination , or may be connected to a central light via fiber optics , etc . fig4 shows a control panel 94 of the mobile 10 . the control panel 94 may include a media reader 98 , such as a tape reader , for reading a tape , cd , or other media which contains the audio recording corresponding to the book 14 . the control panel 94 may also include a drive or port 106 for connecting flash media 110 or other media which contains the audio recording . a microphone 114 may be provided which allows a user to record the audio recording either to the tape 102 ( or cd , etc . ), flash media 110 , or onboard memory 62 . as such , the control panel 94 may include buttons such as a record bottom 118 , a stop button 122 , or a turn page button 126 which the user presses to indicate that it is time to turn the page . pressing the turn page button 126 may place an indicator signal in the audio recording which signals to the computer controller 58 that it is time to turn the page of the book . the user may thus record their own voice telling the story of a book and play the same to a child . such a configuration would allow any book to be used , and not just books produced with a specialized audio recording . the control panel may have a play button 130 , stop button 134 , or mode button 138 to control the operation of the mobile 10 . the mobile may thus be used to play the book and automatically turn off or revert to a nightlight or other mode afterwards , may be used to stop a book which is being played , may be placed into a music mode , nightlight mode , changing color mode , etc . the mobile 10 may thus be used with different types of books . the books may be conventional children &# 39 ; s story books . alternatively , the books may be books which teach letters , numbers , shapes , language skills , foreign languages , etc . many of such books may be used to educate a child . a photo album may also be used to familiarize a child with relatives . as shown in fig5 , a book 14 may be provided which has thick pages 18 and is sized for use with the mobile 10 , and which has pockets 142 formed on the pages to allow a person to place photographs or the like therein to present the same to the child . the mobile 10 allows a person to use commercially prepared books and audio recordings , and also allows a person to record a customized recording for a desired book . it is appreciated that the voice of a trusted parent may be more calming to a child than a strange voice . the media reader 98 or media drive / port 106 allow a user to record audio recordings on removable media and establish a library of books and recordings , rather than having to record the audio recording for each book every time the book is used . thus , a person may simply buy a handful of flash memory cards or tapes and record audio tracks for a number of books and have these readily available . the mobile of the present invention is desirable for parents of young children . a child may be entertained during waking hours , or the device may be used to help a child get back to sleep in the middle of the night when a parent may otherwise be too exhausted to stop and read a story to the child . the sound of the parent &# 39 ; s voice is reassuring to the child and the parent is able to go back to sleep . there is thus disclosed an improved children &# 39 ; s book mobile / entertainment device . it will be appreciated that numerous changes may be made to the present invention without departing from the scope of the claims . the appended claims are intended to cover such modifications . | 0 |
a preferred embodiment of a motorcycle fork in accordance with the invention is shown in fig1 and 2 , and is generally indicated by the numeral 10 . in general , the fork 10 comprises a frame attachment member 12 , a pair of fork blades 14 , and a pair of shrouds 16 ( only one shown ). for purposes of describing the invention , one of the fork blades 14 is shown without a shroud 16 . however , it should be appreciated that in practicing the invention , this fork blade would be partially concealed by the second shroud . the frame attachment member 12 of the fork 10 preferably comprises a hinge - pin 18 and a pair of triple trees 20 , 22 . the triple trees 20 , 22 and the hinge - pin 18 are preferably formed of metal . the configuration and use of triple trees in conjunction with motorcycle forks are widely known in the motorcycle industry and the triple trees 20 , 22 of the preferred embodiment are generally similar to those of the prior art . the triple trees 20 , 22 each include a hinge - pin opening 24 and a pair of attachment portions 26 that are symmetrically spaced from the hinge - pin opening . each attachment portion 26 of the upper triple tree 20 comprises a cylindrical through - hole 28 for attachment to one of the fork blades 14 ( shown in fig2 ). unlike typical prior art triple trees , each of the through - holes 28 of the upper triple tree 20 preferably includes a counterbore 30 . each of the attachment portions 26 of the lower triple tree 22 includes a slotted through - hole 32 , with each of the slotted through - holes 32 comprising a generally cylindrical portion 34 and a slotted portion 36 extending radially therefrom . each of the fork blades 14 generally comprises an upper support member 38 and a lower support member 40 which are preferably formed of metal . the upper support member 38 of each of the fork blades 14 is generally shaped as a solid cylindrical rod and has axially opposite upper and lower end margins 42 , 44 . the lower support member 40 of each of the fork blades 14 is an elongate member and also has an upper end margin 46 opposite a lower end margin 48 . the upper end margin 46 of the lower support member 40 has a socket that is recessed therein and is adapted for receiving the lower end margin 44 of the upper support member 38 in a telescoping manner as shown . the lower end margin 48 of the lower support member 40 comprises a lug 50 that is adapted to be secured to the axle of a front wheel of a motorcycle . the lower support member 40 further includes a brake mechanism attachment member 52 that is adapted to support the brake mechanism ( not shown ) of the motorcycle from the lower support member . although not visible in the drawings , each of the fork blades 14 also comprises one or more helical compression springs that act to bias the upper support member 38 in a particular direction relative to the lower support member 40 . in the preferred embodiment , these helical compression springs are located within the recess of each of the lower support members 40 . it is important to appreciate that the fork blades 14 are conventional prior art suspension fork blades and are fully capable of attaching the front wheel of a motorcycle to the remainder of the motorcycle and of being used in a conventional manner without the shrouds 16 hereinafter described . thus , a detailed discussion of the configuration and operation of the fork blades 14 in this specification is unnecessary . the shrouds 16 are preferably formed of metal and preferably identical to one another . for clarity , one of the shrouds 16 is shown by itself in fig3 . each shroud 16 preferably comprises a thin cylindrical wall 54 and an end cap 56 . the cylindrical wall defines an internal cavity 58 with an opening 60 at the base of the lower portion 62 of the shroud 16 , which permits access to the internal cavity 58 from below . the end cap 56 is generally “ washer - shaped ,” with a diameter and thickness substantially equal to that of the cylindrical wall 54 , and is preferably welded to the cylindrical wall in a manner such that it partially closes the top of the upper portion 64 of the shroud 16 . alternatively , the end cap 56 and cylindrical wall 54 may be of a unitary construction . an opening 66 extends through the end cap 56 and communicates with the internal cavity 58 of the shroud 16 . a generally rectangular slot 68 extends through the cylindrical wall 54 and also communicates with the internal cavity 58 of the shroud 16 . having described the various main components of the fork 10 , the method of assembling the various components will now be described . it should be appreciated that the purpose of shrouds 16 is to conceal the nature of the fork blades 14 and that , assuming the fork 10 was already being used on a motorcycle without the shrouds , the fork blades and the triple trees 20 , 22 must first be disassembled from one another and from the motorcycle by reversing the steps of their original assembly , though the upper and lower support members 38 , 40 of each of the fork blades 14 can remain attached to each other . once the fork blades 14 and the triple trees 20 , 22 have been disassembled from one another and from the motorcycle , the counterbores 30 of the attachment portions 26 of the upper triple tree 20 can be formed therein by a machining process or other means . an o - ring 70 ( preferably of an elastomeric material ) is then slid onto the upper support member 38 of each of the fork blades 14 by passing the upper end margin 42 of the upper support member through the o - ring 70 . preferably , the appropriate attachment portion 26 of the lower triple tree 22 is then inserted into the internal cavity 58 of one of the shrouds 16 by passing it through the rectangular slot 68 of the cylindrical wall 54 of the shroud . the upper support member 38 of one of the fork blades 14 is then inserted through the opening 60 at the base of the cylindrical wall 54 of the shroud and is slid upwardly into the internal cavity 58 of the shroud . during this procedure , the upper end margin 42 of the upper support member 38 of the fork blade 14 is inserted through the cylindrical portion 34 of attachment portion 26 of the lower triple tree 22 . once the fork blade 14 is fully inserted into the shroud 16 , the end cap 56 of the shroud will engage the upper support member 38 of the fork blade 14 and thereby prevent further upward movement of the fork blade relative to the shroud . this procedure is then repeated for the other fork blade 14 and the other shroud 16 . having performed the above - mentioned steps , the fork blades 14 will be connected to each other via the lower triple tree 22 , and the upper triple tree 20 is then attached to the assembly . this is preferably done by inserting the top of the shrouds 16 into the counterbores 30 of the upper triple tree 20 and by inserting bolts 72 downwardly through the through - holes 28 of the upper triple tree . each of the bolts 72 is configured to threadingly engage the upper support member 38 of the respective fork blade 14 through the opening 66 in the end cap 56 of the respective shroud 16 and to thereby clamp the end cap of the shroud between the upper support member and the upper triple tree . the attachment portions 26 of the lower triple tree 22 are also locked securely to the upper support members 20 by tightening bolts ( not shown ) that thereby reduce the width of the slotted portions 36 of the slotted through - holes 32 so as to create a clamping action . the fork 10 assembly can be reattached to the motorcycle by passing the hinge pin 18 of the frame attachment member 12 through the hinge pin openings 24 of the triple trees 20 , 22 and through the corresponding portion ( not shown ) of the motorcycle frame in a conventional manner . finally , if removed during any portion of the assembly procedure , the front wheel of the motorcycle can be reattached to the lugs 50 of the fork 10 . it should be appreciated that the above - described assembly steps could be performed in a different order . for example , the upper support member 38 of the fork blades 14 can be slid upwardly partially into the internal cavity 58 of the shroud 16 prior to the insertion of the attachment portion 26 of the lower triple tree 22 into the internal cavity . as an additional example , the assembly of one fork blade 14 to the triple trees 20 , 22 could be entirely or only partially completed prior to the assembly of the other fork blade . as assembled , the shrouds 16 conceal the upper support members 38 of the fork blades 14 and provide the false appearance of being structural members themselves . to facilitate this false appearance , the rectangular slot 68 through the cylindrical wall 54 of each shroud 16 is preferably dimensioned only large enough to allow the attachment portion 26 of the lower triple tree 22 to extend therethrough . additionally , as shown in the drawing figures , the lower portions 62 of the shrouds overlap the upper end margins 46 of the lower support members 40 slightly such that the lower support members are each telescopically received in the internal cavity 58 of one of the shrouds through the opening 60 at the base of the respective shroud . preferably , the diameter of each of the o - rings 70 is slightly larger than the inner diameter of the cylindrical wall 54 of the shroud 16 in a manner so that it is radially compressed between the upper support member 38 and the cylindrical wall and thereby maintains the lower portion 62 of the shroud in alignment with the upper support member . additionally , the diameter of the cylindrical wall 54 of each shroud 16 is configured to be only slightly larger than the diameter of the upper end margin 46 of the lower support member 40 to provide the false appearance of the lower support member being slideably engaged with the shroud . however , it should be appreciated that the lower support members 40 remain slideably engaged with the upper support members 38 and that it is the upper support members 38 that actually transmit loads between the motorcycle and its front wheel in a manner independent of the shrouds 16 . in view of the foregoing , it should be apparent and appreciated the shrouds provide an economical means for disguising the type of front suspension on a motorcycle . additionally , it should be appreciated that the shrouds do not interfere in any way with the operation of the structural components of the suspension system . in view of the above , it can be seen that the present invention overcomes problems associated with the prior art and achieves other advantageous results . as various changes could be made without departing from the scope of the invention , it is intended that all matter contained in the above description and shown in the accompanying drawings be interpreted as illustrative and not limiting . it should be understood that other configurations of the present invention could be constructed , and different uses could be made , without departing from the scope of the invention as set forth in the following claims . furthermore , it should be understood that when introducing elements of the present invention in the claims or in the above description of the preferred embodiment of the invention , the terms “ comprising ,” “ including ,” and “ having ” are intended to be open - ended and mean that there may be additional elements other than the listed elements . | 1 |
referring now to fig1 , a corrective apparatus is attached to adjacent vertebrae 2 of a spine with scoliosis . each vertebrae 2 includes a growth plate 3 . a screw 4 having a head 5 is attached to each of the vertebrae 2 . a bore is first drilled through the vertebrae , and then the screw is inserted into the bore . the screws 4 are hydroxyapatite coated to provide a biological fix capable of being maintained over several years . the screws have a shallow thread depth and a long pitch . the shallow thread depth allows maximum screw strength for a given screw diameter and facilitates screw removal as each screw is over - drilled prior to removal . the only difference between the screw of apparatus 1 and screws currently used for attachment to bone lies in the head 5 . the screw head 5 is provided with attachment means for attachment of a slide element 6 including an internal bore 7 in which a rod 8 slides ( see fig7 a to 7 f for a more detailed description . the rod 8 is curved , the radius of curvature being calculated to correct the angle of curvature ∂ of the spine between the adjacent vertebrae shown . it will be noted that the slide elements 6 are set at an angle to the screw heads 5 . the angle is ∂/ 2 . this provides the maximum room for the rod 8 , and therefore permits rods having smaller radii of curvature ( i . e . more aggressive correction ) than if the slide elements are on axis with the screw heads 5 , and the angle of curvature ∂ is taken up by the rod 8 alone . as the child grows , the adjacent vertebrae grow resulting in the distance between the screws 4 increasing . as the slide elements 6 are attached to the screw heads 5 , the distance between the two slide elements increases . due to the fixation of the slide element to the screw head 5 and the screw 4 to the vertebrae 2 , the vertebrae must move in an arc corresponding to the shape of the rod 8 . this arcuate movement of the vertebrae 2 not only moves the vertebrae closer to a normal position , i . e . adjacent vertebrae lying on substantially on the same axis , but also further stimulates this corrective growth by reducing pressure on the growth plate 3 remote from the slide element 6 . as mentioned above , growth is more rapid where the pressure on a growth plate is reduced . as pressure is reduced at one end of the growth plate 3 , it is commensurately increased on the other side of that growth plate . the recovery to normal alignment of adjacent vertebrae is therefore enhanced . in fig2 , the apparatus has been in place for some time . as the child has grown , the distance between the screws 4 has increased , and only the ends of the rod 8 are located in the bores 7 in the slide elements 6 . the scoliosis has been corrected . referring to fig3 , a spine with a scoliosis curve is fitted with apparatus 1 , as shown in fig1 and 2 , between each adjacent vertebrae . the angle between adjacent vertebrae ranges between 0 - 5 degrees in the lower section a of the spine , 0 to 2 degrees in the mid section b , and 5 to 10 degrees in the upper section c of the spine . the curvature of any individual rod between adjacent vertebrae can be selected to match the degree of angular deformity at that location , thereby providing for much more refined treatment of scoliosis than is possible with apparatus of the prior art . furthermore , by using an individual corrective rod for each pair of adjacent vertebrae , the force due to growth on any one screw 4 ( fixation point ) is only the force exerted by one growth plate , and therefore is comparatively small . if correction of a scoliosis using known apparatus which fix rods to the spine only at the top and bottom thereof were attempted , the fixation points proximally and distally rods would have to withstand the force due to growth generated by each of the growth plates , and would result in comparatively large forces on the fixation points . in the apparatus of the invention the force generated by each growth plate is harnessed locally in the construct spreading the forces on the screws 4 ( the fixation elements ) evenly . in fig3 , the vertebrae x and x ″ are separated by a vertebra x ′. apparatus 1 is fitted to the vertebrae x and x ″. vertebra x ′ is fitted with an attachment ( illustrated in fig3 b ) comprising a threaded shank 4 a and a head in the form of an eye 5 a . the rod 8 slides in the eye 5 a and a corrective force is exerted on the vertebra x ′. referring to fig4 a , an alternative rod 10 is illustrated . as well as being curved , the rod 10 comprises a track 11 . in fig4 b , there is shown a slide element 12 . the bore 13 in which the rod 10 slides includes a channel 14 in which the track 11 slides . the track 11 has a pitch so that as the rod 10 is drawn out of the slide element 12 the rod is caused to rotate about its own axis a - a . this feature allows for the apparatus of the invention to correct rotational misalignment between adjacent vertebrae . as will be clear from fig4 a , in order to correct for rotational misaligment , there must be no rotational movement between the rod and the slide element in which the rod is located . as an alternative to a track running along a rod of substantially circular cross - section , the rod could have a non - circular cross - section , for example square , and this could run in a slide element having a correspondingly shaped bore . the rod 10 illustrated in fig4 a is marked at each end with indicia to tell the surgeon which way round the rod should be inserted . the arrow points towards the apex of the scolosis . fig5 a to 5 d assist in explaining how the apparatus of the invention can be used to correct skeletal misalignments other than in the spine . fig5 a illustrates a normal foot , where the bones of the lateral ray ( see fig5 c ) lie on an axis l - l , and the bones of the medial ray ( see fig5 d ) lie on an axis m - m . fig5 b illustrates a dub foot , where instead of all the bones of the lateral ray lying on the axis l - l , only the calcaneus 21 of the lateral ray lies on this axis , the cuboid 22 and metatarsal 23 lying on an axis l ′- l ′ set at an angle y to the axis l - l . in the case of the medial ray , instead of all the bones 24 to 27 thereof lying on the axis m - m , only the talus 24 of the medial ray lies on this axis . the navicular 25 , the inner cuneiform 26 and the metatarsal 27 lie on an axis m ′- m ′ set at an angle z to the axis m - m . the misalignment of the lateral and medial rays of the club foot illustrated in fig5 b can be corrected by attaching the apparatus 1 illustrated in fig1 to 4 to the bones 21 and 22 of the lateral ray and bones 24 and 25 of the medial ray . the radius of curvature of the rod 8 and bores 7 must be selected to match the angle of misalignment y or z respectively . the forefoot supination pronation profile could be corrected by a rotational component built into the rod . the rotational misalignment between the talus and calcaneus in club foot could be corrected by an arrangement of the type illustrated in fig4 a , 4 b is required . the relationship of the talus to the tibia could also be addressed . as well as being used to correct misalignment between bones , the apparatus of the invention can also be used to correct some deformities occurring within a bone . for example , some conditions such as perthes disease and developmental dysplasia of the hip ( ddh ) lead to rotation of the femur , which currently is corrected by breaking the femur , rotating one part of the broken femur relative to the other and rejoining the two parts of the bone . as part of treatment for various diseases reshaping the femur may be desirable . instead of performing a varus derotation osteotomy the same effect could be obtained gradually using this device . as can be seen from fig6 , the femur 30 comprises an upper part 32 which includes the ball part 33 of the ball and socket hip joint , and a lower part 31 . the lower and upper parts 31 , 32 are either side of a growth plate 34 . the apparatus of the invention can be used to generate a torsional force on the femur , which can be used to correct a developing torsional deformity . a screw 35 is inserted into each of the lower and upper parts 31 , 32 of the femur . attached to these screws are slide elements 36 , each including a bore 37 in which a curved rod slides . as the child grows , the distance between the screws 35 increases and the shaped of the rod 38 causes a torsional force to be exerted on the lower part 31 with respect to the upper part 32 of the femur , thereby causing the deformity to be corrected . this use of the apparatus of the invention is particularly useful as the outcome of an osteotomy ( breaking and re - setting a bone ) is not always as successful as would be desirable . also , in cases of minor deformity , such as rotational deformities in the lower limb , the risks of a major operation may be considered too great given the level of disability . the risks associated with fitting apparatus of the invention are very low , and therefore the invention could be used to treat patients having minor deformities . fig7 a to 7 f illustrate a locking arrangement for locking a slide element to a screw . fig7 a illustrates a slide element 40 . extending from one end thereof is a first part of a locking element , which consists of a semi - circular portion 41 having a bore 42 located in its flat surface . fig7 b illustrates a second slide element 43 . extending from one end is the second part of the locking element , which consists of a semi - circular portion 44 having a protrusion 45 extending from its flat surface . the protrusion 45 is dimensions so as to mate with the bore 42 . the main body 42 a of the slide element 40 may be set at an angle to the semi - circular portion 41 , and likewise the main body 44 a of the slide element 43 may be set at an angle to the semi - circular portion 44 . a range of slide elements may be produced , the angle between the main body and the semi - circular portion that engages with the screw head 48 being different . a slide element would then be selected to match the angular displacement of the bones whose position is to be corrected . fig7 c and 7 d illustrate a screw 46 having a threaded shaft 47 and a head 48 . a pair of slide elements 40 , 43 is attached to the screw 46 illustrated in fig7 c and 7 d . when the protrusion 45 of the second locking element mates with the bore 42 of the first locking element , the two elements form a circular cross - section . the screw head 48 includes a semi - circular surface 51 upon which the outer surface of the first locking element rests . the first and second locking elements 41 , 44 and hence the slide elements 40 and 43 of which they form a part ate held tightly in the screw head 48 by an externally threaded nut 50 which mates with an internally threaded wall 49 of the said screw head 48 . fig7 e and 7 f illustrate first and second end pieces 51 and 53 including a protrusion 52 and bore 54 respectively . the protrusion 52 of end piece 51 engages with the bore 42 of slide element 40 , so that the slide element can be locked to a screw head 48 without the attachment of the slide element 43 . similarly , the protrusion 45 of the slide element 43 engages with the bore 54 of the end piece 53 , so that the slide element 43 can be locked in place in a screw head . where the apparatus is being used to correct a torsional deformity , the screw head and the outer surfaces of the locking elements must not allow rotation therebetween . this could be achieved by making the semi - circular surfaces 42 , 44 and the inner surface 55 of the screw head rectangular for instance . fig8 illustrates a slide element 60 including a bore 62 in which a rod may slide . the slide element 60 has a main body 61 and an end piece 62 mounted telescopically therein . the end piece 62 includes grooves 63 which engage with protrusions 64 to define the direction in which the end piece may move , and the extent of such movement the end piece 62 also mounts an element 65 which locks into a screw head in a similar manner to that illustrated in fig7 a to 7 f the apparatus is fitted to a patient such that the end - piece is fully extended . when the bones to which the apparatus is fitted ate under load , for example when standing , the end piece 62 slides into the main body 61 . this ensures that the bones carry load , which is important to minimise stress shielding of the bone and reduce stresses on the implant . the apparatus of the invention may be used on adults where no growth is expected , in which case the rods are fixed , rather than slidable , with respect to the screws fixed to the bones . the apparatus would typically be used in operations to fuse together vertebrae and its purpose would be to hold the spine in the desired shape whilst the vertebrae fused together . whereas the apparatus described with reference to fig1 comprises a rod slidably mounted in adjacent slide elements , the apparatus illustrated in fig9 a and 9 b comprises a first element 100 which includes a bore 102 and a second element 101 which includes a rod 103 . the rod 103 slides in the bore 102 and is attached to a block 104 which is itself attachable to a vertebrae in the same manner as illustrated in fig1 . a threaded bore 105 is provided in wall 106 of the first element 100 , the threaded bore 105 receiving a grub screw 107 that is adjustable to either permit or prevent the rod 103 sliding in the bore 102 . in use the first and second elements 100 , 101 are attached to fixation points provided by fixation device , such as those illustrated in fig1 and 2 . the second element 101 is typically attached to a fixation point below the fixation point to which the first element 100 in the bore 102 of which the rod 103 slides . as the person grows , the deformity is corrected due to the angle of curvature of the rod . once a defined amount of growth has occurred the corrective effect of the device may be reduced or removed by providing one or both ends of the rod with a taper which permits lateral movement between the rod and the bore in which it slides . with reference to fig1 and 2 and 9 a an 9 b , deformity correction is achieved by placing the device in under tension , that is adjacent vertebrae are brought together and the device fitted achieving as much correction as is possible at implantation , and then the residual deformity correction is achieved by 5 mm of growth at that motion segment . deformity in the coronal plane and control of extent of kyphosis or lordosis ( saggittal plane ) is achieved by cutting the rod and bore ( s ) in an arc such that 5 mm movement along the circumference of the arc / circle would give the appropriate angular correction . thus if 10 degrees correction was required with 5 mm movement : 10 degrees is 1 / 36 of a circle 5 mm is 1 / 36 of circumference of required circle 180 mm is circumference of circle required to give 10 degrees correction with 5 mm movement 2πr = circumference = 180 r = 180 / 2π mm similarly any corrective angle can be calculated for a movement of a particular distance . rotational correction is addressed by means of a spiral in the rod and bore ( see fig4 a and 4 b ). the distances between the screws after insertion and tensioning would be expected to be about 2 cm in the thoracic spine and 3 cm in the lumbar spine in young adolescents and correspondingly smaller in younger children . the screw diameter used in the vertebral body would be as large as possible for maximum strength and need at least 12 mm of length in each rod to attach to the modular rod . ( assuming 9 mm screw with 3 mm extra for locking mechanism ) for a lordoscoliosis a few degrees of kyphosis would be desirable at each level and also a few degrees of rotation would be desirable . with reference to fig1 to 3 a and 9 a and 9 b , when correcting a deformity requiring the rod and slide element to move apart , the power of growth alone may not be sufficient in all cases to drive elongation of the implant so it may be necessary to insert a driver device in to the rod to push the two components of the device apart . this could take the form of a spring or an osmotic pressure device inserted into the lumen / bore of the outer rod and pushing on the end of the inner rod . the driver device would provide a continuous / constant pressure helping to elongate the device as growth occurred . the device of the invention may also be used in the correction of scoliosis in skeletally mature patients . the correction of scoliosis with modern pedicle screw , hook , rod systems is achieved by loading the spine to reduce it to the desired configuration using a combination of stress relaxation of the tissues and flexibility of the deformity to achieve correction . these instrumentation systems do not however allow accurate segmental correction , eg the rod rotation technique does not derotate the spine but rather tends to rotate it more in the direction of the deformity . the device of the invention described for use as a growing rod can be used as a means of accurately realigning spinal segments in adult scoliosis correction . the device is designed so that when it is extended it fits on to the deformed spine between adjacent vertebral fixation points , such as pedicle screws ( see fig9 a ). when the rod is compressed it shortens and realigns the segments to the desired configuration ( fig9 b ). it is then locked in this configuration using the grub screw 107 . the realignment of the spinal segments can be performed in the coronal , saggittal and rotational planes simultaneously using this method . the device used at a particular level will give the required saggittal profile for that segment and derotate and compress the segment so as to achieve a near anatomical spinal alignment . the device of the invention allows the spine to be realigned much more accurately on a segmental basis with derotation at each level . moreover the spine could always be instrumented on the convex side first where the pedicles are larger and stronger and further away from the spinal cord . segmental correction as described could give a better cosmetic result by derotating the ribs helping reduce the size of the residual rib hump and would allow each level to be adjusted several times to gain the maximum curve reduction by better utilising the stress relaxation properties of the spine . for example , using the embodiment illustrated in fig9 a and 9 b , the deformity between adjacent vertebrae could be corrected as far as is possible and the grub screw 107 tightened . the tissues around the vertebrae then relax permitting further correction of the deformity . when used in the correction of deformity in skeletally mature patients the device may be made of titanium , which is the material commonly used in scoliosis implants , as the implant is used in a locked configuration and hence no bearing / movement is involved once the procedure has been completed . also its bearing surfaces do not need to be highly polished ( as they would need to be in the growing rod implant ). this implant system of the invention can be applied to the deformed spine and then gradually tensioned to slowly and systematically reduce the spinal deformity . this will make reduction of large curves easier as the difficulties with reducing the spine to the rod and the risk of implant pullout in that process will be greatly reduced . thus the instrumented spine can be tensioned at each level and a gradual reduction achieved with avoidance of stress peaks on individual bone fixation points and more fully utilising the spine &# 39 ; s stress relaxation properties . this technique may be of particular benefit in procedures where a vertebrectomy has been required . the implant would provide stability during the vertebrectomy and then allow a gradual controlled reduction . | 0 |
the embodiments disclosed by the invention are only examples of the many possible advantageous uses and implementations of the innovative teachings presented herein . in general , statements made in the specification of the present application do not necessarily limit any of the various claimed inventions . moreover , some statements may apply to some inventive features but not to others . in general , unless otherwise indicated , singular elements may be in plural and vice versa with no loss of generality . in the drawings , like numerals refer to like parts through several views . certain exemplary embodiments discussed herein allow providing personalization of a home page of a web browser based on user identifiers . the user identifiers are collected in order to enable identification of preferences of the user , preferably as a user profile . based on the identifiers of a user , a home web page , a blog web page , or a newsletter is dynamically created and thereafter updated . the personalized web page or the newsletter is divided into a plurality of sub - areas that highlight both objective and subjective presences of information with respect of the user &# 39 ; s identifiers . the personalized web page provides information to the user that may include news , widgets , e - mails , games and the likes . the information in the homepage includes textual information , pictures , videos and the like . fig1 depicts an exemplary and non - limiting schematic block diagram of a system 100 implemented in accordance with the principles of the invention . an identifier generator and manager ( igm ) 110 is enabled to generate identifiers that provide unique identifications respective of a user . identifiers may be uniquifiers ; an uniquifier generator and manager ( ugm ) 410 , is described herein below in more detail , providing an insight into an exemplary and non - limiting embodiment of an igm 110 . in one embodiment of the invention the identifiers together comprise a user profile representing the user that is using the system . the auto - discovery and management unit 120 collects information , for example , news , widgets , and other sources of information , from a plurality of sources , including but not limited to sources that are frequently visited by the user . the collection is done , for example , by means of interfaces with information out 124 , and information in 122 . for example , for the purpose of discovery and / or registration the system 100 tracks the browsing history of the user and automatically registers and / or associates the user with feeds , web pages and the like in which the user browsed and showed an interest . then , using the identifiers as determined by the igm 110 and through a process of query 114 and answer 116 , the system determines the importance of the information and relevancy thereof , to the user . it may further be determined if the specific context of the user may be , for example , information relevant during work hours which may be different from information sought during other times . the unit 120 further determines if the information provided is objective information of importance , or subjective information of importance . this is done by defining information that was determined by an external source as being objective . therefore , the unit 120 defines as objective information such information that was , for example , determined by a news editor as being of high importance based , for example , on the information being in the first few items of news displayed as at least a portion of a home page or web portal . this news is also correlated with the identifiers of the user to determine the relevancy to the user , and if so , it is determined to be objective information of relevance to the user . other news , which was not objectively determined as being of high importance is also processed by the unit 120 and may be also determined as being of interest to the user . however , these are subjective pieces of news , as they may be interesting to the particular user but not considered to be interesting on a more general basis . the customized information gathered by the unit 120 and determined to be relevant to the user is provided to the home page generator 140 that generates a web page , preferably a local home page , for a particular browser of choice that can display the gathered information . the customized information may include customized information feeds ( e . g ., rss feeds , rss 2 . 0 , atom syndication format , and so on ) that are input to the home page generators through an interface 126 . the teachings of generating customized information feeds are provided below . a browser 150 connected to the home page generator 140 displays the generated web page on an appropriate display ( not shown ) of the system 100 . the browser 150 is further equipped with plug - in ( pi ) sensors 155 that may be used by the igm 110 as an input and to further refine the identifiers of the user . according to the principles of the invention , the objective information is displayed in one area of the home page while the subjective information is displayed in another area of the home page , such that the two types of information are displayed distinctively from each other in different areas of the page . an interface 130 enables the transfer of information between the igm 110 , unit 120 , home page generator 140 and browser 150 as may be necessary for the proper operation of the disclosed system . the plug - in ( pi ) sensors 155 provide sensory information from the browser 150 to the igm 110 by means of sensor interfaces 112 . while a home page is described herein , this should not be viewed as a limitation , and other web pages , e . g ., blog web pages , may be used for this purpose . it should be further noted that the home page generator 140 may periodically refresh and update the objective display area and the subjective display area with new information gathered by the unit 120 , which may add , delete or differently position any portion of the information displayed . in one embodiment of the invention the system generates periodically a newsletter that comprises both objective and subjective display areas that can be shared with other users . for example , it may contain a plurality of items in each of the display categories that are ranked highest in that period of time . fig2 provides a schematic diagram 200 that describes the operational layers of the system 100 . the personalization framework 210 provides personalization services , e . g ., the identifiers that provide characteristics of the user of the system as shown with respect to the igm 110 . the discovery and management framework 220 contacts the personalization framework 210 to enable the application of the identifiers characterizing the user to determine information that is of relevance to the user based on the system and user requirements . the presentation framework 230 is responsible for the generation of a web home page presentable by a browser that has a layout that provides the user with desirable information presented prominently and is further able to accept communication from the user . the browsing framework 240 presents to the user the personalized home page and is further enabled to provide sensory information to the personalization framework 210 . it should be noted therefore that the personalization framework 210 receives information from various user sensors , performs semantic analysis , and builds , if applicable , a user profile . the discovery and management framework 220 identifies feeds that are relevant to the user , periodically fetches the feeds and filters their content , monitors hot trends and fetches hot data relevant to the user according to the user profile , and , fetches relevant video / audio content from a myriad of sources such as , but not limited to , youtube ®, facebook ® and other sources . the presentation framework 230 taps the discovery and management framework 220 for data to be displayed to the user which include , but are not limited to , feed items determined to be of interest to the user , top portal headlines , topics relevant to the user profile , and shortcuts to recently accessed information . the browsing framework 240 presents the personalized homepage to the user , sends user actions respective of the personalized homepage to the presentation framework 230 , and sends sensory information about the user &# 39 ; s activity to the personalization framework 210 . it should therefore be appreciated that generally , the personalization framework 210 corresponds to the igm 110 , the discovery and management framework 220 to the unit 120 , the presentation framework 230 to the home page generator 140 , and the browsing framework 240 to the browser 150 and the pi sensors 155 . it should be further appreciated that the information platform system 100 can present information from a myriad of sources that are customized and personalized automatically as explained herein . furthermore , while the presentation of feeds , widgets , games , advertisements , and so on is described herein , it should be also understood that these may fade out in a similar way as the web page gets updated and their relevance decreases to the user . in one embodiment of the invention the system 100 auto - discovers sources of data that may be or are trusted by the user , filters the data based on the user &# 39 ; s behavior and interest and auto - creates widgets , for example but without limitation , with topics , pictures , videos , twits and news items such as facebook ®, youtube ®, television shows , and so on . fig3 depicts an exemplary and non - limiting flowchart 300 describing the process of creating a home page for information gathered for a user in accordance with the principles of the invention . in s 310 information is received by the system , for example the unit 120 of system 100 . in s 320 the information is compared against the user &# 39 ; s identifiers , a user profile , and / or uniquifiers . the identifiers may be generated for the user in igm 110 . in s 330 it is checked if the information received has a degree of fit with the identifiers of the user , the user profile , and / or uniquifiers . if so execution continues with s 340 ; otherwise , execution continues with s 380 . in s 340 the type of information is determined as further explained above , i . e ., whether the information received is of an objective nature or a subjective nature . the information may then be tagged , for example , by means of metadata , as being of one type or another . in s 350 it is checked whether the information is objective , and if so in s 360 the information is placed in the home page to be displayed to a user in the display area for objective data . in one embodiment this information may be further ranked to ensure it is displayed at a position which generally would fit the importance a user may give to such information based on , for example , the user &# 39 ; s identifiers ( and in one embodiment with the user profile ). if s 350 results with a ‘ no ’ answer , then in s 370 the information is placed in the home page to be displayed to a user in the display area for subjective data . in one embodiment this information may be further ranked to ensure it is displayed at a position which generally would fit the importance a user may give to such information based on , for example , the user &# 39 ; s identifiers ( and in one embodiment with the user profile ). in s 380 it is checked whether additional information is to be received and if so execution continues with s 310 ; otherwise , execution terminates . it should be noted that s 360 and s 370 may further enable additional functionality with respect to the display of information to the user . for example , ranking may take place at each refresh cycle of the display of the page so as to update the position of any given piece of information to suit the change in information input , time elapsed , change in an interest of the user , the user context , the source of the information or origin thereof , and the like . the display of information in each display area , subjective or objective , may be further accompanied with a snippet of information from the sourced information . in practice not the all of the information may be shown in such a snippet . to determine the most desirable snippet a plurality of potential snippets from an information source may be generated and then checked against the identifiers , the user profile , and / or uniquifiers of the user , using again the process of query 114 and answer 116 to determine the snippet which would best fit the user &# 39 ; s identifiers , the user profile , and / or uniquifiers . this ensures that information displayed to the user in a display area will also be the most meaningful to the user based on the user &# 39 ; s own dynamically changing identifiers , the user profile , and / or uniquifiers . an exemplary and non - limiting layout of a customized home web page 900 of objective and / or subjective data displayed on a browser is shown in fig9 . a plurality of items 910 , preferably comprising an image 912 and a corresponding snippet 914 , are displayed on the home page 900 . for example , an item 910 - 1 comprises an image 912 - 1 and a corresponding snippet 914 - 1 . the selection of which item 910 is displayed is based on the principles discussed hereinabove , for example with respect to fig3 . based on the user &# 39 ; s identifiers , and / or user profile , and / or uniquifiers , the selection of the item 910 and ranking in the list to be displayed is determined . in one embodiment of the invention the items 910 are selected such that there is a distribution between different topics determined to be of interest to the user based on the user &# 39 ; s identifiers , and / or user profile , and / or uniquifiers . the personalized home page 900 may further contain thumbnails 922 of favorite sites 920 of the user . a favorite site , for example site 922 - 1 , may be selected based on the popularity of use by the user . however , in one embodiment of the invention a favorite site may be determined for the user based on the user &# 39 ; s identifiers , and / or user profile , and / or uniquifiers and / or navigation history . the personalized home page 900 may further include a section of topics 930 . in one embodiment of the invention a home page may be a web portal . a topic is an area of interest identified based on unlabeled identifiers of the user . an unlabeled identifier is information respective of the user that typically cannot be labeled in advance of the collection of information . for example , the age , name , geographic zone , and other similar items are labeled identifiers because they can be easily determined in advance of the operation of gathering information about the user . when the information becomes available , it is easily associated with the desired label . other information , for example interest in a specific sporting event or a specific musical instrument , are unlabeled identifiers because it is not known in advance if such a topic should be even identified , and even if it is , the information leading to such a conclusion is at best indirect and unclear . a topic 932 , for example topic 932 - 1 , preferably comprises an image 934 - 1 representative of the unlabeled topic , and a description 936 - 1 determined to be descriptive of the topic 932 based on the user &# 39 ; s identifiers , and / or user profile , and / or uniquifiers . a click on a topic opens another home web page that provides a plurality of items , such as items 910 , which correspond olely to the topic selected . this enables a user to get additional items respective of a topic of interest to the user . specifically , by clicking on the desired topic the user will be able to access items 910 determined to be of interest to the user on the topic basis but that have not made it as a topic 910 of the home page 900 main page . the home web page 900 generated is embodied in a storage medium for viewing and manipulation through a display on which the home page is displayed , and other input and output components made available thereto . fig4 shows an exemplary and non - limiting schematic block diagram of a system 400 constructed in accordance with the principles of the invention . the system 400 comprises an uniquifier generator and manager ( ugm ) 410 and an auto - discovery and management ( adm ) unit 420 . the system 400 may be embodied in a user device such as , but not limited to , a personal computer ( pc ), a personal digital assistant ( pda ), a mobile phone , a smart phone , and the like . the ugm 410 receives a plurality of sensory information through sensor inputs 412 and generates uniquifiers of two types , one type being the labeled uniquifiers ( lus ) and the other type being the unlabeled uniquifiers ( uus ). an uniquifier is a piece of information that provides unique information about the user of the user device . the ugm 410 receives queries through interface 414 and provides answers thereto through interface 416 . the adm unit 420 is enabled to provide queries to ugm 410 respective of information streams , and specifically information streams that are really simple syndication ( rss ) feeds . by extracting data from the rss feed , the adm unit 420 generates a query to the ugm 410 checking whether such data fits the uniquifiers of the user using a user device . based on the answers provided by the ugm 410 to the adm unit 420 , the unit 420 may register to a rss feed that is potentially of interest to a user based on the user &# 39 ; s uniquifiers . conversely , the adm 420 unit , when appropriate , relinquishes registration to the rss feed when the user &# 39 ; s interests change as shown based on the uniquifiers or other checks as further described below . moreover , a user profile that is a combination of uniquifiers may change over time , for example , the time of day , day of week , or other basis for change , or even , for example , the football season for sports but not outside of that period . that is , the user profile is used as a different context of the user &# 39 ; s use of the user device . the change of a user profile may impact the retrieval of data from a rss feed . furthermore , as data is provided from a rss feed to which the user was registered by the system 400 , it is possible to check if such data is of interest to the user based on the user &# 39 ; s uniquifiers , by presenting queries to ugm 410 . as the operation of the system 400 continues , sensory information is gathered through the sensor inputs 412 , and hence a continuous feedback loop is provided . therefore , if a user shows certain interest in some rss feed data over others , this will in turn impact the user &# 39 ; s uniquifiers as detected by the ugm 410 and hence refine the type of data the user receives from rss feeds . a person with ordinary skill in the art would readily realize that the system 400 is a private case of the more general system 100 described hereinabove . specifically , in an embodiment of the invention , the ugm 410 is an implementation of igm 110 and the unit 420 is a private case of the discovery and management unit 120 described hereinabove . fig5 shows an exemplary and non - limiting block diagram 500 depicting the adm unit 420 internals . the adm unit 420 is comprised of three engines : a discovery engine ( de ) 520 , a filtering engine ( fe ) 530 and a feedback engine ( fbe ) 540 . data from each of these engines may be exchanged with a storage device 510 . the de unit 520 is responsible for creating a list of information streams , such as rss feeds , and selecting those feeds which are potentially of interest to the user of the user device . a more detailed discussion of the operation of the de 520 is provided with respect of fig6 . the list of approved information streams is provided to fe 530 and included in the approved information streams as well as their respective registration information . the fe 530 can log on and off of each and every approved information stream and filter the data that is provided by that stream . the fe 530 exchanges data with rss feed services through the interfaces 422 and 424 . data output from the fe 530 is provided to the user device for the purpose of , for example , display on the user device over interface 426 . a detailed discussion of the operation of fe 530 is provided with respect of fig7 . the data provided by the fe 530 is also provided to the fbe 540 that is responsible for checking the user &# 39 ; s response to the data provided by the fe 530 . such monitoring of responses may be done by using the sensory information provided by the ugm 410 over an interface 430 , or otherwise by other means that enable the tracking of the user interaction with the data being supplied . by monitoring the actual usage made by the user of the user device it is possible to determine if it is necessary to maintain a registration to a feed or if it would be better for the feed to be removed from the approved list of information streams . a more detailed discussion of the operation of the fbe 540 is provided with respect of fig8 . fig6 depicts an exemplary and non - limiting flowchart 600 of the process of discovery of rss feeds implemented in accordance with the principles of the invention that is performed by de 520 . it should be noted that while rss feeds or sources are mentioned specifically with respect of this exemplary embodiment , other information feeds may benefit from the principles discussed herein below , as well as with respect to fig7 and 8 below , and as such should not be viewed as limiting upon the scope of the invention . in s 610 an rss feed is selected from a plurality of possible rss feeds . the list of possible rss feeds may be provided to the adm unit 420 from an external source , or otherwise developed by the adm unit 420 by , for example and without limitation , crawling web pages for detection of rss feeds . in s 620 the selected rss feed is registered to the user by de 520 , automatically , without involvement of the user , thereby relieving the user from any need or knowledge of such registration . in s 630 data is received from the registered potential rss feed . the data received from the potential rss feed is checked against the uniquifiers of the user by accessing the ugm 410 by means of a query over interface 414 and receiving answers over interface 416 . in s 640 it is checked whether the answer received from the ugm 410 with respect to the query for the data received from the potential rss feed matches one or more of the user &# 39 ; s uniquifiers , and if so execution continues with s 650 ; otherwise , execution continues with s 660 . in s 650 de 520 stores the registration information of the potential rss feed , now being a qualified rss feed , in a selected rss feed list , stored for example in the storage device 510 . such a qualified rss feed is expected to have content that , according to the check made , fits the user &# 39 ; s needs . in s 660 the rss feed , found in s 640 to not match user needs , is released either permanently or temporarily by either disconnecting from the rss feed and maintaining the registration or otherwise , by completely canceling registration to that the rss feed . in one embodiment of the invention an additional period of monitoring the data provided from the rss feed is provided , so as to check the relevance of the feed for the user of the user device over an extended period of time . by doing so , it is ensured that the user receives rss feed content which is relevant to the user &# 39 ; s needs . in s 670 it is checked whether more rss feeds are to be checked , and if so execution continues with s 610 ; otherwise , execution terminates . it should be noted that while uniquifiers are used with respect to the above mentioned descriptions , identifiers or other user profile attributes may be used for this purpose without departing from the scope of the invention . fig7 shows an exemplary and non - limiting flowchart 700 depicting the process of filtering content of rss feeds prior to display , implemented in accordance with the principles of the invention , by the fe 530 . in s 710 a rss feed from the list of approved rss feeds provided by de 520 is logged on , based on the information in the list . in s 720 data is received from the rss feed and in s 730 the data is checked against the uniquifiers of the user as discussed in more detail hereinabove . in s 740 it is checked if the match between the data and the uniquifiers of the user of the user device is above a predetermined threshold value , and if so execution continues with s 750 ; otherwise , execution continues with s 760 . in s 750 the rss feed data is provided to the user , for example for the purpose of viewing by the user . in s 760 it is checked if it is necessary to continue filtering data from the rss feed , and if so execution continues with s 720 ; otherwise , execution terminates . it should be noted that this process may be repeated for each and every one of the registered and approved rss feeds . in one embodiment , and as further noted hereinabove , as the user profile changes from one profile , for example the workday profile , to the night profile , the rss feeds provided for that profile may differ and hence different rss feeds will be logged on and others will be logged off . the operation of the fbe 540 is depicted in fig8 an exemplary and non - liming flowchart 800 of the process of monitoring the use by a user of rss feeds and responding thereto , implemented in accordance with the principles of the invention . in s 810 feedback information respective of the user &# 39 ; s usage of the rss feed content by a user of the user device is collected . once sufficient information is collected , then in s 820 the usage pattern is checked . the usage pattern may include information such as frequency of access , level of interest , and more , in order to generate specific parameters for checking the usability level of the rss feed . s 830 and s 840 are merely examples of checks that may be performed by the fbe 540 ; other tests to determine specific usage patterns of interest in such a system 400 would be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art . in s 830 it is checked if there was no use of information provided by the rss feed for a period of time exceeding a time threshold , and if so execution continues with s 840 ; otherwise , because the data from the rss feed was used , execution continues with s 860 . in s 840 it is checked whether the data provided by the rss feed still maintains a high uniquifier match , or at least a match above a predetermined threshold , and if so execution continues with s 860 as the data may still be relevant to the user in the future ; otherwise , execution continues with s 850 . in s 850 the registration to the rss feed is removed from the approved rss feed list as it is determined that the rss feed is not valuable for the user of the user device . providing this feature automatically without the intervention of the user provides a significant benefit to the user , as the user is not required to manually perform such a removal . in s 860 it is checked if the process should continue and if so execution continues with s 820 ; otherwise execution terminates . the process may be repeated for each rss feed independently . to further explain the functionality according to the invention several practical non - limiting examples are now provided . as noted above , in certain embodiments , the process concerning the operation carried out by the system 400 is comprised of : a ) registering to a wide range of optional rss feeds ; b ) filtering relevant data and presenting it to the user ; and , c ) collecting feedback and fine tuning the rss feed list by removing filtered feeds and learning which methods provide the most relevant feed to the user for future registration . these steps are repeated throughout the operation of system 400 . all operations are performed in conjunction with the ugm 410 that provides feedback for the selection of rss feeds and content thereof . therefore the system 400 automatically manages the registration and un - registration of rss feeds in a manner corresponding to the user areas of interest based on the user &# 39 ; s identified uniquifiers . the system 400 further filters incoming rss items and displays only items relevant to the user based on the user &# 39 ; s uniquifiers . furthermore , the system 400 tracks its success , measured by the level of interest the user shows with respect to the rss items presented , and adjusts its rss discovery registration , removal and filtering strategy , based at least in part on the user &# 39 ; s uniquifiers . for the purpose of rss feeds &# 39 ; discovery and registration , the system 400 tracks the browsing history of the user and automatically registers the user to an rss feed of any web page in which the user browsed and showed an interest . in addition to checking the uniquifiers this may be further determined by identification of a longer stay time , bookmarking of a page , digging for additional information respective of the page viewed , sending a link of the page to another person , repeated visits to the web page , and more . the system 400 may further search entire web sites corresponding to a universal resource locator ( url ) that the user commonly visits , for the purpose of finding rss feeds not otherwise presented . using , for example , global uniquifiers ( gu ), the system 400 may perform an active search for a user area of interest using the user &# 39 ; s profile and registering the best rss that comes up as a result from this search . this further enables the system 400 to register the user to rss feeds used by other users with similar uniquifiers . a gu is a synthetic uniquifier that is created by assuming certain terms that are expected to be part of a gu . in one embodiment rss feed lists are provided from other users that grant the system permission to use their respective rss lists . in another embodiment of the invention , the system 400 registers the user to sites of popular news , audio or video items , for example , digg ( www . digg . com ), youtube ® most popular , twitter trends , google trends , and the like . in yet another embodiment , the system 400 receives a list of recommended rss feeds for specific topics from a central server dedicated for providing recommendations as to popular or relevant rss feeds . this can be matched against the user interests based on the user &# 39 ; s uniquifiers and upon a match , the system 400 registers the user to those rss feeds . similarly , the system 400 may register the user to rss feeds of blogs , for example blogs of friends and social circles as extracted from the user &# 39 ; s social web network . these include but are not limited to , facebook ®, twitter ®, web mail and the like . the selection may be further filtered using the uniquifiers of the user to ensure that the rss feeds of the blogs are actually those that the user is interested in receiving . the collected rss feeds are filtered , typically using the ugm 410 to assess the relevance to the user of the user device by means of a query and reception of an answer . the system 400 therefore collects data items received from the different rss feeds . when a data items &# 39 ; description is short , the system 400 fetches the complete article to get a better understanding of the content of the item , for example by checking it against the uniquifiers of the user using ugm 410 . when data items are not textual , the system retrieves tags and other metadata that describe the content item , e . g ., author , subject , popularity , and description , which may then be checked against the user &# 39 ; s uniquifiers . when a data item is of a specific type , such as video or audio , the system 400 searches open media databases , such as imdb and the like , to collect metadata information and tags about the item . the metadata information and tags may then be used to match with the user &# 39 ; s uniquifiers . in the process the system 400 removes duplicate items and presents them as a single item . the system 400 presents the full item with metadata information to the personal profile filter , e . g ., the ugm 410 , and in response gets an answer which may be a score indicating the level of interest the user is expected to have for the checked data item . the system 400 displays to the user the data items with the best scores for the different interests the user may have and collects feedback about the user actions on each item as discussed hereinabove . in one embodiment of the invention the system 400 further enables the user to request more information on the same subject , overriding the score given by ugm 410 . the system 400 naturally collects feedback by using the sensor inputs 412 . in the feedback loop the system 400 collects the user feedback , implicitly or explicitly , respective of the selected data items provided by a rss feed . this feedback may be further used by the ugm 410 to provide an updated score for the rss feed , in response to a query respective of the rss feed . the score represents the value of the specific rss feed to the user . the score varies over time because a rss feed that was valuable , for example , last week might not have been valuable in a preceding week . feeds with high score are considered to be valuable rss feeds . the score is built using many parameters , however , one of the most important factors is the ratio of good items versus the ratio of spam items that passed the filter , in a sense a merit of a signal to noise ratio as far as the user is concerned . the system tracks this ratio over time . in accordance to an embodiment of the invention the system 400 automatically unregisters non - valuable rss feeds . the system 100 further tracks the logic that leads to the registration of valuable feeds , and puts more emphasis on those methods for the specific user in future rss feed discovery and registration . fig1 depicts an exemplary and non - limiting blog web page 1000 of a blog post designated for sharing items which are derived from a personalized web page over a period of time . there are various areas in the blog page that include the blogger &# 39 ; s personal note area 1010 where the blogger can add comments to the blog . an area 1020 for the top news items that were of interest to the blogger and other areas , such as area 1030 for denoting worthwhile web sites to visit and area 1040 for top ranked video clips . an area 1050 is used by people that access the user blog to add their comments to the automatically generated user blog . other areas may be added or used in replacement of the areas noted above . however , it should be noted that all information in the automatically generated blog web page 1000 result from the user &# 39 ; s interaction with information and according to the uniquifiers or identifiers derived for this user . sharing or otherwise posting of the blog web page may be done , for example and without limitation , by making it available on a generally accessible bloggers &# 39 ; web site that enables the creation of blogs for users . accordingly , the system 100 could be enabled to post the blog to the auto blogging rss feed on a blog web site , having an area unique for the user . other means of sharing such content are explicitly included herein and would be obvious to those of regular skill in the art . these include , without limitations , the periodic distribution in the form of , for example , a newsletter , to a distribution list , using means such as e - mail or multimedia data exchange systems of a variety of sorts . fig1 depicts an exemplary and non - limiting newsletter derived from the personalized web page over a predefined period of time . this newsletter can be sent to a distribution list using means such as e - mail . the disclosed embodiments may be implemented in hardware , firmware , software or any combination thereof . moreover , the software is preferably implemented as an application program tangibly embodied on a program storage unit , computer readable medium or machine readable medium that may consist of parts , or of certain devices and / or a combination of devices . the application program may be uploaded to , and executed by , a machine comprising any suitable architecture . preferably , the machine is implemented on a computer platform having hardware such as one or more central processing units (“ cpus ”), a memory and / or other tangible storage mediums , and input / output interfaces . the computer platform may also include an operating system and microinstruction code . the various processes and functions described herein may be either part of the microinstruction code or part of the application program , or any combination thereof , which may be executed by a cpu , whether or not such computer or processor is explicitly shown . in addition , various other peripheral units may be connected to the computer platform such as an additional data storage unit and a printing unit . the foregoing detailed description has set forth a few of the many forms that the invention can take . it is intended that the foregoing detailed description be understood as an illustration of selected forms that the invention can take and not as a limitation to the definition of the invention . it is only the claims , including all equivalents that are intended to define the scope of this invention . | 6 |
by way of introduction it should be noted that the plan views shown in fig1 to 3 illustrate the essentially vertical orientation of the postal items . the plan views in fig1 to 3 therefore show only the top edge of the postal items in all cases . fig1 shows in schematic view a plan view on a storage module 2 according to the invention , which in the representation shown is working in the infeed function . the storage module 2 includes a storage area 4 in which postal items p 1 , p 2 , p 3 , . . . , p n − 1 are currently stored . in the illustration shown , the postal item p n will be the next postal item transferred into the storage area 4 . in this case , this postal item p n is fed between two feed conveyors 6 , 8 to the storage module 2 in the is direction of an arrow 10 — hereinafter referred to as conveyor direction 10 — and then taken over by a roller conveyor 12 of the storage module 2 . in doing so , the roller conveyor 12 is driven under control and conveys the postal items p 1 , p 2 , p 3 , . . . , p n − 1 against a feed stop 14 , as a result of which the postal items p 1 , p 2 , p 3 , . . . , p n − 1 are then located in an exactly defined position in the storage area 4 with regard to their front and bottom edge . in the position shown in fig1 , the feed stop 14 also blocks an extraction opening 16 , which will be discussed in more detail in the description relating to fig2 . an arrow 26 in the view shown is therefore intended to indicate that the feed stop 14 is guided ( downwards ) until immediately before the roller conveyor 12 . for the exact positioning of the postal items p 1 , p 2 , p 3 , . . . , p n − 1 in the storage area 4 it is therefore essential that the postal items p 1 , p 2 , p 3 , . . . , p n − 1 are brought into contact with the roller conveyor 12 with a certain feed contact pressure . it is easy to see that , if the feed contact pressure is too low , the postal item that is currently to be stored , here postal item p n , could be conveyed only with a delay , and an unwanted overlapping with an already following postal item p n + 1 could occur . this can have the effect that the postal item p n is no longer fed quite correctly to the feed stop 14 . on the other hand , in the case of postal items having low rigidity , too high a feed contact pressure can bring about a bending or folding - up of the postal item before the feed stop 14 in an unwanted manner , with the consequence that the bent / folded - up postal item would have to be smoothed again by hand . in the case of the prevailing conveyor speeds of several meters per second for postal items outside the storage area 4 , it can easily be seen that any process fault will not affect only one postal item but as a rule will always affect a whole series of postal items within a conveyor path . in order to set up an optimized feed contact pressure in this regard , a separating knife 18 and an underfloor conveyor 20 are provided , which , in the infeed function of the storage module 2 , can be moved under very fine control in the stacking direction according to arrows 22 , 24 . a first pressure is thus produced by means of the separating knife 18 antiparallel to the stacking direction in order to set the required feed contact pressure on the roller conveyor 12 for conveying the particular postal item to be stored . further , the storage module 2 has a support roller arrangement 28 , which , in the infeed function shown in fig1 , is pivoted into an inactive state . here , an arrow 30 is intended to illustrate by way of example the pivoting direction of the support roller arrangement 28 . fig2 now shows a schematic plan view on the storage module 2 , which is being operated here in the extraction function . a series of components of the storage module are now in a different position compared with the infeed function . the support roller arrangement 28 is now in a pivoted - in active state , which , with regard to the pivoting direction , is also intended to be indicated by an arrow 32 . here , the supporting roller arrangement 28 ensures above all that the next postal item to be extracted , here the postal item p n − 1 , is aligned in a plane , which corresponds essentially with the conveyor plane spanned by the roller conveyor 12 and also essentially corresponds with the further conveyor alignment in the close vicinity of the storage module 2 . in this way , the postal item to be extracted lies flat against the roller conveyor 12 and can thus be extracted in a defined manner . in order that the stored postal items can be extracted at all , in the extraction function in the graphical representation , the feed stop 14 is moved out of the way upwards according to arrow 34 and thus unblocks the extraction opening 16 . the snapshot shown in fig2 shows the postal item p n , which has already been completely extracted and is being conveyed onwards in the direction of an arrow 36 , and the postal item p n − 1 , the front edge 40 of which is just emerging through the extraction opening 16 and is being held in contact with the roller conveyor 12 by means of a peeler 38 . at the same time , the peeler 38 helps to prevent double extractions , as its coefficient of friction is matched to the frictional moment acting on the roller conveyor and , in the event of a double extraction , holds back the postal item , which is not in direct contact with the roller conveyor . in order for the postal item p n to be conveyed with a very accurately defined orientation of its front edge and the postal item p n − 1 to be currently conveyed in such a manner , an optimized extraction contact pressure of the postal item against the roller conveyor 12 is now set up here . for this purpose , a second pressure antiparallel to the stacking direction is built up by means of the separating knife 18 ( cf . arrow 42 ). the setting of the right extraction contact pressure is also meaningful for the extraction function for preventing process faults , because too low an extraction contact pressure can lead , for example , to an unwanted slipping of the roller conveyor 12 and thereby to an inaccurate conveying of the postal item , which is currently to be extracted . on the other hand , too high an extraction contact pressure can lead to a multiple extraction or even also to jamming of the bottom postal items in the graphical representation . in order also to be able to guarantee the extensively vertical alignment of the postal items located in the storage area 4 during the continuing extraction of postal items , the underfloor belt 20 is also driven in the direction of an arrow 44 and , in conjunction with the pre - stressed separating knife 18 , thus displaces the postal items stored in the storage area 4 . fig3 now shows in schematic representation a plan view on two snapshots a ) and b ) during the sequence of the infeed function in order to illustrate the control of the drive of the roller conveyor . here , the snapshot a ) “ stop ” shows the situation for a short postal item p x , which is stopped before reaching the feed stop 14 . the trigger for stopping the roller conveyor 12 in this case is a rear edge 46 , which reaches a limit 48 shown dotted . the snapshot b ) “ start ” correspondingly shows the situation for starting the roller conveyor 12 . the postal item p n was stopped when its rear edge 46 reached the limit 48 . a following postal item p n + 1 now entering at an angle α makes it necessary for the postal item p n to now vacate the position , so to speak , and be fed against the feed stop 14 . the remaining distance here is sufficient to bring a servo drive ( which is not shown in more detail here ) for the roller conveyor 12 back up to its rated speed and subsequently to brake it gently again for a gentle approach of the postal item p n . these measures advantageously support the gentle approach and accurate positioning of the postal items ( even particularly short ones ) against the feed stop , as a result of which the process fault rate can be further favorably affected . with the storage module 2 according to the invention , a tool for postal automation has been created , which provides an optimization of the process for feeding postal items to a storage area and for extracting postal items from the storage area . unlike the storage modules known in the prior art , which work according to the first - in / first - out principle and therefore only allow a compromise for setting the parameters for the infeed and the extraction of the postal items in all cases , the last - in / first - out principle creates the possibility of this process automation , which works with considerably greater reliability than the devices known in the prior art . | 1 |
dna sequencing using an embodiment of the invention is performed as follows : a quantity of dna of interest is amplified using either a polymerase chain reaction or cloning , and the region of interest is primed using mrna . dna polymerase catalyses dna synthesis through the incorporation of nucleotide bases in a growing dna chain . this is accompanied in vivo with the hydrolysis of pyrophosphate , which at physiological ph leads to the liberation of hydrogen ions [ 2 ]. the arrows ‘ ’ are intended to indicate reversible reactions . the difference between the sizes of the right hand arrows is intended to indicate that it is more energetically favourable to go from pyrophosphate and water to orthophosphate and a hydrogen ion than vice versa . the results shown in fig1 demonstrate the pyrophosphate hydrolysis reaction and its effect on ph . the ph was measured using a glass electrode arrangement , with measurements of the absolute value of ph taken every 30 seconds . the ph can be seen to fall gradually . the embodiment of the invention uses this reaction to monitor nucleotide insertion , by detecting localised fluctuations of ph which occur at or adjacent the surface of an ion sensitive field effect transistor ( fet ). the fet is provided with an ion sensitive silicon nitrite layer , on top of which a layer of polymerase is provided . hydrolysis of pyrophosphate by pyrophosphatase which remains bound on the polymerase enzyme [ 7 ] is detected by the fet . the hydrolysis is indicative of nucleotide insertion during dna synthesis . the magnitude of ph change in either direction ( i . e . positive or negative ) is detected in order to reliably detect nucleotide insertion , as described below . individual nucleotide insertion will occur approximately every 3 ms at a temperature of 65 c , [ 6 ]. the fet is able to detect rapid ph changes and has an immediate response rate measured to be within 1 ms of a ph change [ 5 ]. the hydrolysis of pyrophosphate causes either a net production or consumption of hydrogen ions depending on the ph in which the reaction occurs . in the embodiment of the invention the reaction is conducted at ph 6 . 8 . at ph 6 . 8 hydrogen ions are overall consumed rather than liberated during nucleotide insertion . the embodiment of the invention thus monitors rises in ph as indicators of nucleotide insertion . a ph sensitive fet which embodies the invention is shown in fig2 . the fet is similar to a traditional mosfet ( metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistor ). the fet comprises a silicon oxide dielectric layer 1 , a silicon nitride chemical sensitive layer 2 , and an enzyme / electrolyte interface 3 . the layers 1 , 2 and interface 3 are located between a source 4 and drain 5 ( the conventional configuration of a fet ). the fet is provided on a silicon chip , which is encapsulated in epoxy resin to protect it from the reagent mixture . the epoxy resin helps to protect the fet from hydration and charge migration [ 9 ]. the fet itself is not covered by epoxy resin , so that it may be immersed in the reagent mixture . the enzyme / electrolyte interface 3 shown in fig2 allows ion sensitivity of the silicon nitride layer 2 to be used for dna sequencing . the fet functions by producing an exchange of charged ions between the surface of the chemical sensitive layer 2 and the reacting medium ( i . e . the enzyme / electrolyte interface 3 ): the inclusion of silicon nitride is advantageous because it provides increased and faster sensitivity to changes of ph than would be obtained in the absence of the silicon nitride . in addition the silicon nitride helps to protect the fet from hydration and charge migration . a non - nernstian response accounts for the immediate sensitivity of the fet , arising from rapid proton dependant binding and unbinding of charged ions at the insulating gate silicon nitride surface , which results in a reproducible variation in the voltage drop across the silicon nitride layer 2 . the variation of the voltage drop across the silicon nitride layer 2 correlates with changes of ph . the voltage drop is monitored using instrumentation circuitry , thereby allowing the detection of individual nucleotide insertions . the measured voltage is referred to as the flatband voltage . the enzyme / electrolyte interface 3 is deposited on the silicon nitride layer using a known enzyme linkage method [ 10 ]. the method comprises pre - silanising the silicon nitride layer 2 using aminosilane solution , and then activating the surface using glutaraldehyde . a drop of buffer / polymerase enzyme solution is then deposited on the silicon nitride layer 2 and allowed to dry for about half an hour to form the enzyme layer 3 . the embodiment showed in fig2 uses a reference electrode 6 to provide a measurement of ph changes . the reference electrode is relatively large and difficult to fabricate . an alternative embodiment of the invention does not use a reference electrode , but instead uses a second fet which has the same construction as the first fet , but is provided with a non - enzyme linked layer instead of the enzyme layer 3 . this configuration is advantageous because it provides a differential measurement which gives an improved signal to noise ratio . the alternative embodiment of the invention is illustrated in fig3 . the configuration of this embodiment is based upon a known construction [ 11 ] which has previously been used to monitor gradual slow drift of ph . the embodiment comprises a first operational amplifier 10 to which the source of the first fet 11 is connected ( the first fet has the enzyme linked layer ), and a second operational amplifier 12 to which the source of the second fet 13 is connected ( the second fet has the non - enzyme linked layer ). the drains of the first and second fets are connected to a fixed current source ( not shown ). outputs from the first and second operational amplifiers are passed to a differential amplifier 14 , which amplifies the difference between the outputs to generate an output signal vout - negative feedback from the differential amplifier 14 passes to a noble electrode 15 which is located in the reagent mixture . the operational amplifier 14 generates an output voltage which keeps the voltage applied to the fets 11 , 13 the same despite changes of hydrogen concentration . the embodiment shown in fig3 is advantageous because it allows rationalisation of fabrication of the fets 11 , 13 and the operational amplifiers 10 , 12 , 15 . the fets 11 , 13 may be arranged to form the first stage of the operational amplifiers 10 , 12 . this is done for each operational amplifier by replacing a conventional fet of a long tail pair located at the input of the operational amplifier , with the first or second fet 11 , 13 . this is advantageous because it allows the first and second fets to form part of the amplification circuitry . a schematic example of a flatband voltage detected using the embodiment shown in fig3 is illustrated in fig4 . the example is for an nmos fet with the reaction operating in the ion consumption mode , as described above ( the figure would be inverted for a pmos fet or if the reaction was operating in the ion liberation mode ). the flatband voltage consists of pulses representing ph changes associated with nucleotide insertion and drops corresponding to ddntp insertion and chain termination . the number of local pulses prior to a larger drop determines the number of bases present before termination at a known base ; the magnitude of the larger drop is dependant on the ratio of ddntp : dntp used in the reagent mixture and is important due to the dependence of read length for that drop . through repetition of the process four times in different reaction chambers containing each of the four ddntps separately , the complete sequence is delineated . referring to fig4 in detail , dna synthesis is performed with termination of dna synthesis at points of di - doxynucleotide insertion of thymine bases . each individual nucleotide insertion causes the liberation of a hydrogen ion , and these are detected as pulses of the flatband voltage , as can be seen in fig4 . when the dna chain reaches a thymine base , nucleotide insertion is prevented for some of the dna chains , and the amount of hydrogen ion consumption drops leading to a drop in signal output . dna synthesis continues for those dna chains which were not terminated at the thymine base , and this is seen as pulses of the flatband voltage at the new lower level . the flatband voltage falls again when the dna chain reaches a second thymine base , and then continues to pulse at the lower level . the method may be used with or without thermocycling . for example , thermocycling may be used to facilitate optimisation , using taq polymerase as a sequencing enzyme [ 12 ]. the ph of the reagent mixture may be adjusted for example . a decrease of the ph will lead to the production of more hydrogen ions , but will also tend to kill off the reaction . trials have shown ph 6 . 8 to be a useful value of ph . magnesium may be added to the reagent mixture to actuate the enzyme . the concentrations of the reagents may be modified . operating within a thermal cycler enables multiple repetition of the sequencing process with minimal manipulation . this allows signal to noise boosting and easier delineation of difficult to read regions such as gc rich regions or areas of single nucleotide repeats . recombinant t7 polymerase may be used instead of taq polymerase . where t7 polymerase is used , this may provide increased speed and improved accuracy of monitoring nucleotide insertion . the steps used to fabricate the enzyme sensitive fet are set out in table 2 : the fets , and in particular those shown in fig3 , and the amplification stages may be replaced or combined with pmos transistors operating in the weak inversion region . this is advantageous because it allows the exponential gain produced by the pmos transistors to be used . where this is done an otherwise decaying signal may be made to behave conversely and rise . the length of dna that can be sequenced will normally be limited by the signal to noise at distal bases as the signal decays with ddntp insertion . using pmos fets should allow extension of the read length , but may involve a possible compromise over the location of more proximal bases . installation of two separate fet circuits , of the type shown in fig3 , one nmos pair of fets and one pmos pair of fets should provide the optimum read length . biasing in weak inversion is possible , since the measurement to be made is of changes to output , rather than absolute values , and absolute linearity in signal amplification for signal analysis is not required . 1 ) sterky , f ., lundeberg , j . “ sequence of genes and genomes ” journal of biotechnology , vol . 76 , pp . 1 - 31 ( 2000 ). 2 ) mathews , c . k ., van holde , k . e ., ahern , k . g . biochemistry , 2nd ed . 3 ) shakhov , y . a ., nyren , p . “ a sensitive and rapid method for determination of pyophosphate activity ” acta chemica scandinavica b , vol . 36 , pp . 689 - 694 ( 1982 ). 4 ) buck , r . “ electrochemistry of ion - selective electrodes ” sensors and actuators , vol . 1 , pp . 197 - 260 ( 1981 ). 5 ) woias , p ., et al ., “ modelling the short - time response of isfet sensors ” sensors and actuators b , vols . 24 - 25 , pp . 211 - 217 ( 1995 ). 6 ) tabor , s ., richardson , c . c . “ dna sequence analysis with a modified bacteriophage t7 dna polymerase . effect of pyrophosphorolysis and metal ions ” journal of biological chemistry , vol . 265 , pp . 8322 - 8328 , 1990 . 7 ) victorova , l ., et al ., “ new substrates of dna polymerases ” federation of european biochemical societies letters , vol . 453 , pp . 6 - 10 ( 1999 ). 8 ) hanazato et al . “ integrated multi - biosensors based on an ion - sensitive field - effect transistor using photolithographic techniques ” ieee transactions of electron devices , vol . 36 , pp . 1303 - 1310 ( 1989 ). 9 ) matsuo , t ., esashi , m . “ methods of isfet fabrication ” sensors and actuators , vol . 1 , pp . 77 - 96 ( 1981 ). 10 ) starodub , n . f ., et al ., “ optimisation methods of enzyme integration with transducers for analysis of irreversible inhibitors ” sensors and actuators b , vol . 58 , pp . 420 - 426 ( 1999 ). 11 ) wong , h .- s ., white , m . “ a self - contained cmos integrated ph sensor ” electron devices meeting , pp . 658 - 661 ( 1988 ). 12 ) alphey , l . dna sequencing : from experimental methods to bioinformatics . | 6 |
in the drawing annexed , fig1 shows a presently preferred embodiment of the slimpeg hardware engine ( she ) circuit architecture of the invention . the engine includes a motion vectors ( mv ) generation controller 10 , a matching error computing pipeline 11 ( pipeline flow is from left to right in the drawing ), a local cached memory 12 and by bus interface 13 . each stage is not a straight combinatorial one as in gpcpus , but is actually a multi - cycle elaboration block . this means that each stage might have multi - cycle inputs ( i . e ., will require inputs for two or more consecutive cycles ), multi - cycle elaboration ( i . e ., the input → output delay will be more than one cycle ) and multi - cycle output ( i . e ., the output will last for more than one cycle ). this is explained in more detail in the following in connection with fig1 . slimpeg is based on two distinct estimation steps for each picture , the coarse search and the fine search . for real - time implementation constraints , these will operate in parallel on different macroblocks , time - sharing the hw resources of the she . each macroblock period she will generate the result of the coarse search for a macroblock , and the results of the fine search for another one . this overlapping is shown in fig2 , 3 and 4 . specifically , fig2 shows that both coarse and fine search functions use the same hardware resources in time division . inside the engine , operation is directed by the mv generator controller ( mvg ), which is in charge of selecting the motion vector to test according to the slimpeg algorithm and keeping track of the time used for each macroblock to correctly synchronize its input / output operations . with its spare processing power , it runs ancillary algorithms like scene change detection , inverse 3 / 2 pulldown and so on . the mvg will then generate mv coordinates and control words to instruct the pipeline on how to exactly use the motion vectors . the address generator ( ag ) 101 will then translate the motion vector &# 39 ; s xy displacements into blocks physical addresses in memory , to be used by the predictors fetch ( pf ) 102 stage . the prediction pixels extracted are then aligned and ( if appropriate ) interpolated by the predictor alignment ( pa ) 103 , and then fed to the current mb fetch and distengine ( cfd ) 104 to fetch the current macroblock under prediction and compute the mean absolute error ( mae ) of the prediction . the decision block 105 will gather all the maes and decide which is the best prediction . after that , the intra / not intra , mc / not mc , dct type coding decisions , activity index are computed on the winner predictor , then dmaed to the loop encoder together with the prediction error . computed motion vectors winners will be fed back to the mvc as needed by the slimpeg algorithm . optionally , the she could also support dma fetch and prediction error composition for the chroma part of the image . in that case , a dedicated block inside she attached to the decision stage will take care of that . also optionally , temporal noise reduction means could be attached at the output of the decisions block to noise - reduce the source images . this block will perform motion compensated noise level detection and reduction based on the motion vectors resulting from the coarse search . the coarse search current macroblock and its predictor will form the input of this block , which will output a noise - reduced version of the current macroblock that will overwrite the noise corrupted one . in fig5 there is shown a functional diagram for a typical mpeg - 2 front end part when using slimpeg and she to implement it . input frames will be stored in main memory from the video input device . for the sake of simplicity these images are assumed to be already of the correct format and scan needed for processing ( e . g ., d1 4 : 2 : 0 format and mb tiled scansion in memory ). an incoming image will be first read by the coarse search process to be the object of estimation . as this proceeds , prediction blocks will be fetched as the b cache generates misses . for each of the current image macroblocks , a coarse motion vector and prediction error will be computed . the mv will be stored in the mv field in main memory ( not shown in picture ) to form the bases for the fine search on the same image and for the coarse search of the next image . the mv ( if needed ), the current and the prediction mb will also be output to the mcnr block , which will cancel ( most of ) the noise carried in the current mb , enhancing picture quality and compression efficiency . this filtered macroblock will overwrite the original one , and therefore a noise reduced version of the source image will form in memory . this noise reduced version will be used as the current frame for fine search estimation . the prediction frames used will be the noise reduced anchor frames , coded and reconstructed . meanwhile , fine search will run concurrently . for b pictures , this will be running on different pictures ( i . e ., while coarse search estimates picture n , fine search will estimate picture n - 3 in temporal source order ). therefore those will be two completely independent processes . during p estimation anyway , coarse and fine search will operate on the same picture , with just a few macroblocks delay . it is therefore necessary to take care that the noise - reduced version of the source picture will be used as the current mb . this is done forwarding the result of the mcnr to the fine search process . in actual hardware , this results in just a macroblock buffer , as coarse search , mcnr and fine search will run on the same she engine . moreover , this will save 20 mb / s , as the write and reload operations are in this case redundant . as usual , fine search will fetch the prediction blocks needed from the anchor frames , and will produce a best predictor , along with all the decisions taken for that macroblock . these will be given to the loop encoder , to continue the processing chain . the mvg 10 is the controlling block of the coprocessor , being responsible to generate the test motion vectors with the appropriate control words . it will also be responsible for the overall timing of the engine , in order to synchronize she inputs and outputs with the appropriate time slots . beside these main features , we will use its spare processing power is used to compute the “ encoding enhancing ” ancillary algorithms such as scene cut detection , inverse 3 / 2 pulldown , interlace / progressive content detection , f_code adaptation . all these algorithms are based on indexes computed starting from slimpeg coarse prediction motion vectors field , thus with low complexity . the mvg has a built - in counter that will allow it to take count of the cycles spent to estimate the current macroblock . normally , each macroblock estimation will take less than 24 . 7 μs ( the macroblock source period ) to complete , so she could run ahead of the video input device . this can be avoided by this control , that will keep she in synch with input , inserting stall or power down cycles ( or , alternatively , additional motion vectors tests ) to wait for the input . in the same manner , in some worst cases , memory bus traffic could cause she to stall for too many cycles , causing it to exceed the macroblock period . when this happens , this could lead to missing rendezvous with the loop encoder . in this case , similarly , the timer function could cause the estimation to finish in order to give the result to the loop encoder . all these functions are preferably microcoded to allow upgrade and feature changes . therefore , the mvc is a microcontroller or dsp device rather than an hardwired fsm . to achieve maximum optimization , it is possible to design a custom microcontroller , with a custom isa and implementation . the choice of which dsp to use is done on its ability to support the required tasks and on its availability . the d950 dsp manufactured by stmicroelectronics is a preferred choice for that purpose . because of the recursive nature of slimpeg , a buffering circuit is needed in order to be able to re - use the generated motion vectors . buffers are required in the main memory as well as on board of the mvg . the latters will be simple fifos or circular buffers , that can be implemented in the x or y memory of the d950 dsp . as for the size and quantity , several “ slices ” of vectors in the d950 local memory and mv fields in main memory are required . a slice is an horizontal line of 45 mb ; a slice of vectors is therefore composed by the 45 mvs associated with those macroblocks ; but 46 or 47 mvs fifo are actually used as described later . each slice will then require 184 or 188 bytes , as each mv will use a 32 - bit word . each “ mv field ” will be the collection of the 1620 ( pal ) or 1350 ( ntsc ) mv associated to each macroblock of a picture . this means 6480 ( pal ) or 5400 ( ntsc ) bytes for each mv field . operation of the slice mv fifos and mv fields is as depicted in fig6 , 7 and 8 . the following mv fields are needed in the memory ( m & lt ;= 3 operation ): 2 previous coarse search + 1 current coarse search = 19440 bytes ( max , for pal ). a fourth mv field is not needed because the p picture mv field can be discarded as soon as estimation thereof is finished : no mv field is needed for the fine search , as all the information needed is kept in the on - board fifos and then discarded . normally , the slimpeg algorithm will need the mv of the macroblocks around the one under prediction . these can be kept in slice fifo . the slice fifos can be divided in two types : a first type , “ spatial ” fifos contain mv resulting from previous estimation of mb in the same frame . more precisely , they will contain the result of the estimations of the last 46 macroblocks . the input of these fifos will come from the decision stage , in the form of the last mv winner for the prediction / search mode to which the fifo is devoted . the mv coming out of this fifos will be either stored in the coarse mv field in main memory in case of coarse search , or dropped in case of fine search . the second type will be “ temporal ” fifos , that will contain results from estimations of mbs in previous pictures or previous passes of prediction . this fifo will contain 47 mvs . these mvs will be loaded from the coarse mv fields in the main memory . in case of coarse search , the vectors will come from the coarse mv field of the previous ( in input order ) frame . in case of fine search , the vectors will be the one computed in the coarse pass of the same picture . the mv coming out of these fifos will always be dropped . 5 fine search “ spatial ” mv slices for forward prediction ( 1 frame , 4 field modes ) 5 fine search “ spatial ” mv slices for backward prediction ( 1 frame , 4 field modes ) as these fifos are sw operated by a d950 dsp what is needed is the actual space in xy memory ; fifo management will be done by d950 . also note that even if some version of slimpeg might not use all the information stored in all the slice fifos , ( e . g ., v5 . 2 uses only t 0 and t 1 temporal mv for both fine and coarse passes ), these fifo are kept in the specifications to allow more freedom in the algorithmic enhancement . with all these mechanisms in place , the mvg will be able to correctly generate mvs to test . the output of the mvc will therefore be : pred_pos ( 15 : 0 ) x half pixel absolute predictor position ( unsigned ) pred_pos ( 31 : 16 ) y half pixel absolute predictor position ( unsigned ) mv ( 15 : 0 ) x half pixel motion vector coord ( modulo - 2 signed ) mv ( 31 : 16 ) y half pixel motion vector coord ( modulo - 2 signed ) mv control word : a 32 - bit bit field , specifying how the related motion vector must be used . the control word layout will be as follows : 2 : frame_pred_flag 3 : field_t_on_t_flag 4 : field_t_on_b_flag 5 : field_b_on_t_flag 6 : field_b_on_b_flag 7 : dual_prime_pred_flag 8 : i_pict_flag 9 : p_pict_flag 10 : b1_pict_flag 11 : b2_pict_flag 12 : reserved for future use 22 : multi_prediction_flag 23 : multi_prediction_last_flag 24 : reserved for future use 25 : take_decision_flag 26 : coarse_off_flag 31 : 27 : not used / reserved each predictor is a 16 by 16 bidimensional array of pixels , that can be located anywhere in the prediction frame . actually , due to half pixel interpolation , a 17 by 17 array is generally needed . if this 17 by 17 array is applied into the blocks grid , it usually lays into 9 blocks ( see fig9 ). as the cache is organized in blocks , those 9 blocks need be accessed . this stage then , taking the output of the mvg , outputs in nine sequential cycles all the nine addresses we need to fetch the predictor . as the address space in which the frame buffers is assumed to be contained in one 8 mbytes chunk of memory ( consecutive in address and aligned to an 8 mbytes boundary , so that the most significant address bits will not change ), only 23 - bit addresses need be delivered . of these , the 6 least significant will always be ‘ 0 ’, as whole blocks are accessed . therefore , only 17 significant bits must be generated . in some particular cases not all the nine blocks , but only 6 or even only 4 need be fetched . this happens when the absolute coordinate ( i . e ., current mb position + motion vector ) of the predictors are block aligned , i . e ., x | y_half_pixel_coord rem 16 = 0 . in this case , the pa will still issue all the nine addresses , but it will flag as ‘ voids ’ the one that do not need loading . this will save bandwidth . for nine consecutive cycles for each predictor issued by the mvg . the addressing scan order will be from top to bottom and from left to right . the mv coordinates and control word will be propagated to the next stage . the pf stage 102 is responsible for physically gathering the 9 blocks in which the predictor to be tested is located . the pf will first look into its block cache for the requested addresses , and , in case of misses , will output a request to the main memory via the stbus port to bring into the local cache the needed block ( s ). the pf will be physically composed by a memory , a cache refill engine , and all the logic to handle the inputs from the ag and the outputs to the predictor alignment stage . the cache is logically organized as a 4 - way set associative one , with a total memory capacity of 16 kb . each cache line will contain one block , i . e ., 64 pixels , 8 - bit each . it is possible to selectively read all the bytes of the block , or only the ones belonging to one field , being it top or bottom . this can be achieved either by a field_select control bit in the memory or by physically splitting the memory into two sub arrays , of the size of 32 pixels each . accesses to the data loaded in the cache from the pf will always be read ones . writes to the cache will only happen when refilling the engine . therefore there is no need for any write - back or write - through capability , nor of any invalidation operation . cache coherence is not a problem either , as the predictors frames will remain constant during the time of motion estimation . therefore a very simple cache controller is needed . as it has been stated , the cache appears logically as a 4 - way one . in a general purpose cpu , this is implemented with a 4 - fold split of the physical memory to access simultaneously all the 4 ways , while at the same time performing tag lookup . this would lead to a great power consumption , especially taking into account the very wide cache word ( 512 or 2 × 256 bits ). in the she instead , tag lookup and cache memory access operations will be performed sequentially in two clock cycle . this leads to 75 % power saving . the address generation and data utilization are not directly in closed loop , so this latency is hidden by the pipeline ( see fig1 and 11 ). the requirements for memory will therefore be 1 single ported memory of 256 words of 512 bits each with a field_select control pin , or 2 single ported memories of 256 words of 256 bits each . stated otherwise cache 4 - ways are “ emulated ” by a single memory : the absence of multiple read in parallel from 4 blocks saves 75 % of power ; the delay introduced is negligible for s . h . e . operation . read stages ( req_addr to cache_addr ; cache_read ) are pipelined , so that one pipelined read per cycle can be effected . emulated ways are stacked one over the other in a single physical internal memory . concerning the cache memory architectures , at least two solutions can be used . a first solution ( fig1 a ) is one memory array , with field select pins ; this is required because sometimes only half of the data , and sometimes all are needed ; this could save 50 % power when half the word ( i . e ., one field ) only is required . as an alternative ( fig1 b ), if the memory in a is not available or more power consuming then b , two separate memories of 8 kb each are used ; the two memories could even share same address decoder if power optimization is substantial ; no bit / byte enable is needed in this case , always read / write the whole word . the refill logic will also enforce the “ bandwidth cap ”: a register held into this block and programmable by the system control cpu will tell how many blocks the stage is allowed to request to the main memory for each macroblock &# 39 ; s coarse and fine search respectively . once this limit is reached , the refill engine will not perform any refill of the cache , thus not exceeding the allowed peak bandwidth in every macroblock period ( see fig1 ). of course , in this case the pf will not be able to construct the 9 - blocks region from which to extract the predictor , and we will have to discard this motion vector , and not to count it among the candidates for the final predictor winner . this is indicated by setting the null_mv_flag in the control word . the data used to fill that missing block ( s ) will of course be “ don &# 39 ; t care ” and implementation dependent , as the predictor will never be considered as a valid candidate . if the address to be fetched is flagged as void_block_address the pf stage will not generate any access to the cache , and fill the block with “ don &# 39 ; t care ” and implementation dependent data , as they will not actually be used for the predictor construction . in case of a miss happening , this will of course cause all the pipeline to stall for as long as it takes to load the missing block . the stall will be propagated with the normal stages handshake mechanism , meaning that the delay in outputting the missing block and in consuming the subsequent inputs will cause the other stages to stall for the appropriate time . the addresses generated to the stbus port will be composed by several portions , generated as follows : ( 31 : 23 ): the 8 - mbyte region containing the frames , constant , held in a configuration register ( 22 : 6 ): block address , as from ag stage ( 5 : 0 ): block scansion : these will increment according to a fixed pattern to scan the whole block memory . to simplify the refill engine and for more optimized memory accesses , the whole blocks will be loaded in cache , not single fields , even if the miss is caused by a field predictor . the refill engine will be able to perform some look - ahead on the addresses requested by the ag stage , in order to try and hide the stall latency . this can be achieved by decoupling the tag lookup task from actual cache memory access with an intermediate buffer , with a view to find well in advance the next miss and proceed to pre - load the block from memory . in fact , at the first miss , the cache memory access will stall , but tag lookup can continue to determine the next miss , taking care of the tags configuration after that refill . as miss rate is in the order of 2 %, there is a fair chance that the next miss will be well away from the current one . in fact , if it would be 10 or more addresses later , we could hide up to 10 cycle of the next miss , provided we have a 10 location buffer between tag look - up and cache memory access . this buffer will have to hold the cache memory line that the address generated by the ag will hit , up to the next miss or to buffer fullness . the output of this stage to the predictor alignment ( pa ) block 103 will therefore be , in 9 consecutive cycles , the 9 blocks in which the actual predictor is found . in case the predictor is a frame predictor , the whole 64 bytes for each block will be output . in case it is a field predictor , only the relevant field for each block will be accessed in cache and output to the pa , to save power consumption . control_word , mv , pred_pos as above pixels ( 511 : 0 ): one prediction block ( frame prediction ) pixels ( 255 : 0 ): one prediction block ( field prediction ) pixels ( 511 : 256 ): “ don &# 39 ; t care ” ( field prediction ) the predictor alignment ( pa ) 103 will take the data of the 9 - block area in which the actual predictor resides and extract it with all the relevant operations , being it actual extraction of the 17 by 17 ( general case , with half pixel interpolation ), horizontal and / or vertical half pixel interpolation , and bi - directional / dual prime prediction interpolation . this operation is achieved by reformatting the block - based output of the pf into lines - of - macroblock output and by selecting the 17 by 17 array out of the 24 by 24 original one . the reformatting is done through a buffer between pf and pa stages . this will be in principle a 24 by 24 pixels buffer , filled by the pf and read by the pa . to extract from the 24 by 24 array , corresponding to the 9 blocks incoming from pf , the 17 by 17 needed we need to select the 17 appropriate row out of the 24 given ; this is done by simply not selecting the 7 rows not needed . to extract the 17 pixels we will just use a simple shifter , controlled by the least significant bits of the x absolute coordinate of the predictor . half pixel interpolation will be performed on - the - fly by 8 - bit adders , 9 - bit increment and discarding as appropriate during processing the lsb &# 39 ; s to return to 8 - bit accuracy . further details are shown in fig1 . this arrangement will save some of the adders needed for half pixel interpolation , as a “ conventional ” implementation can be envisaged using 3 adders plus one increment per pixel , while here 2 adders plus an increment are used one pixel latch register will also be saved , as store the result of horizontal interpolation of the line above ( needed for vertical interpolation ), instead of the two original pixels , will be started . ver_half_pel and hor_half_pel indicate if half pixel interpolation is needed ; these signals stay constant for the whole predictor . a temporary buffer of 16 by 16 pixels is also needed to perform predictors interpolations , for bi - directional and dual - prime prediction . in this case , the first predictor is stored , to be then interpolated on - the - fly when the second component becomes available . for this purpose , a third set of interpolators is needed . additional details are shown in fig1 . the output will be a single line of 16 pixels per clock cycle . this output will last for 16 cycles in case of frame mode matching , or 8 cycles for field mode . another flag signaling the last line for the current matching will be output in order to allow the distengine to stop the accumulation of the mae and output it to the decisions block . control_word , mv , pred_pos as above last_line active when last line of the predictor is output pred_pixel ( 127 : 0 ) the predictor &# 39 ; s pixels to test the stage designated 104 ( i . e ., the cmb fetch and distengine , briefly cfd ) is responsible for computing the actual mae of the selected mv . as the current macroblock ( cmb ) is not used by any of the preceding stages , it is fetched from memory . fetch will happen prior to cmb usage in order to hide the load latency . so , while processing cmb n , cmb n + 1 will be fetched when the stbus port is not used to load predictors blocks . in order to do this , a temporary buffer of 256 pixels is needed , in addition to the 256 pixels needed for the cmb under estimation . the p cmb feed through described in the foregoing is implemented here , with a simple macroblock buffer , to hold the coarse search macroblock , optionally post - processed by the mcnr . therefore there is a requirement for the mcnr to be able to complete its filtering in a macroblock period . the mcnr will start processing the macroblock as soon as the coarse search finishes , and ideally should finish before the end of the current macroblock period . because coarse search is far less complex than fine search , it is fair to assume it will take less time than fine . therefore it must complete before ½ the macroblock period . mcnr must then complete its processing before the end of the period , having at least ½ macroblock period to complete . it will overwrite the cmb in memory , and also the copy in the feed through buffer , so that fine search will use it correctly . in case the delay between coarse and fine is greater than one mb period , fine search will reload the correct cmb directly from memory , once again assuring correct operation . the total buffering means sums up to 256 * 3 = 768 bytes . while processing the cmb , one macroblock line ( 16 pixels = 128 bits ) is accessed at a cycle . therefore , this 3 - macroblock buffers can be implemented by a single ported single memory with 48 words of 128 bits each . in this case , while fetching and writing to this memory the next cmb , the distengine will not be able to process . but as this stall can be limited to 16 cycles , this is not forecast as a major problem . the alternative implementation would require 256 * 3 * 8 = 6144 flip - flops . as far as the distengine implementation is concerned , the microarchitecture is as shown in fig1 . in order to speed up the decision function block task , the distengine will also compute the mean of the prediction error and current macroblock . the distengine will be programmable ( via control word bits ) for field or frame matching . in the first case the predictor / current will contain 8 lines ; in the second , it will contain 16 lines . another issue arises for compatibility with mpeg - 4 and h263 block ( vs . macroblock ) matching . for example , h263 standard allows 8 × 8 pixels frame mode prediction . to allow multi - standard capability , she should therefore support these 8 × 8 mode as well . this could be implemented by adding a flag in the control word to signal this 8 × 8 prediction mode is enabled . the stages before distengine could in a first implementation continue to fetch the standard 17 by 17 area . when the prediction / current is fed to the distengine , it will gather the result from the 8 by 8 frame only . a second most efficient implementation would be to make the ag , pf , pa stages sensitive to the flag as well . this would increase marginally logic complexity , but will reduce data movement , with beneficial effects on power consumption . control_word , mv , pred_pos as above mae ( 15 : 0 ) mae value for this matching ; unsigned integer quantity pred_err_sum ( 16 : 0 ) sum of the pixel by pixel prediction error , modulo - 2 signed integer quantity cmb_sum ( 15 : 0 ) sum of all the cmb pixels ; unsigned integer quantity ; this can be computed only once per estimation and then gated out for power consumption issues the decision stage 105 is actually split in two sub functions : one to gather all the partial results of the current block estimation , the other to compute the macroblock coding decision functions on the motion estimation winner . to be able to compute the coding decision functions , the data of the current macroblock under estimation and its best predictor , plus the no_mc predictor for p pictures are needed . therefore , a ram will be needed in order to store the winner for each prediction mode . this leads to the following memory requirements : i pictures will just need current mb for dct type decision . additional information that needs to be stored are motion vector ( 32 bits ) and mae value ( 16 bits ) for each of the mode winners and current predictor . when a new mae arrives , it will be compared with the current winner for the mode to which the predictor belongs , and if less than or equal , it will replace the current winner . the memory will actually be organized as circular buffers , so that the position of each mode winner can be in different part of the memory , in order not to physically mode data when a mode winner is updated . this will require a few additional storage bits for each mode winner , to point to the position in memory where the predictor resides . because each predictor is 128 or 256 bytes , one just needs to identify which of the 128 - byte regions are used by each predictor ; because 12 of these regions in 1 . 5 kb of memory exist , only 4 bits are needed for this purpose . to be sure that memory fragmentation is avoided , new field mode predictions will be saved in the uppermost free part of the memory , while new frame mode predictors will occupy the lowest part of the memory available . the second task that needs to be done is the decision of the macroblock coding type . for this purpose the current macroblock , the prediction winner and the no_mc winner for p pictures are needed . the functions needed to compute are intra_macroblock sma , inter_macroblock sma , no_mc sma , and then dct field_difficulty and frame_difficulty . this task is done either sequentially or in parallel with motion estimation . in the first case the issue of motion vectors will be stopped to allow the mode winners memory to be accessed by the decision functions logic . alternatively a double banked predictors memory can be used , which will require to double the predictors winners memory , adding 1 . 5 kb of memory . it would then be possible to swap banks between motion estimations partial results gathering and the coding decision task . once all the decisions have been taken , the current mb , its computed mv with the final luma predictor and prediction error are available . these results can be sent via dma in memory into a “ prediction error frame buffer ” ready to be used by the loop encoder . the associated mv and coding decision taken can be put in an appropriate data structures in memory . in addition , an extra function of chroma prediction gathering could be inserted in the engine . the engine will have also to feed back the winner coarse & amp ; fine mv winner to the mvg mv fifo for it to be able to recursively generate vectors . finally the flow of a motion vector to be tested through the pipeline , as depicted in fig1 , will be described in detail . it must be understood that between each of the blocks there will be buffering means to be able to decouple to a certain degree the operations of the stages . these buffers will be working as fifo with overflow / underflow control , in order that no data will be lost in case the buffers are full and no data is output if buffer is empty . this will be done through handshake of each stage input and output to the buffers . the stages will stall in case the output buffer is full and / or the input buffer is empty . this will allow to treat correctly events like cache misses , mvg delays , and so on . the situation depicted in fig1 assumes that all these buffers are empty at the moment when the mv in the example arrives . for power consumption issues , it is recommended that when a stage is stalling due to buffer unavailability , the clock will not tick , i . e ., the clock will be gated by the input_buffer_empty / output_buffer_full signals . as soon as a motion vector is issued from the mvg , it will go to the address generation input buffer . the size of this buffer is characterized in terms of latencies . the address generator will then pick up the vector and issue in nine consecutive cycles the 9 addresses needed to extract the predictor . some of these might be flagged as “ void ” as the predictor will not actually contain pixels from that block , but in any case the processing will still take 9 cycles . addresses flagged as void contain “ don &# 39 ; t care ” and implementation dependent data . those addresses will go to the fetch input buffer . it is recommended that at least 8 - 10 positions will be available in this buffer , to perform efficient miss look - ahead as previously described . once in the fetch stage the addresses will be compared with the cache content , and if no miss happens , the blocks are output in nine consecutive cycles . in case any miss happening , the output of the block that generated the miss will be delayed by the time taken to load the data from main memory . this in turn will make all the previous and subsequent stages to stall due to buffers being full or empty , allowing correct handling of the miss stall . the 9 blocks will be then output directly to the pa stage . in order to be able to extract prediction lines out of the blocks , a ‘ block to lines ’ buffer of at least 3 blocks , or 6 blocks for more efficient implementation is needed . a 3 - block buffer will in fact add a 3 cycle latency every time we need to refill it once it has delivered the initial content . this can be hidden with a 6 blocks buffers , so that the next 3 - blocks data can be received while the first 3 - block lines are delivered . with this buffer arrangement , delivery of one line of predictor ( apart from first cycle delay in case of vertical half pixel ) can be sustained for each cycle from the pa . the pa will start , as soon as it has available the first line of the predictor , to output it to the distengine in 8 ( field mode ) or 16 ( frame mode ) subsequent clock cycles . the suggested microarchitecture of the pa block will use one initial delay cycle prior to output the predictor in case of vertical half pixel interpolation , and no delays when vertical half pixel is not used . no buffering is needed between pa and cfd , and the transfer will be based on simple handshake mechanism . the distengine will output the mae result , which can be taken without any buffering by the decisions block . from the foregoing it will be appreciated that , although specific embodiments of the invention have been described herein for purposes of illustration , various modifications may be made without deviating from the spirit and scope of the invention . accordingly , the invention is not limited except as by the appended claims . | 7 |
the present invention provides a method and system providing information about the risk of an atypical clinical event based upon genetic information . fig1 illustrates an example of a suitable medical information computing system environment 20 on which the invention may be implemented . the medical information computing system environment 20 is only one example of a suitable computing environment and is not intended to suggest any limitation as to the scope of use or functionality of the invention . neither should the computing environment 20 be interpreted as having any dependency or requirement relating to any one or combination of components illustrated in the exemplary environment 20 . the invention is operational with numerous other general purpose or special purpose computing system environments or configurations . examples of well - known computing systems , environments , and / or configurations that may be suitable for use with the invention include , but are not limited to , personal computers , server computers , hand - held or laptop devices , multiprocessor systems , microprocessor - based systems , set top boxes , programmable consumer electronics , network pcs , minicomputers , mainframe computers , distributed computing environments that include any of the above systems or devices , and the like . the invention may be described in the general context of computer - executable instructions , such as program modules , being executed by a computer . generally , program modules include routines , programs , objects , components , data structures , etc . that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types . the invention may also be practiced in distributed computing environments where tasks are performed by remote processing devices that are linked through a communications network . in a distributed computing environment , program modules may be located in both local and remote computer storage media , including memory storage devices . with reference to fig1 , an exemplary medical information system for implementing the invention includes a general purpose computing device in the form of server 22 . components of server 22 may include , but are not limited to , a processing unit , internal system memory , and a suitable system bus for coupling various system components , including database cluster 24 to the control server 22 . the system bus may be any of several types of bus structures , including a memory bus or memory controller , a peripheral bus , and a local bus using any of a variety of bus architectures . by way of example , and not limitation , such architectures include industry standard architecture ( isa ) bus , micro channel architecture ( mca ) bus , enhanced isa ( eisa ) bus , video electronic standards association ( vesa ) local bus , and peripheral component interconnect ( pci ) bus , also known as mezzanine bus . server 22 typically includes therein or has access to a variety of computer readable media , for instance , database cluster 24 . computer readable media can be any available media that can be accessed by server 22 , and includes both volatile and nonvolatile media , removable and nonremovable media . by way of example , and not limitation , computer readable media may comprise computer storage media and communication media . computer storage media includes both volatile and nonvolatile , removable and nonremovable media implemented in any method or technology for storage of information , such as computer readable instructions , data structures , program modules or other data . computer storage media includes , but is not limited to , ram , rom , eeprom , flash memory or other memory technology , cd - rom , digital versatile disks ( dvd ), or other optical disk storage , magnetic cassettes , magnetic tape , magnetic disk storage , or other magnetic storage devices , or any other medium which can be used to store the desired information and which can be accessed by server 22 . communication media typically embodies computer readable instructions , data structures , program modules , or other data in a modulated data signal , such as a carrier wave or other transport mechanism , and includes any information delivery media . the term “ modulated data signal ” means a signal that has one or more of its characteristics set or changed in such a manner as to encode information in the signal . by way of example , and not limitation , communication media includes wired media , such as a wired network or direct - wired connection , and wireless media such as acoustic , rf , infrared and other wireless media . combinations of any of the above should also be included within the scope of computer readable media . the computer storage media , including database cluster 24 , discussed above and illustrated in fig1 , provide a storage of computer readable instructions , data structures , program modules , and other data for server 22 . server 22 may operate in a computer network 26 using logical connections to one or more remote computers 28 . remote computers 28 can be located at a variety of locations in a medical environment , for example , but not limited to , hospitals , other inpatient settings , pharmacies , a clinician &# 39 ; s office , ambulatory settings , testing labs , medical billing and financial offices , hospital administration , and a patient &# 39 ; s home environment . clinicians include , but are not limited to , the treating physician , specialists such as surgeons , radiologists and cardiologists , emergency medical technicians , physician &# 39 ; s assistants , nurse practitioners , nurses , nurse &# 39 ; s aides , pharmacists , dieticians , microbiologists , and the like . the remote computers may also be physically located in non - traditional medical care environments so that the entire health care community is capable of integration on the network . remote computers 28 may be a personal computer , server , router , a network pc , a peer device or other common network node , and may include some or all of the elements described above relative to server 22 . computer network 26 may be a local area network ( lan ) and / or a wide area network ( wan ), but may also include other networks . such networking environments are commonplace in offices , enterprise - wide computer networks , intranets and the internet . when utilized in a wan networking environment , server 22 may include a modem or other means for establishing communications over the wan , such as the internet . in a networked environment , program modules or portions thereof may be stored in server 22 , or database cluster 24 , or on any of the remote computers 28 . for example , and not limitation , various application programs may reside on the memory associated with any one or all of remote computers 28 . it will be appreciated that the network connections shown are exemplary and other means of establishing a communications link between the computers may be used . a user may enter commands and information into server 22 or convey the commands and information to the server 22 via remote computers 28 through input devices , such as keyboards , pointing devices , commonly referred to as a mouse , trackball , or touch pad . other input devices may include a microphone , satellite dish , scanner , or the like . server 22 and / or remote computers 28 may have any sort of display device , for instance , a monitor . in addition to a monitor , server 22 and / or computers 28 may also include other peripheral output devices , such as speakers and printers . although many other internal components of server 22 and computers 28 are not shown , those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that such components and their interconnection are well known . accordingly , additional details concerning the internal construction of server 22 and computer 28 need not be disclosed in connection with the present invention . the method and system of the present invention receives clinical agent information or genetic test result value , and provides information regarding the genetic association relevant to the information input and / or initiates actions within the healthcare system . although the method and system are described as being implemented in a windows operating system operating in conjunction with a comprehensive healthcare network , one skilled in the art would recognize that the method and system can be implemented in any system supporting the receipt and processing of clinical agent information or genetic test results . with reference to fig2 , in the first embodiment of the present invention , a system and method are provided for considering genetic information to determine the risk of an atypical clinical event ( ace ) if a specified clinical agent is administered to the patient . atypical clinical events as used herein include adverse reactions , but also includes reactions to the clinical agent resulting in little or no benefit to the patient . clinical agents as used herein include drugs , pharmaceuticals , nutriceuticals , foods , salves , dietary supplements and the like . in the first step of the system , information identifying a clinical agent is input into the system at step 29 . preferably , the agent is selected at one of the remote computers 28 and transmitted to the control server 22 via the network 26 . by way of example , as seen in fig3 , an exemplary user interface window 30 is shown . the user interface window presents a graphical user interface of the conventional kind for selecting the agent from a comprehensive list . the agent list could include the generic names as shown in fig3 , but may also include abbreviations , trade names , formal medical nomenclature , alternative doses for a given agent and other formats for identify the agent . for example , multiple entries for each clinical agent may be included in the list , and each entry could relate to a specific dosage or a range of dosages recommended for each agent . the agent may be selected from the list of agents displayed on the user interface window 30 in a variety of ways . for instance , the clinician operating the system may view an expansive list of clinical agents , and select the desired agent by inputting the complete name , or by keying in a portion of the name of the desired agent at field 31 to access the relevant portion of the agent list and selecting the desired agent . any of a number of input devices and techniques may also be utilized at this step of the method and in each of the subsequent steps wherein user input is received . for instance , another common input is from a recording made by a surgeon &# 39 ; s dictation equipment by voice recognition techniques . once the clinical agent input is received , at step 32 the system accesses an agent / gene association table maintained in the memory of the system such as in the database cluster 24 . within this environment , the informational databases may be stored at any of a number of locations within the system . for instance , the agent / gene table may be accessed via a global computer network such as the internet rather than being stored in the data cluster as described above with reference to the preferred embodiment . the table includes a list of agents and genes associated with the response to each of the agents . as appreciated by those of skill in the art , a single agent may have associations with more than one gene . similarly , a single gene may have associations with more than one agent . an exemplary portion of an agent / gene association table is shown as table 1 : as more information regarding agent / gene associations is learned , the table will be updated so that physicians and other operators of the system will have the most current information at their disposal . a number of variations are within the purview of the data structure exemplified in table 1 . for instance , much like the agent selection list , the data structure could accommodate input identifying the agent by an abbreviation , trade name and other formats at step 29 . likewise , other nomenclatures for identifying genes may be used , including formal medical nomenclatures and identifiers such as those used in public databases . next , at step 34 , the system determines if an association exists between the clinical agent input and a certain gene or number of genes . stated another way , the system determines if the products of the genes are likely to interact with the agent to result in an atypical clinical event . if an association is not present , the system continues at step 36 . in a comprehensive automated healthcare system , the system would proceed without further concern regarding genetic information for the particular agent . alternatively , the process may continue at step 36 by resetting the agent input and returning to step 29 until the next agent input is received . if an association does exist , at step 40 , the system determines if a genetic test result value is stored for the gene or genes associated with the agent . the test result value may be from any number of dna testing techniques including dna sequence analysis , cytogenetic testing , and polymerase chain reaction ( pcr ) based analysis . preferably , the system would access the patient &# 39 ; s electronic medical record to determine if the record contained a medical test result value . typically , patient identification information is received by the system at any of a number of steps in the method or before the method is initiated . for instance , the patient may be identified at step 29 along with the clinical agent , or may be inputted at step 40 when the patient &# 39 ; s data becomes relevant . the method may include steps requiring authorization of the user to access the particular patient information and similar security measures known by those of skill in the art . alternatively , rather than a patient based data structure such an electronic medical record , the data structure may be stored any of a number of manners associating a genetic test result value to the patient . if the patient has not had a genetic test performed relevant to the genetic trait , the system may order a test at step 42 if the test is available and authorization is received . with respect to authorization , the system may either automatically order the test , or the clinician &# 39 ; s input may be sought by the system . whether a clinician &# 39 ; s input is required may depend on cost of the test , the severity and likelihood of a genetic variation as determined by the system and described below or other factors . with brief reference to fig4 , a representative genetic test ordering window is shown . if , at step 42 , the system requires clinician authorization , the system could display a window with the patient &# 39 ; s name provided in field 44 and the orderable genetic test identified in field 46 . upon approval by the clinician , the test would be ordered and the authorization recorded on the patient &# 39 ; s medical record . other clinical actions besides ordering the test may be initiated at this stage in the process . for instance , the system could produce a warning to the clinician that the agent should be suspended pending results from the genetic test . by way of an additional example , the system could request input regarding whether the patient &# 39 ; s parents had the mutated gene in order to determine the likelihood of the existence of the gene mutation in the patient being treated . other examples include automatically rescheduling a procedure or ordering a follow up test . next , at step 48 , if the specific genetic test result information is not available for the patient , the system calculates the likelihood that the patient displays the genetic mutations linked with the gene or genes associated with the clinical agent . preferably , the system accesses a database containing personal information about the patient . if personal information relevant to the calculation of genetic variability is unavailable , the system informs the user of the genetic variability and associated information relevant to the general population . if demographic information about the patient is available , the system uses that information to adjust the display of the comments described above . as known in the art and as set forth in the example that follows , the gender , racial , ethnic , geographic distribution information are indicative of genetic predisposition to certain conditions . for instance , numerous studies have found that the frequency of mutations in drug acetylation may vary among populations of different ethnicity and geographic origin . meyer et al ., molecular mechanisms of genetic polymorphisms of drug metabolism , annu . rev . pharmacol . toxicol ., 1997 : 37 : 269 - 295 . by way of example , 40 - 70 % of those in populations of european and north american descent are slow acetylators of izoniazid , compared to only 10 - 30 % of those from pacific asian populations . other genes have widely varying genotypic frequencies . for example , mutated forms ( or alleles ) of one particular gene , cyp2d6 , vary greatly between caucasian , asian , black african , and ethiopian and saudi arabian populations . ingelman - sundberg et al , polymorphic human cytochrome p 450 enzymes : an opportunity for individualized drug treatment , trends . pharmacol . sci ., 1999 : 20 ( 8 ): 342 - 349 . other traits are influenced by genes in the gender determining chromosomes , x and y . additionally , information regarding other genetic illnesses and the genetic characteristics of the patient &# 39 ; s family members are also factors in determining the likelihood of genetically influenced risks , and adjusting the presentation of potential risk factors to the clinician . the system accounts for the relevant information , and adjusts the display of the information at step 48 . in the simple cases , a single demographic factor of the patient will serve as the basis for adjusting the presentation . in more complex cases , such as when other relevant factors are available , or if the patient is of multiracial descent , each of the relevant factors guide the determination and presentation of risk information . the demographic adjustments in the present system rely upon rules stored within the memory of the system . like the gene / agent association table , these rules will develop and improve as relationships between population genetics and variations in drug response are understood . next , at step 50 , a message is constructed informing the user of the likelihood of the genetic variability based on the rules described above at step 50 . in addition to the risk information , the message may include information stored in the system regarding the severity of the atypical clinical event , the known remedies , and additional details about the molecular nature of the genetic polymorphism . preferably , a graphical display window is generated indicating the percentage of the patient &# 39 ; s relevant population that have the mutated gene and the affects associated with the gene . once this message is delivered to the system , the process is continued at step 36 . if the patient does have a stored genetic test result value , a polymorphism / risk table is accessed at step 52 . the polymorphism / risk table relates polymorphism information to the level of risk for a particular agent . an example of a portion of a polymorphism / risk table is shown in table 2 . like the gene / agent table , as more information regarding agent / gene associations are accepted , the table will be updated and improved . also , values for polymorphisms not associated with risks may be incorporated in the polymorphism / risk table . likewise , the nomenclature for the table may be widely varied without departing from the scope of the invention . also , in one of many alternative implementations , the data from the gene / agent table and the risk / polymorphism table could be incorporated into a single data structure . at step 54 , the system determines if the specific genetic test result of the patient is indicative of a significant risk of an atypical clinical event . preferably , the system searches the polymorphism / risk table for the medical test result value and identifies the risk associated with the result . if no significant risk is present , at step 56 , the user of the system is informed that the test result does not indicate a high risk , and the process is continued at step 36 . if , however , the result does indicate a risk , the user is warned of the specific risk at step 58 . with brief reference to fig5 , a notification window is shown for exemplary purposes . in field 60 , the patient &# 39 ; s name is displayed and , in field 62 , the clinical agent input at step 29 is displayed . in the main field 64 , the message generated by the system is displayed warning the clinician of the patient &# 39 ; s genetic mutation and its effect . next , at step 68 , an additional clinical action may be taken based on the risk determined by the system . for example , the risk may be recorded in a central medical system into the patient &# 39 ; s electronic medical record , the administration of the clinical action may be delayed or canceled , additional therapy scheduled , an alternative agent may be selected , or the patient may be referred to a clinical counselor . by way of example , with reference back to fig5 , the clinical action of canceling the previous order is displayed at box 65 . the system is default to cancel the action absent input from the clinician to the contrary . also , as displayed in fig5 , the system may display an alternative clinical agent within field 66 that is not associated with the genetic mutation of the patient . at this step of the system , additional information regarding the association of the clinical agent and the genetic mutation may be obtained by selected the “ more info ” button designated at input 68 . numerous sources of information may be accessed by making this selection . for instance , the information may be embedded within the data structure stored within the system , or may be retrieved by firing an order to access information via a global computer network such as the internet . the information may include studies about the mutation , information about alternative treatments and other materials relevant to the decision making process . once the action is performed , the process is continued at step 36 as set forth above . in operation , by way of a number of examples of agents having known gene associations , a number of processes are described herein . first , it is known that approximately one in three hundred people have mutations in the gene encoding thiopurine methyltransferase ( tpmt ) that impairs the ability to metabolize mercaptopurine ( mp ), a common agent used in chemotherapy treatments . since the agent is used at near - toxic levels , patients exhibiting the mutation often die from the chemotherapy . in the present invention , a clinician such as an oncologist would input mp as a possible agent at step 29 . next , the agent / gene association table would be accessed at step 32 . at step 34 , the system would determine an association exists , and the system would determine if a genetic test result value for the patient was stored in the system at step 40 . if a result was not stored in the system , an automated test would be ordered at step 42 without clinician authorization . absent other patient information to adjust the display of information at step 48 , the system would inform the clinician of the 0 . 3 % mutation in the population and provide information as to the severity of the ace at step 50 . preferably , the clinician would receive the warning visually by a similar to the window of fig5 , and an audible signal indicating that a warning was being delivered by the window . by way of example , the message could state that “ in 0 . 3 % of the u . s . population , mutations in the tpmt gene lead to an increased risk of cytotoxicity in response to mp .” in a variation from this initial example , if the patient &# 39 ; s records included information that the patient was from the indian subcontinent , the system would consider this demographic information in determining the risk and output at step 48 . it is known that only about 4 in 1000 of the indian population is at risk of having the genetic mutation associated with the ace . accordingly , at step 50 , the system would produce a window indicating that the risk was less for this patient than typical in the general population in the united states , or produce a substitute window information the user of the risk . by way of example , the message could state that “ four in 1000 persons from the indian subcontinent have an increased risk of cytotoxicity in response to mp .” conversely , if a genetic result value was stored in the system , the polymorphism / risk table would be accessed at step 52 . if the genetic test result value did not indicate that the patient has one of the mutations associated with an ace , an output stating that the “ current test results do not indicate a high risk of this phenotype ” would be provided to the clinician at step 56 , an email message could be sent to the physician , or a notation made in the electronic medical record without an indication to the physician . however , if the genetic test result indicated that the patient had a genetic mutation , the polymorphism / risk table would be accessed at step 52 and a risk indicated at step 54 . for instance , the patient could have a genetic mutation in the tpmt gene in which the guanine at position 460 is replaced with adenine . when the genetic test result value for this mutation is queried within the polymorphism / risk table at step 52 , the system would determine the risk of mp induced cytotoxicity , and this information would be provided to the clinician by a clear warning at step 58 . similarly , the order would be cancelled automatically at step 68 , and an alternative recommendation made . also , at step 68 , the physician would be given an opportunity to approve the recommendation , and an automated order made based on the recommendation if approved by the physician . in some cases , such as with mp therapy , the patient is unequipped to metabolize the drug in the typical dosage , but the risk of damage from the disease or condition itself has greater risks if the drug is not administered . for instance , in an exemplary case , a young patient with acute lymphoblastic leukemia ( all ) may also have a severe tpmt deficiency . typical dosages of mp of about 75 mg / m2 per day would lead to intolerable toxic effects after the therapy . however , at 6 % of the dosage , the toxicity would be above normal , but not at dangerous levels . thus , in the present system , the polymorphism / risk table such as the portion displayed on table 2 , would indicate that a lower dose be prescribed at step 68 . in another aspect of the invention , the system may determine the risks associated with a specific genetic test result input . with reference to fig6 , at step 70 , a genetic test result value for a patient may be input . the genetic test result is similar to the results sought in step 40 of the embodiment of the invention described above . next , for the specific genetic test result , the polymorphism / risk table is queried at step 72 . if , at step 74 , the system determines that few risks are associated with a specific genetic test result value , clinical actions associated with a low risk are generated at step 76 . for example , the system could add a comment to an integrated electronic medical record that no risks were determined for the test result value . next , at step 78 , the user would be provided with interpretation of the results . in this case , the user would be provided with an indication that the genetic test result was not associated with any known risks or , specifically , clinical agents that may result in an atypical clinical reaction . conversely , if genetic risks are known for the specific genetic test result at step 74 , a list of potential risks are generated at step 80 . from this list , a list of agents that are associated with the mutation indicated by the genetic test result is generated at step 82 . at step 84 , for the first agent on the list , the system determines if the patient has been exposed to the agent or may prospectively be exposed to the agent . if the patient has been exposed to the agent , at step 86 , the system generates an automated clinical response associated with the high risk . this response may include suspension or cancellation of the order , placing an alternative order , paging the ordering clinician , ordering follow - up tests , or scheduling counseling for the patient . once this is complete , the system repeats the process for additional agents on the list generated at step 82 . once all of the agents are considered at step 88 , the user is provided with an automated interpretation of the results at step 78 . in this case , the interpretation would indicate to the user that certain clinical agents should be avoided due to the genetic predisposition to an atypical clinical reaction and other information similar to step 50 of the embodiment described above . in operation , by way of example , a genetic test result value for the tpmt gene is input at step 70 . the polymorphism / risk table is queried at step 72 , and the system determines that no risk is associated with the value at step 74 . thus , at step 76 , a comment could be generated about the result , and an interpretation of the medical test result added to the patient &# 39 ; s electronic medical record at step 78 . if the genetic test result value input at step 70 had associated risks on the polymorphism / risk table at step 72 , such as g460 as shown in table 2 , the system would make the association at step 74 . since more than one risk may be associated with the genetic test result value , at step 80 , the system generates a list of potential risks when potential agents are administered . once the list is produced at step 82 , the system queries whether the person is exposed to the agent at step 84 . if the patient does not have exposure to each successive agent on the list as determined within steps 84 , 88 , and 82 , the system ultimately provides an interpretation of these results at step 78 . by way of example , if mp is on the agent list produced at step 82 , and the system determines that the person is exposed to mp at step 84 , the system generates an automated clinical response at step 86 . for instance , the system could produce an urgent page to the treating physician and the attending staff to immediately inform them that mp should no longer be administered to the patient . the system would determine if additional agents required action within steps 88 , 82 and 84 . since the system may be integrated with architectures spanning the healthcare organization , the system will operate to manage the risk associated with clinical agents without creating inefficiencies . the system and method of the present invention seamlessly integrates complex genetic information and unchanging genetic information into an overall healthcare system . the system allows physicians to consider the genetic implications of prescribing any one of thousands of clinical agents and instantly have information relating to significant risk considered either automatically or manual in the clinical process . by integrating unchanging hereditary information with newfound knowledge associating this information to certain clinical agents , the system will allow the caregiver to appreciate the risks that are not readily apparent from the symptoms of the patient or associated with the particular agent . moreover , in the preferred embodiment , the system and method is implemented into a comprehensive automated healthcare system within the context of existing storage media and clinical processes . as mentioned above , the demographic information and individualized genetic information may be stored in an electronic medical record . likewise , the system and method of the present invention is capable of integration with portions of the comprehensive healthcare systems dealing with conventional drug - drug interactions and allergic reactions . one such system is described in u . s . pat . no . 5 , 833 , 599 to robert w . schrier et al ., issued on nov . 10 , 1998 , herein incorporated by reference in its entirety . for instance , when used with the system described in u . s . pat . no . 5 , 833 , 599 , the warnings relating to the risks of genetic mutation in the general population could be provided by an additional paragraph in the stored warning information . as mentioned at the outset , consideration of the hereditary genetic information may be incorporated in the physician &# 39 ; s standard of care as the implications of the information become widely known . absent the system and method of the present invention , it would be burdensome and inefficient for physicians to consider this important , if otherwise unmanageable , genetic information . since the patient &# 39 ; s genotype does not vary throughout their lifetime , testing for most traits is only required once during the patient &# 39 ; s life . the inclusion of this information in the electronic medical record or other permanent data structure allows physicians to make decisions based on the latest understandings of genetic information by accessing the updated databases . by raising the standard of care , and providing an incentive for genetic testing , the number of aces could be dramatically decreased . the system is integrated with a comprehensive healthcare system so that the risks attributable to genetic variations are considered automatically at each location and phase of the patient care . unlike previous systems , the system of the present invention requires little genetics training to realize the benefits of the system . thus , caregivers in all fields of the healthcare industry may benefit from the improved understanding of the affects of genetic variability on patient care . moreover , the system can process the genetic information and initiate clinical actions without requiring further user intervention . the flexibility of the system provides benefits in related areas since the system is not limited by function or input type . namely , the identified agent does not have to be administered . for instance , the system may be used by the clinician to learn more about the agent rather than as a tool for making actual patient care decisions . additionally , the system could be implemented for agents other than drugs and the like such as lab tests , surgical procedures , therapies , orderables , diagnoses , reflex and symptoms . for instance , the system could determine if the patient is predisposed to react adversely to a particular test . if the predisposition was identified , the physician could be warned , the test canceled , the risk documented , or any of a number of clinical actions performed . additionally , the manner in which the system accesses the gene - agent table and polymorphism / risk table to provide warnings to the clinicians regarding genetic information provides an effective and efficient structure for managing other types of genetic data . this aspect of the invention may be implemented to process genetic information outside of the patient &# 39 ; s preexisting and unchanging genetic traits . as a first example , certain somatic mutations accumulate after one is born . some of these somatic mutations , such as those in the p53 gene , predispose to risk of cancer . while detection of these mutations requires periodic testing , the information management structures of the present invention , namely the agent / gene tables and polymorphism / risk tables could be used to manage this type of data . in another example , it is well documented that the genome of the hiv - 1 virus mutates and develops resistance to known drug treatments . simple systems have been implemented to test periodically to determine the genotype of the virus to assess the resistance based on the genotype of the gene and the resistance actually manifested . these systems are similar to previous drug allergy systems , and are not particularly adept in handling complex genetic information . nor are they integrated into a full clinical record . by using the data structures of the present system , genetic information besides that of the patient may be processed more efficiently than in these systems . likewise , other exogenous sources of dna such as other viruses , bacteria , and other genes that are present in the patient such as genes injected into patient &# 39 ; s body in gene therapy treatment currently under development can be used to drive similar rules . although the invention has been described with reference to the preferred embodiment illustrated in the attached drawing figures , it is noted that substitutions may be made and equivalents employed herein without departing form the scope of the invention as recited in the claims . for example , additional steps may be added and steps omitted without departing from the scope of the invention . | 6 |
in fig1 , an exemplary imaging system 10 is shown comprising a plurality of imaging units 20 assembled to form an array . exemplary units are described in applicant &# 39 ; s co - pending united states patent publication no . 2008 / 0284675 . the front surface of each display unit 20 comprises a rear projection screen 22 that is pivotally connected to a chassis 24 , as described in greater detail below . in order to provide dimensional stability , the chassis 24 of each display unit 20 is configured to generally comprise a rigid frame , whereas the screen 22 is preferably made from a plastic material , such as polymethyl methacrylate ( pmma ), styrene methyl methacrylate acrylic copolymer ( smma ), glass , acrylic , polycarbonate , polyethylene terephthalate ( pet ), or any suitable clear or mostly clear plastic . the rigid frame may also be configured to permit mounting of the display unit 20 to a supporting structure , such as a wall . non - limiting examples of suitable materials for the chassis include aluminum , magnesium , and glass - filled nylon . within the chassis 24 of each display unit 20 are a plurality of electronic and optical components ( not shown ) for displaying images on the screen 22 . according to an exemplary embodiment , the electronic and optical components may include a small rear projector , including a light source , light valve , optics and associated electronics . the light source may , for example , be implemented using leds , although it is contemplated that lasers or other light sources may be utilized , the selection and implementation of which would be known to a person of ordinary skill in the art . the chassis 24 may also contain a light engine and associated circuitry ( including , for example , a microprocessor , ram frame buffer , and video processing to provide image capture , resizing , color matching , edge blending , etc ). it will be appreciated that the various electronic and optical components generate heat within the unit 20 . as discussed above , each unit 20 projects a portion of a composite image ( preferably at svga resolution to enable small pixel pitch ( under 1 mm )). for example , united states patent publication no . 2008 / 0284675 discloses fully configurable display units ( i . e . they are not required to be arranged in rectangular configurations ), resulting in significant flexibility in terms of display design . regardless of the arrangement , coupling mechanisms permit physical registration or alignment of each display unit 20 with each vertically and / or horizontally adjacent display unit 20 , for example via matching protrusions and indentations on respective surfaces of each display unit chassis 24 . as discussed above , where the screen materials ( generally comprising the screen , lenticular , diffusion layers , fresnel , etc .) exhibit thermal expansion characteristics that differ ( e . g . exceed ) from that of the chassis , an expansion differential can result . changes in temperature can arise from a number of sources , including , but not limited to operation of the display unit , and changes in the ambient temperature in which the display unit is located . to account for this thermal expansion , it is known to provide a nominal gap between adjacent screens 22 in order to avoid potentially damaging screen compression or collision . while such a gap may be sized large enough to permit for thermal changes in screen size , it will be appreciated that a large gap between adjacent screens may interfere with the optical transition from one display unit 20 to the next , thereby reducing overall image quality . table 1 provides an exemplary set of thermal expansion characteristics of a rigid chassis compared to a screen . while both the chassis and screen are dimensioned with a nominal width of 408 mm , the actual width of each component at operating temperature ( e . g . 40 ° c . higher ) differs as the cte of the chassis is lower than the cte of the screen . as shown , the screen expands to a total width of 409 . 09 mm , while the chassis expands to a total width of 408 . 42 , representing a 0 . 67 mm difference . in this scenario , because the screen expands to a greater extent than the chassis , significant gaps between adjacent screens would be required to avoid potentially damaging compression / collision . therefore , in accordance with the embodiment of fig2 , once the temperature of a display unit 20 exceeds a predetermined threshold ( e . g . 40 ° c . ), the screen 22 is caused to pivot to a new position , as shown in fig2 , where interferences ( if any ) between adjacent units 20 are minimal . according to the embodiment shown in fig3 , a thermal actuator 26 is mounted on the rigid chassis 24 . the actuator preferably comprises a stationary component mounted to the chassis and a linear translation element in contact with ( e . g . connected to ) the screen 22 and adapted to be moved by the stationary component so as to push the screen 22 outward and away from the chassis 24 above a predetermined temperature ( e . g . 40 ° c .) or above a percentage of the predetermined temperature ( e . g ., 75 % of the 40 ° c . screen collision temperature in table a ). for example , the nominal gap between display units 20 may be 0 . 5 mm at 20 ° c ., such that when the temperature rises from 20 ° c . to 40 ° c ., the screen may expand by approximately 0 . 5 mm , which means there is no longer a gap . any further increase in temperature may then result in activation of the thermal actuator 26 so as to pivot the screen ( s ) 22 outwardly , such that collision between adjacent screens is averted . a person of skill in the art will appreciate that any of a plurality of thermal actuators may be used . in one embodiment , a mechanical actuator 26 is provided wherein the linear translation element is a piston 28 adapted to be pushed by the thermal expansion of a fluid , such as wax , from an expansion conduit of a reservoir 30 ( i . e . the stationary component connected to the chassis 24 ), as shown in fig4 and 5 . as the wax expands and the piston 28 extends , the screen 22 is caused to pivot about a hinge 32 . one benefit of the actuator shown in fig4 and 5 is that it requires no external power input . alternatively , the actuator 26 may comprise any of a temperature sensor with a solenoid , a mems thermal actuator , electrostatic , magnetic , or piezoelectric device . when the temperature drops below the activation temperature , wax within reservoir 30 contracts thereby allowing the piston 28 to retract ( e . g . under spring biasing ) so that the screen returns to the closed configuration of fig4 while generally described within the framework of ‘ multi - tiled ’ displays , the thermal actuator set forth herein can be suitably applied to other imaging units , such as multiple displays in a control room . it will be appreciated that , although embodiments have been described and illustrated in detail , various modifications and changes may be made . while several embodiments are described above , some of the features described above can be modified , replaced or even omitted . all such alternatives and modifications are believed to be within the scope of the invention and are covered by the claims appended hereto . | 6 |
the principles and operation of the minefield shoe according to the present invention may be better understood with reference to the drawings and the accompanying description . before explaining at least one embodiment of the invention in detail , it is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of construction and the arrangement of the components set forth in the following description or illustrated in the drawing . the invention is capable of other embodiments or of being practiced or carried out in various ways . also , it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology employed herein is for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting . referring now to the drawings , fig1 is a side view of a minefield shoe , attached to the boot of a wearer , disclosed by u . s . pat . no . 4 , 611 , 411 to ringler , et al ., which is incorporated by reference for all purposes as if fully set forth herein . the prior - art minefield shoe includes an inflatable air cushion 2 composed of a plurality of chambers or compartments 4 . when inflated , the compartments form an air cushion having upper and ground contacting surfaces that are substantially flat . the air cushion 2 may be made of an inner , inflatable , rubber , neoprene or the like , balloon 6 and of an outer abrasion and cut resistant fabric 8 . the air cushion may otherwise be composed of an integral single layer of material that is impermeable to gas and having an outer surface which is abrasion and cut resistant . such a layer should be capable of limiting the extent to which the compartments are inflated and of keeping their volume substantially constant below a certain maximum . the interiors of the compartments communicate with each other by means of tubing 10 extending along the sides of the compartments 4 . one end of tubing 10 may be fixedly closed for example , by folding the tubing edge and clamping the same in its folded configuration as seen at 16 , while the other end of tubing 10 is provided with a valve ( not shown ), for inflation and deflation of the air cushion . the minefield shoe taught by u . s . pat . no . 4 , 611 , 411 to ringler , et al ., further includes a rigid tread surface 20 for evenly distributing the wearer &# 39 ; s weight along the air cushion on top of each of the compartments 4 . while the illustrated tread surface 20 is designed to facilitate compacting the mine - field shoe for carrying and transporting purposes , it is disclosed that the tread surface could also be embodied by a single , rigid plate having an overall surface area substantially the same as that of the upper surface of the air cushion . the tread surface 20 is fitted with straps 26 arranged for easy attachment to a wearer &# 39 ; s boot 28 . although the multiple - compartment air cushion 2 , the tubing 10 interconnecting the compartments , and the tread surface 20 essentially form the mine - field shoe of the instant invention , it has been found advantageous to attach to the upper major flat surface of each compartment , a support plate 30 , thus effecting an even more uniform weight distribution along the entire surface area of the air cushion . the shoe is of the foldable type , including an inflatable gas cushion composed of a plurality of chambers or compartments . when inflated , the compartments form a gas cushion having upper and ground contacting surfaces that are substantially flat . fig2 shows an air cell 86 of u . s . pat . no . 4 , 611 , 411 along with t - connectors 116 in the first four cells , an l - connector 118 in the last cell , and four intermediate rubber tubing sections 120 . a first tubing section 122 is provided with a schematically indicated pinch cock 124 . as mentioned hereinabove , the minefield shoe taught by u . s . pat . no . 4 , 611 , 411 is highly prone to failures associated with deflation , and more specifically , deflation associated with the external placement of the tubes and the large plurality of accompanying fittings , each having two or three joints . each joint presents a sealing problem that detracts from the reliability of the device . moreover , deflation can also occur when the tubing is caught by a foreign object , such that the tube is separated from a fitting , punctured by a nail or other sharp object , or torn ( e . g ., due to excessive wear ). although it is disclosed by u . s . pat . no . 4 , 611 , 411 that the air cushion can be inflated by means of a pump or by means of a pressurized gas bottle , it has been the experience of the present inventors that such means are inappropriate , unless the inflation is performed in a very slow , gradual , controlled manner . when the inflation is performed in a less gradual fashion , the device is highly susceptible to a sealing failure , such as a tubing section 120 becoming detached from a t - connector 116 , because the external tubing has a relatively small diameter , and further in view of the numerous fittings , all of which represent weak points , particularly under high - pressure conditions . by sharp contrast , the minefield shoe of the present invention has compartments that fluidly communicate by means of passages that are internal to the cushion structure . these internal passages are shown in cross - sectional views of the long side ( fig3 ) and short side ( fig4 a - 4 b ) of the air cushion of the inventive device . as in the prior art device , the inventive minefield shoe includes an inflatable air cushion 202 composed of a plurality of chambers or compartments 204 . when inflated , the compartments form an air cushion having upper and ground contacting surfaces that are substantially flat . unlike the prior - art minefield shoe , however , the interiors of the compartments 204 communicate with each other by a series of internal passages 210 . internal passages 210 are inherently protected by compartments 204 , and are thus not vulnerable to damage and / or failure due to external sharp objects , rough use under battlefield conditions , and blowouts or leakage due to overinflation , excessive pressures , etc . there is no external tubing for linking compartments 204 , such that the serious problems associated with external tubes and fittings are eliminated . in simplest form , internal passages 210 are one or more sealing gaps disposed in each of internal walls 220 . it has been found to be advantageous , however , to place a fitting in internal passage 210 , as shown in fig4 a and 4 b . in fig4 a , the fitting is a tubular orifice 222 . fig4 b is a schematic representation of a multiple - orificed fitting 224 . preferably , multiple - orificed fitting 224 , and tubular orifice 222 have a rectangular profile . an additional inventive aspect of the minefield shoe of the present invention is illustrated in a schematic side view in fig5 . minefield shoe 300 has a top level 310 of gas - containing compartments 312 and a bottom level 320 of gas - containing compartments 322 . gas - containing compartments 312 in top level 310 fluidly communicate with each other , preferably by means of internal passages , such as multiple - orificed fitting 224 shown in fig4 b . similarly , gas - containing compartments 322 in bottom level 320 fluidly communicate with each other . however , top level 310 is fluidly sealed from bottom level 320 . in the event that one or more of gas - containing compartments 322 in bottom level 320 is punctured , top level 310 remains pressurized and intact , thereby maintaining the main safety function of the minefield shoe . hence , the reliability of minefield shoe 300 is substantially improved relative to the shoe disclosed by u . s . pat . no . 4 , 611 , 411 . preferably , top level 310 and bottom level 320 each have a dedicated valve ( 316 , 326 , respectively ) for inflation and deflation . however , it will be appreciated by one skilled in the art that various configurations are possible . in a preferred embodiment , top level 310 and bottom level 320 are fluidly isolated by at least one self - adjusting partition 315 . self - adjusting partition 315 is typically a flexible , loosely disposed layer that serves both as a bottom wall of top level 310 and as a top wall for bottom level 320 . it has been found to be advantageous to fill top level 310 with at least 60 % of the total amount of gas used to inflate minefield shoe 300 , and more preferably , between ⅔ and ¾ of the total amount of gas . consequently , in the event of a puncture in bottom level 320 , the bulk of the gas remains contained in top level 310 . moreover , when self - adjusting partition 315 is a flexible , loosely disposed layer , attached approximately near the vertical middle ( at a height of h / 2 ) of levels 310 , 320 , self - adjusting partition 315 is distended below the vertical middle , upon inflation , as top level 310 and bottom level 320 reach an identical pressure . in the event that bottom level 320 is punctured , top level 310 continues to provide a thick cushion of pressurized air , such that the weight distribution functionality of the shoe is substantially maintained . yet another inventive aspect of the minefield shoe of the present invention will be made apparent in comparison to the prior art and in conjunction with the schematic illustration of a minefield shoe contacting a mine detonator plate ( fig6 a - 6 b ). perhaps the most significant feature of the minefield shoe taught by u . s . pat . no . 4 , 611 , 411 to ringler , et al ., is the improved ground - conforming property relative to the rigid snowshoe - type minefield shoe described hereinabove . fig6 a shows a somewhat flexible bottom surface 350 of a minefield shoe that insufficiently conforms to a mine detonator plate ( or mine trigger ) 352 protruding from the ground . although the weight distribution is improved with respect to a rigid bottom surface , the surface area 354 that is unsupported by ground surface 356 is relatively large , such that the force exerted down on the detonator plate surface is high . consequently , the risk of detonation is correspondingly high . in fig6 b , the bottom surface 360 is more flexible , conforming more snugly to detonator plate 352 . the result is improved performance ( weight distribution ): the surface area 364 that is unsupported by ground surface 356 is decreased , such that less weight is placed on detonator plate 352 . it is thus a cardinal design principle to make the bottom surface of the minefield shoe as flexible as possible . the bottom surfaces of the minefield shoe taught by u . s . pat . no . 4 , 611 , 411 are designed not only for flexibility , but for cut and abrasion resistance as well . alternatively , the air cushion is composed of a single integral layer of material that is impermeable to gas and having an outer ( bottom ) surface that is abrasion and cut resistant . in both cases , the additional design constraints result in a bottom surface that is far from optimal in terms of flexibility and weight distribution on uneven terrain . the flexibility compromise is particularly severe because a puncture or tear in the bottom surface completely destroys the efficacy of the minefield shoe . by sharp contrast , and as developed hereinabove , the minefield shoe of the present invention has a two - level design in which the levels are fluidly incommunicable , such that the shoe remains completely functional in the event of a tear or puncture . the ramification , from a design standpoint , is manifest : the requisite double design constraint of flexibility and toughness in the shoe taught by u . s . pat . no . 4 , 611 , 411 is now substantially decoupled . in the minefield shoe of the present invention , the toughness constraint on the bottom surface is greatly relaxed , such that the bottom surface can be designed to have increased flexibility , thereby improving the ground - conforming property and hence , performance . fig7 is a schematic , exploded cross - sectional view of the various layers that make up the top and bottom levels of the gas cushion according to one embodiment of the present invention . a cushion 410 contains a top gas compartment 417 and a bottom gas compartment 420 . sheet 412 defines the top of compartment 417 , sheet 422 defines the bottom of compartment 420 , and sheet 418 defines the bottom of compartment 417 and the top of compartment 420 . sheets 418 and 422 are made of any impermeable , and preferably flexible synthetic material such as pvc , polyurethane , or nylon fabric . sheet 412 is composed of a fabric 414 having an impermeable coating 416 on the underside thereof . bottom sheet 426 is composed of a porous and flexible fabric that is loosely attached ( e . g ., sewn ) to the bottom surface of sheet 422 . bottom sheet 426 is sufficiently loose and pliable so as to conform freely to protruding objects that the shoe wearer might step on , such as a mine detonator pin , thereby improving the performance of the inventive minefield shoe . fig8 a is a schematic illustration of a top sheet 448 and a bottom sheet 452 of an inventive gas cushion , and a bridge - like device 454 for attaching therebetween . fig8 b is a schematic cross - sectional view of the components of fig8 a , after bonding , in which bridge - like device 454 forms internal passageways 462 for fluid communication between adjacent cushions . fig9 is a graph illustrating the improved weight distribution of the inventive minefield shoe as compared with the minefield shoe disclosed by u . s . pat . no . 4 , 611 , 411 . the x - axis represents the force acting on the mine trigger , for a soldier weighing 100 kg . the y - axis represents the area of the mine trigger , in cm 2 . multiple plots are presented , as a function of the length ( in cm ) of mine trigger protruding from the soil . it is evident that the force acting on the mine trigger increases with increasing area of the mine trigger , and with increasing of the length of mine trigger protruding from the soil , for both the inventive device and the prior - art device . significantly , with the inventive device , lower forces are exerted on the mine trigger , relative to the shoe disclosed by u . s . pat . no . 4 , 611 , 411 , at virtually every measured point on the graph . without wishing to be bound by theory , this superior performance is attributed , at least in part , to the superior flexibility of the bottom surface of the inventive device . yet another aspect of the present invention is a manufacturing method for producing a minefield shoe having the basic design taught herein . whereas u . s . pat . no . 4 , 611 , 411 to ringler , et al ., teaches a device having individual balloons or compartments , fabric housing for the compartments , and a large plurality of tubes and fittings for fluid communication between the compartments , the design of the present invention allows for production using a simple , inexpensive , and highly - efficient bonding process . two sheets of polyester or nylon fabric , coated with polyurethane , are held together , with the coated sides facing and contacting one another . it will be appreciated by one skilled in the art that other suitable fabrics and coatings may be utilized . the sheets are then bonded at a pre - determined interval along the length of the sheets to form a series of pockets in a single unit - operation . the bonding is preferably effected by high - frequency welding using a single top electrode , or by various , conventional heat - sealing techniques . the passages for fluid communication between the pockets , described hereinabove , may be effected in several ways , including : ( 1 ) prior to the heat sealing operation , a strip of proper dimensions ( e . g ., 7 mm by 30 mm ) is temporarily inserted between the sheets during the heat - sealing process , in order to provide a suitable internal gap or passageway between pockets . typically the strip is left in place only during the welding operation . ( 2 ) prior to the heat sealing operation , fittings such as tubular orifice 222 or multiple - orificed fitting 224 ( see fig4 a - 4 b ) are inserted between the sheets and are preferably bonded to the sheets at intervals corresponding to a designed , pre - determined length of each pocket . it is presently preferred to use a multiple - orificed fitting 224 having a rectangular profile . the fittings provide the pockets with a mechanically strong passageway that assures full fluid communication between pockets , even under extenuating circumstances ( e . g ., significant overinflation of the pockets ). although the invention has been described in conjunction with specific embodiments thereof , it is evident that many alternatives , modifications and variations will be apparent to those skilled in the art . accordingly , it is intended to embrace all such alternatives , modifications and variations that fall within the spirit and broad scope of the appended claims . all publications , patents and patent applications mentioned in this specification are herein incorporated in their entirety by reference into the specification , to the same extent as if each individual publication , patent or patent application was specifically and individually indicated to be incorporated herein by reference . in addition , no citation or identification of any reference in this application shall be construed as an admission that such reference is available as prior art to the present invention . | 0 |
the invention herein disclosed provides for devices and methods that may be used for the synthesis of phycocyanins . the method results in a greater than 4 . 5 - fold increase in phycocyanin levels , a clear improvement over the prior art . the devices herein disclosed may be used in many applications , including , but not limited to , use as a natural food colouring , as an antioxidant in the food supplement industries , in the nutraceutical , pharmaceutical , and cosmeceutical industries , and as a non - toxic ink the invention provides improved methods for the synthesis and commercial production of phycocyanins . in an exemplary embodiment , the method includes providing a microorganism capable of synthesizing phycocyanins , providing a suitable culture and growth medium , illuminating the microorganism in culture with red and / or near - infrared light , and in the alternative , illuminating the microorganism in culture with red and / or near - infrared monochromatic light . in an alternative embodiment , the method also provides illuminating the microorganism in culture with white light . in one embodiment the red light consists of electromagnetic radiation having wavelengths between about 640 nm and about 720 nm . in another embodiment the red light consists of electromagnetic radiation having wavelengths between 640 nm and 1000 nm . in another embodiment the red light consists of electromagnetic radiation having a maximum wavelength emission of 680 nm . in an alternative embodiment the red light consists of electromagnetic radiation having a wavelength of 678 nm in another alternative embodiment the red light consists of electromagnetic radiation having a wavelength of 682 nm . in another alternative embodiment the red light consists of electromagnetic radiation having a wavelength of 690 nm . in another alternative embodiment the red light consists of electromagnetic radiation having a wavelength of 670 nm . in an alternative embodiment the red light consists of electromagnetic radiation having a mean wavelength of 680 nm , wherein the wavelength is within a 95 % confidence interval of 640 - 720 nm . in one embodiment the white light consists of electromagnetic radiation having wavelengths between 350 nm and 760 nm . culturing under red 680 nm led light compared to white was shown to increase pc production in a . platensis by an average of 5 - fold and these effects could be seen visually in the cultures . mass spectral analysis has shown some major differences and changes on the protein level through culturing under the two different light sources . no significant difference was seen in growth rate under the two light sources . the invention will be more readily understood by reference to the following examples , which are included merely for purposes of illustration of certain aspects and embodiments of the present invention and not as limitations . f / 2 sterile medium ( ccap [ culture collection of algae and protozoa ] recipe ) supplemented with 2 . 5 g / l nano 3 ( ph 8 ) was inoculated under aseptic conditions at 20 % ( v / v ) with arthrospira platensis ( ccmp [ culture collection of marine phytoplankton ] 1295 / bigelow laboratory us ) ( od 0 . 11 - 0 . 12 ) in logarithmic growth phase . a stirred tank photobioreactor ( stpbr ) ( infors labfors 4 benchtop modified bioreactor ) with either white ( lumitronix barre led high - power smd 600 mm , 12 v ) or 680 nm red leds ( fig2 and 3 ) was operated with 2 . 75 of culture at 30 ° c . and 45 μmol − 1 m − 2 light intensity with 18 : 6 light : dark cycle and impeller speed 200 rpm with natural compressed air (˜ 0 . 03 % co 2 ) supplied at 0 . 08 lpm ( vvm ( volume of air per volume of culture per minute ) ˜ 0 . 03 litres air per litres medium per minute , lpm ) through a gauzed ring sparger . ph and dissolved oxygen was recorded online in 10 minute periods ( mettler toledo probes ). 8 ml samples were taken aseptically on days 1 ( inoculation ), 3 , 6 , 7 , 10 , 13 , and 14 for analysis . optical density ( od ) was used alongside chlorophyll autofluorescence ( cf ) and direct cell counts as a proxy for growth . od was measured in triplicate at 750 nm griffiths et al . ( 2011 ) [ 14 ] using a cary 100 uv / vis spectrophotometer ( varian ) corrected with f / 2 medium . cf was analysed in three triplicate 300 μl samples divided into individual wells of a black 96 well plate . samples were excited at 430 nm and emission measured at 690 nm using a fluostar optima fluorescence plate reader ( bmg labtech ). readings were taken against blank samples of f / 2 medium and the average values in arbitrary fluorescence units used for statistical analysis . cell counts were performed using a sedgewick rafter counting cell and using leitz dialux 20 light microscope . triplicate 10 random sample counts were taken for 1 μl of culture . the total length and width of the spirals of 20 cyanobacteria were measured to assess any changes in the morphological features of the trichomes . images were taken using leitz dialux 20 light microscope and easygrab software with analysis performed using image j . image size was calibrated using graticules at 630 pixels mm − 1 . pc extraction was based on the method by zhang and chen ( 1999 ) [ 15 ]. 5 ml samples were harvested by centrifugation at 3000 g / 10 minutes ( sigma 3k18c centrifuge ) in pre - weighed glass tubes . cells were washed once in deionized water and the wet biomass weighed . the pellet was then resuspended in 3 ml 0 . 05 m sodium phosphate buffer ( ph 7 ). cells were disrupted by a freeze / thaw cycle (− 20 ° c .) over 1 hour and sonicated for 3 minutes at 6 microns amplitude ( soniprep 150 , mse ). samples were then centrifuged at 10 , 000 g , 30 minutes ( sigma 1 - 15 microcentrifuge ) and the absorbance of the supernatant scanned over 200 - 800 nm by spectrophotometer ( cary 100 uv - vis spectrophotometer , varian ) using a quartz cuvette . sodium phosphate buffer ( 0 . 05 m ) was used as a blank and the pc concentration and purity calculated using the method by bennet and bogorad ( 1973 ) [ 10 ] ( equation 1 ) and boussiba and richmond ( 1979 ) [ 16 ] ( equation 2 ) respectively . extraction yield was calculated as below in equation 3 . pc concentration was analysed at day 14 ( or when growth reached od 0 . 33 ) as three replicates . 20 mg alpha - cyano - 4 - hydroxycinnamic acid ( hcca ) ( brucker daltonics ) was mixed with 1 ml 50 % acentonitrile : 2 . 5 % tfa solution and saturated by 30 minutes incubation at 25 ° c . in an ultrasonic water bath ( grant instruments , cambridge ), vortexed at 15 minutes . matrix was centrifuged ( 14 , 000 g , 1 minutes ) ( sigma 1 - 15k microcentrifuge ) and 50 μl aliquots prepared fresh for use . 1 ml samples were centrifuged ( 14 , 000 g , 5 minutes ) ( sigma 1 - 15k microcentrifuge ) and the pellet washed twice in fresh deionized water ( fdw ) and stored frozen at − 80 ° c . pellets were thawed on ice and resuspended in 50 μl fdw before spotting . samples were mixed 1 : 1 with hcca matrix and 4 μl duplicate samples spotted onto a steel target plate ( mtp 384 target plate ground steel , brucker ) along with 1 μl bacterial standard ( brucker ) layered with 1 μl hcca matrix as a calibrant . samples then underwent ms analysis ( bruker ultraflex ii maldi - toftof ). spectra were analysed using flexanalysis software package ( bruker ). samples were frozen in 15 % sterile glycerol and frozen at − 80 ° c . for population analysis ( dr andrew free and rocky kindt , edinburgh university ). data analysis was performed using microsoft excel 2007 and graphpad prism 5 . no significant difference in growth of cultures was observed under red 680 nm compared to white led light ( fig4 ). note the large acclimatization lag period in batch red 2 ( fig4 ). the culture required a period to acclimatize to be able to utilize the red 680 nm light in photosynthesis ( from observation ), and this acclimatization was reversible . phycocyanin absorbs at 620 nm . the presence of pc in the extracts of red 680 nm led batches compared to white led was much higher ( fig5 & amp ; 6 ). an interesting blue - shift was observed in the second chlorophyll a peak around 670 - 680 nm where the peak red 680 nm extract absorption is 677 - 678 nm and the peak white extract absorption is 673 - 674 ( fig6 ). pc concentration was increased 5 - fold on average ( at least nine samples ) through culturing under red 680 nm compared to white led light and there was a slightly higher pc purity under red 680 nm led light compared to white ( fig7 table ). visual colour differences were observed in the culture most likely resulting from increased pc content of the cells cultured under red 680 nm light ( fig7 ). whole cell maldi spectra showed differences in abundant proteins from culturing under red 680 nm compared to white led light ( fig8 ). when discarding the samples prepared for ms analysis , a high concentration of pc had leached into solution in the red 680 nm samples ( fig9 ). by eye the colour difference in leached pc was substantially higher in the red 680 nm culture compared to white led light , looking much greater than a 5 - fold increase . this indicated a possible difference in the pc leaching characteristics in the red 680 nm culture , which may be beneficial to downstream processing ( dsp ). culturing under 680 nm light may increase the leaching of pc from the biomass . culturing under 680 nm light may also increase aggregation of the culture , with benefits to dsp . aggregation may be a result of increased production of extracellular polysaccharide ( eps ) as a stress response . this is clearly an unexpectedly superior result that could not have been predicted by one skilled in the art . those skilled in the art will appreciate that various adaptations and modifications of the just - described embodiments can be configured without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention . other suitable techniques and methods known in the art can be applied in numerous specific modalities by one skilled in the art and in light of the description of the present invention described herein . therefore , it is to be understood that the invention can be practiced other than as specifically described herein . the above description is intended to be illustrative , and not restrictive . many other embodiments will be apparent to those of skill in the art upon reviewing the above description . the scope of the invention should , therefore , be determined with reference to the appended claims , along with the full scope of equivalents to which such claims are entitled . [ 1 ] vonshak , a . 1997 . spirulina platensis arthrospira : physiology , cell - biology and biotechnology . crc press , london . [ 2 ] gonzalez , r . et al . 1999 . anti - inflammatory activity of phycocyanin extract in acetic acid - induced colitis in rats . pharmacological research 39 ( 1 ): 55 - 59 . [ 3 ] romay , c . et al . 1998 . antioxidant and anti - inflammatory properties of c - phycocyanin from blue - green algae . inflammation research 47 : 36 - 41 . [ 4 ] pinero estrada , j . e ., bermejo bescos , p ., and villar del fresno , a . m . 2001 . antioxidant activity of different fractions of spirulina platensis protean extract . il farmaco 56 : 497 - 500 . [ 5 ] belay , a . 2002 . the potential application of spirulina ( arthrospira ) as a nutritional and therapeutic supplement in health management . the journal of the american nutraceutical association 5 ( 2 ): 27 - 48 . [ 6 ] kirk , j . o . t . 2000 . light & amp ; photosynthesis in aquatic systems . second ed . cambridge university press , cambridge . [ 7 ] wang , r . t ., stevens , c . l . r ., and myers , j . 1977 . action spectra for photoreactions i and ii of photosynthesis in the blue - green alga anacystis nidulans . photochemistry and photobiology 25 ( 1 ): 103 - 108 . [ 8 ] johnson , j . d . 2006 . the manganese - calcium oxide cluster of photosystem ii and its assimilation by the cyanobacteria . 2006 ( last accessed 20 jul . 2012 ). available at : http :// www . chm . bris . ac . uk / motm / oec / motmc . htm . [ 9 ] habib , m . a . b ., parvin , m ., huntington , t . c ., and hasan , m . r . 2008 . a review on culture , production and use of spirulina as food for humans and feeds for domestic animals and fish . fao fisheries and aquaculture : rome . [ 10 ] bennett , a ., bogorad , l . 1973 . complementary chromatic adaptation in a filamentous blue - green alga . the journal of cell biology 58 ( 2 ): 419 - 435 . [ 11 ] bogorad , l . 1975 . phycobiliproteins and complementary chromatic adaptation . annual review of plant physiology 26 : 369 - 401 . [ 12 ] walter , a . et al . 2011 . study of phycocyanin production from spirulina platensis under different light spectra . brazilian archives of biology and technology 54 : 675 - 682 . [ 13 ] wang , c .- y ., fu , c .- c ., and liu , y .- c . 2007 . effects of using light - emitting diodes on the cultivation of spirulina platensis . biochemical engineering journal 37 ( 1 ): 21 - 25 . [ 14 ] griffiths , m . j ., garcin , c ., van hille , r . p ., and harrison , s . t . l . 2011 . interference by pigment in the estimation of microalgal biomass concentration by optical density . journal of microbiological methods 85 ( 2 ): 119 - 123 . [ 15 ] zhang , y .- m . and chen , f . 1999 . a simple method for efficient separation and purification of c - phycocyanin and allophycocyanin from spirulina platensis . biotechnology techniques 13 ( 9 ): 601 - 603 . [ 16 ] boussiba , s . and richmond , a . e . 1979 . isolation and characterization of phycocyanins from the blue - green alga spirulina platensis . archives of microbiology 120 ( 2 ): 155 - 159 . [ 17 ] sudhir et al . 2005 . the effects of salt stress on photosynthetic electron transport and thylakoid membrane proteins in the cyanobacteium spirulina platensis . journal of biochemistry and molecular biology 38 : 481 - 485 . [ 18 ] verma , k ., mohanty , p . 2000 . changes of the photosynthetic apparatus in spirulina cyanobacterium by sodium stress . z naturforsch c 55 : 16 - 22 . [ 19 ] farges , b ., laroche , c ., cornet , j . f ., and dussap , c . g . 2009 . spectral kinetic modeling and long - term behavior assessment of arthrospira platensis growth in photobioreactor under red ( 620 nm ) light illumination . biotechnol prog 25 ( 1 ): 151 - 62 . | 0 |
fig1 illustrates a strip of resilient material 10 containing a set of indicia 11 consisting of a series of digits 1 - 8 on its face . a pair of studs 12 are formed at opposite ends on the face of the band 10 . the band 10 can be held in some convenient fashion in a stretched condition and pinched with two fingers of one hand at one of the markings 11 and then plucked with another finger near one end of the band and it will produce a melodic tone . the pinching fingers can be moved selectively to others of the markings and plucked to produce a series of melodic tones and with the proper arrangement of these melodic tones a melodic tune will result . the studs 12 provide convenient attaching means for anchoring the band 10 in its stretched condition . typically , for example , two sets of spaced apart pins 13 can provide a temporary anchoring means with one end of the band 10 slipped between the pins of one set with stud 12 outside the pins and the band stretched to the other set of pins and the other end of the band slipped between the two pins of the other set with stud 12 on the outside . the band 10 will then be held in this stretched condition . when no longer in use the band 10 can be released by slipping it out from between the pins 13 . it has been found that this is a convenient way for attaching bands to a molded article . for example , when attaching the band to a molded imitation straw hat , the band is stretched between two sets of pins in the mold and after the ends of the bands are securely molded in place in the hat the band slips out from between the pins when the hat is removed from the mold . this is not considered to be a novel aspect of the instant invention . it is merely described here to show one way in which the band can be releasably secured in its stretched condition with the markings or indicia located between the anchoring points . in a typical application the band 10 might be attached within the crown area 15 of an imitation straw hat which is defined by the riser portion 16 of the hat and the top or hat cover 17 . typically , the imitation straw hat also has a flat brim 18 . in the embodiment illustrated in fig3 and 4 the band is anchored at its two ends 20 and 21 and also at a midpoint generally designated by reference number 19 . in this instance it is preferred that the markings 11 appear on both sections of the band between the three anchoring points , i . e ., in the section of the band between anchoring points 19 and 20 and between anchoring points 19 and 21 . studs 12 at the ends of band 10 serve to hold the ends of the band more securely attached to the riser of the hat when the band is molded to the hat . as an added feature directions for use of the band to produce the melodic tones or tunes can be printed on the inner surface of the top of the hat 17 . these instructions describe at which of the respective markings the band should be pinched in a certain sequence in order to produce a certain tune when plucked . for example , the band was installed in a molded plastic hat , as described above , and at the existing tautness the printed instructions inside the hat cover describe that the well - known melody for &# 34 ; shave and a haircut , six bits &# 34 ; can be played by plucking the band while pinching numbers 4 , 2 , 2 , 3 , 2 , 4 , 5 in succession . fig5 illustrates another typical manner of use of the instant invention . a molded plastic container designated generally by reference numeral 22 is preferably in the shape of a guitar or banjo with the string holding portion being bowled or hollow in the area generally designated 23 . this area 23 would normally serve as a holder for candy or the like . at opposite ends in the wall of the bowled area are slots 24 . the band 10 is slipped into the slots and is held in this stretched or taut condition by studs 25 formed at the outer ends of the band 10 . the markings 11 located between the two attachment points designate the location at which the band should be pinched when in this stretched condition and plucked to produce the melodic tones . similarly , as with the straw hat embodiment illustrated in fig3 instructions for the playing of the band can be printed on the inner surface of the bowled area 23 . when not in use for this purpose the band 10 can be slipped out of the slots 24 and the container used for its normal purpose or discarded . | 6 |
referring to fig1 , a radio access network ( ran ) 100 uses an ev - do protocol to transmit data packets between an access terminal , e . g ., access terminal 114 and 116 , and a radio network access point , e . g ., access points 108 , 110 , 112 . the access points are connected over a backhaul connection 118 to radio network control / packet data serving nodes ( rnc / pdsn ) 120 , which may be one or more physical devices at different locations . in some examples , as shown in fig2 , a radio network access point 202 may be deployed in a user &# 39 ; s home 200 in a similar manner as a wifi ® access point . such a radio network access point is referred to as a private access point . the private access point 202 may use an available high - speed internet connection , such as dsl or cable modem 204 , as the backhaul with the rnc / pdsn functionality implemented in the private access point 202 . such a private access point may be installed anywhere that it is advantageous to do so , for example , in an office , a public space , or a restaurant . when this description refers to a private access point being in a “ home ” that encompasses any such location . a private access point is different from a picocell access point in that it may be intended to only provide access for the user that installs it in his home or those he authorizes , as opposed to a picocell which may serve a similar venue but provides access to any subscriber of the network . in some examples , a private access point may be integrated into a cable modem or other network hardware , such as a router or wifi access point . when an authorized access terminal 206 is present inside the home ( or anywhere within range of the private access point 202 ), it uses the private access point 202 rather than a regular cellular radio network access point such as access point 108 to place or receive voice calls and data connections , even if it is otherwise within the cell 102 for that access point 108 . we sometimes refer to the standard access point 108 as a macro access point or macro bts to distinguish it from a private access point , as it provides direct access to the wider ran . a neighboring home 210 may have its own private access point 212 connected to its cable modem 214 for use by its owner &# 39 ; s access terminal 216 . a private access point deployment is different than traditional radio network deployment because neighboring private access points are intended to operate independently , in part because real - time communications is difficult between neighboring private access points . the intended private access point deployment is also different than wifi deployment in that it is intended to operate in licensed spectrum . some details and examples are discussed in co - pending applications ______ , titled controlling reverse link interference in private access points for wireless networking , filed ______ , and ______ , titled configuring preferred user zone lists for private access points for wireless networking , filed ______ , which are incorporated here by reference . access lists of authorized access terminals for each private access point can be configured on a central server and distributed to the private access points . information to locate and access the private access points can be distributed to access terminals using an over - the - air parameter administration ( otapa ) system . access terminals may also retrieve access information from the configuration server themselves . a mobile internet protocol ( mobile ip ) can be used along with voice call continuity ( vcc ) for handoff &# 39 ; s between private access points . although this description uses terminology from ev - do standards , the same concepts are applicable to other communication methods , including gsm , umts , hsdpa , wimax , wibro , wifi , and the like . for example , when we refer to a reverse power control ( rpc ) signal , this should be taken to refer to any signal used by a base station to control power levels of an access terminal . provisioning refers to defining sets of access terminals that should use a particular access point and related configuration activities . personal access points can benefit from a user - friendly provisioning system that can allow the end - user to direct which other users should be allowed to have access to a particular private access point . this is advantageous because it allows owners to control who accesses their hardware , but at the same time , the network operator is able to maintain some amount of control over how its network is accessed . in existing systems , web - based configuration interfaces are sometimes hosted by the device under configuration , for example , home router manufactured by the linksys ® division of cisco systems , inc ., of san jose , calif ., allow end - users to restrict access to their home ethernet or wifi routers by providing a web - based user interface hosted on those same routers . an end user can connect his personal computer , equipped with web - browser software , to his home router and configure its access list and other settings through a locally - generated web page . such home routers are not operator - managed ; they are managed by the end - users themselves . many home - networking access products operate in this fashion . in other systems , configuration is done using custom client applications , for example , the airport ® wireless access point from apple computer , inc ., of cupertino , calif ., is configured using software that is built and provided by apple for the specific purpose of managing such access points . such home networking devices are also managed by the end - users themselves , not the operator of the wide - area network to which they may be attached . many other home - networking products operate in this fashion as well . in the description below , a system enables end - users to provision a home networking device such as a personal access point in a user - friendly manner , yet allows the network operator to manage and retain final control over the device . two primary methods are described : one through an operator - hosted web - based interface , the other using sms text messaging terminated by the operator &# 39 ; s text messaging application server . these methods may be implemented independently or in combination . such user - based provisioning has several advantages . because the end - user does not configure the home networking device directly , one fewer networking port needs to be opened ( i . e ., a port for accessing the device directly through a web browser ) and the home networking device will be more secure , more “ hack - proof ” for it . web - browsing and text - messaging are common and familiar interfaces for many end users providing user friendliness and ease of use . to provide access to a radio access network , a personal base station needs to be provisioned and configured in a way that is compatible with the services provided by the network operator . using this system , because configuration is done through an operator - managed interface and the device is ultimately left operator - managed , the operator can ensure that only a provisioning configuration that is fully compatible with its network service is used on the personal base station . fig3 shows two user - driven service provisioning scenarios for setting provisioning configurations on a private access point 300 . in some examples , a user ( not shown ) uses a cell phone 302 to send a text message 304 to a text messaging application server 306 over a wireless network 320 . the text message 304 contains a command to change the provisioning configuration of the private access point 300 . the user may compose the command manually using his phone &# 39 ; s usual text - messaging features , or he may use a list of pre - defined commands or a custom application to generate the message . the address to which the message is sent could be stored as a regular contact in the phone &# 39 ; s address book feature . any device capable of generating a text message could be used , including a cell phone , a pda , a two - way pager , or a personal computer . the text messaging application server 306 can verify 312 the text message 304 &# 39 ; s sender &# 39 ; s identity using an authorization and accounting ( aaa ) server 308 . in some examples , the text messaging application server 308 and the aaa server 308 are both operated by the network operator ( box 310 ), but either or both could be operated by third parties with communications 312 between them handled by any standard or customized communications method . after authenticating the sender , the text messaging application server 308 forwards a message 316 including the provisioning configuration command to a provisioning configuration server 314 . the provisioning configuration server 314 can perform additional checks 318 and verification with the aaa server if necessary . it alters the provisioning configuration information , as appropriate for the network operator &# 39 ; s needs , and transmits the provisioning configuration change 322 to the private access point 300 over a wide - area network 330 a , which may , for example , be the internet or a private network . in some examples , the network operator may also provide broadband services to the user , and a single network connection may provide both the configuration change 322 and internet access , with or without the change 322 actually being transmitted through the internet component of the service . this process is further described below with reference to fig4 . note that for user - friendliness considerations , the user can deal with phone numbers rather than with hardware ids . for example , the number to which the text message 304 is sent appears , to the user , to be a standard telephone number or a short telephone number as is commonly used for text - messaging - based applications . the user does not need to know or store in his phone a different type of identification for the text messaging application server 306 . furthermore , the text messaging application server 306 can infer the sender &# 39 ; s identity by the source of the text message 304 ( e . g ., using caller id ) and infer which home networking device 300 to associate with the sender . in some examples , this association is established when the user first registers or activates his private access point 300 with the network operator . in some examples , a user may have more than one private access point , and the text message or custom application used to create it may include an identification of which one the user wishes to modify . for example , the user may specify an id of the targeted access point , or may specify “ all ” if he wants to change the configuration of all the access points he controls . in some examples , the system may automatically determine which access points to configure . if the user provides a phone number of an access terminal that should be granted access , the system may determine that access terminal &# 39 ; s current geographic location and provision the access terminal on all the private access points owned by that user that are within 100 miles of the access terminal . in some examples , the user uses a personal computer 324 running web - browser software to connect to a web server 326 ( arc 328 ) through a wide - area network 330 b . the two wide - area networks 330 a and 330 b may both be the internet , and may be the same or different routes through the internet . web traffic 328 from the computer 324 to the web server 326 may pass through the private access point 300 if the private access point 300 is also serving as an internet gateway for the computer 324 . this web server 326 may be operated by the network operator or a third party . the web server 326 can ask for username & amp ; password information to verify 332 the user &# 39 ; s identity . other authentication systems , such as certificates or public key encryption can also be used . through the web server 326 , the user enters provisioning configuration information . the web server 326 then forwards a message 334 including the new provisioning configuration to the provisioning configuration server 314 . the provisioning configuration server 314 can perform additional checks and verification 336 with the aaa server 308 , if necessary . as in the first scenario , the provisioning configuration server 314 alters the provisioning configuration information , as appropriate for the network operator &# 39 ; s needs , and transmits the provisioning configuration change 322 to the private access point 300 over a wide - area network 330 a . in some examples , a centralized provisioning configuration server 314 is used . unlike in some other systems , this server 314 does not gather provisioning information from the home networking equipment 300 , but rather , it gets provisioning information from the network operator or from the end user using the web - based or text - messaging - based methods described above and then downloads the configuration information to the home networking equipment . fig4 shows the sequences of messages passed in the first scenario discussed above , using text messages to configure the provisioning information . as shown , the user sends a text message 304 to the sms application server 306 . the sms server 306 communicates with the aaa server 308 to authenticate 312 the cell phone 302 used to send the message 304 . one part of the provisioning command in the text message 304 may be a list of telephone numbers that the users wishes to allow to access the network through his private access point 300 . the sms server 306 sends a translation request 402 including this list of numbers to the aaa server 308 . the aaa server 308 translates the phone numbers into access terminal ids and transmits these back to the sms server 306 in a translation response 404 . the sms server 306 then sends the provisioning command 316 , including the translated access terminal ids , to the provisioning configuration server 314 . the provisioning configuration server 314 makes any changes that are required by the network operator and communicates the updated provisioning configuration 322 to the private access point 300 . this process includes sending a connection request 406 to the private access point 300 , sending the list 408 of authorized access terminal ids to the private access point 300 , and receiving a confirmation . if the private access point does not respond after some time - out period , a failure notice 410 is sent to the sms server , which in turn sends an instruction 412 to the user to reset the private access point . the user performs ( 414 ) the requested reset 416 . after the private access point 300 resets , it connects to the server 314 and receives its full configuration information 418 , including the list 408 of authorized access terminals that filed to update earlier . a similar process could be used for the web - based provisioning shown in fig3 . other types of configuration messages may be sent , and other types of modifications may be made to them . in some examples , a user may send a message to indicate that a particular access terminal should have priority over others in accessing the radio access network through his private access point . in some examples , a user may specify a phone number of an access terminal that is not compatible with his private access point for technical or business reasons . it may be an access terminal that uses gsm , while the user &# 39 ; s access point is part of a cdma network , or it may be an access terminal that subscribes to a service other than the one the user subscribes to , even if they use the same technology . in either case , the system will reject the request and not provision the specified access terminal on the user &# 39 ; s private access point . this could be communicated to the user in the form of a text message . in some examples , the operator may be willing to provide access to an access terminal from a competing network operator , assuming it is compatible , but will provision it to take a lower priority than those of its own subscribers . other commands may be less network - focused , such as configuring the private access point to initiate a wake - up call , or simply instructing it to reset itself . although the techniques described above employ the ixev - do air interface standard , the techniques are also applicable to other cdma and non - cdma air interface technologies in which access points are installed in small - scale deployments or can otherwise be configured by their users . the techniques described herein can be implemented in digital electronic circuitry , or in computer hardware , firmware , software , or in combinations of them . the techniques can be implemented as a computer program product , i . e ., a computer program tangibly embodied in an information carrier , e . g ., in a machine - readable storage device or in a propagated signal , for execution by , or to control the operation of , data processing apparatus , e . g ., a programmable processor , a computer , or multiple computers . a computer program can be written in any form of programming language , including compiled or interpreted languages , and it can be deployed in any form , including as a stand - alone program or as a module , component , subroutine , or other unit suitable for use in a computing environment . a computer program can be deployed to be executed on one computer or on multiple computers at one site or distributed across multiple sites and interconnected by a communication network . method steps of the techniques described herein can be performed by one or more programmable processors executing a computer program to perform functions of the invention by operating on input data and generating output . method steps can also be performed by , and apparatus of the invention can be implemented as , special purpose logic circuitry , e . g ., an fpga ( field programmable gate array ) or an asic ( application - specific integrated circuit ). modules can refer to portions of the computer program and / or the processor / special circuitry that implements that functionality . processors suitable for the execution of a computer program include , by way of example , both general and special purpose microprocessors , and any one or more processors of any kind of digital computer . generally , a processor will receive instructions and data from a read - only memory or a random access memory or both . the essential elements of a computer are a processor for executing instructions and one or more memory devices for storing instructions and data . generally , a computer will also include , or be operatively coupled to receive data from or transfer data to , or both , one or more mass storage devices for storing data , e . g ., magnetic , magneto - optical disks , or optical disks . information carriers suitable for embodying computer program instructions and data include all forms of non - volatile memory , including by way of example semiconductor memory devices , e . g ., eprom , eeprom , and flash memory devices ; magnetic disks , e . g ., internal hard disks or removable disks ; magneto - optical disks ; and cd - rom and dvd - rom disks . the processor and the memory can be supplemented by , or incorporated in special purpose logic circuitry . to provide for interaction with a user , the techniques described herein can be implemented on a computer having a display device , e . g ., a crt ( cathode ray tube ) or lcd ( liquid crystal display ) monitor , for displaying information to the user and a keyboard and a pointing device , e . g ., a mouse or a trackball , by which the user can provide input to the computer ( e . g ., interact with a user interface element , for example , by clicking a button on such a pointing device ). other kinds of devices can be used to provide for interaction with a user as well ; for example , feedback provided to the user can be any form of sensory feedback , e . g ., visual feedback , auditory feedback , or tactile feedback ; and input from the user can be received in any form , including acoustic , speech , or tactile input . the techniques described herein can be implemented in a distributed computing system that includes a back - end component , e . g ., as a data server , and / or a middleware component , e . g ., an application server , and / or a front - end component , e . g ., a client computer having a graphical user interface and / or a web browser through which a user can interact with an implementation of the invention , or any combination of such back - end , middleware , or front - end components . the components of the system can be interconnected by any form or medium of digital data communication , e . g ., a communication network . examples of communication networks include a local area network (“ lan ”) and a wide area network (“ wan ”), e . g ., the internet , and include both wired and wireless networks . the computing system can include clients and servers . a client and server are generally remote from each other and typically interact over a communication network . the relationship of client and server arises by virtue of computer programs running on the respective computers and having a client - server relationship to each other . other embodiments are within the scope of the following claims . the techniques described herein can be performed in a different order and still achieve desirable results | 7 |
as shown in fig1 and 2 , a chain tensioner 100 comprises a housing 110 having a cylindrical plunger - accommodating hole 111 having an end opening in a wall of the housing . a plunger 120 , at least part of the outer peripheral surface of which is cylindrical , is slidable in the plunger - accommodating hole 111 and protrudes therefrom through the end opening . a plunger - biasing coil spring 140 , partly within a spring - receiving hole 121 inside the plunger , is in compression between and end of hole 121 adjacent the protruding end of the plunger , and the bottom of the plunger - accommodating hole 111 . the housing 110 is provided with an oil inflow channel 112 for supplying oil under high pressure to a high pressure oil chamber 113 formed by the plunger 120 and the plunger - accommodating hole 111 . a check valve 150 prevents the oil from flowing from the plunger - accommodating hole through the oil inflow channel 112 . the housing is also provided with an oil outflow channel 114 for discharging oil from the high pressure oil chamber 113 . the oil outflow channel 114 is provided with a control valve 160 , which is capable of adjusting an amount of oil discharged through channel 114 . the control valve 160 includes a spool 161 movable in an axial direction within a cylindrical spool chamber 165 . the chamber 165 has an inlet port 166 opening in the axial direction of the chamber and connecting to a part of channel 114 leading from the high pressure oil chamber 113 and an output port 163 opening in the radial direction and connecting to apart of channel 114 leading from the spool chamber to the exterior of the tensioner housing . a spool 161 , which is reciprocable within the spool chamber 165 , adjusts the aperture of the output port 163 . a biasing spring 164 urges the spool 161 in one direction , in this case , the direction in which the aperture of the output port 163 increases , and an actuator 162 is provided for moving the spool 161 against the biasing force exerted by spring 164 . damping of the reciprocating movement of the plunger 120 , which is dependent on the rate of flow of oil from chamber 113 , is determined not only by the gap between the plunger - accommodating hole 111 and the plunger 120 , but also by the aperture of the valve 160 in the oil outflow channel 114 . accordingly , even if the gap between the plunger - accommodating hole 111 and the plunger 120 is optimally designed for smooth sliding of the plunger in the plunger - accommodating hole , it becomes possible to make significant adjustments in the damping properties of the tensioner by adjusting the control valve 160 and thereby changing the rate of flow of oil through the outflow channel 114 . as shown in fig2 , a controller 170 can be provided for controlling the operation of the actuator 162 . with the controller , it is possible to adjust the damping property of the tensioner dynamically , so that the damping property corresponds to actual operating conditions . the optimum damping property can be determined by calculations based on input from a sensor 171 , which can sense parameters such as the revolution rate of the engine and oil temperature . the sensor 171 may also be arranged to detect fluctuations of tension and vibration of the chain , and thereby provide feedback control enabling the controller 170 to optimize the fluctuations of tension and vibration of the chain . in a second embodiment of the invention , as shown in fig3 and 4 , instead of spool valve , the control valve 160 is in the form of an axially movable needle valve , having an element 167 with a tapered end 168 that cooperates with a port 166 of outflow channel 114 by movement in the axial direction to adjust the valve aperture . the actuator 162 may take any of various forms and arrangements as long as it is capable of effecting reciprocating movement of the needle valve element 167 . for example , it is possible to operate the actuator a piezoelectric element , in which case advantage can be taken of the small size of the piezoelectric element to reduce the size and weight of the tensioner . for purposes of illustration , the size of the control valves in fig1 - 4 is exaggerated . in practice the control valves can be very small in size . in a case in which dynamic adjustment of the damping property of the tensioner is not important , the needle valve or the second embodiment , or the spool valve of the first embodiment , can be adjusted manually by means of a screw or similar mechanism instead of by means of an the actuator . in either of the first and second embodiments described above , and in modifications thereof , a ratchet mechanism or a relief valve , or both , as shown in fig7 , can be provided in any embodiment , the chain tensioner suppresses fluctuations in tension and sinusoidal vibrations of the transmission chain by enabling optimization of the damping properties of the tensioner without the need to machine tensioner parts individually and differently to accommodate different engines and different operating conditions . the tensioner housing and the plunger of the chain tensioner according to the invention may be composed of any of a variety of materials as long as the material has sufficient strength . it is preferable to use ferrous materials such as steel and cast iron because of their strength , workability and low cost . | 5 |
the configuration of a dmfc system 100 according to the present embodiment will be described in detail with reference to the drawings . fig1 is a schematic diagram showing the configuration of the dmfc system 100 according to the present embodiment . the dmfc system 100 comprises a dmfc 110 , a methanol tank 120 , a buffer tank 130 , a control unit 140 , a heat exchanger 150 , a case 160 , and an axial fan 170 . the methanol tank 120 contains a high - concentration methanol aqueous solution of or above 20 mol / l , or pure methanol . the methanol from the methanol tank 120 is diluted into concentrations of 1 . 2 mol / l or so , and reserved in the buffer tank 130 as the methanol aqueous solution to be fed to the dmfc 110 . the control unit 140 exercises control on power conversion units and accessories . an air pump 132 feeds air to the cathode 112 of the dmfc 110 . the anode 114 is fed with the methanol aqueous solution from the buffer tank 130 via a liquid pump 134 . the cathode 112 of the dmfc 110 emits exhausted air not involved in power generation , and moisture produced by reaction . the anode 114 emits an exhausted methanol aqueous solution not involved in power generation , and carbon dioxide produced by the reaction . the dmfc 110 generates electric power through exothermic reaction . feeding the dmfc 110 with the air and the methanol aqueous solution thus increases the temperature of the dmfc 110 . then , the dmfc 110 is provided with a thermistor 142 or a limiter , and the axial fan 170 starts operation when the temperature of the dmfc 110 reaches 55 ° c . the case 160 has an air vent 162 which is formed in the position opposite from the axial fan 170 . when the axial fan 170 starts operation , air flows around the dmfc 110 to cool the dmfc 110 . this makes it possible to set the temperature of the dmfc 110 at 60 ° c .± 3 ° c . since the air pump 132 introduces air from exterior , the air fed to the cathode 112 is around 20 ° c . to 25 ° c . the dmfc 110 is thus set at 60 ° c .± 3 ° c . in temperature by the air cooling of the axial fan 170 . this dmfc 110 emits the exhausted air , the moisture , the exhausted methanol aqueous solution , carbon dioxide , and the like of around 70 ° c . then , heat exchange is conducted with the methanol aqueous solution to be fed to the dmfc 110 , so that the emissions including the exhausted air , the moisture , the exhausted methanol aqueous solution , and carbon dioxide are condensed and the methanol aqueous solution to be fed to the dmfc 110 is warmed in advance . here , the amount of exhausted heat from the exhausted air , the moisture , the exhausted methanol aqueous solution , carbon dioxide , and the like is greater than the amount of heat necessary to warm the methanol aqueous solution . thus , the heat exchanger 150 is also air - cooled by the axial fan 170 . as a result , the moisture and the exhausted methanol aqueous solution are condensed sufficiently . this can eliminate the need to supply moisture from exterior , and prevent methanol from being released to exterior with an increase in consumption . now , a specific structure of the dmfc system 100 for achieving the foregoing configuration will be described in conjunction with a practical example thereof . fig2 is a perspective view of a dmfc system 200 according to this practical example . fig3 is a top view of the dmfc system 200 . fig4 is a sectional view of the dmfc system 200 , taken along the line a - a ′ of fig3 . in practical example 1 , a dmfc 210 , a methanol tank 220 , a buffer tank 230 , a control unit 240 , a heat exchanger 250 , and an axial fan 270 are arranged as shown in fig2 . the piping and pumps for feeding and exhausting the air and the methanol aqueous solution are unitized as indicated by 280 a and 280 b , and arranged on the respective sides of the dmfc 210 and the heat exchanger 250 . as shown in fig3 , clearances of the order of several millimeters are provided between the dmfc 210 and the piping units 280 a and 280 b . both sides of the dmfc 210 make flow channels for the cooling air . the sides 260 a and 260 b and wall surfaces 264 a and 264 b of a case 260 are in tight contact with a lid 266 of the dmfc system 200 so that a fuel cell chamber 290 including the dmfc 210 enclosed by these sides and surfaces are shut off from exterior . the fuel cell chamber 290 is thus configured so that air is fed through an air vent 262 alone and the air is exhausted through the axial fan 270 alone . the dmfc 210 is placed several millimeters or so away from the side 260 a having the air vent 262 , so as not to interrupt the air flowing in through the air vent 262 . as shown in fig4 , a spacer 216 is arranged on the bottom of the dmfc 210 , so that a cooling - air flow channel of several millimeters or so is formed as if on both sides of the dmfc 210 . a cooling - air flow channel of several millimeters or so is also formed between the top of the dmfc 210 and the lid 266 . in this practical example , the top and bottom sides of the dmfc 210 are made of metal end plates 218 a and 218 b , which are higher in heat radiation than the other sides of the dmfc 210 . in particular , the end plate 218 b at the bottom becomes the highest in temperature and in heat radiation since it is provided with the feed channel of the methanol aqueous solution to the anode and the exhaust channel of the exhausted air and moisture from the cathode . consequently , the dmfc 210 can be cooled effectively by installing the spacer 216 at the bottom to circulate the cooling air . as above , the clearances of several millimeters or so established around the dmfc 210 make the flow channels of the cooling air . the air introduced from the air vent 262 thus hits the dmfc 210 , flows over the top , bottom , and sides of the dmfc 210 to remove the reaction heat for generation from the dmfc 210 , and flows into the heat exchanger 250 . here , the air flowing into the heat exchanger 250 has temperatures of 30 ° c . to 35 ° c . at the point in time when the dmfc 210 exceeds 55 ° c . in temperature and the axial fan 270 starts operation . the air has temperatures of around 40 ° c . when the dmfc 210 is in its normal generation state near 60 ° c . returning to fig2 , the exhausted air and moisture emitted from the cathode of the dmfc 210 and the exhausted methanol aqueous solution , carbon dioxide , and the like emitted from the anode flow into the heat exchanger 250 at around 70 ° c . when in the normal generation state . for sufficient condensation , the moisture and the exhausted methanol aqueous solution from the dmfc 210 are cooled by the methanol aqueous solution to be fed to the dmfc 210 and the air introduced from the air vent 262 , the air having absorbed the reaction heat for generation from the dmfc 210 . this heat exchange warms the methanol aqueous solution to be fed to the dmfc 210 to around 60 ° c . from its normal temperatures of 35 ° c . or so as will be described later . the moisture and the exhausted methanol aqueous solution from the dmfc 210 are cooled to around 40 ° c . here , carbon dioxide emitted from the dmfc 210 shows a sharp increase in solubility if the solvent falls below 30 ° c . in temperature . it is therefore desirable that the heat exchanger 250 not cool the moisture and the exhausted methanol aqueous solution to below 35 ° c . or so . the exhausted air , the moisture , the exhausted methanol aqueous solution , carbon dioxide , and the like cooled by the heat exchanger 250 flow into the buffer tank 230 for gas - liquid separation . since the exhausted air , the moisture , the exhausted methanol aqueous solution , carbon dioxide , and the like flowing into the buffer tank 230 are previously cooled to around 40 ° c . by the heat exchanger 250 , the buffer tank 230 usually has temperatures of around 35 ° c . inside . gas components such as the exhausted air and carbon dioxide are thus released to exterior , while the moisture and the exhausted methanol aqueous solution are fed to the dmfc 210 again . in the foregoing practical example 1 , the air vent 262 is formed in a vertically - and horizontally - symmetrical position so that the cooling air flows over the top , the bottom , and both sides of the dmfc 210 evenly . nevertheless , if the heat radiation from the top and the bottom is higher than that from the sides , for example , the position and size of the air vent 262 , the height of the spacer 216 , and the distance between the dmfc 210 and the lid 266 may be changed so that the amount of air flowing over the top and the bottom increases . the fuel cell chamber 290 is configured so that air flows in through the air vent 262 and is exhausted by the axial fan 270 . nevertheless , air may be introduced into the fuel cell chamber 290 by using the axial fan 270 and emitted out of the air vent 262 . in such a case , the heat exchanger 250 is preferably arranged near the air vent 262 , and the dmfc 210 near the axial fan 270 , so as to achieve the same heat distribution as in the foregoing practical example 1 . moreover , in the foregoing practical example 1 , the air is exhausted by using the axial fan 270 . the device for introducing air into the fuel cell chamber 290 is not limited to the axial fan 270 , but may be a sirocco fan , a compressor , or the like . the present embodiment allows appropriate temperature management inside the dmfc system and thereby allows stable operation when electronic equipment is used while both the electronic equipment and the dmfc system for supplying power to the electronic equipment are placed on a desk . it is also possible to place the dmfc system without the exhausted heat being directed toward the user . the present embodiment relates to a fuel cell system . in particular , the present embodiment relates to a fuel cell system which can minimize the electric power to be consumed by accessories of the fuel cell system . the fuel cell generates electric power through exothermic electrochemical reaction . as described above , the methanol aqueous solution to be fed to the anode thus gradually increases in temperature during circulation , and circulates at temperatures around 5 ° c . to 40 ° c . higher than the outside air temperature . the methanol aqueous solution is thus fed as warmed up to temperatures around 5 ° c . to 10 ° c . lower than the operating temperature of the dmfc . meanwhile , oxygen is fed to the cathode of the dmfc in either of the following modes . in one mode , air outside the dmfc system is fed directly to the dmfc at temperatures near equal to the outside air temperature by using a feed unit such as an air pump . alternatively , as is the case with the anode , the air outside the dmfc system is subjected to heat exchange with the emissions from the dmfc so that it is fed as warmed up to temperatures around 5 ° c . to 10 ° c . lower than the operating temperature of the dmfc . in the former case , the air of 10 ° c . to 30 ° c . is fed to the dmfc which is operating at 40 ° c . to 100 ° c . this lowers the temperatures near the air inlets of respective cells , thereby producing the problem that the activity of the methanol oxidation reaction in these areas drops with a decrease in current density . besides , the current densities inside the cells can fluctuate to cause variations in the speed of degradation , thereby producing areas where degradation proceeds rapidly . this results in the problem that the life of the entire dmfc becomes shorter . now , in the latter case , another heat exchanger is required for the cathode side , which produces the problem that the dmfc system becomes greater in configuration . moreover , since the heat exchanger increases the pressure loss in the feed channel of the air and requires an air pump of greater capacity accordingly , there also occurs the problem that the accessories of the dmfc system increase in power consumption . the present embodiment has been achieved in view of the foregoing problems . it is thus an object of the present embodiment to provide a fuel cell system which can minimize the power consumption of the accessories of the fuel cell system . to achieve the foregoing object , the present embodiment provides a fuel cell system comprising : a fuel cell which generates electric power from fuel and oxygen in air ; an air feed unit which feeds the air to the fuel cell ; and an air flow channel which introduces the air from outside the fuel cell system and exhausts air inside the fuel cell system to outside . here , an air intake of the air feed unit is formed in the air flow channel . consequently , the air inside the fuel cell system is introduced from the air intake . since the temperature inside the fuel cell system is higher than the outside air temperature due to heat radiation from the fuel cell , the air introduced from the air intake becomes higher in temperature than the air outside the fuel cell system . this eliminates the need to warm the air with a heat exchanger or the like before feeding it to the fuel cell . consequently , it is possible to reduce the power to be consumed by the air feed unit such as an air pump . in the fuel cell system of the foregoing aspect , the fuel cell may be arranged in the air flow channel . moreover , in the fuel cell system of the foregoing aspect , the fuel may be liquid fuel . the fuel cell is arranged in the air flow channel , and thus the fuel cell can be air - cooled when the air inside the fuel cell system is exhausted to outside . then , with a type of fuel cells to be fed with liquid fuel , such as a dmfc system which is gaining attention recently , it is possible to reduce the power consumption of the accessories including the air feed unit and reduce the parts count of the fuel cell system as well . the fuel cell system according to the foregoing aspect may comprise a heat exchanger which conducts heat exchange between the air and emissions emitted from the fuel cell . the heat exchanger may be arranged in the air flow channel . this makes it possible to cool and condense the emissions emitted from the fuel cell , such as produced water . with a fuel cell to be fed with liquid fuel in particular , the liquid fuel exhausted from the fuel cell can be condensed to reduce the amount of liquid fuel to be released to outside the fuel cell system . the fuel cell system according to the foregoing aspect may comprise a fuel cell unit including the fuel cell , and a control unit which controls the fuel cell . the fuel cell unit and the control unit may be configured separable from each other . consequently , the fuel cell unit for power generation can be made common for various applications . hereinafter , the configuration of the fuel cell system according to the present embodiment will be described in detail with reference to the drawings . fig5 is a schematic top view showing the configuration of a fuel cell system 1100 . the fuel cell system 1100 comprises a dmfc 1110 , a methanol tank 1120 , a buffer tank 1130 , a control unit 1140 , a heat exchanger 1150 , an axial fan 1160 , and a case 1170 . a methanol aqueous solution or pure methanol is fed to the anode of the dmfc 1100 for power generation . the methanol tank 1120 contains a high - concentration methanol aqueous solution of or above 16 mol / l , or pure methanol . the methanol from the methanol tank 1120 is diluted into concentrations of 0 . 1 to 2 . 0 mol / l or so , and reserved in the buffer tank 1130 as the methanol aqueous solution to be fed to the dmfc 1110 . the control unit 1140 exercises control on power conversion units and accessories . an air pump 1180 feeds air to the cathode of the dmfc 1110 . the anode is fed with the methanol aqueous solution from the buffer tank 1130 via a liquid pump 1182 . the reference numeral 1184 represents an air intake of the air pump 1180 , which is formed in the center of this fuel cell system 1100 . the air introduced from the air intake 1184 of the air pump 1180 is delivered from an air discharge opening 1186 into a cathode inlet 1112 of the dmfc 1110 . meanwhile , the liquid pump 1182 is configured so that the methanol aqueous solution diluted to concentrations of 1 . 2 mol / l or so is introduced from the buffer tank 1130 to a liquid intake 1188 , and delivered from a liquid discharge opening 1190 into an anode inlet 1114 of the dmfc 1110 . fig6 is a top view of the fuel cell system 1100 which is assembled in the foregoing configuration . fig7 is a front view of the same , and fig8 is a perspective front view of the same . fig9 is a perspective front view of the same , showing the state where a lid is attached to the fuel cell unit . fig1 is a perspective back view showing the state where the lid is attached to the fuel cell unit . the dmfc 1110 generates electric power through exothermic reaction . feeding the dmfc 1110 with the air and the methanol aqueous solution thus increases the temperature of the dmfc 1110 . then , the dmfc 1110 is provided with a not - shown thermistor or limiter , and the axial fan 1160 starts operation when the temperature of the dmfc 1110 reaches but around − 5 ° c . from the operating temperatures ( 60 ° c .± 3 ° c .) ( in this practical example , 55 ° c .). the case 1170 has an air vent 1172 which is formed in the position opposite to the axial fan 1160 , and an air vent 1174 which is formed in a position beyond the dmfc 1110 . consequently , when the axial fan 1160 starts operation , air flows around the dmfc 1110 to cool the dmfc 1110 as shown in fig1 a and 11b . the temperature of the dmfc 1110 can thus be set at 60 ° c .± 3 ° c . the cathode of the dmfc 1110 emits the air and the produced water from a cathode outlet 1116 . the anode of the dmfc 1110 emits the methanol aqueous solution and carbon dioxide from an anode outlet 1118 . the emissions from the cathode outlet 1116 and the anode outlet 1118 are introduced into the heat exchanger 1150 , and flow into the buffer tank 1130 together . the air intake 1184 and the heat exchanger 1150 are fed with air having temperatures around 5 ° c . to 15 ° c . lower than the operating temperatures ( 60 ° c .± 3 ° c .) of the dmfc 1110 . consequently , the air , the produced water , the methanol aqueous solution , carbon dioxide , and the like emitted from the dmfc 1110 at around 70 ° c . are sufficiently condensed by the heat exchanger 1150 . this can eliminate the need to supply moisture from exterior , and avoid methanol from being released to outside with an increase in consumption . an air vent 1176 is formed in the case 1170 above the buffer tank 1130 . the buffer tank 1130 is used as a dilute tank for diluting methanol from the methanol tank 1120 into predetermined concentrations ( 0 . 8 to 1 . 5 mol / l ; in this practical example , 1 . 2 mol / l or so ). the buffer tank 1130 is also used as a gas - liquid separation unit intended for the air , the produced water , the methanol aqueous , carbon dioxide , and the like that flow in after sufficiently cooled by the heat exchanger 1150 . that is , the air and carbon dioxide of the gaseous phase in the buffer tank 1130 are emitted out of the air vent 1176 . the air vent 1176 is provided with a not - shown filter so that such by - products as formic acids and formaldehyde are absorbed by the filter when the air and carbon dioxide are emitted out of the air vent 1176 . the buffer tank 1130 is supplied with a high - concentration methanol aqueous solution or pure methanol from the methanol tank 1120 periodically , or when the concentration of the methanol aqueous solution in the buffer tank 1130 is monitored and detected to fall below a predetermined threshold , e . g ., 0 . 8 mol / l . the methanol tank 1120 accommodates a pack 1122 which is made of a flexible material having resistance against methanol . walls 1124 of the methanol tank 1120 ( a top 1124 a , a side 1124 b , and a back 1124 c ) constitute part of the case 1170 . when the methanol in the methanol tank 1120 is consumed and the pack 1122 inside decreases in volume , a differential pressure can occur between the interior of the methanol tank 1120 around the pack 1122 and the exterior of the fuel cell system 1100 . the back 1124 c is thus provided with an air vent 1178 for avoiding this differential pressure . as shown in fig1 , the control unit 1140 is configured detachable ( separable ) from a fuel cell unit 1192 . the reference numeral 1142 represents a communication unit which establishes electric connection between the fuel cell unit 1192 and the control unit 1140 . the communication unit 1142 forms a sealed space inside the fuel cell unit 1192 so as to forbid water vapor and the like . the communication unit 1142 is capable of communication and power exchange with the control unit 1140 via a connector 1144 . the connector 1144 is inserted into an insertion part 1146 of the control unit 1140 . the control unit 1140 can be replaced depending on the target for the fuel cell system 1100 of the present invention to supply power to . in this practical example , the control unit 1140 is shaped so that the bottom of a notebook pc can be placed thereon for the sake of supplying power to the pc . since the control unit 1140 itself produces heat during operation , air vents 1179 a and 1179 b are formed in a side and the top thereof . when the fuel cell unit 1192 and the control unit 1140 are configured separable , or the control unit 1140 is configured replaceable depending on the target of power supply , the fuel cell unit 1192 for power generation can be rendered common for various applications . fig1 is a schematic top view showing the configuration of a fuel cell system 1200 . the fuel cell system 1200 comprises a dmfc 1210 , a methanol tank 1220 , a buffer tank 1230 , a control unit 1240 , a heat exchanger 1250 , a single - suction sirocco fan 1260 ( shown in fig1 ), and a case 1270 . a methanol aqueous solution or pure methanol is fed to the anode of the dmfc 1210 for power generation . the methanol tank 1220 contains a high - concentration methanol aqueous solution of or above 16 mol / l , or pure methanol . the methanol from the methanol tank 1220 is diluted into concentrations of 0 . 1 to 2 . 0 mol / l or so , and reserved in the buffer tank 1230 as the methanol aqueous solution to be fed to the dmfc 1210 . the control unit 1240 exercises control on power conversion units and accessories . an air pump 1280 feeds air to the cathode of the dmfc 1210 . the anode is fed with the methanol aqueous solution from the buffer tank 1230 via a liquid pump 1282 . the reference numeral 1284 represents an air intake of the air pump 1280 , which is formed in the center of this fuel cell system 1200 . the air introduced from the air intake 1284 of the air pump 1280 is delivered from an air discharge opening 1286 into a cathode inlet 1212 of the dmfc 1210 . meanwhile , the liquid pump 1282 is configured so that the methanol aqueous solution diluted to concentrations of 1 . 2 mol / l or so is introduced from the buffer tank 1230 to a liquid intake 1288 , and delivered from a liquid discharge opening 1290 into an anode inlet 1214 of the dmfc 1210 . fig1 is a schematic sectional view taken along the line a - a ′ of fig1 . in this practical example , the single - suction sirocco fan 1260 attached to the bottom of the fuel cell system 1200 starts operation when the temperature of the dmfc 1210 approaches 55 ° c . as in practical example 2 . an air vent of the single - suction sirocco fan 1260 is formed in the back side of the fuel cell system 1200 . an air vent 1274 is formed in a position beyond the dmfc 1210 . thus , when the single - suction sirocco fan 1260 starts operation , the air introduced from the air vent formed in the back side of the fuel cell system 1200 via the single - suction fan 1260 initially cools the heat exchanger 250 . then , part of the air is taken into the air pump 1280 while the rest flows around the dmfc 1210 to cool the dmfc 1210 , whereby the temperature of the dmfc 1210 is adjusted to 60 ° c .± 3 ° c . as shown in fig1 , the dmfc 1210 is supported by a bottom support 1294 which is made of a resin having an excellent resistance against methanol . thus , the air can also flow over the bottom of the dmfc 1210 . the cathode of the dmfc 1210 emits the air and the produced water from a cathode outlet 1216 . the anode of the dmfc 1210 emits the methanol aqueous solution and carbon dioxide from an anode outlet 1218 . the emissions from the cathode outlet 1216 and the anode outlet 1218 are introduced into the heat exchanger 1250 , and flow into the buffer tank 1230 together . the air , the produced water , the methanol aqueous solution , carbon dioxide , and the like emitted from the dmfc 1210 at around 70 ° c . are sufficiently condensed by the heat exchanger 1250 . this can eliminate the need to supply moisture from exterior , and avoid methanol from being released to outside with an increase in consumption . while this practical example has dealt with the case of using the single - suction sirocco fan 1260 , the fan is not limited to this type . as in practical example 2 , an axial fan may be used . the use of the axial fan requires , however , that legs be formed on the bottom of the case of the fuel cell system 1200 and an air vent be formed in the bottom of the case , in a position opposite to the axial fan . the present embodiment can be used to reduce accessory power consumption not only in a dmfc system intended for portable equipment , which supplies power to a notebook pc or the like , but also in a fuel cell system for car - mounted applications . it is also possible to reduce the parts count for compact system configuration . | 8 |
referring now to the drawings , more particularly by reference numbers , fig1 a illustrates one embodiment of a typical prior art grain bin 10 with a roof 12 , shown removed so as to expose one embodiment of a typical stirring system 14 installed within the grain bin 10 . the grain bin 10 typically includes a drying system ( not shown ) for heating and blowing air , which forces the heated air up through perforations located in the base of the grain bin 10 so that it may contact the grain contained therein . the stirring system 14 may be operably secured to the center of the roof 12 by a suspension mechanism 16 , creating an axis about which an auger carriage 18 rotates . the auger carriage 18 extends outward from the axis point as a radius of the grain bin 10 , and is movably secured to a track 20 which extends around the inner circumference of bin 10 . the track 20 is designed for guiding the auger carriage 18 and allowing it to move along the inner perimeter of the grain bin 10 . the rotational movement of the auger carriage 18 is commonly referred to as “ walking .” the auger carriage 18 further includes a plurality of revolving augers 22 which may be evenly spaced across the length of the auger carriage 18 . as the auger carriage 18 walks around the grain bin 10 it pulls each of the revolving augers 22 through the grain , facilitating mixing and even drying . fig1 b illustrates an exemplary control box 1 for housing a controller 2 . controller 2 is designed to receive and analyze signals regarding movement of the stirring system 14 . controller 2 may initiate a malfunction alarm , and / or shut down the stirring system 14 and dryer ( not shown ). as can be seen in fig2 a , 2 b , 3 and 4 , a stir alarm device 26 may include a carousel 32 which is operably attached to the proximate end of the auger carriage 18 ( or other rotating component , preferably located at the axis point ) by a bracket 30 . rotational movement of the auger carriage 18 thereby causes the carousel 32 to revolve around the central axis . the device 26 further includes a movement detection mechanism 34 which is secured to a stationary portion of the suspension mechanism 16 by a bracket 28 . the detection mechanism 34 is positioned for monitoring the movement of the carousel 32 and configured to transmit a signal to a signaling device communicatively associated with a controller ( as would be understood ). in one embodiment , the detection mechanism may be connected to a wireless transceiver for transmitting a signal to a controller ( not shown ). alternatively , the detection mechanism may be hardwired with such a controller . the controller may be responsible for analyzing the information received from the detection mechanism 34 , and for determining whether to take action . the controller may alert the user of a malfunction by sending a text and / or email message and / or making a telephone call to the user , and / or by causing a visual and / or auditory warning to commence , according to known systems and methods . fig2 a and 2b illustrate one carousel - specific embodiment of the device 26 a . in this embodiment , the detection mechanism 34 a is a proximity sensor designed to detect the presence of metal . the carousel 32 a may have a plurality of evenly spaced metal slats 36 , such that the spaces between the slats 36 form a plurality of slits 38 . the detection mechanism 34 a serves to detect transitions between the metal slats 36 and slits 38 , and to transmit a signal to the controller . in an alternative carousel - specific embodiment , as illustrated in fig3 , the device 26 b includes a carousel 32 b having a plurality of metal teeth 40 . in this embodiment , the detection mechanism 34 b is a proximity sensor designed to detect the presence of metal . the detection mechanism 34 b serves to detect transitions between each tooth projection and each recess , and to transmit a signal to the controller . even after repeated use , these embodiments remain reliable , since the detection mechanism 34 a , 34 b is a proximity sensor capable of detecting metal through any dust and / or particulate matter that may collect on the carousel 32 a , 32 b . in still another carousel - specific embodiment , as illustrated in fig4 , the device 26 c includes a carousel 32 c having a plurality of geared teeth 42 . the device 26 c further including a detection mechanism 34 c which is secured to a stationary portion of the suspension mechanism 16 . the movement detection mechanism 34 c is positioned for monitoring the movement of the carousel 32 c . in this embodiment , as the carousel 32 c moves , the projection of a geared tooth 42 engages a lever 44 which is operably connected to the detection mechanism 34 c . movement of the carousel 32 c causes the geared tooth 42 to interact with and actuate the lever 44 , thereby allowing the movement detection mechanism 34 c to detect movement of the carousel 32 c via the lever 44 . each time a tooth 42 passes the lever 44 , the transition from a recess to a tooth 42 ( or vice versa ) causes the lever 44 to be actuated , and a transition is recorded . the detection mechanism 34 c is designed to transmit a signal to the controller . as shown in fig4 , the carousel 32 c includes two rows of such teeth 42 which are slightly offset from each other , though this is not required . additional , offset rows of teeth simply provide for more transitions in a given period of time . in an alternative embodiment as shown in fig5 , 6 and 7 , the device 46 includes a trolley 48 which travels along track 20 , and is coupled to the auger carriage 18 by a bracket 50 . further , the trolley 48 is movably engagable with the track 20 by a roller 52 . in one embodiment the device 46 is pulled behind the auger carriage 18 as it walks around the grain bin 10 . associated with the roller 52 is a wheel 54 ( which may be integral with or a part of roller 52 ) which revolves as the trolley 48 moves around the track 20 . the device 46 further includes a detection mechanism 56 , which is secured to the trolley 48 . the detection mechanism 56 is preferably positioned for monitoring the movement of the wheel 54 , and is configured to communicate through the signaling device 58 for transmitting a signal to the controller . in an alternative embodiment , rather than use a wireless signaling device , the detection mechanism 56 may be hardwired to the controller through a rotary contact . fig5 illustrates one embodiment of such a trolley - type device 46 a . in this embodiment , the detection mechanism 56 a is a magnetic sensor designed to detect a magnetic field created . the wheel 54 a may have a plurality of magnetic discs 60 or magnetic wrap , evenly spaced around the perimeter thereof . the detection mechanism 56 a serves to detect transitions between the each of the magnetic discs 60 and the spaces therebetween . fig6 illustrates yet another embodiment of the device 46 b . in this embodiment , the device 46 b includes a wheel 54 b having a plurality of metal teeth 62 . in this embodiment , the detection mechanism 56 b is a proximity sensor designed to detect the presence of metal . the detection mechanism 56 b serves to detect transitions between each tooth projection and recess . the detection mechanism 56 b communicates with signaling device 58 for transmitting a signal to the controller . in an alternative embodiment , rather than use a wireless signaling device , the detection mechanism 56 b may be hardwired to the controller through a rotary contact . in still another embodiment , as illustrated in fig7 , the device 46 c includes a wheel 54 c having a plurality of geared teeth 64 . the device 46 c further includes a detection mechanism 56 c which is positioned for monitoring the movement of the wheel 54 c . in this embodiment , as the wheel 54 c moves , each geared tooth 64 engages a lever 66 which is operably connected to the detection mechanism 56 c . each time a tooth 64 passes the lever 66 , the transition from a recess to a tooth 64 ( or vice versa ) causes the lever 66 to be actuated , and a transition is recorded . the detection mechanism 56 c is designed to transmit a signal to the controller . in an alternative embodiment , rather than use a wireless signaling device , the detection mechanism 56 c may be hardwired to the controller through a rotary contact . a user may set the number of desired transitions and the predetermined period of time , as desired . additionally , the stir alarm device 26 , 46 will physically pause if the auger carriage 18 is intentionally paused to allow the augers 22 to catch up . the predetermined period of time may be set high enough to take into account any standard pause time for the auger carriage 18 . the stir alarm device 26 , 46 may also be used to track the position of the auger carriage 18 around the bin 10 . this may be accomplished by tracking the number of transitions counted by the detection mechanism 34 , 56 , and using that number to determine the distance traveled by the trolley 48 or carousel 32 . a “ home ” condition may be initiated each time the trolley 48 or carousel 32 complete one entire revolution , such that the number of transitions is reset ( if only for the purposes of determining the location of the auger carriage 18 within the bin 10 ). in this manner , the number of transitions since the home condition could be used to determine the location of the auger carriage 18 within the bin 10 . alternatively , a physical switch could be installed at the home position which would be physically actuated by the trolley 48 as it passes , or by another lever on a carousel 32 , to initiate the home condition . physical switches or other activation devices may also be installed around the bin 10 interior wall or track mounting brackets to determine the location of the auger carriage 18 . thus , there has been shown and described an embodiment of a novel stir alarm device . as is evident from the foregoing description , certain aspects of the present invention are not limited by the particular details of the examples illustrated herein , and it is therefore contemplated that other modifications and applications , or equivalents thereof , will occur to those skilled in the art . the terms “ having ” and “ including ” and similar terms as used in the foregoing specification are used in the sense of “ optional ” or “ may include ” and not as “ required ”. many changes , modifications , variations and other uses and applications of the present invention will , however , become apparent to those skilled in the art after considering the specification and the accompanying drawings . all such changes , modifications , variations and other uses and applications which do not depart from the spirit and scope of the invention are deemed to be covered by the invention which is limited only by the claims which follow . | 0 |
a portion of a typical commercial amplified dwdm communications system is shown in fig1 . the system includes a pair of wdm multiplexer / demultiplexers 10 at opposite ends of an optical link . the link may have between one and eight spans , or more , of optical fiber , with inline amplifier ( ila ) nodes 12 providing intermediate optical amplification of the dwdm signal . terminal equipment 14 sends and receives optical communications signals of various wavelengths to / from the multiplexers / demultiplexers 10 for transmission over , or reception from , the communications link . although not shown in fig1 it will be understood that a boost amplifier is generally used at the output of a multiplexer / demultiplexer 10 to drive the optical fiber , and a preamplifier is generally used at the input of a multiplexer / demultiplexer 10 to boost the optical signal received from the fiber before further processing is performed . such boost amplifiers and preamplifiers generally have the same optical pass band as that of the ila nodes 12 . as illustrated , each ila node 12 includes at least two erbium - doped fiber amplifiers ( edfas ) 16 , one for each direction . in some cases , two additional edfas ( not shown ) are used in order to allow mid - stage access between the edfas in each direction . mid - stage access provides for convenient placement of additional elements , such as add / drop filters or dispersion compensation components ( also not shown ). the edfas may or may not be packaged as a single unit . also as shown , each ila node 12 includes a pair of optical supervisory channel ( osc ) transceivers 18 , each interfacing with the fiber or fibers linking the ila node 12 with a corresponding adjacent ila node 12 . an electrical communications path 20 between the osc transceivers 18 is used to transfer messages between the osc transceivers 18 , for example to forward messages along the spans of the communications link in “ hopping ” fashion . the osc transceivers 18 operate to insert and extract an optical supervisory channel ( osc ) used to control the operation of the ila nodes 12 . in a common configuration shown in fig1 the wavelength of the osc is widely separated from the wavelengths of the dwdm data signals . for example , the edfas 16 may operate in the range of wavelengths from about 1530 nm to about 1560 nm , whereas the osc signal has a wavelength of 1310 nm . osc wavelengths of 1510 nm and 1625 nm have also been used . as mentioned above , this type of control channel is called an “ in - fiber ”, “ out - of - band ” control channel , because the osc is transmitted in the same fiber as the data signals but at a wavelength outside the pass band of the optical amplifiers 16 . an out - of - band osc is easily inserted and extracted from the composite wdm signal at each ila node 12 . also , the osc signal does not pass through the edfas 16 , so that no power is robbed from the data signals . this configuration has been useful for managing optical components such as ila nodes 12 in a wdm system . although not apparent from fig1 the osc is typically controlled and used entirely by the operator of the dwdm system , for purposes of internal operations rather than for providing higher - level user services , such as end - to - end network management services . for example , an osc is typically used by a dwdm system operator to monitor signal power at an ila node 12 , and to adjust the output power or gain of each edfa 16 . accordingly , dwdm systems typically have not provided a user interface to the osc . as a result , users &# 39 ; network management needs are not explicitly supported by the dwdm system . and even where a user interface to an osc is provided , there may be undesirable performance limitations . for example , the user equipment may require more bandwidth than the osc can provide . or it may be necessary to develop complicated software to adapt the user &# 39 ; s equipment with a proprietary osc interface . in some cases , the user may need to manage equipment that is not even in the same management domain as the dwdm system , and the osc may not provide any support for the required cross - domain functions . this situation can arise when the user equipment and dwdm equipment are of different types , for example , or are manufactured by different vendors . fig2 and 3 illustrate different operational environments for which the traditional osc is ill - suited to provide necessary functionality . in fig2 the dwdm system itself is shown as management domain # 1 . management domain # 2 includes user terminals (“ t ”) 30 and 32 , and management domain # 3 includes switches (“ s ”) 34 and 36 . the devices 30 , 32 , 34 and 36 are assumed to be co - located with respective multiplexers / demultiplexers 10 ′ of the dwdm system , but to fall outside the dwdm system management domain , management domain # 1 . further , it is assumed that these devices include network management functionality imposed by the respective domain , either management domain # 2 or management domain # 3 . for example , the devices 30 and 32 in management domain # 2 may be part of a virtual private network ( vpn ) operated by an organization , which operates in part over communications links in the dwdm system . similarly , devices 34 and 36 may be part of another organization &# 39 ; s vpn . within each management domain # 2 and # 3 , devices are required to communicate among themselves to share network management information . as described above , the dwdm system and osc of fig1 provide either no support or only limited support for such network management traffic . in particular , it would be necessary for management domains # 2 and # 3 to share the use of the osc for their respective network management needs , a difficult requirement that could significantly complicate the design and operation of the respective interfaces . fig3 shows a slightly different network configuration , in which management domains # 2 and / or # 3 are more clearly separate from the dwdm system , which is represented as management domain # 1 . in the system of fig2 specific pieces of equipment such as terminals 30 and 32 are managed separately from the other equipment of the dwdm system , which are part of management domain # 1 . the configuration of fig3 takes this separateness a step further . management domains # 2 and / or # 3 can be seen as entirely separate entities that can include discrete pieces of equipment or may be whole networks or sub - networks . in particular , it may be that management domain # 2 , for example , is physically isolated from management domain # 1 and perhaps from management domain # 3 as well . thus , in systems such as those shown in fig2 and fig3 an in - band , in - fiber optical management channel ( omc ) is defined that enables the management of network domains that either include or cross over a dwdm system . the “ in - band ” omc uses a wavelength in the same band as the dwdm user data signals , but which is not utilized by the dwdm system to carry user data . this wavelength may either be unusable by the dwdm system for carrying user data , or may simply be not designated for such use . the omc is carried on an optical signal having a tightly controlled wavelength , e . g . +/− 0 . 1 nm or better , in order to avoid cross - talk with adjacent data channels . to further reduce cross - talk and / or non - linear effects on the fiber , the power of the omc optical signal is deliberately kept as low as possible . this may necessitate the use of an optical receiver having greater sensitivity than the receivers used for the data channels . the omc may be inserted and extracted either before or after optical amplifiers ( not shown ) at the various terminals 30 , 32 , 34 , 36 , etc . various ways of performing insertion and extraction of the omc are described below . fig4 illustrates a preferred omc implementation . a wavelength is chosen for the omc that is at the edge of the pass band of the edfas 16 , in a region beyond that specified for use by the dwdm system . the pass band is defined , for example , by the wavelengths at which the amplifier gain drops by 1 db from its mid - band value . for instance , consider a c - band system , in which the edfas 16 might be specified for use between 1530 nm and 1560 nm as shown . the wavelength for the omc could be at the low end of the pass band , such as at 1529 . 5 nm , or at the high end , such as at 1561 nm . the edfas 16 do not provide as much gain in these edge regions as in the center of the pass band , and thus these marginal wavelengths are not useful for carrying data channels . it should be noted that fig4 is used to illustrate the placements of the omc ( s ) and data signals with respect to the pass band of the optical amplifiers , and to show that omcs at the edge of the pass band receive less gain than the mid - band data channels . fig4 does not necessarily reflect the actual absolute power levels of these signals as would be observed at an optical amplifier in a dwdm system . to achieve the desired tight control over the wavelength of the omc , preferably a temperature controlled distributed feedback ( dfb ) laser or a wavelength - locked laser is used . also , as previously mentioned it is preferable to use a sensitive transmitter / receiver pair to ( 1 ) keep the launched power low , so that a relatively small amount of amplifier power is used , and ( 2 ) enable the detection of the omc signal even if the amplifier gain at the omc wavelength is less than the span loss . additionally , it may be desirable to reduce the data rate of the omc and / or to employ forward error correction ( fec ) coding , in order to further reduce power requirements . it may also be desirable to define multiple omcs for use by different management domains . fig5 through 12 illustrate various ways in which one or multiple omcs can be coupled to and from an optical link . fig5 and 6 show the use of an upgrade port on the multiplexer or demultiplexer 10 ′ for this purpose . fig7 and 8 show a similar configuration , except that couplers 40 and 42 are used to merge and de - merge multiple omcs to / from the upgrade port . fig9 and 10 show the use of couplers 50 and 52 , which may be balanced ( i . e ., 50 / 50 ) or unbalanced couplers . fig1 and 12 show the use of couplers 40 and 42 to merge and demerge multiple omcs , along with couplers 50 and 52 to insert and extract the omcs to / from the fiber . fig1 also shows that it may be desirable to include filters 60 on the respective paths for the omcs to improve signal quality . fig1 shows how an omc and an osc can be combined to form a management channel ring in order to improve failure tolerance . at each inline node 12 ′, one or more processors ( not shown ) process the data on the osc in each direction , extracts the data destined for that node , and forwards on data not destined for that node using a predetermined switching or routing protocol . for instance , the internet protocol ( ip ) may be used as a forwarding engine at each node . a protocol from layer 2 of the well - known 7 - layer open systems interconnect ( osi ) model may also be used . fig1 shows that there is a connection between an “ east ” osc interface and a “ west ” osc interface at each node 12 ′ to facilitate this data forwarding . typically this connection is electrical , although it may alternatively be optical . the connection may exist on a single card , or it may be an interconnection between cards . in addition , the forwarding engine ( s ) may exist on these cards or on different card ( s ). similarly , the osc and the omc are interconnected at the end nodes . omc interface circuitry 60 is connected to osc interface circuitry 62 by a high - speed interconnection 64 , which may also be either electrical or optical . the combination of an osc and omc and the interconnection of the osc and omc at the intermediate and end nodes collectively form a ring network to carry the management traffic , even though the physical network is linear . this is in contrast to a linear control channel network , which would be formed if only an osc were used . because rings are more robust to failures than linear networks ( which are not robust to any failures ), the use of an omc facilitates a more robust control channel . for example , if the west osc card were to fail at an in - line node in a linear network , all nodes to the west would be cut off , from a control channel perspective , from that node and all nodes to the east . however , in a ring network using an omc such as shown in fig1 , complete connectivity would remain , because control traffic can traverse the ring in the other direction to reach a desired destination . any of a variety of protocols can be used for the control channel . for instance , fddi or token ring protocols , which have been designed specifically for rings , could be used . ip over ethernet might also be used . other possibilities also exist , such as ip over sonet , 2 - fiber upsr or 2 - fiber blsr . fig1 also shows that the omc interfaces 60 can have separate interfaces to external user equipment , for carrying user traffic on the omc . it is preferred that this user interface conform to any of a variety of open standards , including ethernet , asynchronous transfer mode ( atm ), high - level data link control ( hdlc ), point - to - point protocol ( ppp ), internet protocol ( ip ), transmission control protocol ( tcp ), user datagram protocol ( udp ), the open shortest path first ( ospf ) routing protocol , and multi - protocol label switching ( mpls ). although the illustrated embodiment employs optical fibers carrying optical signals in one direction only , it will be understood that the disclosed technique can also be used in systems having fibers carrying optical signals in both directions , i . e ., in the so - called “ red ” and “ blue ” bands , and in systems having both “ work ” and “ protect ” fibers carrying signals in opposite directions for redundancy purposes . additionally , the techniques described herein are applicable to more arbitrary network topologies . for example , there may be one or more optical add / drop multiplexers along a path between the multiplexers / demultiplexers , which may add and drop one or more omcs while allowing one or more other omcs to pass through . the omcs generally are terminated at locations where waves are terminated . an in - band optical management channel for wavelength - division multiplexed systems has been shown . it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that other modifications to and variations of the above - described technique are possible without departing from the inventive concepts disclosed herein . accordingly , the invention should be viewed as limited solely by the scope and spirit of the appended claims . | 7 |
a medical instrument 10 ( fig1 ) for directed placement of a knot 11 has a base body 12 . one side of the base body 12 is formed by a guide sleeve 13 and the other side is formed by a support 14 . an axle pin 16 is arranged at an end region 15 of the guide sleeve 13 , the two halves 17 , 18 of a divided instrument head 19 being held so as to be swivelable relative to one another around this axle pin 16 . the swiveling movement is effected by means of an actuating device 20 whose connecting rod 21 is held in the guide sleeve 13 so as to be displaceable axially . an end portion or side of the connecting rod 21 , neither of which is shown in the drawing , is connected with each half 17 , 18 of the instrument head 19 in each instance via a lever ( not shown ) somewhat in the manner of a folding lattice grate so that the swiveling movement of the halves 17 , 18 is produced by the axial displacement of the connecting rod 21 within the guide sleeve 13 . a scissor - like grip member 23 with two grip halves 24 , 25 which are swivelable relative to one another are associated with the support 14 of the base body 12 for handling the instrument 10 as a whole and for carrying out the axial displacement of the connecting rod 21 and accordingly the swiveling movement of the halves 17 , 18 of the instrument head 19 . a drive mechanism 26 constructed in the manner of a folding lattice grate is associated with the grip halves 24 , 25 for the axial displacement of the connecting rod 21 . this drive mechanism 26 is connected with the connecting rod 21 in such a way that a swiveling movement of the grip halves 24 , 25 causes an axial displacement of the connecting rod 21 . the instrument head 19 has a substantially cylindrical shape . its diameter corresponds approximately to that of the guide sleeve 13 and is dimensioned in such a way that the instrument head 19 and guide sleeve 13 are displaceable in a trocar so that there is sufficient room in an inner gap between the trocar and guide sleeve 13 for two free ends 27 of a surgical thread . the instrument head 19 is provided with a profile ( fig2 ) having a peripheral region 28 for holding , guiding and handling the free ends 27 of the thread in particular and a central region 29 for holding a knot 31 made with the two free ends 27 so as to form a continuous loop 30 . the peripheral and central regions 28 , 29 are connected via a recess 32 penetrating the instrument head 19 roughly vertically to its center line 34 . the recess has the shape and cross section of an acute angle . a dead - end branch 33 extends parallel to the center line 34 of the instrument head 19 approximately in the plane of the center line 34 until a front part 35 of the instrument head 19 . the inner diameter or clear width of this branch 33 is so dimensioned that a free end 27 of the thread can be received and guided therein . an open branch 36 of the recess 32 extends at an acute angle from an end region of branch 33 near the front part in the direction away from the front part 35 and exits from the instrument head 19 . this branch 36 has a clear width allowing the knot 31 to pass through . the peripheral region of the profile is provided with a bevel 37 which extends from the outer circumference of the instrument head 19 in the direction of the front part 35 at an inclination to the center line 34 . the bevel 37 comprises roughly half of the instrument head 19 circumferentially and is curved in a uniform manner . it ends in the recess 32 on the side facing the front part approximately at the point where the branches 33 , 36 merge . a clearance grinding 38 with a cross section shaped like the segment of a circle is associated with the bevel 37 approximately symmetrically opposite the latter between its outlet at the circumference of the instrument head 19 and the location where it ends in the recess 32 . this clearance grinding 38 , which opens into the dead - end branch 33 of the recess 32 in the region of its base 39 , extends from the base 39 to the center line 34 at a slight inclination facing away from the front part 35 . a pin 40 extends from the base 39 parallel to the clearance grinding 38 so as to form a narrow slit 41 between the pin 40 and the clearance grinding 38 , this slit 41 being open at the top . the length of the pin 40 is so dimensioned that it extends beyond the clearance grinding 38 and the bevel 37 . however , the bevel 37 is dimensioned in such a way that the pins 40 do not project beyond the instrument head 19 in its radial direction so that the instrument head 19 can be displaced axially within a trocar without hindrance . the central region 29 of the profile is formed by a bore hole 42 which is disposed coaxially to the instrument head 19 , opens into the recess 32 and completely penetrates the branch 33 centrally ( fig4 ). the diameter of the bore hole 42 is greater than the clear width of branch 33 so that the bore hole 42 also has a lateral guide 45 in the region of branch 33 which securely holds the knot 31 in the bore hole 42 . further , the dimensions of the diameter of the bore hole 42 somewhat exceed those of the knot 31 in the radial direction of the instrument head 19 . finally , a longitudinal slit 43 is associated with the bore hole 42 , this longitudinal slit 43 extending in the front part 35 parallel to the center line 34 and symmetrically with respect to the bevel 37 and on the side of the latter . the longitudinal slit 43 is wedge - shaped and tapers from the circumference of the front part 35 to a narrow gap 44 by which it passes into the bore hole 42 . in addition , the longitudinal slit 43 widens conically in the longitudinal direction of the instrument head 19 toward the end face of the front part 35 , wherein the longitudinal slit 43 and gap 44 as well as the peripheral and central regions 28 , 29 of the profile are associated in a symmetrical manner with the two halves 17 , 18 of the instrument head 19 . the placement of the knot 31 by means of the instrument 10 is described in the following . after the knot 31 has been tied by means of the free ends 27 of the thread while forming a loop 30 passing through the tissue or around an organ , the instrument 10 is positioned with respect to the knot 31 in such a way that the knot 31 is located on the guide sleeve 13 roughly in the center . the two free ends 27 are held laterally approximately around the guide sleeve 13 so as to be spread apart from one another ( fig5 ). the free ends are held under slight tension so that the thread is tightened as a whole . the instrument 10 is then guided in such a way that the knot 31 arrives at the instrument head 19 and slides down its bevel 37 in the direction of the front part 35 . in this way , the free ends 27 are engaged by the pins 40 and guided into the slit 41 , while the regions of the loop 30 which are adjacent to the knot 31 pass into the longitudinal slit 43 , which is assisted by the conical shape of the longitudinal slit 43 described above . for reliable placement of the free ends 27 in the slit 41 , it is advisable to wrap the two free ends 27 somewhat further around the instrument head 19 . thus , the movement of the instrument 10 is effected away from the actual suture line until the knot 31 has slid down the bevel 37 until it enters the branch 36 of the recess 32 , passes through the latter and finally arrives in the bore hole 42 of the central region 29 of the profile . in so doing , it is constantly held by the two free ends 27 in the center with respect to the bevel 37 . at approximately the same time , the free ends 27 , guided by the respective pin 40 , reach the base 39 of the clearance grinding 38 and enter the recess 32 laterally . meanwhile , the adjacent loop regions slide along the longitudinal slit 43 and the gap 44 into the bore hole 42 . when this position is reached , the movement of the instrument 10 is reversed in that it is now moved in the direction of the actual suture line . in so doing , the knot 31 in the bore hole 42 initially slides along the branch 33 and is held by the lateral guide 45 until it reaches the end of the bore hole 42 . next , the knot 31 which is reliably fixed in this way , is displaced . this displacement continues until the knot 31 arrives in the immediate vicinity of the target point , wherein this displacement can be effected very easily due to the guidance of the free ends 27 and the tightened thread . the actual placement of the knot 31 is then effected precisely in the target point in that the two halves 17 , 18 of the instrument head 19 are swiveled relative to one another around the axle pin 16 by means of the actuating device 20 in such a way that the free ends 27 held by them are spread apart . the final movement of the knot 31 toward the target point and the tightening of the knot 31 are completed by means of this spreading . the tightening can be further assisted by increasing somewhat the tension on the free ends after the halves 17 , 18 have been spread apart . it is essential that the free ends 27 and the knot 31 are held securely and separately in each phase by the instrument head 19 . after the knot 31 has been placed , the halves 17 , 18 are brought together again by means of the actuating device 20 , whereupon the instrument 10 can be freely withdrawn or pulled out of the trocar . the free ends 27 slide within the respective gap 44 , recess 32 and bore hole 39 until exiting from the instrument head . finally , the respective free end 27 can be cut at a suitable location . while the foregoing description and drawings represent the preferred embodiments of the present invention , it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications may be made therein without departing from the true spirit and scope of the present invention . | 0 |
with reference to fig1 and 2 , the hermetic display cell shown is an electrochromic display , employing viologen in aqueous solution as the electrochromic material . the viologen is a mixture of 1 , 1 &# 39 ; di - heptyl 4 , 4 &# 39 ; bipyridinium phosphate and hypophosphite as described in u . s . pat . no . 4 , 187 , 003 . the display is a matrix - addressable display in which a rectangular array 10 of silver display electrodes are formed on the upper surface of a silicon chip 11 which forms the base of the cell enclosure . each of the array of electrodes is connected to one of an underlying matrix of field - effect transistors formed in the chip 11 by integrated circuit techniques . the electrode / transistor matrix is made as described in commonly assigned u . s . patent application ser . no . 560 , 051 , filed dec . 9 , 1983 for a &# 34 ; semiconductor integrated display and method of making same &# 34 ; to which reference may be made for further details . external electrical connection of the chip 11 is by means of a multiwire cable 12 . this connects pads , not shown , at one end of chip 11 which protrudes beyond the enclosure , to a printed circuit board 13 . details of the electrical operation of the matrix display are given in our allowed u . s . patent application ser . no . 259 , 268 , u . s . pat . no . 4 , 426 , 643 also published as european patent application no . 42893 - a1 . since the chip 11 is fragile , it is supported by a heavy aluminium base 14 to which the printed circuit board 13 is also bolted . the side wall of the enclosure is formed by a frame 15 moulded from an acrylic plastics material , polymethyl methacrylate . the frame is a relatively complex shape as it includes many features connected with the filling and sealing of the cell and also with the optical aspects of the display , as will be described . the top cover of the liquid enclosure of the cell is a glass plate 16 , shown in fig3 which rests on top of the frame 15 . the glass cover 16 has deposited thereon , a counter electrode 17 of platinum black electrodeposited on a conductor pattern comprising gold over a titanium adhesion layer . to seal the glass cover 16 to the frame 15 , and the frame to the chip 11 , the frame is provided with two grooves 18 and 19 around the upper and lower edges of its walls . in each of these grooves are o - ring gaskets 20 and 21 made of an inert , impervious fluorocarbon polymer . the gaskets are compressed by means of a clamp plate 22 , shown in fig4 which is bolted down onto the glass plate 16 by four nuts 23 which engage threaded pins set into the base . the above described components constitute a complete liquid enclosure for the display cell except for a filling orifice 24 in one wall of the frame 15 . this orifice is sealed , as will be described in connection with fig6 - 8 , by a flexible diaphragm 25 , also made of an inert fluorocarbon polymer , which is seated in a housing 26 . the remaining features of the frame 15 relate predominantly to the optical arrangements for projecting the displayed image onto a screen . a prominent feature ( ref . fig1 and 5 ) is a side light guide 30 in the form of a multi - facetted truncated wedge . the guide 30 is integral with the frame 15 and forms one wall thereof . its upper facets 31 and also its side faces 32 must be silvered for optical reasons to direct light into the cell but , of course , its input face 33 must be transparent . the outer face of the opposite wall 36 of the frame is also facetted and silvered to reflect escaping projection light back into the cell to increase illumination of display area 10 . because the silver electrodes constituting area 10 have matt surfaces , light from them is scattered randomly and a proportion emerges from the top of the cell through the window 16 . this light reaches a projection lens ( not shown ) whose mounting ring is registered on shoulders of four pillars 37 and is projected onto a screen ( not shown ). to reduce vignetting , the inner walls 38 of frame 15 slope outwardly from the display area , as do edges 39 of clamp plate 22 . the optical arrangement of the display cell , lamp and projection lens is substantially the same as that described in allowed u . s . patent application ser . no . 307 , 914 , u . s . pat . no . 4 , 436 , 378 . the acrylic material of which the frame 15 is formed is permeable to a limited extent to both cell liquid and to the atmosphere . over a period of a few months , loss of cell liquid and formation of gas bubbles could severely impair the display function . for this reason , much of the external surface of the frame 15 is metallised to a sufficient thickness to render the package hermetic . the metallization consists of 2000å of evaporated silver followed by 25 microns of electroplated copper , which has been found to be sufficient to close off the largest pinholes in the evaporated silver layer . an electroless top layer of 1500å of tin protects the copper from corrosion . the metallic sealing layer 40 is indicated by cross hatching in fig2 and 6 . essentially , all exterior wall surfaces of the frame , except for the tops of pillars 37 , are coated up to the o - ring grooves 18 and 19 . coating inwardly beyond the grooves is not necessary because of the seal afforded by the o - ring gaskets 20 and 21 and the impervious nature of glass cover plate 16 and silicon chip 11 . it is also undesirable because of possible contamination of the viologen solution . the interior of diaphragm housing 26 is not coated as this will be sealed by diaphragm 25 . the input face 33 of light guide 30 is not coated , since transparency is essential , although all the other faces 31 , 32 , etc of the guide are coated . in the case of this particular design , the sheer bulk of the guide compared to the general wall thickness suffices to reduce permeation to acceptable levels . if this were not the case , a transparent coating of silica could be employed or a glass cover plate adhesively bonded to the face . the process by which the frame 15 is coated will now be described . in order to obtain adhesion of the evaporated silver to the acrylic , an extensive cleaning cycle must be carried out . in particular all traces of mould release agent and pre - acrylic monomer must be removed . this is achieved by , firstly , washing and scrubbing the moulded frame in 1 % solution of a commercially available surfactant ( decon 90 ) which is a complex emulsion of highest quality anionic and nonionic surfaces active agents , stabilizing agents , alkalis and non - phosphate detergent builders in an aqueous base available from decon laboratories , ltd ., of hove , england and then rinsing in de - ionised water . the frame is next rinsed in analar propan - 2 - ol and dried in pure nitrogen after which it is placed in a vacuum chamber for 12 - 24 hours . this rinse , drying and evacuation cycle is repeated up to three times . immersion time in propan - 2 - ol must be minimized particularly for moulded acrylic to avoid softening . if this is a problem , washing in a fluorocarbon solvent is an alternative . after pre - cleaning is complete , the frame is sufficiently clean to be transferred to an evaporator . the frame is clamped in a jig which sits in the o - ring grooves 18 and 19 and which shields the interior of the frame from the evaporation . the base of the orifice in diaphragm housing 26 is temporarily plugged . after subjecting the frame to a glow discharge in a nitrogen atmosphere for final cleaning and adhesion promotion , the chamber is evacuated . a 2000å layer of silver is then evaporated from a resistance source onto the cold frame . the frame is then turned to different orientations and the evaporation sequence , omitting the glow discharge , is repeated until all surfaces have been coated . the distance from source to substrate is from 300 - 400 mm . continuous evaporation is not permitted for more than 30 seconds at a time to avoid undue heating of the plastics frame . the silvered frame is now transferred to a copper electroplating bath containing 50 gm / l copper sulphate , 60 gm / l sodium potassium tartrate and ammonium hydroxide to raise the ph to 7 . 5 . electrical connection is made to the silver coating by means of a tapered plug which fits into a bore in housing 26 . 25 microns of copper are plated at a current density of 1 . 08 adm - 2 at room temperature under moderate air agitation . the copper deposit is uniform , pore - free and ductile . finally the frame is coated with 1500å of tin in an electroless bath to protect the copper from corrosion . before use , the frame is immersed in circulating de - ionised water for at least 12 hours to leach out any ions which may have penetrated the plastic during the plating processes . the display cell is assembled as indicated in the above description by placing gaskets 20 and 21 in their respective grooves and clamping the chip 11 , frame 15 and glass cover plate 16 together between clamp plate 22 and base 14 to form the cell enclosure . the cell is then filled with the viologen electrolyte and sealed as will now be described with reference to fig6 - 8 . before it is filled the cell is purged with argon . in order to fill the cell , it is oriented approximately vertically as shown in fig7 and filled slowly through a tube inserted through filling orifice 24 which is now located at the uppermost point of the enclosure . the interior walls of the enclosure form a tapering neck 50 to assist the escape of any bubbles . as shown in fig7 on the outside of orifice 24 is a knife - edge annular rim 51 above which a convex meniscus 52 is formed . care must be taken that excess electrolyte does not spill onto the exterior of the enclosure . the sealing diaphragm 25 is lowered down a bore 53 in housing 26 until it rests on the knife edge 51 . any small excess of liquid is displaced into the surrounding gutter by the diaphragm without introduction of bubbles into the cell . an annular washer 55 is then placed over the diaphragm . an eccentric pin 56 is then passed through a cross bore 57 in the housing 26 . with its flattened side lowermost , the pin just clears the washer 55 . the pin is then rotated to the position shown in fig8 . this rotation depresses the washer and compresses the diaphragm 25 onto the knife edge 51 . the cell is now perfectly sealed . additionally , because the diaphragm 26 is elastomeric and is not restrained in the centre , it can flex to accommodate differential thermal expansion of the liquid and enclosure . | 6 |
referring now to fig1 , a first embodiment of the electronic cymbal is shown generally at 10 . the electronic cymbal 10 includes a frame 12 . a cover 14 , configured to be struck by the musician , is attached to an upper surface 16 of the frame 12 . the cover 14 need not necessarily cover the entire upper surface 16 of the frame 12 . the upper surface 16 of the frame 12 may include one of more steps or levels formed in the upper surface 16 . the cover 14 includes a pocket 18 formed in the cover 14 above the edge 20 of the frame 12 . a membrane switch 22 is placed in the pocket 18 formed in the cover 14 . the cover 14 may include one or more layers or a resilient material , such as rubber , synthetic rubber , silicon , and the like . the cover 14 may wrap around to a bottom surface 24 of the frame 12 , but is not essential that it do so . referring to fig2 , a second embodiment is shown generally at 100 , where the membrane switch 122 is captured in a pocket formed between a sandwich of layers 114 a , 114 b of resilient material that form the cover 114 . the resilient material could be rubber , synthetic rubber , silicon , and the like . the layers 114 a , 114 b are glued together with an adhesive 115 as is known in the art . the second embodiment 100 includes a cover 114 is formed from hard rubber layer 114 a attached to a soft rubber layer 114 b . a membrane switch 122 is captured between these two rubber layers 114 . preferably , the hard rubber layer 114 a is underneath the softer rubber layer 114 b , but is not required . also , the two rubber layers 114 could be of the same hardness . the term “ rubber ” is being used loosely herein to refer to any resilient material with rubber - like qualities . a recess , or pocket , 118 may be formed between the two layers 114 therein depending upon the thickness of the membrane switch 122 in order to accommodate the membrane switch 122 . the cover 114 is then attached to the upper surface 116 of the frame 112 of the electronic cymbal 100 like the first embodiment 10 . the cover 114 may wrap around to a bottom surface 124 of the frame 112 , but is not essential that it do so . as can be readily appreciate by one skilled in the art , operation of the membrane switch on the edge of the frame of the electronic cymbal 10 , 100 is made more reliable by putting a resilient material under the membrane switch 22 , 122 . the resilient material under the membrane switch 22 , 122 ( in the proposed envelope 10 or sandwich of layers 100 ) allows a “ stiffer ” switch ( i . e . more robust ) to be triggered without excessive pressure . either embodiment 10 , 100 may be further optimized by profiling the resilient material . for example , a set of saw tooth ridges ( axially like bicycle spokes ) may be formed on the top or bottom of the resilient material above or below the membrane switch 22 , 122 to improve sensitivity by reducing the area exerting the pressure on the membrane switch 22 , 122 for closure . it would be appreciated by those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications can be made to the illustrated embodiments without departing from the spirit of the present invention . all such modifications and changes are intended to be within the scope of the present invention . | 6 |
disclosed herein are various embodiments relating to language translation in a video messaging application . when a user participates in video messaging , a video feed may be shown both to the user and any other participant ( s ). a participant may speak in a language not understood by other participants . according to various embodiments , a video messaging application may be employed to translate the speech to a language understood by other participants . for example , a participant in a three - way video conference using three distinct computing devices may say in english the phrase , “ i will be in seattle on tuesday .” the other two participants may not be fluent in english and may indicate a desired language as a setting in the video messaging application . one user may provide a setting requesting all communications be translated to mandarin while the other participant requests all communications be translated to german . the respective translations may be synchronized with the visual component of the video by imposing a delay in the visual component accounting for the computation time of the translation . the german translation may only be played to the participant fluent in german , and the mandarin translation may only be played to the participant fluent in mandarin . this may give the appearance of a continuous , uninterrupted video conference . in some cases , video messaging may be conducted on a computer equipped with a camera and a microphone . in other cases , mobile phone technology has advanced to where a significant number of phones have the necessary hardware , processing power , and bandwidth to participate in video messaging . in the following discussion , a general description of a system for translation in video messaging software and its components is provided , followed by a discussion of the operation of the same . with reference to fig1 , shown is a networked environment 100 according to various embodiments . the networked environment 100 includes a computing device 103 in data communication with one or more clients 106 via a network 109 . the network 109 includes , for example , the internet , intranets , extranets , wide area networks ( wans ), local area networks ( lans ), wired networks , wireless networks , or other suitable networks , etc ., or any combination of two or more such networks . the computing device 103 may comprise , for example , a server computer or any other system providing computing capability . alternatively , a plurality of computing devices 103 may be employed that are arranged , for example , in one or more server banks or computer banks or other arrangements . for example , a plurality of computing devices 103 together may comprise a cloud computing resource , a grid computing resource , and / or any other distributed computing arrangement . such computing devices 103 may be located in a single installation or may be distributed among many different geographical locations . for purposes of convenience , the computing device 103 is referred to herein in the singular . even though the computing device is referred to in the singular , it is understood that a plurality of computing devices 103 may be employed in the various arrangements as described above . various applications and / or other functionality may be executed in the computing device 103 according to various embodiments . also , various data is stored in a data store 112 that is accessible to the computing device 103 . the data store 112 may be representative of a plurality of data stores as can be appreciated . the data stored in the data store 112 , for example , is associated with the operation of the various applications and / or functional entities described below . the components executed on the computing device 103 , for example , include a translation processing application 128 and other applications , services , processes , systems , engines , or functionality not discussed in detail herein . the translation processing application 128 includes , for example , a video input buffer 131 , video holding buffer 134 , video output buffer 135 , translation output 137 , decoder 140 , translator 143 , encoder 146 , and potentially other subcomponents or functionality not discussed in detail herein . the translation processing application 128 is executed in order to detect and translate speech . for example , the translation processing application 128 may place packets of an input audio / video ( nv ) stream 170 in video input buffer 131 to await decoding , translation , and encoding . the translation processing application 128 may output encoded a / v signal comprising the original visual component , with a delay imposed , and a translation output as will be described . the data stored in the data store 112 includes , for example , application data 118 , user data 121 , input processing rules 123 , device interfaces 125 , and potentially other data . application data 118 may include , for example , application settings , translation settings , user - specific settings , and / or any other data that may be used to describe or otherwise relate to the application . user data 121 may include , for example , user - specific application settings , translation settings , geographic locations , messaging application user name , language preferences , phone numbers , and / or any other information that may be associated with a user . input processing rules 123 may include , for example , settings or restraints on language translation , language translation algorithms , language translation rules , predefined language translation thresholds , and / or any other information that may be associated with input processing . device interfaces 125 may include data relating to a display , a user interface , and / or any other data pertaining to an interface . each of the clients 106 a / b is representative of a plurality of client devices that may be coupled to the network 109 . each client 106 a / b may comprise , for example , a processor - based system such as a computer system . such a computer system may be embodied in the form of a desktop computer , a laptop computer , a personal digital assistant , a cellular telephone , set - top box , music players , web pads , tablet computer systems , game consoles , or other devices with like capability . each client 106 a / b may be configured to execute various video messaging applications 149 such as a video conferencing application , a video voicemail application , and / or other applications . video messaging applications 149 may be rendered by a browser , for example , or may be separate from a browser . video messaging applications 149 may be executed , for example , to access and render user interfaces 155 and video streams on the display 152 . the display 152 may comprise , for example , one or more devices such as cathode ray tubes ( crts ), liquid crystal display ( lcd ) screens , gas plasma - based flat panel displays , lcd projectors , or other types of display devices , etc . the input devices 158 may be executed to generate a video data stream . the input devices 158 may comprise , for example , a microphone , a keyboard , a video camera , a web - camera , and / or any other input device . the output devices 161 may be executed to render a video and / or audio data stream . the output devices 161 may comprise , for example , speaker ( s ), lights , and / or any other output device beyond the display 152 . next , a general description of the operation of the various components of the networked environment 100 is provided . to begin , a user may participate in a video conference via video messaging application 149 . an input device 158 , such as a camera and a microphone , may capture audio and / or video data corresponding to the participant &# 39 ; s activity and speech . the audio and / or video data is communicated to the translation processing application 128 as an input a / v stream 170 via media input stream 164 . the desired translation language may be communicated via media input stream 164 as translation settings 167 . the audio and / or video data may be placed in video input buffer 131 to await processing . the translation processing application 128 may begin processing the data in video input buffer 131 in a first in , first out ( fifo ) method . processing the data residing in video input buffer 131 may involve decoding the a / v data to separate the visual component from the audio component in the decoder 140 . the visual component may be stored in video holding buffer 134 while the audio component is translated . alternatively , the a / v signal may be stored in video input buffer 131 and / or video holding buffer 134 where the decoder 140 merely obtains a copy of the audio component to translate . the audio component may be processed by the translator 143 to convert the audio data to text data using , for example , a speech recognition algorithm . the text data reflects what was spoken by the user in the user &# 39 ; s spoken language . via translator 143 , the text data may be translated to other text data comprising a second language . translator 143 may further comprise an algorithm that estimates the accuracy of the translation . the accuracy of the translation may also be considered a confidence level calculated by translation processing application 128 that the translation is correct . according to various embodiments , the translation output 137 may comprise audio , text , or any other form embodying speech in a second language . the translated text data may be stored as translation output 137 to provide a written log of the communication and / or to later encode the video with subtitles via the encoder 146 . the text data comprising the translation may be converted to audio via the encoder 146 by , for example , employing a text - to - speech algorithm . the translated audio data may be stored as translation output 137 to provide an audio log of the communication and / or later encode the video with the translation audio via the encoder 146 . the encoder 146 is configured to combine the translation output 137 with the data residing in the video holding buffer 134 . in one embodiment , the encoder 146 may combine the video residing in the video holding buffer 134 with the translated text data as subtitles by synchronizing the text translation output 137 with the previously separated visual component of the video data . in another embodiment , the encoder 146 may combine the video residing in the video holding buffer 134 with the translated audio rendering by synchronizing the audio rendering with the previously separated visual component of the video data . in another embodiment , the encoder 146 may combine the translated text data with the a / v signal residing in the video holding buffer 134 as subtitles by synchronizing the text translation output 137 with the visual component of the a / v signal . the a / v output of the encoder 146 may be stored in video output buffer 135 . synchronizing the visual component of the video data with the translation output may comprise speeding up or slowing down the play speed of the video data and / or the play speed of translation output 137 . for example , the play speed of a video segment depicting a participant speaking in a first language may be adjusted to synchronize the playback of the translation output 137 of a second language with the video segment . in one embodiment , the synchronization occurs through the encoder 146 in the translation processing application 128 by combining the visual component of the video data with the translation output 137 in computing device ( s ) 103 . for example , the translation processing application 128 may synchronize the audio and video components and encode them to create one mpeg - 4 file to transmit to the client ( s ) 106 via output a / v stream 179 . in another embodiment , the visual component of the video data and the translation output 137 may be left separate in the translation processing application 128 . in this embodiment , the video messaging application 149 may initiate synchronous playback of the visual component and the translation output 137 in computing device ( s ) 106 . for example , the audio component may be encoded as a wav file and the video component may be encoded as an mpeg - 4 file , both sent to client ( s ) 106 via media output stream 173 and output a / v stream 179 . the video messaging application 149 may play the files simultaneously to have the same effect as the previous embodiment . the encoded video residing in video output buffer 135 comprising the translation output 137 is transmitted to client ( s ) 106 via media output stream 173 . application control 176 provides data corresponding to initiating playback of output a / v stream 179 in video messaging application 149 . additionally , application control 176 may comprise data that controls indicators in the video messaging application 149 that may display the estimated accuracy of the translation and / or indicator icons corresponding to whether a translation is being generated by the client sending the output a / v stream 179 . referring next to fig2 , shown is a functional block diagram that provides one example of the operation of a portion of translation processing application 128 according to various embodiments . it is understood that the functional block diagram of fig2 provides merely an example of the many different types of functional arrangements that may be employed to implement the operation of the portion of the language translation as described herein . a / v data is initially stored in video input buffer 131 and is accessed by decoder 140 to separate the audio component from the video component , or at least obtain a copy of the audio component . frames of the video component are then stored in video holding buffer 134 . alternatively , if the decoder 140 obtains a copy of the audio component , the a / v signal may be stored in video holding buffer 134 . the audio component then is provided to translator 143 where the audio comprising a first language is converted to text comprising the first language . further , in translator 143 , the text comprising the first language may be translated to text comprising a second , translated language shown as translation output 137 . also , translator 143 may be further configured to render the text comprising a second language into an audio version of the translation as audio translation output 137 . the video component or a / v signal stored in video holding buffer 134 is accessed by the encoder along with the translation output 137 . the encoder 146 may then combine translation output 137 with either the previously separated video component or the a / v signal to create a combined video file stored in video output buffer 135 . by combining the translation output 137 with the video in video holding buffer 134 , a delay may be imposed in the video or a / v signal that is equivalent to the time elapsed in generating the translation output 137 . referring next to fig3 , shown is a drawing of an example of a user interface 155 a rendered by a client 106 ( fig1 ) in the networked environment 100 ( fig1 ) according to various embodiments of the present disclosure . in particular , fig3 depicts an example of an ongoing video conference implemented by the video messaging application 149 ( fig1 ). the video messaging application 149 depicts a view of two live video renderings 303 and 306 of two video messaging participants . although depicted with only two participants , it is understood that more participants can take part in the video conference . indicator icons 309 and 312 are shown below the video renderings to facilitate the taking of turns speaking in the video conference , which may prevent two users from talking simultaneously . in this example , indicator icons 309 and 312 are speech indicators , which may turn on or illuminate when a user is speaking and / or the translation processing application 128 ( fig1 ) is generating a translation . an optional live video rendering 314 of the user who is speaking without an imposed delay may be shown to further assist other users in determining whether or not a person is speaking . an accuracy indicator 315 is shown below the video rendering that indicates an accuracy of the currently rendered translation output 137 . it is understood that the accuracy indicator 315 can frequently change according to an estimated accuracy of the playing translation output 137 at any given time . text translation output 137 is depicted as subtitles . audio translation output 137 is rendered by the speaker as audio . in one embodiment , translation output 137 may be played on top of the original speech simultaneously , with the volume of the original speech lessened to a certain degree . in another embodiment , the original video may be played with no audio . in this embodiment the video is encoded with the text translation output 137 as subtitles . turning now to fig4 , shown is a drawing of an example of user interface 155 b rendered by a client 106 ( fig1 ). in particular , fig4 depicts an example of a video voicemail in a video messaging application 149 ( fig1 ) running on a mobile device 403 . a current play time 409 is shown next to a total play time 412 corresponding to a total duration of the video message . an indicator light 406 is shown that may correspond to a physical light in the hardware of the mobile device . in the event of a video conference via the video messaging application 149 , the indicator light 406 may be enabled or disabled when a translation is being generated . an accuracy indicator 415 is shown simultaneously with the video message that includes the translation output 137 . it is understood that the accuracy indicator 415 can frequently change according to an estimated accuracy of the rendered translation output 137 at any given moment . audio translation output 137 may be played on top of the original speech simultaneously , with the volume of original speech lessened to a certain degree . referring next to fig5 , shown is a flowchart that provides one example of the operation of a portion of translation processing application 128 according to various embodiments . it is understood that the flowchart of fig5 provides merely an example of the many different types of functional arrangements that may be employed to implement the operation of the portion of the language translation as described herein . as an alternative , the flowchart of fig5 may be viewed as depicting an example of steps of a method implemented in the computing device 103 ( fig1 ) according to one or more embodiments . beginning with box 503 , the translation processing application 128 detects either the start of a speech segment or an action by the user that indicates the start of the speech . in one embodiment , this may be triggered by a user pressing a button . in another embodiment , this may be triggered using a visual detection algorithm that detects when a user moves his or her lips in a manner that indicates speech is being produced . in another embodiment , this may be triggered by a noticeable change in an audio signal . in box 506 , the translation processing application 128 then sends a signal to the receiving client 106 ( fig1 ) to turn on an indicator indicating that a user has started talking . for example , the indicator may be an icon in the user interface 155 ( fig1 ) such as indicator icon 309 or 312 ( fig3 ). in another embodiment , the indicator may be an output device 161 ( fig1 ) such as indicator light 406 ( fig4 ) on a mobile device . in another embodiment , a sound may be played in place of or simultaneously with the indicator to indicate that another user is speaking . in box 509 , a local indicator is turned on , similar to those discussed above , to indicate that a user is speaking and / or the translation processing application 128 is currently generating a translation . next , in box 512 , storage of a / v signal is initiated in video input buffer 131 ( fig1 ). in box 515 , decoding is initiated for the audio and / or video data residing in video input buffer 131 to isolate the speech . for example , a participant in a video messaging conference states , “ i will be in seattle on tuesday .” an audio / video segment of the participant &# 39 ; s statement resides in the video input buffer 131 . the translation processing application 128 will separate the visual component of the video from the audio component or will obtain a copy of the audio compound . the translation processing application 128 then converts the audio component to a textual representation of what was said . next , in box 518 , the speech is converted to a desired language . in one embodiment , the speech is converted to a translation output 137 ( fig1 ) comprising a language identified by a participant . for example , a video messaging application 149 ( fig1 ) may have a setting that permits a participant to select a desired language of translation . in another embodiment , the audio is converted to a language detected from a setting provided by the speaking participant . in another embodiment , a language may be detected from a previous communication . the translation output 137 may comprise text , audio , or both as described above . in box 521 , the translation output 137 is encoded with the video in the holding buffer 134 ( fig1 ). a delay is imposed to give the perception that the speech is live when it is , in fact , slightly delayed to account for any noticeable time that may elapse during the translation . in one embodiment , a delay is imposed based on the amount of time the video frames sit in the video holding buffer 134 that is needed to finish the translation . to this end , a buffer may be used to temporarily store the translation output 137 until accessed by the encoder 146 ( fig1 ). in another embodiment , a delay in the video may be inherently imposed by encoding the audio with the previously separated video segment that has been residing in a holding buffer . in another embodiment , the delay may be based at least in part on a predefined threshold . for example , the average computation time of english to mandarin translation in a particular computing device may be calculated and applied as a threshold in the computation of the delay . in box 524 , the translation processing application 128 determines whether enough speech has been translated to generate the output a / v stream 179 ( fig1 ). for example , completion of a translation comprising a full word , phrase , or sentence may be necessary before initiating a transfer to avoid discontinuity in speech segments . if the translation processing application 128 determines enough speech has been translated , then it moves to box 527 where the sending of the video combined with the translation output 137 to a called device is initiated . for example , computing device 103 may begin sending a / v data residing in video output buffer 135 ( fig1 ) to another participant who is using a separate computing device . in box 530 , it is determined whether the user has finished speaking . it is understood that as a participant is speaking , more speech may be added to the buffer of speech to be translated . further , it is understood that the sending of the translation may not be complete until all speech that the participant has made has been translated . finally , in box 533 , a request is sent to the called device to turn off the indicator . it is understood that this process may repeat itself many times over the course of a video messaging conference . with reference to fig6 , shown is a schematic block diagram of the computing device 103 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure . the computing device 103 includes at least one processor circuit , for example , having a processor 603 and a memory 606 , both of which are coupled to a local interface 612 . to this end , the computing device 103 may comprise , for example , at least one server computer or like device . the local interface 612 may comprise , for example , a data bus with an accompanying address / control bus or other bus structure as can be appreciated . stored in the memory 606 are both data and several components that are executable by the processor 603 . in particular , stored in the memory 606 and executable by the processor 603 are the translation processing application 128 , the server operating system 609 , and potentially other applications . also stored in the memory 606 may be a data store 112 and other data . in addition , an operating system may be stored in the memory 606 and executable by the processor 603 . it is understood that there may be other applications that are stored in the memory 606 and are executable by the processors 603 as can be appreciated . where any component discussed herein is implemented in the form of software , any one of a number of programming languages may be employed such as , for example , c , c ++, c #, objective c , java , javascript , perl , php , visual basic , python , ruby , delphi , flash , or other programming languages . a number of software components are stored in the memory 606 and are executable by the processor 603 . in this respect , the term “ executable ” means a program file that is in a form that can ultimately be run by the processor 603 . examples of executable programs may be , for example , a compiled program that can be translated into machine code in a format that can be loaded into a random access portion of the memory 606 and run by the processor 603 , source code that may be expressed in proper format such as object code that is capable of being loaded into a random access portion of the memory 606 and executed by the processor 603 , or source code that may be interpreted by another executable program to generate instructions in a random access portion of the memory 606 to be executed by the processor 603 , etc . an executable program may be stored in any portion or component of the memory 606 including , for example , random access memory ( ram ), read - only memory ( rom ), hard drive , solid - state drive , usb flash drive , memory card , optical disc such as compact disc ( cd ) or digital versatile disc ( dvd ), floppy disk , magnetic tape , or other memory components . the memory 606 is defined herein as including both volatile and nonvolatile memory and data storage components . volatile components are those that do not retain data values upon loss of power . nonvolatile components are those that retain data upon a loss of power . thus , the memory 606 may comprise , for example , random access memory ( ram ), read - only memory ( rom ), hard disk drives , solid - state drives , usb flash drives , memory cards accessed via a memory card reader , floppy disks accessed via an associated floppy disk drive , optical discs accessed via an optical disc drive , magnetic tapes accessed via an appropriate tape drive , and / or other memory components , or a combination of any two or more of these memory components . in addition , the ram may comprise , for example , static random access memory ( sram ), dynamic random access memory ( dram ), or magnetic random access memory ( mram ) and other such devices . the rom may comprise , for example , a programmable read - only memory ( prom ), an erasable programmable read - only memory ( eprom ), an electrically erasable programmable read - only memory ( eeprom ), or other like memory device . also , the processor 603 may represent multiple processors 603 and the memory 606 may represent multiple memories 606 that operate in parallel processing circuits , respectively . in such a case , the local interface 612 may be an appropriate network 109 ( fig1 ) that facilitates communication between any two of the multiple processors 603 , between any processor 603 and any of the memories 606 , or between any two of the memories 606 , etc . the local interface 612 may comprise additional systems designed to coordinate this communication , including , for example , performing load balancing . the processor 603 may be of electrical or of some other available construction . although the translation processing application 128 ( fig1 ), and other various systems described herein may be embodied in software or code executed by general purpose hardware as discussed above , as an alternative the same may also be embodied in dedicated hardware or a combination of software / general purpose hardware and dedicated hardware . if embodied in dedicated hardware , each can be implemented as a circuit or state machine that employs any one of or a combination of a number of technologies . these technologies may include , but are not limited to , discrete logic circuits having logic gates for implementing various logic functions upon an application of one or more data signals , application specific integrated circuits having appropriate logic gates , or other components , etc . such technologies are generally well known by those skilled in the art and , consequently , are not described in detail herein . the flowchart of fig5 shows the functionality and operation of an implementation of portions of the translation processing application 128 . if embodied in software , each block may represent a module , segment , or portion of code that comprises program instructions to implement the specified logical function ( s ). the program instructions may be embodied in the form of source code that comprises human - readable statements written in a programming language or machine code that comprises numerical instructions recognizable by a suitable execution system such as a processor 603 in a computer system or other system . the machine code may be converted from the source code , etc . if embodied in hardware , each block may represent a circuit or a number of interconnected circuits to implement the specified logical function ( s ). although the flowchart of fig5 shows a specific order of execution , it is understood that the order of execution may differ from that which is depicted . for example , the order of execution of two or more blocks may be scrambled relative to the order shown . also , two or more blocks shown in succession in fig4 may be executed concurrently or with partial concurrence . further , in some embodiments , one or more of the blocks shown in fig5 may be skipped or omitted . in addition , any number of counters , state variables , warning semaphores , or messages might be added to the logical flow described herein , for purposes of enhanced utility , accounting , performance measurement , or providing troubleshooting aids , etc . it is understood that all such variations are within the scope of the present disclosure . also , any logic or application described herein , including the translation processing application 128 , that comprises software or code can be embodied in any non - transitory computer - readable medium for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system such as , for example , a processor 603 in a computer system or other system . in this sense , the logic may comprise , for example , statements including instructions and declarations that can be fetched from the computer - readable medium and executed by the instruction execution system . in the context of the present disclosure , a “ computer - readable medium ” can be any medium that can contain , store , or maintain the logic or application described herein for use by or in connection with the instruction execution system . the computer - readable medium can comprise any one of many physical media such as , for example , magnetic , optical , or semiconductor media . more specific examples of a suitable computer - readable medium would include , but are not limited to , magnetic tapes , magnetic floppy diskettes , magnetic hard drives , memory cards , solid - state drives , usb flash drives , or optical discs . also , the computer - readable medium may be a random access memory ( ram ) including , for example , static random access memory ( sram ) and dynamic random access memory ( dram ), or magnetic random access memory ( mram ). in addition , the computer - readable medium may be a read - only memory ( rom ), a programmable read - only memory ( prom ), an erasable programmable read - only memory ( eprom ), an electrically erasable programmable read - only memory ( eeprom ), or other type of memory device . it should be emphasized that the above - described embodiments of the present disclosure are merely possible examples of implementations set forth for a clear understanding of the principles of the disclosure . many variations and modifications may be made to the above - described embodiment ( s ) without departing substantially from the spirit and principles of the disclosure . all such modifications and variations are intended to be included herein within the scope of this disclosure and protected by the following claims . | 7 |
fig1 and fig2 show a container holder 10 as a vehicle small article compartment pertaining to one embodiment of the present invention . the container holder 10 is disposed in the center console which is disposed between the driver seat and passenger seat of a vehicle ( not illustrated ), and it can be stored inside an attachment recess part provided in the center console . the container holder 10 is constituted by a box - like holding part 12 ( main body ) and a lid body 14 , and an opening of the holding part 12 is opened and closed by the lid body 14 . a pair of shaft support plates 16 , 18 is provided on both sides of the lid body 14 , and shafts 20 are disposed through them . these shafts 20 are fixed to a perimeter walls 12 a constituting the holding part 12 , and the shaft support plates 16 , 18 are configured to be rotatable around shafts 20 . the holding part 12 is arranged to be capable of holding containers having large external dimensions such as plastic bottles , and at about the middle of a perimeter wall 12 b of the holding part 12 at which the free end of the lid body 14 is capable of contacting , a bearing part 22 which is mountain shaped going toward the inside of the holding part 12 is provided . also , on the perimeter walls 12 a positioned on both sides of the perimeter wall 12 c facing opposite the perimeter wall 12 b , a holding piece 24 which is mountain shaped going toward the inside of the holding part 12 is supported to be capable of rotation , and the holding piece 24 stands up so that it is held in the horizontal direction by a forcing means not illustrated . in this state , the holding piece 24 faces opposite the bearing part 22 and is made to hold containers between the front end surface of the holding piece 24 and the bearing part 22 . also , a pair of receiving parts 26 is cut out on the shaft 20 sides of the perimeter walls 12 a of the holding part 12 . the shaft support plates 16 , 18 are adapted to slide in these receiving parts 26 , whereby they do not protrude from the perimeter walls 12 a when the lid body 14 is opened , and the container holder 10 can be made compact . also , a lid body storage part 28 is provided on the back face side of the perimeter wall 12 c of the holding part 12 so that the opened lid body 14 becomes capable of storing . by this , the lid body 14 can be made to stand up in the vertical direction so that the lid body 14 does not become an obstacle . furthermore , roughly cylindrical shock - absorbing members 15 made of rubber are provided in the corner parts of the perimeter wall 12 b of the holding part 12 , and it is made such that the underside of the lid body 14 does not directly contact with the upper surface of the perimeter wall 12 b of the holding part 12 when the lid body 14 is closed . incidentally , a roughly l - shaped leg part 30 is provided on the front end part of the shaft support plate 16 , and a claw part 32 is formed on the front end part of the leg part 30 . meanwhile , a latch device 34 is provided on the perimeter wall 12 a of the holding part 12 so that the claw part 32 becomes capable of catching . as a latch device 34 , for example , a device described in the publication of japanese unexamined patent publication no . h8 - 282382 previously filed by the present applicant ( s ) can be used . more specifically , as shown in fig5 ( a ) and 5 ( b ), an opening 38 is provided on a case 36 of the latch device 34 so that the claw part 32 can be inserted . a latch main body 40 is received inside the case 36 , and this latch main body 40 is forced toward the direction of popping out from the opening 38 by a spring 42 provided inside the case 36 . also , a part coupled with 44 which is capable of coupling with the claw part 32 is provided on the front end side of the latch main body 40 , and the claw part 32 is caught when the latch main body 40 is received inside the case 36 in a state in which the claw part 32 is coupled with the part coupled with 44 . also , a recessed part 46 is provided on the back face side of the part coupled with 44 of the latch main body 40 , and a cam 48 which is roughly heart shaped viewed from the front is provided inside the recessed part 46 . a lock lever 50 which is attached to be capable of rocking in the depth of the latch main body 40 traces the outer perimeter of this cam 48 . when the latch main body 40 in the state having popped out from the opening 38 , is pressed toward the direction opposite to the force of the spring 42 and is received inside the case 36 , the lock lever 50 traces the outer perimeter of the cam 48 and is caught in a catching part 52 , and the claw part 32 and the part coupled with 44 assume a locked state ( see fig5 ( a )). from this state , when the latch main body 40 is pressed toward the direction in opposition to the force of the spring 42 , the latched state of the lock lever 50 is released , the lock lever 50 traces the outer perimeter of the cam 48 and is caught in a catching part 54 , the locked state between the claw part 32 and the part coupled with 44 is released ( see fig5 ( b )), the latch main body 40 pops out from the case 36 , and the claw part 32 becomes uncaught from the part coupled with 44 . with an arrangement of the nature described above , when in a state in which the lid body 14 shown in fig1 and fig2 was moved toward a closed position by pushing the free end side of the lid body 14 and causing the claw part 32 and the part coupled with 44 to be locked , by again pressing the free end side of the lid body 14 , the locked state between the claw part 32 and the part coupled with 44 is released , and the lid body 14 becomes capable of opening . here , one end of a torsion spring 56 is attached to the shaft support plate 16 , the other end of the torsion spring 56 is attached to the perimeter wall 12 a , and the lid body 14 is forced toward the direction of opening by means of the shaft support plate 16 . therefore , when the locked state between the claw part 32 and the part coupled with 44 is released by pressing the free end side of the lid body 14 in the state in which the lid body 14 is closed , the lid body 14 is automatically opened by the force of the torsion spring 56 . thus , by providing the latch device 34 for maintaining the closed state of the lid body 14 on the perimeter wall 12 a of the holding part 12 and making it such that it is not exposed inside the vehicle compartment , the aesthetic value of the container holder 10 is improved , and in addition , because there is no need to provide a claw part on the underside of the lid body 14 , that claw part does not become an obstacle . meanwhile , a sector gear 58 is formed on the front end part of the shaft support plate 18 , and a damping gear 62 of an oil - filled type rotary damper 60 which is fixed to the perimeter wall 12 a of the holding part 12 is engaged with this sector gear 58 , and when the lid body 14 is opened and closed , the damping force of the rotary damper 60 is transmitted to the shaft support plate 18 . also , an attachment piece 64 is fixed to the shaft support plate 18 , and one end of a coil spring 66 is attached to the front end of the attachment piece 64 . the other end of the coil spring 66 is attached to an attachment part 68 provided on the perimeter wall 12 a . here , the attachment part 68 is placed so that the total length of the coil spring 66 becomes shortest at a prescribed angle of opening θ of the lid body 14 , and in the closed state and the open state of the lid body 14 , the coil spring 66 stretches so that elastic force is accumulated in the coil spring 66 . by this , with the angle of opening θ of the lid body 14 as a reference , as shown in fig3 , in the interval from the closed state of the lid body 14 to the angle of opening θ , the force of the coil spring 66 in which elastic force was accumulated , in addition to the force of the torsion spring 56 , comes to be applied to the shaft support part 18 . also , as shown in fig4 , in the interval from the angle of opening θ of the lid body 14 to the open state , because elastic force is gradually accumulated in the coil spring 66 , a force in the direction in opposition to the force of the coil spring 66 comes to be applied to the shaft support plate 18 . next , the operation of the container holder 10 pertaining to the embodiment of the present invention is explained . as shown in fig2 , by causing the coil spring 66 to becomes shortest in total length at the prescribed angle of opening θ of the lid body 14 , and making the coil spring 66 stretch in the closed state and the open state of the lid body 14 , it is made such that the speed of opening of the lid body 14 is accelerated at less than the angle of opening θ of the lid body 14 , and the speed of opening of the lid body 14 is decelerated when in excess of the angle of opening θ of the lid body 14 . that is , when the closed state of the lid body 14 due to the latch device 34 ( see fig1 ) is released and the lid body 14 is opened by the torsion spring 56 , as shown in fig3 , in the interval from the closed state of the lid body 14 to the angle of opening θ , because the speed of opening of the lid body 14 is accelerated by the force of the coil spring 66 in addition to the force of the torsion spring 56 , the lid body 14 is opened quickly . on the other hand , as shown in fig4 , when in excess of the angle of opening θ of the lid body 14 , because the speed of opening of the lid body 14 is decelerated by the force of the coil spring 66 , the lid body 14 is opened more slowly , and when the lid body 14 is completely opened , the impact force due to interference with the holding part 12 is alleviated . therefore , it becomes no longer necessary to provide a shock - absorbing material for absorbing that impact force on the holding part 12 , and reduction of cost can be achieved . thus , by the fact that the lid body 14 is accelerated or decelerated by one coil spring 66 , reduction of cost can be achieved compared with the case using a damper . also , because the coil spring 66 stretches and elastic force is accumulated in the coil spring 66 in the closed state of the lid body 14 , when the lid body 14 is in the closed state , a force toward the open direction comes to be applied to the lid body 14 . therefore , in the closed state of the lid body 14 , a force comes to be applied in the direction in which the claw part 32 of the latch device 34 ( see fig5 ( a )) contacts with the side of the part coupled with 44 . accordingly , the claw part 32 is restricted in movement , the lid body 14 is restricted in movement by means of the claw part 32 and the shaft support plate 18 , and flapping of the free end side of the lid body 14 can be suppressed . incidentally , by providing a sector gear 58 on the front end part of the shaft support plate 18 and causing a damping gear 62 of oil - filled type rotary damper 60 to be engaged with this sector gear 58 , when the lid body 14 is opened and closed , the damping force of the rotary damper 60 is transmitted to the shaft support plate 18 . with this arrangement , the speed at which the lid body 14 is opened is reduced , and the operation of opening of the lid body 14 is made even quieter . also , because it is a damping method by gear , the operation of opening of the lid body 14 can be smoothed , and a feeling of high quality can be imparted to the container holder 10 . furthermore , attachment parts 70 , 72 also may be provided in addition to the attachment part 68 on the perimeter wall 12 a of the holding part 12 . by this , the reference position for accelerating or decelerating the speed of opening of the lid body 14 , being the so - called prescribed angle of opening ( here , angle of opening θ ) of the lid body 14 , can be changed , and the speed of opening of the lid body 14 can be adjusted . when the attachment part 68 is changed to the attachment part 70 , when the lid body 14 is in the closed state , the elastic force accumulated in the coil spring 66 becomes smaller than with the attachment part 68 , but when the lid body 14 is in the open state , the elastic force accumulated in the coil spring 66 becomes greater than with the attachment part 68 . that is , when the attachment part 68 is changed to the attachment part 70 , the prescribed angle of opening of the lid body 14 becomes smaller , and during opening of the lid body 14 , the speed of opening of the lid body 14 which is accelerated by the force of the coil spring 66 becomes somewhat slower than in the case with the attachment part 68 , but the decelerating force on the speed of opening in the course when the lid body 14 is completely opened becomes somewhat greater than in the case with the attachment part 68 , and the impact force due to interference with the holding part 12 can be further alleviated . when the attachment part 68 is changed to one of the attachment parts 72 , when the lid body 14 is in the closed state , the elastic force accumulated in the coil spring 66 becomes greater than with the attachment part 68 , but when the lid body 14 is in the open state , the elastic force accumulated in the coil spring 66 becomes smaller than with the attachment part 68 . that is , when the attachment part 68 is changed to one of the attachment part 72 , the prescribed angle of opening of the lid body 14 becomes larger , and the decelerating force on the speed of opening in the course when the lid body 14 is completely opened becomes somewhat smaller than in the case with the attachment part 68 , but during opening of the lid body 14 , the speed of opening of the lid body 14 which is accelerated by the force of the coil spring 66 can be made even faster than in the case with the attachment part 68 , and the lid body 14 can be opened quickly . although a container holder was explained in this embodiment , it is not limited to this because it may be anything that opens and closes a lid body on a main body . for example , it also may be applied to a small article compartments , ashtrays , or home electric appliances such as cd players and notebook computers . although only a limited number of embodiments have been described above , the various variations and modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the appended claims to those skilled in the art to which the present invention pertains or most closely pertains given the preceding disclosure . for example , while a coil spring has been described as being used as the element which produces biasing effect in the disclosed embodiments of the present invention , the invention is in no way limited to such a device and can be replaced with any suitable elastic arrangement that will apply a bias in a similar manner . further the invention is not limited to a single spring / elastic member and combinations of springs / elastic members that produce / result in the generation of non - linear biasing forces ( for example ) can be used if so desired . the disclosure of japanese patent application no . 2004 - 238770 filed on aug . 18 , 2004 is incorporated herein . | 8 |
fig1 is an illustrative schematic diagram showing a housing 12 and a laminar proportional amplifier 14 . the housing 12 defines a first chamber 16 having means 18 for connection to a first source of controlled , low level fluid pressure , for example air pressure . a pair of mutually opposed nozzles 20 and 22 are mounted in the housing and have internal passages connected with ducts 24 and 26 defining input passages 28 and 30 . an elongate , generally rectangular piezoelectric bimorph element 32 is cantilever mounted in the chamber so that a portion is located equidistant between the nozzles when unexcited by an electrical voltage . the element 32 typically comprises a central brass shim with a piezoceramic layer of a material such as barium titanate on each side of it , the exterior surfaces of these layers being nickel plated . leads 34 and 36 are connected to the respective nickel surfaces from a suitable electrical circuit such as the analog output of an integrated semiconductor circuit of known type . the input passages 28 and 30 are connected to inlets 38 and 40 of the laminar proportional amplifier 14 . this amplifier is of a known type and has a chamber 42 and a passage 44 , the latter being adapted for connection to a second source of fluid pressure and for directing a laminar jet of fluid , for example air , into the chamber 42 . the inlets 38 and 40 are located on opposing sides of the emerging jet . a flow divider 46 is located in the path of the jet downstream of the inlets 38 and 40 , and separates a pair of output passages 48 and 50 diverging therefrom . in operation , the pressures in the input passages 28 and 30 , respectively , depend on the location of the bender element 32 relative to the nozzles 20 and 22 . the pressure difference in the passages is applied across the inlets 38 and 40 and deflects the laminar jet , thereby varying the division of the jet stream between the output passages 48 and 50 . the operation of laminar proportional amplifiers of this type is in itself well known . typically , the pressure differential between the output passages 48 and 50 exceeds the pressure differential between the inlets 38 and 40 by a substantial amount . the gain achieved is a function of several well - known factors including the load applied to the output passages and the distance between the flow divider 46 and the inlets 38 and 40 . gains of up to about 10 may be given for purposes of illustration . in order that the transducer wil operate as a proportional or analog converter , it is important to choose and maintain appropriate dimensional relationships and pressure conditions within the chamber 16 . referring to fig2 d represents the diameter of the internal passage in each of the nozzles 20 and 22 and e represents the distance from each nozzle to the adjacent surface of the bender when the bender is unexcited . to maintain proportionality between the pressure difference in the passages 28 and 30 and the electrical potential difference applied to the bender 32 , the maximum distance between the nozzle and the adjacent surface of the bender when the bender deflects away from the nozzle in response to the maximum applied voltage , is chosen to be less than about one - eighth of the nozzle diameter d . in practice , the diameter d is chosen to be 0 . 030 inch ( 0 . 76 mm ) or larger in order to minimize clogging problems . the displacement of the bender in response to voltages of the order of 15 volts is relatively small , being only about plus or minus 0 . 0005 inch ( 0 . 013 mm ). thus , for a nozzle diameter of 0 . 76 mm and a maximum bender displacement of plus or minus 0 . 013 mm , the dimension e is no greater than 0 . 082 mm . piezoelectric bender elements have been used for some time in other unrelated types of devices . they are recongnized to have the advantage of a very low electrical power requirement . however , it has also been recognized that such elements are very poor force producers . this means that the pressure in the chamber 16 must be kept at a very low level , for static forces greatly reduce the beam deflection . further , even at very low pressures the displacement of the beam is very small as indicated above for a voltage of plus or minus 15 volts compatible with present integrated circuits . in view of these considerations , it appears that piezoelectric benders have not been employed previously to this invention as electrofluidic converters for control purposes . we have discovered that by appropriately controlling the conditions and dimensions of the elements generating the pressures within the input passages 28 and 30 so as to satisfy the criteria for noise - free porportional or analog response , and by suitably amplifying the resulting very small output pressure differential by means of one or more laminar proportional amplifiers , sufficient gain can be achieved to provide a large enough pressure differential at the output passages 48 and 50 for practical applications . such amplifiers are inherently characterized by high gain , high bandwidth and linearity of response . it will be evident from the foregoing that , if desired , a plurality of laminar proportional amplifiers may be connected in a tandem series , with the output passages 48 and 50 being suitably connected to the inlets of a succeeding stage corresponding to the inlets 38 and 40 in the amplifier shown . the number of amplifier stages is a factor in determining the output signal level of the system . if desired , a pneumatic to electric transducer can be connected between the output passages 48 and 50 of the illustrated amplifier 14 , or the last stage of a series of tandem - connected amplifiers , and to the electrical amplifier controlling the bender 32 . this provides for a feedback effect . the use of feedback around the entire system in this manner can help to reduce the small amount of hysteresis of the piezoelectric bender , and can reduce any noise or disturbances which might occur due to vent pressure variations in the laminar proportional amplifier . in accordance with common practice in laminar proportional amplifiers , a plurality of vents 52 , 54 , 56 and 58 communicate with the chamber 42 . suitable connections are made externally of the amplifier 14 to connect these vents together so as to stabilize the vent pressure during operation in accordance with known practice . fig3 to 6 are exploded views illustrating practical embodiments of the invention . a housing 60 , which may be a solid block of plastic or metal , has a pair of orthogonally intersecting thru holes 62 and 64 . drill holes 66 and 68 defining the input passages communicate with the hole 62 at positions on opposite sides of the intersection between the holes 62 and 64 . nozzle elements 70 and 72 are threaded into the opposite ends of the hole 62 . details of the nozzle 70 are as follows , the nozzle 72 being connected in an identical manner . the nozzle 70 has a tapered end portion 74 , and has an external thread with an annularly relieved central portion 76 that is located at the point of intersection of the holes 62 and 68 when assembled in the proper position . a partial bore 78 communicates between the portions 74 and 76 , whereby the pressure within the bore 78 is communicated to the hole 68 . likewise , the pressure within a corresponding bore 80 in the nozzle 72 communicates with the hole 66 . a piezoelectric bender element 82 is cantilever mounted within the hole 64 at a suitable point remote from the intersection of the holes 62 and 64 , with a portion 84 located between the nozzles 70 and 72 . the relationship of the unexcited bender to the nozzles is the same as that illustrated in fig2 . a connection 86 is provided for a first source of fluid pressure for pressurizing the chamber 88 that comprises the space surrounding the nozzles and the portion 84 of the piezoelectric bender . a connection 90 is provided for a second source of fluid pressure for producing the laminar jet in the proportional amplifier as described below . fig4 shows a plurality of laminations 92 , 94 , 96 , 98 , 100 , 102 and 104 that are stacked upon one another in direct contact and in the stated sequence , the lamination 92 being placed upon the top surface 106 of the housing 60 . the lamination 92 comprises a base plate . the lamination 94 comprises a manifold . the laminations 96 and 104 comprise sumps . the laminations 98 and 102 comprise vent side connections . the lamination 100 comprises the laminar proportional amplifier . the function and operation of this lamination is identical to that described with reference to fig1 . the pressure applied at the connection 90 ( fig3 ) communicates with the amplifier lamination 100 through perforations 108 , 110 , 112 and 114 to a perforation 116 forming the source of a laminar jet projected in the direction of the arrows . in a similar manner , the pressures within the pair of input passages 66 and 68 are communicated through perforations in the laminations to the corresponding pair of inlets 118 and 120 in the amplifier 100 . in the drawing , the alignment of and fluid communication between the perforations in the respective laminations are illustrated by corresponding flow lines . also , in a similar manner perforations 120 and 122 comprising output passages of the amplifier 100 are connected through perforations in the lamination 102 to perforations 124 and 126 in the lamination 104 . it is important that vent pressures of all portions of the laminar proportional amplifier be the same . this is to avoid any deflection of the laminar jet that is not due to the applied control pressure at the inlets 118 and 120 . to this end , the amplifier is preferably vented from both the top and the bottom in a symmetrical manner . the lamination 100 has two vent perforations such as 128 and 130 on each side of the laminar jet path . these are interconnected on each side of the lamination 100 by perforations 132 and 134 in the laminations 102 and 98 , respectively . likewise , the vents on both sides of the jet flow path are interconnected by perforations 136 and 138 in the laminations 104 and 96 . an elongate perforation 140 in the manifold 94 provides communication between the perforation 138 and perforations such as 142 and 144 that are provided in each of the laminations . if it is desired to have only a single stage of laminar proportional amplification , the unit is completed by providing two additoinal laminations 146 and 148 as shown in fig5 . the lamination 146 provides communication between the perforation 136 and perforations such as 150 and 152 , and through the latter to a common connection with the perforations 142 and 144 . the lamination 148 has only two perforations 154 and 156 leading from the output passages 120 and 122 . the manifold lamination 146 thus completes the pressure communication between the vent passages above and below the lamination 100 . if a second stage of laminar proportional amplification is desired , linking laminations 158 , 159 and 160 are first added to those of fig4 as shown in fig6 . the lamination 158 is a manifold lamination functioning to provide pressure communicating between the vent passages above and below the lamination 100 as described above . the lamination 159 provides pressure isolation . the lamination 160 has an elongate perforation 162 that transfers the fluid path from the connection 90 ( fig1 ) to the opposite side of the lamination . a second set of laminations like those shown in fig4 is then added to the lamination 160 but in reverse position so that the ouput passages of the first stage become the input passages to the second stage . thus the gain is increased . the same technique may be repeated for a greater number of stages , the presently preferred number of stages being four . in tests , the described embodiment exhibits a number of desirable operating properties . for example , it has a low electrical power consumption , the only power required being that for inducing small movements in the piezoelectric bender 82 . typically , these movements may be in the order of plus or minus 0 . 0005 inch or less , corresponding to 0 . 0127 millimeter or less . the device is a high gain , low noise , high bandwidth pneumatic amplifier , and operates as a high speed transducer capable of producing an output substantially proportional to the electrical input voltage . further , the device has the capability of a dc output . by maintaining the pressure in the region of the nozzles at a sufficiently low level , turbulent and hence noisy pressures at the nozzles and input passages to the laminar porportional amplifier are avoided . thus the advantages of using a piezoelectric bender element are realized notwithstanding the generally recognized fact that it is a poor force producer , has a very small displacement in response to an applied voltage , and generally exhibits reduced motion in the presence of fluid flow forces . pressure measurements were made on the descirbed embodiment of fig3 and 4 in a configuration having four stages of laminar proportional amplifiers in series connection . the pressure within the bimorph chamber at the intersection of the holes 62 and 64 was about 9 . 7 × 10 - 3 psi . the difference between the pressures in the input passages 66 and 68 as measured at their connection to the lamination 92 ( fig4 ) was about 2 . 4 × 10 - 4 psi . peak to peak . the difference between the pressures in the output passages as measured at the perforations 154 and 156 of the final laminar proportional amplifier stage was about 0 . 4 psi . therefore , the gain of the four stages was about 1650 . | 8 |
the following detailed description refers to accompanying drawings to illustrate exemplary embodiments consistent with the invention . references in the detailed description to “ one exemplary embodiment ,” “ an exemplary embodiment ,” “ an example exemplary embodiment ,” etc ., indicate that the exemplary embodiment described may include a particular feature , structure , or characteristic , but every exemplary embodiment may not necessarily include the particular feature , structure , or characteristic . moreover , such phrases are not necessarily referring to the same exemplary embodiment . further , when a particular feature , structure , or characteristic is described in connection with an exemplary embodiment , it is within the knowledge of those skilled in the relevant art ( s ) to affect such feature , structure , or characteristic in connection with other exemplary embodiments whether or not explicitly described . the exemplary embodiments described herein are provided for illustrative purposes , and are not limiting . other exemplary embodiments are possible , and modifications may be made to the exemplary embodiments within the spirit and scope of the invention . therefore , the detailed description is not meant to limit the invention . rather , the scope of the invention is defined only in accordance with the following claims and their equivalents . embodiments of the invention may be implemented in hardware ( e . g ., circuits ), firmware , software , or any combination thereof . embodiments of the invention may also be implemented as instructions stored on a machine - readable medium , which may be read and executed by one or more processors . a machine - readable medium may include any mechanism for storing or transmitting information in a form readable by a machine ( e . g ., a computing device ). for example , a machine - readable medium may include read only memory ( rom ); random access memory ( ram ); magnetic disk storage media ; optical storage media ; flash memory devices ; electrical , optical , acoustical or other forms of propagated signals ( e . g ., carrier waves , infrared signals , digital signals , etc . ), and others . further , firmware , software , routines , instructions may be described herein as performing certain actions . however , it should be appreciated that such descriptions are merely for convenience and that such actions in fact results from computing devices , processors , controllers , or other devices executing the firmware , software , routines , instructions , etc . the following detailed description of the exemplary embodiments will so fully reveal the general nature of the invention that others can , by applying knowledge of those skilled in relevant art ( s ), readily modify and / or adapt for various applications such exemplary embodiments , without undue experimentation , without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention . therefore , such adaptations and modifications are intended to be within the meaning and plurality of equivalents of the exemplary embodiments based upon the teaching and guidance presented herein . it is to be understood that the phraseology or terminology herein is for the purpose of description and not of limitation , such that the terminology or phraseology of the present specification is to be interpreted by those skilled in relevant art ( s ) in light of the teachings herein . although several portions of the description of the present invention may be described in terms of wireless devices ( specifically cellular devices ), those skilled in the relevant art ( s ) will recognize that the present invention may be applicable to any other devices for which chip - swapping and device cloning are to be prevented without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention . fig1 illustrates a block diagram of an integrated circuit 100 according to an exemplary embodiment of the invention . the integrated circuit includes a controller module 110 and a clone prevention module 120 that can be incorporated in a host electronic device ( e . g . cellular phone ). the controller module 110 includes all the general functionality of the integrated circuit 100 not related to clone prevention . for example , the controller module 110 can perform rf processing , a / d conversion , and device instruction , among other functions . the clone prevention module 120 communicates with the controller module 110 and functions to substantially prevent or hinder cloning and chip - swapping of a host electronic device by configuring the integrated circuit 100 to be “ manufacturer - specific .” specific operation of the clone prevention module 120 is discussed in further detail below . fig2 illustrates a block diagram of an electronics apparatus 200 having a plurality of component modules 250 and an integrated circuit 201 according to an exemplary embodiment of the invention . the integrated circuit 201 may represent an exemplary embodiment of the integrated circuit 100 , and includes a clone prevention module 220 . the clone prevention module 220 may represent an exemplary embodiment of the clone prevention module 120 , and includes an id module 230 and an address map module 240 . the integrated circuit 201 communicates with the plurality of component modules 250 located at various addresses within the electronics apparatus 200 . for example , the electronics apparatus 200 includes n component modules 250 ( 1 )- 250 ( n ), where n & gt ; 0 . a first component module 250 ( 1 ) is located at a first address within the electronics apparatus 200 and a second component module 250 ( 2 ) is located at a second address within the electronics apparatus 200 . a controller module 210 communicates with the component modules 250 . however , the addresses of the component modules 250 vary by manufacturer ( e . g ., original equipment manufacturer [ oem ]). for example , a usb module may be located at address 1 within an oem - a device , but at address n within an oem - b device . therefore , the controller module 210 must first determine the addresses of the component modules 250 before initiating communication with the component modules in order to avoid faulty device operation . the address map module 240 stores address maps for each of a plurality of oems . although devices among different oems may include many of the same component modules 250 , those component modules 250 will have different addresses in different oem devices . therefore , each address map identifies the respective addresses for those component modules 250 within a particular oem device . using the above example , the address map associated with an oem - a device will identify the address of the usb as address 1 , whereas the address map associated with an oem - b device will identify the address of the usb as address n . although the address map module 240 stores address maps for many manufacturers , the address map module only selects a single one of the address maps to be used by the integrated circuit 201 , for a given host device ( e . g . cell phone ). the address map module 240 sets the address map based on an oem id . the id module 230 included in the clone prevention module 220 is programmed to store the oem id corresponding to an original oem purchaser of the integrated circuit 201 , such as a host device oem manufacturer . the id module 230 is preferably a programmable read - only memory ( prom ) or one - time programmable circuit ( otp ) that is capable of being programmed with information only once . in addition , the id module is preferably capable of being programmed after fabrication of the integrated circuit 201 , and is left un - programmed throughout fabrication . this allows for the repeated manufacturing of a “ blank ” chip , which is useable by a plurality of intended oems . the id module 230 can then later be programmed for a specific oem after the specific oem places an order for the chip . this allows chips to be designated for particular oem without fabricating a different chip for each one , thereby substantially reducing manufacturing costs . after the id module 230 has been programmed with the oem id , the address map module 240 acquires the oem id from the id module 230 and selects an address map based on the oem id . once the address map module 240 has set the address map for the integrated circuit 201 , the controller module 210 communicates with off - chip components using the selected address map . using the above example , if the id module 230 has been programmed with oem - a oem id , the controller module 210 determines the usb to be located at address 1 and directs communications for the usb to that address . with this configuration , the integrated circuit 201 can be “ locked ” to a particular oem &# 39 ; s device . specifically , chips ordered by a specific oem can be programmed with that oem &# 39 ; s id . the chip will then automatically alter its address map to correspond to that oem &# 39 ; s specifications . as a result , attempting to use the chip in a cloned phone of another manufacturer will operate improperly because the chip will maintain an address map of the originally intended oem . in other words , if the chip has been programmed with a oem - a oem id , the chip will not work in a cloned oem - b host device because it will attempt to communicate with device components located at oem - a &# 39 ; s addresses , rather than at oem - b &# 39 ; s addresses , which will cause faulty device operation within the cloned device , thereby preventing device cloning . for the same reason , the chip will also protect against chip - swapping because a chip programmed for a oem - a host device will only be replaceable with another oem - a programmed chip , as the device will not function properly if replaced with a chip programmed for another manufacturer . those skilled in the relevant art ( s ) will recognize that numerous modifications may be available to this exemplary integrated circuit within the spirit and scope of the present invention . for example , the address map module 240 may set the address map using a simple look - up table or hash scheme , or may use the oem id as a key for decrypting a corresponding encrypted address map . fig3 illustrates a block diagram of a microchip 300 having an integrated circuit 301 according to an exemplary embodiment of the invention . the integrated circuit 301 includes a clone prevention module 320 and may represent an exemplary embodiment of the integrated circuit 100 . the clone prevention module 320 includes an id module 330 and a pin routing module 340 , and may represent an exemplary embodiment of the clone prevention module 120 . the microchip 300 includes a plurality of pins 350 disposed along its outer surface that connect off - chip components to the integrated circuit 301 . the integrated circuit 301 includes a controller module 310 that includes nearly all the functional components , and performs nearly all of the functional operations , of the integrated circuit 301 unrelated to clone prevention . the controller module 310 communicates with off - chip components via one or more of the plurality of pins 350 . those skilled in the relevant art ( s ) will recognize that each pin 350 can represent a single pin , or may represent a pin bank that includes multiple individual pins . further , although the pins 350 are discussed as being the physical pins of the microchip , the pins can also constitute contacts on the integrated circuit for the connecting the integrated circuit to the physical pins . the controller module 310 sends and receives signals with the plurality of pins 350 via the pin routing module 340 . the controller module transfers signals between the pin routing module 340 on a signal bus 315 . the signal bus 315 may be one or more signal busses and / or individual signal lines . the pin routing module 340 receives an oem id from the id module 330 that identifies an oem associated with the integrated circuit 301 . based on the received oem id , the pin routing module 340 routes signals between the controller module 310 and the plurality of pins 350 . in other words , the pin routing module 340 designates the pins to which signals received from the controller module 310 should be directed , and routes those signals accordingly . in addition , the pin routing module 340 may also route signals from the plurality of pins 350 to proper portions of the controller module 310 . for example , the microchip 300 may include n pines 350 that are capable of being configured to transmit / receive different signals , where n & gt ; 0 . if the oem id identifies oem - a as the oem , the pin routing module 340 may route usb signals to pin 350 ( 1 ) and high - definition multimedia interface ( hdmi ) signals to pin 350 ( 2 ). on the contrary , if the oem id identifies oem - b as the oem , the pin routing module 340 may route usb signals to pin 350 ( n ) and hdmi signals to pin 350 ( 1 ). the pin routing module 340 may include one or more individual switching elements and / or multiplexers for routing the signals . for example , the multiplexers can be configured to select signal inputs using the oem id as a selection address . alternatively , the oem id may be used to select the selection address from a look - up table , or may act as a key for decrypting an encrypted selection address . with this configuration , the integrated circuit 301 can be “ locked ” to a particular oem . in particular , each oem using the chip can be designated with its own unique pin configuration . these pin configurations can then be programmed into the pin routing module 340 in association with the oem ids of their corresponding oems . therefore , once the integrated circuit has been ordered by a specific oem and the id module 330 has been programmed with the corresponding oem id , the integrated circuit will be “ locked ” to that particular oem . thus , the microchip 300 will protect against device cloning because an oem - a programmed integrated circuit 301 would only properly route signals within an oem - a host device , and would otherwise transmit signals to incorrect pins . for the same reason , the microchip 300 would protect against chip - swapping because a oem - a programmed chip could only be substituted for another oem - a programmed chip that maintains all the same function restrictions as the original chip . those skilled in the relevant art ( s ) will recognize that many modifications may be available to the microchip 300 . for example , the pins 350 may be located along multiple sides of the chip 300 . in addition , some of the pins 350 may be set to a particular function , and therefore may be incapable of being modified based on oem id . fig4 illustrates an integrated circuit 400 according to an exemplary embodiment of the invention . the integrated circuit 400 includes a clone prevention module 420 and may represent an exemplary embodiment of the integrated circuit 100 . the clone prevention module 420 includes an id module 430 and a rom module 440 , and may represent an exemplary embodiment of the clone prevention module 120 . the integrated circuit 400 includes a controller module 410 that includes all the functional components , and performs all of the functions , of the integrated circuit 400 unrelated to clone prevention . in order to perform many of these functions , the controller module 410 must access programming codes , such as application programming interfaces ( apis ). an api is a particular set of rules and specifications that the controller module 410 must follow in order to communicate with other system components . the api serves as an interface between different components and facilitates their interaction . an api can define “ vocabularies ” and resources request conventions , and may include specifications for routines , data structures , object classes and protocols used to communicate between the components . as such , apis are integral to the proper operation of a device . apis for each oem are stored in the rom module 440 . the rom module 440 “ hides ” the apis of each oem until an oem id is received from the id module 430 . the rom module 440 may hide the apis using any known technique , including data encryption and access restrictions , among others . the rom module 440 receives the oem id from the id module 230 . after receiving the oem id , the rom module 440 releases (“ unhides ”) apis corresponding to the oem associated with the oem id . the controller module 410 can then gain access to the oem &# 39 ; s apis in order to adequately and accurately perform its various functions . in an embodiment , the rom module 440 may constitute a boot rom that includes boot programs for each of the oems , instead of , or in addition to , the apis . boot programs define the start - up operations of a device and / or device components , and may include setting values into registers and initiating code sequences or component start - ups . when configured as a boot rom , the rom module 440 preferably maintains separate regions , each region containing the boot programs of a single oem . with this configuration , the rom module 440 can hide or release entire regions of its memory depending on the received oem id . in either of the above scenarios , the rom module 440 will only release the vital operation information associated with an oem that corresponds to the oem id received from the id module 430 . thus , for example , if an oem - a host device is cloned to include an oem - b programmed chip , the oem - a host device will attempt to run the apis and / or boot programs released by the rom module 440 . however , because those programs relate to an oem - a host device , the oem - b clone will malfunction . as a result , the integrated circuit 400 protects against device cloning because vital oem - specific programs will only be useful for a device manufactured by the oem whose oem id has been programmed into the id module 430 . for the same reason , the integrated circuit 400 protects against chip - swapping because an oem &# 39 ; s device will be unable to access its vital oem - specific programs from a chip substituted into the device that is programmed for another oem device , as its programs will remain hidden within the rom module 440 . those skilled in the relevant art ( s ) will recognize that many modifications may be available to the integrated circuit 400 . for example , the rom module 440 may include any oem - specific information necessary for proper device functionality , provided that the information remains hidden until a corresponding oem id has been programmed into the id module 430 . those skilled in the relevant art ( s ) will also recognize that the above - discussed clone prevention modules are not mutually exclusive of one another . instead , an integrated circuit can be fabricated to include any combination of the above - discussed clone prevention modules . for example , a single integrated circuit may include an address map module , a pin routing module , and a rom module that are all connected to a single id module . in this manner , the security of the integrated circuit can be even further enhanced , thereby further protecting against device cloning and chip - swapping . fig5 illustrates a block diagram of a method for preventing chip swapping and / or device cloning within an integrated circuit according to an exemplary embodiment of the invention . the method begins at step 510 and immediately proceeds to step 520 . in step 520 , the integrated circuit acquires an oem id that identifies an oem for which the integrated circuit has been designated . the method then proceeds to step 530 . in step 530 , the integrated circuit determines an address map based on the oem id . the address map may be determined by applying the oem id to a lookup table , or by using the oem id as a decryption key , as well as by any other suitable method within the spirit and scope of the present invention . the method then proceeds to step 540 , where the method ends . those skilled in the relevant art ( s ) will recognize that the above method can additionally or alternatively include any of the functionality of the integrated circuit 201 discussed above , as well as any of its modifications . further , the above description of the exemplary method should neither be construed to limit the method nor the description of the integrated circuit 201 . fig6 illustrates a block diagram of a method for preventing chip swapping and / or device cloning within a microchip having an integrated circuit according to an exemplary embodiment of the invention . the method begins at step 610 and immediately proceeds to step 620 . in step 620 , the integrated circuit acquires an oem id that identifies an oem for which the integrated circuit has been designated . the method then proceeds to step 630 . in step 630 , the integrated circuit routes signals for transmission to off - chip components to pins located on the microchip based on the oem id . in other words , the integrated circuit designates certain signals for specific pins on the microchip , depending on the acquired oem id . the method then proceeds to step 640 , where the method ends . those skilled in the relevant art ( s ) will recognize that the above method can additionally or alternatively include any of the functionality of the integrated circuit 301 discussed above , as well as any of its modifications . further , the above description of the exemplary method should neither be construed to limit the method nor the description of the integrated circuit 301 . fig7 illustrates a block diagram of a method for preventing chip swapping and / or device cloning within an integrated circuit according to an exemplary embodiment of the invention . the method begins at step 710 and immediately proceeds to step 720 . in step 720 , the integrated circuit acquires an oem id that identifies an oem for which the integrated circuit has been identified . the method then proceeds to step 730 . in step 730 , the integrated circuit releases a specific or vital program relating to the functionality of a device manufactured by the oem corresponding to the oem id . the vital program may be , for example , an api or a boot code . the method then proceeds to step 740 , where the method ends . those skilled in the relevant art ( s ) will recognize that the above method can additionally or alternatively include any of the functionality of the integrated circuit 400 discussed above , as well as any of its modifications . further , the above description of the exemplary method should neither be construed to limit the method nor the description of the integrated circuit 400 . those skilled in the relevant art ( s ) will also recognize that the above methods are not mutually exclusive and may be employed in any combination with one another . it is to be appreciated that the detailed description section , and not the abstract section , is intended to be used to interpret the claims . the abstract section may set forth one or more , but not all exemplary embodiments , of the invention , and thus , are not intended to limit the invention and the appended claims in any way . the invention has been described above with the aid of functional building blocks illustrating the implementation of specified functions and relationships thereof . the boundaries of these functional building blocks have been arbitrarily defined herein for the convenience of the description . alternate boundaries may be defined so long as the specified functions and relationships thereof are appropriately performed . it will be apparent to those skilled in the relevant art ( s ) that various changes in form and detail can be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention . thus the invention should not be limited by any of the above - described exemplary embodiments , but should be defined only in accordance with the following claims and their equivalents . | 7 |
fig9 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an image processing apparatus in a first embodiment of the present invention . the present image processing apparatus is basically identical in configuration to the image processing apparatus as shown in fig2 . the present apparatus is distinguished from the fig2 apparatus in that it includes an inversion portion 101 inverting a sign of an error from a neighboring pixel and an inversion portion 109 inverting a sign of an error calculated by subtracter 107 . inversion portions 101 and 109 both provide a multiplication by − 1 for an input value of no less than 0 . 5 . inversion portions 101 and 109 do nothing for an input value of less than 0 . 5 . more specifically , when a range to which an input value belongs is switched , an error is calculated in a different method . ( more specifically , an error has its sign inverted .) as such , if input values are 0 . 5 to 1 and they do thus not have any other value , then when a subtraction portion 107 is to send an error to another pixel the error is multiplied by − 1 and when an error is taken in inversion portion 101 multiplies the error again by − 1 . thus , an error has a sign cancelled and a process is provided according to an error diffusion method normally . in contrast , if input values are 0 to 0 . 5 and they do thus not have any other value then inversion portions 101 and 109 do nothing . as such , it is needless to say that a process can be provided according to an error diffusion method normally . if an input value transitions from a range smaller than 0 . 5 to a range larger than 0 . 5 or vice versa , then an error has its sign inverted . as such , there can be prevented a pseudo contour attributed to delayed generation of a dot . fig1 is a diagram for illustrating an operation of the fig9 image processing apparatus . with reference to fig1 at state ( 1 ), an input value is 0 . 45 and an error has been accumulated downward ( in the negative direction ) for the sake of convenience . then in state ( 2 ) if an input value exceeds 0 . 5 and reaches 0 . 55 then inversion portions 101 and 109 invert a sign of an error . thus , an error has an upward or positive direction . as such , dot 2 is immediately output . this also applies to an input value transitioning from a value exceeding 0 . 5 to a value less than 0 . 5 . such a process as described above can prevent delay of a dot to prevent a pseudo contour . fig1 is a block diagram showing a modification of the fig9 image processing apparatus . the present apparatus has inversion portions 101 and 109 both providing a multiplication by − 1 for an input value of no more than 0 . 25 or an input value of no less than 0 . 5 and no more than 0 . 75 . more specifically , in the present embodiment , an error has its sign inverted not only when an input value varies across a range but also when it varies across a threshold value . thus inverting an error at a minute level can alleviate the exact delay of a dot . note that the fig1 apparatus is also applicable for a binarization process . in other words , in a binarization process when an input varies across a threshold value an error can also have its sign inverted to prevent a pseudo contour . fig1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an image processing apparatus in a second embodiment of the present invention . the present image processing apparatus is basically the same in configuration as the fig2 image processing apparatus . in the present embodiment , however , when an input value falls within a specific range ( more specifically , range b ) the input value is inverted in level and also normalized . furthermore , assignment portion 209 also provides an assignment considering a result of an inversion in level of an input value . more specifically , with reference to fig1 , if in the present image processing apparatus an input value falls within range a ( or the input value is 0 to 0 . 5 ) then there is provided a process similar to the fig3 process . however , if an input value falls within range b ( or the input value is 0 . 5 to 1 ) then the input value is inverted in level and normalized . then the normalized value is thresholded and if the normalized value is then 0 to 0 . 5 then dot 2 is output and if the normalized value is then 0 . 5 to 1 then dot 1 is output . as such , as in fig1 , when an input value varies across 0 . 5 an error can have its sign inverted to prevent delay of a dot to prevent a pseudo contour . fig1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an image processing apparatus in a third embodiment of the present invention . the present image processing apparatus is basically the same in configuration as the conventional image processing apparatus shown in fig2 , except that the present image processing apparatus includes a threshold control portion 211 controlling a threshold value to allow ranges a and b at their boundary to have their respective threshold values substantially in succession . fig1 represents a threshold value output from threshold control portion 211 shown in fig1 . threshold control portion 211 allows a threshold value to vary as an input value varies . more specifically , it controls a threshold value to increase whenever an input value increases . it provides control to provide a small gap ( of approximately 0 . 1 to 0 . 2 ) between ranges a and b between a threshold value of range a and a threshold value of range b . providing their respective threshold values substantially in succession as above can reduce an absolute value of an error in a vicinity of a boundary of ranges a and b . furthermore , a threshold value varying in proportion to an input value effectively allows an error to have an absolute value constantly maintained small . as such , there can be prevented a pseudo contour attributed to delay of a dot . furthermore , even if a threshold value is changed as described above , image data input can have a density represented by an error diffusion method accurately . fig1 is a diagram for illustrating an operation of the image processing apparatus shown in fig1 and 15 . in state ( 1 ), when an input value is 0 . 45 the threshold value is approximately 0 . 4 . as such , as shown in states ( 2 ) to ( 7 ), if an input value is constantly 0 . 45 and does not vary then the input value minus an error falls around 0 . 4 . in other words , an error has an absolute value reduced to a small value . as a result , if an input value has been changed for example from 0 . 45 to 0 . 55 a dot is hardly delayed . more specifically , with reference to fig1 , in a conventional error diffusion method a threshold value is fixed for each range regardless of the input value of interest and there also exists a large gap on a boundary of the ranges between their respective threshold values . as such , as shown in fig2 , an error has an increased absolute value and a dot thus readily delays . in contrast , in the present embodiment , as shown in fig1 , control is provided to allow ranges at a boundary thereof to have their respective threshold values substantially in succession to prevent delay of a dot . note that a threshold value may be controlled as shown in fig1 to allow ranges at a boundary thereof to have their respective threshold values in succession . thus controlling a threshold value can also prevent delay of a dot and hence occurrence of a pseudo contour . furthermore , if ranges at a boundary thereof have their respective threshold values with a small gap therebetween ( for example of approximately 0 . 1 to 0 . 2 ), a threshold value may be controlled to be fixed for each range , as shown in fig1 . fig2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an image processing apparatus in a fourth embodiment of the present invention . the present image processing apparatus is basically the same in configuration as the fig3 image processing apparatus , except that the present image processing apparatus includes an inversion portion 101 inverting a sign of correction value fb from a neighboring pixel and an inversion portion 113 inverting a sign of an output of β multiplication portion 111 . inversion portions 101 and 113 both provide a multiplication by − 1 for an input value of no less than 0 . 5 . inversion portions 101 and 113 do nothing for an input value less than 0 . 5 . in other words , a method of calculating a correction value changes ( more specifically , a correction value has its sign inverted ) when a range to which an input value belongs is switched to a different range . as such , if input values are not any other value than 0 . 5 to 1 , then when β multiplication portion 111 is to send a correction value to another pixel correction value fb is multiplied by − 1 and when a correction value is taken in inversion portion 101 multiplies correction value fb again by − 1 . as such , a correction value has its sign canceled and a process is provided according to a threshold diffusion method normally . if input values are 0 to 0 . 5 and do not have any other value then inversion portions 101 and 109 do nothing . as such , it is needless to say that a process can be provided according to a threshold diffusion method normally . when an input value varies from a range smaller than 0 . 5 to a range larger than 0 . 5 or vice versa , a correction value has its sign inverted . as such , there can be prevented a pseudo contour attributed to delayed generation of a dot . fig2 is a diagram for illustrating an operation of the fig2 image processing apparatus . with reference to the figure at state ( 1 ) an input value is 0 . 45 and correction value fb has been accumulated upward ( in the positive direction ) for the sake of convenience . then in state ( 2 ) if an input value exceeds 0 . 5 and reaches 0 . 55 then inversion portions 101 and 109 invert a sign of correction value fb . thus , correction value fb has a downward or negative direction . thus , dot 2 is immediately output . this also applies to an input value varying from a value exceeding 0 . 5 to a value less than 0 . 5 . thus , a dot can be generated without delay to prevent a pseudo contour . fig2 is a block diagram showing a modification of the fig2 image processing apparatus . the present apparatus has inversion portions 101 and 113 both providing a multiplication by − 1 for an input value of no more than 0 . 25 or an input value of no less than 0 . 5 and no more than 0 . 75 . more specifically , in the present embodiment , correction value fb has its sign inverted not only when an input value varies across a range but also when an input value varies across a threshold value ( an initial threshold value ). thus inverting a correction value at a minute level can also alleviate that delay of a dot attributable to an input value varying across a threshold value . note that the fig2 apparatus is also applicable to a binarization process . more specifically , in a binarization process when an input varies across a threshold value an error can have its sign inverted to prevent delay of a dot . fig2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an image processing apparatus in a fifth embodiment of the present invention . the present image processing apparatus is basically the same in configuration as the fig5 image processing apparatus , except that the present image processing apparatus includes an inversion portion 213 inverting a sign of an output of a subtracter 211 and an inversion portion 219 inverting a sign of an output of a β multiplication portion 217 . inversion portions 213 and 219 both provide a multiplication by − 1 when an input value falls within range b . in contrast , if an input value falls within range a then inversion portions 211 and 219 provide a multiplication by one . as such , as in the fourth embodiment , when a range that an input value falls within is switched to a different range there also changes a method of calculating a correction value . a pseudo contour can be prevented as well as in the fourth embodiment . fig2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an image processing apparatus in a sixth embodiment of the present invention . the present image processing apparatus is basically the same in configuration as the fig5 apparatus , except that in the present embodiment when an input value falls within a specific range ( more specifically , range b ) the input value is inverted in level and normalized . furthermore , assignment portion 207 also provides an assignment considering a result of an inversion of an input value in level . more specifically , if an input value falls within range a then normalization portion 203 provides the same process as the fig5 process . if an input value falls within range b , however , it provides a process to output a value of rin =( input − out 2 )/( out 1 − out 2 ). this process inverts an input value in level and normalizes the same if the input value falls within range b . assignment portion 207 outputs out 1 if an input value falls within range b and a thresholding process provides a result of “ 1 ”, and assignment 207 outputs out 2 if an input value falls within range b and a thresholding process provides a result of “ 0 ”. more specifically , with reference to fig2 , if an input value falls within range a ( it is 0 to 0 . 5 ) then the present image processing apparatus provides a process similar to the fig6 process . if an input value falls within range b ( it is 0 . 5 to 1 ), however , the input value is inverted in level and normalized . the normalized value is thresholded and if the normalized value is 0 to mth then dot 2 is output and if the normalized value is mth to 1 then dot 1 is output . thus , a dot can be free of delay to prevent a pseudo contour , as well as in the above embodiments . fig2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an image processing apparatus in a seventh embodiment of the present invention . with reference to the figure , the image processing apparatus includes a thresholding portion 301 thresholding an input value , an output estimation portion 303 referring to a result of a thresholding process to estimate an output , a subtracter 305 subtracting modified threshold value mth from an output of output estimation portion 303 , a correction - value memory 307 temporarily storing an output of subtracter 305 , β multiplication portion 309 multiplying an output of correction - value memory 307 by coefficient β , an initial - threshold generation portion 311 generating initial threshold value th , a subtracter 313 subtracting an output of β subtraction portion 309 from the initial threshold value , and a threshold calculation portion 315 calculating a threshold value based on an output ( modified threshold value mth ) of subtracter 313 . in the present embodiment , modified threshold value mth serves as a basis for calculating a threshold value and threshold calculation portion 315 uses modified threshold value mth to calculate at least two threshold values which are in turn used by thresholding portion 301 to threshold an input value . a processing result obtained from thresholding portion 301 and modified threshold value mth are used to correct modified threshold value mth to be used for a subsequent pixel processing . more specifically , threshold calculation portion 315 uses modified threshold value mth and output values out 1 and out 2 to calculate threshold values th 1 and th 2 , as follows : thresholding portion 301 outputs 0 for input ≦ th 1 and out 1 for th 1 & lt ; input ≦ th 2 . furthermore , it outputs out 2 for th 2 & lt ; input ≦ th 3 , wherein th 3 = out 2 . output estimation portion 303 outputs “ 1 ” for a thresholding result of 0 , “ 0 ” for a thresholding result of out 1 , and “ 1 ” for a thresholding result of out 2 . the present embodiment provides a process to increase the threshold value th 1 value and decrease the threshold value th 2 in value as modified threshold value mth increases in value . as such , as well as in the fourth to sixth embodiments , if an input value varies across out 1 ( equal to 0 . 5 ) a dot can be free of delay to prevent a pseudo contour . 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 . | 6 |
an embodiment of the present invention is described below , referring to the drawings . in fig1 an insertion tube 3 for inserting an optical fiber 4 therethrough is fixed through the wall 21 of a package 2 by soldering therebetween . in general , the package 2 of an optical device module , which requires airtight sealing , is made of ceramic material or kovar alloy . in this example , the wall 21 surrounding rectangular is made of kovar , and the bottom plate 22 supporting the wall 21 and optical device 1 is made of alumina which is suitable for wiring leads to terminals from the optical device 1 thereon . the material of the insertion tube 3 may be identical , or may have a substantially identical expansion coefficient , to that of the package 2 to avoid cracking joined portions between the package 2 and the insertion tube 3 which would take place due to a change in environmental temperature . an optical device 1 such as semiconductor laser is installed in the package 2 . an optical fiber 9 is provided within the package 2 to connect to the optical device 1 and introduce through the wall 21 of the package 2 outward , and for fixing the fiber , a ferrule 5 is disposed at an end portion 41 of an optical fiber 4 and soldered to the optical fiber 4 by au - sn alloy solder . the optical fiber 4 having such a ferrule may be introduced into the inside of the package 2 through an insertion hole 6 of the insertion tube 3 . in the package , he end surface 40 of the optical fiber 4 is adjusted to align to the optical axis 46 of the optical device 1 fixed on a stem 8 so that an optical coupling therebetween can be achieved . in this embodiment , the ferrule holder 7 is fixed to a stem 8 by welding on the base plate 22 of the package and the fiber ferrule 5 is fixed by welding to the ferrule holder 7 . the stem 8 is disposed on a thermoelectric cooling element 9 for controlling the temperature of the optical device 1 . the insertion tube 8 has a through insertion hole 6 made up of two parts ; the first part 14 has a first diameter sufficiently large to pass the ferrule 5 therethrough in assembling ; and , the second part 15 has a second diameter larger than that of the first part . a ring member 17 is engaged into the second part 15 , and therefore , the outer diameter of the ring member 17 is a little smaller than inner diameter of the second part 15 . the ring member 17 has a fiber insertion hole 16 at the center of its outer surface , through which the optical fiber passes . the diameter of the fiber inserting hole 16 is a little larger than that of the optical fiber . the ring member 17 may be made of a material having an expansion coefficient substantially identical to that of the insertion tube 3 . the insertion tube 3 fixed through the wall 21 of the package 2 is disposed such that the center axis of the ring member 17 is positioned lower than the optical axis 47 of the optical device 1 . the insertion tube 3 , ring member 17 and optical fiber 4 are joined to each other by solder material 19 fused using high frequency induction heating , then sealed air - tightly with each other . this fixing structure allows the optical fiber 4 in the package 2 to be bent naturally in a vertical plane due to the offset between the end portion 41 of the optical fiber 4 which is fixed in the ferrule 5 and the fixed portion of the optical fiber 4 , at the fixing portion 45 , which is sealed in the fiber insertion hole 6 at the center of the ring member 17 . generally , as noted above , changes in environmental temperature in use cause the package to be expanded and contracted , resulting in tensile or compressive stress to a straightened optical fiber 4 as shown in fig5 in the package 2 . however , in the embodiment of the present invention , the bending portion so formed along the optical fiber 4 can absorb the stress , and can effectively suppress the out - put fluctuation from the optical fiber , and at the same time the module can easily and securely be air - tightly sealed . [ 0037 ] fig2 shows a ferrule - fixing portion in the optical device module 1 according to the present invention . the ferrule holder 7 is made of a thin plate and is bent into a u shape , in the form of a clip . the ferrule holder 7 has a flange portion 11 previously welded onto the stem 8 . the flange portion 11 is disposed non - parallel to the upper surface of the stem 8 , but is a little inclined with a gap between the flange and stem surface , i . e ., the flange portion increases in height toward the center side of the ferrule 5 . in other words , the flange portion 11 is floated to enable the ferrule holder 7 to be plastically deformed up or down . the ferrule 5 is chucked at the front side thereof by the ferrule holder 7 which is previously fixed onto the stem 8 , and then the ferrule 5 is welded to the ferrule holder 7 by a yag - laser welder , with the laser beam being emitted between body sides of the ferrule 5 and shoulder portions of the ferrule holder 7 downwardly from a position upper than the package 2 to form welded metal between them . by thermal shock of yag - laser welding , the front side of the ferrule 5 and the end portion 41 of the optical fiber 4 sink with respect to the optical axis 47 of the optical device 1 , namely the optical coupling between the optical device 1 and optical fiber 4 being mismatched . for correcting to proper optical coupling between the optical device 1 and the optical fiber 4 , a load is applied downwardly to the rear side 51 of the ferrules 5 , i . e ., at the portion opposite to the end surface 40 of the optical fiber 4 , to force the flange 11 to plastically deform and to lower the rear position 51 of the ferrule 5 , as shown in double - dot dashed lines in fig2 so that the optical axis 46 of the optical fiber 4 is moved to be re - aligned properly to the optical axis 47 of the optical device 1 . also , the arc 18 of the optical fiber 4 is optimized about the fixed portion of the optical fiber 4 at the fixing portion 45 in the insertion hole 6 of the package 2 . the downward displacement of the rear side 51 of the ferrule 5 makes the curve of the optical fiber 4 depict an arc 18 which , starting from the rear side of the ferrules 5 , at first rises upwardly and later descends down to reach to the airtight sealing portion of the ring member 17 . when changes in environmental temperature , in use , provides an expansion or compression for the package 2 , though such expansion or compression in turn might cause a tensile or compressive stress to a straightened optical fiber the end portion of which is fixed as shown in fig5 in the present invention , this supporting structure of the optical fiber in the package 2 can absorb such stress sufficiently to suppress the deviation of the optical fiber . an example of the structure of an optical device module , which includes a semiconductor laser emission device as an optical device , is described below , referring to fig1 and 2 . an insertion tube 3 made of kovar material ( fe - ni alloy ) for inserting an optical fiber 4 is fixed to a package 2 , which is also of kovar alloy material , by silver alloyed solder , as shown in fig1 . there is found a thermoelectric cooling element 9 for controlling the temperature of the semiconductor laser 1 in the package 2 , which is soldered to the package 2 . a stem 8 made of kovar alloy is installed and soldered on the thermoelectric element 9 . and an optical device 1 , i . e ., a semiconductor laser , is installed and soldered onto the stem 8 . for holding the optical fiber 4 , a ferrule 5 having an outer diameter of 1 mm is previously provided to the end portion of the optical fiber 4 , and is au / sn soldered thereto . the ferrule 5 and the optical fiber 4 are introduced from the outside of the package 2 into the inside thereof through the insertion hole 6 of the insertion tube 3 . the end portion 40 of the optical fiber 4 is adjusted such that the end surface 40 of the optical fiber 4 is optically coupled precisely to the light emission part of the semiconductor laser 1 , by aligning the axis 45 of the optical fiber 4 being optically to the optical axis 47 of the semiconductor laser device 1 . then , the ferrule holder 7 is laser welded onto the stem 8 with welded metal 19 , and the ferrule 5 is also laser welded onto the ferrule holder 7 with welded metal 78 , as shown in fig2 . the insertion hole 6 comprises two portions . the first portion has a first diameter of 1 . 4 mm , which is sufficiently large for inserting a ferrule 5 having an outer diameter of 1 mm . the second part 15 has a second diameter of 1 . 8 mm , which is larger than that of the first portion . a ring member 17 is inserted into the second portion 15 . the ring member 17 is made of kovar material and has a thickness of 0 . 7 mm . the outer diameter of the ring member 17 is 1 . 76 mm , which is a little smaller than that of the second part 16 . the ring member 17 has a fiber insertion hole 16 at the center thereof . the diameter of the fiber insertion hole 16 is 0 . 16 mm , which is a little larger than that of the optical fiber 4 . the insertion tube 3 , ring member 17 and a part of the optical fiber 4 has been metalized with gold . thus , applying a single process of soldering could incorporate these components integrally with completely airtight sealing obtained . the insertion tube 3 is fixed to the package 2 so that the central axis of the ring member 17 , through which the optical fiber passes , is off - centered downwardly by a distance of about 0 . 4 mm compared to that of the semiconductor laser 1 . therefore , the optical fiber 4 in the package 2 is naturally curved in a vertical plane . in order that the tensile or compressive stress in the optical fiber , due to the expansion or contraction along the package , may be lowered two third the expansion or contraction of an unbent , straightened optical fiber in the module , the offset was designed to be over 0 . 3 mm which is defined as the vertical distance between the optical axis 46 of the optical fiber 4 after the rear portion 51 and the axis 48 of the fiber 4 at the fixing portion 45 extending to the central axis of the insertion tube 3 . further , the offset may be set to be lower than 1 mm to avoid the optical fiber losing its optical energy due to the curvature of the optical fiber . referring to fig2 the ferrule holder 7 is made of a kovar plate having thickness of 0 . 15 mm , length of 4 mm and width of 2 mm , and is bent in the form of a clip . the ferrule holder 7 has a flange portion 11 which is not parallel to the plane of the stem 8 but is a little floating toward the center axis of the ferrule 5 . there is provided a gap between the flange portion 11 and the upper surface of the stem 8 , and the gap increases a little toward the center axis . the flange portion 11 is through - hole - welded to the stem 8 in the floating state . when the ferrule 5 is yag welded to the ferrule holder 7 , the ferrule 5 is chucked at the side opposite to the side facing to the end of the optical fiber 4 . in welding by yag - laser beams emitted downwardly from a position over the package 2 , the end portion of the optical fiber 4 tends to sink downward with respect to the optical axis of the semiconductor laser 1 due to the shock of the yag laser . a force of about 0 . 1 kgf is applied downwardly at the rear side of the ferrule 5 to optically re - align the optical fiber 4 to the optical axis of the semiconductor laser 1 . the force applied at a rear side of the ferrule 5 on opposite side to the end of the optical fiber 4 force a stress of about 45 kgf / mm 2 to the flange portion 11 of the ferrule holder 7 to plastically deform flange portion of the ferrule holder 7 . as a result of the plastic deformation , the optical coupling between the optical fiber and the semiconductor laser is recovered completely , and simultaneously , the optical fiber 4 forms a curve , which has an axis , at the fixing portion 45 , of the optical fiber 4 in the insertion hole 6 of the package 2 . the curved fiber rises upwardly to form an arc 18 , and achieves a height of about 100 to 200 μm over the optical axis , the optical fiber 4 floating over the optical axis . the arced fiber absorbs the tensile or compressive stress taking place in the optical fiber . even though such stresses may appear due to the expansion or contraction of the package 2 , caused by the temperature change of the environment while the optical device module is used , the bending fiber structure of the invention can suppress effectively the fluctuation of the optical output between the optical device and the optical fiber . the region of changing in environmental temperature where an optical device module for use of optical communication can be used , has been regulated to be from — 40 ° c . to 85 ° c . in this rating temperature region , the end of the optical fiber coupled to the optical device module according to the present invention has the tolerance of displacement of about 2 μm in the optical direction . thus , it is preferable that a height of the arc may he more than 100 μm from the optical axis at the fiber fixing portion 45 , then , allowing the end portion of the optical fiber to displace and to avoid the misalignment to the optical axis . [ 0051 ] fig3 is a histogram showing amounts of measured fluctuation in optical fiber output of the above optical device module according to the present invention with respect to the environmental temperature changes . the optical fiber output is measured in the range of the package temperatures of − 40 ° c . to 85 ° c ., based on the reference output obtained in the condition that the temperature of the semiconductor laser 1 is controlled to be constant , at 25 ° c . by the thermoelectric element 9 with the package temperature of 25 ° c . a fluctuation amount of the optical fiber output is the difference of the actually measured optical fiber output from the reference output at 25 ° c . as noted above . the histogram in fig3 shows the differential fluctuation amounts between those fluctuation amounts measured at temperatures of minimum − 40 ° c . and maximum + 85 ° c . the fluctuation amounts are shown by the higher of the fluctuation amounts measured at − 40 ° c . and + 85 ° c . in general , the fluctuation amount of the optical fiber output is regulated to be in the range of ± 10 % for a semiconductor laser module for use of optical communication . the result of these tests for 24 samples exhibits the mean value of the output loss of 2 . 1 %, and the maximum value less than 7 %. these result shows that all the samples satisfy the regulated fluctuation standard . [ 0054 ] fig4 is a graph showing the fluctuation amounts of the optical fiber output of an optical device module according to the present invention , which were measured before and after a mechanical impact test . the mechanical impact test was carried out according to the test method of microelectronics defined by mil - std - 883c , method 2002 . 3 . the test condition was as follows : the impact pulse is 1500 g ; the pulse width is 0 . 5 ms ; and 6 axes × 5 times . the result of the pulse test for ten samples showed that the mean value of the fluctuation amounts of the optical fiber output was 4 . 1 %, with the maximum value of the fluctuation amounts of the optical fiber output being 7 . 6 %, then satisfying the defined requirement of the range of ± 10 %. it is found that because the ferrule 5 itself is light in weight and so that the flange portion 11 of the ferrule holder 7 is loaded below 10 kgf under this test condition , the optical device module of the invention can sufficiently endure the mechanical impact . | 6 |
referring now to the drawings , in which like reference numerals are used to refer to the same or functionally similar elements , fig1 is a schematic diagram of a curtain coating test apparatus for determining the stretch and acceleration of a coating fluid or material . the apparatus accurately simulates certain critical characteristics of a curtain coating process , but using beaker sized quantities of the coating fluid only and no substrate . in this way , full sized curtain coating lines are not used , nor expensive substrates or large quantities of coating material . in order to measure stretch and acceleration , a 1 . 0 liter pressure - adjustable container 1 is used for storing a quantity of a fluid material or coating 50 . the container 1 has a removable lid 3 , which can be locked . the container 1 is connected to an air supply 5 via an air tube 7 . an air pressure valve 9 is used to reduce the pressure within the container 1 . an outlet , generally designated 11 , from the container has a needle valve 13 for coarse adjustment . alternatively , the fluid may be pumped out of the container with a variable speed pump ( not shown ). outlet 11 includes a tube 15 with a tapered end 15 a , a circular 0 . 020 ″ diameter hole 15 b , from which the fluid is released into a free fall state until it reaches an object below . the walls of the tube 15 are tapered at 15 a so the open end 15 b is a knife - edged annulus . though tubes are commercially available in various diameters , it has been found that commercially available tubes with a 0 . 020 ″ diameter work best and they are preferred , although a range of 0 . 011 ″ to 0 . 034 ″ also works for the invention and for most commercial coatings . the preferred range is 0 . 015 ″ to 0 . 030 ″ for the tube diameter , however . the inside diameter of the tube determines the operating range of the stretch measurement as well as the reproducibility of the test . larger holes give more variable results , as do untapered tubes . the standard deviation increases by a factor of 3 , which is unacceptable . smaller holes avoid the rapid contraction needed after the fluid exits the needle for this measurement of the invention to work , and smaller holes are much more difficult to keep clean and would require some kind of prefilter . according to the invention , a 0 . 010 ″ tube is too small and a 0 . 035 ″ tube is too large in most cases . in the testing apparatus in fig1 a stream of coating 17 is released to fall into a graduated cylinder 19 below , as part of the test for determining stretch and acceleration . the stream 17 contracts from the tube inside the diameter and forms drops 17 a at the bottom . each time a drop separates , the weight of the stream is reduced and the stream 17 jerks upward . [ 0036 ] fig2 is a flow chart for the method of determining the minimum flow rate of a stream of coating according to the invention . in step 10 , 100 cc of coating fluid is loaded into the testing container 1 . the container 1 is then sealed by lid 3 and the air pressure is increased via the air pressure valve 9 , in step 20 . in step 30 , the flow of coating is released by opening valve 13 and / or air pressure valve 9 . in step 40 , the flow rate of the sample coating fluid may be increased or decreased by coarse and fine adjustment of valve 13 and air pressure valve 9 , until the coating fluid transforms from a series of drops 17 a into a continuous , ripple - free stream 17 , falling unbroken from the outlet opening 15 b to the container 19 and which does not jerk up . the stretch measurement is taken as the lowest flow rate needed to form a continuous ripple - free stream of the coating fluid 17 , without jerk - up . in step 50 , the lowest flow rate is measured by recording the time it takes to fill the 10 cc graduated cylinder 19 with the minimum continuous stream flow . time can be measured by a stopwatch . the 10 cc graduated cylinder 19 is placed beneath the tube so that the coating fluid stream , free falls into it . alternatively , flow rate may also be measured by other suitable means known in the art such as a flow meter . the continuous stream 17 of coating fluid should be as short as possible if it is stable . if the stream jerks upward , it should be 1 ″ long . the incidence of the stream 17 jerking upward is satisfactory at surface tensions above 25 - 26 dynes / cm at surface tensions below 20 dynes / cm , there should be no jerking upward . reformulation of the coating fluid is performed if the test is not achieved with the coating in the container . in this way coatings which would not run in a full scale curtain coating test are not used and the waste of unsuccessful full scale testing is avoided . elasticity and dilatantcy retard the acceleration of the stream 17 and prevents the stream from thinning . therefore , the stream 17 should be carefully monitored so that there is continuous thinning , that is tapering from the opening 15 b to the cylinder 19 . the fluid may also flare out upon exiting from the outlet tube 15 , but this is not fatal as there can still be good stretch . excessive flare should be avoided , however . for any given target coat weight and speed , there are a range of viscosities , stretch , and acceleration numbers that will allow the coating to run well . as shown in fig5 the minimum flow rate found to date for screening coating properties is 0 . 015 gallons / inch / minute or 0 . 38 cc / cm / sec . this represents a coat weight and speed of 2 . 4 lb / 3000 sq . ft . at 1 , 000 ft ./ min . using this test to identify new materials , it is expected that the minimum flow rates will be even lower . the stretch measurement may be converted into dynes / cm based on a known density of the coating material , the known value for acceleration due to gravity , and a known fixed distance that the coating travels to reach the 10 cc graduated cylinder 19 . the standard deviation among at least four trials per sample should be ± 1 . 0 dyne / cm . the lower coat weight boundary of fig5 is described by the momentum of the falling curtain and the momentum of the impinging air stream caused by the velocity of the web . for the left - hand portion of the pinhole - limited coat weight curve , the landing momentum of the curtain exceeds the momentum of the impinging air . the coat weight and speed curve is determined by the minimum flow rate out of the die . at some speed , 900 feet / minute as shown in fig5 the momentum of the air equals the momentum of the curtain . above this speed , the curtain needs more momentum to prevent the air from penetrating under the curtain to cause pinholes . the only way to get more momentum is to increase the flow rate and so the coat weight at the right - hand portion of the curve rises . the puddling limit , or the upper limit of the coat weight speed operating window is caused by insufficient lateral force imparted by the web to make all of the coating leave with the sheet . once again , force equals momentum . the lateral force imparted by the sheet gets into the body of the coating through the coating viscosity . higher viscosities will generate a larger force , and thus allow a heavier coat weight to be run . as speed is increased , more momentum is needed , but the acceleration through viscosity is limited , so that the coat weight must drop . at a certain speed , the puddling limit and pinhole limit converge . as shown in fig5 the convergence limit is 1550 feet / minute . measuring the momentum of a falling round stream by determining its flow rate and velocity indicate the same performance as for a curtain . in step 40 a of fig2 velocity can optionally be measured by deflecting the stream of coating 17 sideways using an air stream of known force from an air nozzle and measuring the angle of deflection . in order to measure acceleration , two velocities are needed . as illustrated in fig3 two air nozzles 21 and 22 are placed near the stream at two different heights from the outlet 15 b of the tube 15 . the distance of the stream from the nozzles 21 , 22 is constant . [ 0047 ] fig4 illustrates how the deflection d 1 at angle θ 1 at the upper nozzle 21 is more than the deflection d 2 at θ 2 at the lower nozzle 22 . a smaller deflection means the falling stream has more momentum . the force of the falling stream is given by : fs = fa tanθ where fa is the known force of the air stream and θ is the measured angle of deflection . fs = qv where q is the flow rate and v the velocity . measuring the flow rate , gives the local falling velocity . the flow rate is set to the minimum that will form a continuous stream at the lower nozzle position . accordingly , both the upper and lower velocities can be calculated from the horizontal force of the air from the nozzles 21 , 22 , and the angle of deflection given the vertical force of the falling stream of coating . velocities at two different heights yield the acceleration . the time of the fall is the distance ( the known distance d 3 between the nozzles 21 , 22 ) divided by the average velocity . the effective acceleration is the difference in velocities divided by the time of the fall . the pressure of the air flow can be calculated from the air flow of the nozzle 21 . the pressure , relative to the air flow , is adjusted to keep the angles of deflection in a sensitive range for the flow rate being tested , but the final acceleration calculation is not dependent on the pressure . representative values are in the following table : orifice flow time inches sec / 10 ml 33 . 18 33 . 18 64 . 05 62 angle , upper deg 63 63 70 70 angle , lower deg 32 32 32 32 density #/ gal 8 . 28 8 . 28 8 . 28 8 . 28 air flow l / min 4 . 2 4 . 2 4 . 2 4 . 2 distance of fall inches 1 . 25 1 . 25 1 . 25 1 . 25 distance to inches 0 . 15 0 . 15 0 . 15 0 . 15 upper nozzle qs ml / min 18 . 08318264 18 . 08318 9 . 367681 9 . 677419 upper pa ( 0 . 040 ″ high ) inches of water 0 . 776896026 0 . 776896 0 . 776896 0 . 776896 pa #/ horizontal inch 0 . 001189622 0 . 00119 0 . 00119 0 . 00119 tan θ 1 . 962610506 1 . 962611 2 . 747477 2 . 747477 mass flow -- m #/ sec 0 . 000663847 0 . 000664 0 . 000344 0 . 000355 upper velocity ft / sec 0 . 89689253 0 . 896893 0 . 892388 0 . 882759 area sq . cm 0 . 011024737 0 . 011025 0 . 00574 0 . 005994 lower velocity tan θ 0 . 624869352 0 . 624869 0 . 624869 0 . 624869 lower velocity ft / sec 1 . 924284812 1 . 924285 2 . 396245 2 . 370389 lower area sq . cm 0 . 005138535 0 . 005139 0 . 002138 0 . 002232 gravity accel ft / sec 3 . 259972145 3 . 259972 2 . 919573 2 . 932056 time of fall sec 0 . 07385 0 . 07385 0 . 06335 0 . 06404 effective ft / sec / sec 13 . 91 13 . 91 23 . 74 23 . 23 acceleration momentum lbs . 3 . 8686e − 05 3 . 87e − 05 2 . 5e − 05 2 . 55e − 05 [ 0054 ] fig6 a & amp ; 6b illustrate two different embodiments of the apparatus of fig1 having only one air nozzle 21 for measuring acceleration of the stream of coating 17 . the nozzle 21 is arranged to either move vertically , as in fig6 a , or to pivot on an axis as shown by fig6 b . a motivator 100 is provided in working relationship with nozzle 21 for either moving the nozzle 21 vertically or pivoting the nozzle 21 between two positions . in fig6 a , the motivator 100 positions the nozzle 21 between two known , fixed heights along the path of the stream of coating 17 . the motivator may be a threaded rod on which the nozzle 21 is mounted , a chain drive , or other mechanical drive for moving the nozzle accurately , and preferably quickly as well . the nozzle 21 repositioned at the second height is illustrated in dashed lines . the heights may be the same as those used when two nozzles 21 , 22 are provided . the distance of the nozzle 21 to the coating 17 is kept constant as well , so that the deflection measurements at each of the two different heights may be used as described above in the case illustrated by fig3 where two nozzles are used . similarly , in fig6 b , the motivator 100 is used to pivot the air nozzle 21 between two different angle orientations relative to the stream of coating 17 , so that the air flow from the nozzle 21 can be directed at two different heights on the stream of coating 17 . preferably , one orientation is horizontal , and the second orientation is at an oblique angle to the coating 17 . the nozzle 21 is used to generate different deflections in the stream of coating 17 from each of the two orientation angles . that is , the air flow from the nozzle 21 is directed at each of the two different known heights along the stream of coating 17 to deflect the stream a measurable amount . based on the known information , including the angles at which the nozzle 21 is oriented to direct an air stream , the force of the air stream and the distance of the nozzle to the stream of coating 17 at each angle of orientation , the acceleration of the stream of coating 17 can be calculated as above , with appropriate adjustment for the angled orientation of the nozzle 21 in at least the second position . in a further alternative to the technique of fig6 a & amp ; 6b , a single deflection measurement can be taken using a single air nozzle 21 , without moving the air nozzle . the velocity of the stream can be used alone to evaluate the coating stream 17 . or , the acceleration at the measured point can be calculated using known mathematical relationships between acceleration and velocity , provided the air nozzle 21 is located at a known distance along the falling stream of coating 17 . the method and apparatus of the invention are increasingly accurate with more measurement points , but a single point may be sufficient to evaluate the stream of coating 17 in some situations . although the equipment used is the apparatus according to fig1 or 3 with the flow rate measured using a 10 cc - graduated cylinder 19 and a stopwatch , the process could be automated electronically . one could measure the flow rate with a known hot wire anemometer for example . this would provide the same information with more precision in less time . alternatively , the two air nozzles 21 , 22 could be cycled on and off with the stream deflections measured optically . an automated version can also be used with an online indicator . the landing velocity of a coating as it makes contact with a substrate or web is also a critical parameter for determining whether a coating will run properly . the landing velocity can be determined from a combination of the stretch and acceleration measurements with a viscosity measurement of the coating . viscosity measurement is known in the art by various methods such as capillary , cone and plate , and concentric cylinder viscometers . measuring all of the essential dynamic fluid properties effectively predicts the necessary performance for producing a coating that can be applied with a curtain coater . while specific embodiments of the invention has been shown and described in detail to illustrate the application of the principles of the invention , it will be understood that the invention may be embodied otherwise without departing from such principles . | 6 |
antenna holder 2 shown in the drawings is used for mounting a roof antenna ( not shown ) on a roof 4 ( fig2 ) of a motor vehicle , which is provided with an opening 6 that is square in outline , at the location provided for mounting the antenna . as is shown best in fig1 through 3 , antenna holder 2 includes a broadened antenna base 8 provided for mounting outside the passenger compartment of the motor vehicle , a preassembled anchoring device 12 extending beyond an underside 10 of antenna base 8 , whose cross sectional dimensions are smaller than the cross sectional dimensions of opening 6 , so that it is able to be pushed through opening 6 from the outside of roof 4 during the mounting of antenna holder 2 , as well as a fixing aid 14 ( fig3 ), with the aid of which antenna holder 2 is able to be preliminarily fixed within opening 6 after the passing of anchoring device 12 through opening 6 . as is shown best in fig3 , preassembled anchoring device 12 includes a socket part 16 that protrudes beyond the underside of antenna base 8 and is connected as one piece with antenna &# 39 ; base 8 , an anchoring claw 20 that is set from below into a recess 18 ( fig4 ) of socket part 16 , anchoring claw 20 having four bent arms 22 , a spreading element 24 situated below anchoring claw 20 , as well as a screw 26 , which holds together components 16 , 20 , 24 of preassembled anchoring device 12 , and is used to make spreading element 24 approach antenna base 8 , after the introduction of anchoring device 12 into opening 6 for anchoring antenna holder 2 , so as thereby to spread out and bend over arms 22 of anchoring claw 20 , until their free ends 28 engage with the inner side of roof 4 , and base part 8 is drawn against the outer side of roof 4 , as shown in fig2 . as is shown best in fig1 and 3 , antenna base 8 is made essentially of a flat circular base plate 30 and a reinforcing part 32 , applied to the upper side of base plate 30 , which forms a part of a holder for fixing aid 14 , and has a threaded bore 34 ( fig4 ) for screw 26 that is extended all the way through base plate 30 . on its underside , base plate 30 is provided with a plurality of foam paddings 36 , which are intended to prevent the scratching of the paint on the outer side of roof 4 around opening 6 , during the mounting of antenna holder 2 . as is shown best in fig1 , 2 and 4 , socket part 16 of anchoring device 12 , that is connected as one piece with antenna base 8 , and is produced together with it by injection molding , has a square outer cross section 38 adapted to the opening cross section of opening 6 , bordering on base plate 30 , so that socket part 16 fits into opening 6 , and is assured in it against being rotated . moreover , socket part 16 has two cut - outs 40 ( fig4 ) that are open edged towards the outside and situated at opposite outer sides , which in each case , together with an opposite edge section of opening 6 , limit a passage for in each case two antenna cables 41 of the antenna , shown in fig1 and 2 . at the two other outer sides , socket part 16 is also provided with two cut - outs 42 that open outwards , into which , in each case , there extend one of two springily bendable legs 44 of fixing aid 14 . in the middle , socket part 16 is provided with recess 18 that is open downwards , away from base plate 30 , in which anchoring claw 20 is inserted in such a way that it is supported by a planar annular center part 46 , having an outer square , against a complementary end face 50 of recess 18 . circular opening 48 of center part 46 of anchoring claw 20 , in this context , lies with its inner circumferential edge , from the outside , against a cylindrical collar 52 that extends beyond the end face of recess 18 , the collar surrounding the opening out of threaded bore 34 into cut - out 18 , in order to center anchoring claw 20 with respect to axis of rotation 54 of screw 26 . for the accommodation of the four arms 22 of anchoring claw 20 , socket part 16 is provided with four radial slot openings 56 , which extend in the direction of the diagonals of square outer cross section 38 of socket part 16 , and are open inwards towards cut - out 18 , outwards as well as away from base plate 30 in the downward direction . as is shown best in fig6 , the four arms 22 of anchoring claw 20 , which project slantwise downwards and outwards over center part 46 and are connected as one piece to center part 46 , are in their undeformed initial state bent gently into an s - shape . the arms 22 have an essentially constant width , but at their base , at the transition to center part 46 , they are provided with a narrowing in their cross section , in the form of two opposite , lateral notches 58 , which make it easier to bend over arms 22 with respect to center part 46 . the length and the shape of arms 22 are selected so that , after preassembly of anchoring device 12 , they are situated inside slot openings 56 of socket part 16 , their free ends 28 not extending beyond square outer cross section 38 of socket part 16 . bordering on their free ends 28 , arms 22 are provided over a part of their length with an embossing 60 , so that they have a concavely curved inner side and a convexly curved outer side in that area . free ends 28 of arms 22 are made pointed , so that they press from below into the inner side of roof 4 of the motor vehicle , when they are pressed against roof 4 after the anchoring of antenna holder 2 in the position shown in fig2 , where they are spread apart and deformed and directed towards base plate 30 . as is shown best in fig5 , spreading element 24 has an axial passageway 61 for screw 26 and four spreading arms 62 situated around passageway 61 at an angular distance of 90 degrees each , which are provided with sliding surfaces 64 that are bent and convex in cross section on their upper side facing base plate 30 , which are essentially developed to be complementary to the concave inner sides of adjacent arms 22 of anchoring claw 20 . after introducing anchoring device 12 into opening 6 , when spreading element 24 is brought closer to base plate 30 by screwing screw 26 into threaded bore 34 , spreading element 24 being guided in slot openings 56 of socket part 16 , same as arms 22 of anchoring claw 20 , spreading arms 62 impose a force that is in each case directed upwards and outwards along bent sliding surfaces 64 on the adjacent arm 22 of anchoring claw 20 . because of this force , arms 22 are spread out and bent over while being deformed , their free ends 28 moving out in the radial direction of axis of rotation 54 of screw 26 , increasingly further out of slot openings 56 of socket part 16 , and are finally pressed against the inside of roof 4 using their pointed free ends 28 , as is shown in fig2 . as is shown best in fig3 , fixing aid 14 is essentially a u - shaped piece of sheet metal 66 , having yoke 70 provided with a through hole 68 for screw 26 , and the two springily elastic legs 44 which , in the vicinity of their free ends are bent outwards , forming a latching projection 72 and then are bent downwards at a slant to form a run - up ramp 74 . for preassembly , fixing aid 14 is placed from above onto base part 8 of antenna holder 2 , as shown in fig3 , the ends of leg 44 being introduced through slots 76 in base plate 30 into the two opposite recesses 42 of socket part 16 , as is shown best in fig1 , until yoke 70 touches the upper side of reinforcement part 32 . during the mounting of antenna holder 2 , when anchoring device 12 is introduced from above and from outside into opening 6 in roof 4 of the motor vehicle , the free ends of legs 44 are pressed together a little as a result of the contact of run - up ramp 44 with the edge of opening 6 , until latching projections 72 latch under the roof , as shown in fig2 , and thus “ pre - fix ” the antenna holder in opening 6 in such a way that , upon subsequent tightening of screw 26 , it is neither able to turn nor give way in the axial direction of the axis of rotation 54 of the screw . during the tightening of screw 26 , it is screwed into threaded bore 34 of base plate 30 and reinforcement part 32 , from the direction of the passenger compartment , spreading element 24 moving upwards in the direction of base plate 30 , using a head 80 that is provided with multiple sides , inside or outside , ( that is not shown ). in the process , arms 22 of anchoring claw 20 are bent by the force exercised on them by spreading arms 62 , and are spread outwards until roof 4 is firmly clamped between ends 28 of arms 22 and base plate 30 , and antenna holder 2 is thereby anchored on roof 4 in immovable fashion . | 7 |
fig1 shows in side and partial sectional view , one embodiment of the system of this invention . fig3 shows a sectional view of another embodiment of this invention . fig5 shows a side and partial sectional view of still another embodiment of the present invention . turning to the drawings in greater detail , in fig1 the ceramic cylinder 10 is placed at right angles to the output of the carburetor 12 and intake manifold 14 . fuel and air leave the carburetor 12 . the raw fuel strikes the surface of the vibrating piezoelectric cylinder 10 and the resulting vapor is swept through the intake manifold 14 and into the internal combustion engine ( not shown ). the cylinder 10 is driven by power supply 16 which is of generally conventional design and need not be described in detail here . in fig2 the slotted ceramic cylinder 18 which is described in greater detail in u . s . pat . no . 3 , 284 , 762 is placed at right angles to the output of the carburetor and intake manifold . this configuration allows the raw fuel to strike the transducer 18 on the outside diameter and the manifold vacuum pulls the fuel vapor and air through the slots 20 , which in turn strike the inside diameter of the transducer to form an even greater vapor and the molecularized vapor is pulled into the engine and complete combustion takes place . in the embodiment of fig3 the purpose is to eliminate the carburetor entirely . the cylindrical ceramic transducer 22 is placed vertically in a chamber 24 that is sealed , except for the opening 26 at the top . there is a fuel return line 28 at the bottom of the chamber . the fuel is pumped directly at the side of the transducer 22 and is instantly vaporized . the vapor is swept into the air supply by the vacuum from the intake manifold and on into the engine . in fig4 no carburetor is used . the slotted ceramic cylinder 30 is placed vertically in a chamber that is sealed , except for the top , the fuel entrance and fuel return . the fuel is pumped directly to the side of the slotted tube and is immediately vaporized . some of the fuel will be swept through the slots , will strike the inside diameter of the transducer , the fuel will be further vaporized and the resulting vapor swept into the air stream by the vacuum from the intake manifold . in the case of fig5 the piezoelectric cylinder 32 is placed inside the carburetor 34 , the fuel jets 36 direct their flow directly to the side of the transducer and the fuel is vaporized inside the carburetor . the fuel jets in the carburetor go up so gas is siphoned out , not dumped to flood the manifold . the system of fig5 can be modified by using the slotted tube of u . s . pat . no . 3 , 284 , 762 . a plurality of piezoelectric cylinders can be used , depending on the size of the carburetor . the size and frequency of the transducer can be very flexible ; e . g ., the cylinders used in fig1 had a &# 34 ; hoop &# 34 ; mode frequency of 20 kilo - hertz . the ceramic was 2 . 125 od ., 0 . 25 wall thickness and 1 . 5 inches long . the transducer was driven with 15 watts electrical power . the composition of the ceramic was modified lead zirconate - lead titanate polycrystalline material . the ceramic cylinder in fig2 was 3 inches long , 2 . 125 o . d ., and 0 . 125 wall thickness with three 0 . 060 wide slots on one side and two slots on the other . the resonant radial frequency was 21 kilo - hertz . the power used was 17 watts . lead wires were soldered to the silver surfaces on the ceramic , and the cylinder dipped in epoxy . the coat of epoxy was built up to approximately 0 . 020 of an inch on the o . d . and i . d . of the ceramic . the purpose of this build - up is two - fold , namely , to pre - stress the ceramic so it won &# 39 ; t break under power and to insulate and prevent fire or shorting . the system works very well on fuels generally , including , gasoline , kerosene , jet fuel , and diesel fuel . this system , using the cylindrical transducer in the hoop mode is suitable for use on all of the following engines : standard automobile internal combustion engines , diesel engines , motorcycles , jet aircraft , and wankel engine . results to date on a 6 - cylinder chrysler industrial engine ( air compressor ) indicated a 50 percent reduction in fuel consumption and the emission was primarily co 2 and water . the transducer was driven at a frequency of 20 kilo - hertz . another ceramic cylinder configuration was used , employing the slotted cylinder covered under u . s . pat . no . 3 , 284 , 762 . excellent results were also obtained . having fully described the invention , it is intended that it be limited only by the scope of the following claims . | 8 |
the sputtering method was used to form the alternate lamination of the unit iron layers and the unit ferromagnetic iron compound layers . first , the ferromagnetic iron compound such as fe 3 al , fe 3 si , fe 3 ge and fe 3 ga was deposited by sputtering on a mono - crystalline silicon substrate , then , the iron was deposited by sputtering on the previously deposited unit ferromagnetic iron compund layer . the deposition of the ferromagnetic iron compound and the iron was alternately repeated to form the multi - layered ferromagnetic film . the sputtering conditions of the ferromagnetic iron compound and iron are illustrated in table 2 . the sputtering conditions are modified depending on the materials to be sputtered . table 2______________________________________substrate mon - crystalline si______________________________________temperature of substrate 150 ° c . initial degree of vacuum & lt ; 1 . 0 × 10 . sup .- 4 painput power 0 . 5 to 1 . 5 kwpressure of ar gas 67 - 0 . 67 paratio of two unit layer thickness 1 : 1______________________________________ the saturation magnetizations of multi - layered ferromagnetic fe - fe 3 al , fe - fe 3 si , fe - fe 3 ge and fe - fe 3 ga films thus produced with varying unit fe layer thickness and while keeping the ratio of the two units layer thickness as 1 : 1 were measured by a vibrating sample magnetometer ( vsm ) and are illustrated in fig1 . as seen from fig1 when the unit fe layer thickness is reduced , the saturation magnetizations of the respective multi - layered ferromagnetic films increase . when the unit fe layer thickness is reduced less than 70 å , the saturation magnetizations of the respective multi - layered ferromagnetic films suddenly increase . the multi - layered ferromagnetic fe - fe 3 ga film with unit fe layer thickness of 20 å showed a saturation magnetization of 258 emu / g . when the unit fe layer thickness of the respective multi - layered ferromagnetic films is reduced less than 30 å , the saturation magnetizations of multi - layered ferromagnetic fe - fe 3 al , fe - fe 3 si , fe - fe 3 ge and fe - fe 3 ga films exceed that of the pure fe film as indicated by the dotted line in fig1 . further with respect to the respective multi - layered ferromagnetic films with the same unit fe layer thickness , the multi - layered ferromagnetic fe - fe 3 ga film showed the highest saturation magnetization and followed by multi - layered ferromagnetic fe - fe 3 ge , fe - fe 3 si and fe - fe 3 a films which trend partly corresponds to the average magnetic moments per iron atoms of respective ferromagnetic iron compounds themselves as shown in table 1 . the respective multi - layered ferromagnetic films with the unit fe layer thickness of 50 å were heat treated at a temperature of 200 ° c . in vacuum so as to stabilize and match the interfaces between the unit fe layers and the unit ferromagnetic iron compound layers . fig2 shows the effects of the low temperature heat treatment on the saturation magnetization of the multi - layered ferromagnetic fe - fe 3 al , fe - fe 3 si , fe - fe 3 ge and fe - fe 3 ga films . as seen from fig2 the saturation magnetizations of the films increase with the increase of the heat treatment time . upon production of the multi - layered ferromagnetic fe - fe 3 ga film with unit fe layer thickness of 50 å , ga content in fe 3 ga sputtering target was varied in the range of 15 to 50 atomic % to see the effects of the ga content on the saturation magnetization of the multi - layered ferromagnetic fe - fe 3 ga film as a whole . fig3 is the results of the investigation . as seen from fig3 when the ga content is less than 27 atomic %, the saturation magnetization of the multi - layered ferromagnetic fe - fe 3 ga film increases with the increase in ga content , but when the ga content exceeds 27 atomic %, the saturation magnetization decreases with the increase in ga content . the ga content in fe 3 ga sputtering target which exhibits a higher saturation magnetization than that of the pure iron film is in the range of 20 to 35 atomic %. a multi - layered ferromagnetic fe - fe 3 ga film with unit fe layer thickness of 50 å and formed by using fe 3 ga sputtering target containing 27 atomic % ga was heat - treated at a temperature of 600 ° c . in vacuum to stabilize the fcc ordered lattices in the unit ferromagnetic fe 3 ga layers and to further increase the saturation magnetization of the film . fig4 shows the effects of the heat treatment on the saturation magnetization of the film as a whole . as seen from fig4 the saturation magnetization of the film increases with the increase of the heat treatment time . substantially the same effects were obtained with the heat treatment of the multi - layered ferromagnetic films at a temperature of 500 °- 800 ° c . further , without subjecing the alternate lamination of the unit ferromagnetic iron compound layers and the unit iron layers together with the substrate to at least one heat treatment explained above , substantially the same effects was obtained by heating up the substrate at a temperature 150 °- 400 ° c . during the sputtering operation . multi - layered ferromagnetic fe - fe 3 ga films with varying unit fe layer thickness were formed on the substrate which was kept at a temperature of 400 ° c . during the sputtering operation . the saturation magnetizations of the multi - layered ferromagnetic fe - fe 3 ga film thus produced are illustrated in fig5 which shows an improvement of the saturation magnetization over that of the non - heat - treated multi - layered ferromagnetic fe - fe 3 ga film as illustrated in fig1 . | 8 |
in general , this specification discloses , as illustrated by fig4 - 8 and 13 , a method of separating dice 32 , 34 of a singulated wafer 30 that is supported on a dicing tape sheet 10 . the method includes attaching the dicing tape sheet 10 to a ring frame 40 , as shown at block 201 of fig1 . the method also includes , as shown at block 202 of fig1 , relatively raising a portion 13 of the dicing tape sheet 10 supporting the wafer with respect to the ring frame 40 . the method further includes attaching support tape 60 to the ring frame 40 and the dicing tape sheet 10 , as shown at block 203 of fig1 . fig1 is a schematic top isometric view of a wafer 30 , illustrating singulation thereof with a stealth laser 20 . the stealth laser 20 , produces fractures in the wafer that form a plurality of singulation lines 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , etc . that form a rectangular grid and divide the wafer 30 into a plurality of dies or dice 32 , 34 , etc . the wafer 30 may instead be singulated by saw cutting . both stealth laser and saw cutting singulation are now in the art and are thus not further discussed herein . fig2 is a schematic bottom isometric view of a wafer , illustrating mounting of a generally circular dicing tape sheet 10 on a back surface 36 of the wafer 30 . the dicing tape sheet 10 has a tacky top surface 11 that is attached to the back surface 36 of the wafer 30 . the dicing tape sheet 10 has a non - tacky bottom surface 12 . a ring frame 40 is attached at a bottom surface 41 thereof to the tacky top surface 11 of the dicing tape sheet 10 at its periphery . thus an assembly is formed as illustrated in fig3 in which a generally circular wafer 30 is supported on a generally circular dicing tape sheet 10 . both the wafer 30 and most of the circular dicing tape sheet 10 are circumscribed by the ring frame 40 . such an assembly is known in the art . as illustrated by fig4 , the assembly of fig3 may be positioned on a generally flat top surface 51 of a support table 50 , such that the table top surface 51 is below a portion 13 of the dicing tape sheet 10 that supports the wafer 30 and associated dice 32 , 34 . an outer annular portion 15 of the dicing tape sheet 10 that extends out in coplanar relationship with portion 13 and the ring frame 40 are not supported by the table top surface 51 . an alternate support such as a support ring / stand ( not shown ) or a human hand ( not shown ) may support the ring frame 40 and dicing tape sheet portion 15 . next , as illustrated by fig5 , the table 50 is raised relative to the ring frame 40 . as a result the entire dicing tape sheet 10 is stretched radially and , as a result , the dice 32 , 34 mounted on inner dicing tape sheet portion 13 are radially spread apart . in other words , the singulation lines 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , etc . become wider . in one embodiment the width of each singulation lines 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , etc . is about 0 . 020 mm or more after the expansion shown in fig5 . as shown by fig6 , a ring of support tape 60 is then positioned over the ring frame 40 and an annular part of the outer annular portion 15 of the dicing tape sheet 10 . the support tape has a smooth , non - tacky surface 61 and a tacky surface 63 . the tacky surface 63 of the support tape 60 is then pressed onto the ring frame 40 and the dicing tape sheet 10 when they are positioned as shown in fig6 . the table 50 is then raised relative to the ring frame 40 so that the dicing tape sheet 10 is returned to a generally planar configuration as shown in fig7 and 8 . dimensional parameters of the ring frame 40 , support tape 60 , dicing tape sheet 10 and the wafer are illustrated in fig9 . in one nonlimiting embodiment these parameters may have the following values : a = 15 . 0 mm , b = 5 . 0 mm , c = 10 . 0 mm , d = 1 . 6 mm , e = 5 . 0 mm , f = 10 . 0 mm , g = 23 . 0 mm , h = 10 . 0 mm , i = 13 . 0 mm , j = 0 . 050 mm to 0 . 900 mm , and k = 0 . 180 mm . the thickness of the dicing tape may be 0 . 09 mm . it will be understood that these dimensions are only provided to give the reader a relative sense of scale for one typical embodiment . these dimensions will of course vary with wafers of different diameters and thicknesses and with different types of singulation and with different sizes and materials used for the dicing tape sheet and the support tape . in some embodiments the dicing tape sheet is made from relatively stretchable ( elastic ) material , such as polyvinyl chloride ( pvc ) or polyolefin ( po ) and the support tape is made from relatively nonstretchable ( inelastic ) material such as polyethylene terephthalate ( pet ). fig1 is a top plan view of an another embodiment of dicing tape sheet 10 , wafer 30 , ring frame 40 and support tape 60 a in which a plurality of circumferentially ( arcuately ) extending support tape strips 60 a 1 , 60 a 2 , 60 a 3 , etc . are attached to the dicing tape sheet 10 and the ring frame 40 to prevent inward retraction of the dicing tape 10 and an associated reduction in width of the spaces 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , etc ., between dice 32 , 34 , etc . fig1 is a top plan view of an another embodiment of dicing tape sheet 10 , wafer 30 , ring frame 40 and support tape 60 b in which a plurality of radially extending support tape strips 60 b 1 , 60 b 2 , 60 b 3 , etc ., are attached to the dicing tape sheet 10 and the ring frame 40 to prevent inward retraction of the dicing tape 10 with an associated reduction in width of the spaces 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , etc ., between dice 32 , 34 , etc . fig1 is a top plan view of an another embodiment of dicing tape sheet 10 , wafer 30 , ring frame 40 and support tape 60 c in which a plurality of chord wise extending support tape strips 60 c 1 , 60 c 2 , 60 c 3 , etc ., are attached to the dicing tape sheet 10 and the ring frame 40 to prevent inward retraction of the dicing tape 10 with an associated reduction in width of the spaces 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , etc ., between dice 32 , 34 , etc . in each of the above discussed embodiments the support tape 60 will reduce the amount of radial inward creep or inward retraction that the dicing tape sheet 10 would undergo without the support tape 60 . as a result , individual dies 32 , 34 , etc . may be picked up with a conventional pick and place machine ( not shown ) without damaging adjacent dice . fig1 discloses a method of separating dice of a singulated wafer that is supported on a relatively elastically deformable dicing tape sheet . the method includes , as shown at block 221 , stretching the dicing tape sheet . the method further includes , as shown at block 222 , resisting a tendency of the dicing tape sheet to retract from said stretching by applying relatively nonelastically deformable support tape to the dicing tape . certain methods of separating dice of a singulated wafer and associated apparatus are expressly disclosed in detail herein . various alternative embodiments of such methods and apparatus will occur to those skilled in the art after reading this disclosure . the appended claims are intended to be broadly construed so as to cover such alternative embodiments , except as limited by the prior art . | 7 |
the entire disclosures of u . s . provisional application no . 60 / 517 , 767 , filed nov . 6 , 2003 , u . s . provisional application no . 60 / 583 , 078 , filed jun . 25 , 2004 , and u . s . patent application ser . no . 11 / 417 , 368 , filed may 4 , 2006 are incorporated herein by reference . referring now to fig1 , a rotary atomizer in accordance with the present invention is indicated generally at 200 . the atomizer 200 includes a generally tubular housing 200 a . a turbine assembly 201 having a turbine stator 204 is disposed in the housing 200 a and a turbine rotor 202 is rotatably disposed in the housing 200 a . the turbine stator 204 and the turbine rotor 202 are grounded . a fluid injector 206 is in fluid communication with a fluid supply , such as a paint source 207 , and a seal air distribution ring 208 is in fluid communication with a supply of compressed air 205 a , discussed in more detail below . a bell cup distributor 210 and an encircling bell cup 212 having an internal edge 214 are each disposed on a free end of the turbine rotor 202 . the bell cup 212 can be constructed of conductive materials , non - conductive materials , or a combination of conductive and insulating materials . a thin insulating coating may be applied to portions of a metal bell cup to improve the charging system . the atomizer 200 also includes a shaping air assembly 216 disposed radially outward of the turbine assembly 201 . the shaping air assembly 216 includes a seal air inlet 218 in fluid communication with the supply of compressed air 205 a and a shaping air inlet 220 in fluid communication with a supply of compressed air 205 b . the seal air inlet 218 extends to a seal air passage 222 for the turbine assembly 201 . the shaping air inlet 220 extends to a shaping air manifold and ionizing air nozzle assembly 224 a , which further extends through a passageway 224 b to a plurality of shaping air control nozzles 226 spaced about an outlet end of the housing 200 a . seal air d exits the seal air distribution ring 208 and passes between an outer surface of the bell cup 212 and an inner diameter of the housing 200 a . a charge ring 228 has a plurality of electrodes 230 extending radially within the passageway 224 b . the charge ring 228 is connected to a supply of high voltage electrical power ( not shown ) for charging the electrodes . the electrodes 230 are preferably needle - like in cross section and extend into the shaping air passageway 224 b and , when subjected to high voltage potential , ions break free into the air passageway 224 b . the ions pass through the passageway 224 b and exit the shaping air control nozzles 226 during operation of the atomizer 200 . a relatively high velocity air is directed through the shaping air control nozzles 226 . the shaping air control nozzles 226 direct the ionized air adjacent to the bell cup 212 . the turbine rotor 202 and the turbine stator 204 rotate the bell cup 212 and the bell cup distributor 210 at sufficient velocity to atomize the paint . the fluid injector 206 directs the paint supply stream into the center of the bell cup distributor 210 . streams of shaping air flowing in a direction c and seal air in the direction d , along with the geometrical position of the air control orifices , guide the ion stream direction . the forward direction of the air flow makes it difficult for atomized paint droplets to travel rearward and accumulate on the electrodes . controlling the distance between the electrodes 230 and the grounded elements of the rotary atomizer optimizes the ion generation . further optimization is achieved by setting the proper high voltage level of the power supply connected to the charge ring 228 , providing the proper number of electrodes 230 , controlling the geometry of the electrodes 230 , and by adjusting the volume and the velocity of the air directed through the shaping or seal air passageways . insulating material such as a non - conductive labyrinth can be added between the electrodes 230 and the bell cup 212 to optimize the electrostatic field . various shaping air assemblies 216 can be provided depending on the application method , i . e . shape air flow requirement . also , the electrodes 230 can be located in the seal air passage 222 . the atomizer 200 is insulated such that electrostatic discharge or electrostatic erosion does not occur . if necessary , a non - conductive turbine rotor 202 and stator 204 can be used in conjunction with a separate grounding device ( not shown ) to reduce erosion or to provide suitable potential between the bell cup and the electrodes . the atomizer 200 can operate in a reliable manner with similar maintenance intervals as other automotive painting class rotary atomizers . a solvent and air mixture can be injected into the seal air passage 222 and / or the portions of the shaping air passageway 224 b to clean the parts of the bell cup 212 and / or the portions of the shaping air assembly 216 that would come in contact with the solvent and air mixture . in accordance with the provisions of the patent statutes , the present invention has been described in what is considered to represent its preferred embodiment . however , it should be noted that the invention can be practiced otherwise than as specifically illustrated and described without departing from its spirit or scope . | 1 |
fig1 illustrates a gasoline fuel tank 10 partially filled with liquid gasoline 12 . a filler pipe 14 extends upwardly from the tank 10 to a fill pipe cap 16 which effectively seals the fill pipe opening under the cap . above the gasoline 12 is the head space 18 in the tank 10 which decreases as the tank is refilled . conventionally , as the tank 10 is refilled , the air and gasoline vapor mixture in the head space is driven from the tank either through the fill pipe opening about the gasoline pump nozzle ( not shown ) or through a small diameter vent pipe ( not shown ) that communicates from the head space 18 to the environment . in fig1 however , a vent directly to the environment is not provided . rather , the head space air and vapor is driven during refilling through a one - way vent or check valve 20 and conduit 22 that communicate with the head space . the entrance to the valve 20 and conduit 22 is equipped with a filter 24 having a mesh size sufficient to easily permit passage of air and vapor but to substantially prevent the entrance of liquid gasoline and foreign debris . the conduit 22 leads to a canister 26 filled with an effective adsorber of gasoline vapors such as activated charcoal . the canister 26 includes a check - valve air vent 28 that permits the release of air from the head space , the air having been stripped of the vapor by the adsorber in the canister . optionally , a conduit 30 leads to the canister 26 from the engine compartment and carburetor of the vehicle , thus permitting the same canister to also serve as the vapor boil off collector from the engine . the vapor boil off conduit also includes a one way valve 32 to assure that air and vapor mixture from the head space 18 or canister 26 cannot be driven inadvertently back toward the engine of the vehicle . an outlet conduit 34 communicates between the canister 26 and a sparger 36 located within the lower portion of the tank 10 . a vapor fan or vacuum pump 38 is connected in the conduit 34 to draw vapor from the canister 26 and pump the vapor through a check valve 35 and the pores of the sparger 36 as further described below . cooling fins 37 may be added to conduit 22 to increase the adsorber effectiveness in the canister . the sparger 36 is submerged in the liquid gasoline 12 and ideally is located adjacent the bottom of the tank 10 so as to remain submerged when the tank is almost empty . to minimize contamination of the sparger 36 with dirt and water and to maximize the natural flow of liquid gasoline through the pores of the sparger , the sparger is preferably spaced from the tank bottom . as shown , a baffle 40 in the tank 10 may be provided to retain liquid gasoline about the sparger or , alternatively , a well may be provided in the tank bottom . cooling fins 39 may be added to conduit 34 to increase the sparger effectiveness by cooling the entering vapor . fig2 illustrates an alternate embodiment of the fluid circuitry for the vapor emission control system . the tank 110 includes a filler pipe 114 and cap 116 as above . the tank 110 is shown partially filled with liquid gasoline 112 and head space 118 thereabove . a conduit 122 leads from a one - way valve 120 and filter 124 to a canister 126 filled with a suitable adsorber . the canister includes a one - way air vent 128 for the release of air to the environment downstream from the stripping of gasoline vapor by the adsorber in the canister 126 . leading from the canister 126 is a conduit 134 that communicates directly with the head space 118 through a check valve 119 at the top of the tank 110 . within the tank 110 a separate conduit 135 connects the head space 118 with a sparger 136 submerged in the liquid gasoline 112 . the conduit 135 is equipped with a sparger filter 125 in the head space of a mesh size sufficient to easily permit the entrance of air and vapor but to substantially prevent the entrance of liquid gasoline and debris . a vapor fan or vacuum pump 138 is located in the conduit 135 to draw vapor from the head space 118 and pump the vapor through pores of the sparger 136 . fig3 and 5 illustrate either sparger 36 or 136 in detail . the sparger comprises a plurality of concentric sleeves or cylinders 42 , 44 and 46 spaced apart radially by concentric passageways 48 and 50 . conduit 34 ( or 135 ) communicates with a central chamber 52 within the innermost sleeve 46 . plastic end caps 54 and 56 retain the sleeves 42 , 44 and 46 together with an opening 58 in cap 56 for the insertion and attachment of the conduit 34 . the attachment of the sleeves 42 , 44 and 46 is detailed in fig5 wherein a snap fit is provided by slight circumferential grooves 60 in the sleeves and corresponding circumferential bands 62 formed in the ring grooves 64 of the cap . alternatively , the caps may be attached to the sleeves 42 , 44 and 46 with a press fit or by taking advantage of the rough sleeve surfaces created by the pores in the sleeves , the caps may be molded directly to the sleeves . the sleeves 42 , 44 and 46 are preferably formed of a ceramic or metal powder or combination of both that is sintered to bond the powder into a rigid form . the sleeves are of outwardly decreasing average pore size with innermost sleeve 46 of 40 micron porosity , middle sleeve 44 of 30 micron porosity and sleeve 42 of 20 micron porosity . fig6 illustrates either canister 26 or 126 with either air valve or vent 28 or 128 in the top of the canister . at the bottom of the canister is a water drain valve 202 ( schematically shown ) to permit any water condensation in the canister to drain therefrom . the drain valve 202 may be operated by a bimetallic actuator to open and close as the canister is heated through a selected temperature range or the drain valve may be electrically actuated by a solenoid upon a signal from the vapor emission system controller detailed below . as examples , as the canister warms from 60 ° f . to 80 ° f . the valve opens and then closes to release water or the valve is signalled to open for 30 seconds when the canister warms to 80 ° f . within the canister is a central vapor intake tube 204 that is connected to the conduit 22 or 122 from the gasoline tank head space . the intake tube 204 may also include an auxiliary intake for the optional conduit 30 from the engine . the intake tube 204 opens into a chamber 206 from which the air and vapor circulate upwardly through the adsorber 208 loosely packed in the canister . the adsorber 208 , such as activated charcoal , is supported on a wire grid or stamped screen 210 above the chamber 206 . a porous plastic mat 212 may be included to prevent the adsorber from leaking into the chamber 206 . the air from the tank head space , having had the vapor adsorbed , is released through the check valve air vent 28 or 128 . an outlet connection 214 from the canister provides connection to conduits 34 or 134 . also within the canister is a cylindrical ceramic heater 216 located concentric with the vapor and air intake tube 204 . the ceramic heater 216 is pierced by a plurality of holes to permit air and vapor to freely circulate therethrough . printed or plated on the inner and outer surfaces of the ceramic heater 216 is an aluminum electrode pattern to supply power to the ceramic for heating the canister . attached to the canister is a temperature sensor 218 and controller module 220 to monitor and control the heating cycle of the canister , operation of the vapor fan 38 or 138 and optional electric water drain valve 202 . in addition to the canister temperature sensor , the canister incorporates a gasoline vapor adsorption sensor 222 . the vapor adsorption sensor 222 comprises a pair of electrodes separated by a quantity of the adsorbent 208 in the canister through which the air and vapor mixture passes during filling of the tank . the vapor adsorption sensor 222 operates as a capacitance variable as a function of the quantity of vapor adsorbed on the adsorbent between the electrodes . with the passage of the air and vapor mixture therethrough the quantity of vapor adsorbed between the electrodes increases . in the preferred method of operation , the vapor is adsorbed on the activated charcoal as the air and vapor mixture is driven from the head space of the tank through the canister during refilling of the tank . the stripped air exhausts through the air vent 28 or 128 . upon completion of the refilling and restarting of the vehicle engine , the control module 220 , which comprises a small central processor ( cpu ) and a read only memory ( rom ) is energized . the module is programmed to hesitate until the engine is running smoothly and the electric charging circuit stabilized . if the module senses adsorbed vapor above a preset amount by the change in capacitance of sensor 222 , the module actuates the heater 216 to warm the canister and , if so equipped , the electric water drain valve 202 is opened at 80 ° f . for 30 seconds . with heating of the canister by the heater 216 the temperature is raised to a preset level such as 250 ° f . whereupon the heater is shut off and the canister allowed to cool to a preset level such as 220 ° f . the vapor fan or pump 38 or 138 connected to the outlet 214 or within the tank 110 is actuated when the canister first reaches 250 ° f . thereby drawing a vacuum on the adsorber 208 . the vapor boiling off the adsorber is drawn through the fan or pump and driven through the pores of the sparger 36 or 136 for dissolution in the liquid gasoline . with the drop in canister temperature to 220 ° f ., the heater is energized . the canister is cycled between 250 ° f . and 220 ° f . and the vapor fan or pump 38 , 138 operated until the capacitance of the sensor 222 changes to a level indicating insufficient vapor adsorbed in the canister , whereupon the heater and vapor pump are shut off . the vapor emission control system is self contained and independent of the operation of the vehicle with the exception of a source of uninterrupted electric power for the module , heater and fan . the method of operating the system can be modified . as an example , the vapor fan or pump 138 of fig2 can be operated during refilling of the tank to immediately redissolve a portion of the head space vapor . the check valve 120 can be kept open to permit the vacuum created during desorption to draw vapor and air from the head space through the canister or , the check valve can be actuatable by the module to close during the desorption cycle of the canister . various other features of the canister can be modified . the heating means for the canister can be embedded in the plastic wall of the canister or coated on the inside or outside wall of the canister . an insulating blanket can be applied to the outside wall of the canister . depending upon the location of the canister in the vehicle , engine heat or exhaust heat can be directed to the canister in lieu of electric heat . in fig8 and 9 an alternative form of valve to prevent back splash up the fill pipe is illustrated . the valve comprises a very limp tube 302 of rubber or plastic . the entrance 304 of the tube 302 is attached to or otherwise retained against the inner periphery 306 of the fill pipe 307 with the exception of the lowermost portion of the fill pipe at 308 . at this lowermost portion of the fill pipe 307 , a second relatively small but rigid tube 309 provides open fluid communication between the fill pipe 307 and the bottom liquid filled volume 312 of the tank 310 . the exit end of the valve comprises a metal ring 314 attached to the flexible tube end . the metal ring 314 is sufficiently heavy that the limp flexible tube 302 cannot support the ring generally upright without assistance . thus , the ring 314 will collapse the tube 302 and rest adjacent the bottom of the tank as illustrated in fig8 . the rigid tube 309 is equipped with means 316 at the tank end thereof to assure that regardless of the position or shape of the limp flexible tube 302 , the tank end 316 of the rigid tube 309 is not blocked . a downward elbow bend in the rigid tube 309 is illustrated as an example . the heavy metal ring 314 causes the limp flexible tube 302 to hang collapsed adjacent the bottom of the tank 310 thereby preventing flow back up the fill pipe 307 . with the pressurization of the limp flexible tube 302 by the rush of incoming gasoline during filling of the tank 310 , the tube 302 becomes sufficiently rigid to lift and support the ring 314 as shown in fig9 thus opening the valve . so long as gasoline is flowing down the fill pipe 307 into the tank 310 , the valve will remain open . immediately upon stoppage of flow , the heavy ring 314 will cause collapse of the limp flexible tube 302 and closure of the valve . liquid splash back and head space vapor is not able to travel back into the fill pipe . the small rigid tube 309 assures that the hydrostatic pressure increase in the bottom volume 312 of the tank 310 as the tank is filled is transmitted up the fill pipe 307 despite the down rushing gasoline from the pump nozzle , thus assuring that the automatic pump nozzle cut off will operate properly as the tank 310 is topped off with gasoline . since the rigid tube 309 is immersed in liquid gasoline , vapors from the tank head space are not transmitted up the fill pipe 307 . the valve is formed of a molded shape with the ring 314 vulcanized or otherwise attached thereto . alternatively , the tube 302 may be molded about the ring . the rigid tube 309 may be formed as a part of the thick walled portion of the tube 302 engaging the inner periphery 306 of the fill pipe , the rigidity being provided by the relatively thick wall or in separate parts with relatively rigid portion 303 engaging the fill pipe inner periphery 306 as shown . mechanical or adhesive means may be used to attach the valve to the end of the fill pipe 307 such as the metal crimps 318 engaging the thick walled portion of the tube 302 or rigid portion 303 . the rigid portion 303 may be extended downwardly as an outer rigid protective tube 305 about but spaced from flexible tube 302 . the outer rigid tube 303 , preferably constructed of plastic , prevents the tube 302 from abrading in sliding on the steel tank bottom . illustrated in fig1 is a gasoline fuel tank 410 having a relatively long tubular canister 426 attached thereabove . the tank is shown partially filled with liquid 412 and a head space 418 filled with a mixture of air and fuel vapor . an inlet conduit 422 communicates through a check valve 420 with the head space 418 and the right end of the canister 426 . the canister 426 is slightly tilted to the right and a water drain valve 402 is located at the lowermost part of the canister . a fill pipe 414 and cap 416 are located at the right side of the tank 410 with a splash baffle 411 positioned to prevent back splash directly up the fill pipe . at the left end of the canister 426 is a check valve air vent 428 and a conduit 434 leading through a vapor fan 438 back into the tank 410 and a sparger 436 . the sparger is positioned behind a baffle 440 to provide full immersion of the sparger when the tank is almost empty of liquid fuel . the placement of the canister above the tank reduces the likelihood of liquid fuel entering the canister and permits the use of a relatively long thin tube filled with adsorbent . a straight through flow from right to left of the head space air vapor combination is provided with this embodiment . the end caps 413 and 415 can be fitted with all the necessary attachments , both internal and external , for the canister . thus , a simple tube can be used for the body of the canister and the length adjusted for various fuel tank volumes . two additional optional features are illustrated in fig1 . modern automotive engines tend to produce relatively high temperatures in return liquids and vapors . for carbureted engines , the vapor return conduit 430 may be provided with cooling fins 431 on either side of check valve 432 to reduce the vapor temperature before entry into the canister 426 and thereby increase the adsorption effectiveness of the canister . on some carbureted engines and on fuel injection engines , return conduits to the tank 410 for liquid fuels are provided . in particular , the high pressure fuel injection pump can produce a significant temperature increase to the return liquid thus increasing the tank liquid temperature and the tendency of the liquid to vaporize . in fig1 the liquid return line 417 is fitted with a finned heat exchanger 421 external to the tank . the return line then passes into the tank to an outlet 421 behind the baffle 440 and adjacent the sparger 436 . thus , the outlet 423 is kept submerged behind the baffle 440 to reduce or prevent splashing of the return liquid fuel . preferably the heat exchanger , which may merely comprise finned tubing or a more sophisticated device , should be located in a region of good air circulation to bring the liquid fuel to ambient temperature before entry into the tank . illustrated in fig1 is a gasoline fuel tank 510 again equipped with a fill pipe 514 and cap 516 . the fill pipe entrance to the tank is located behind a splash baffle 511 as is the sparger 536 . a long tubular canister 526 is positioned above the tank 510 having an inlet conduit 522 and check valve 520 from the head space 518 of the tank . separately leading from the head space 518 is a conduit 535 which passes through a vapor fan 538 to the sparger 536 . as with the embodiment of fig2 the conduit 535 , fan 538 and sparger 536 return vapor from the head space directly to the liquid 512 . the conduit 534 leading from the canister 526 to the head space , however , is equipped with a finned heat exchanger 521 located in a region of good air circulation . the vapors desorbed from the canister at a relatively high temperature are thereby cooled to ambient temperature before re - entry through the check valve 519 into the head space 518 of the tank . as with the above embodiments the canister 526 may be equipped with a vapor return line 530 and check valve 532 , a water drain valve 502 and air vent check valve 528 . the canister 526 is of tube and end cap construction as in the embodiment of fig1 . with the vapor return line 530 entering the left end cap 515 an internal tube 517 leads to the internal volume adjacent the right end cap 513 . | 1 |
in a first aspect the invention therefore provides a compound of formula ( i ): r 2 is c 1 - 6 alkyl , or c 1 - 6 haloalkyl , or phenyl optionally substituted by halogen or by c 1 - 6 alkyl , optionally substituted by halogen ; r 3 is c 3 - 6 cycloalkyl , optionally substituted by r 4 ; r 4 is hydrogen or phenyl , optionally substituted by alkyl c 1 - 6 , halogen , or c 1 - 6 alkoxy . where r 1 , r 2 and r 3 and are as defined above . suitably , r 2 is c 1 - 4 alkyl , or c , 1 - 4 haloalkyl , or phenyl optionally substituted by halogen or by c 1 - 4 alkyl , optionally substituted by halogen ; suitably , r 3 is cyclopropyl , optionally substituted by r 4 ; suitably , r 4 is hydrogen or phenyl , optionally substituted by halogen or c 1 - 4 alkoxy . where r 2 and r 3 are as defined above , preferably using osmium tetroxide , in the presence of an oxidising agent , preferably n - methylmorpholine - n - oxide , under aqueous conditions , preferably in aqueous tetrahydrofuran , preferably at a temperature between 20 ° c . and 50 ° c . compounds of formula ( ii ), where r 2 and r 3 are as defined above , may be prepared by reaction of a compound of formula ( iii ), where r 2 and r 3 are as defined above , by conversion of the hydroxyl group to an ester by treatment with an acylating agent , preferably acetyl chloride , in an inert solvent , preferably dichloromethane , in the presence of a base , preferably pyridine or 4 - dimethylaminopyridine , at a temperature between 10 ° c . and 50 ° c . and then reductive removal of the ester function by treatment with a reducing agent , preferably sodium borohydride , in the presence of a pd ( 0 ) catalyst , preferably tetrakis ( triphenylphosphine ) palladium ( 0 ), in an inert solvent , preferably tetrahydrofuran or a hindered alcohol . compounds of formula ( iii ), where r 2 and r 3 are as defined above , may be prepared by reaction of a compound of formula ( iv ), where r 2 is defined above , with a compound of formula r 3 nh 2 , where r 3 is as defined above , in the presence of a base , preferably n , n - di - isopropylethylamine , in an inert solvent , preferably tetrahydrofuran or dichloromethane , at a temperature between 10 ° c . and 50 ° c . compounds of formula ( iv ), where r 2 is defined above , may be prepared by reaction of a compound of formula ( v ), where r 2 is defined above , with 4 - amino - 2 - cyclopenten - 1 - ol in an inert solvent , preferably tetrahydrofuran , in the presence of a base , preferably triethylamine , at a temperature between 10 ° c . and 50 ° c ., and then reduction of the nitro group by treatment with an appropriate reducing agent , preferably a suspension of iron powder in an acidic solvent , preferably acetic acid , at a temperature between 10 ° c . and 50 ° c ., followed by closure of the triazole ring by the use of a nitrosating agent , preferably iso - amyl nitrite , in an inert solvent , preferably acetonitrile , at a temperature between 20 ° c . and 90 ° c . where r 1 and r 2 are as defined above , with a compound of formula r 3 nh 2 , eg a compound of formula ( vii ), where r 4 is as defined above , in the presence of a base , preferably n , n - di - isopropylethylamine , in an inert ethereal solvent , preferably diethyl ether or tetrahydrofuran or a chlorocarbon solvent , preferably dichloromethane , at a temperature between 20 ° c . and 50 ° c . where r 4 is phenyl , ( 1r - trans )- 2 - phenylcyclopropanamine , [ r -( r *, r *)]- 2 , 3 - dihydroxybutanedioate ( 1 : 1 ), the compound of formula ( iv ) may be prepared as described by l . a . mitscher et al , j . med . chem ., 1986 , 29 , 2044 . where r 4 is substituted phenyl , the compound of formula ( vii ) may be prepared as described in wo 9905143 . compounds of formula ( vi ), where r 1 and r 2 are as defined above , may be prepared by reaction of a compound of formula ( v ), where r 2 is defined above , with a compound of formula ( viii ), where r 1 is as defined above , in an inert solvent , preferably tetrahydrofuran , in the presence of a base , preferably triethylamine , at a temperature between 10 ° c . and 50 ° c ., and reduction of the nitro group by treatment with an appropriate reducing agent , preferably a suspension of iron powder in an acidic solvent preferably acetic acid , at a temperature between 10 ° c . and 50 ° c ., followed by closure of the triazole ring by the use of a nitrosating agent , preferably iso - amyl nitrite , in an inert solvent , preferably acetonitrile , at a temperature between 20 ° c . and 90 ° c . c ) the reaction of a compound of formula i , where r 1 and r 2 are as defined above , with an oxidising agent , preferably 3 - chloroperoxybenzoic acid , in an inert solvent , preferably dichloromethane , at a temperature betwen 10 ° c . and 50 ° c ., followed by reaction of the thus formed sulphonyl compound with a compound of formula r 2 ′ sm , where r 2 ′ is a different group r 2 as defined above and m is a group i or ii metal , preferably sodium , in an inert solvent , preferably tetrahydrofuran , at a temperature between 10 ° c . and 50 ° c . salts of the compounds of formula ( i ) may be formed by reacting the free base , or a salt or a derivative thereof , with one or more equivalents of the appropriate acid ( for example a hydrohalic ( especially hcl ), sulphuric , oxalic or phosphoric acid ). the reaction may be carried out in a solvent or medium in which the salt is insoluble or in a solvent in which the salt is soluble , e . g . water , ethanol , tetrahydrofuran or diethyl ether , which may be removed in vacuo , or by freeze drying . the reaction may also be a metathetical process or it may be carried out on an ion exchange resin . the non - toxic physiologically acceptable salts are preferred , although other salts may be useful , e . g . in isolating or purifying the product . the compounds of the invention act as p 2t ( p2y adp or p2t ac ) receptor antagonists . accordingly , the compounds are useful in therapy , including combination therapy , particularly they are indicated for use as : inhibitors of platelet activation , aggregation and degranulation , promoters of platelet disaggregation , anti - thrombotic agents or in the treatment or prophylaxis of unstable angina , coronary revascularisation procedures including angioplasty ( ptca ), myocardial infarction , perithrombolysis , primary arterial thrombotic complications of atherosclerosis such as thrombotic or embolic stroke , transient ischaemic attacks , peripheral vascular disease , myocardial infarction with or without thrombolysis , arterial complications due to interventions in atherosclerotic disease such as angioplasty , endarterectomy , stent placement , coronary and other vascular graft surgery , thrombotic complications of surgical or mechanical damage such as tissue salvage following accidental or surgical trauma , reconstructive surgery including skin and muscle flaps , conditions with a diffuse thrombotic / platelet consumption component such as disseminated intravascular coagulation , thrombotic thrombocytopaenic purpura , haemolytic uraemic syndrome , thrombotic complications of septicaemia , adult respiratory distress syndrome , anti - phospholipid syndrome , heparin - induced thrombocytopaenia and pre - eclampsia / eclampsia , or venous thrombosis such as deep vein thrombosis , venoocclusive disease , haematological conditions such as myeloproliferative disease , including thrombocythaemia , sickle cell disease ; or in the prevention of mechanically - induced platelet activation in vivo , such as cardio - pulmonary bypass and extracorporeal membrane oxygenation ( prevention of microthromboembolism ), mechanically - induced platelet activation in vitro , such as use in the preservation of blood products , e . g . platelet concentrates , or shunt occlusion such as in renal dialysis and plasmapheresis , thrombosis secondary to vascular damage / inflammation such as vasculitis , arteritis , glomerulonephritis , inflammatory bowel disease and organ graft rejection , conditions such as migraine , raynaud &# 39 ; s phenomenon , conditions in which platelets can contribute to the underlying inflammatory disease process in the vascular wall such as atheromatous plaque formation / progression , stenosis / restenosis and in other inflammatory conditions such as asthma , in which platelets and platelet - derived factors are implicated in the immunological disease process . further indications include treatment of cns disorders and prevention of the growth and spread of tumours . according to the invention there is further provided the use of a compound according to the invention as an active ingredient in the manufacture of a medicament for use in the treatment or prevention of the above disorders . in particular the compounds of the invention are useful for treating myocardial infarction , thrombotic stroke , transient ischaemic attacks , peripheral vascular disease and stable and unstable angina , especially unstable angina . the invention also provides a method of treatment or prevention of the above disorders which comprises administering a therapeutically effective amount of a compound according to the invention to a person suffering from or susceptible to such a disorder . the compounds may be administered topically , e . g . to the lung and / or the airways , in the form of solutions , suspensions , hfa aerosols and dry powder formulations ; or systemically , e . g . by oral administration in the form of tablets , pills , capsules , syrups , powders or granules , or by parenteral administration in the form of sterile parenteral solutions or suspensions , by subcutaneous administration , or by rectal administration in the form of suppositories or transdermally . the compounds of the invention may be administered on their own or as a pharmaceutical composition comprising the compound of the invention in combination with a pharmaceutically acceptable diluent , adjuvant or carrier . particularly preferred are compositions not containing material capable of causing an adverse , e . g . an allergic , reaction . dry powder formulations and pressurised hfa aerosols of the compounds of the invention may be administered by oral or nasal inhalation . for inhalation the compound is desirably finely divided . the compounds of the invention may also be administered by means of a dry powder inhaler . the inhaler may be a single or a multi dose inhaler , and may be a breath actuated dry powder inhaler . one possibility is to mix the finely divided compound with a carrier substance , e . g . a mono -, di - or polysaccharide , a sugar alcohol or another polyol . suitable carriers include sugars and starch . alternatively the finely divided compound may be coated by another substance . the powder mixture may also be dispensed into hard gelatine capsules , each containing the desired dose of the active compound . another possibility is to process the finely divided powder into spheres , which break up during the inhalation procedure . this spheronized powder may be filled into the drug reservoir of a multidose inhaler , e . g . that known as the turbuhaler ® in which a dosing unit meters the desired dose which is then inhaled by the patient . with this system the active compound with or without a carrier substance is delivered to the patient . the pharmaceutical composition comprising the compound of the invention may conveniently be tablets , pills , capsules , syrups , powders or granules for oral administration ; sterile parenteral or subcutaneous solutions , suspensions for parenteral administration or suppositories for rectal administration . for oral administration the active compound may be admixed with an adjuvant or a carrier , e . g . lactose , saccharose , sorbitol , mannitol , starches such as potato starch , corn starch or amylopectin , cellulose derivatives , a binder such as gelatine or polyvinylpyrrolidone , and a lubricant such as magnesium stearate , calcium stearate , polyethylene glycol , waxes , paraffin , and the like , and then compressed into tablets . if coated tablets are required , the cores , prepared as described above , may be coated with a concentrated sugar solution , which may contain e . g . gum arabic , gelatine , talcum , titanium dioxide , and the like . alternatively , the tablet may be coated with a suitable polymer dissolved either in a readily volatile organic solvent or an aqueous solvent . for the preparation of soft gelatine capsules , the compound may be admixed with e . g . a vegetable oil or polyethylene glycol . hard gelatine capsules may contain granules of the compound using either the above mentioned excipients for tablets , e . g . lactose , saccharose , sorbitol , mannitol , starches , cellulose derivatives or gelatine . also liquid or semisolid formulations of the drug may be filled into hard gelatine capsules . liquid preparations for oral application may be in the form of syrups or suspensions , for example solutions containing the compound , the balance being sugar and a mixture of ethanol , water , glycerol and propylene glycol . optionally such liquid preparations may contain colouring agents , flavouring agents , saccharine and carboxymethylcellulose as a thickening agent or other excipients known to those skilled in art . in the examples the nmr spectra were measured on a varian unity inova 300 or 400 spectrometer and the ms spectra were measured as follows : ei spectra were obtained on a vg 70 - 250s or finnigan mat incos - xl spectrometer , fab spectra were obtained on a vg70 - 250seq spectrometer , esi and apci spectra were obtained on finnigan mat ssq7000 or a micromass platform spectrometer . preparative hplc separations were generally performed using a novapak ®, bondapak ® or hypersil ® column packed with bdsc - 18 reverse phase silica . flash chromatography ( indicated in the examples as ( sio 2 )) was carried out using fisher matrix silica , 35 - 70 μm . for examples which showed the presence of rotamers in the proton nmr spectra only the chemical shifts of the major rotamer are quoted . to a solution of 4 , 6 - dichloro - 5 - nitro - 3 - propylthiopyrimidine ( prepared as described in wo 9703084 ) ( 4 . 00 g ) and triethylamine ( 2 . 00 ml ) in dry tetrahydrofuran ( 100 ml ) was added dropwise over 1 hour a solution of [ 1s - cis ]- 4 - amino - 2 - cyclopenten - 1 - ol ( prepared as described by s . f . martin et al ., tetrahedron lett ., 1992 , 33 , 3583 ) ( 1 . 48 g ) in a mixture of tetrahydrofuran ( 100 ml ) and 1 , 4 - dioxane ( 50 ml ). the reaction mixture was filtered , concentrated in vacuo and the residue purified by chromatography ( sio 2 , ethyl acetate : isohexane 1 : 4 to 1 : 1 as eluant ) to afford the sub - title compound ( 3 . 18 g ). iron powder ( 2 . 30 g ) was added to a stirred solution of the product of step a ) ( 2 . 61 g ) in acetic acid ( 100 ml ). the reaction mixture was stirred at room temperature for 2 hours , concentrated in vacuo to half volume , diluted with ethyl acetate and washed with water . the organic layer was dried and concentrated in vacuo to afford the sub - title compound ( 2 . 28 g ). nmr δh ( d 6 - dmso ) 7 . 03 ( 1h , d ), 5 . 93 - 5 . 90 ( 1h , m ), 5 . 85 - 5 . 82 ( 1h , m ), 5 . 05 ( 1h , d ), 4 . 91 - 4 . 85 ( 2h , m ), 4 . 66 - 4 . 60 ( 1h , m ), 2 . 94 ( 2h , t ), 2 . 77 - 2 . 68 ( 1h , m ), 1 . 69 - 1 . 57 ( 2h , sextuplet ), 1 . 48 - 1 . 42 ( 1h , quintuplet ), 0 . 94 ( 3h , t ). isoamyl nitrite ( 1 . 08 ml ) was added to a solution of the product of step b ) ( 2 . 20 g ) in acetonitrile ( 100 ml ) and the solution heated at 70 ° c . for 1 hour . the cooled reaction mixture was concentrated in vacuo and the residue purified by chromatography ( sio 2 , ethyl acetate : isohexane 1 : 2 as eluant ) to afford the subtitle compound ( 1 . 79 g ). a solution of the product from step ( c ) ( 0 . 65 g ), ( 1r - trans )- 2 - phenyl - cyclopropanamine , [ r -( r *, r *)]- 2 , 3 - dihydroxybutanedioate ( 1 : 1 ) ( prepared as described by l . a . mitscher et al ., j . med . chem . 1986 , 29 , 2044 ) ( 0 . 65 g ) and n , n - diisopropylethylamine ( 1 . 1 ml ) in dichloromethane ( 20 ml ) was stirred at room temperature for 16 hours . the reaction mixture was concentrated in vacuo and the residue purified by chromatography ( sio 2 , ethyl acetate : hexane 1 : 2 as eluant ) to afford the sub - title compound ( 0 . 786 g ). to a solution of the product of step d ) ( 0 . 78 g ), pyridine ( 0 . 43 ml ) and 4 - dimethylaminopyridine ( 1 mg ) in dichloromethane ( 15 ml ) was added acetyl chloride ( 0 . 16 ml ). the solution was stirred for 3 hours and then concentrated in vacuo . the residue was purified by chromatography ( sio 2 , ethyl acetate : hexane 1 : 1 as eluant ) to afford the sub - title compound ( 0 . 75 g ). to a mixture of the product from step e ) ( 0 . 50 g ) and sodium borohydride ( 0 . 21 g ) in tetrahydrofuran ( 10 ml ) and 2 - propanol ( 10 ml ) was added tetrakis ( triphenylphosphine ) palladium ( 0 ) ( 6 mg ). the reaction mixture was stirred for 10 minutes , concentrated in vacuo and the residue purified by chromatography ( sio 2 , ethyl acetate : hexane 1 : 10 as eluant ) to afford the sub - title compounds ( 0 . 38 g ) as a 3 : 1 mixture that was used without further purification . to a mixture of the products from step f ) ( 0 . 34 g ), n - methylmorpholine - n - oxide ( 0 . 20 g ), tetrahydofuran ( 10 ml ) and water ( 1 ml ) was added osmium tetroxide ( 0 . 9 ml , 2 . 5 % solution in t - butanol ). the mixture was stirred at room temperature for 16 hours and then treated with sodium hydrosulphite ( 0 . 15 g ) and water ( 1 ml ). the suspension was filtered through celite and the filtrate concentrated in vacuo . the residue was purified by chromatography ( sio 2 , ethyl acetate : hexane 1 : 1 as eluant ) to afford the title compound ( 0 . 14 g ). nmr δh ( d 6 - dmso ) 0 . 82 and 0 . 99 ( 3h , t ), 1 . 21 - 1 . 76 ( 5h , m ), 1 . 95 - 2 . 37 ( 4h , m ), 2 . 80 - 3 . 10 ( 2h , m ), 3 . 18 - 3 . 21 and 3 . 82 - 3 . 87 ( 1h , m ), 4 . 04 ( 1h , m ), 4 . 46 ( 1h , m ), 4 . 76 ( 1h , d ), 5 . 01 - 5 . 05 ( 2h , m ), 7 . 16 - 7 . 21 ( 3h , m ), 7 . 27 - 7 . 31 ( 2h , m ), 9 . 33 ( 1h , d ). to a solution of ( 1s - cis )- 4 -( di - tert - butoxycarbonylamino ) cyclopent - 2 - enyl acetate ( prepared as described by d . zhang et . al . tett . lett . 1996 , 3799 - 3802 ) ( 8 . 98 g ), tetrakis ( triphenylphosphine ) palladium ( 0 ) ( 0 . 463 g ) in isopropanol ( 135 ml ) and tetrahydrofuran ( 135 ml ) was added sodium borohydride ( 4 . 97 g ) portionwise at 0 ° c . the mixture was stirred at 0 ° c . for 3 hours before the careful dropwise addition of glacial acetic acid ( 20 ml ). the solution was concentrated in vacuo and the residue purified by chromatography ( sio 2 , diethylether 1 : 9 isohexane as eluent ) to afford the sub - title compound ( 5 . 90 g ). nmr δh ( cdcl 3 ) 5 . 82 ( 1h , m ), 5 . 70 - 5 . 61 ( 2h , m ), 5 . 20 ( 1h , m ), 2 . 65 - 1 . 85 ( 3h , m ), 1 . 49 - 1 . 48 ( 18h , s ). to a mixture of the product from step a ) ( 5 . 90 g ), n - methylmorpholine - n - oxide ( 3 . 19 g ), tetrahydrofuran ( 150 ml ) and water ( 15 ml ) was added osmiutm tetraoxide ( 10 . 60 ml , 2 . 5 % solution in t - butanol ). the mixture was stirred at room temperature for 16 hours and then treated with sodium hydrosulphite ( 3 . 50 g ) and water ( 50 ml ). the suspension was filtered through celite and the filtrate concentrated in vacuo . the residue was purified by chromatography ( sio 2 , ethyl acetate : hexane 1 : 2 as eluant ) to afford the sub - title compound ( 4 . 135 g ). nmr δh ( d 6 - dmso ) 4 . 55 - 4 . 41 ( 2h , m ), 4 . 34 - 4 . 08 ( 2h , m ), 3 . 83 - 3 . 81 ( 1h , m ), 1 . 90 - 1 . 47 ( 4h , m ), 1 . 44 ( 18h , s ). to a solution of product from step b ) ( 4 . 1 g ) in methanol ( 40 ml ) was added conc . hydrochloric acid ( 10 ml ). the solution was stirred for 4 hours and concentrated in vacuo to give an oil , which was azeotroped with toluene to afford the sub - title compound ( 3 . 10 g ). nmr δh ( d 6 - dmso ) 8 . 28 ( 2h , s ), 4 . 63 ( 3h , s ), 3 . 91 - 3 . 78 ( 2h , m ), 3 . 26 - 3 . 20 ( 1h , m ), 2 . 10 - 1 . 80 ( 2h , m ), 1 . 52 - 1 . 49 ( 2h , m ). a solution of the product from step c ) ( 3 . 10 g ) in dry tetrahydrofuran ( 100 ml ) was added dropwise over 1 hour to a solution of 4 , 6 - dichloro - 5 - nitro - 3 - propylthiopyrimidine ( prepared as described in wo 9703084 ) ( 7 . 00 g ) and n , n - diisopropylethylamine ( 11 . 30 ml ) in dry tetrahydrofuran ( 100 ml ). the reaction mixture was heated to reflux for 20 hours and concentrated in vacuo . the residue was purified by chromatography ( sio 2 , ethyl acetate : isohexane 1 : 1 as eluant ) to afford the sub - title compound ( 3 . 79 g ) nmr δh ( cdcl 3 ) 7 . 97 - 7 . 95 ( 1h , d ), 4 . 48 - 4 . 43 ( 1h , m ), 4 . 18 - 4 . 08 ( 2h , d ), 3 . 94 - 3 . 91 ( 1h , m ), 3 . 18 - 3 . 08 ( 2h , m ), 2 . 50 - 2 . 43 ( 1h , m ), 2 . 09 - 2 . 07 ( 1h , m ), 1 . 90 - 1 . 87 ( 1h , m ), 1 . 81 - 1 . 73 ( 2h , q ), 1 . 60 - 1 : 54 ( 2h , m ), 1 . 08 - 1 . 03 ( 3h , t ). iron powder ( 3 . 80 g ) was added to a stirred solution of the product of step d ) ( 3 . 80 g ) in acetic acid ( 50 ml ). the reaction mixture was stirred at room temperature for 2 hours , concentrated in vacuo to half volume , diluted with ethyl acetate and washed with water . the organic layer was dried and concentrated in vacuo to afford the sub - title compound ( 3 . 36 g ). a solution of sodium nitrite ( 1 . 23 g ) in water ( 5 ml ) was added dropwise to solution of product from step e ) ( 3 . 36 g ) in acetic acid ( 50 ml ). the reaction mixture was stirred at room temperature for 2 hours and concentrated in vacuo . the residue purified by chromatography ( sio 2 , ethyl acetate : isohexane 1 : 1 as eluant ) to afford the sub - title compound ( 2 . 20 g ). ms ( apci ) 302 ( m + h + ) loss of n 2 ( 100 %). nmr δh ( cdcl 3 ) 5 . 27 - 5 . 18 ( 1h , m ), 4 . 69 - 4 . 65 ( 1h , m ), 4 . 42 - 4 . 38 ( 1h , m ), 3 . 21 - 3 . 16 ( 2h , t ), 2 . 69 - 2 . 59 ( 1h , m ), 2 . 39 - 2 . 26 ( 2h , m ), 2 . 09 - 1 . 98 ( 1h , m ), 1 . 87 - 1 . 75 ( 2h , m ), 1 . 11 - 1 . 06 ( 3h , t ). a solution of the product from step f ) ( 0 . 150 g ), ( 1r - trans )- 2 -( 4 - methylphenyl ) cyclopropanamine , [ r -( r *, r *)]- 2 , 3 - dihydroxybutanedioate ( 1 : 1 ) ( prepared as described wo 9905143 ) ( 0 . 65 g ) and n , n - diisopropylethylamine ( 0 . 155 ml ) in dioxane ( 20 ml ) was stirred at room temperature for 16 hours . the reaction mixture was concentrated in vacuo and the residue purified by chromatography ( sio 2 , ethyl acetate : dichloromethane 1 : 2 as eluant ) to afford the sub - title compound ( 0 . 120 g ). nmh δh ( d 6 - dmso ) 9 . 30 - 9 . 29 ( 1h , d ), 7 . 08 - 7 . 05 ( 4h , s ), 5 . 06 - 4 . 75 ( 3h , m ), 4 . 49 - 4 . 42 ( 1h , m ), 4 . 05 ( 1h , m ), 3 . 16 - 2 . 86 ( 3h , m ), 2 . 26 ( 3h , s ), 2 . 12 - 1 . 97 ( 3h , m ), 1 . 73 - 1 . 26 ( 3h , m ), 0 . 85 - 0 . 80 ( 3h , t ) the title compound was prepared as described in example 1 , step d ) using ( 1r - trans )- 2 - phenylcyclopropanamine and the product from example 2 , step f ). a solution of product from step a ) ( 1 . 50 g ) in dichloromethane was treated with 3 - chloroperoxybenzoic acid ( 2 . 42 g ). the solution was stirred at room temperature for 2 hours before washing organic layer with sodium metabisulphite solution . the organic layer was dried ( mgso 4 ) and concentrated in vacuo . the residue was purified by chromatography ( sio 2 , ethyl acetate as eluant ) to afford the sub - title compound ( 1 . 30 g ). c ) [ 1r -[ 1α , 2α , 3β ( 1r *, 2s *)]]- 3 -[ 7 -[( 2 - phenylcyclopropyl ) amino ]- 5 -( methylthio )- 3h -[ 1 , 2 , 3 ] triazolo [ 4 , 5 - d ] pyrimidin - 3 - yl ] cyclopentane - 1 , 2 - diol a solution of product from step b ) ( 0 . 15 g ) in tetrahydrofuran ( 10 ml ) was treated with sodium methanethiolate ( 0 . 046 g ) in water ( 1 ml ). the solution was stirred at room temperature overnight . the solution was concentrated in vacuo and residue was purified by chromatography ( sio 2 , ethyl acetate : dichloromethane 1 : 1 as eluant ) to afford the title compound ( 0 . 095 g ). nmr δh ( d 6 - dmso ) 7 . 34 - 7 . 19 ( 5h , m ), 6 . 66 - 5 . 68 ( 2h , s ), 5 . 02 - 4 . 99 ( 1h , m ), 4 . 50 - 4 . 34 ( 2h , m ), 3 . 20 ( 1h , m ), 2 . 73 - 2 . 68 ( 1h , m ), 2 . 40 ( 4h , m ), 2 . 29 - 2 . 19 ( 2h , m ), 2 . 05 - 2 . 00 ( 1h , m ), 1 . 44 - 1 . 26 ( 2h , m ) a solution of product from example 3 , step b ) ( 0 . 15 g ) in tetrahydrofuran ( 10 ml ) was treated with sodium ethanethiolate ( 0 . 055 g ) in water ( 1 ml ) and the reaction mixture stirred at room temperature overnight . the solution was concentrated in vacuo and residue purified by chromatography ( sio 2 , ethyl acetate : dichloromethane 1 : 1 as eluant ) to afford the title compound ( 0 . 06 g ). nmr δh ( d 6 - dmso ) 7 . 34 - 7 . 20 ( 5h , m ), 6 . 66 ( 1h , s ), 5 . 55 ( 1h , s ), 5 . 05 - 4 . 96 ( 1h , m ), 4 . 50 - 4 . 35 ( 2h , m ), 3 . 22 - 2 . 38 ( 5h , m ), 2 . 30 - 2 . 20 ( 2h , m ), 2 . 05 - 1 . 95 ( 1h , m ), 1 . 43 - 1 . 17 ( 5h , m ). the title compound was prepared using the product from example 2 , step f ) and cyclopropanamine as described in example 1 , step d ). nmr δh ( d 6 - dmso ) 9 . 06 - 9 . 04 ( 1h , m ), 5 . 04 - 4 . 75 ( 3h , m ), 4 . 49 - 4 . 42 ( 1h , m ), 4 . 05 ( 1h , m ), 3 . 12 - 3 . 04 ( 3h , m ), 2 . 37 - 1 . 98 ( 3h , m ), 1 . 76 - 1 . 67 ( 3h , m ), 1 . 01 - 0 . 96 ( 3h , t ), 0 . 87 - 0 . 67 ( 3h , m ). the title compound was prepared using the product from example 5 as described in example 3 , step b ). the title compound was prepared using the product from step a ) and 3 , 4 - dichlorothiophenol as described in example 3 , step c ) but with 60 % nah in n , n - dimethylformamide ( 10 ml ). nmr δh ( d 6 - dmso ) 9 . 22 - 9 . 20 ( 1h , d ), 7 . 97 - 7 . 56 ( 3h , m ), 4 . 98 - 4 . 71 ( 3h , m ), 4 . 31 - 3 . 84 ( 2h , m ), 2 . 92 - 2 . 89 ( 1h , m ), 2 . 20 - 2 . 18 ( 1h , m ), 1 . 84 - 1 . 54 ( 4h , m ), 0 . 88 - 0 . 87 ( 1h , m ), 0 . 69 - 0 . 63 ( 3h , m ). the title compound was prepared using the product from example 6 , step a ) and 4 - trifluoromethylthiophenol as described in example 6 , step b ). nmr δh ( d 6 - dmso ) 9 . 20 - 9 . 19 ( 1h , m ), 7 . 90 - 7 . 79 ( 4h , m ), 5 . 04 - 4 . 89 ( 2h , m ), 4 . 69 - 4 . 65 ( 1h , m ), 4 . 28 - 4 . 21 ( 1h , m ), 3 . 83 - 3 . 78 ( 1h , m ), 2 . 94 - 2 . 88 ( 1h , m ), 2 . 27 - 2 . 13 ( 1h , m ), 1 . 82 - 1 . 80 ( 1h , m ), 1 . 51 ( 1h , m ), 0 . 67 - 0 . 65 ( 3h , t ). to a suspension of nah ( 28 mg ) in tetrahydrofuran ( 10 ml ) was added butanethiol ( 63 mg ), after 10 minutes the product from example 3 step b ) ( 200 mg ) was added in tetrahydrofuran ( 1 ml ). the mixture was stirred for 12 hours before addition of saturated brine ( 25 ml ), the organic products were extracted into ethyl acetate ( 2 × 25 ml ), dried ( mgso 4 ) and concentrated to an oil . the residue was purified by chromatography ( sio 2 , methanol : dichloromethane 1 : 25 as eluant ) to afford the title compound ( 0 . 087 g ). nmr δh ( d 6 - dmso ) 9 . 32 ( 1h , d ), 7 . 29 ( 2h , m ), 7 . 18 ( 3h , m ), 5 . 00 ( 2h , m ), 4 . 75 ( 1h , d ), 4 . 47 ( 1h , m ), 4 . 05 ( 1h , m ), 3 . 20 ( 1h , m ), 2 . 80 - 3 . 00 ( 2h , m ), 2 . 30 ( 2h , m ), 1 . 90 - 2 . 20 ( 3h , m ), 1 . 71 ( 1h , m ), 1 . 41 ( 2h , m ), 1 . 32 ( 2h , m ), 0 . 81 ( 3h , t ). the title compound was prepared as described in example 8 using the product from example 3 , step b ) and 3 , 3 , 3 - trifluoropropanethiol nmr δh ( d 6 - dmso ) 7 . 10 - 7 . 30 ( 5h , m ), 5 . 03 ( 2h , m ), 4 . 76 ( 1h , d ), 4 . 47 ( 1h , m ), 4 . 00 ( 1h , m ), 3 . 05 - 3 . 20 ( 3h , m ), 2 . 50 ( 2h , m ), 2 . 00 - 2 . 35 ( m , 4h ), 1 . 70 ( 1h , m ), 1 . 45 ( 1h , m ), 1 . 27 ( 1h , m ). the subtitle compound was prepared as described in example 2 , step g ) using the product from example 2 , step f ) and 2 -( 4 - chlorophenyl ) cyclopropanamine ( prepared as described in wo 9905143 ). the subtitle compound was prepared as described in example 3 , step b ) using the product from example 10 , step a ). the title compound was prepared as described in example 8 using the product from step b ) and butanethiol . nmr δh ( d 6 - dmso ) 9 . 35 ( 1h , d ), 7 . 30 ( 2h , d ), 7 . 20 ( 3h , m ), 5 . 03 ( 2h , m ), 4 . 80 ( 1h , m ), 4 . 42 ( 1h , m ), 4 . 05 ( 1h , m ), 3 . 10 - 3 . 20 ( 1h , m ), 2 . 90 ( 2h , m ), 2 . 20 - 2 . 40 ( 1h , m ), 2 . 00 - 2 . 19 ( 2h , m ), 1 . 20 - 1 . 80 ( 8h , m ), 0 . 81 ( 3h , t ). the subtitle compound was prepared as described in example 2 step g ) using the product from example 2 , step f ) and 2 -( 4 - fluorophenyl ) cyclopropylamine ( prepared as described in wo 9905143 ). the subtitle compound was prepared as described in example 3 , step b ) using the product from step a ). the title compound was prepared as described in example 8 using the product from step b ) and butanethiol nmr δh ( d 6 - dmso ) 9 . 32 ( 1h , d ), 7 . 25 ( 2h , m ), 7 . 11 ( 2h , t ), 5 . 10 ( 2h , m ), 4 . 77 ( 1h , d ), 4 . 42 ( 1h , m ), 4 . 08 ( 1h , s ), 3 . 16 ( 1h , m ), 2 . 80 - 3 . 00 ( 2h , m ), 2 . 30 ( 1h , m ), 2 . 17 ( 1h , m ) 2 . 04 ( 1h , m ), 1 . 70 ( 1h , m ), 1 . 40 - 1 . 60 ( 3h , m ), 1 . 20 - 1 . 40 ( 3h , m ), 0 . 81 ( 3h , t ). to a solution of cyclopentane oxide ( 5 g ) in ethanol ( 5 ml ) was added 0 . 88 ammonia ( 5 ml ) and the mixture heated at reflux for 9 hours . the solution was diluted with water ( 100 ml ), extracted with ether ( 3 × 50 ml ), the organic phases were combined , washed with saturated brine ( 2 × 50 ml ), dried ( mgso 4 ) and evaporated in vacuo to afford the sub - title compound as an oily solid ( 8 . 1 g ) that was used without further purification . the sub - title compound ( 3 . 26 g ) was prepared using the product from step a ) ( 8 . 1 g ) and 4 , 6 - dichloro - 5 - nitro - 3 - propylthiopyrimidine ( prepared as described in wo 9703084 ) ( 20 g ) as described in example 1 , step a ) to afford the sub - title compound . the sub - title compound ( 2 . 63 g ) was prepared using the product from step b ) ( 3 . 8 g ) as described in example 1 , step b ). the title compounds as a mixture of diastereomers ( 0 . 36 g ) were prepared using the product from step c ) ( 0 . 5 g ) and ( 1r - trans )- 2 - phenylcyclopropanamine , [ r -( r *, r *)]- 2 , 3 - dihydroxybutanedioate ( 1 : 1 ) ( prepared as described by l . a . mitscher et al , j . med . chem ., 1986 , 29 , 2044 ) ( 0 . 45 g ) and n , n - diisopropylethylamine ( 0 . 55 ml ) as described in example 1 , step d ). the diastereomers from step d ) ( 0 . 3 g ) were separated using supercritical fluid chromatography ( gilson sf3 , chiralpak ad column ®, 3000 psi , ethanol : carbon dioxide . 35 : 65 as solvent ) to give the to give the title compound ( 0 . 1 g ) ( and the [ 1s -[ 1α , 2β ( 1s *, 2r *)]] diastereomer ). nmr δh ( d 6 - dmso ) 0 . 82 ( 3h , t ); 1 . 31 - 2 . 14 ( 11h , m ); 2 . 82 - 2 . 94 ( 2h , m ); 3 . 18 - 3 . 22 ( 1h , m ); 4 . 53 ( 1h , t ); 4 . 79 - 4 . 86 ( 1h , q ); 5 . 14 - 5 . 19 ( 1h , d ); 7 . 15 - 7 . 31 ( 5h , m ); 6 . 33 - 6 . 16 ( 1h , d ). a ) ( 1r - trans )- 2 -[[ 5 - amino - 6 - chloro - 2 -( propylthio )- 4 - pyrimidinyl ] amino ] cyclopentanol a mixture of ( 1r - trans )- 2 - aminocyclopentanol ( prepared as described in a . a . barr et al ., can . j . chem ., 1997 , 55 , 4180 ) ( 3 . 0 g ) and 4 , 6 - dichloro - 3 -( propylthio ) pyrimidin - 5 - amine ( 6 . 1 g ) ( prepared as described in ep 508687 ) in n - butanol ( 100 ml ) containing n , n - diethylisopropylamine ( 10 ml ) was heated at 100 ° c . for 8 hours . the reaction mixture was evaporated to dryness and the residue taken up into 2n hydrochloric acid ( 300 ml ), washed with ether ( 100 ml ) and then neutralised with 0 . 88 ammonia solution , to afford the sub - title compound ( 4 . 0g ). prepared using the product of step a ) ( 4 . 0 g ) by the method of example 1 step c ). purified by chromatography ( sio 2 , ethyl acetate : dichloromethane 1 : 9 as eluant ) to afford the sub - title compound ( 4 . 1 g ). prepared using the product from step b ) ( 0 . 15 g ) and ( 1r , 2s )- 2 -( 4 - methoxyphenyl )- cyclopropanamine , ( 2r , 3r )- 2 , 3 - dihydroxybutanedioate ( 1 : 1 ) ( 0 . 20 g ) ( prepared as described in wo 9905143 ) by the method of example 1 , step d ). purified by chromatography ( sio 2 , ethyl acetate : dichloromethane 1 : 9 as eluant ) to afford the title compound ( 0 . 12 g ). nmr δh ( d 6 - dmso ) 9 . 28 ( 1h , d ), 7 . 15 ( 2h , d ), 6 . 84 - 6 . 86 ( 2h , d ), 5 . 19 ( 1h , d ), 4 . 83 ( 1h , m ), 4 . 55 ( 1h , m ), 3 . 72 ( 3h , s ), 3 . 1 1 ( 1h , m ), 2 . 90 - 2 . 97 ( 2h , m ), 2 . 23 ( 1h , m ), 2 . 11 - 2 . 23 ( 2h , m ), 1 . 87 ( 2h , m ), 1 . 67 ( 2h , m ), 1 . 57 ( 2h , m ), 1 . 42 ( 1h , m ), 1 . 23 ( 1h , m ), 0 . 84 ( 3h , t ). prepared using the product from example 13 step b ) ( 0 . 15 g ) and ( 1r , 2s )- 2 -( 3 , 4 - difluorophenyl ) cyclopropanamine , ( 2r , 3r )- 2 , 3 - dihydroxybutanedioate ( 1 : 1 ) ( 0 . 20 g ) ( prepared as described in wo 9905143 ) by the method of example 13 , step c ). purified by chromatography ( sio 2 , ethyl acetate : dichloromethane 1 : 9 as eluant ) to afford the title ( 0 . 12 g ). nmr δh ( d 6 - dmso ) 9 . 34 ( 1h , d ), 7 . 27 - 7 . 38 ( 2h , m ), 7 . 07 ( 1h , m ), 5 . 18 ( 1h , d ), 4 . 81 ( 1h , q ), 4 . 51 ( 1h , t ), 3 . 13 - 3 . 15 ( 1h , m ), 2 . 83 - 2 . 95 ( 2h , m ), 2 . 23 - 2 . 27 ( 1h , m ), 2 . 07 - 2 . 17 ( 2h , m ), 1 . 83 - 1 . 91 ( 2h , m ), 1 . 61 - 1 . 68 ( 2h , m ), 1 . 41 - 1 . 57 ( 3h , m ), 1 . 38 - 1 . 40 ( 1h , m ), 0 . 81 ( 3h , t ). the preparation for the assay of the p 2t ( p2y adp or p2t ac ) receptor agonist / antagonist activity in washed human platelets for the compounds of the invention was carried out as follows . human venous blood ( 100 ml ) was divided equally between 3 tubes , each containing 3 . 2 % trisodium citrate ( 4 ml ) as anti - coagulant . the tubes were centrifuged for 15 minutes at 240g to obtain a platelet - rich plasma ( prp ) to which 300 ng / ml prostacyclin was added to stabilize the platelets during the washing procedure . red cell free prp was obtained by centrifugation for 10 minutes at 125g followed by further centrifugation for 15 minutes at 640g . the supernatant was discarded and the platelet pellet resuspended in modified , calcium free tyrode solution ( 10 ml ) ( cft ), composition : nacl 137 mm , nahco 3 11 . 9 mm , nah 2 po 4 0 . 4 mm , kcl 2 . 7 mm , mgcl 2 1 . 1 mm , dextrose 5 . 6 mm , gassed with 95 % 02 / 5 % co 2 and maintained at 37 ° c . following addition of a further 300 ng / ml pgi 2 , the pooled suspension was centrifuged once more for 15 minutes at 640g . the supernatant was discarded and the platelets resuspended initially in 10 ml cft with further cft added to adjust the final platelet count to 2 × 10 5 / ml . this final suspension was stored in a 60 ml syringe at 3 ° c . with air excluded . to allow recovery from pgi 2 - inhibition of normal function , platelets were used in aggregation studies no sooner than 2 hours after final resuspension . in all studies , 3 ml aliquots of platelet suspension were added to tubes containing cacl 2 solution ( 60 μl of 50 mm solution with a final concentration of 1 mm ). human fibrinogen ( sigma , f 4883 ) and 8 - sulphophenyltheophylline ( 8 - spt which was used to block any p 1 - agonist activity of compounds ) were added to give final concentrations of 0 . 2 mg / ml ( 60 μl of 10 mg / ml solution of clottable protein in saline ) and 300 nm ( 10 μl of 15 mm solution in 6 % glucose ), respectively . platelets or buffer as appropriate were added in a volume of 150 μl to the individual wells of a 96 well plate . all measurements were made in triplicate in platelets from each donor . aggregation responses in 96 well plates were measured using the change in absorbance given by the plate reader at 660 nm . either a bio - tec ceres 900c or a dynatech mrx was used as the plate reader . the absorbance of each well in the plate was read at 660 nm to establish a baseline figure . saline or the appropriate solution of test compound was added to each well in a volume of 10 μl to give a final concentration of 0 , 0 . 01 , 0 . 1 , 1 , 10 or 100 mm . the plate was then shaken for 5 minutes on an orbital shaker on setting 10 and the absorbance read at 660 nm . aggregation at this point was indicative of agonist activity of the test compound . saline or adp ( 30 mm ; 10 μl of 450 mm ) was then added to each well and the plate shaken for a further 5 minutes before reading the absorbance again at 660 nm . antagonist potency was estimated as a % inhibition of the control adp response to obtain an ic 50 . compounds exemplified have pic 50 values of more than 5 . 0 . | 2 |
fig1 is a combination systems - process diagram that illustrates the system operative to effectuate the process of the present invention . in fig1 numerous individual entities are identified as ie1 , ie2 . . . iex . . . ien ; each of which numerous individual entities -- at one time or another -- is operationally connected with a check - issuing ( or certificate - issuing ) entity cie as well as with a statistical disbursing entity sde . the check - issuing entity cie is operationally connected with an income - generating entity ige and a utilization entity ui as well as with the statistical disbursing entity sde . numerous individual entities ( ie1 / ie2 / iex / ien ) will , at one time or another , interact with the check - issuing entity cie in such manner as to convey to it one or more units of dollar - equivalent value in exchange for one or more uniquely coded travelers checks and / or other monetary - equivalent certificates . each such uniquely coded travelers check or certificate is identified in a manner that reflects the amount of dollar - equivalent value for which it was exchanged . the check - issuing ( i . e ., certificate - issuing ) entity cie keeps account of all the uniquely coded travelers checks ( i . e ., financial certificates ) exchanged by it in return for dollar - equivalent values received from the various individual entities ; and transmits information with respect to key characteristics of these travelers checks , such as identification code and value denominations , to the statistical disbursing entity sde . the check - issuing ( certificate - issuing ) entity cie conveys to the utilization entity ue the dollar - equivalent values it has received in exchange for travelers checks ; while it receives a flow of income from the income - generating entity ige . at least part of this flow of income is conveyed to the statistical disbursing entity sde to be placed into a disbursement fund . periodically and repeatedly , preferably once each week , the statistical disbursing entity sde randomly selects the identification codes of a relatively few of the numerous issued travelers checks and accredits each chosen identification code with a substantial amount of funds from the disbursement fund . thereafter , the statistical disbursing entity arranges to inform the holders of the issued travelers checks with respect to the chosen identification codes and the amount of funds accredited thereto . upon verification to such effect , each holder of a travelers check ( or financial certificate ) bearing one of the chosen identification codes is entitled to obtain from the statistical disbursing entity the total amount of funds accredited to the identification code of that check . thus , the process of randomly choosing a few identification codes and making a substantial disbursement to each of the holders of the travelers checks bearing the chosen codes is carried out on a substantially continuous basis ; which means that each individual travelers check represents a continuously repeating opportunity to receive a substantial disbursement of funds . in the above - described preferred embodiment , the rate of funds disbursed by the statistical disbursing entity to the holders of travelers checks is such as , on the whole , to represent a fair return on the dollar - equivalent values exchanged therefor ; which is to say that , on a statistical basis , each travelers check ( i . e ., financial certificate ), regardless of its denomination , earns an interest substantially commensurate with its face value ( or the equivalent thereof ) as well as with the currently prevailing interest rate . the value associated with a travelers check ( i . e ., a financial certificate ) might be as low as equivalent to about $ 10 . 00 . to cost - effectively permit the holders of such low - value travelers checks to gain a relatively high rate of return , only one out of one million travelers checks would be chosen each week ; and the chosen one - in - a - million check would receive the total interest earned by the funds received for one million such low - value checks for one week . at an annual interest rate of 10 %, the weekly earnings on one million such low - value checks would be about $ 20 , 000 ; which would then be the pay - out associated with the one low - value travelers check chosen each week . of course , with respect to travelers checks of higher value , correspondingly higher pay - outs , and / or higher chances for being chosen for pay - outs , would prevail . in the above - described preferred embodiment , instead of disbursing all of the earnings ( derived from the income - earning investment of the dollar - equivalent values having been received from the various individual entities in exchange for financial certificates ) to the holders of these financial certificates , at least some ( or even all ) of these earnings could be added to the totality of the income - earning investment , thereby giving rise to an ever - increasing total investment pool underlying ( i . e ., represented by ) the issued financial certificates ; which means that the value of each such financial certificate will correspondingly increase . thus , if a given financial certificate is bought for a certain dollar - amount at a certain time , that same financial certificate would be worth more in terms of dollars at some later time ; which implies that this financial certificate would represent a true value that would grow with time , normally at a rate in excess of the inflation rates associated with ordinary monetary currencies . in fact , with an appropriately conservative underlying investment pool , this particular type of certificate would constitute a highly desirable certificate of value that would be far more desirable to hold ( i . e ., save ) than the monetary certificates issued by most national governments . in fact , it is anticipated that the various issuing entities ( the world over ) would provide for daily quotation of the &# 34 ; exchange rate &# 34 ; of a basic ( i . e ., unit ) financial certificate in term of dollars and / or other national currencies . ( a ) to a person of ordinary skill in the arts most nearly relevant hereto , it will be clear that all the functions associated with the various functional blocks of the systems - process block diagram of fig1 may be performed by automatic means , such as by way of pre - programmed computer and dispenser means . for instance , an automatic teller machine may accept small dollar amounts from an individual entity or person and issue to him receipts and / or travelers checks in exchange therefor -- each receipt and / or travelers check having a unique identification code . alternatively , some or all of the various functions may be accomplished by persons of ordinary skills by simply following clearly specifiable procedures . ( b ) it is expected that the check - issuing entity will , by way of the utilization entity , invest the revenues received from the sale of travelers checks in various large blocks of income - producing financial instruments , such as large - denominations government bonds , shares of corporate capital stock , shares of or in mutual funds , etc . ( c ) the income - generating entity ( ige ) and the utilization entity ( ue ) may be one and the same , namely one or more profit - producing organizations , such as industrial corporations , mutual funds , etc . the flow of income to the money - issuing entity ( mie ) would then come from the profits of those profit - producing organizations . ( d ) after a very large number of travelers checks have been issued , to provide for an increased level of perceived value ( such as by providing for a significant degree of lottery - like excitement ), one of the periodically chosen identification codes would be accredited with a particularly high pay - out , such as several million dollars . this increased pay - out would be counter - balanced by somewhat reduced pay - outs to the other chosen identification codes . ( e ) it is anticipated that the travelers checks will be of at least two different types . one type would permit the individual owner to be specifically identified ; another type would be in the form of bearer certificates requiring special coded identification for redemption by the bearer . ( f ) it is also anticipated that subject dividend - paying travelers checks may be furnished in a version that is , in effect , pre - endorsed and usable as cash . as such , they would expectedly become widely accepted : becoming as liquid and tradeable as ordinary money . in effect , they would constitute interest - bearing money . hence , it would be reasonable to expect that a large number of people would simply prefer to convert all of their available cash funds into such dividend - paying travelers checks . ( g ) in case the holder of a travelers check with a chosen identification code chooses not to or otherwise fails to collect the funds accredited to that chosen identification code , the probability of that particular identification code being chosen in the future will be adjusted upward by a factor equal to the factor by which the amount of uncollected funds exceeds the value of the chosen travelers check . more particularly by way of example , if a given travelers check is valued at the equivalent of $ 10 , and if at one point in time that check were chosen to be accredited with an amount of $ 2000 , then -- for as long as the accredited amount remains uncollected -- this particular check would partake in future random choosings with a probability of being chosen that is 201 higher than it was before . ( h ) the process herein described in connection with travelers checks may also be applied to situations wherein the funds supplied by the various individual entities ( individuals ) are not represented by a physical check or certificate means . rather , the process and system is also applicable to situations where the money provided by an individual is simply turned over to the check - issuing entity ( or its simili ) in return for some form of receipt and placed in an account held in the name of that particular individual . interest and / or dividends would then be paid to this individual on a statistical basis ; and such interest and / or dividends would then simply be accredited to his account . thus , the process and system herein described is applicable to such situations as : ( 2 ) paying interest on balances in credit and / or debit card accounts ; ( 3 ) paying interest on balances in personal and / or small company checking accounts ; ( 4 ) disbursement of dividends payable on small lots of corporate capital stock ; ( 5 ) payments of dividends and / or interest on accounts with stock brokers and / or mutual funds ; in all these situations , by using the principle of paying dividends and / or interest by way of a statistical distribution method , a basic value to each account holder is virtual elimination of the relatively high transaction costs associated with small transactions , thereby permitting higher effective interest and / or dividends to be paid to the account holder while at the same time eliminating all the detailed record - keeping otherwise incumbent upon him . in addition , a high degree of lottery - like excitement is provided . ( i ) one very important feature of the dividend - paying travelers checks herein described is that they need not be redeemable . that is , they can be made to function perfectly well without the mechanism of redemption . this fact permits the operation associated with issuing travelers checks to include many more options in terms of investments suitable as underlayment of the requisite dividend payments . with non - redeemable travelers checks , the value of the travelers check would be entirely based on its dividend - paying feature ; which would imply that an issued travelers check will have a value that would be determined by a market mechanism , somewhat like a stock certificate . in other words , the value of such a travelers check would be apt to fluctuate somewhat ; but , as long as dividend payments are upheld , it would clearly have a value . by maintaining the dividend payments at a substantially constant level , the market value of such a travelers check would fluctuate with the interest rate . by increasing ( or decreasing ) the dividend payments in accordance with the inflation rate , the market value ( in dollars ) of such a travelers check would increase ( or decrease ) accordingly . by increasing the dividend payments at a rate higher than the inflation rate , the market value of such a travelers check would increase at a rate higher than inflation . in any case , its utility as a travelers check would be maintained : its trading value would simply be established by market mechanisms . of course , the price of a travelers check from the issuer would also be determined by market mechanisms . ( j ) it is anticipated that , as a variation of the invention herein disclosed , the financial certificates may be termed merchandise certificates , and -- instead of representing ownership of a part of an underlying pool of income - earning investments -- they would represent ownership of a part of a collection of merchandise ( i . e ., a &# 34 ; basket &# 34 ; of merchandise ), such as the merchandise normally or typically kept in inventory by one or a combination of several merchandising and / or manufacturing organizations , such as sears , roebuck and co . ( herein after &# 34 ; sears &# 34 ;). by way of specific example , sears ( by itself or in combination with other firms ) could issue merchandise certificates redeemable at any time in a certain pre - defined amount of goods ; each merchandise certificate representing ownership of a certain part of sears &# 39 ; inventory . by suitable pre - arrangement , each merchandise certificate could be arranged such as to represent a constant real value , non - affected by inflation . then , in return for the use of the certificate - holder &# 39 ; s money , sears would arrange to pay an interest in the statistical lottery - like manner described elsewhere herein . thus , a merchandise organization could arrange to have part or all of its inventory or merchandise funded by money received from various purchasers of merchandise certificates -- with the organization &# 39 ; s inventory being the basic security underlying these certificates . ( k ) it is believed that the present invention and its several attendant advantages and features will be understood from the preceeding description . however , without departing from the spirit of the invention , changes may be made in its form and in the construction and interrelationships of its component parts , the form herein presented merely representing the preferred embodiment . in this application , in accordance with conventional usage , the term &# 34 ; financial certificate &# 34 ; is considered as a broad generic term for a certificate certifying some form of financial right and / or obligation . thus , for instance : an ordinary traveler &# 39 ; s check ( such as an american express travelers cheque ) is a financial certificate ; a share of capital stock of an industrial corporation ( i . e ., a common stock certificate ) is a financial certificatee ; a monetary certificate of some sovereign nation ( such as a dollar bill ) is a financial certificate ; even a merchandise gift certificate may reasonably be considered as a financial certificate . thus , a travelers check ( or traveler &# 39 ; s check ) is merely an example of a financial certificate . | 6 |
fig1 through 10 illustrate one embodiment of a horizontal covering for an architectural opening ( which may hereinafter be referred to as a window covering or blind or shade ). this particular embodiment is a cellular shade 10 , with a lock mechanism 12 ( illustrated in further detail in fig4 through 9 ). the user applies an outside force to de - activate the lock mechanism 12 for raising or lowering the shade ( retracting and extending the expandable material ). when the shade is in the desired position , the user stops applying the outside force , and the lock mechanism automatically locks and holds the shade in place . this same lift arrangement could be used for a venetian blind . the shade 10 of fig1 - 3 includes a head rail 14 , a bottom rail 16 , and a cellular shade structure 18 suspended from the head rail 14 and attached to both the head rail 14 and the bottom rail 16 . lift cords ( not shown ) are attached to the head rail 14 , extend through openings in the cellular shade 18 , and terminate at lift stations 20 housed in the bottom rail 16 . a lift rod 22 extends through the lift stations 20 and through the locking mechanism 12 . the lift spools on the lift stations 20 rotate with the lift rod 22 , and the lift cords wrap onto or unwrap from the lift stations 20 to raise or lower the bottom rail 16 and thus raise or lower the shade 10 . a spring motor 24 is functionally attached to the lift rod 22 to provide an assisting force when raising the shade . these lift stations 20 and spring motor 24 , and their operating principles are disclosed in u . s . pat . no . 6 , 536 , 503 “ modular transport system for coverings for architectural openings ”, issued mar . 25 , 2003 , which is hereby incorporated herein by reference . very briefly , the lift rod 22 is rotationally connected to an output spool on the spring motor 24 . a flat spring ( not shown ) in the spring motor 24 has a first end connected to the output spool ( having a first axis of rotation ) of the spring motor 24 . the second end of the flat spring in the spring motor 24 is either connected to a storage spool ( not shown ) having a second axis of rotation , or is coiled about an imaginary axis defining this second axis of rotation . the flat spring is biased to return to its “ normal ” state , wound around the second axis of rotation , and typically this corresponds to when the shade 10 is in the fully raised position ( retracted ). as the shade 10 is pulled down ( extended ) the flat spring unwinds from the second axis of rotation and winds onto the output spool , increasing the potential energy stored in the spring . when the shade 10 is raised ( retracted ) the spring winds back onto the storage spool , using some of the potential energy to assist the user in raising the shade 10 by rotating the output spool and thus the lift rod 22 connected to the output spool of the spring motor 24 . in this embodiment , the main purpose of the spring motor is to wind up the lift cord as the shade 10 is raised . to operate the shade , the user applies an external force to unlock the locking mechanism 12 and manually positions the rail 16 . he then releases the external force , and the locking mechanism 12 automatically locks to hold the rail 16 in the desired position regardless of the relationship of the spring power to the weight of the shade . the spring may be underpowered ( having enough power to wind up the lift cord but not enough power to raise the shade ) or it may be overpowered ( having enough power to wind up the lift cord and additional power to raise the shade ). in one embodiment for a venetian - type blind , this spring motor 24 includes a spring with a negative power curve such that , when the force required to raise the blind is at a minimum ( when the venetian blind is fully extended ), the spring provides the least assist , and as a progressively greater lifting force is required to raise the slats of the blind ( as the venetian blind approaches the fully retracted position ) the spring provides more of an assist . this spring with a negative power curve is disclosed in u . s . pat . no . 7 , 740 , 045 “ spring motor and drag brake for drive for coverings for architectural openings ”, issued jun . 22 , 2010 , which is hereby incorporated herein by reference . each lift station 20 includes a lift spool which rotates with the lift rod 22 . the lift stations 20 , lift rod 22 , and spring motor 24 are mounted in the bottom rail 16 . when the lift rod 22 rotates , so do the lift spools of the lift stations 20 , and vice versa . one end of each lift cord is connected to a respective lift spool of a respective lift station 20 , and the other end of each lift cord is connected to the top rail 14 , such that , when the lift spools rotate in one direction , the lift cords wrap onto the lift spools and the shade 10 is raised ( retracted ), and when the lift spools rotate in the opposite direction , the lift cords unwrap from the lift spools and the shade 10 is lowered ( extended ). fig4 - 9 show the details of the lock mechanism 12 of fig3 . referring to fig6 , the lock mechanism 12 includes a housing 26 , a slide element 28 , a coil spring 30 , a splined sleeve 32 , and a housing cover 34 . the housing 26 is a substantially rectangular box having a flat back wall 36 , a flat front wall 38 which defines an opening 40 , and a forwardly extending fixed tab 42 secured to the front wall 38 . the side walls 44 , 46 define aligned , u - shaped openings 48 , 50 which rotationally support the splined sleeve 32 . the left side wall 44 also defines an inwardly extending projection 52 sized to receive and engage one end 54 of the coil spring 30 . the other end 56 of the coil spring 30 is received in a similar projection 58 on the slide element 28 ( see fig7 ), as will be described in more detail later . the bottom wall 60 defines a ridge 62 which extends parallel to the front and rear walls 38 , 36 . the bottom edge 64 of the slide element 28 is received in the space between the ridge 62 and the front wall 38 , so the ridge 62 and front wall 38 form a track that guides the slide element 28 for lateral , sliding displacement parallel to the flat front wall 38 of the housing 26 . a recessed shoulder 66 along the front of the housing cover 34 also extends parallel to the front wall 38 . the top edge 68 of the slide element 28 is received between the front wall 38 and the shoulder 66 to provide a similar linear , lateral guiding function for the top edge 68 of the slide element 28 , as described in more detail later . referring to fig7 , the slide element 28 is a substantially t - shaped member with the leg of the “ t ” being a slide tab 70 which is substantially identical to the fixed tab 42 of the housing 26 , except that there is a through opening 27 through the slide tab 70 , the purpose of which is described later . as best appreciated in fig4 and 5 , the fixed tab 42 and the slide tab 70 are substantially parallel to each other when the lock mechanism 12 is assembled , and the slide element 28 slides to the left ( as seen from the vantage point of fig4 and 5 ) toward the fixed tab 42 to unlock the lock mechanism 12 , as described in more detail later . again referring to fig7 , the slide element 28 defines a wing projection 71 substantially opposite the spring - receiving projection 58 . as described in more detail later , this wing projection 71 slides between the splines of the splined sleeve 32 to prevent the splined sleeve 32 from rotating . the splined sleeve 32 ( see fig6 and 9 ) is a hollow , generally cylindrical body with an internal bore 72 having a non - circular profile . in this particular embodiment , it has a “ v ” projection profile . the lift rod 22 has a complementary “ v ” notch 22 a . the lift rod 22 is sized to nearly match the internal profile of the bore 72 , with the “ v ” projection of the bore 72 being received in the “ v ” notch 22 a of the lift rod 22 , such that the splined sleeve 32 and the lift rod 22 are positively engaged to rotate together . thus , when the splined sleeve 32 is prevented from rotation , the lift rod 22 is likewise prevented from rotation . the splined sleeve 32 also defines a plurality of splines 74 extending radially at the right end portion of the splined sleeve 32 ( as seen from the vantage point of fig6 ). the left end portion 76 of the splined sleeve 32 is a smooth , spline - less , cylindrical surface having the same outside diameter as the base from which the splines 74 project . referring to fig4 - 6 , to assemble the lock mechanism 12 , the first end 54 of the coil spring 30 is placed over the projection 52 on the housing 26 . the slide element 28 is then assembled such that the slide tab 70 projects through the opening 40 in the front wall 38 of the housing 26 , with the bottom edge 64 of the slide element 28 fitting in the space between the ridge 62 and the front wall 38 of the housing 26 . the second end 56 of the coil spring 30 receives the projection 58 ( see fig7 ) of the slide element 28 , so the coil spring 30 is trapped between and is held in position by the two projections 52 , 58 . the coil spring 30 acts as a biasing means which urges the slide element 28 to the right ( as seen from the vantage point of fig4 ). to install the splined sleeve 32 , the user pushes the slide element 28 to the left , to the position shown in fig5 , such that the wing projection 71 clears the splines 74 of the splined sleeve 32 . the splined sleeve 32 is then dropped into place so that its ends rest on the curved bottoms of the openings 48 , 50 in the side walls 44 , 46 , which support the splined sleeve 32 for rotation . ( shoulders 73 near the ends of the splined sleeve 32 lie inside the housing 26 adjacent to the side walls 44 , 46 and ensure that the splined sleeve 32 remains in the proper axial position relative to the housing 26 .) finally , the housing cover 34 snaps on top of the assembly to keep the components together , with top edge 68 of the slide element 28 being received between the shoulder 66 of the housing cover 34 and the front wall 38 of the housing 26 , and the lift rod 22 is slid through the bore 72 of the splined sleeve 32 and through the lift stations 20 and into the spring motor 24 , as shown in fig3 . the assembled lock mechanism 12 , lift rod 22 , lift stations 20 , and spring motor 24 , are then mounted in the movable rail 16 . in this embodiment , the movable rail 16 is the bottom rail 16 , but it alternatively could be an intermediate rail , located between the head rail and a bottom rail ( not shown ). as another alternative , the entire mechanism , including the spring motor 24 , lift rod 22 , lift stations 20 and lock 12 could be located in the fixed head rail 14 , with the lift cords secured to the movable bottom rail , extending through the shade 18 , and winding up on the spools of the lift stations 20 in the fixed head rail . referring to fig1 , 2 , 4 , and 5 , to raise or lower the shade 10 , the user pinches together the tabs 42 , 70 of the lock mechanism 12 , which pushes the slide element 28 to the left ( as seen in fig5 ), against the biasing force of the coil spring 30 . the wing projection 71 on the slide element 28 also moves to the left until it clears the splines 74 of the splined sleeve 32 , which frees the splined sleeve 32 and allows it to rotate . the lift rod 22 , which is functionally and positively connected to the splined sleeve 32 , now is also free to rotate . when the user is raising the shade 10 , the spring motor 24 assists the user by supplying some of the force required to rotate the lift rod 22 and with it the lift spools of the lift stations 20 to wind any lift cords onto these lift spools . the spring on the spring motor 24 may be overpowered ( more powerful than required to overcome the force of gravity acting on the shade 10 so that it raises the shade 10 ), or it may be underpowered , so that the user has to provide some of the lifting force to raise the shade 10 . as discussed earlier , the spring in the spring motor 24 may include a spring with a negative power curve such that , when the force required to raise the blind is at a minimum ( when the blind is fully extended ), the spring motor 24 provides the least assist , and as a progressively greater lifting force is required to raise the blind ( as the blind approaches the fully retracted position ) the spring motor 24 provides more of an assist . when the user releases the tabs 42 , 70 of the lock mechanism 12 , the coil spring 30 automatically pushes the slide element 28 to the right , as shown in fig4 , which slides the wing projection 71 to the right , so that it enters between two of the splines 74 , as shown in fig9 . this prevents the splined sleeve 32 from rotating further . since the lift rod 22 is directly connected to the splined sleeve 32 , this also prevents the lift rod 22 and the lift stations , which are functionally connected to the lift rod 22 , from rotating , so the lift cords cannot unwind from their lift stations 20 , and the shade 10 remains in the position where it was released by the user . fig1 - 15 depict the shade 10 with an enhancement that may be added to make the lock 12 more readily accessible , especially when it might otherwise be too high up to reach . referring to fig1 and 11 , the enhancement includes a pivot support attachment 78 and a lock release wand 80 . referring to fig1 , the pivot support attachment 78 has a substantially flat horizontal surface 82 , defining a circular through opening 84 , and two downwardly projecting ears 86 , 88 defining countersunk openings 90 , 92 , for receiving screws to secure the attachment 78 to the movable rail 16 . as seen in fig1 and 11 , the pivot support attachment 78 is attached to the front , outside surface of the bottom rail 16 via screws 94 . fig1 and 15 show the engagement tip 96 , which is secured to the top of the lock release wand 80 ( see fig1 ). this engagement tip 96 defines a first frustoconical surface 98 coaxial with the longitudinal axis of the lock release wand 80 , and a second frustoconical surface 100 mounted on an arm 102 which projects radially from the engagement tip 96 . the second frustoconical surface 100 is oriented perpendicular to the arm 102 . the bottom of the engagement tip 96 defines an opening 104 which receives the end of the lock release wand 80 , as seen in fig1 . if it is desirable to have means for extending the reach of the user to raise or lower the shade 10 , the pivot support attachment 78 is attached ( using screws 94 , for instance ) to the outer surface of the bottom rail 16 such that the two ears 86 , 88 straddle the lock 12 and the ear 86 abuts the fixed tab 42 of the lock 12 . the lock release wand 80 is then inserted into the pivot support attachment 78 such that the first frustoconical surface 98 goes into the opening 84 , as shown in fig1 and 11 . this first action properly locates the lock release wand 80 relative to the pivot support attachment 78 in preparation for controlling the lock 12 . once the lock release wand 80 is in position , as shown in fig1 , it is rotated in a counter - clockwise direction about its longitudinal axis , as depicted by the arrow 106 in fig1 , until the second frustoconical surface 100 projects into the opening 27 ( see fig1 a ) in the slide tab 28 of the lock 12 , and the arm 102 is pressing against the slide tab 28 . further rotation in the same counter - clockwise direction results in the arm 102 pushing the slide tab 28 toward the fixed tab 42 , which unlocks the lock 12 ( see fig1 b ). the shade 10 may now be raised or lowered by raising or lowering the lock release wand 80 . the second frustoconical surface 100 projecting through the opening 27 of the slide tab 28 creates a positive engagement between the lock release wand 80 and the lock 12 such that the lock release wand 80 does not separate from the lock 12 even when pulling down on the lock release wand 80 . once the shade 10 is in the desired position , the user rotates the lock release wand 80 in a clockwise direction which allows the spring 30 to urge the slide tab 28 back to the locking position . further rotation of the lock release wand 80 pulls the second frustoconical surface 100 out of the opening 27 in the slide tab 28 and allows the user to pull down on and remove the lock release wand 80 . fig1 and 17 show a top - down , bottom - up cellular shade 10 ′. this general type of shade 10 ′ is described in the aforementioned u . s . pat . no . 7 , 740 , 045 “ spring motor and drag brake for drive for coverings for architectural openings ”, issued jun . 22 , 2010 , which is hereby incorporated herein by reference . the shade 10 ′ includes a head rail 14 ′, a movable intermediate rail 15 ′, a movable bottom rail 16 ′, and a cellular shade structure 18 ′ suspended from the intermediate rail 15 ′ and attached to both the intermediate rail 15 ′ and the bottom rail 16 ′. there is a first set of lift cords 108 ′ that extend from the head rail 14 ′ to the intermediate rail 15 ′. these first lift cords 108 ′ have first ends attached to lift stations 21 ′ located in the head rail 14 ′ and second ends attached to the intermediate rail 15 ′. these first lift cords 108 ′ are raised and lowered with the rotation of a first lift rod 23 ′. there is a second set of lift cords 110 ′ that extend from the head rail 14 ′ to the bottom rail 16 ′. these second lift cords 110 ′ have first ends attached to lift stations 20 ′ in the headrail 14 ′, extend through the intermediate rail 15 ′ and through the covering 18 ′ and have second ends attached to the bottom rail 16 ′. these second lift cords 110 ′ are raised and lowered with the rotation of a second lift rod 22 ′. other components include spring motors with drag brakes 24 ′, as described below . the first lift rod 23 ′ extends through the lift stations 21 ′. a spring motor with drag brake 24 ′ is functionally attached to the first lift rod 23 ′ to provide an assisting force when raising the intermediate rail 15 ′ of the shade 10 ′. when the first lift rod 23 ′ rotates , the lift spools on the lift stations 21 ′ also rotate , and the lift cords 108 ′ wrap onto or unwrap from the lift stations 21 ′ to raise or lower the intermediate rail 15 ′. the second lift rod 22 ′ extends through the lift stations 20 ′ in the headrail 14 ′. a spring motor with drag brake 24 ′ is functionally attached to the second lift rod 22 ′ to provide an assisting force when raising the bottom rail 16 ′ of the shade 10 ′. when the second lift rod 22 ′ rotates , the lift spools on the lift stations 20 ′ also rotate , and the lift cords 110 ′ wrap onto or unwrap from the lift stations 20 ′ to raise or lower the bottom rail 16 ′. this arrangement results in two sets of lift cords 108 ′, 110 ′ extending adjacent to each other , with both of these two sets of lift cords 108 ′, 110 ′ being exposed as the intermediate rail 15 ′ travels down toward the bottom rail 16 ′. arrangement with intermediate rail riding on lift cords of lower rail : fig1 - 20 show a top - down / bottom - up cellular shade 10 *, which eliminates one of the sets of lift cords from the embodiment of fig1 . as explained in more detail below , a single set of lift cords 108 * extends from the head rail 14 *, through the intermediate rail 15 *, through the covering 18 *, and on down to the bottom rail 16 *. the shade 10 * of fig1 - 20 includes a head rail 14 *, an intermediate rail 15 *, a bottom rail 16 *, and a cellular shade structure 18 * suspended from the intermediate rail 15 * and attached to both the intermediate rail 15 * and the bottom rail 16 *. single lift cords 108 * are attached to the head rail 14 *, extend through a set of windlass assemblies 112 * in the intermediate rail 15 *, and then on through openings in the cellular shade 18 *, to terminate at lift stations 20 * housed in the bottom rail 16 *. a lift rod 22 * extends through the lift stations 20 * in the bottom rail 16 *. when the lift rod 22 * rotates , the lift spools on the lift stations 20 * also rotate , and the lift cords 108 * wrap onto or unwrap from the spools on the lift stations 20 * to raise or lower the bottom rail 16 *. a spring motor with drag brake 24 * is functionally attached to the lift rod 22 * to provide an assisting force when raising the bottom rail 16 * and to hold the bottom rail 16 * in place when released by the user . a connecting rod ( or lift rod ) 23 * in the intermediate rail 15 * extends through the locking mechanism 12 * and through the windlass assemblies 112 * to functionally interconnect them as described later . the spring motor with drag brake 24 * in the movable bottom rail 16 * of fig1 and 20 is identical to the spring motor with drag brake 24 ′ of fig1 , including the possibility of incorporating overpowered or underpowered springs , as well as the possibility of incorporating a spring with a negative power curve as has already been discussed . the lift stations 20 * of fig1 and 20 are substantially identical to the lift stations 20 ′, 21 ′ of fig1 , which has already been described . finally , the locking mechanism 12 * of fig1 and 20 is substantially identical in design and operation to the locking mechanism 12 of fig3 , which already has been described . the windlass assemblies 112 * shown in fig1 and 20 are shown in more detail in fig2 - 26 . each windlass assembly 112 * includes a windlass ( or capstan ) 116 * and a windlass housing 118 *. the windlass ( or capstan ) 116 * is a spool that rotates within the windlass housing 118 *. the windlass housing 118 * is a substantially rectangular housing with a top wall 120 *, a front wall 122 *, a rear wall 124 *, a right wall 126 *, and a left wall 128 *, which define a hollow cavity 130 * for rotationally housing the windlass spool 116 *. the windlass spool 116 * is assembled to the windlass housing 118 * through the bottom of the windlass housing 118 * as discussed below . the right and left walls 126 *, 128 * include arms 132 *, 134 * respectively , which , in turn , define ramps 136 *, 138 * respectively which rotationally support the windlass spool 116 *, as described in more detail later . the top wall 120 * defines a cord entry port 140 *, and the bottom of the windlass housing 118 * defines a cord outlet port 142 *. finally , a biasing member 144 *, resembling a paddle or a flat finger , projects downwardly inside the cavity 130 *, adjacent the windlass spool 116 *, as best appreciated in fig2 , 23 , and 24 . as explained in more detail later , the purpose of the biasing member 144 * is to press the windings of the lift cord 108 * against the ribs 145 * ( see fig2 ) of the windlass spool 116 * to prevent slippage between the lift cord 108 * and the windlass spool 116 *, that is , to prevent the possibility of the lift cord 108 * surging the windlass spool 116 *. referring to fig2 and 25 , the windlass spool 116 * is a hollow , cylindrical body with an internal bore 146 * having a non - circular profile . in this particular embodiment , it has a “ v ” projection profile . the connecting rod 23 * has a “ v ” notch and it is sized to nearly match the internal profile of the bore 146 *, with the “ v ” projection of the bore 146 * being received in the “ v ” notch of the connecting rod 23 *, such that the windlasses ( or capstans ) 116 * of the windlass assemblies 112 * and the connecting rod 23 * are positively engaged to rotate together . the windlass spool 116 * defines two coaxial frustoconical surfaces 152 *, 154 * tapering from a larger diameter at the end to a smaller diameter toward the center , and these surfaces are interconnected by a coaxial , generally cylindrical surface with a plurality of friction - enhancing , spaced apart ribs 145 *. to assemble the windlass assembly 112 *, a first end of the lift cord 108 * is fed up through the cord exit port 142 in the bottom of the housing 118 * into the cavity 130 * of the housing 118 *, then is pulled downwardly out through the open bottom of the housing 118 * and is wound one or more times around the central portion of the windlass spool 116 * ( as shown in fig2 ) and then is fed back into the open cavity 130 * and upwardly through the entry port 140 * out of the windlass housing 118 * and is secured to the head rail 14 ′. the windlass spool 116 * is then installed in the windlass housing 118 * by pushing the windlass spool 116 * upwardly into the open cavity 130 * through the bottom of the windlass housing 118 *. the stub shafts 148 *, 150 * ( see fig2 and 26 ) of the windlass spool 116 * slide up the ramps 136 *, 138 * and push outwardly against the arms 132 *, 134 *, gradually prying them apart as the windlass spool moves upwardly until the windlass spool 116 * clears the tops of the arms 132 *, 134 *, at which point the arms 132 *, 134 * snap back to their original positions , securing the windlass spool 116 * in the housing 118 * as shown in fig2 , 22 and 26 . the second end of the lift cord 108 * is then extended through the covering 18 * and is secured to the respective lift station 20 * in the bottom rail 16 *. the connecting rod 23 * is inserted through both windlass assemblies 112 * and through the splined sleeve 32 * of the locking mechanism 12 *, as shown in fig1 . as was discussed with respect to the locking mechanism 12 of fig3 - 5 , when the user squeezes the slide tab 70 * and fixed tab 42 * together , the wing that is fixed to the slide tab 70 * moves away from the splined portion of the splined sleeve 32 *, unlocking the locking mechanism 12 * and allowing rotation of the connecting rod 23 * and associated windlass spools 116 *. the operation of the shade 10 * is as follows : to raise the bottom rail 16 *, the user grabs the bottom rail 16 * ( see fig2 ) and lifts it up . the spring motor with drag brake 24 * located in the bottom rail 16 * assists in raising the bottom rail 16 *. the spring motor 24 * causes rotation of the spools in the lift stations 20 * in order to wind up any excess lift cord 108 * onto the spools as the bottom rail 16 * is raised . when the user releases the bottom rail 16 *, the drag brake portion of the spring motor with drag brake 24 * holds the bottom rail 16 * in place . since the spools in the lift stations 20 * rotate together , they keep the bottom rail 16 * horizontal as it travels up and down . to lower the bottom rail 16 *, the user pulls down on the bottom rail 16 *. the lift cords 108 * are attached to the head rail 14 *, are cinched tightly around their respective windlasses ( or capstans ) 116 *, and extend to the spools on the lift stations 20 * in the bottom rail 16 *. since the locking mechanism 12 * has not been released , the connecting rod 23 * is locked against rotation , as are the windlass spools 116 *, so the intermediate rail 15 * remains stationary . the lift cords 108 * unwind from the lift stations 20 * in the bottom rail 16 *, and the bottom rail 16 * is lowered . again , once the user releases the bottom rail 16 *, the drag brake portion of the spring motor with drag brake 24 * holds the bottom rail 16 * in position . to raise the intermediate rail 15 *, the user squeezes the tabs 42 *, 70 * together , which releases the splined sleeve 32 * for rotation . since the connecting rod 23 * and the windlass spools 116 * are keyed to the splined sleeve 32 *, they also can rotate . if the user lifts up on the intermediate rail 15 * while squeezing the tabs 42 *, 70 * together , the windlass spools 116 * will rotate in their respective windlass housings 118 *, travelling upwardly along the lift cord 108 * as they transfer a portion of the lift cord 108 * that is above the windlass assemblies 112 * to below the windlass assemblies 112 *, so the intermediate rail 15 * also travels upwardly along the cords 108 *. once the intermediate rail 15 * is in the desired location , the user releases the tabs 42 *, 70 * of the locking mechanism 12 *, which locks the splined sleeve 32 *, and therefore the connecting rod 23 * and the windlass assemblies 112 *, against further rotation , thereby locking the intermediate rail 15 * in place . to lower the intermediate rail 15 *, the procedure is the reverse of that for raising the intermediate rail 15 * described above . the user squeezes together the tabs 42 *, 70 * of the locking mechanism 12 *, which releases the splined sleeve 32 * for rotation , which allows the connecting rod 23 * and the windlass assemblies 112 * to rotate . while squeezing together the tabs 42 *, 70 *, the user pulls down on the intermediate rail 15 *. the windlass spools 116 * rotate in the opposite direction , and the intermediate rail 15 * travels downwardly along the lift cords 108 *. once the intermediate rail 15 * is in the desired position , the user releases the tabs 42 *, 70 * of the locking mechanism 12 *, which locks the intermediate rail 15 * in place . since the windlass spools ( or capstans ) 116 * are tied together by the rod 23 * and rotate together , they keep the intermediate rail 15 * horizontal as it travels up and down . it should be noted that the bottom rail 16 * remains in position as the intermediate rail 15 * is raised and lowered , since the position of the bottom rail 16 * is determined by the rotation of the spools on the lift stations 20 *, not by the position of the intermediate rail 15 *. the tapered surfaces 152 *, 154 * on the windlass spools 116 * ensure that the lift cords 108 * remain centered on the windlass spools 116 *, and the ribs 145 * on the windlass spools 116 * together with the biasing leg 144 * which presses the lift cord 108 * against the ribs 145 * ensures that the cord 108 * does not slip relative to the windlass spools 116 *, so the cord 108 * serves as a type of indexing mechanism which automatically rotates the rod 23 * as the rail 15 * is raised and lowered without requiring a motor . this helps ensure that the intermediate rail 15 * remains horizontal as it travels up and down along the lift cords 108 *. fig2 - 31 show an alternate embodiment of a windlass assembly 112 ** which may be used in the cellular shade of fig1 - 20 instead of the windlass assembly 112 *. as best appreciated in fig2 , the windlass assembly 112 ** includes a windlass spool ( or capstan ) 116 **, a windlass housing 118 **, and a windlass housing cover 119 **. the most important difference between this windlass assembly 112 ** and the windlass assembly 112 * described above is that this windlass assembly 112 ** does not have a biasing member 144 *. instead , and as best appreciated in fig2 , 29 , 30 and 31 , the windlass housing 118 ** and the windlass housing cover 119 ** each have semi - circular surfaces 156 **, 158 ** which define circumferential guiding grooves 160 **, 162 ** respectively , which tightly guide the lift cord 108 * around the windlass spool 116 **, pressing the lift cord 108 * against the ribs 145 ** ( see fig2 and 31 ) of the windlass spool 116 ** to prevent slippage between the lift cord 108 * and the windlass spool 116 **, that is , to prevent the possibility of the lift cord 108 * surging the windlass spool 116 **. the operation of the cellular shade 18 using this second embodiment of a windlass assembly 112 ** is identical to the operation described earlier with respect to the first embodiment of the windlass assembly 112 *. fig3 - 38 depict an embodiment of a cellular shade 10 ′, similar to the shade 10 of fig1 , except that an indexing mechanism 164 ′ is used to automatically rotate the lift rod 22 as the movable rail 16 ′ is raised and lowered without requiring a spring motor . ( it should be noted that a windlass 172 b and cord 168 b could be substituted as an alternative indexing mechanism , as shown in fig3 b .) fig3 , 33 , and 34 show the cellular shade 10 ′ which includes a top rail 14 ′, bottom horizontal movable rail 16 ′, a cellular shade structure 18 ′, and an anchoring ledge 166 ′. it should be noted that the anchoring ledge 166 ′ may be part of the frame of the window opening and serves the purpose of providing an anchoring point to secure a bead chain 168 ′ which extends from the top rail 14 ′ to the anchoring ledge 166 ′. as shown in fig3 , the bottom rail 16 ′ houses a slide lock mechanism 12 , lift stations 20 , and a lift rod 22 , which are identical to the corresponding items in the cellular shade 10 of fig3 . the most important difference is the absence of the spring motor 24 ( see fig3 ) which has been replaced by the indexing mechanism 164 ′ ( see fig3 ), as explained in more detail below . referring to fig3 - 38 , the indexing mechanism 164 ′ includes a bottom rail end cap 170 ′ and a sprocket 172 ′, and utilizes the bead chain 168 ′ to rotate the lift rod 22 when the bottom rail 16 ′ is raised or lowered , as explained later . the sprocket 172 ′ and lift rod 22 cause the lift spools 20 to rotate together , which keeps the rail 16 ′ horizontal as it travels up and down . referring to fig3 , the bottom rail end cap 170 ′ defines ramped approaches 174 ′, 176 ′ to guide the bead chain 168 ′ to the sprocket 172 ′, as may also be appreciated in fig3 . the end cap 170 ′ also includes flat projections 178 ′, 180 ′, 182 ′, and 184 ′ which project inwardly from the end cap 170 ′ and which are used to releasably secure the end cap 170 ′ to the bottom rail 16 ′. finally , the end cap 170 ′ also includes a support shaft 186 ′ with an enlarged diameter , barbed end 188 ′. the support shaft 186 ′ rotationally supports the sprocket 172 ′, as shown in fig3 . fig3 shows the sprocket 172 ′ which includes a plurality of semi - circular , circumferentially - arranged , evenly - spaced and alternatingly - opposed cavities 190 ′ designed to receive and engage the beads of the bead chain 168 ′ as the indexing mechanism 164 ′ is raised or lowered together with the bottom rail 16 ′. the hollow shaft 192 ′ of the sprocket 172 ′ has a non - cylindrical cross - sectional profile 194 ′ which matches up with a similarly shaped cross - sectional profile on the lift rod 22 for positive rotational engagement between the sprocket 172 ′ and the lift rod 22 . the portion of the hollow shaft 192 ′ that is located inside the sprocket “ teeth ” 190 ′ has a reduced inside diameter portion 193 ′ ( see fig3 ), which helps retain the sprocket 172 ′ onto the shaft 186 ′ as describe below . to assemble the indexing mechanism 164 ′ to the shade 10 ′, the sprocket 172 ′ is first rotationally mounted to the shaft 186 ′ on the end cap 170 ′ by pushing the sprocket 172 ′ onto the shaft 186 ′ and compressing the barbed end 188 ′ until the reduced diameter portion 193 ′ of the sprocket 172 ′ passes the barbed end 188 ′, at which point the barbed end 188 ′ snaps open to its non - compressed position , locking the sprocket 172 ′ onto the shaft 186 ′, as shown in fig3 . then , one end of the bead chain 168 ′ is fed through the ramped approach 174 ′ ( see fig3 ) and the sprocket 172 ′ is manually rotated to feed the bead chain 168 ′ around the sprocket 172 ′, with the beads on the bead chain 168 ′ engaging the cavities 190 ′ on the sprocket 172 ′. the bead chain 168 ′ wraps around the sprocket 172 ′ and then exits the end cap 170 ′ via the ramped approach 176 ′. the indexing mechanism 164 ′ is then pressed onto the end of the bottom rail 16 ′, with the lift rod 22 being inserted into and engaging the non - cylindrical cross - sectional profile 194 ′ of the shaft 192 ′ of the sprocket 172 ′. the end of the bead chain 168 ′ is then secured to the anchoring ledge 166 ′ such that the bead chain 168 ′ is fairly taut between the top rail 14 ′ and the anchoring ledge 166 ′. to raise the shade 10 ′ the lock 12 is unlocked , as explained earlier with respect to the embodiment described in fig1 - 3 , and the operator manually raises the bottom rail 16 ′ to the desired height . as the bottom rail 16 ′ is raised , the bead chain 168 ′ rotates the sprocket 172 ′ in a first direction , which also rotates the lift rod 22 and the lift stations 20 , so as to gather up the lift cords ( not shown ) onto the spools of the lift stations 20 in the movable rail 16 ′. when the operator releases ( lets go of ) the lock mechanism 12 , it locks the lift rod 22 against further rotation , holding the bottom rail 16 ′ where it was released , as described earlier with respect to the shade 10 of fig1 - 3 . to lower the shade 10 ′, the operator again unlocks the lock 12 and lowers the bottom rail 16 ′ to the desired position . as the bottom rail 16 ′ is lowered , the bead chain 168 ′ rotates the sprocket 172 ′ in the opposite direction which then also rotates the lift rod 22 and the lift stations 20 in the opposite direction , unwinding the lift cords ( not shown ) from the spools of the lift stations 20 . when the operator releases ( lets go of ) the lock mechanism 12 , it locks the lift rod 22 against further rotation , holding the bottom rail 16 ′ where it was released . fig3 shows yet another embodiment of a cellular shade 10 ″ which is very similar to the shade 10 ′ described above , except that it has two indexing mechanisms 164 ′, one on each end of the bottom rail 16 ′, which ride along their corresponding bead chains 168 ′. other than this difference , the shade 10 ″ is identical to the shade 10 ′ and operates in the same manner . it should be obvious that other indexing mechanisms may be used instead of the bead chain and sprocket mechanism shown in the figures . for instance , as shown in fig3 a , a rack and pinion arrangement may be used in which the rack 168 a replaces the bead chain and the pinion 172 a replaces the sprocket . any indexing mechanism that is used to automatically rotate the lift rod as the movable rail is raised and lowered without requiring a motor may be used to replace the bead chain and sprocket mechanism described above . while the embodiment shown in fig1 - 20 is one way to arrange for raising and lowering two ( or more ) movable rails without the addition of a second set of lift cords 110 ′ as in fig1 , another way to achieve this result is shown in fig4 - 44 . fig4 - 44 are schematics of a shade 200 with two movable rails in which the upper rail is suspended by lift cords that extend to fixed points above the upper rail , and the lower rail is suspended by lift cords that extend down from the upper rail . with this type of arrangement , the issue arises that if the lower rail lift cords are long enough so the lower movable rail can extend to the bottom of the architectural opening when the upper rail is at the top of the opening , then the lower movable rail may extend below the bottom of the architectural opening when the upper rail moves down . of course , this is not desirable . for that reason , an automatic variable stroke limiter has been incorporated into this design . as explained in more detail later , the automatic variable stroke limiter controls the overall length of the shade 200 so that the bottom rail will not extend beyond a desired position , such as beyond the bottom of the opening , regardless of the position of the upper movable rail . referring to fig4 , the shade 200 includes a head rail 202 , an upper movable rail 204 , and a lower movable rail 206 . extendable covering materials 208 ( see fig4 ) such as a pleated shade material or a plurality of slats supported by ladder tapes may be secured to the upper and lower rails 204 , 206 , so that , when the rails move up and down , they extend and retract the covering materials . for example , in fig4 , the covering material 208 extends between the upper movable rail 204 and the lower movable rail 206 . as another possibility , a first covering material 208 could extend from the head rail 202 to the upper movable rail 204 , and a second covering material 208 could extend from the lower movable rail 204 to the bottom of the architectural opening . the upper movable rail 204 houses first and second cord spools 212 , 214 mounted for rotation together on an elongated upper rail lift rod 216 . the cord spools 212 , 214 may be located anywhere along the upper rail lift rod that is desired . for example , if a pleated shade material is extending between the head rail 202 and the upper movable rail 204 , the cord spools 212 , 214 will be located inwardly far enough to ensure that the pleated shade material remains under control and does not “ blow out ”. if no covering material is extending between the head rail 202 and the upper movable rail 204 , then it may be desirable to move the cord spools 212 , 214 further outwardly so the cords that wrap around them do not interfere with the user &# 39 ; s line of sight . first and second upper rail lift cords 218 , 220 have their first ends secured to the head rail 202 at fixed points 218 a , 220 a and their second ends secured to the cord spools 212 , 214 . as an alternative , the head rail 202 may be omitted and the first set of lift cords may be secured directly to the frame of the window opening at the fixed points 218 a , 220 a . it also should be noted that the fixed points 218 a , 220 a may alternatively be points on a movable rail located above the upper movable rail . in these schematics , the angled arrows on the cord spools ( such as the arrow 222 on the cord spool 212 in fig4 ) indicate the extent to which the lift cord is wrapped onto the cord spool . if the lift cord is shown coming off of the respective spool at the end near the tip of the arrow , that means it is fully wound onto that spool . if it is shown coming off the respective spool at the opposite end , that means it is unwound from that spool . for example , in fig4 , the lift cord 218 is fully wrapped onto the cord spool 212 , while in fig4 the same lift cord 218 is fully unwrapped from the cord spool 212 , and in fig4 the same lift cord 218 is approximately half way wound onto the cord spool 212 . referring again to fig4 , two counterwrap cord spools 224 , 226 are mounted on the same upper rail lift rod 216 , between the first and second cord spools 212 , 214 , for rotation together with the lift rod 216 . these counterwrap cord spools 224 , 226 may be located anywhere along the lift rod 216 , as desired . lower rail lift cords 238 , 240 are counterwrapped onto these additional cord spools 224 , 226 ( wrapped in the direction opposite to the direction of the wrap on the first and second cord spools 212 , 214 ) so that , as the upper lift rod 216 rotates to wind up the upper rail lift cords 218 , 220 onto the first and second lift spools 212 , 214 , it causes the lower rail lift cords 238 , 240 to unwind from their respective counterwrap spools 224 , 226 . similarly , as the upper rail lift rod 216 rotates in the opposite direction , to unwind the upper rail lift cords 218 , 220 from their lift spools 212 , 214 , it causes the counterwrapped lower rail lift cords 238 , 240 to wrap onto the counterwrap spools 224 , 226 . it should be noted that , while the lift spools 212 , 214 and counterwrap spools 224 , 226 are shown as separate pieces mounted on the upper lift rod 216 and individually movable along that lift rod 216 , it would be possible for two ( or even more ) of the cord spools to be made as a single piece . also , while the first and second upper rail lift cords 218 , 220 are shown in this schematic as being separate from the first and second counterwrap cords 238 , 240 , it is understood that the first upper rail lift cord 218 and the first counterwrap cord 238 could actually be a single cord , and , similarly that the second upper rail lift cord 220 and the second counterwrap cord 240 could be a single cord . a motor 228 , such as the spring motor 24 of fig3 , also is mounted on the upper rail lift rod 216 to assist in wrapping the lift cords 218 , 220 onto their respective cord spools 212 , 214 when raising the upper movable rail 204 . ( the motor 228 could alternatively be a battery - powered electric motor .) the shade 200 also includes a lower movable rail 206 which houses two cord spools 230 , 232 mounted on a lower rail lift rod 236 for rotation together with the rod 236 . as with the previous cord spools , these lower rail cord spools 230 , 232 may be located anywhere along the lower rail lift rod 236 . the two lower rail lift cords 238 , 240 have their first ends secured to the counterwrap cord spools 224 , 226 , respectively , and their corresponding second ends secured to the corresponding cord spools 230 , 232 on the lower movable rail 206 . the vertical line 242 shown on the left side of fig4 - 43 represents the full length of the window opening on which the shade 200 is installed . referring to fig4 , the shade 200 is shown with both the upper movable rail 204 and the lower movable rail 206 in the fully retracted positions . that is , the upper movable rail 204 is all the way up against the head rail 202 , and the lower movable rail 206 is all the way up against the upper movable rail 204 . when the rails are in this position , the first and second upper rail lift cords 218 , 220 are fully wrapped onto their respective first and second cord spools 212 , 214 . the lower rail lift cords 238 , 240 are fully wrapped onto their respective lower rail cord spools 230 , 232 and fully unwrapped from their respective counterwrap cord spools 224 , 226 . the user now may lower the upper rail until it is fully extended , while the lower movable rail 206 remains all the way up against the upper movable rail 204 , as shown in fig4 . in this instance , as the upper movable rail 204 is lowered , the first and second upper rail lift cords 218 , 220 unwrap from their corresponding first and second cord spools 212 , 214 and , as they do so , they cause the upper rail lift rod 216 to rotate , which causes the counterwrap cord spools 224 , 226 to rotate , which causes the lower rail lift cords 238 , 240 to wrap onto the counterwrap cord spools 224 , 226 . since the lower rail 206 already is abutting the upper rail 204 and therefore cannot move up any further relative to the upper rail 204 , as the user pulls down on the upper movable rail 204 , he is also pushing down on the abutting lower movable rail 206 , so the lower rail lift cords 238 , 240 unwrap from the lower rail cord spools 230 , 232 as they wrap onto the counterwrap cord spools 224 , 226 . in fig4 , the upper movable rail 204 is in the fully extended position , with the upper rail lift cords 218 , 220 fully unwound from their spools 212 , 214 . the lower movable rail 206 is abutting the upper movable rail 204 , with the lower rail lift cords 238 , 240 fully wound onto the counterwrap spools 224 , 226 and fully unwound from the lower rail spools 230 , 232 . the total length of the shade 200 matches the length of the opening ( depicted by the arrow 242 ), so the lower movable rail 206 is at the bottom of the architectural opening . the lower movable rail 206 cannot be lowered any further relative to the upper movable rail 204 because the lower rail lift cords 238 , 240 are already fully unwrapped from the lower rail cord spools 230 , 232 . it might be suggested that the lower rail lift cords 238 , 240 could unwrap from the counterwrap cord spools 224 , 226 to further lower the lower movable rail 206 . however , in order to unwrap the lower rail lift cords 238 , 240 from the counterwrap cord spools 224 , 226 the counterwrap spools 224 , 226 would have to rotate together with the upper rail lift rod 216 and the first and second cord spools 212 , 214 , which would wind the upper rail lift cords 218 , 220 onto the first and second cord spools 212 , 214 to raise the upper rail 204 . thus , rotating the upper lift rod 216 to extend the lower rail lift cords 238 , 240 would also retract the upper rail lift cords 218 , 220 by the same distance , such that the lower movable rail 206 would remain stationary relative to the head rail 202 ; it would not drop below the length of the opening ( depicted by the arrow 242 ). referring now to fig4 , the user has raised the upper movable rail 204 to an intermediate position approximately half way between the fully retracted position ( shown in fig4 ) and the fully extended position ( shown in fig4 ). the upper rail lift cords 218 , 220 are approximately half way wrapped onto their corresponding first and second cord spools 212 , 214 . the lower rail lift cords 238 , 240 are approximately half way unwrapped from the counterwrap cord spools 224 , 226 on the upper movable rail 204 and are fully unwrapped from the lower rail cord spools 230 , 232 . again , the lower movable rail 206 cannot be lowered any farther than the bottom of the opening 242 . the lower rail cord spools 230 , 232 already are fully unwrapped . therefore , any lengthening of the lower rail extension cords 238 , 240 would have to come from their unwrapping from the counterwrap cord spools 224 , 226 . however , these counterwrap cord spools 224 , 226 are tied to the first and second cord spools 212 , 214 by the upper rail lift rod 216 , so any unwrapping of the lower rail lift cords 238 , 240 from the counterwrap cord spools 224 , 226 would only occur along with corresponding wrapping of the upper rail lift cords 218 , 220 onto their corresponding first and second cord spools 212 , 214 , thus shortening these upper rail lift cords 218 , 220 by the same distance the lower rail lift cords 238 , 240 are lengthened . thus , while the lower movable rail 206 would move some distance away from the upper movable rail 204 , the upper movable rail 204 would be moving the same distance toward the head rail 202 , resulting in the lower movable rail 206 remaining in the same position relative to the fixed points 218 a , 220 a . comparing fig4 and 43 , it may be appreciated that in both figures the lower rail lift cords 238 , 240 are wrapped halfway onto the counterwrap cord spools 224 , 226 . in fig4 , the lower rail lift cords are fully unwrapped from the lower rail spools 230 , 232 , so the balance of the lower rail lift cords 238 , 240 spans the distance between the upper movable rail 204 and the lower movable rail 206 . when the lower movable rail 206 is raised to the position shown in fig4 , where it abuts the upper movable rail 204 , the counterwrap cord spools 224 , 226 do not move , so no more cord is wrapped onto them . all the excess of the lower rail lift cords 238 , 240 resulting from the raising of the lower movable rail 206 wraps onto the lower rail cord spools 230 , 232 , which , in fig4 , are shown to be half - way wrapped with the lower rail lift cords 238 , 240 . in this embodiment , the motors 228 , 234 provide at least enough force to wrap any excess cords onto their respective spools as the movable rails are raised . the motors 228 , 234 may also provide additional force to aid the user in lifting the movable rails so as to reduce the catalytic force required from the user to raise the movable rails . in this embodiment , the forces acting to raise the shade 200 ( essentially the force provided by the motors 228 , 234 ) are close enough to forces acting to lower the shade 200 ( essentially the force of gravity acting on the components ) that the friction and inertia in the system are sufficient to prevent the rail from moving up or down once the rail is released by the user . as an alternative embodiment , the number 228 , which represents a motor in the upper movable rail 204 , could instead represent a lock that is operable by the user , such as the lock 12 shown in fig1 . in that case , if the user begins with the shade 200 in the position shown in fig4 , when the user releases the lock in the upper movable rail 204 and raises the upper movable rail from the position shown in fig4 , the lower rail lift cords 238 , 240 will pull on the counterwrap spools 224 , 226 and cause them to unwind , which will act as an indexing mechanism to automatically rotate the upper rail lift rod 216 and the upper rail lift spools 212 , 214 , winding up the upper rail lift cords 218 , 220 onto the spools 212 , 214 without requiring a motor . then , when the user releases the upper rail 204 , the lock will hold the upper rail 204 in position . similarly , if the user begins with the shade 200 in the position shown in fig4 , when the user releases the lock in the upper movable rail 204 and pushes downwardly on the upper rail 204 , the upper rail lift cords 218 , 220 will pull on the upper rail lift spools 212 , 214 , causing those spools to unwind , which , in turn , will cause the lower rail lift cords 238 , 240 to wind up onto the counterwrap spools 224 , 226 . of course , either or both of the upper and lower rails 204 , 206 could have both a motor and a releasable lock functionally connected to their respective lift rods 216 , 236 . fig4 shows a shade 200 * which is similar to the shade 200 of fig4 - 43 except that it shows the covering material 208 and has brakes 210 , 211 acting on their corresponding lift rods 216 , 236 . the brakes 210 , 211 and their corresponding motors 228 , 234 may be a combination spring motor and drag brake , similar to the spring motor and drag brake 24 * of fig2 to selectively stop the rotation of their corresponding lift rods 216 , 236 . a brake could be used on one or more of the lift rods , as needed , depending upon the forces involved . it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that additional movable rails may be added , with each movable rail being suspended from the next adjacent movable rail above it , and with each pair of adjacent movable rails having its corresponding automatic variable stroke limiter to ensure that the overall length of the resulting shade does not exceed a desired length , which is usually the length of the opening to which it is mounted . it should also be noted that the lift mechanisms in either of the movable rails may alternatively make use of other known mechanisms that provide for the cord spools to rotate together . for instance , u . s . pat . no . 7 , 117 , 919 “ judkins ” shows interconnected spools and spring motors . u . s . pat . no . 7 , 093 , 644 “ strand ” shows gear driven spools . it also will be obvious to those skilled in the art that additional modifications may be made to the embodiments described above without departing from the scope of the invention as claimed . | 4 |
tindall et al . u . s . pat . no . 5 , 045 , 122 and french patent 1 , 081 , 681 , published dec . 22 , 1954 ( which is summarized in u . s . pat . no . 4 , 163 , 860 , issued aug . 7 , 1979 ) describe the use of hydroxides in connection with the depolymerization of polyester . however , the processes described in these patents are different from the present process and use the hydroxide at a different point for a different purpose . furthermore they do not recognize the problem of dioxane formation or provide any suggested solution for it . in a preferred process of this invention the reaction is carried out using apparatus comprising : a rectifier for separating monomer components ; the process comprising the steps of : a ) adding polyester to the dissolver and combining it with melt from the reactor to reduce the chain length of the polyester , b ) transferring reduced chain length polyester from the dissolver to the reactor , c ) passing super - heated methanol through the reactor to depolymerize polyester into its constituent monomers , e ) separating the depolymerization products in the rectifier into a vapor phase containing monomer components and a liquid phase containing higher molecular weight materials ; wherein the base is added to one or more of the dissolver , the reactor or the rectifier . i ) the dissolver is operated at a temperature of 180 ° to 270 ° c . and a pressure of 80 to 150 kilopascals absolute ( kpaa ), ii ) the reactor is operated at a temperature in the range of 180 ° to 305 ° c ., and a pressure in the range of 101 to 800 kpaa , iii ) the relative proportions , on a weight basis , of melt from the reactor and liquid from the rectifier fed to the dissolver is in the range of 0 to 1 parts liquid per part melt , and iv ) the relative proportions on a weight basis of reactor melt plus rectifier liquid and polyester fed to the dissolver is in the range of 0 to 10 parts reactor melt plus rectifier liquid per part polyester , so that the viscosity of the polyester exiting the dissolver is maintained in the range of 0 . 001 to 0 . 2 pascal seconds ( pa . s ). in a more preferred embodiment , the dissolver is operated at a temperature in the range of 215 ° to 260 ° c . and a pressure in the range of 90 to 130 kpaa , the reactor is operated at a temperature in the range of 220 ° to 285 ° c ., and a pressure in the range of 200 to 620 kpaa , the relative proportions , on a weight basis , of melt from the reactor and liquid from the rectifier fed to the dissolver is in the range of 0 to 0 . 5 parts liquid per part melt , the relative proportions on a weight basis of reactor melt plus rectifier liquid and polyester fed to the dissolver is in the range of 0 . 2 to 1 parts reactor melt plus rectifier liquid per part polyester , and the viscosity of the polyester exiting the dissolver is maintained in the range of 0 . 002 to 0 . 1 pa . s in a further preferred embodiment , the dissolver is operated at a temperature in the range of 240 ° to 255 ° c . and a pressure in the range of 95 to 105 kpaa , the reactor is operated at a temperature in the range of 250 ° to 280 ° c ., and a pressure in the range of 240 to 410 kpaa , the relative proportions , on a weight basis , of melt from the reactor and liquid from the rectifier fed to the dissolver is in the range of 0 to 0 . 25 parts liquid per part melt , the relative proportions on a weight basis of reactor melt plus rectifier liquid and polyester fed to the dissolver is in the range of 0 . 2 to 0 . 4 parts reactor melt plus rectifier liquid per part polyester , and the viscosity of the polyester exiting the dissolver is maintained in the range of 0 . 01 to 0 . 04 pa . s . when operated in this way , the residence time of the polyester in the dissolver required to completely liquify the polyester is in the range of 10 to 90 minutes . preferably it is in the range of 10 to 70 minutes and most preferably it is in the range of 30 to 65 minutes . average residence time in the dissolver is equal to the volume of material in the dissolver divided by the rate at which material exits the dissolver . in the following description of this invention polyethylene terephthalate will be used to illustrate the practice of the invention . it will be understood that the invention is applicable to other condensation polyesters , to oligiomers and to monomers . fig1 schematically illustrates apparatus to carry out the process of the invention . it comprises a dissolver 10 , a reactor 12 and a rectifier 14 , connected by the pipes , pumps and valves to transfer the materials in accordance with the process of the invention . also shown is a scrubber 16 , for recovering gases from the dissolver , and a recovery device 18 , for recovering monomer components and methanol vapor exiting the rectifier . in practice polyethylene terephthalate ( 20 ) in a suitable form and size is introduced into the dissolver by any suitable means where it is liquified and reduced in chain length . the dissolver can be run at atmospheric pressure . thus , simple solids handling devices such as rotary air locks can be employed to introduce the polyester resin . suitable means for introducing the polyester include an air conveyor , a screw feeder , an extruder , and the like . the dissolver is equipped with means for heating its contents to a temperature of up to about 305 ° c . in practice the dissolver is maintained at a temperature in the range of 240 ° to 260 ° c . reactor melt ( 22 ) and rectifier liquid ( 24 ) are introduced into the dissolver via suitable piping . valves can be placed in their flow path to control the rate of introduction of these materials and their relative proportions . the reactor and rectifier are run at a higher pressure than the dissolver , thus eliminating the need for pumping means to transfer reactor melt and rectifier liquid to the dissolver , although pumping means can be employed , if desired . reactor melt and rectifier liquid introduced into the dissolver react with the polyester to shorten the average chain length . this initiates the depolymerization reaction and decreases the viscosity of the dissolver contents . in addition , there can be added to the dissolver an ester exchange catalyst , such as zinc acetate . such catalysts are known in the art to facilitate the depolymerization process . the catalyst can be employed in a range of 0 to 800 parts by weight per million parts by weight of solid polyester introduced into the dissolver ( ppm polyester ). preferably the catalyst is employed in the range of 30 to 300 ppm polyester , and most preferably the catalyst is employed in the range of 30 to 100 ppm polyester . in accordance with this invention there can be added to the dissolver sufficient base ( 25 ) to neutralize acid formed from contaminants that are carried into the dissolver with the polyester scrap . suitable bases are sodium hydroxide , potassium hydroxide , lithium hydroxide , aluminum hydroxide , sodium carbonate , potassium carbonate , and the like . generally sufficient base is added to maintain the ph equivalent of the melt in the range of 7 to 10 ; preferably 7 to 8 . when sodium hydroxide is used as the base it would be introduced in an amount in the range of 0 . 001 to 10 g per kg of polyester ; preferably 0 . 004 to 0 . 01 g base per 10 kg of polyester . equivalent amounts of different bases can be employed . the base can be introduced by any convenient means . it can be introduced as a solid with the scrap polyester , or separately , or it could be dissolved in a suitable solvent , such as ethylene glycol , and added as a liquid . since the materials in the system have long residence times , the base can be introduced intermittently . in a preferred embodiment , the melt in the dissolver is protected from the atmosphere by a blanket of nitrogen . this reduces degradation of the dissolver melt due to oxidation reactions . the reactor melt and dissolver melt comprise methanol , low molecular weight polyesters , monomers , monohydric alcohol - ended oligomers , glycols , and dimethylterephthalate and methylhydroxyethyl terephthalate . the major difference between these two melts is the average chain length of the polyester . the rectifier liquid contains the same components except for polyesters . as indicated above , the viscosity of the dissolver melt preferably is maintained in the range of 0 . 002 to 0 . 1 pa . s . this is sufficiently low to permit the use of inexpensive pumping and heating means , and permits the reactor to be operated at optimum pressures to provide good yields of monomer . the flow rates of material in and out of the dissolver can be adjusted to maintain the viscosity at the desired level . the dissolver also can be equipped with means for removing contaminants that are introduced with the polyester . most contaminants are removed from the melt in the dissolver before introduction of the dissolver melt to reactor . inorganic contaminants such as metals or sand are removed by a filter . polyolefins and other contaminants that float on top of the dissolver melt are drawn off . the gases ( 26 ) which evolve in the dissolver contain monomers that preferably are recovered together with the monomers exiting the reactor . this can be accomplished by passing the gases to the scrubber where they are treated with and absorbed by liquid methanol ( 28 ). this material ( 30 ) is then passed to the recovery device where it is combined with material ( 32 ) exiting the rectifier for recovery of the monomers . melt ( 34 ) from the dissolver is transferred to the reactor by suitable piping and pumps . it would carry with it base introduced into the dissolver , so it is not necessary to provide a separate source of base ( 35 ) to the reactor . however , this can be done , if desired , or , alternatively , the base can be introduced into the reactor and carried back to the dissolver with reactor melt that transferred to the dissolver . super - heated methanol vapor ( 36 ) can be provided to the reactor by conventional means . a preferred means is described in u . s . pat . no . 5 , 051 , 528 to supply the methanol to the reactor and recover the methanol for reuse . the methanol introduced into the reactor heats the reactor contents and acts as a depolymerization agent . the effectiveness of the super - heated methanol for heating the reactor contents and for stripping gases depends on its volumetric flow rate ; the depolymerization rate in the reactor therefore is a function of the methanol flow rate to the reactor . methanol is introduced into the reactor at a rate in the range of 2 to 6 parts by weight methanol per part polyester . there is transferred from the reactor to the rectifier a vapor stream ( 38 ) comprising methanol , dimethylterephthalate , glycols including ethylene glycol , diethylene glycol , and triethylene glycol , dimethylisophthalate , cyclohexanedimethanol , and methylhydroxyethyl terephthalate . the rectifier separates methylhydroxyethyl terephthalate from the vapor stream exiting the reactor and returns it to the dissolver in the form of a liquid ( 40 ) together with dimethyl terephthalate , and methanol . excess liquid ( 42 ) from the rectifier drains back into the reactor . since the base in the reactor is not sufficiently volatile to pass to the rectifier , additional base ( 43 ) can be introduced into the rectifier , preferably at the top , to react with and neutralize any acid that is carried over from the reactor . the remainder of the vapor stream ( 44 ) is transferred from the rectifier to recovery apparatus , where methanol ( 46 ) can be recovered for further use , and the glycol components ( 48 ) separated from the terephthalate components ( 50 ). while the process of this invention has been described in connection with the preferred apparatus shown in the figure , it will be appreciated that base could be introduced at other locations in the process where there is the potential for acid catalysts to form and react with glycols at elevated temperatures above about 100 ° c . the following examples illustrate the effectiveness of base in inhibiting the formation of dioxane during parts of a process for the recovery of monomer components from polyester . tests were run to determine the effect of acid contaminants on p - dioxane formation in a polyester recovery system . the reactions that occur in the dissolver ( 10 ) shown in fig1 were simulated by combining , in an autoclave , materials that could be found in the dissolver in amounts , in grams , shown in table 1 , below . the materials are identified as follows : pet , polyethylene scrap ; deg , diethylene glycol ; teg , triethylene glycol ; hcl , 37 wt % solution of hydrochloric acid ; h 2 so 4 , 95 wt % solution of sulfuric acid ; naoh , 97 wt % pellets of sodium hydroxide ; and add , additional components . each combination of materials was heated at reflux in the autoclave for 2 hours , after which the composition of the reaction product was determined by gas chromatography and mass spectroscopy . the relative proportions , by weight , of the components of each reaction product is shown in table 1 , below . it will be observed that in the presence of an acid , dioxane is formed , but when the acid is neutralized with base , dioxane formation is substantially inhibited . table 1__________________________________________________________________________material combined ( g ) reaction products ( wt %) run # pet deg teg add water dioxane oligomer__________________________________________________________________________1 255 160 85 5hcl 2 . 1 1 . 7 96 . 22 255 160 85 5h . sub . 2 so . sub . 4 5 . 3 20 . 7 74 . 03 255 160 85 5 h . sub . 2 so . sub . 4 + 1 . 4 1 . 1 97 . 5 10naoh__________________________________________________________________________ example 1 was repeated except that , in order to simulate the reactions that could occur in the reactor ( 12 ) shown in fig1 in addition to the materials combined in that example there were added methanol ( meoh ) and zinc acetate ( znac ) a depolymerization catalyst . the amounts of material , in grams , combined in the autoclave is shown in table 1 , below , as is the proportions of the reaction products , by weight . it will be observed that : absent the presence of an acid a negligible amount of dioxane is formed ; when acid is present there is dioxane formation ; but when base is added to neutralize the acid dioxane formation is substantially inhibited . table 2__________________________________________________________________________materials combined ( g ) reaction products ( wt %) run # meoh pet deg teg znac add water dioxane oligomer__________________________________________________________________________4 316 77 48 26 0 . 5 -- 0 . 4 0 . 2 99 . 55 316 77 48 26 0 . 5 5 hcl 1 . 9 1 . 4 96 . 76 316 77 48 26 0 . 5 5 hcl + 1 . 1 0 . 2 98 . 8 10 naoh__________________________________________________________________________ the invention has been described by reference to preferred embodiments , but it will be understood changes can be made to the apparatus and process steps specifically described herein within the spirit and scope of the invention . | 2 |
with reference to the drawing , a hydrocyclone , generally indicated 1 , is shown in its vertical orientation of use and comprises two main , hollow body parts : an upper , generally - cylindrical part 2 with a tangential inlet 3 and a lower part 4 with an upper cylindrical portion 4a and a lower frusto - conical portion 4b which tapers to an axial bottom outlet 5 . the two parts 2 , 4 are shown separated by two optional , hollow , cylindrical , body extensions 14 having the same internal and external diameters as the part 2 and the cylindrical portion 4a . all the parts 2 , 4 and 14 may be injection or pour moulded from polyurethane and are screw - clamped together in known manner by clamps , not shown . a coaxial outlet spigot 6 is attached to the bottom end of the lower part 4 . the upper part 2 of the hydrocyclone 1 also has an integral , hollow , axially - extending spigot 7 , normally termed a vortex - finder , projecting downwardly into the upper cylindrical part 2 of the separating chamber to terminate slightly below the lower edge of the inlet 3 . fixed within , and extending through , the vortex - finder 7 is a steel tube 9 which has a lower portion extending into the separating chamber of the hydrocyclone 1 and , in the embodiment shown , an upper portion projecting upwardly from the hydrocyclone and defining an upper , axial outlet 8 . in order for comparative tests to be carried out with hydrocyclones 1 , with and without extension tubes 9 , it was important for the outlet 8 to have the same diameter for all the tests . to this end , the outlet bore of the hydrocyclone was enlarged to take the steel extension tube 9 which had the same internal diameter as the original outlet bore , and an upper portion ( not shown ) of the spigot 7 which normally projects upwardly from the top of the chamber part 2 to define the upper axial outlet was removed . in initial tests , the tube 9 was simply a press fit in the outlet bore or had its upper end upset to fix it in position more securely . subsequently , however , an annular reinforcing plate , indicated 10 in the drawing , was welded to it at right angles to the axis of the tube to provide a projecting annular flange which , in use , is clamped to the top of the body part 2 of the hydrocyclone by a top plate not shown . in use of the hydrocyclone 1 , a suspension of kaolin in water is pumped in through the inlet 3 in the direction of the arrow f and is forced , by the configuration of the inlet 3 and the chamber walls , to rotate within the hydrocyclone , creating a primary , downwardly - moving vortex , indicated by the arrow a , adjacent the chamber wall : this part of the flow exits through the lower outlet 5 as the underflow , indicated by the arrow u . a secondary vortex is also created in the centre of the chamber , with an upward flow indicated b , which exits through the upper outlet 8 as the overflow , indicated by the arrow o . the larger heavier particles in the suspension , being more affected by centrifugal force than the smaller , lighter particles , tend to be flung towards the chamber wall and descend with the flow to the lower outlet 5 while lighter particles are entrained with the flow to the upper outlet 8 so that separation is achieved . the actual degree of separation depends on various factors including the length of the vortex - finder extension tube 9 and the presence or absence of the body extensions 14 . the results of experiments with two different hydrocyclones and various extension tubes will now be given . tests were carried out with a mozley type c124 std ., 44 mm hydrocyclone with no body extensions 14 . extension tubes 9 of different lengths were used and a test was also carried out with a similar hydrocyclone but with no extension tube , for comprison . the following conditions applied to all the tests : feed : china clay overflow suspension from the 125 mm hydrocyclone separation stage of the eclp workings , st . austell . ______________________________________feed pressure : 344 . 75 kpainternal diameter of underflow outlet 5 : 8 mminternal diameter of overflow outlet 8 : 11 mmdimensions of rectangular inlet 3 : 9 mm × 6 mminternal diameter of cylindrical chamber ; 44 mmlength of lower part 4 and spigot 6 : 340 mmconical taper of lower part 4 : 10 ° length of vortex finder 7 within the 27 mmhydrocyclone chamber______________________________________ ______________________________________ over - under - flow flow feed______________________________________pulp weight ( g ) ( solids + h . sub . 2 o ) 1557 1248 2805dry solids 179 273 452pulp % solids w / w 11 . 5 21 . 9 16 . 1 % weight split 39 . 6 60 . 4 100volume ( cc ) 1452 1080 2532 % volume split 57 . 4 42 . 6 100wt . of particles of size & gt ; 53μ 0 . 0426 % wt . of particles of size & gt ; 53μ 0 . 0238ratio of length of vortex finder 0 . 61 : 1to internal diameter ofcylindrical chamber______________________________________ ______________________________________ over - under - flow flow feed______________________________________pulp weight ( g ) ( solids + h . sub . 2 o ) 1720 1041 2761dry solids 199 293 492pulp % solids w / w 11 . 6 28 . 1 17 . 8 % weight split 40 . 4 59 . 6 100volume ( cc ) 1593 862 2455 % volume split 64 . 9 35 . 1 100wt . of particles of size & gt ; 53μ 0 . 0324 2 . 3156 % wt . of particles of size & gt ; 53μ 0 . 0163 0 . 7895 0 . 4771ratio ( r ) of length of vortex finder 0 . 95 : 1and extension tube to internaldiameter of cylindrical chamber______________________________________ ______________________________________ over - under - flow flow feed______________________________________pulp weight ( g ) ( solids + h . sub . 2 o ) 1428 947 2375dry solids 162 263 425pulp % solids w / w 11 . 3 27 . 8 17 . 9 % weight split 38 . 1 61 . 9 100volume ( cc ) 1332 784 2116 % volume split 62 . 9 37 . 1 100wt . of particles of size & gt ; 53μ 0 . 0174 2 . 1100 % wt . of particles of size & gt ; 53μ 0 . 0107 0 . 8019 0 . 5005ratio ( r ) of length of vortex finder 1 . 64 : 1and extension tube to internaldiameter of cylindrical chamber______________________________________ ______________________________________ over - under - flow flow feed______________________________________pulp weight ( g ) ( solids + h . sub . 2 o ) 1596 890 2486dry solids 181 225 406pulp % solids w / w 11 . 3 25 . 3 16 . 3 % weight split 44 . 6 55 . 4 100volume ( cc ) 1489 753 2242 % volume split 66 . 4 33 . 6 100wt . of particles of size & gt ; 53μ 0 . 0104 1 . 5313 % wt . of particles of size & gt ; 53μ 0 . 0057 0 . 6820 0 . 3804ratio ( r ) of length of vortex finder 2 . 32 : 1and extension tube to internaldiameter of cylindrical chamber______________________________________ tests were carried out with a mozley type c516 , 125 mm hydrocyclone fitted with two body extensions 14 with and without extension tubes 9 . the following conditions applied to all the tests : feed : china clay feed suspension to the 125 mm hydrocyclone separation stage of the eclp workings , st . austell . ______________________________________feed pressure : 206 . 85 kpainternal diameter of underflow outlet 5 : 15 mminternal diameter of overflow outlet 8 : 40 mmdimension of rectangular inlet 3 : 27 . 5 × 23 mminternal diameter of cylinder chamber : 125 mmcombined length of the body extensions 14 : 300 mmconical taper of lower part : 10 ° length of vortex finder 7 within the 65 mmhydrocyclone chamber______________________________________ ______________________________________ over - under - flow flow feed______________________________________pulp weight ( g ) ( solids + h . sub . 2 o ) 9832 333 10165dry solids 1622 162 1784pulp % solids w / w 16 . 5 48 . 7 17 . 6 % weight split 90 . 9 9 . 1 100volume ( cc ) 8866 233 9099 % volume split 97 . 4 2 . 6 100 % wt . of particles of size & gt ; 53μ 0 . 99 24 . 79ratio ( r ) of length of vortex 0 . 52 : 1finder to internal diameter ofcylindrical chamber______________________________________ ______________________________________ over - under - flow flow feed______________________________________pulp weight ( g ) ( solids + h . sub . 2 o ) 9038 361 9399dry solids 1491 172 1663pulp % solids w / w 16 . 5 47 . 6 17 . 7 % weight split 89 . 7 10 . 3 100volume ( cc ) 8091 254 8345 % volume split 97 . 0 3 . 0 100 % wt . of particles of size & gt ; 53μ 0 . 92 26 . 07ratio ( r ) of length of vortex finder 1 . 12 : 1and extension tube to internaldiameter of cylindrical chamber______________________________________ ______________________________________ over - under - flow flow feed______________________________________pulp weight ( g ) ( solids + h . sub . 2 o ) 9084 344 9428dry solids 1508 166 1674pulp % solids w / w 16 . 6 48 . 2 17 . 7 % weight split 90 . 1 9 . 9 100volume ( cc ) 8191 242 8433 % volume split 97 . 1 2 . 9 100 % wt . of particles of size & gt ; 53μ 0 . 73 26 . 00ratio ( r ) of length of vortex finder 1 . 32 : 1and extension tube to internaldiameter of cylindrical chamber______________________________________ ______________________________________ over - under - flow flow feed______________________________________pulp weight ( g ) ( solids + h . sub . 2 o ) 9202 339 9541dry solids 1528 162 1690pulp % solids w / w 16 . 6 47 . 7 17 . 7 % weight split 90 . 4 9 . 6 100volume ( cc ) 8238 239 8477 % volume split 97 . 1 2 . 9 100 % wt . of particles of size & gt ; 53μ 0 . 71 27 . 67ratio ( r ) of length of vortex finder 1 . 56 : 1and extension tube to internaldiameter of cylindrical chamber______________________________________ ______________________________________ over - under - flow flow feed______________________________________pulp weight ( g ) ( solids + h . sub . 2 o ) 8125 452 8577dry solids 1129 203 1332pulp % solids w / w 13 . 9 44 . 9 15 . 5 % weight split 84 . 8 15 . 2 100volume ( cc ) 7427 327 7754 % volume split 95 . 8 4 . 2 100 % wt . of particles of size & gt ; 53μ 0 . 49 15 . 47ratio ( r ) of length of vortex finder 2 . 22 : 1and extension tube to internaldiameter of cylindrical chamber______________________________________ in the above tests , the actual % by weight of particles larger than 53μ in the overflow from the 125 mm hydrocyclone ( example 2 ) was larger than for the 44 mm hydrocyclone ( example 1 ) because of the higher cut point of the larger hydrocyclone . it will be seen that hydrocyclones fitted with the vortex finder extension tubes 9 reduced the overflow content of particles larger than 53μ compared with similar hydrocyclones without the extension tubes . indeed , in the tests carried out , the results given , in terms of the removal of larger particles from the overflow , improved steadily with increase in the length of the extension tube , useful improvements being obtained with values of &# 34 ; r &# 34 ; of the order of 2 : 1 , that is , above about 1 . 5 : 1 , the best results being obtained with values of r of about 2 . 3 : 1 . in tests carried out with even longer extension tubes it was found that the extremely strong rotational forces acting on the extension tube caused vibrations which produced disturbances in the flows and / or mechanical failure , or would have caused failure in time , so that accurate results were not obtainable . the indications were , however , that , in more stable apparatus , improved results would be obtained with values of &# 34 ; r &# 34 ; of up to 2 . 5 : 1 and perhaps more . it may be noted that , in the case of the 4th test in example 1 , the % by weight of particles larger than 53μ was reduced to 0 . 0057 % which is slightly better than the separation achieved with a dorr oliver settler (% by weight of particles & gt ; 53μ = 0 . 006 %). further tests were carried out with the hydrocyclone used in example 1 , with added body extensions 14 . the results in terms of the removal of particles larger than 53μ were not as good as for the hydrocyclone without body extensions but , with the longer vortexfinder extensions ( 45 mm and 75 mm ), were at least better than for the unmodified hydrocyclone . the use of body extensions , in general , gives a better throughput and lower cut point . it will be appreciated that , although the invention has been described in its application to the separation of kaolin particles , it may equally well be applied to the separation of other materials . | 1 |
the present invention vessel can be described as a marine attack sled , since it has a configuration creating a tri - point contact with the water at high speed . the bottom of the v - shaped bow in combination with the rear portion of its two lateral rails provide the three water contact points . a water jet intake is located aft the v - shaped bow , with the water jet discharge located through the transom above the water line . thus , the present invention is allowed to plane in a straight ahead mode at high speed while the wet area aft of the bow , when the vessel is running at high speed in flattened water , is maintained at a minimum for improved fuel efficiency , performance , turning without loss of velocity , and less backwash disturbance . when at idle or at low speed , the present invention vessel sits low in the water . however , at high speeds it simply climbs out of the water with only its tri - point areas remaining in contact therewith . a portion of the bow must remain in the water so as to provide a means of water intake for the jet intake that is typically located immediately aft of the v - shaped bow . when a right or left turn is entered upon , the present invention vessel does not drop from its level of planing or lose speed , as conventional naval vessels tend to do . instead , in a very fast and tight turn , the present invention vessel will climb up on top of the water &# 39 ; s surface on its port or starboard rail bottoms , as shown in the left turn in fig8 . the outboard rail relative to the turn climbs out of the water , while the inboard rail drops down into the water to grip and maintain directional stability , as shown in fig7 . the lower bow does not have provisions to cause lift above the surface of the water , thereby water intake into its water jet is not interrupted in a hard turn . suction is rarely compromised . however , if suction is lost , recovery is instantaneous when the hull returns to running depth . it must be remembered that the wet area is held to a minimum , even in a turn , as well as in a forwardly direction . when the present invention marine vessel is running slowly , the hull will sink down to a low profile . in this mode , the discharge of the water jet remains above the water line , which makes it approximately sixty percent more effective that if would be configured to discharge fluid under water . this can be understood more readily with a comparison to a water hose pushed down into a bucket full of water . as the nozzle goes under the water &# 39 ; s surface , one will feel a lessening of the force or reaction of the nozzle against one &# 39 ; s hand . however , when the nozzle is pulled out of the bucket , the hose will very nearly pull away from one &# 39 ; s grasp , or at least try to pull away . testing of the present invention was performed on a scale model approximately thirty inches in length and bears out the following stability characteristics . however , size is not considered a limiting factor and it is contemplated for the present invention to be thirty feet in length , sixty feet in length , one hundred feet in length , or any other needed length dimension appropriate to an intended application . one contemplated military application of the present invention structure is for that of a torpedo boat that is able to make hard left and right turns at full speed , without losing any velocity . since the present invention configuration creates little disturbed backwash it greatly reduces the tendency to bounce in a hard turn . one advantage of reduced bouncing is that a more stable platform is provided during hard turns for the use of deck guns . another advantage is that when a torpedo is released in a turn , the torpedo can be released much closer to the surface of the water . further , when a fleet of present invention vessels are seen on the horizon at idle or at slow speed , their profile is low and they would appear as flat fishing boats instead of military vessels . in addition , when the fleet is running at speed , the wake is minimized to a light trail that will diminish rapidly to a flow of flattened water . such flattened flow can allow the vessels to follow closely in line . further , the present invention vessels can approach a point of attack at high speed , thus enhancing its stealth and covert movement . since the present invention also successfully negotiates very choppy seas , and can be used in rolling seas although at slightly slower speeds than flat seas , use of the present invention with any efficient turbine engine would significantly upgrade existing military ‘ swift ’ boat patrol fleets . fig1 – 5 show the construction of the hull 28 of the most preferred embodiment 2 of the present invention , as well as that of its bow 4 and transom 10 , while fig6 – 9 show the rudders 22 and reverse gate 16 used by most preferred embodiment 2 for steering , idle , turns , and reverse of direction . fig1 shows most preferred embodiment 2 having front - to - back sections designated with progressively higher alphabet markings , a central power unit 26 , and rails 8 p ( on the port side ) and 8 s ( on the starboard side ) extending rearwardly beyond transom 10 . fig2 also shows most preferred embodiment 2 with the same front - to - back alphabetically marked sections designated in fig1 , bow 4 having a v - shaped configuration , a water jet intake 12 aft of the lowest portion 6 of the v - shaped bow 4 , and its water jet discharge 14 through transom 10 above the line w - b / w - s indicating the approximate line anticipated for the water surface level relative to hull 28 while it is at slow speed or idle . fig3 a shows bow 4 having a v - shaped configuration , with some of the section lines in fig1 and 2 present on the right half of the illustration to identify the location of front - to - back sections in hull 28 relative to bow 4 . fig3 a also shows the lowest point 6 on bow 4 and the rear portion of two lateral rails 8 p and 8 s providing the three contact points with the water when most preferred embodiment 2 rises up out of the water to travel at high speed . fig3 b – 3 f are front views of some of the front - to - back sections in most preferred embodiment 2 , and represent the sections a – g as shown in fig1 and 2 , while fig4 is a middle section taken along line g — g in fig6 and 7 and which is approximately equivalent to the section g marked fig1 and 2 . fig5 shows that its water jet discharge 14 is located through its transom 10 and established above the line w - p / w - s representing the water surface supporting hull 28 at slow speeds and at idle . fig6 – 7 show most preferred embodiment 2 having a reverse gate 16 and rudders 22 in line with the water jet discharge 14 in the transom 10 , while fig8 – 9 show most preferred embodiment 2 in a left turn , with fig8 looking at bow 4 and fig9 looking at transom 10 , with a large arrow in each illustration showing the direction of the turn and a first line showing the water surface relative to the vessel , a second line showing a vertical position relative to the water surface , and a third line showing the direction of force experienced by the vessel during the turn . fig1 is a top view of the most preferred embodiment 2 of the present invention with its rails 8 p and 8 s extending rearwardly beyond transom 10 . it is not critical for rails 8 p or 8 s to extend beyond transom 10 , and the length and width dimensions of rails 8 p and 8 s may be proportionally larger or smaller than shown . as shown in fig4 , buoyancy material 20 may be added on top of rails 8 p and 8 s to lower the risk of sinking after a collision . the forward parts of rails 8 p and 8 s are narrow so bow 4 has minimal lift and the water jet intake 12 stays nearly all of the time below the water line w - b / w - s ( shown in fig2 ). although fig1 shows rails 8 p and 8 s starting approximately one - half of the distance between the foremost part of bow 4 and the water jet intake 12 , such positioning is not critical . fig1 further shows a power unit 26 in its preferred central position within most preferred embodiment 2 . since water jet intake 12 ( shown in fig2 ) and water jet discharge 14 operate without an external propeller , the safety of most preferred embodiment 2 during its operation is enhanced . the sections a – e in fig1 and 2 represent the bow 4 of most preferred embodiment 2 , while sections e – p between bow 4 and transom 10 represent the structure comprising the mid - portion of hull 28 . further in fig1 , line l / a represents the center line of most preferred embodiment 2 along its deck 34 , lines l / b - p and l / bs respectively represent the port and starboard edges of deck 34 , line l / c represents the chine of most preferred embodiment 2 , line l / d represents the lower edge of the rails 8 of most preferred embodiment 2 , line l / e represents the center line of most preferred embodiment 2 along its keel , and line l / r represents the top rail line of most preferred embodiment 2 . the top rail lines l / r rearward from water jet intake 12 are approximately parallel to lines l / a and l / e . fig2 is a side view of the most preferred embodiment 2 of the present invention with its bow 4 having a v - shaped configuration , its water jet intake 12 aft of the lowest point 6 of the v - shaped configuration of bow 4 , and its water jet discharge 14 through transom 10 above the proposed water line designated from bow to stem by the line w - b / w - s . also , fig2 shows deck 34 substantially parallel to water line w - b / w - s . fig2 further shows power unit 26 centrally within hull 28 , port rail 8 p , and reverse gate 16 rearwardly from and in line with water jet discharge 14 . fig2 further shows the same sections a – p show for hull 28 in fig1 , with line l / a representing the center line of most preferred embodiment 2 along its deck 34 , lines l / b representing the edge of deck 34 , line l / c representing the chine of hull 28 , line l / d representing the lower edge of rail 8 p , line l / e representing the center line of most preferred embodiment 2 along its keel , and line l / r representing the top line of rail 8 in the most preferred embodiment 2 . the top rail line l / r is approximately parallel to lines l / a and l / e . only the rearmost portion of rail 8 p is shown in fig2 for clarity of illustration , while the full configuration of rails 8 p and 8 s is shown in fig1 . fig3 shows the most preferred embodiment 2 of the present invention with its bow having a v - shaped configuration , and section lines a – g on the right side of hull 28 as they would appear to a viewer ( not shown ) looking from bow 4 toward transom 10 . in combination with the lowest point 6 of bow 4 , the rear portion of lateral rails 8 p and 8 s provide the three contact points with the water when most preferred embodiment 2 rises up out of the water to travel at high speed . each line a – f has three distinct parts each marked with its alphabetical designation , a substantially horizontally - extending upper section line designating the configuration of the section on deck 34 , a substantially vertically - extending port - side section line , and an angled lower section line that defines the configuration of the section under bow 4 . one reference to section g is also shown on the lower right side of the illustration . since horizontally - extending section a is the forward most section relative to deck 34 , with b , c , d , e , and f in that order positioned one behind the other , the horizontally - extending upper section line a as it would be observed from deck 34 appears in front of horizontally - extending upper section line b , horizontally - extending upper section line b appears in front of horizontally - extending upper section line c , c before d , d before e , and e before f . similarly , since the v - shape of bow 4 requires section a to have the highest underside curvature , the angled lower section line a is higher than angled lower section line b , with angled lower section line b being higher than angled lower section line c , c higher than d , d higher than e , and e higher than f or g . with respect to the vertically - extending port - side lines for sections a – f that are located on the far right side of the illustration , vertically - extending port - side section line a is to the left of vertically - extending port - side section line b , vertically - extending port - side section line b is to the left of vertically - extending port - side section line c , with c left of d , and d slightly to the left of e and f . fig3 b – 3 f respectively show the individual shapes of sections a – e that substantially form bow 4 of most preferred embodiment 2 . fig3 b shows the section a of fig1 and 2 having a pentagonal configuration , with an elongated upper line between the two opposing points identified as l / b - s and l / b - p defining deck 34 and the point identified as l / a being the centerline of most preferred embodiment 2 along its deck 34 . below deck 34 , two opposing line segments between points l / b and l / c define the upper portion of bow 4 , with the lower concave segments between points l / c and l / e defining the lower portion of bow 4 . the two points l / b represent the opposing lateral edges of deck 34 , l / c represents the chine on opposing sides of hull 28 , and l / e represents the keel line of most preferred embodiment 2 . with respect to l / a and l / e , the two l / b &# 39 ; s are located at a significantly greater distance from l / a and l / e than the two l / c &# 39 ; s . in fig3 c , the configuration of bow 4 in the section b of fig1 and 2 shows the two l / b &# 39 ; s nearly the same distance from l / a and l / e as the two l / c &# 39 ; s . while the lower central portion of section b immediately above l / e is substantially similar in size and configuration to that shown in section a ( see fig3 b ), the upper portion of section b ( in fig3 c ) has a more rectangular configuration , while the overall appearance of section a is that of a triangle even though it has five distinct line segments that make it an irregular pentagon . in contrast and as shown in fig3 d , the section c from fig1 and 2 has an overall appearance similar to that of section b ( as previously shown in fig3 c ), with its upper portion being proportionally larger than is shown for section b ( in fig3 c ). however , in the section c shown in fig3 d , one is able to distinguish points l / d which represent the lower edge of rails 8 and were not present in sections a or b . fig3 e further shows the section d of fig1 and 2 having an overall appearance similar to that of section c ( as shown in fig3 d ), with its upper portion being proportionally larger than is shown for section c and points l / c and l / d spaced a little further away from one another as rails 8 p and 8 s widen in configuration through the mid - section of hull 28 . also , the extension 18 of rails 8 p and 8 s beyond chine l / c is not shown in fig3 a – 3 f for clarity of illustration . as shown in fig3 f , the section e of fig1 and 2 has an overall appearance similar to that of section d ( as shown in fig3 e ), except that its point l / e does not extend as far below l / d and l / c as is shown in fig3 e since the configuration of keel l / e starts to become increasingly elevated in sections e – p to create tri - point contact with the water , as shown in fig2 . fig4 shows a middle section of most preferred embodiment 2 which is approximately equivalent to the section g in fig1 and 2 , and is taken along line g – g in fig6 and 7 . fig4 shows the line l / a representing the center line of most preferred embodiment 2 along its deck 34 , the two lines l / b - p and l / b - s respectively representing the port and starboard edges of deck 34 , the two lines l / c representing the port and starboard chine of most preferred embodiment 2 , the two lines l / d representing the lower edges of the port and starboard rails 8 p and 8 s , line l / e representing the center line of most preferred embodiment 2 along its keel , and lines l / r represents the top lines of rails 8 p and 8 s in the rail extensions 18 shown in fig4 and 5 extending beyond chine l / c . fig4 also shows hull 28 having a water jet 24 therethrough near to keel line l / e , and buoyancy material 20 secured to the top portions of rails 8 p and 8 s for added buoyancy in the event that most preferred embodiment is involved in a collision . when most preferred embodiment 2 is at speed and going in a forwardly direction , most of the area designated by the number 30 remains dry , with the wet area in contact with the water being restricted to an area in bow 4 at the lowest portion 6 of its v - shaped configuration and lowest areas l / d on the rear portions of rails 8 p and 8 s . fig5 is a rear view of the most preferred embodiment 2 of the present invention showing the water jet discharge 14 through its transom 14 above the proposed water line w - p / w - s for travel at slow speeds and idle . point l / e representing the keel line is at its highest elevation at transom 10 ( as also shown in fig1 ), creating a semi - circular appearance of the curved line l / d - l / e - l / d . when traveling at high speed , the area designated by the number 30 climbs out of the water and is no longer a wet area , with water contact then being a tri - point contact using only the lowest portion 6 of bow 4 and the rearmost portions of rails 8 s and 8 p . a substantial portion of the area 30 of hull 28 adjacent to curved line l / d - l / e - l / d is dry while most preferred embodiment operates at speed in a forwardly direction , with points l / d on the rear portions of rails 8 p and 8 s then providing the main contact with the water . in contrast , as shown in fig8 and 9 , in making turns the outboard rail relative to the turn climbs out of the water ( rail 8 s in fig8 and 9 ), while the inboard rail ( rail 8 p in fig8 and 9 ) drops down into the water to grip and maintain directional stability . fig5 shows buoyancy material 20 secured to the upper portion of rails 8 p and 8 s above rail extension 18 , with line l / a representing the center line of most preferred embodiment 2 along its deck 34 , the two lines l / b - p and l / b - s respectively representing the port and starboard edges of deck 34 , the two lines l / c representing the port and starboard chine of most preferred embodiment 2 , the two lines l / d representing the lower edges of the port and starboard rails 8 p and 8 s , line l / e representing the center line of most preferred embodiment 2 along its keel , and lines l / r represents the top lines of rails 8 p and 8 s in most preferred embodiment 2 . fig6 and 7 show most preferred embodiment 2 with a reverse gate 16 and two rudders 22 positioned rearward from and in line with transom 10 . in contrast to prior art marine vessels ( not shown ), due to the high elevation of point l / e at transom 10 , the reverse gate 16 directs water under the water jet discharge 14 into the area marked by the number 30 in fig4 and 5 , and not toward transom 10 . the configuration of rudders 22 and reverse gate 16 are not critical and each may have conventional configurations . fig6 and 7 both show centrally positioned power units , bow 4 , deck 34 , rail 8 p , water jet 24 , the lowest portion 6 of bow 4 , water jet intake 12 aft of lowest point 6 , and section line g — g . in addition , fig6 shows hull 28 between bow 4 and transom 10 , and line l / r representing the top line of rail 8 p in most preferred embodiment 2 . fig7 also shows rail 8 s . fig8 and 9 show most preferred embodiment 2 in a left turn , with fig8 showing a front view from bow 4 and fig9 showing a rear view from transom 10 . the inboard rail ( which is 8 p in a left turn ) drops below the water surface to grip and maintain directional stability . water intake at water jet intake 12 is not interrupted , and as shown in fig8 the lowest portion 6 of bow 4 and water jet intake 12 remain under the water surface designated as w - s . as a routine , there is no bow lift during a turn by most preferred embodiment 2 , unless unusually choppy seas are encountered , and when water jet intake 12 does come out of the water , the speed of most preferred embodiment 2 slows sufficiently to cause a lowering of its profile relative to water surface w - s , thereby promptly replacing water jet intake 12 under water surface w - s so that it can again draw in water for propulsion . also , as shown in fig9 , a large portion of the area designated by the number 30 remains out of contact with the water during a turn , creating a faster and smoother turn than can be achieved by conventional marine vessels of similar size ( not shown ), with less bounce . thus , the water jet discharge 14 of the most preferred embodiment 2 of the present invention is preferably above the water line w - s while at rest , at full speed , in turns , and in reverse . loss of planing height while in turns at any speed above idle is prevented by the present invention hull 28 configuration . further , there is no bouncing of most preferred embodiment 2 at high speeds due to its tri - point contact with water surface w - s . turning is positive since the sliding sideways motion experienced with conventional marine vessels is all but eliminated by the inboard rail ( 8 p in fig8 and 9 ) dropping below the water surface w - s and gripping the water to maintain directional stability . in addition , the buoyancy of most preferred embodiment 2 at rest provides a low profile in the water due to the sled configuration of its planing surfaces , which allows hull 28 to lower itself in the water . this also considerably reduces the wet area under the hull 28 along the center line l / e aft of the water jet intake 12 , with such dry area being designated by the number 30 in fig4 , 5 , and 9 . with a reduced wet area , most preferred embodiment 2 can attain higher speeds with a given power source . additionally , by providing buoyancy material 20 on the top of the extensions 18 of sled rails 8 p and 8 s , sinking after an underwater collision would be less apt to occur . also , at speed forward observation is good since the configuration and placement of rails 8 p and 8 s keep bow 4 low and water jet intake 12 under water surface w - s , with the lift from the sled rails 8 p and 8 s beginning well aft of the v - shaped configuration of the bow 4 and water jet intake 12 . | 1 |
the method according to the invention may use a system , indicated generally by the numeral 20 , which has multiple stations , indicated generally by the numeral 21 . each station 21 has a hopper unit , indicated generally by the numeral 22 , a storage unit , indicated generally by the numeral 23 , and a compactor unit , indicated generally by the numeral 24 . each compactor unit 24 has a detector means , indicated generally by the numeral 25 . adjoining stations 21 are operatively interconnected by a station selector means , indicated generally by the numeral 26 . as shown in fig1 a system 20 consists of two or more stations 21 . the system 20 may be manually operated , but in the preferred embodiment is operated as a fully automatic , drive - through system , triggered by vehicle arrival and departure . the stations 21 may be arranged linearly , but for convenience are preferably arranged in parallel pairs , symmetrical about a common access road 27 . when referred to individually , the left - hand station will be designated 21a , and the right - hand station 21b . the units of each individual station 21 are linearly arranged . a medial hopper unit 22 is a box - like receptacle , the upper portion of which is open or openable for the deposit of solid waste . the hopper unit 22 is open at opposed ends to communicate with terminal storage and compactor units , 23 and 24 respectively . a hopper unit 22 may be a passive mechanical structure , the sole function of which is to receive waste , as described below as an alternative embodiment . preferably , a hopper unit 22 is an active and participating link in a waste handling station 21 , oriented toward convenience and safety . with specific reference to fig4 and 5 , the upper portion of the hopper unit 22 is normally closed by a door 28 pivotally mounted or hinged at one edge by a shaft 29 and having secured thereto at the opposite or free edge a yieldable flap 30 . for safety reasons , the door 28 is hinged at the top and adapted to open upwardly and within the hopper unit 22 by a door drive means 31 , for example a hydraulic cylinder 32 , actuated by a suitable hopper control means 33 . the flap 30 is a safety precaution , preventing personal injury upon closing of the door 28 . the flap 30 also serves to assure that an overloaded hopper unit 22 will not prevent the door 28 from closing . as illustrated in fig6 a projection 34 , which may be a generally &# 34 ; l - shaped &# 34 ; finger , extends outwardly from one end of the shaft 29 . as the door 28 swings open and closed , the shaft 29 rotates back and forth , causing the finger 34 to oscillate between a down position when the door is closed and an upper position when the door is open . as the door 28 opens , the finger 34 moves upwardly into engagement with an upper limit switch 35 , operatively connected with the hopper control means 33 , and positioned so as to stop the door 28 in a predetermined open position . a check valve 36 prevents accidental closing of the door 28 . similarly , as the door closes , the finger 34 moves downwardly into engagement with a lower limit switch 37 , also operatively connected with the hopper control means 33 , and positioned so as to stop the door 28 in a predetermined closed position . the hopper control means 33 , which triggers the initial opening and closing movement of the door 28 , may be manual or automatic , and manual operational controls may be provided as a stand - by in the event of a failure in the automatic operational controls . preferably , the hopper control means 33 operates automatically in response to a sensor means , indicated generally by the numeral 38 . the sensor means 38 may be any device capable of detecting the presence or absence of a vehicle or other object adjacent a door 28 , in response to weight , signal interruption , or otherwise . for reasons of installation simplicity and low maintenance requirements , an ultrasonic sensor , marketed under the registered trademark sonac , has been chosen for use in the preferred embodiment . referring to fig1 and 7 , an ultrasonic signal 39 , indicated by a broken line , is generated between the terminals 40 of the sensor means 38 . the hopper control means 33 is responsively connected to the sensor means 38 by suitable circuitry , such that the hopper control means 33 is alternatively actuated to open and close the door 28 upon interruption and restoration , respectively , of the signal 39 . the response of the hopper control means 33 to the sensor means 38 may be time - delayed by conventional means to require signal interruption for a predetermined time so as to avoid unnecessary actuation by a mere passer - by . a hopper unit 22 is positioned intermediate a storage unit 23 and a compactor unit 24 . a storage unit 23 is a removable bin or container for accumulating waste , and may be of the type described in u . s . pat . no . 3 , 897 , 882 . the storage unit 23 has an opening in one end thereof corresponding with an open end of a hopper unit 22 , to receive waste ejected therefrom . the storage unit 23 is secured to the hopper unit 22 by a suitable fastening means 41 , capable of withstanding forces generated by the compacting operation . as shown in fig2 and 3 , a compactor unit 24 comprises a compactor means 42 , which may be an elongated ram 43 , reciprocally driven by suitable drive means 44 , such as dual hydraulic cylinders 45 . the ram 43 is adapted to traverse the hopper unit 22 , and is guided therethrough as by dual ram flanges 46 slidably engaged within opposed hopper channels 47 . referring again to fig7 the lower limit switch 37 on the hopper unit 22 performs a dual function . in addition to stopping the hopper door 28 in the closed position , the switch 37 triggers the operation of the compactor unit 24 . the lower limit switch 37 is connected to a compactor control means 48 by suitable circuitry so as to actuate the compactor unit 24 upon engagement of the switch 37 by the finger 34 . the ram 43 is thereby caused to reciprocate through the hopper unit 22 . the compacting cycle is timed , and the ram 43 is actuated for a predetermined period of time , permitting waste to be transferred to a storage unit 23 , while preventing continuous reciprocation of the ram 43 . the compactor control means 48 may be adapted to permit completion of a commenced stroke of the cylinders 45 at the end of the timed compacting cycle , so as to stop the ram 43 in a retracted or rearward position , leaving the hopper unit 22 empty and in a condition for receiving additional waste . similarly , upon re - interruption of the signal 39 before completion of the timed compacting cycle , the ram 43 is permitted to complete the stroke in progress at the instant of engagement of the upper limit switch 35 by the finger 34 , before coming to rest in the retracted position . as waste accumulates in the storage unit 23 , the waste is compacted to an increasing density . the ram 43 accordingly meets with increased resistance in traversing the hopper unit 22 . associated with a compactor unit 24 is a detector means 25 for determining when a storage unit 23 is packed with waste having reached a predetermined density . as shown , the detector means 25 may be a pressure switch 49 to detect the increased pressure in the hydraulic fluid driving the ram 43 . adjoining stations 21 are operatively interconnected by suitable circuitry , including a station selector means or switch - over device 26 . the selector means 26 is responsive to the detector means 25 . when the waste in a storage unit 23 is packed to a predetermined density , the detector means 25 actuates the station selector means 26 . upon completion of the timed cycle of the compactor unit 24 , the packed station 21 is thereby deactivated and an adjoining station 21 having an empty storage unit 23 will subsequently be responsive to the sensor means 38 . each station 21 has a signal means 50 , which may be a light 51 , to indicate which station 21 is activated for use . as shown in fig4 and 5 , the light 51 is similar to a traffic signal , with green indicating activation and red indicating deactivation . a conventional transmitting means 52 is provided each station 21 to signal the need for emptying a packed storage unit 23 . the method of operating of a waste handling system 20 according to the invention is best described with reference to fig1 and 7 . as a vehicle ( not shown ) approaches the system 20 , a signal means 50 will indicate which station 21 , in this case 21a , is activated for use . the vehicle proceeds along the access road 27 until the ultrasonic signal 39 is interrupted , triggering the cycle of operation . when the signal 39 has been interrupted for a predetermined period of time , the hopper control means 33 is actuated . the hopper door 28 swings open until the finger 34 engages the upper limit switch 35 . waste is then deposited in the exposed empty hopper unit 22 . upon departure of the vehicle , the ultrasonic signal 39 is restored , again actuating the hopper control means 33 . the door 28 swings downwardly until the finger 34 engages the lower limit switch 37 , triggering the compactor unit 24 . the compactor control means 48 is actuated , and the ram 43 traverses the hopper unit 22 , transferring the deposited waste to the storage unit 23 and compacting the accumulated waste to an increasingly high density . the compactor unit 24 is actuated for a predetermined period of time , completing the cycle of operation . the cycle may be repeated until the detector means 25 determines that the storage unit 23 of station 21a is packed . the station selector means 26 is then actuated to deactivate station 21a upon completion of the cycle , and to activate adjoining station 21b having an empty storage unit 23 . the signal means 50 of station 21a will turn red and that of station 21b will turn green , reflecting the switch - over . the transmitting means 52 associated with deactivated station 21a will signal the need for emptying the packed storage unit 23 . | 1 |
the invention will be described in more detail hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings , wherein like reference characters refer to the same parts throughout the several views and in which : fig1 is a schematic diagram of the preferred embodiment of the present optical frequency encoding normal shock sensing system ; fig2 is a graphical representation of the present shadowgraph detection mechanism showing color gradient filter location in the present system , the intensity pattern on the color gradient filter , and the color gradient filter output frequency content ; and , fig3 is a graphical representation of the optical frequency encoding gradient color filter characteristics . turning now to fig1 illustrative of the present optical frequency encoding system for normal shock and position sensing in which a broadband light source 10 , an optical fiber and a collimating system 24 are utilized to provide collimated light 20 to the inlet area 22 of an aircraft engine where shock position detection is to be made . in the collimating system 24 , optical fiber output is allowed to expand to cover the linear space over which the normal shock will travel . the expanded beam is passed through collimating lens 24 . the collimated beam is allowed to interact with the phenomena of interest , in this case the modulating phenomena 26 being normal shock ( ns ). the effect of ns is to cause the light 20 to bend or refract at points of contact with the ns , as seen at 28 in fig2 . the result is generation of a shadow falling on color gradient filter 30 . turning now briefly to fig2 wherein the shadowgraph mechanism is more clearly seen , it should be noted that color gradient filter 30 is located at 31 adjacent inlet wall 32 , while broadband collimated light eminates from collimating system 24 located at 32 , adjacent inlet wall 33 . color gradient filter 30 has the property of varying its bandpass as a function of linear distance , as seen in plot 60 of fig3 . returning to fig2 a plot 40 of intensity versus distance shows the intensity pattern imposed on color gradient filter 30 . plot 42 shows the resulting filter output intensity as a function of frequency . in addition , since the filter bandpass frequencies are linearly related to linear displacement along the filter , plot 42 represents the encoding of the shock position information as a function of frequency . in fig2 ρ corresponds to air density while n corresponds to the index of refraction and n 1 sin θ 1 = n 2 sin θ 2 and ρ 2 , n 2 & gt ; ρ 1 , n 1 . the refracted beam resulting in a shadow does not energize the wavelength corresponding to the position of the shadow . this results in attenuation of this frequency or a frequency shadow . returning to fig1 it may be observed that exiting beam 50 out of gradient color filter 30 is coupled and combined through optics ( e . g ., converging linear optical array 52 and a plurality of optical tapers 54 ) to an optical fiber , and then further transmitted downstream through this optical fiber to signal processing means 58 . signal processing means 58 passes the light through demodulator 60 comprising a prism or grating for expanding the light into component frequencies . a collimator 62 then receives the light , which is passed to the ccd 68 . the frequency shadow 64 , thus developed , is seen by the linear charge coupled device ( ccd ) 68 . ns movement results in attenuation and amplification of a narrow range of frequencies . the modulated frequencies are detected by linear charge coupled device 68 , where they are spatially resolved in a method somewhat analogous to frequency to voltage conversion . suitable readout electronics 70 provides position signal 72 . the present system and method is useful in the measurement of various shadow producing objects ; e . g ., a position feedback indicator for use in a closed loop actuation system . the foregoing disclosure and description of the invention are illustrative and explanatory thereof , and further modifications thereof may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention , defined only by the following claims . | 8 |
fig1 a is a flowchart describing the preferred method of performing closed loop resource allocation according to the present invention . it will be understood by one skilled in the art that the steps illustrated in fig1 a represent no preferred ordering sequence and that the order of the steps may be changed without departing from the scope of the present invention . moreover , steps of the present invention may be eliminated altogether without departing from the scope of the present invention . in the exemplary embodiment , the present invention is employed to determine the data rate of reverse link transmissions from a subscriber station . in block 100 , the subscriber station selects an initial desired rate ( r step1 ) based on the buffer state . in the exemplary embodiment , the data rate is determined on a per packet basis . fig1 b is a flowchart describing the rate selection based on the buffer state in greater detail . in block 110 , the subscriber station determines the number of bytes in its transmit buffer ( q length ). in block 112 , the subscriber station determines the parameters r min and r max . r min and r max are the minimum rate and the maximum rate at which the subscriber station is capable of transmitting . in the exemplary embodiment , r max for a particular subscriber station can optionally be set by the serving base station by means of over the air signaling . an exemplary set of rates ( r ) in kbps and corresponding packet sizes ( p size ( r )) in information bytes for those rates is illustrated in table 1 below . in control block 114 , the subscriber station determines whether the number of bytes of information in the transmit buffer is greater than the packet size for the maximum transmission rate . in the case of the exemplary numerology , the maximum rate is 307 . 2 kbps and the corresponding maximum packet size is 2048 bytes . if the number of bytes of information in the transmit buffer is greater than the packet size for the maximum transmission rate , then in block 116 variable r buffer is set equal to r max . if the number of bytes of information in the transmit buffer is not greater than the packet size for the maximum transmission rate , then in block 118 variable r buffer is set to the lowest available rate at which the entire contents of the transmit buffer ( q lenght ) can be transmitted in a single packet . in block 119 , the subscriber station determines the rate of its last transmission ( r previous ). in the preferred embodiment , this value is stored in ram and overwritten after each transmission . in block 120 , a temporary rate variable r step1 is set to the minimum of either the rate indicated by r buffer or twice the rate r previous . in the exemplary embodiment , the buffer of the subscriber station is separated into two portions . a first portion includes new data for transmission and the second portion includes rlp ( radio link protocol ) data , which are packets that were previously transmitted but could be retransmitted . in the preferred embodiment , a flag f buffer is set when the new data buffer of the subscriber station is nearly full . in response to the setting of the nearly full buffer flag , the subscriber station adjusts is rate selection algorithm . in a first exemplary embodiment , the subscriber station adjusts the rate selection algorithm so as to bias its transmission rate to one of increasing the transmission rate , as will be described in greater detail further in . in an alternative embodiment , the subscriber station transmits at a predetermined higher rate . it will be understood that one skilled in art can modify the responses to the setting of a full buffer flag so as to increase the transmission rate in a variety of ways that are all within the scope of the present invention . for fairness , the f buffer flag should not be set for more than n buffer times ( e . g . 25 ) out of the last 100 packets . returning to fig1 a , the operation moves to block 102 wherein the subscriber station determines the maximum rate based on the power headroom ( r step2 ). fig1 c illustrates the operation performed in step 102 is greater detail . in block 122 , the subscriber station determines the maximum transmit power ( p max ) at which the ) subscriber station is capable of operating . in the exemplary embodiment , the maximum transmit power depends on the power amplifier in the subscriber station be it mobile or fixed , and on the amount of battery energy in the subscriber station if the subscriber station is mobile . in block 124 , the subscriber station computes a maximum allowed transmit power which is the maximum transmit power p max ( db ) determined in step 122 less a power margin p margin ( db ), that allows to track future power level fluctuations . then , the subscriber station sets a variable r power equal to the max rate , r , which can be reliably transmitted with a power , p ( r ) ( db ), less than the maximum allowed transmit power ( p max ( db )− p margin ( db )). in block 126 , the subscriber station sets a new variable r step2 equal to the minimum of r step1 determined in step 100 and r power determined in step 124 . returning to fig1 a , the process then moves to block 104 where the subscriber station determines the maximum transmission rate in accordance with a candidate set protection criterion . the purpose of the rate adjustment in step 104 is to protect members of the candidate set of the subscriber station from having their reverse links overloaded by subscriber stations not in communication with them but which are sufficiently visible ( in terms of path loss ) to cause interference problems . in the exemplary embodiment , the subscriber station is not informed of loading problems of base stations in the candidate set , because it does not receive the pertinent busy tone . thus , the candidate set protection algorithm is provided for preventing uncontrolled overload of the candidate set base stations . in the exemplary embodiment , the amount of reduction in the maximum allowable rate of transmission is based upon the strength of the pilot signals from the candidate base stations . in particular , the strength of the pilot signals from the candidate base stations relative to the strength of the pilot signals from the active set base stations . fig1 d illustrates the exemplary method for determining the maximum transmission rate in accordance with protection of the candidate set . in block 128 , the subscriber station measures the ec / io of the pilot signals from each of the base stations in its candidate set which includes all the multipath components of the pilot signals from those base stations . in block 130 , the subscriber station measures the ec / io of the pilot signals from each of the base stations in its active set which includes all the multipath components of the pilot signals from those base stations . in block 132 , the subscriber station computes a metric ( δ ac ) that is a function of the difference in strength of the signals received by base stations in the active set and signals received by base stations in the candidate set . in the exemplary embodiment the metric ( δ ac ) is set to the difference between the sum of the ec / io of the all members of the active set in decibels , and the sum of the ec / io of the all the members in the candidate set in decibels , as illustrated in equation ( 1 ) below : δ nc = [ ∑ i e c i ( i ) / i o ] ( db ) - [ ∑ j e c r ( j ) / i o ] ( db ) , ( 1 ) where e a c ( i )| i o is the strength of the ith pilot of the active set including all related multipath components , and e c c ( j )| i o is the strength of the jth pilot in the candidate set including all related multipath components . in a first alternative embodiment , the metric ( δ ac ) is set to the difference between the weakest member of the active set and the strongest member of the candidate set as illustrated in equation ( 2 ) below : δ ac = min i { e c a ( i )| i o ( db )}− max j { e c c ( j )| i o ( db )}, ( 2 ) where e c a ( i )| i o is the strength of the ith pilot of the active set including all related multipath components , and e c c ( j )| i o is the strength of the jth pilot in the candidate set including all related multipath components . in a second alternative embodiment , the metric ( δ ac ) is set to the difference between the weakest member of the active set and the sum of the members of the candidate set as illustrated in equation ( 3 ) below : δ ac = min i { e c a ( i ) / i o ( db ) } - [ ∑ j e c c ( j ) / i o ] ( db ) , ( 3 ) where e c a ( i )| i o is the strength of the ith pilot of the active set including all related multipath components , and e c c ( j )| i o is the strength of the jth pilot in the candidate set including all related multipath components . in a third alternative embodiment , the metric ( δ ac ) is set to the difference between the strongest member of the active set and the strongest member of the candidate set as illustrated in equation ( 4 ) below : δ ac = max i { e c a ( i )| i o ( db )}− max j { e c c ( j )| i o ( db )}, ( 4 ) where e c a ( i )| i o is the strength of the ith pilot of the active set including all related multipath components , and e c c ( j )| i o is the strength of the jth pilot in the candidate set including all related multipath components . a fourth alternative embodiment computes the metric based on the selection of the pilot in the active set that is driving the power control algorithm . other methods of determining the metric will be evident to one skilled in the art and are within the scope of the present invention . in block 134 , a variable r can is set to the maximum rate ( r ) such that the difference between the power necessary to transmit a packet from the subscriber station at rate r , p ( r ) ( db ), less a protection factor , exceeds the computed metric value ( δ ac ). in the exemplary embodiment , the protection factor is determined as the power in decibels required to transmit at a rate that is equal to n prot times r min where n prot is an integer scaling factor and r min is the minimum rate at which the subscriber station is capable of transmitting . in block 136 , a variable r step3 , which is the adjusted rate after performing the candidate set protection operation , is determined by selecting the minimum rate of either r step2 or r can . returning to fig1 a , in block 106 , the subscriber station selects the maximum busy tone from the ones received from all base stations in the active set . in a simple case , where the busy tone is a single bit indicative of either the reverse link capacity loading condition or the existence of additional reverse link capacity , the selection of the maximum busy tone is simply a matter of or - ing all of the received busy tones . if any of the busy tones indicates a capacity loading condition , the subscriber station stochastically reduces the rate of its transmissions , as described later . if all the busy tones indicate additional reverse link capacity , then the subscriber station stochastically increases its transmission rate , as described later . in the preferred embodiment , the busy tone is a soft multi - bit busy tone , namely with two bits ( b 1 , b 2 ) which corresponds to the meanings in table 2 below . fig1 e illustrates an exemplary method for determining the values of the two bit busy tone . in block 138 , the base station estimates its reverse link loading . there are pluralities of methods for estimating reverse link loading all of which are applicable to the present invention . the exemplary embodiment for estimating reverse link loading is described in detail in u . s . patent application ser . no . 09 / 204 , 616 , entitled “ method and apparatus for loading estimation ”, now u . s . pat . no . 6 , 192 , 249 , issued feb . 20 , 2001 , by roberto padovani , which is assigned to the assignee of the present invention and incorporated by reference herein . in block 140 , the base station compares the estimated reverse link loading to a first threshold value ( th 1 ). if the estimated reverse link loading is less than the threshold value th 1 , then the base station reverse link is determined to be scarcely loaded and in block 142 , the busy tone bits are set to ( 0 , 0 ). if the estimated reverse link loading is greater than or equal to th 1 then the operation moves to block 144 . in block 144 , the base station compares the estimated reverse link loading to a second threshold value ( th 2 ). if the estimated reverse link loading is less than the threshold value th 2 , then the base station reverse link is determined to be stable and in block 146 , the busy tone bits are set to ( 0 , 1 ). if the estimated reverse link loading is greater than or equal to th 2 then the operation moves to block 148 . in block 148 , the base station compares the estimated reverse link loading to a third threshold value ( th 3 ). if the estimated reverse link loading is less than the threshold value th 3 , then the base station reverse link is determined to be heavily loaded and in block 150 , the busy tone bits are set to ( 1 , 0 ). if the estimated reverse link loading is greater than or equal to th 3 then the operation moves to block 152 . in block 152 , the base station is determined to be over loaded and the busy tones are set to ( 1 , 1 ). all of the threshold comparisons can be implemented through hysteresis cycles to prevent too frequent crossing . in block 106 , the subscriber station receives the busy tones from all of the base stations in its active set and selects the highest busy tone . in block 108 , the rate of transmission for the current packet is selected in accordance with the maximum busy tone ( b 1 , b 2 ) selected in step 106 . fig1 f illustrates the method of rate selection based on the selected maximum busy tone . in control block 154 , the subscriber station determines whether the maximum busy tone ( b 1 , b 2 ) has the value ( 0 , 0 ), which would indicate that all the base stations in its active set are scarcely loaded . in this case , deterministic rate increase is possible ; the operation moves to control block 156 , and the rate of transmission of the packet is set to r step3 . if the maximum busy tone does not have the value ( 0 , 0 ), the operation moves to control block 158 . in control block 158 , the subscriber station determines whether the maximum busy tone ( b 1 , b 2 ) has the value ( 0 , 1 ), which would indicate that at least one base station in its active set is stable ( but not scarcely loaded ). if the maximum busy tone has the value ( 0 , 1 ), the operation moves to control block 160 , where stochastic rate increase is possible . in control block 160 , the subscriber station determines whether the computed rate r step3 is less than or equal to r previous . if r step3 is less than or equal to r previous then in block 162 the current packet is transmitted at rate r step3 . if r step3 is greater than r previous , then in block 164 the current packet is transmitted at a stochastically determined rate such that the packet is transmitted at rate r step3 with probability p or is transmitted at rate r previous with probability 1 - p . if the maximum busy tone does not have the value ( 0 , 1 ), the operation moves to control block 166 . in the exemplary embodiment , the probability ( p ) of increasing the transmission rate of the subscriber station is determined in accordance with past activity of the subscriber station and on the buffer nearly full flag ( f buffer ). in particular , in the exemplary embodiment , the probability is determined in accordance with the average rate used in a predetermined number of previous packets , r average . in the exemplary embodiment , the probability is determined in accordance with the equation : p = min { 1 , 1 + f buffer / 2 n rates log 2 r max r average } , ( 5 ) where f buffer is the buffer full flag that in the exemplary embodiment assumes a value of zero or one where one indicates the buffer full condition , r max as described previously is the maximum transmission rate of the subscriber station , n rates is the number of rates available for the subscriber station . in control block 166 , the subscriber station determines whether the maximum busy tone ( b 1 , b 2 ) has the value ( 1 , 0 ), which would indicate that at least one base station in its active set is heavily loaded . if the maximum busy tone has the value ( 1 , 0 ), the operation moves to control block 168 , in which stochastic rate decrease is necessary . in control block 168 , the subscriber station determines whether the computed rate r step3 is less than r previous . if r step3 is less than r previous , then in block 170 the current packet is transmitted at rate r step3 . if r step3 is greater than or equal to r previous , then in block 172 the current packet is transmitted at a stochastically determined rate such that the packet is transmitted at rate r previous with probability p or is transmitted at the greater of r previous / 2 or r min with probability 1 - p . in the exemplary embodiment , the number p is again computed according to equation ( 5 ). if the maximum busy tone does not have the value ( 1 , 0 ), the operation moves to block 176 which indicates that the at least one base station in the active set of the subscriber station is in an overload condition . in block 176 , the transmission rate of the current packet is determined to be the greater of r previous / 2 or r min . referring to the figures , fig2 represents the exemplary data communication system of the present invention which comprises multiple cells 200 a - 200 f . each cell 200 is serviced by a corresponding base station 202 or base station 204 . base stations 202 are base stations that are in active communication with subscriber station 206 and are said to make up the active set of subscriber station 206 . base stations 204 are not in communication with subscriber station 206 but have signals with sufficient strength to be monitored by subscriber station 206 for addition to the active set if the strength of the received signals increases due to a change in the propagation path characteristics . base stations 204 are said to make up the candidate set of subscriber station 206 . in the exemplary embodiment , subscriber station 206 receives data information from at most one base station 202 on the forward link at each time slot , but it receives busy tone information from all base stations in the active set . also , the subscriber station communicates with all base stations in the active set 202 on the reverse link . if the number of active base stations is more than one , the subscriber station 206 is in soft handoff . subscriber stations 206 , especially those located near a cell boundary , can receive the pilot signals from multiple base stations 204 in the candidate set . if the pilot signal is above a predetermined threshold , subscriber station 206 can request that base station 204 be added to the active set of subscriber station 206 . in the exemplary embodiment , before the candidate base station 204 is added to the active set , there is typically no way for the subscriber station to monitor its busy tone . if a way is provided to monitor the busy tone of a candidate base station , then this busy tone enters the set inside of which a maximum is selected according to step 106 described above . a block diagram of the exemplary forward link architecture of the present invention is shown in fig3 a . the data is partitioned into data packets and provided to crc encoder 312 . for each data packet , crc encoder 312 generates frame check bits ( e . g ., the crc parity bits ) and inserts the code tail bits . the formatted packet from crc encoder 312 comprises the data , the frame check and code tail bits , and other overhead bits which are described below . the formatted packet is provided to encoder 314 which , in the exemplary embodiment , encodes the data in accordance with a convolutional or turbo encoding format . the encoded packet from encoder 314 is provided to interleaver 316 which reorders the code symbols in the packet . the interleaved packet is provided to frame puncture element 318 which removes a fraction of the packet in the manner described below . the punctured packet is provided to multiplier 320 which scrambles the data with the scrambling sequence from scrambler 322 . the output from multiplier 320 comprises the scrambled packet . the scrambled packet is provided to variable rate controller 330 which demultiplexes the packet into k parallel inphase and quadrature channels , where k is dependent on the data rate . in the exemplary embodiment , the scrambled packet is first demultiplexed into the inphase ( i ) and quadrature ( q ) streams . in the exemplary embodiment , the i stream comprises even indexed symbols and the q stream comprises odd indexed symbol . each stream is further demultiplexed into k parallel channels such that the symbol rate of each channel is fixed for all data rates . the k channels of each stream are provided to walsh cover element 332 which covers each channel with a walsh function to provide orthogonal channels . the orthogonal channel data is provided to gain element 334 which scales the data to maintain a constant total - energy - per - chip ( and hence constant output power ) for all data rates . the scaled data from gain element 334 is provided to multiplexer ( mux ) 360 which multiplexes the data with a preamble sequence . the output from mux 360 is provided to multiplexer ( mux ) 362 which multiplexes the traffic data , the power control bits , and the pilot data . the output of mux 362 comprises the i walsh channels and the q walsh channels . the reverse link power control ( rpc ) bits are provided to symbol repeater 350 which repeats each rpc bit a predetermined number of times . the repeated rpc bits are provided to walsh cover element 352 which covers the bits with the walsh covers corresponding to the rpc indices . the covered bits are provided to gain element 354 which scales the bits prior to modulation so as to maintain a constant total transmit power . in addition , a forward activity bit is provided to symbol repeater 350 . the forward activity bit alerts subscriber station 106 to a forthcoming blank frame in which the base station will not transmit forward link data . this transmission is made in order to allow subscriber station 106 to make a better estimate of the c / i of the signal from base stations 102 . the repeated versions of the forward activity bit are walsh covered in walsh cover element 352 so as to be orthogonal to the walsh covered power control bits . the covered bits are provided to gain element 354 which scales the bits prior to modulation so as to maintain a constant total transmit power . in addition , a busy tone is provided to symbol repeater 350 . the busy tone alerts subscriber station 206 to a reverse link loading condition . in an exemplary embodiment , the busy tone is a single bit indicative of the reverse link being fully loaded or having spare capacity . in the preferred embodiment , the busy tone is a two bit signal indicative of a request by base stations 202 for subscriber stations 206 in its coverage area to either deterministically increase or decrease the rate of their reverse link transmissions , or to stochastically increase or decrease the rate of their reverse link transmissions . the repeated versions of the busy tone is walsh covered in walsh cover element 352 so as to be orthogonal to the walsh covered power control bits and forward activity bit . the covered bit is provided to gain element 354 which scales the bits prior to modulation so as to maintain a constant total transmit power . the pilot data comprises a sequence of all zeros ( or all ones ) which is provided to multiplier 356 . multiplier 356 covers the pilot data with walsh code w 0 . since walsh code w 0 is a sequence of all zeros , the output of multiplier 356 is the pilot data . the pilot data is time multiplexed by mux 362 and provided to the i walsh channel which is spread by the short pn i code within complex multiplier 366 ( see fig3 b ). in the exemplary embodiment , the pilot data is not spread with the long pn code , which is gated off during the pilot burst by mux 376 , to allow reception by all subscriber stations 206 . the pilot signal is thus an unmodulated bpsk signal . a block diagram of the exemplary modulator used to modulate the data is illustrated in fig3 b . the i walsh channels and q walsh channels are provided to summers 364 a and 364 b , respectively , which sum the k walsh channels to provide the signals i sum and q sum , respectively . the i sum and q sum signals are provided to complex multiplier 366 . complex multiplier 366 also receives the pn_i and pn_q signals from multipliers 378 a and 378 b , respectively , and multiplies the two complex inputs in accordance with the following equation : ( i mult + jq mult )=( i sum + jq sum )·( pn — i + jpn — q )=( i sum · pn — i − q sum pn — q )+ j ( i sum · pn — q + q sum · pn — i ), ( 6 ) where i mult and q mult are the outputs from complex multiplier 366 and j is the complex representation . the i mult and q mult signals are provided to filters 368 a and 368 b , respectively , which filter the signals . the filtered signals from filters 368 a and 368 b are provided to multipliers 370 a and 370 b , respectively , which multiply the signals with the inphase sinusoid cos ( w c t ) and the quadrature sinusoid sin ( w c t ), respectively . the i modulated and q modulated signals are provided to summer 372 which sums the signals to provide the forward modulated waveform s ( t ). in the exemplary embodiment , the data packet is spread with the long pn code and the short pn codes . the long pn code scrambles the packet such that only the subscriber station 206 for which the packet is destined is able to descramble the packet . in the exemplary embodiment , the pilot and power control bits and the control channel packet are spread with the short pn codes but not the long pn code to allow all subscriber stations 206 to receive these bits . the long pn sequence is generated by long code generator 374 and provided to multiplexer ( mux ) 376 . the long pn mask determines the offset of the long pn sequence and is uniquely assigned to the destination subscriber station 206 . the output from mux 376 is the long pn sequence during the data portion of the transmission and zero otherwise ( e . g . during the pilot and power control portion ). the gated long pn sequence from mux 376 and the short pn i and pn q sequences from short code generator 380 are provided to multipliers 378 a and 378 b , respectively , which multiply the two sets of sequences to form the pn_i and pn_q signals , respectively . the pn_i and pn_q signals are provided to complex multiplier 366 . the block diagram of the exemplary traffic channel shown in fig3 a and 3b is one of numerous architectures which support data encoding and modulation on the forward link . other architectures , such as the architecture for the forward link traffic channel in the cdma system which conforms to the is - 95 standard , can also be utilized and are within the scope of the present invention . a diagram of the exemplary forward link frame structure of the present invention is illustrated in fig4 a . the traffic channel transmission is partitioned into frames which , in the exemplary embodiment , are defined as the length of the short pn sequences or 26 . 67 msec . each frame can carry control channel information addressed to all subscriber stations 206 ( control channel frame ), traffic data addressed to a particular subscriber station 206 ( traffic frame ), or can be empty ( idle frame ). the content of each frame is determined by the scheduling performed by the transmitting base station 102 . in the exemplary embodiment , each frame comprises 16 time slots , with each time slot having a duration of 1 . 667 msec . a time slot of 1 . 667 msec is adequate to enable subscriber station 206 to perform the c / i measurement of the forward link signal . a time slot of 1 . 667 msec also represents a sufficient amount of time for efficient packet data transmission . in the exemplary embodiment , each forward link data packet comprises 1024 or 2048 bits . thus , the number of time slots required to transmit each data packet is dependent on the data rate and ranges from 16 time slots for a 38 . 4 kbps rate to 1 time slot for a 1 . 2288 mbps rate . an exemplary diagram of the forward link slot structure of the present invention is shown in fig4 b . in the exemplary embodiment , each slot comprises three of the four time multiplexed channels , the traffic channel , the control channel , the pilot channel , and the overhead control channel . in the exemplary embodiment , the pilot signal is transmitted in two bursts and the overhead control channel is transmitted on either side of the second pilot burst . the traffic data is carried in three portions of the slot ( 402 a , 402 b and 402 c ). the first pilot burst 406 a is time multiplexed into the first half of the slot by multiplexer 362 . the second pilot burst 406 b is time multiplexed into the second half of the slot . on either side of the second pilot burst 406 b , overhead channel data 408 including the forward activity bit , the busy tones and the power control bits are multiplexed into the slot . in the exemplary embodiment , the busy tone is a two bit signal , and the busy tone is only set once per frame . in the exemplary embodiment , the busy tone is interleaved among the slots of a frame such that the even slots carry the first bit of the busy tone and the odd slots carry the second bit of the busy tone . other ways to interleave the busy tone bits are obvious to the skilled in the art and are within the scope of the present invention . fig5 illustrates the exemplary subscriber station of the present invention . buffer 524 provides a signal indicative of the amount of data queued for transmission to rate allocation control processor 522 . rate allocation control processor 522 selects the rate based on the buffer state as described with respect to step 100 above . in the exemplary embodiment , buffer 524 is divided into two parts . a first part of buffer 524 stores new data for transmission . a second part of buffer 524 stores data for retransmission . in the exemplary embodiment , rate control processor 522 selects the rate in accordance with a buffer full flag that is set in accordance with the new data to be transmitted . transmitter 528 is responsible for upconverting , filtering and amplifying the reverse link signal for transmission . transmitter 528 provides a signal to rate allocation control processor 522 indicative of the amount of power headroom available for transmission of the current data packet . in response to this signal rate allocation control processor 522 determines the adjustment to the rate of transmission of the next packet as described with respect to block 102 above . forward link signals are received by subscriber station 206 at antenna 500 and provided through duplexer 502 to receiver 504 . receiver 504 downconverts , filters and amplifies the received signal and provides the signal to pilot energy calculator 506 . pilot energy calculator 506 calculates the energy of the pilot signals received from active set base stations 202 and candidate set base stations 204 . the received signals are provided to pilot despreader 510 , which despreads the pilot signals in accordance with control signals from search controller 508 . in the exemplary embodiment , search controller 508 provides a pn offset of a candidate set or active set base station to pilot despreader 510 which in response despreads the pilot signal from a candidate set base station 204 or active set base station 206 . the despread pilot symbols are provided to squaring element 512 which computes the energy of the symbols and provides the symbol energy values to accumulator 514 . accumulator 514 accumulates the energies over the time interval of the pilot burst and provides the pilot burst energy to rate allocation element 522 . in response to the pilot burst energies from the candidate set base stations ( ec / io ) and the pilot burst energies from active set base station ( ea / io ), rate allocation control processor 522 computes the candidate set protection adjustment to the selected rate as described with respect to block 104 above . the received signals are also provided to busy tone demodulators 516 . busy tone demodulators 516 demodulate the busy tone values for each active set base station 202 and provide the busy tone values for each base station to rate allocation control processor 522 . in response rate allocation control processor 522 selects maximum busy tone as described in 106 above , and calculates the rate of the transmission as described with respect to 108 above . once the rate of transmission has been determined by rate allocation control processor 522 , a signal indicative of the selected rate is provided to buffer 524 , modulator 526 and transmitter 528 . buffer 524 outputs a block of data in accordance with the selected transmission rate to modulator 526 . modulator 526 modulates the signal in accordance with the selected data rate and provides the modulated data to transmitter 528 . transmitter amplifies the signal in accordance with selected transmission rate and provides the signal through duplexer 502 for transmission through antenna 500 . the rate selected can be indicated to the active base stations through a reverse link message . the previous description of the preferred embodiments is provided to enable any person skilled in the art to make or use the present invention . the various modifications to these embodiments will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art , and the generic principles defined herein may be applied to other embodiments without the use of the inventive faculty . thus , the present invention is not intended to be limited to the embodiments shown herein but is to be accorded the widest scope consistent with the principles and novel features disclosed herein . | 7 |
reference will now be made in detail to the preferred embodiments of the present invention , examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings , wherein like reference numerals refer to like elements throughout . the synthesis of pentaarylcyclopentadiene can be effected substantially by two different synthesis routes according to the following reaction schemes : the first reaction pathway i is effected via tetraarylcyclopentadienone as starting substance , whereas the second reaction pathway ii is effected via 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 - tetraarylcyclopenten - 2 - one as starting substance . i . synthesis route proceeding from tetraarylcyclopentadienone the synthesis of pentaarylcyclopentadiene proceeding from tetraarylcyclopentadienone is based on the studies by ziegler and schnell ( ziegler et al ., liebigs ann . chem . 445 ( 1925 ), 266 ) and was modified in substantial processing . in a grignard reaction , proceeding from tetraarylcyclopenta - dienone and an excess of arylmagnesium bromide , 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 - pentaarylcyclopenta - 1 , 3 - dien - 5 - ol is obtained . in further processing , 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 - pentaarylcyclopenta - 1 , 3 - dien - 5 - ol is obtained not as described in ziegler by introducing a hydrogen bromide stream into a solution of the alcohol in glacial acetic acid , but by the reaction of the alcohol with acetyl bromide in toluene . this reaction proceeds particularly well with tertiary alcohols , for example triphenylmethanol . 46 . 2 g ( 0 . 12 mol ) of tetraphenylcyclopentadienone are reacted with 0 . 61 mol of phenylmagnesium bromide in 400 ml of ether to give 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 - pentaphenylcyclopenta - 1 , 3 - dienol ( yield 50 . 8 g ( 87 %); m . p . : 177 - 179 ° c ., lit . : 175 - 176 ° c ., elemental analysis for c35h26o . found : c , 90 . 98 %; h , 5 . 59 %; calc . : c , 90 . 88 %; h , 5 . 66 %.) the pentaarylcyclopenta - 1 , 3 - dien - 5 - ol reacts with elimination of hydrogen bromide to give 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 - pentaarylcyclopenta - 1 , 3 - diene 1 - acetate . this ester is unstable in the presence of hydrogen bromide . with elimination of acetic acid , this gives a 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 - pentaarylcyclopentadienyl cation , which is stabilized by accepting a bromide ion . with a reaction regime using an excess of acetyl bromide , the reaction proceeds quantitatively . 50 . 8 g ( 0 . 11 mol ) of 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 - pentaphenylcyclopenta - 1 , 3 - dien - 5 - ol are suspended in 200 ml of toluene . within 20 minutes , 74 g ( 0 . 6 mol ) of acetyl bromide are added dropwise at room temperature and then the reaction mixture is boiled under reflux for 2 hours . towards the end of the reaction , another 2 ml of methanol are added dropwise . excess acetyl bromide and toluene are distilled off under reduced pressure . the remaining oil crystallized after addition of 100 ml of petroleum ether . the orange precipitate is filtered off with suction , washed with petroleum ether and dried ( m . p . : 183 - 185 ° c .). analytically pure orange products are obtained by recrystallization from toluene . ( yield : 52 . 7 g ( 91 %); m . p . : 189 - 190 ° c ., lit . : 188 - 189 ° c . ; elemental analysis for c35h25br . found : c , 80 . 2 %; h , 4 . 8 %; calc . : c , 80 . 00 %; h , 4 . 8 %). subsequently , the 5 - bromo - 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 - pentaarylcyclopenta - 1 , 3 - diene is reduced in ether with lithium aluminum hydride to give the pentaarylcyclopentadiene hydrocarbon ( according to houben - weyl 4 / 1d reduktion ii , methoden der organischen chemie ( 1981 ) page 397 ). added in portions to a suspension of 11 . 5 g ( 0 . 3 mol ) of li in 150 ml of ether while stirring is a suspension of 52 . 6 g ( 0 . 1 mol ) of 5 - bromo - 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 - pentaphenylcyclopenta - 1 , 3 - diene in 300 ml of ether . the resultant pale yellow - gray suspension is boiled under reflux for another 2 hours to complete the reduction . after cooling to room temperature , excess li is hydrolyzed first with ice - water and then with dilute hydrochloric acid . the rotary evaporator is then used to distill all volatile organic constituents out of the reaction mixture . the pale yellow crude product is filtered off with suction and washed repeatedly with water . for further purification , it is dried azeotropically with toluene , filtered and then recrystallized ( yield 37 . 3 g ( 84 %); m . p . : 253 - 256 ° c . ( according to the batch ), lit . : 244 - 246 ; elemental analysis for c35h26 . found : c , 94 . 8 %; h , 5 . 8 %; calc . : c , 94 . 13 %; h , 5 . 87 %; 1 h nmr ( 200 mhz , cdcl3 , tms ): δ 7 . 25 - 6 . 92 ( multiplet , 25 aromatic h ), 5 . 07 ( 1 acid h ); 13 c nmr ( broadband - decoupled , 50 mhz , cdcl 3 , tms ): 146 . 5 , 144 . 0 , 136 . 2 , 135 . 8 , 130 . 1 , 129 . 0 , 128 . 5 , 128 . 4 , 127 . 8 , 127 . 6 , 126 . 7 , 126 . 5 , 126 . 3 , 62 . 7 ( s , sp3 - c ); ms - ei spectrum corresponds to literature spectrum rmsd 5094 - 9 ). according to dielthey et al . ( dielthey , w ., quint , f ., j . prakt . chem . 2 ( 1930 ), 139 ), proceeding from benzoin and 1 , 3 - diphenylacetone ( dibenzyl ketone ), 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 - tetraarylcyclo - penten - 2 - one is obtained as the condensation product . 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 - tetraarylcyclopenten - 2 - one reacts with an excess of aryllithium to give 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 - pentaarylcyclopenta - 2 , 4 - dien - 1 - ol , which is subsequently converted according to rio et al . ( rio , g . sanz , bull . soc . chim . france 12 ( 1966 ) 3375 ) with elimination of water to give very pure pentaarylcyclopentadiene . 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 - tetraphenylcyclopenten - 2 - one reacts with an excess of phenyllithium to give 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 - pentaphenylcyclopenta - 2 , 4 - dien - 1 - ol . 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 - pentaphenylcyclopenta - 1 , 3 - diene then forms through elimination of water . this method likewise gives very pure products . 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 - pentaphenylcyclopenta - 1 , 3 - diene is prepared from 37 . 8 g ( 0 . 098 mol ) of 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 - tetraphenylcyclopenten - 2 - one and 0 . 5 mol of phenyllithium ( formed from 7 g ( 1 mol ) of li and 78 . 5 g ( 0 . 5 mol ) of bromobenzene ) in 300 ml of ether by a literature method of rio and sanz , and purified analogously to method i . the conversion of the 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 - pentaphenylcyclo - penta - 2 , 4 - dien - 1 - ol to 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 - pentaphenylcyclopenta - 1 , 3 - diene proceeds automatically within the conversion . this gives a yield of 34 . 9 g ( 80 %), and the product is identical to the c 5 hph 5 prepared by method i . about 100 mg of elemental cesium ( fluka ) are washed repeatedly with hexane in order to remove any adhering oils . 1 mmol of the cyclopentadiene compounds is dried under reduced pressure and dissolved in about 20 - 40 ml of thf . this solution was added to the purified cesium . there is evolution of hydrogen . the suspension is stirred ( about 2 - 4 h ) until coloring occurs or no further evolution of hydrogen is observed . the solution is filtered to remove excess cesium . by drawing off the solvent and subsequent sharp drying , the anhydrous cesium salts of the cyclopentadiene compound are obtained . deposited on an ito ( indium tin oxide = indium - doped tin oxide ) electrode by thermal evaporation is a 200 nm - thick layer of the electron conductor bcp ( 2 , 9 - dimethyl - 4 , 7 - diphenyl - 1 , 10 - phenanthroline ). the counterelectrode used is a 150 nm - thick aluminum layer . iv . 2 ) production of organic electrically conductive layers with cesium pentaphenylcyclopentadienide as dopant in three further experiments , a cesium pentaphenylcyclopenta - dienide is incorporated into the electrically conductive layer by doping in concentrations of 2 %, 5 % and 10 % relative to the evaporation rate of the bcp . in the course of a physical characterization , it is found for the current - voltage characteristics of the doped organic components that the current density of the doped layers is well above that of the comparative substrate at the same voltage . when the level of doping is sufficiently small , this effect is nearly proportional to the doping intensity . increasing current density therefore leads to the conclusion of an increase in the charge carrier density and / or mobility . iv . 3 production of organic electrically conductive layers with rubidium penta ( p - tolyl ) cyclopentadienide as dopant in three further experiments , a rubidium penta ( p - tolyl ) cyclo - pentadienide is incorporated by doping in concentrations of 2 %, 5 % and 10 % relative to the evaporation rate of bcp . in the course of a physical characterization , it is found for the current - voltage characteristics of the doped organic components that the current density of the doped layers is well above that of the comparative substrate at the same voltage . when the level of doping is sufficiently small , this effect is nearly proportional to the doping intensity . increasing current density therefore leads to the conclusion of an increase in the charge carrier density and / or mobility . the invention has been described in detail with particular reference to preferred embodiments thereof and examples , but it will be understood that variations and modifications can be effected within the spirit and scope of the invention covered by the claims which may include the phrase “ at least one of a , b and c ” as an alternative expression that means one or more of a , b and c may be used , contrary to the holding in superguide v . directv , 69 uspq2d 1865 ( fed . cir . 2004 ). | 8 |
particular embodiments of the present disclosure will be described hereinbelow with reference to the accompanying drawings ; however , it is to be understood that the disclosed embodiments are merely exemplary of the disclosure , which may be embodied in various forms . well - known functions or constructions are not described in detail to avoid obscuring the present disclosure in unnecessary detail . 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 disclosure in virtually any appropriately detailed structure . in the drawings and in the descriptions that follow , the terms “ proximal ”, as is traditional , shall refer to the end of the instrument that is closer to the user , while the term “ distal ” shall refer to the end that is farther from the user . turning now to fig1 a , 1 b , 2 a , and 2 b , an embodiment of a forceps 10 is shown . the forceps 10 is adapted for use in various surgical procedures and generally includes a housing 20 , a handle assembly 30 , a rotating assembly 80 , a trigger assembly 70 , a switch assembly 180 , and an end effector assembly 100 which mutually cooperate to grasp , seal and divide large tubular vessels and large vascular tissues . although the majority of the figure drawings depict a forceps 10 for use in connection with endoscopic surgical procedures , the present disclosure may be used for more traditional open surgical procedures . for the purposes herein , the forceps 10 is described in terms of an endoscopic instrument , however , it is contemplated that an open version of the forceps may also include the same or similar operating components and features as described below . forceps 10 includes a shaft 12 that has a distal end 16 dimensioned to mechanically engage the end effector assembly 100 and a proximal end 14 that mechanically engages the housing 20 . the proximal end 14 of shaft 12 is received within the housing 20 . forceps 10 also includes an electrosurgical cable 305 that connects the forceps 10 to a source of electrosurgical energy , e . g ., a generator 500 ( shown schematically ). it is contemplated that generators such as those sold by valleylab , inc . ( now covidien ), may be used as a source of electrosurgical energy , e . g ., ligasure ™ generator , force ez ™ electrosurgical generator , force fx ™ electrosurgical generator , force 1ct ™, force 2 ™ generator , surgistat ™ ii or other envisioned generators which may perform different or enhanced functions . one such system is described in commonly - owned u . s . pat . no . 6 , 033 , 399 entitled “ electrosurgical generator with adaptive power control ”. other systems have been described in commonly - owned u . s . pat . no . 6 , 187 , 003 entitled “ bipolar electrosurgical instrument for sealing vessels ”. in one embodiment , the generator 500 includes various safety and performance features including isolated output , independent activation of accessories . it is envisioned that the electrosurgical generator includes covidien &# 39 ; s instant response ™ technology features which provides an advanced feedback system to sense changes in tissue 200 times per second and adjust voltage and current to maintain appropriate power . the instant response ™ technology is believed to provide one or more of the following benefits to surgical procedure , including consistent clinical effect through all tissue types ; reduced thermal spread and risk of collateral tissue damage ; less need to “ turn up the generator ”; and is well - adapted to the minimally invasive environment . cable 305 is internally divided into control leads ( not explicitly shown ) that are adapted to transmit electrical potentials through their respective feed paths through the forceps 10 to the switch assembly 180 . cable 305 may additionally or alternatively include energy leads ( not explicitly shown ) that are designed to transmit electrical potentials through their respective feed paths through the forceps 10 to the end effector assembly 100 . details relating to the electrical connections are explained in more detail below with the discussion of the switch assembly 180 . handle assembly 30 includes a fixed handle 50 and a movable handle 40 . fixed handle 50 is integrally associated with housing 20 and handle 40 is movable relative to fixed handle 50 as explained in more detail below with respect to the operation of the forceps 10 and switch assembly 180 . fixed handle 50 is oriented approximately 30 degrees relative a longitudinal axis a - a defined through shaft 12 . fixed handle 50 may include one or more ergonomic enhancing elements to facilitate handling , e . g ., scallops , protuberances , elastomeric material , etc . rotating assembly 80 is operatively associated with the housing 20 and is rotatable approximately 180 degrees about a longitudinal axis a - a ( see fig1 a ). as mentioned above , end effector assembly 100 is attached at the distal end 14 of shaft 12 and includes a pair of opposing jaw members 110 and 120 . movable handle 40 of handle assembly 30 is operably coupled to a drive assembly 130 which , together , mechanically cooperate to impart movement of the jaw members 110 and 120 from a first ( e . g ., open ) position , wherein the jaw members 110 and 120 are disposed in spaced relation relative to one another , to a second ( e . g ., clamping or closed position ), wherein the jaw members 110 and 120 cooperate to grasp tissue therebetween . it is envisioned that the forceps 10 may be designed such that it is fully or partially disposable depending upon a particular purpose or to achieve a particular result . for example , end effector assembly 100 may be selectively and releasably engageable with the distal end 16 of the shaft 12 , and / or the proximal end 14 of shaft 12 may be selectively and releasably engageable with the housing 20 and the handle assembly 30 . in either of these two instances , the forceps 10 would be considered “ partially disposable ” or “ reposable ”, e . g ., a new or different end effector assembly 100 ( or end effector assembly 100 and shaft 12 ) selectively replaces the old end effector assembly 100 as needed . as can be appreciated , the presently disclosed electrical connections would have to be altered to modify the instrument to a reposable forceps . turning now to the more detailed features of the present disclosure as described with respect to fig1 a , 1 b , 2 a , and 2 b , movable handle 40 includes a finger loop 43 which has an aperture 41 defined therethrough which enables a user to grasp and move the handle 40 relative to the fixed handle 50 . finger loop 43 is typically ergonomically enhanced and may include one or more gripping elements ( not shown ) disposed along the inner peripheral edge of aperture 41 which are designed to facilitate gripping of the movable handle 40 during activation , e . g ., a so - called “ soft touch ” or elastomeric material . gripping elements may include one or more protuberances , scallops and / or ribs to enhance gripping . referring to fig2 a and 2b , movable handle 40 is selectively movable about a pivot pin 45 from a first position relative to fixed handle 50 ( as shown in fig1 a and 2a ) to a second position ( as shown in fig1 b and 2b ) in closer proximity to the fixed handle 50 which , by operative association with drive assembly 130 , imparts movement of the jaw members 110 and 120 relative to one another . referring to fig3 a and 3c , movable handle 40 includes a clevis 46 that forms a pair of upper flanges 46 a and 46 b each having an aperture 48 at an upper end thereof for receiving the pivot pin 45 therethrough and mounting the upper end of the handle 40 relative to the switch assembly 180 . in turn , pivot pin 45 mounts to switch housing 181 ( fig4 a - 4c ) at pivot mount 182 . pivot pin 45 is dimensioned to mount within a transverse opening 183 defined in pivot mount 182 . in an embodiment , a pivot pin 45 a may be integrally formed with handle 40 a , as best seen in fig3 b . at least one of upper flange 46 a or 46 b also includes a cam lobe 47 positioned at a proximal edge thereof , which , when assembled , abuts the switch assembly 180 such that pivotal movement of the handle 40 drives cam lobe 47 toward and , ultimately , in contact with , monopolar safety switch 430 , which , in turn , closes monopolar safety switch 430 and enables activation of monopolar energy upon actuation of a monopolar activation switch 465 , 466 . referring to fig4 a - 4g , fig8 d , and fig1 , switch assembly 180 includes switch carrier 181 , a flex circuit assembly 200 mounted on the carrier 181 , and one or more keytop 60 , 65 . switch carrier 181 has a roughly saddle - shaped construction , having a top - proximal face 192 , a left face 193 , a right face 194 , a top face 195 , and a proximal face 191 . the switch carrier 181 may be formed from any suitable material , including without limitation , liquid crystal polymer ( lcp ), e . g ., vectra a430 , manufactured by ticona of florence , ky ., usa . faces 192 , 193 , 194 and 195 of switch carrier 181 are configured to support switch contacts 460 , 465 , 466 , and 430 , respectively , that are included with flex circuit 200 . an opening 196 is defined in proximal face 191 which may provide support to a proximal end of drive assembly 130 . at least one retention opening 186 is defined in each of left face 193 and right face 194 to receive retention clip 69 of keytop 65 . with reference to fig7 , 8 a - 8 d and 9 , flex circuit assembly 200 includes a bottom circuit layer 400 a , an adhesive layer 400 b , and a top circuit layer 400 c , each having a generally cruciform shape . bottom circuit layer 400 a , adhesive layer 400 b , and / or top circuit layer 400 c may be formed in part by die - cutting , laser - cutting , cnc cutting machines , and / or any suitable manner of fabrication . bottom circuit layer 400 a includes a substrate 401 and at least one circuit trace and / or contact pad disposed thereupon as best seen in fig8 a . substrate 401 a may be formed from any suitable non - conductive material , such as without limitation polyimide , e . g ., kapton ™ film manufactured by e , i . du pont de nemours and company of wilmington , del ., united states . substrate 401 may have any suitable thickness , however , it is envisioned that substrate 401 has a thickness of about 0 . 005 inches . circuit traces 416 , 418 are arranged to electrically couple inner bipolar contact pad 460 a and outer bipolar contact pad 460 b , respectively , to corresponding terminals 494 and 495 of edge connector 490 . circuit trace 414 is arranged to couple left monopolar inner contact pad 465 a and right monopolar inner contact pad 466 a in common with terminal 493 of edge connector 490 . circuit trace 415 is arranged to couple left monopolar outer contact pad 465 b and right monopolar outer contact pad 466 b in common with bottom safety switch contact pad 430 b . a generally circular opening 402 , having a diameter roughly corresponding to opening 196 , is defined in substrate 401 . the circuit traces as described herein may be formed from any suitable conductive material , including without limitation # 5025 silver conductive ink manufactured by e , i . du pont de nemours and company . a dielectric coating ( not explicitly shown ), such as without limitation , # 5018 uv - curable coating manufactured by e . i . du pont de nemours and company , may be selectively applied to the non - contact pad portions of the circuit traces . adhesive layer 400 b includes an adhesive substrate 403 that may be formed from any suitable adhesive and / or adhesive film - backed material , such as without limitation , double - sided adhesive tape , e . g ., # 7953 mp adhesive tape , manufactured by 3m of st . paul , minn ., united states . adhesive substrate 403 includes a plurality of openings 404 , 405 , 406 , 407 , and 408 defined therein : a generally circular opening 408 , having a diameter roughly corresponding to opening 196 ; a pair of substantially square opening 405 and 406 that are each adapted to accommodate monopolar snap dome switches 465 and 466 , respectively ; a substantially square opening 407 that is adapted to accommodate bipolar snap dome switch 460 , and a generally u - shaped opening 404 that is configured to provide a deformation region ( not explicitly shown ) which enables contact between bottom safety switch contact pad 430 b and top safety switch contact pad 430 a during actuation thereof . opening 404 additionally may provide fluidic coupling between the deformation region ( not explicitly shown ) to the atmosphere via vent opening 431 of top circuit layer 400 c to accommodate the reduced volume of the deformation region during actuation , e . g ., when bottom safety switch contact pad 430 b and top safety switch contact pad 430 a are brought into electrical communication in response to force applied thereto by cam lobe 47 of handle 40 . top circuit layer 400 c includes circuit trace 410 that is arranged to couple edge contact 490 to resistor 420 , and circuit trace 412 that is arranged to couple edge contact 491 to resistor 422 . resistors 420 and / or 422 may be formed from any suitable resistive material , such as without limitation , m3012 - 1 and / or m3013 - 1 rs carbon blend material manufactured by minico / asahi chemical , of congers , n . y . united states . resistors 420 and 422 form a voltage divider network to provide a reference voltage to top safety switch contact pad 430 a via circuit trace 414 . in an embodiment , resistor 420 has a value of about 1 , 250ω and resistor has a value of about 750ω . top circuit layer 400 c has defined therein a pair of substantially square openings 432 and 433 , each adapted to accommodate a monopolar snap dome switch as described below , a substantially square opening 434 that is adapted to accommodate a bipolar snap dome switch as described below , a generally circular opening 435 having a diameter roughly corresponding to opening 196 , and a vent opening 431 . a cover 470 is fixed in a generally centered fashion over vent opening 431 . vent cover 470 may be formed from liquid - resistant , gas - permeable material , such as without limitation , gore ™ series ve4 , manufactured by w . l . gore & amp ; associates , inc . of newark , del ., united states . bottom circuit layer 400 a , adhesive layer 400 b , and top circuit layer 400 c are assembled as shown in fig9 to form flex circuit assembly 200 . bottom circuit layer 400 a , is joined to top circuit layer 400 c by adhesive layer 400 b . snap dome switch 460 is joined to bottom circuit layer 400 a in a sandwich fashion by the combination of bipolar dome retainer 470 , which captures snap dome switch 460 against bottom circuit layer 400 a , and bipolar dome adhesive layer 450 , which fixes bipolar dome retainer 470 and snap dome switch 460 in position over inner bipolar contact pad 460 a and outer bipolar contact pad 460 b . by this configuration , deformation of snap dome switch 460 in response to actuation pressure establishes electrical continuity between inner bipolar contact pad 460 a and outer bipolar contact pad 460 b . monopolar snap dome switches 465 , 466 are joined to bottom circuit layer 400 a in a similar fashion to the respective positions thereof , e . g ., snap dome switch 465 is joined to bottom circuit layer 400 a by monopolar dome adhesive layer 455 and monopolar dome retainer 475 , and snap dome switch 466 is joined to bottom circuit layer 400 a by monopolar dome adhesive layer 456 and monopolar dome retainer 476 . in an embodiment snap dome switches 460 , 465 , and / or 466 may be a snaptron f08400n snap dome switch having a 400 gram actuation pressure ( a . k . a ., “ trip force ”), however , the use of any suitable snap dome contact is contemplated within the scope of the present disclosure . referring now to fig1 and 11 , flex circuit assembly 200 is disposed upon switch carrier 181 such that bipolar snap dome switch 460 is disposed on top - proximal face 192 , monopolar snap dome switch 465 is disposed on left face 193 , monopolar snap dome switch 466 is disposed on right face 194 , and safety switch 430 is disposed on top face 195 . as best seen in fig1 and 11 , the cruciform appendages of flex circuit assembly 200 are flexed to conform generally to the shape of carrier 181 . flex circuit assembly 200 may be fixed to carrier 181 by any suitable manner of attachment , including without limitation , adhesive , and / or laser welding . a monopolar keytop 65 is operably coupled to carrier 181 by engagement of retention clips 69 with retention opening 186 . nub 68 is substantially aligned with a center of the corresponding snap dome switch 465 , 466 and is adapted to transfer actuation force from keytop 65 to the underlying snap dome switch 465 , 466 . bipolar keytop 60 is disposed within an opening 64 defined within the housing 20 ( fig1 a and 2a ). opening 64 is dimensioned to enable the top portion 62 of bipolar keytop 60 to move freely therein , e . g ., inwardly and outwardly with respect to housing 20 and underlying bipolar snap dome switch 460 . bipolar keytop 60 is retained within opening 64 by shoulder 61 of bipolar keytop 60 . nub 63 is substantially aligned with a center of the bipolar snap dome switch 460 and is adapted to transfer actuation force from bipolar keytop 60 to the underlying bipolar snap dome switch 460 . switch assembly 180 is disposed within housing 20 and configured to electromechanically cooperate with drive mechanism 130 , handle 40 , and bipolar keytop 60 to allow a user to selectively activate the jaw members 110 and 120 in a monopolar and / or bipolar mode . monopolar safety switch 430 is configured such that the monopolar activation switches 65 are disabled when the handle 40 and / or jaw members 110 and 120 are in an open position , and / or when jaw members 110 and 120 have no tissue held therebetween ( fig2 a and 2b ). when handle 40 is in an open position , e . g ., distal position , cam 47 is effectively disengaged from monopolar safety switch 430 causing bottom safety switch contact pad 430 b and top safety switch contact pad 430 a to remain separated , causing an open circuit thereby inhibiting operation of either monopolar switch 465 , 466 . when handle 40 is in a closed , e . g ., proximal , position , cam 47 engages bottom safety switch 430 by deforming a region of flex circuit substrate region , causing contact pad 430 b to electrically couple with top safety switch contact pad , establishing a closed circuit path which enables monopolar switch 465 , 466 , upon actuation thereof , to provide a monopolar activation signal to , e . g ., generator 500 via cable 305 . actuation of bipolar switch 460 establishes continuity between contacts 494 and 495 and / or circuit traces 416 and 418 , thereby providing a bipolar activation signal to , e . g ., generator 500 via cable 305 . a sensor ( not shown ) may be employed to determine if tissue is held between jaw members 110 and 120 . in addition , other sensor mechanisms may be employed which determine pre - surgical , concurrent surgical ( i . e ., during surgery ) and / or post surgical conditions . the sensor mechanisms may also be utilized with a closed - loop feedback system coupled to the electrosurgical generator 500 to regulate the electrosurgical energy based upon one or more pre - surgical , concurrent surgical or post surgical conditions . various sensor mechanisms and feedback systems are described in commonly - owned u . s . pat . no . 7 , 137 , 980 entitled “ method and system for controlling output of rf medical generator ”. as seen in fig1 a and 3 a - c , the lower end of the movable handle 40 includes a flange 42 which is typically integrally associated with or operatively connected to movable handle 40 . flange 42 is typically t - shaped and includes a pin - like element 44 which projects laterally or transversally from a distal end thereof and is configured to engage a corresponding latch 55 disposed within fixed handle 50 . more particularly , the pin 44 is configured to ride within a pre - defined channel ( not explicitly shown ) disposed within the latch 55 to lock the movable handle 40 relative to the fixed handle 50 upon reciprocation thereof . the jaw members 110 and 120 are electrically isolated from one another such that electrosurgical energy can be effectively transferred through the tissue to form seal . cable leads ( not explicitly shown ) are held loosely but securely along the cable path to permit rotation of the jaw members 110 and 120 about longitudinal axis “ a ” ( see fig1 a ). more particularly , cable leads ( not explicitly shown ) are fed through respective halves 80 a and 80 b of the rotating assembly 80 in such a manner to allow rotation of the shaft 12 ( via rotation of the rotating assembly 80 ) in the clockwise or counter - clockwise direction without unduly tangling or twisting said cable leads . the presently disclosed cable lead feed path is envisioned to allow rotation of the rotation assembly approximately 180 degrees in either direction . from the foregoing and with reference to the various figure drawings , those skilled in the art will appreciate that certain modifications can also be made to the present disclosure without departing from the scope of the same . for example , it may be preferable to add other features to the forceps 10 , e . g ., an articulating assembly to axially displace the end effector assembly 100 relative to the elongated shaft 12 . it is also contemplated that the forceps 10 ( and / or the electrosurgical generator used in connection with the forceps 10 ) may include a sensor or feedback mechanism ( not shown ) which automatically selects the appropriate amount of electrosurgical energy to effectively seal the particularly - sized tissue grasped between the jaw members 110 and 120 . the sensor or feedback mechanism may also measure the impedance across the tissue during sealing and provide an indicator ( visual and / or audible ) that an effective seal has been created between the jaw members 110 and 120 . examples of such sensor systems are described in commonly - owned u . s . pat . no . 7 , 137 , 980 entitled “ method and system for controlling output of re medical generator ”. moreover , it is envisioned that the forceps 10 may be used to cut tissue without sealing . alternatively , a knife assembly ( not explicitly shown ) may be coupled to the same or alternate electrosurgical energy source to facilitate cutting of the tissue . it is envisioned that the outer surface of the end effector assembly 100 may include a nickel - based material , coating , stamping , metal injection molding which is designed to reduce adhesion between the jaw members 110 and 120 with the surrounding tissue during activation and sealing . moreover , it is also contemplated that the conductive surfaces 112 and 122 of the jaw members 110 and 120 may be manufactured from one ( or a combination of one or more ) of the following materials : nickel - chrome , chromium nitride , inconel 600 , tin - nickel , and medcoat 2000 manufactured by the electrolizing corporation of ohio , cleveland , ohio , united states . the tissue conductive surfaces 112 and 122 may also be coated with one or more of the above materials to achieve the same result , i . e ., a “ non - stick surface ”. as can be appreciated , reducing the amount that the tissue “ sticks ” during sealing improves the overall efficacy of the instrument . one particular class of materials disclosed herein has demonstrated superior non - stick properties and , in some instances , superior seal quality . for example , nitride coatings which include , but not are not limited to : tin , zrn , tialn , and crn are preferred materials used for non - stick purposes . crn has been found to be particularly useful for non - stick purposes due to its overall surface properties and optimal performance . other classes of materials have also been found to reducing overall sticking . for example , high nickel / chrome alloys with a ni / cr ratio of approximately 5 : 1 have been found to significantly reduce sticking in bipolar instrumentation . one particularly useful non - stick material in this class is inconel 600 . bipolar instrumentation having sealing surfaces 112 and 122 made from or coated with ni200 , ni201 (˜ 100 % ni ) also showed improved non - stick performance over typical bipolar stainless steel electrodes . as can be appreciated , locating switches 460 , 465 , and 466 on the forceps 10 has many advantages . for example , the disclosed configuration of switches 60 , 65 and 66 reduces the amount of electrical cable in the operating room and eliminates the possibility of activating the wrong instrument during a surgical procedure due to “ line - of - sight ” activation . switches 60 , 65 , and 66 may be configured such that operation thereof is mechanically or electro - mechanically inhibited during trigger activation , which may eliminate unintentionally activating the device during the cutting process . switches 60 , 65 , and 66 may be disposed on another part of the forceps 10 , e . g ., the fixed handle 50 , rotating assembly 80 , housing 20 , etc . the described embodiments of the present disclosure are intended to be illustrative rather than restrictive , and are not intended to represent every embodiment of the present disclosure . further variations of the above - disclosed embodiments and other features and functions , or alternatives thereof , may be made or desirably combined into many other different systems or applications without departing from the spirit or scope of the disclosure as set forth in the following claims both literally and in equivalents recognized in law . | 0 |
the present invention uses 128 data lines with no dedicated shields , but relies on the nature of the ddr3 eight bit pre - fetch to split the data bus into two groups : a fast group and a slow group . since both groups are not switching at the same time , they appear to shield each other as long as they are physically placed in a fast - slow - fast - slow - etc . orientation . referring now to fig2 , a data bus 200 according to the present invention is shown . lines ia through ie alternate , wherein lines ia , ic , and ie are fast data lines , and lines ib and id are slow data lines . the corresponding data line waveforms are shown , wherein waveforms 204 , 208 , and 212 step up first , and then a δt later , waveforms 206 and 210 step down . thus , the slow group is switched a δt after the fast group . this δt has to be long enough to allow the fast group to have completed switching ( roughly 90 % of δv switch ), but the δt must be short enough so the slow data arrives at the output buffer in time . by using a self - timed strobe signal , with a line path that mimics the fast data path , this δt generation has been optimized . a necessary part of the present invention is to “ sort ” the 8 bit / io data from the array as soon as possible . only if the 8 bits can be sorted into a “ fast 4 - bit ” group and a “ slow 4 - bit ” group can this scheme be used . for ddr3 operations the c 2 ( a 2 column address ) determines this . for this reason , the i / o lines inside a bank ( the f - lines ) are not hard - tied to a particular main data amplifier ( damp ). instead , the i / o lines are connected to two damps , each with a different c 2 address assignment . the sorting circuit 300 is shown in fig3 . each damp 310 and 312 has inputs to both fline pairs 302 and 304 . during a read sense operation either ( mux = c2 = 0 ) is enabled or ( mux = c2 = 1 ) is enabled . both damps 310 and 312 actually sense data and output it to their respective gmux 314 or 316 . these “ muxc2 ” signals ( labeled “ mux signals ” in fig3 ) are used only to determine from which f - line the data comes . the “ muxc2 ” inputs are swapped for the second placement so each damp 306 and 308 has unique data . thus , if a read operation starts with c2 = 0 , the fast damp 310 gets data from the f ø pair 302 and outputs the data to the fast g - line 324 when the fast gclk 320 fires . the slow damp 312 loads data from the f 4 pair 304 and outputs it to the slow gline 322 when the slow gclk 318 fires . if a read operation starts with c2 = 1 , the fast damp 310 loads with the f 4 pair 304 , and the slow damp loads with the f ø pair 302 . from that point operations are the same . for writing , the fast g - line 324 is hard coded through only one ddrv to the f ø pair 302 , and the slow g - line 322 is hard coded to the f 4 pair 304 for ddr3 ; write operations are specified such that a “ write mux ” operation is not necessary here in this path . this fast vs . slow shielding scheme continues all the way to the i / o pads as shown in fig4 and described immediately below : the larger context of the ddr3 memory is shown in fig4 including the “ f - to - g ” translator / sorting circuits 300 a , 300 b , 300 c , and 300 d and fast and slow output g data lines previously described . fig4 a shows a gclk generator 900 for providing the fast and slow gclk signals on lines 320 and 318 . the gclk generator circuit 900 is described below with reference to fig9 . the fast and slow gclk signals are also provided to the rghclk circuits 1100 a and 1100 b , which are also shown in fig4 a . the rghclk circuits 1100 a and 1100 b are described in further detail below with respect to fig1 . fig4 b shows the “ g - to - h ” translator circuits 800 a , 800 b , 800 c , and 800 d that receive the fast and slow g data lines and provide the output signals to the corresponding fast and slow h data lines . the translator circuits 800 are further described below with respect to fig8 . fig4 b also shows the “ h - to - i ” translator circuits 700 a , 700 b , 700 c , and 700 d that receive the fast and slow h data lines and provide the output signals to the corresponding fast and slow i data lines . the hiclk circuits 450 a and 450 b provide fast and low speed hiclk signals to the “ h - to - i ” translator circuits 700 . an hiclk circuit 450 for use in fig4 b is shown in fig1 . circuit 450 includes the rghclk input signal , and the tmcomp input signal , which is set to vss for normal operation . nand gate i 36 receives the rghclk signal and the tcompb signal from inverter i 20 . the output of nand gate i 36 is coupled to a serially - coupled inverter chain including inverters i 10 , i 7 , and i 8 for providing the hclk output signal . nand gate i 37 receives the rghclk signal and the tmcomp signal . the output of nand gate i 37 is coupled to a serially - coupled inverter chain including inverters i 24 , i 26 , i 21 , i 22 , and i 23 for providing the delayed thclk signal . referring back to fig3 , once the data has been sorted by the damp circuits 310 and 312 into fast / slow groups , these groups maintain themselves and stay separate all the way to the output buffer . to maintain the shielding scheme , a fast line is always surrounded by two slow lines and vice - versa . referring now to fig5 , within a 4 - bit group ( fast or slow ) further sorting and muxing may be done , but bits never cross from the fast to slow or vice - versa . as shown in fig5 , a group 500 of hclk signals is sub - sorted into hh & lt ; 0 & gt ; slow , h & lt ; 0 & gt ; fast , and hh & lt ; 1 & gt ; slow data lines . further examples : c1c0 sorting is done in conjunction with g bus to h bus transition and × 4 /× 8 muxing is done at the h bus and i bus transition point . the fast and slow groups handle this within themselves . referring now to fig6 , an example of a gmux circuit 600 is shown suitable for use as either gmux 314 or gmux 316 shown in fig3 . gmux circuit 600 includes nand gate i 6 for receiving the r13k and gclk signals and for generating the gclkb signal . the r13k signal is a master data select address based on the a13 row address and is not part of the critical timing . that is , inverter i 6 is fixed either high or low prior to any data operations . the rg2c signal is the ‘ data signal ’ from the damp to the gmux , see fig3 . inverter i 45 receives the gclkb signal and generates the gclk2 signal . nor gate i 43 receives the gclkb and rg2c signals . nand gate i 44 receives the gclk2 and gclkb signals . the gate of transistor 130 is driven by the output of nand gate i 44 and the gate of transistor m 0 is driven by the output of nor gate i 43 . the coupled drains of transistors 130 and m 0 provide the g & lt ; 0 & gt ; output signal . referring now to fig7 , the “ h - to - i ” translator circuit 700 is shown , which is suitable for use as any of the “ h - to - i ” circuits 700 a , 700 b , 700 c , or 700 d shown in fig4 b . circuit 700 is used to drive an h - line to an i - line during read operations . the timing of the drive operation is controlled by the hclk signal . during read operations a particular h - line may be selected from a group of h - lines in order to perform multiplexer operations related to operating the device on an × 4 or × 8 i / o device . the h1113r & lt ; 0 : 1 & gt ; and their complements perform this function . the circuit 700 also serves to drive the i - line data ( e . g . ii & lt ; 8 & gt ;) onto an h - line ( e . g . h & lt ; 8 & gt ;) during write operations based on the wgdrv , wgdrvb , and gwen2c & lt ; 0 & gt ; signals . write operations are not described . passgate i 122 receives an exemplary input h signal h & lt ; 14 & gt ; and is passed to the output of passgate i 122 with control signals h1113r & lt ; 1 & gt ; and h1113rb & lt ; 1 & gt ;. the hp output signal is coupled to the inputs of nand gate i 113 and nor gate i 2 . nand gate i 113 also receives an hclk input signal , and nor gate i 2 also receives an hclkb input signal . the output of nand gate i 113 is coupled to the gate of transistor m 0 and the output of nor gate i 2 is coupled to the gate of transistor 119 . transistors m 0 and i 19 generate the i & lt ; 8 & gt ; signal , which is latched by cross - coupled inverter latch i 8 / i 10 . circuit 700 also receives the ii & lt ; 8 & gt ; and gwen2c & lt ; 0 & gt ; signals . passgate i 120 receives the inverted ii & lt ; 8 & gt ; signal through inverter i 6 and is controlled by the gwen2c & lt ; 0 & gt ; and inverted gwen2c & lt ; 0 & gt ; signal through inverter i 3 . the output of pass - gate i 120 is passed through cross - coupled inverter latch i 73 / i 74 to the input of nand gate i 116 and nor gate i 7 . nand gate i 116 also receives the wgdrv signal and nor gate i 7 also receives the wgdrvb signal . the output of nand gate i 116 drives the gate of transistor m 4 and the output of nor gate i 7 drives the gate of transistor m 5 . transistors m 4 and m 5 generate the h & lt ; 8 & gt ; signal , which is received by the input of passgate i 121 . passgate i 121 is controlled by the h1113r & lt ; 0 & gt ; and h1113rb & lt ; 0 & gt ; control signals . the output of pass - gate i 121 is also coupled to the hp node . the drain of transistor m 1 is also coupled to the hp node and selectively pulls the hp node to ground under the control of the iox4 signal . referring now to fig8 , circuit 800 can be used for any of the “ g - to - h ” translator circuits 800 a , 800 b , 800 c , or 800 d shown in fig4 b , which are used to drive a g - line to an h - line during read operations , the timing of which is controlled by the rghclk . a particular g - line is selected from a group based on the sort / sortb signals . this executes the data sorting based on the c1 and c0 column addresses . the circuit 800 also serves to drive the h - line onto the g - line ( wg ) during write operations . passgates i 250 , i 123 , i 124 , and i 125 respectively receive the g0e , g0d , g1e , and g1d input signals . the same passgates are respectively controlled by the sort & lt ; 0 & gt ;/ sortb & lt ; 0 & gt ;, sort & lt ; 1 & gt ;/ sortb & lt ; 1 & gt ;, sort & lt ; 2 & gt ;/ sortb & lt ; 2 & gt ;, and sort & lt ; 3 & gt ;/ sortb & lt ; 3 & gt ; control signals . the common output of the passgates is the gp node , which is coupled to an input of nand gate i 115 and nor gate i 7 . the other input of nand gate i 115 receives the rghclk signal , and the other input of nor gate i 7 receives the rghclkb signal . the output of nand gate i 115 drives the gate of transistor m 2 and the output of nor gate i 7 drives the gate of transistor m 1 . transistors m 1 and m 2 generate the h signal . circuit 800 also receives the wh & lt ; 11 & gt ; signal . pass - gate i 119 receives the h signal and passgate i 120 receives the wh & lt ; 11 & gt ; signal . passgates i 119 and i 120 are controlled by the iox4 and iox4b control signals . the coupled outputs of passgates i 119 and i 120 drive the coupled inputs of nand gate i 116 and nor gate i 8 . the other input of nand gate i 116 receives the wgdrv signal , and the other input of nor gate i 8 receives the wgdrvb signal . the output of nand gate i 116 drives the gate of transistor m 4 and the output of nor gate i 8 drives the gate of transistor m 5 . transistors m 4 and m 5 generate the wg signal , which is latched by coupled inverter latch i 1 / i 2 . referring now to fig9 , a gclk generator 900 is shown suitable for use as the gclk generator in fig4 a . the gclk generator block 1000 is described in further detail with respect to fig1 , and receives the yclkr and yclkrx signals , and generates the “ fast ” gclkx clock signal . the “ slow ” gclkdelx clock signal is derived from the “ slow ” gclkx signal . inverter i 1 receives the gclkx signal and the output thereof is coupled to the input of inverter i 13 . the outputs of inverters i 1 and i 13 are used to control passgate i 98 . the input of passgate i 98 receives the gclkdelenyr signal through inverter i 1 . the gclkdelenyr signal is derived from the yclkrx and c12 signals through inverter i 5 , passgate i 83 , inverter i 10 , and cross - coupled inverter latch i 8 / i 9 . the output of passgate i 98 is received by cross - coupled inverter latch i 12 / i 14 to generate the gclkdelen signal . inverter i 13 provides the gclk2 signal . nand gate i 20 receives the gclkdelen and gclk2 signals and generates an output signal . the output signal is delayed by a delay chain comprised of coupled inverters i 22 , i 24 , i 6 , i 4 , i 3 , i 2 , and i 0 . the output of the delay chain is the “ slow ” gclkdelx clock signal . referring now to fig1 , the basic core gclk generator block 1000 is shown in greater detail . in fig1 a , nor gate i 12 receives the yclkrx and yclk signals , as well as the output from the delay chain comprising delay stages i 4 , i 8 , i 9 , i 28 , and i 29 . in fig1 a and 10b , the output of nor gate i 12 is passed through another delay chain comprising i 15 , i 19 , i 25 , i 26 , and i 27 to generate the gkb4 signal , which is coupled to the input of inverter i 23 . inverter i 25 generates the gkb2 signal and inverter i 27 generates the gkb4 signal . the output of inverter i 23 is coupled to an input of nor gate i 24 , the other input of which is shorted to ground . the output of nor gate i 24 generates the gkb6 signal , which is received by coupled inverters i 14 , i 6 , and i 7 to generate the gclkx signal also shown in fig9 . referring now to fig1 , the rghclk circuit 1100 is shown , which is used to time the transfer of the g - line data to the h - line bus . when the rghclk is asserted high , the correct g - line ( s ) will be driven to the correct h - line ( s ) via the plurality of “ g - h ” translator circuits 800 . circuit 1100 can be used as circuits 1100 a and 1100 b shown in fig4 a . an input digital circuit includes p - channel transistor m 0 for receiving the cgclk & lt ; 30 & gt ; signal , p - channel transistor m 1 for receiving the cgclk & lt ; 47 & gt ;, and p - channel transistor m 2 for receiving the mprenb signal . n - channel transistor m 3 receives the cgclk & lt ; 30 & gt ; signal , n - channel transistor m 4 receives the cglk & lt ; 74 & gt ; signal , and n - channel transistor m 6 receives the mprenb signal . the output of the input digital circuit is loaded with delay stage i 11 . a first delay chain including delay stages i 0 , i 1 , i 2 , and i 3 provides the rghclk signal . a second delay chain including delay stages i 10 , i 7 , and i 8 provides the complementary rghclkb signal . a key terms list is provided for further detailed description of the invention . bank — a group of memory sub - arrays with a distinct address . banks are typically arranged in a memory such that different banks can have different row addresses activated at the same time . for a read operation , all the bits for a given prefetch size are sensed and sent to the main amplifiers simultaneously . this is essentially necessary to maintain synchronization with the column address bus and any possible pre - charge requirements . main amplifier — as the data lines connecting to all the sense - amps within a bank become heavily loaded ( capacitance ), they are usually made up of a differential pair which carries only small voltage differences for reading . as such , these differences must be sensed by a “ main ” amplifier other than the column sense - amp that actually connects to the bitlines . in the present invention chip these bank data lines are referred to as the f line . ( f and f - bar ). sense - amp band — interfacing to each column of a sub - array is a sense - amp . each sense - amp senses the bit - bitbar differential when a row in that sub - array is activated for possible future reading purposes . all the sense - amps stacked together for a sub - array comprise a sense - amp band . sense - amps are typically bi - directional , having the ability to connect to the columns in the sub - array on each side of it , therefore one sense - amp band typically divides two sub - arrays . i / o pins — the point of the design that actually communicates data to the network outside the chip . i / o pins are also called dq pins . these drive data in ( i ) when writing and drive data out when reading ( o ). chip datapath or databus — the datalines that connect the banks to the i / o pins . at least one line per i / o pin is necessary , but in the present invention there are eight per i / o pin as the bank must pre - fetch 8 bits for each read command . to achieve the high rate , the data pin is pipelined through the chip by various clocks , and therefore the bus , is segmented into sections , g - bus , h - bus , i - bus . the present invention divides these busses in half , fast versus slow . y - select — the column select line ; this is based on the decoded column address input to the chip for read or write operation . gclk — clock that enables data to flow from the main amplifier ( bank based ) to the global g - bus . ficlk — clock that controls the input of the data on the i - lines into the fifo register assigned to each individual i / o buffer . while there have been described above the principles of the present invention in conjunction with a specific circuit , it is to be clearly understood that the foregoing description is made only by way of example and not as a limitation to the scope of the invention . particularly , it is recognized that the teachings of the foregoing disclosure will suggest other modifications to those persons skilled in the relevant art . such modifications may involve other features which are already known per se and which may be used instead of or in addition to features already described herein . although claims have been formulated in this application to particular combinations of features , it should be understood that the scope of the disclosure herein also includes any novel feature or any novel combination of features disclosed either explicitly or implicitly or any generalization or modification thereof which would be apparent to persons skilled in the relevant art , whether or not such relates to the same invention as presently claimed in any claim and whether or not it mitigates any or all of the same technical problems as confronted by the present invention . the applicant hereby reserves the right to formulate new claims to such features and / or combinations of such features during the prosecution of the present application or of any further application derived therefrom . | 6 |
in the present invention , it is preferable that the dye of the above described formula ( i ) be contained in an amount of 0 . 5 to 20 parts by weight , more preferably in an amount of 1 . 5 to 6 parts by weight , with respect to 100 parts by weight of the ink composition according to the present invention , for obtaining sufficient work of the dye as a colorant and for avoiding the precipitation of the dye during an extended period of continuous use and storage , or during the periods when the ink - jet printing apparatus is not in use , thereby preventing the plugging of the nozzles with the precipitates . specific examples of the dyes represented by the formula ( i ) for use in the present invention are as follows : table 1__________________________________________________________________________ ## str3 ## ## str4 ## maximum absorption wavelengthdye no . r . sup . 1 , r . sup . 2 x ( nm ) __________________________________________________________________________ ## str5 ## oh 5552 ## str6 ## oh 5543 ## str7 ## cl 5554 ## str8 ## oh 5535 ## str9 ## ## str10 ## 5506 ## str11 ## nhc . sub . 2 h . sub . 4 oh 5507 ## str12 ## oh 5428 ## str13 ## oh 5209 ## str14 ## ## str15 ## 52010 ## str16 ## oh 54611 ## str17 ## cl 54612 ## str18 ## oh 51013 ## str19 ## oh 55814 ## str20 ## ## str21 ## 55515 ## str22 ## cl 55016 ## str23 ## oh 52517 ## str24 ## oh 55518 ## str25 ## n ( c . sub . 2 h . sub . 4 oh ). sub . 2 54819 ## str26 ## oh 51020 ## str27 ## oh 545__________________________________________________________________________ the above dyes can be synthesized without difficulty . for example , dye no . 1 can be synthesized as follows : 36 . 0 g ( 0 . 1 mole ) of h - acid ( 1 - amino - 8 - naphthol - 3 , 6 - disulfonic acid ) is dissolved in 350 ml of water , together with 10 . 6 g of sodium carbonate . to this solution , 8 . 4 g of sodium hydrogencarbonate was added and dissolved . 9 . 2 g ( 0 . 05 mole ) of cyanuric chloride is then added to the above mixture , with stirring , in such a manner as to maintain the temperature of the mixture at 0 ° c . to 5 ° c ., so that the reaction is continued for 3 hours . the reaction mixture becomes homogeneous and green precipitates are formed . the reaction mixture is gradually cooled down to room temperature and 8 . 4 g of sodium hydrogencarbonate is then added thereto . the reaction mixture is then gradually heated . at about 30 ° c ., a reaction is initiated , with formation of bubbles . with the temperature of the reaction mixture elevated up to 50 ° c ., the reaction is continued for 2 hours . 5 g of sodium hydroxide is then added to the reaction mixture and the temperature of the reaction mixture is elevated to 95 ° c ., so that the hydrolysis is conducted for 1 hour . after cooling the reaction mixture , the reaction mixture is made acidic with addition of hydrochloric acid , so that 30 g of a yellow - green powder is obtained with a yield of 85 %. the thus obtained yellow - green powder is dissolved in 500 ml of water , together with 45 g of sodium carbonate . to this mixture , 150 ml of a diazotization liquid containing 9 g ( 0 . 085 mole ) of p - toluidine is dropwise added , with stirring , in such a manner as to maintain the reaction mixture at temperatures below 10 ° c . after the reaction is continued for 2 hours , the reaction mixture is subjected to salting - out by use of sodium acetate , whereby dye no . 1 can be obtained in the form of a reddish brown powder , with a yield of 39 g ( 90 %). in the present invention , water is used as a base solvent of the ink composition . for the purpose of adjusting the physical properties of the ink composition so as to have the desired properties , to control the drying speed of the ink composition and to increase the solubility of the dye employed in the solvent of the ink composition , the following water - soluble organic solvents ( humectants ) can be used together with water : polyhydric alcohols , such as ethylene glycol , diethylene glycol , triethylene glycol , polyethylene glycol , poly - propylene glycol and glycerin ; alkyl ethers of polyhydric alcohols , such as ethylene glycol monoethyl ether , ethylene glycol monobutyl ether , diethylene glycol monomethyl ether , diethylene glycol monoethyl ether , diethylene glycol monobutyl ether , triethylene glycol monomethyl ether and triethylene glycol monoethyl ether ; and other compounds such as n - methyl - 2 - pyrrolidone , 2 - pyrrolidone , 1 , 3 - dimethyl imidazolidinone , dimethylformamide and triethanolamine . of the above mentioned humectants , the most preferable humectants are diethylene glycol , polyethylene glycol ( 200 to 600 ), triethylene glycol , ethylene glycol , glycerin and n - methyl - 2 - pyrrolidone , by which the solubility of the employed dye in the solvent of the ink composition can be increased and the evaporation of water from the ink composition can be appropriately controlled , so that the initial properties of the ink composition can be maintained even for an extended period of continuous use or storage , or during the periods when the apparatus is not in use , whereby reliable ink droplet stability and ink droplet ejection response of the ink composition , particularly after a prolonged period of non - use of the apparatus , are obtained . in the present invention , it is preferable that the above humectant be contained in an amount of 5 to 80 parts by weight , more preferably 10 to 40 parts by weight , with respect to 100 parts by weight of the ink composition according to the present invention , from the viewpoint of obtaining an appropriate viscosity and drying speed of the ink composition . in the present invention , in addition to the above humectants , additives , for instance , water - soluble preservative and anti - mold agents , ph adjustment agents , specific electric conductivity adjustment agents , chelating agents and anti - rusting agents , can be added to the ink composition . as water - soluble preservative and anti - mold agents , for example , sodium dehydroacetate , sodium sorbate , 2 - pyridine thiol - 1 - oxide sodium salt , sodium benzoate and sodium pentachlorophenol can be employed . as ph adjustment agents , any materials can be used optionally , so long as they do not have any adverse effect on the ink composition and can control the ph of the ink composition within the range of ph 9 . 0 to 11 . 0 . specific examples of such ph adjustment agents are amines , such as diethanolamine and triethanolamine ; hydroxides of alkali metals , such as lithium hydroxide , sodium hydroxide and potassium hydroxide ; ammonium hydroxide ; and carbonates of alkali metals , such as lithium carbonate , sodium carbonate and potassium carbonate . as specific electric conductivity adjustment agents , inorganic salts such as potassium chloride , ammonium chloride , sodium sulfate and sodium carbonate , and water - soluble amines such as triethanolamine can be employed . as chelating agents , for example , sodium ethylenediaminetetraacetate , trisodium nitrilotriacetate , hydroxyethyl ethylenediamine trisodium acetate , diethylene triamino pentasodium acetate and uramil disodium acetate can be employed . as rust preventing agents for the nozzles , for example , acid sulfites , sodium thiosulfate , ammonium thioglycolate , diisopropyl ammonium nitrite , pentaerythritol tetranitrate and dicyclohexyl ammonium nitrite can be employed . other additives , for example , water - soluble ultraviolet - ray - absorbing agents , water - soluble infrared - ray - absorbing agents , water - soluble polymeric compounds , solubility increasing agents for increasing the solubility of the dye dissolved in the solvent of the ink composition , and surfactants can be employed as thought necessary in specific embodiments of the aqueous ink composition for ink - jet recording according to the present invention . preferred embodiments of an aqueous ink composition for ink - jet recording according to the present invention will now be explained by referring to the following examples : a mixture of the following components was heated to about 50 ° c . and stirred until completely dissolved . the mixture was then filtered twice through a membrane filter with a 0 . 22 μm mesh , whereby an aqueous ink composition no . 1 for ink - jet recording according to the present invention was prepared : ______________________________________ wt . % ______________________________________dye no . 1 in table 1 3 . 0diethylene glycol 15 . 0glycerin 5 . 0sodium dehydroacetate 0 . 1ion - exchanged water 76 . 9______________________________________ the properties of the thus prepared aqueous ink composition were as follows : ______________________________________ph = 10 . 0 ( 25 ° c .) viscosity = 1 . 95 cp ( 25 ° c .) surface tension = 54 . 5 dynes / cm ( 25 ° c .) water resistance = 21 . 4 %( indicated by fading ratio ) light resistance = 1 . 2 %( indicated by fading ratio ) ______________________________________ in the above , the water resistance of the ink composition indicated by fading ratio was measured as follows : the aqueous ink composition no . 1 was diluted with ion - exchanged water to the extent that the concentration of dye no . 1 contained in the ink composition was 1 wt .%. the thus diluted ink composition was applied to a sheet of high quality paper by use of a doctor blade and was then dried at room temperature for one day to prepare a test sample . then the density d 0 of the applied ink composition on the paper was measured by a macbeth densitometer . this test sample was immersed in water at a temperature of 30 ° c . for one minute and was then taken out . immediately after this , the density d 1 of the ink composition applied on the immersed paper was measured by the macbeth densitometer . from the above measured d 0 and d 1 , the resistance to water of the ink composition was determined in accordance with the following formula : ## equ1 ## the result was that the water resistance of the ink composition no . 1 was 21 . 4 % in terms of the above defined fading ratio . likewise , the light resistance of the ink composition no . 1 was measured as follows : a test sample having an applied ink density d 0 was prepared in the same manner as described above . this test sample was exposed to the light of a carbon arc lamp by a fade meter at 63 ° c . for 3 hours and the density d 2 of the ink composition of the test sample was measured by the macbeth densitometer . from the d 0 and d 2 , the resistance to light of the ink composition no . 1 was determined by the following formula : ## equ2 ## the result was that the light resistance of the ink composition no . 1 was 1 . 2 % in terms of the above defined fading ratio . the aqueous ink composition no . 1 was then subjected to the following ink - jet performance tests : the ink composition was caused to issue from a nozzle with an inner diameter of 30 μm , with vibrations at a frequency of 1100 khz , by which vibrations the ink composition was ejected in a stream broken into individual drops , and was then caused to impinge on a sheet of commercially available high quality paper . as a result , clear images were obtained on each of the sheet . the time required for drying the printed image was not more than 10 seconds at normal room temperature and humidity . samples of the ink composition were tightly sealed in glass containers and subjected to the following storage tests : separation of precipitates from the ink composition was not observed at all in storage . in addition , no changes were detected in the properties or color of the ink composition . ink - jet recording as was done in the above - described image clarity and image dryness test was continuously carried out for 1 , 000 hours . there was no evidence of either clogging of the nozzle or change in ejection direction of the ink droplets ; rather , stable recording was maintained . after ink - jet recording was performed as outlined in ( 1 ), the apparatus and ink composition were allowed to stand at at room temperature and humidity for one month , after which they were used again to perform ink - jet recording under the same conditions as previously stated in ( 1 ). as in ( 3 ) above , there was no change in the ink droplet ejection stability . the above test was repeated in the same manner , except that the apparatus and ink were allowed to stand at 40 ° c ., 30 % rh for one week , instead of being allowed to stand at room temperature and humidity for one month . the result was that again no change was observed in the ink droplet ejection stability . the procedure for example 1 was repeated except that the formulation of example 1 was replaced by the following formulation , whereby an aqueous ink composition no . 2 for ink - jet recording according to the present invention was prepared : ______________________________________ wt . % ______________________________________dye no . 4 in table 1 3 . 0diethylene glycol 15 . 0glycerin 5 . 0sodium dehydroacetate 0 . 1ion - exchanged water 76 . 9______________________________________ the procedure for example 1 was repeated except that the formulation of example 1 was replaced by the following formulation , whereby an aqueous ink composition no . 3 for ink - jet recording according to the present invention was prepared : ______________________________________ wt . % ______________________________________dye no . 11 in table 1 3 . 0diethylene glycol 15 . 0glycerin 5 . 0sodium dehydroacetate 0 . 1ion - exchanged water 76 . 9______________________________________ the procedure for example 1 was repeated except that the formulation of example 1 was replaced by the following formulation , whereby an aqueous ink composition no . 4 for ink - jet recording according to the present invention was prepared : ______________________________________ wt . % ______________________________________dye no . 12 in table 1 3 . 0triethylene glycol 10 . 02 , 2 &# 39 ;- thiodiethanol 10 . 0sodium benzoate 0 . 2ion - exchanged water 76 . 8______________________________________ the procedure for example 1 was repeated except that the formulation of example 1 was replaced by the following formulation , whereby an aqueous ink composition no . 5 for ink - jet recording according to the present invention was prepared : ______________________________________ wt . % ______________________________________dye no . 17 in table 1 3 . 0polyethylene glycol 200 5 . 0triethylene glycol monomethyl ether 15 . 0sodium benzoate 0 . 2ion - exchanged water 76 . 8______________________________________ the procedure for example 1 was repeated except that the formulation of example 1 was replaced by the following formulation , whereby a comparative aqueous ink composition no . 1 for ink - jet recording was prepared : ______________________________________ wt . % ______________________________________c . i . acid red 35 3 . 0diethylene glycol 15 . 0glycerin 5 . 0sodium dehydroacetate 0 . 1ion - exchanged water 76 . 9______________________________________ the procedure for example 1 was repeated except that the formulation of example 1 was replaced by the following formulation , whereby a comparative aqueous ink composition no . 2 for ink - jet recording was prepared : ______________________________________ wt . % ______________________________________c . i . acid red 92 3 . 0diethylene glycol 15 . 0glycerin 5 . 0sodium dehydroacetate 0 . 1ion - exchanged water 76 . 9______________________________________ the procedure for example 1 was repeated except that the formulation of example 1 was replaced by the following formulation , whereby a comparative aqueous ink composition no . 3 for ink - jet recording was prepared : ______________________________________ wt . % ______________________________________c . i . direct red 227 3 . 0diethylene glycol 15 . 0glycerin 5 . 0sodium dehydroacetate 0 . 1ion - exchanged water 76 . 9______________________________________ the properties of the ink compositions no . 1 through no . 5 according to the present invention and the comparative ink compositions no . 1 to no . 3 are summarized in table 2 . table 2______________________________________ water light surface resistance resistanceph viscosity tension ( fading ( fading ( 25 ° ( cp ) ( dyne / cm ) ratio ) ratio ) c .) ( 25 ° c .) ( 25 ° c .) (%) (%) ______________________________________example 10 . 0 1 . 95 54 . 5 21 . 4 1 . 2no . 1example 9 . 8 1 . 90 55 . 0 26 . 8 1 . 1no . 2example 10 . 1 1 . 95 55 . 0 17 . 3 2 . 9no . 3example 10 . 5 1 . 88 56 . 5 19 . 0 2 . 9no . 4example 10 . 2 1 . 95 55 . 5 10 . 5 4 . 7no . 5compar - 9 . 8 1 . 98 55 . 5 20 . 0 12 . 8ativeexampleno . 1compar - 10 . 2 1 . 88 50 . 5 40 . 0 30 . 0ativeexampleno . 2compar - 10 . 0 2 . 20 53 . 0 5 . 0 15 . 0ativeexampleno . 3______________________________________ aqueous ink compositions no . 2 through no . 5 according to the present invention and comparative ink compositions no . 1 through no . 3 were also subjected to the same ink droplet ejection response tests as were done in example 1 . with respect to aqueous ink compositions no . 2 through no . 5 , the same excellent results were obtained as in example 1 . however , when comparative ink compositions no . 1 through no . 3 were employed , the nozzles became partially clogged when the apparatus and ink composition were allowed to stand at normal room temperature and humidity for one week , and when the apparatus and ink composition were allowed to stand at 40 ° c ./ 30 % rh for three days , so that the direction of ejected ink droplets became extremely unstable and normal ink - jet recording was impossible . | 2 |
a quantity of 20 g of 4 - methylthiosemicarbazide and 36 . 5 g of p - toluenesulphonylchloride are dissolved in 100 ml pyridine . after two hours the mixture is suspended in water and the solid is filtrated , washed with ethanol and dried in vacuum . the yield is 37 g of 1 - p - toluenesulphonyl - 4 - methylthiosemicarbazide . said carbazide is refluxed with 19 g of 2 - chlorocyclohexanone in 80 ml of ethanol for 3 hours . the precipitate is filtered and dried in vacuum . the yield is 11 g of the product having the structural formula shown in fig4 b . a quantity of 2 g of the substance prepared in accordance with a ( fig4 b ) is suspended in 10 ml of water . after the addition of 10 ml of 48 % fluoroboric acid and cooling with ice , 10 ml of 70 % nitric acid is added drop - wise . after stirring for 1 hour , the red precipitate is filtered , washed with water and dried in vacuum . the yield is 1 . 5 g of the fluoroborate salt of the compound shown in fig4 b . a quantity of 1 g of said salt and 0 . 42 g of sodium - p - toluenesulphinate are stirred in 30 ml of acetonitrile for 12 hours . the resulting white precipitate is collected and dried in vacuum . the yield is 1 g of the product having the structural formula shown in fig3 b . a quantity of 19 g of 3 - methyl - benzothiazolone -( 2 )- hydrazone - hydrochloride - hydrate is suspended in 150 ml of n - methylpyrrolidone together with 1 equivalent of p - toluenesulphonylchloride and 1 equivalent of zno . after stirring for 6 hours at 90 ° c ., the mixture is poured in water and the white precipitate is filtered - off . the material is purified by dissolving it in alcoholic naoh and causing it to precipitate with hydrochloric acid . the yield is 12 g . this compound was prepared in analogous manner as bis - tosylhydrazone of 4 , 5 - tetramethylene - 3 - methylthiazole described under b . a quantity of 0 , 7 wt . % of mono - tosylhydrazone of 4 , 5 - tetramethylene - 3 - methylthiazole as the precursor ( structural formula : fig4 b ), 4 equivalents of 2 - phenylindole as the coupler ( structural formula : fig2 a , wherein r 3 ═ phenyl and r 4 ═ h ) and 4 equivalents of benzophenone are suspended in a solution of 15 wt . % of polymethyl methacrylate in cyclohexanone . the mixture obtained is spin coated onto a substrate of abs ( acrylonitrile butadiene styrene ). after drying , a layer having a thickness of 50 μm is obtained . after irradiation with an excimer laser ( wavelength 308 nm ) a violet image is obtained in the exposed parts of the layer . the reaction equation is shown in fig5 in which formula xx represents the structural formula of the violet azo - dye formed . a quantity of 4 wt . % of bis - tosylhydrazone of 4 , 5 &# 39 ;- tetramethylene - 3 - methylthiazole as the precursor ( structural formula : fig3 b ) and 1 equivalent of 2 - phenylindole as the coupler are suspended in a two - component polyurethane lacquer . the mixture obtained is spin coated onto a substrate of abs and dried at 80 ° c . after drying , a layer having a thickness of 50 μm is obtained . after irradiation with a co 2 laser ( wavelength 10 . 6 μm ; power 4 w / cm 2 ) a violet image is obtained in the exposed parts of the layer . the reaction equation is shown in fig6 in which formula xx represents the structural formula of the violet azo - dye formed . a quantity of 4 wt . % of bis - tosylhydrazone of 4 , 5 - tetramethylene - 3 - methylthiazole as the precursor ( structural formula : fig3 b ) and 1 equivalent of 3 - methyl - 1 - phenyl - 2 - pyrazoline - 5 - one as the coupler ( structural formula : fig2 b , wherein r 5 - methyl and r 6 ═ phenyl ) are suspended in a two - component polyurethane lacquer . the mixture obtained is spin coated onto a substrate of abs and dried at 80 ° c . after drying , a layer having a thickness of 50 μm is obtained . after irradiation with a co 2 laser ( wavelength 10 . 6 μm ; power 4 w / cm 2 ) a clear orange image is obtained in the exposed areas of the layer . the reaction equation is shown in fig7 in which formula xxx represents the structural formula of the orange azo - dye formed . a quantity of 4 wt . % of bis - tosylhydrazone of 3 - methylbenzothiazole as the precursor ( structural formula : fig3 a ) and 1 equivalent of 1 - phenylindole as the coupler are suspended in a two - component polyurethane lacquer . the mixture obtained is spin coated onto a substrate of abs and dried at 80 ° c . after drying , a layer having a thickness of 50 μm is obtained . after irradiation with a co 2 laser ( wavelength 10 . 6 μm ; power 4 w / cm 2 ) a red image is obtained in the exposed areas of the layer . the reaction equation is shown in fig8 in which formula xl represents the structural formula of the red azo - dye formed . a quantity of 4 wt . % of bis - tosylhydrazone of 4 , 5 - tetramethylene - 3 - methylthiazole as the precursor ( structural formula : fig3 b ) and 1 equivalent of malonitrile as the coupler ( structural formula : fig2 d ) are suspended in a two - component polyurethane lacquer . the mixture obtained is spin coated onto a substrate of abs and dried at 80 ° c . after drying , a layer having a thickness of 50 μm is obtained . after irradiation with a co 2 - laser ( wavelength 10 . 6 μm ; power 4 w / cm 2 ) a yellow image is obtained in the exposed areas of the layer . the reaction equation is shown in fig9 in which formula l represents the structural formula of the yellow azo - dye formed . a quantity of 4 wt . % of bis - tosylhydrazone of 4 , 5 - tetramethylene - 3 - methylthiazole as the precursor ( structural formula : fig3 b ) and 1 equivalent of 3 - diethylaminoacetoanilide as the coupler are suspended in a two - component polyurethane lacquer . the mixture obtained is spin coated onto a substrate of abs and dried at 80 ° c . after drying , a layer having a thickness of 50 μm is obtained . after irradiation with a co 2 laser ( wavelength 10 . 6 μm ; power 4 w / cm 2 ) a blue image is obtained in the exposed areas of the layer . a quantity of 0 . 7 wt . % of bis - tosylhydrazone of 4 , 5 - tetramethylene - 3 - methylthiazole as the precursor ( structural formula : fig3 b ), 4 - equivalents of 2 - phenylindole as the coupler ( structural formula : fig2 a , where r 3 ═ phenyl and r 4 ═ h ) and 4 equivalents of p - nitrobenzoic acid are suspended in a solution of 15 wt . % polymethyl methacrylate in cyclohexanone . the mixture obtained is spin coated onto a substrate of abs ( acrylonitrile butadiene styrene ). after drying , a layer having a thickness of 50 μm is obtained . after irradiation with a co 2 - laser ( wavelength 10 . 6 μm ) a violet image is obtained in the exposed areas of the layer . the reaction equation is shown in fig6 in which formula xx represents the structural formula of the violet azo - dye formed . dye to the acid medium of the layer , the colour strength is higher than it would be in the absence of p - nitrobenzoic acid . a quantity of 0 . 7 wt . % of tosyl - octylsulphonyl hydrazone of 4 , 5 - tetramethylene - 3 - methylthiazole as the precursor ( structural formula : fig1 ( lx ), 4 equivalents of 2 - phenylindole as the coupler ( structural formula : fig2 ( x ), wherein r 3 ═ phenyl and r 4 ═ h ) and 4 equivalents of p - nitrobenzoic acid are suspended in a solution of 15 wt . % polymethyl methacrylate in cyclohexanone . the mixture obtained is spin coated onto a substrate of abs ( acrylonitrile butadiene styrene ). after drying , a layer having a thickness of 50 μm is obtained . after irradiation with a co 2 - laser ( wavelength 10 . 6 μm ) a violet image is obtained in the exposed areas of the layer . the reaction equation is shown in fig1 , in which formula xx represents the structural formula of the violet azo - dye formed . by virtue of the presence of the octyl group , the solubility of the precursor in the binder used is enhanced , resulting in a layer which is completely transparent after it has dried . the substitution of an aryl group for the octyl group , as in exemplary embodiment 7 , generally results in a more turbid , scattering layer . the method in accordance with the invention enables azo - dyes of any color to be formed in a simple manner by means of an ir - laser or uv - laser . an object is coated with a mixture of a precursor and a coupler in a binder , after which decorations and characters can be formed by irradiation with ir - laser light or uv - laser light . | 8 |
the present invention is a tape feeder 1 with a low complexity architecture that drives a component - carrying tape 30 by engaging perforations ( not shown ) along an edge of the component - carrying tape 30 , providing component positioning that is highly accurate and repeatable . referring to fig1 and 2 , in an exemplary embodiment of the invention , a feed sprocket 10 is attached to a worm gear 20 that rotates around a fixed axis 25 ( shown in fig2 ) on a pair of ball bearings 26 . the ball bearings 26 are spring loaded and biased in the axial direction to remove radial and axial play . the feed sprocket 10 comprises a plurality of teeth 12 disposed around its periphery , such that the arc length between the teeth 12 is essentially equal to the spacing between the perforations in the edge of the component - carrying tape 30 . the feed sprocket 10 may , for example , be mounted on a hub of the worm gear 20 or attached to a side face of the worm gear 20 . feed sprocket 10 and worm gear 20 are operatively associated with each other , such that they rotate together about the axis 25 defined by the ball bearings 26 . the feed sprocket 10 and worm gear 20 are mounted in a housing 50 . the feed sprocket 10 and the worm gear 20 are positioned with respect to the upper tape feed track 3 such that the teeth 12 engage the feed holes in the component - carrying tape 30 riding in the upper tape feed track 3 . the upper tape feed track 3 is formed in the housing 50 to guide the component - carrying tape 30 . upper tape feed track 3 directs the tape 30 over the feed sprocket 10 at a window 55 where components are removed from the tape 30 . after the components are removed , the empty tape 30 is guided through a lower tape feed track 3 a where the emptied tape 30 exits the tape feeder 1 . the worm gear 20 is driven by a worm shaft 21 mounted by a pair of ball bearings ( not shown ) in a worm shaft mounting block 23 and coupled to a dc gear motor 22 . the mounting of the worm shaft 21 and motor 22 assembly is adjustable to limit backlash between the worm shaft 21 and worm gear 20 . this adjustment is made by sliding the worm shaft mounting block 23 toward the worm gear 20 and keeping its right surface against the mating surface on the housing to maintain the square relationship of the worm shaft 21 and worm gear 20 . when the location of zero backlash is found , two screws are inserted through the worm mounting block 23 to lock the block and thus the worm shaft 21 in place . dc power is selectively provided to the motor 22 to rotate the worm gear 20 and feed sprocket 10 , and thereby advance the component - carrying tape 30 . dc power is discontinued to maintain the position of the worm gear 20 and the feed sprocket 10 , and thereby stop the component - carrying tape 30 so that a pick - and - place machine can remove a component from the component - carrying tape 30 . thus , the angular position of the worm gear 20 and the feed sprocket 10 are controlled by applying and interrupting power to the motor 22 . an encoder disc 40 is mounted to the worm gear 20 via a hub to rotate together with the sprocket 10 and the worm gear 20 on the same ball bearing axis . the encoder disc 40 is operatively associated with the worm gear 20 and feed sprocket 10 , such that its angular position is consistent with the angular positions of the worm gear 20 and feed sprocket 10 . an encoder 46 is mounted in the housing 50 and positioned to read the encoder disc 40 . as shown in fig3 and 4 , the encoder disc 40 has a primary ring of finely spaced lines 41 on a face of the encoder disc 40 , extending radially at essentially equal angular intervals . the lines 41 are read by the encoder 46 , which generates an electronic pulse that is used to interpret the angular position of the encoder disc 40 . quadrature output can be used to multiply the number of encoder pulses into a higher number of “ counts ” to improve position resolution . the angular position of the worm gear 20 and feed sprocket 10 are equivalent to the angular position of the encoder disc 40 , and are therefore also determined by the encoder 46 . the encoder disc 40 has a very large number of lines 41 , substantially more lines than there are teeth on the feed sprocket ( e . g ., more than ten times as many lines as teeth , and preferably about 2500 distinct , essentially equally spaced lines ). the substantially greater number of lines 41 enable very precise measurement of the angular position of the encoder disc 40 and therefore , the angular position of the operatively associated feed sprocket 10 . from a plurality of angular position measurements , the angular velocity of the feed sprocket 10 can be determined , and therefore , the speed and position of the component - carrying tape 30 can be precisely determined . optionally , a secondary ring with a relatively smaller number of equally spaced lines 42 , as compared to the number of lines 41 , may be provided on the encoder disc 40 . the number of lines 42 matches the typical number of feed strokes accomplished by one complete revolution of the feed sprocket 10 . these lines 42 may be used as a reference point on the feed sprocket 10 after each feed stroke . a processor ( not shown ), such as a microcomputer , can count the electronic pulses or “ counts ” that are generated by the encoder 46 as a result of the lines 41 passing the encoder 46 . by counting the lines 41 from a known start - point ( e . g ., lines 42 ), the processor can monitor the feed sprocket position and use software to control the motor 22 to effect an exact and repeatable sprocket feed . an improvement in precision is gained by having the encoder 46 on the axis of the feed sprocket 10 , rather than on the motor 22 , as is typical . also , because the encoder disc 40 can use lines 42 as a known start point for each feed stroke , cumulative errors from successive feed strokes can be prevented . additionally , because the closely spaced lines 41 can be used to accurately determine the position and angular velocity of the feed sprocket 10 , the dc power to the motor 22 can be discontinued at the appropriate time to compensate for hysteresis in the motor 22 and worm gear 20 . referring again to fig1 and 2 , a tape cover plate 51 forms a portion of the housing 50 positioned over the upper tape feed track 3 to retain the tape 30 in operative engagement with the feed sprocket 10 . as described above , the components on the component - carrying tape 30 can be accessed through the window 55 by a pick - and - place head ( not shown ) of an assembly machine . to access the components , a thin cover tape 31 must be removed from the component - carrying tape 30 . when the tape 30 is first loaded , the cover tape 31 is peeled back from the tape 30 in the window 55 and threaded around a pulley 54 to a pull - off wheel 56 which is turning opposite from the direction of travel of the component - carrying tape 30 . on the outer diameter of the pull - off wheel 56 , a tire 57 is in frictional contact with the cover tape 31 . the tire 57 is composed of a resilient material , such as urethane . the cover tape 31 is pulled off of the component - carrying tape 30 and back by rotating the pull - off wheel 56 . the pull - off wheel 56 may be rotated , for example , by a belt 59 , which transmits power from the worm gear 20 . the belt 59 rides in a groove 52 on a hub of the worm gear 20 and is coupled to pull - off wheel 56 . a spring wheel 58 is biased toward the tire 57 , pressing the cover tape 31 into the tire 57 to ensure that the tire 57 adequately grips the cover tape 31 being pulled and expelled . the foregoing illustrates some of the possibilities for practicing the invention . many other embodiments are possible within the scope and spirit of the invention . it is , therefore , intended that the foregoing description be regarded as illustrative rather than limiting , and that the scope of the invention is given by the appended claims together with their full range of equivalents . | 8 |
it has been known in the past that the electrical resistivity and thermal conductivity of mgo electrical insulating materials can be increased by the use of minor amounts of various clay additions . for examples , see u . s . pat . no . 3 , 583 , 919 . the problem that arises from such clay additives is that they reduce the flow properties of the mixtures . this tends to make such mixtures impractical for use in the filling machines normally used by the heating element industry . the present invention involves the use of clay additives such as have been used in the past with the differences being that they are used in very pure form ( low in sodium , potassium , lithium and other soluble salts ) and that they are used in combination with fumed silica . the purity of the clay means that very small amounts can be used to obtain the same degree of enhancement of the electrical and thermal properties . the fumed silica ( as opposed to other forms of silica ) restores or enhances the flow properties as well as enhancing the electrical properties . the preferred clay additive for the present invention is kaolin , a clay having kaolinite as its chief constituent . the soluble salt content is preferably less than 0 . 5 % by weight . fumed silica is a colloidal form of silica made by the combustion of silicon tetrachloride in hydrogen - oxygen furnaces . it is very fine white powder precipitated from the fumed state and has a particle size of about 0 . 2 to 0 . 7 micron . when this form of silica is added along with the clay , the flow properties are increased to acceptable levels . the following table illustrates the invention : the effect of the present invention on the properties is illustrated by the following tables in which table i is the mgo without any additives and table ii is the mgo with 0 . 025 % fumed silica and 0 . 05 % kaolin : table i______________________________________ density static flowsample no . ( g / cm . sup . 3 ) ( gm ) megohms______________________________________1 2 . 36 40 . 2 2 . 652 2 . 35 35 . 5 2 . 653 2 . 36 32 . 3 2 . 74 2 . 355 34 . 4 2 . 75 2 . 36 32 . 3 3 . 26 2 . 36 41 . 9 3 . 37 2 . 365 42 . 8 4 . 58 2 . 365 45 . 6 3 . 859 2 . 355 39 . 1 4 . 1510 2 . 36 30 . 3 4 . 3average 2 . 359 37 . 4 3 . 4______________________________________ table ii______________________________________ density static flowsample no . ( g / cm . sup . 3 ) ( gm ) megohms______________________________________1 2 . 39 51 . 1 6 . 52 2 . 385 49 . 6 6 . 63 2 . 39 45 . 0 7 . 754 2 . 39 53 . 8 8 . 05 2 . 40 50 . 0 7 . 76 2 . 395 53 . 1 5 . 857 2 . 40 50 . 2 7 . 68 2 . 385 51 . 2 7 . 59 2 . 39 49 . 4 7 . 0510 2 . 395 48 . 2 7 . 4average 2 . 392 50 . 2 7 . 2 % increase 1 . 40 34 . 2 112______________________________________ electrical resistivity values expressed as megohm - inches were measured at 885 ° c . after the heating element in which they were incorporated had been maintained at that temperature for 2 hours . increasing electrical resistivity is synonymous with increasing quality . density was determined by astm standard test method for flow rate and tap density of electrical grade magnesium oxide , astm designation no . 3347 - 74 . static flow , which is indicative of angle of repose , was determined by weighing that quantity of powder which will flow from a one quarter inch orifice located at the bottom center of a one - inch deep bed of the powder mixture . the values for static flow expressed herein including the claims are defined as having been derived by this method . increasing static flow is synonymous with increasing quality . it is clear from these tables that the addition of the combination of clay and fumed silica will greatly increase the resistivity while maintaining the density and significantly increasing the flow properties . | 7 |
description will now be given in detail of the time delay output apparatus for a circuit breaker according to one embodiment of the present invention , examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings . referring to fig3 and 4 , the time delay output apparatus for a circuit breaker according to the present invention may utilize a signal generating device such as a switch 131 disposed to one side of a main shaft 115 which is rotatable in respective directions to open or close a fixed contactor 111 and a movable contactor 112 ; and a delay member 141 disposed between the main shaft 115 and the switch 131 so as to be pivoted by interworking with a rotation of the main shaft 115 , and for operating the switch 131 with a preset time delay after the fixed contactor 111 and the movable contactor 112 contact each other . a contact switching mechanism 113 for opening / closing the fixed contactor 111 and the movable contactor 112 is connected with the main shaft 115 . and , a driving arm 117 is protrudingly disposed in a radial direction at the main shaft 115 . a reset plate 121 is disposed to one side of the driving arm 117 so as to be pivoted by interworking with the main shaft 115 when the main shaft 115 is pivoted . the reset plate 121 is pivotably coupled to one side of the main shaft 115 centering around a pivot shaft 123 disposed parallel to the main shaft 115 . when an overcurrent relay ( not shown ) outputs a trip signal , the reset plate 121 may perform a function of returning an actuator ( not shown ) to its original position , while performing a pivoting movement by interworking with the rotation of the main shaft 115 . here , the actuator generates a physical trigger signal such that the switching mechanism 113 may perform an opening operation for separating the fixed contactor 111 and the movable contactor 112 from each other . the reset plate 121 is provided with a driving arm contact portion 124 having a curved cross - sectional shape so as to receive one region of the main shaft 115 therein and contacting the driving arm 117 at one end thereof farther away from the pivot shaft 123 . a bent end portion 125 bent so as to contact the delay member 141 is formed to one side of the driving arm contact portion 124 . at one side of the reset plate 121 is connected a reset plate spring 127 for applying an elastic force in a direction such that the driving arm contact portion 124 of the reset plate 121 is urged into contact with the main shaft 115 . meanwhile , at one side of the main shaft 115 is disposed the switch 131 for outputting a contact signal by interworking with the main shaft 115 when the main shaft 115 is rotated in a closing direction ( i . e ., in a direction to contact the fixed contactor 111 and the movable contactor 112 with each other ). at one side of the switch 131 ( i . e ., at the upper area as shown in the drawing ) is disposed a stopper 133 for stopping the delay member 141 from being pivoted beyond a certain angle in a direction away from the switch 131 . here , the stopper 133 may be integrally formed at an upper area of a case of the switch 131 . the delay member 141 for being pivoted by interworking with the rotation of the main shaft 115 is disposed at one side of the switch 131 ( i . e ., at the left side as shown in the drawing ). the delay member 141 is provided with a pivot shaft 143 disposed parallel to the main shaft 115 , a first contact portion 145 extending from the pivot shaft 143 to one side and pivotable for contacting the switch 131 , and a second contact portion 147 extending from the pivot shaft 143 to another side and pivoting together with the first contact portion 145 . a delay member spring 151 for applying an elastic force so as to urge the first contact portion 145 of delay member 141 into contact with the switch 131 is connected to one part of the delay member 141 ( e . g ., the first contact portion 145 ). the delay member spring 151 may be implemented as a coiled tension spring . one end of the delay member spring 151 is connected to the first contact portion 145 so as to form a dead point ( dead zone ) between the switch 131 and the stopper 133 in a pivot direction of the delay member 141 . this is to exert an elastic urging force from the delay member spring 151 , when the main shaft 115 is at the closing position , the delay member 141 is pivoted in a direction to contact the switch 131 , and when the main shaft 115 is at the opening position , the delay member 141 is pivoted in a direction to be spaced apart from the switch 131 . the second contact portion 147 is provided with a rounded portion 149 implemented as an outer surface of the second contact portion 147 being curved , thereby smoothly contacting the bent end portion 125 of the reset plate 121 when the main shaft 115 is pivoted in the opening direction . here , the bent end portion 125 is disposed inclined with respect to the delay member 141 . this is to prevent a further pivoting movement of the delay member 125 toward the switch 131 since the bent end portion 125 contacts the rounded portion 149 when the delay member 141 is pivoted by an external force in a direction to approach the switch 131 via the dead point of the delay member spring 151 , and the like . in addition , the bent end portion 125 is disposed inclined with respect to the delay member 141 . when the main shaft 115 is pivoted to a closing position , the bent end portion 125 contacts the rounded portion 149 , and the delay member 141 is pivoted in a direction to separate from the switch 131 so as to pass the dead point of the delay member spring 151 , thereby always uniformly maintaining a preset time delay . with such configuration , when the main shaft 115 is rotated to a closing position , as shown in fig3 , the first contact portion 145 of the delay member 141 contacts a detection portion 132 of the switch 131 due to an elastic urging force of the delay member spring 151 . accordingly , the switch 131 outputs a signal based on the contact state . as shown in fig5 , when the main shaft 115 is rotated to an opening position , the reset plate 121 is pressed by the driving arm 117 , thereby pivoting in a counter - clockwise direction in the drawing . here , the bent end portion 125 presses the second contact portion 147 of the delay member 141 , and is then pivoted in the direction to separate the first contact portion 145 from the switch 131 ( i . e ., in a clockwise direction in the drawing ). if the delay member spring 151 passes the dead point as the delay member 141 is pivoted , the elastic urging force of the delay member spring 151 serves to pivot the delay member 141 in a clockwise direction . here , the pivoting movement of the delay member 141 is restricted by the stopper 133 , and thus the first contact portion 145 of the delay member 141 is spaced apart from the switch 131 . if the main shaft 115 is rotated in a closing direction ( i . e ., in a clockwise direction in the drawing ), the reset plate 121 is pivoted in a clockwise direction in the drawing by the elastic urging force of the reset plate spring 127 . here , since the first contact portion 145 of the delay member 141 is spaced apart from the bent end portion 125 of the reset plate 121 by a certain distance , the bent end portion 125 presses upon the first contact portion 145 after a certain period of time . accordingly , after the fixed contactor 111 and the movable contactor 112 contact each other , the switch 131 may always output a signal to the outside when the preset time delay has elapsed . meanwhile , when the delay member 141 is pivoted by an external force , etc . in a direction so as for the first contact portion 145 to approach the switch 131 , as shown in fig6 , the pivoting movement of the delay member 141 is restricted as the rounded portion 149 contacts the bent end portion 125 . here , although it may appears in the drawing that the driving arm 117 and the delay member 141 contact each other , they are actually spaced apart from each other along the axial direction of the main shaft 115 , thereby not contacting each other . in the state that the delay member 141 is pivoted via the dead point and contacts the bent end portion 125 , when the main shaft 115 is rotated to a closing position , the reset plate 121 is rotated ( in a clockwise direction in the drawing ) by the elastic urging force of the reset plate spring 127 . the bent end portion 125 of the reset plate 121 upwardly ( in the drawing ) presses upon the rounded portion 149 of the second contact portion 147 such that the delay member 141 is pivoted in a direction so as to separate the first contact portion 145 from the switch 131 so as to pass the dead point . the delay member 141 is pivoted in a direction to space the first contact portion 145 apart from the switch 131 by the elastic urging force of the delay member spring 151 , and is then stopped from pivoting further by the stopper 133 , thereby being separated from the switch 131 . as shown in fig7 , the bent end portion 125 having pivoted past the rounded portion 149 then presses upon the first contact portion 145 , thereby pivoting the delay member 141 toward the switch 131 . when the delay member 141 passes the dead point of the delay member spring 151 while being pivoted , the delay member 141 then continues to pivot under the elastic urging force of the delay member spring 151 . accordingly , as shown in fig3 , the first contact portion 145 contacts the detection portion 132 of the switch 131 . the switch 131 outputs a signal to the outside when the first contact portion 145 contacts the detection portion 132 . in the foregoing and shown embodiment , the reset plate operates the delay member , while being pivoted centering around the pivot shaft separate from the main shaft . however , the reset plate may be configured to contact the delay member with a certain time delay , while being pivoted centering around the main shaft . as so far described , the present invention provides a time delay output apparatus for a circuit breaker , which can simplify its construction , reduce its size and lower its manufacturing cost by excluding the use of a large size mass . in addition , the present invention provides a time delay output apparatus for a circuit breaker which can prevent malfunction caused by reduced inertia of when a mass is vibrated or moved by electromagnetic repulsion force or external force , and can enhance operational reliability , by excluding the use of the mass . further , according to the present invention , even when the delay member is pivoted toward the switch by an external force , etc ., the contact end portion of the reset plate and the second contact portion of the delay member may interact with each other . accordingly , the delay member is always pivoted in a direction to contact the switch at an initial position , and after contacting the contact , the switch may always output a signal after a certain preset time delay , thus to enhance the reliability of its operation . as the present invention may be embodied in several forms without departing from the characteristics thereof , it should also be understood that the above - described embodiments are not limited by any of the details of the foregoing description , unless otherwise specified , but rather should be construed broadly within its scope as defined in the appended claims , and therefore all changes and modifications that fall within the metes and bounds of the claims , or equivalents of such metes and bounds are therefore intended to be embraced by the appended claims . | 7 |
the present invention is directed to a receiver based power efficient transmitter for ethernet . this specification discloses one or more embodiments that incorporate the features of this invention . the disclosed embodiment ( s ) merely exemplify the invention . the scope of the invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiment ( s ). the invention is defined by the claims appended hereto . the embodiment ( s ) described , and references in the specification to “ one embodiment ”, “ an embodiment ”, “ an example embodiment ”, etc ., indicate that the embodiment ( s ) described may include a particular feature , structure , or characteristic , but every embodiment may not necessarily include the particular feature , structure , or characteristic . moreover , such phrases are not necessarily referring to the same embodiment . further , when a particular feature , structure , or characteristic is described in connection with an embodiment , it is understood that it is within the knowledge of one skilled in the art to effect such feature , structure , or characteristic in connection with other embodiments whether or not explicitly described . embodiments of the invention may be implemented in hardware , firmware , software , or any combination thereof embodiments of the invention may also be implemented as instructions stored on a machine - readable medium , which may be read and executed by one or more processors . a machine - readable medium may include any mechanism for storing or transmitting information in a form readable by a machine ( e . g ., a computing device ). for example , a machine - readable medium may include read only memory ( rom ); random access memory ( ram ); magnetic disk storage media ; optical storage media ; flash memory devices ; electrical , optical , acoustical or other forms of propagated signals ( e . g ., carrier waves , infrared signals , digital signals , etc . ), and others . further , firmware , software , routines , instructions may be described herein as performing certain actions . however , it should be appreciated that such descriptions are merely for convenience and that such actions in fact result from computing devices , processors , controllers , or other devices executing the firmware , software , routines , instructions , etc . the institute of electrical and electronics engineers ( ieee ) inter alia sets the standards for communication devices interchanging information using an ethernet protocol to allow different manufacturers to produce devices complying with the same specifications , while being compatible to each other . for example 10 baset is a ethernet standard protocol for transmitting digital information at a transmission speed of 10 mbit / s , 100 baset defines digital data transmission at 100 mbit / s , and 1000 baset defines the transmission at 1000 mbit / s = 1 gbit / s . the ieee 802 . 3 standard defines the parameters for the combined 10 baset / 100 baset / 1000 baset transmitters using unshielded twisted pair ( utp ) lines . for example , ieee 802 . 3 defines what voltage levels should be output on the lines , how the switching between the different voltage levels defined for the protocols should be handled , and what termination impedance should be guaranteed on the line . for the transmission protocols , different parameters are specified in the standard . for example , the highest transmitter linearity is in 1000 baset in the presence of an interferer put on the line in full duplex . the highest accuracy of signals is in 100 baset mode when fast settling with accurate rise time and accurate output voltage are specified . the 10 baset protocol desires the highest voltage swing . additional information regarding ethernet transmitter parameters can be found in , e . g ., co - pending , co - owned u . s . published patent appl . no . 2007 - 0296456 , which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety . the whole industry is moving in a trend to reduce power - consumption of ethernet equipment . there is a new standard on ieee 803 . 2 where power consumption of the ethernet is reduced . this is known as energy efficient ethernet ( eee ). therefore , what is needed is a transmitter capable of producing output signals according to one or all of 10 baset , 100 baset , and 1000 baset specifications with low power consumption . an embodiment of the present invention provides a system comprising a transceiver , a magnitude determining device , and a controller . the transceiver is configured to operate in full - duplex mode . the magnitude determining device is configured to generate a magnitude value of a signal received by the transceiver . the controller is configured to generate a control signal based on the magnitude value . the control signal adjusts current driving the transceiver during transmission of a transmitted signal . in one example , the control signal adjusts the current to a minimum current value that also allows for generation of a threshold voltage value of the transmitted signal , and can also allow for generation of a threshold value of a receive signal , thereby substantially reducing power consumption of the transceiver . in another embodiment of the present invention , there is provided a system comprising a transceiver and a controller . the transceiver is configured to operate in full - duplex mode with a remote transceiver over a communications medium . the controller is configured to generate a control signal based on a length value of the communication medium . the control signal adjusts current driving the transceiver during transmission of a transmitted signal . in a further embodiment of the present invention , there is provided a method comprising the following steps . operating a transceiver in full duplex mode . determining a magnitude of a received signal . adjusting current driving the transceiver during transmission of a transmitted signal based on the magnitude of the received signal . in a still further embodiment of the present invention , there is provided a method comprising the following steps . operating a transceiver in full duplex mode , whereby the transceiver communicates with another transceiver via a communications medium . adjusting current , based on a length of the communications medium , the current driving a transmitting portion of the transceiver . further features and advantages of the invention , as well as the structure and operation of various embodiments of the invention , are described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings . it is noted that the invention is not limited to the specific embodiments described herein . such embodiments are presented herein for illustrative purposes only . additional embodiments will be apparent to persons skilled in the relevant art ( s ) based on the teachings contained herein . fig1 shows a communications system 100 . for example , communications system 100 can be an ethernet communications system operating in full duplex mode . system 100 comprises first and second transceivers 102 and 104 coupled via a communications medium 103 ( e . g ., utp lines ) having a length l . thus , in full duplex mode signals are substantially transmitted and received to and from first and second transceivers 102 and 104 along communications medium 103 . in one example , first transceiver 102 includes a transmitting portion tx 106 and a receiving portion rx 108 . similarly , second transceiver portion 104 includes a transmitting portion tx 110 and a receiving portion rx 112 . in one example , first transceiver 102 is on a device under test ( dut ) side of communications system 100 and second transceiver 104 is on a link partner ( lp ) side of communications system 100 . in this example , the dut side also includes an analog - to - digital converter adc 114 , which in one example can be within , i . e ., a part of transceiver 102 , and a controller 116 . as will be understood , many additional components can be found on both the dut side and the lp side , but are not discussed here for brevity . fig2 shows an example transmitted signal wave 200 with a magnitude vtx and fig3 shows an example received signal wave 300 with a magnitude vrx . it is to be appreciated that , although signal 200 is a sine wave and signal 300 is a square wave , any shape signal can be used for signals 200 and 300 . fig4 shows a signal 400 , i . e ., a summation of signals 200 and 300 , at point a in fig1 having a magnitude vt , where vt = vtx + vrx . the following discussion will be in reference to fig1 - 4 . in one example , as is discussed above , first transceiver 102 is a main transceiver . in one example , with respect to point a along communications medium 103 , transmitted signal 200 generated and transmitted from first transceiver 102 can be substantially larger in magnitude than received signal 300 received by first transceiver 102 . however , depending on the length of medium 103 , the loss can vary . if the loss is too small , received signal 300 can be large , where a worst case can be when the loss is zero , and received signal 300 is substantially equal to transmitted 106 signal in amplitude . without knowing a magnitude of receive signal 300 , transmitting portion tx 106 needs enough current to generate a required minimum magnitude vt of signal 400 , e . g ., a worst case scenario of vt , which may unnecessarily increase drive current and power consumption of transmitting portion tx 106 , as discussed above . in one example , to meet ethernet parameters , vtx is fixed and set to 2 vppd . vrx is the receive signal from the link - partner . a maximum signal swing on vrx is 2 vppd since the link - partner 110 meets ieee specification . vrx is reduced over a longer cable due to the loss over the communication medium 103 . since vrx is received at the tx driver of 106 , the tx driver provides output current to sink or source vrx . the additional current causes higher power consumption of 106 . if the driver design has no information of the incoming rx signal strength , the driver accounts for the worst case scenario , which is 2 vppd . this is equivalent to 4 vppd of vt ( 400 ) at 116 . in one example , to reduce required drive current and power consumption , it is desired the driving current be adjusted to be at minimal level needed to still achieve a required vrx , e . g ., to be adjustable based on an actual received signal 300 rather than an worst case received signal 300 . in one example , to determine a minimum drive current , controller 116 receives a magnitude value of received signal 300 . for example , the magnitude can be represented by a digital signal 115 generated based on received signal 300 begin processed by adc 114 . based on signal 115 , controller 116 can produce an optimal control signal 117 , e . g ., a drive current , which optimally drives transmitting portion tx 106 to produce a threshold value of voltage for transmitted signal vtx 200 and vrx 300 to meet the ethernet parameters . through being able to adjust the drive current value based on an actual magnitude of received signal 300 , a voltage value for transmitted signal 400 ( vtx plus vrx ) can be adjusted , e . g ., reduced , to substantially reduce or optimize power consumption of transmitting portion tx 106 . in one example , this may be done in an iterative approach with an initial current value being chosen based on historical received signal magnitudes . then , after determining an actual magnitude of the received signal , the current value is adjusted until a steady state value is determined . in another example , to determine a minimum drive current , controller 116 receives a length value l of communications medium 103 . based on the length value l , controller 116 can produce control signal 117 , e . g ., a current , which optimally drives transmitting portion tx 106 to produce a threshold value of voltage for total signal 400 to meet ethernet parameters . for example , control signal 117 can be based on a known lossiness of communications medium 103 that can be based on the length value l of communications medium 103 , which correlates to an expected magnitude level of received signal 300 . for example , as shown in fig4 , a combined signal 400 ′ can be slightly less magnitude than combined signal 400 based on received signal 300 coming from a lossier medium , which reduces its magnitude and reduces the combined signal magnitude . through using an adjustable drive current value , a voltage vtx can be adjusted , e . g ., reduced , to substantially reduce or optimize power consumption of transmitting portion tx 106 when an actual value of received signal 300 is below a theoretical or expected value of received signal 300 . fig5 shows a flowchart depicting a method 500 . in step 502 , a transceiver operates in full duplex mode . in step 504 , a magnitude of a received signal is determined . in step 506 , a current driving the transceiver during transmission of a transmitted signal is adjusted based on the magnitude of the received signal . fig6 shows a flowchart depicting a method 600 . in step 602 , a transceiver operates in full duplex mode , whereby the transceiver communicates with another transceiver via a communications medium . in step 604 , current is adjusted , based on a length of the communications medium , where the current drives a transmitting portion of the transceiver . it is to be appreciated that the detailed description section , and not the abstract section , is intended to be used to interpret the claims . the abstract section may set forth one or more , but not all , exemplary embodiments of the present invention as contemplated by the inventor ( s ), and thus , are not intended to limit the present invention and the appended claims in any way . the present invention has been described above with the aid of functional building blocks illustrating the implementation of specified functions and relationships thereof . the boundaries of these functional building blocks have been arbitrarily defined herein for the convenience of the description . alternate boundaries can be defined so long as the specified functions and relationships thereof are appropriately performed . the foregoing description of the specific embodiments will so fully reveal the general nature of the invention that others can , by applying knowledge within the skill of the art , readily modify and / or adapt for various applications such specific embodiments , without undue experimentation , without departing from the general concept of the present invention . therefore , such adaptations and modifications are intended to be within the meaning and range of equivalents of the disclosed embodiments , based on the teaching and guidance presented herein . it is to be understood that the phraseology or terminology herein is for the purpose of description and not of limitation , such that the terminology or phraseology of the present specification is to be interpreted by the skilled artisan in light of the teachings and guidance . the breadth and scope of the present invention should not be limited by any of the above - described exemplary embodiments , but should be defined only in accordance with the following claims and their equivalents . | 7 |
referring now to fig1 - 3 , there is shown a disc - on - rod type antenna of the prior art , as was described in the aforementioned patents and pending application . more particularly , there is shown a waveguide section 10 which includes a cylindrical container 12 having a closed back 14 , side walls 16 , and an open mouth 18 . a peripheral lip 20 is contained around the open mouth . the waveguide section 10 is excited by means of a probe 22 formed from the center portion of a coaxial line 24 connected through a side wall 16 by means of a standard coupling connector 26 . the coaxial cable extends from the waveguide section 10 to appropriate electronic circuitry . the waveguide section 10 propagates a signal which is polarized in a direction parallel to the probe . as shown with a vertical probe , a vertically polarized signal would result along the axis 28 . the waveguide section 10 can be utilized independently as an elementary antenna , or it can be utilized as the launcher for a disc - on - rod radiator . as shown , a disc - on - rod array 30 is connected to the waveguide section 10 by means of a support member 31 which is a metal bar secured to the peripheral lip 20 by means of nuts and bolts 32 positioned in an appropriate ones of the many holes 34 provided in the peripheral lip 20 . the support member 31 is positioned transverse to the probe 22 so as not to interfer with the signal being transmitted . if it would be desired to transmit a horizontally polarized signal , the probe would be oriented 90 ° from the position shown , and more particularly in a horizontal direction , and the support bar 31 would be placed vertically . if 31 were non - metallic , any orientation would be acceptable . extending from the support bar 31 is a disc - on - rod radiator which comprises the axial rod 36 and transversely spaced apart discs 38 . although one rod section is shown , it is understood that each rod could terminate in a coupling adapted to receive additional successive sections . as was explained in the aforementioned pending applications the discs should have a diameter greater than λ / 4 and less then λ / 2 and a spacing between λ / 8 and λ / 2 . however , as described in the aforementioned pending application , by restricting the disc spacing and the diameter of the discs and rod to a specific smaller range , there is a significant improvement obtained . in particular , where the energy is of a wavelength λ , the end fire radiator is between a length 3λ and 12λ having a principal axis adapted to be energized by the launcher , at its non radiating end for the transmission of energy of a desired wavelength in the direction of the axis . the thin electrical conductive discs are spaced between 0 . 16λ and 0 . 2λ apart along the axis with the plane of the disc normal to the axis . the difference in diameters between the discs and the rod is greater than 0 . 23λ and less than 0 . 27λ . when such an antenna would be utilized in an mds installation , the electronics package associated therewith would generally be contained in a separate housing spaced from the antenna . in an mds receiving system , the down - converter , as well as other circuitry , would all be placed within a separate housing and mounted on the mast adjacent to the antenna . generally , the disc - on - rod type antenna is mounted by means of a bracket to a supporting mast generally on the roof of a building . the antenna is therefore subject to heavy winds and experiences detrimental environmental conditions . when the electronic circuitry is contained in a separate housing , apart from the antenna , it is often mounted separately from the antenna , on the same mast . although the electronics could , of course , be brought inside the building and therefore removed from the detrimental environmental conditions , this is generally avoided since that would require a long length of cable transmitting signals at 2 ghz from the antenna to the electronics which could result in great electrical losses . thus , it is generally preferred to maintain the frequency down converting electronics as close to the antenna as possible and transferring the signal at a lower frequency such as tv vhf frequencies in order to avoid such electrical losses . however , it is then necessary to provide a suitable housing for the electronics package so that it too can sustain the wind load and other detrimental environmental conditions . nevertheless some electrical loss still exists since the electronics is nevertheless separate from the antenna . in an mds system , the reduction of as much losses as possible is of extra importance . the mds transmitted signal passes through the atmosphere . the troposphere presents considerable difficulties for the mds signal although it does not provide such difficulties to signals of lower frequency . the mds signals may be absorbed or deflected by thermal inversions , free space loss , earth bulge , and objects blocking the signal path . losses in signal strength caused by these tropospheric effects must be compensated for in the receiving system employed at each receiving location . accordingly , heavy stress is placed on the reduction of losses in the receiving system . with the extra housing required for the electronics package , additional losses occur . another problem with the existing prior art type of antennas concerns the ability to achieve high gain . it is normally accepted that in order to achieve higher gain , large antenna size is required . while many cases will permit large dimension devics , in numerous applications the size is limited by the space available , the cost of the equipment , wind load tolerable and other factors . it has been discovered that it is possible to achieve higher gain from the aforementioned type of antenna without increasing its size . in addition , a region is created directly within the antenna itself which may be used to contain the electronic circuitry . as a result , there is avoided the need for having an electronics package separate from the antenna , necessitating separate housing . because only one housing is needed , the wind load is reduced , the transmission loss is reduced , the size of the antenna space is reduced since the electronics is directly contained within the antenna itself , and , surprisingly , the gain of the antenna itself is increased . these benefits have been found to result from the inclusion of a metal structure within the waveguide portion . the only restrictions on this additional included metal structure area , that it must be spaced from the walls of the waveguide container , and that it must be contained within at most one half of the volume of the waveguide cavity . this volume being formed by cutting the waveguide cavity along its longitudinal axis . the probe which is utilized for exciting the waveguide section extends from the metal structure into the other half of the cavity and across the longitudinal axis for excitation of the waveguide itself . more specifically , referring now to fig4 to 6 , there is shown a waveguide section 40 formed of a cylindrical container 42 having a back wall 44 , side walls 46 , and an open mouth 48 . placed within the cylindrical container is a metal structure , shown generally as 50 . the metal structure is shown as a rectangular hollow metal box . it is shown spaced from the side walls 46 and extends in a direction from the back wall 44 to the mouth 48 . the metal structure is shown as being parallel to the axis of the antenna 52 and it is spaced below the axis by a distance d . thus , the metal structure is contained within at most , one half of the volume of the waveguide and does not cross the center axis 52 of the container . the probe 54 extends upwardly from and at right angles to the surface of the metal structure . the probe , which is an extension of the center conductor of the coaxial cable 57 may extend into the remainder of the container not having the metal structure . an electrical cable 56 shown as coaxial , passes within the metal structure toward the rear wall 44 of the container and leaves the container proximate the rear wall 44 and continues as the cable 57 . although it is shown at leaving directly from the rear wall , it could as well leave from a point adjacent thereto . however , since the metallic structure 50 must be isolated from the side walls , the probe cannot be electrically connected to the side walls . also included within the metal structure 50 is an electronics package , shown schematically as 58 . when used as a receiving unit electronics package 58 could include the usual circuitry which would generally be placed outside of the antenna such as the preamplifier , down converter , etc . the output signal from device 58 can be fed to a utilization device 59 such as a television set , video recorder , or a tv camera . the coaxial cable 57 would then be connected between the output of electronics 58 and the input of the utilization device 59 . connected to the waveguide section 40 is the disc - on - rod radiator 60 which is coupled by means of the support bar 62 connected onto the peripheral lip 64 by means of the nuts and bolts 66 . the disc - on - rod radiator includes the center axial rod 68 supporting the spaced apart discs 70 . the preferred spacing of the discs on the rod as well as the range of the diameter sizes are all as described before . the waveguide section 40 is generally of a length l , and a major dimension or diameter d which is between λ / 2 and λ . as is well known , when d is less than approximately λ / 2 cutoff occurs , and with d greater than approximately λ higher than the dominant mode can propagate . the distance between the probe 54 and the back wall is shown as distance s , and is well known to be optimally between λ / 8 and λ / 2 for best impedance match to the coaxial line . thus , the length of the metal structure must be between the values s and l . this length of metal structure extends in a direction between the back wall and the mouth . the metal structure can touch the back wall , if desired , and accordingly the back wall can be used for support of the metal structure holding in a cantilevered fashion within the metallic container . the metal structure should not extend past the mouth of the container . however , it should not touch the side walls of the waveguide container for best results . preferrably it should clear it by at least at distance of 0 . 01λ . in the prior art , waveguides have been formed with metal structures in them . such waveguides are well known as ridged waveguides . however , in such ridged waveguides , the internal metal structure must be in electrical contact with the side walls along the entire length . furthermore , the inclusion of the metal structure to form a ridged waveguide is such as to modify the transmission signal so as to change the wavelength in the waveguide . in the present situation , the metal structure should not touch the side walls . furthermore , it is found that it does not change the waveguide wavelength . thus , the present metal structure does not perform in any manner like a ridged waveguide . by the inclusion of the metal structure it would have been assumed that the gain of the antenna would , if anything be reduced since the dominant mode structure would be disturbed and the field would therefore not exist in the aperture region in the optimum form for radiation . however , it was discovered that the presence of the metal structure actually increased the gain . thus , not only is there a benefit obtained in that there is provided room in the antenna for direct inclusion of the electronics package , but additionally , a gain occurs in the antenna itself . it has further been found that the metal structure need not be a closed cylinder , but can actually be reduced to a single plate . thus , the electronics package , as well as the coaxial transmission line , can be placed under the plate and still obtain the aforementioned benefits . even utilizing this simple plate , the electronics is still isolated from the radiating portion by the metal plate , since it is in a region beyond the cutoff to the lowest waveguide mode . if a plate is used , the outer conductor of coaxial line 56 should be in contact with the plate . additionally , both the shape of the waveguide section as well as that of the metal structure need not be specifically as shown . the waveguide container can be of numerous shapes , not necessarily a circular cylinder , but e . g . a square or rectangular cylinder could be used . furthermore , the metal structure can also be of numerous shapes , and in fact need not even be flat . in a specific embodiment , a circular waveguide launcher of prior art construction was utilized of a size approximately 4 inches long by approximately 4 inches in diameter and a disc - on - rod radiator of about 35 inches long was provided with 32 discs , each 13 / 4 inches in diameter and 1 1 / 16 inches spaced apart . the diameter of the support rod was 3 / 8th inches . working at a frequency of 2153 mhz , it has been found that the gain was about 173 / 4 db above isotropic when the waveguide propagates the te 11 mode excited by a coaxial line probe extending from the side of the waveguide about 2 inches from the closed end . this gain value was considered about maximum obtainable in the prior art for this size antenna at this frequency . in accordance with this invention a metal structure was placed in the container spaced from the side walls . by placing the metal structure in the container , and with the probe extending from the surface of the metal structure into the container , the gain value was increased by at least 1 / 2 db to 181 / 4 db above isotropic . furthermore , in addition to having the increased gain , a location was found directly inside the antenna cavity for placing an electronics package . the exact reason why the metal structure improves the gain is not fully understood . it is noted that the metal structure and the cylinder in addition to the waveguide mode also forms a coaxial transmission system with the inner conductor being the metal structure which is eccentrically located with respect to the axis of the waveguide . both systems are excited by another coaxial system , within or in contact with the metal structure , by means of the probe . it is difficult to analyze this complex structure especially as a radiating one . however , the measured result is an improvement in radiation efficiency . furthermore , an internal housing is found for the electronics package which isolates the electronics from the radiating structure . not only was an increase in gain achieved when utilizing this structure as a launcher for a disc - on - rod radiator , however , an improvement in the gain was also found when utilizing the waveguide container itself as an elementary antenna without the disc - on - rod radiator . although the gain improvement was less than occurred with utilizing it with the disc - on - rod radiator , nevertheless , an unexpected gain improvement did occur , compared to a predicted reduction , if anything . furthermore , the benefit of providing the electronics directly in the antenna was still obtained . referring now to fig7 and 9 , there is shown a preferred embodiment of the exciting probe utilized for excitation of the waveguide , as well as a unique interconnection between the exciting probe and the metal structure . in fig7 the waveguide container is shown generally at 72 and includes the peripheral lip 74 surrounding the cylindrical container 76 which forms the antenna cavity . located within the antenna cavity 76 is the metal structure 78 as was previously described . the exciting probe is connected by means of a coaxial connector 80 which is coupled to the side of the metal structure 78 . a coaxial line 82 is electrically and mechanically connected to the coaxial connector 80 . the center conductor 84 of the coaxial line 82 is bent upwardly from the top surface 86 of the metal structure 78 and is connected to a lightweight metal member 88 , hereinafter referred to as a flag . the center connector 84 is shown interconnected to the flag by means of a solder joint 90 . the flag is shown as being of rectangular configuration and is typically 1 / 2 &# 34 ; to 3 / 4 &# 34 ; and about 0 . 010 &# 34 ;. generally , it is desired to have a probe of this large size for good impedance match on the other hand , it is preferrable to make it small in order to avoid detrimental effects due to shaking , dropping , and other means of damage by impact . however , by using a probe larger than a thin wire , there results the problem of increased mass of the probe . by soldering the lightweight flag onto the center conductor , we achieve the benefit of having the larger probe to avoid the possible damage during shipment and installation from shock caused by extra mass usually involved with a larger probe . this is achieved by using a lightweight flat metal plate soldered onto the wire . as a result , the low mass is not subject to handling shock which would normally bend the small diameter wire center conductor if it had to support a heavy mass . at the same time , the flag is suitably scaled to provide the necessary electrical requirements as needed for the proper probe to provide the needed bandwidth . in order to interconnect the coaxial line 82 , to the coaxial connector 80 , a unique interconnecting arrangement is also produced . as can best be seen in fig8 the coaxial connector 80 is shown enlarged and connected to the metal structure 78 . the coaxial connector typically includes outer conductor 92 having an external thread thereabout 94 for coupling to another line . inwardly of the outer conductor 92 is the insulating layer 96 . at the center of the coaxial connector is the inner conductor 98 . the coaxial line 82 which is used for the probe includes its outer conductor 100 , center conductor 102 and separating insulating layer 104 . in order to interconnect the coaxial line 82 to the coaxial connector 80 , the inner conductor 98 of the connector 80 is drilled at least a portion therethrough to form the axial opening 106 . a radial opening 108 is formed through a side of coaxial connector . the coaxial line 82 is then inserted through the radial opening 108 so that its center conductor 104 extends into the axial hole drilled out within the inner conductor 98 . a lock screw 110 is then inserted into the axial opening 106 and serves as a set screw to hold the center conductor 104 within the inner conductor area of the coaxial connector 80 . suitable locking nuts 112 and a locking washer 114 are used to hold the coaxial line 82 securely to the coaxial connector 80 . the antenna as described together with suitable electronics package contained within the antenna can be used in an mds system , either as the transmitting system or the receiving antenna . for example , when utilized in a receiving system , various electronic circuits would be utilized , as shown in fig8 . specifically , in areas with sources of interferring signals such as radar installations following the antenna there may be included a preselector ( not shown ). this would then be followed by a preamplifier 121 whose purpose is to compensate for the mixer loss in the down converter and to make up for the path loss at distant receiving locations . a well designed preamplifier will have a low noise figure and will be sharply tuned to the incoming mds frequency . this sharp tuning will help keep unwanted signals from entering the mixer 122 and producing unwanted products in the down converter output . the mixer 122 receives a signal from oscillator 126 . following the down converter there is generally included an if amplifier 128 whose purpose is to boost the signal from the mixer . this if amplifier produces the necessary output to the tv receiver , 120 . an output coaxial connector 119 permits attachment of a coaxial cable . the power supply 132 utilized the standard household 120 v ac input rectifies and provides a voltage controlled 24 v to the down converter . a control box 140 generally located near the television set has circuitry which feeds dc power up the cable from the down converter and splits out the rf from the down converter . the power supply is generally well regulated and filtered to prevent overloads , brownouts , and noise from effecting the performence of the down - converter . in most cases , a matching transformer is utilized prior to the tv receiver . the preselector is not always necessary but is advisable to avoid interference . it is formed of a sharply tuned band pass filter that allows the mds signal to enter the down converter but attenuates all other frequencies . the metal cross - bar 62 may be replaced by a glass - filled synthetic resin plate 150 , shown in fig9 and 11 . a threaded bore 152 may be provided to receive the threaded end of the disc - on - rod assembly . stiffening ribs 154 permit the use of a relatively thin plate 156 to minimize transmission losses . the plate may be secured to the cavity by conventional fasteners such as nuts and bolts . bracket 160 and u bolt 162 are utilized for mounting the assembly to a mast . although a particular receiving system has been described , it is understood that a transmitting system could also be included where an up converter would be placed directly within the housing of the waveguide . there has been disclosed heretofore the best embodiments of the present invention . however , it is to be understood that various changes and modifications may be made thereto without departing from the spirit of the invention . | 7 |
the preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below . [ 0029 ] fig1 is a cross - sectional view showing one example of a nozzle portion in an ink jet head according to the invention . reference numeral 1 denotes an orifice , 2 denotes a pressure chamber , 3 denotes a diaphragm , 4 denotes a piezoelectric element , 5 a and 5 b denote a signal input terminal , 6 denotes a piezoelectric element fixing board , 7 denotes a restricter for restricting inflow of the ink , the restricter connecting a common ink supply passage 8 and the pressure chamber 2 , 8 denotes a common ink supply passage , 9 denotes a filter , 10 denotes an adhesive such as silicone adhesive for bonding the diaphragm 3 and the piezoelectric element 4 , 11 denotes a restricter plate forming the restricter 7 , 12 denotes a pressure chamber plate forming the pressure chamber 2 , 13 denotes an orifice plate forming the orifice 1 , 14 denotes a support board for reinforcing the diaphragm 3 , 15 denotes a common ink supply passage member for forming the common ink supply passage 8 , and 16 denotes a filter plate forming the filter 9 . the diaphragm 3 , the restricter plate 11 , the pressure chamber plate 12 and the support board 14 are made of stainless material , for example , and the orifice plate 13 is made of nickel or stainless material . also , the piezoelectric element fixing board 6 is made of an insulating material such as ceramics or polyimide . the ink flows , from upstream to downstream , through the filter 9 on the way to the common ink supply passage 8 , and further flows in the order of the restricter 7 , the pressure chamber 2 and the orifice 1 . the piezoelectric element 4 is expanded or contracted when a potential difference is applied between the signal input terminals 5 a and 5 b , and restored to the form before expansion or contraction when there is no potential difference between the signal input terminals 5 a and 5 b . owing to a deformation of this piezoelectric element 4 , a pressure is applied to the ink within the pressure chamber 2 , so that the ink is discharged out of the orifice . [ 0031 ] fig2 is a plan view of the filter plate 16 . the filter plate 16 has a portion forming the filter 9 , a bored portion 16 a , and a portion 16 b formed with a through hole having a larger aperture ratio than the filter 9 . the filter portion 9 is formed over the entire face of the common ink supply passage 8 . also , the bored portion 16 a is a space into which the piezoelectric element 4 is inserted . the portion 16 b formed with the through hole and the portion 16 forming the filter 9 are provided with a gap d . the gap d is greater than the maximum diameter of the through hole formed in the portion 16 b and smaller than three times the maximum diameter of the through hole in the portion 16 b . [ 0032 ] fig3 is a constitutional view of the filter portion 9 . a number of grooves are formed at an equal interval on the surface of the filter portion 9 , and a number of grooves are formed at an equal interval in its orthogonal direction on the back face . fig4 shows an enlarged view of the filter portion 9 , in which 101 , 102 and 103 denote the grooves on the surface , and 201 , 202 and 203 denote the grooves formed on the back face . and the depth of each groove is equal to , or slightly larger than , half the thickness of the filter plate 16 . consequently , a square through hole 17 is formed on each of the portions 301 , 302 and 303 where the grooves 101 , 102 and 103 on the surface and the grooves 201 , 202 and 203 on the back face intersect . [ 0033 ] fig5 is a cross - sectional view of fig3 taken along the line a - a . the through holes 17 are formed at an equal interval , whereby the foreign matter in the ink is removed when the ink is passed through the through holes 17 . referring to fig6 a - 6d , a manufacturing process of the filter plate used for the ink jet print head according to the invention will be described below . first of all , a dry film resist 19 is pasted by a laminator on both sides of a rolled thin plate 18 of stainless plate ( sus ) having a thickness of 25 μm , as shown in fig6 a . then , the dry film resist 19 on the surface and back face of the thin plate 18 is patterned in groove width of 30 μm through a photolithography process , as shown in fig6 b . in this case , the resist on the surface is pattern at equal interval in the longitudinal direction , and the resist on the back face is pattern at equal interval in the transverse direction , so that both the resist layers become orthogonal . the thin plate 18 made of stainless steel ( sus ) in the groove portion is etched into the depth 13 μm from both sides in a ferric chloride solution , as shown in fig6 c . etchant should be sprayed onto both sides at the same time to decrease a dispersion in the etching on both sides . roughly at the final stage of etching , the portion 16 a forming the filter 9 is formed with a through hole at a position where the grooves on both sides intersect . at this time , etchant is more likely to stay near the outer periphery of the portion 16 a forming the filter 9 than near the center of the portion 16 a , deviating the etching rate . the etchant is prevented from staying owing to a gap provided between the portion 16 a forming the filter 9 and the portion 16 b formed with through hole , whereby the etching rate is kept uniform within the portion 16 a forming the filter 9 . if the gap d between the filter portion and the through hole around the filter portion is smaller than the maximum length of opening in the through hole around the filter portion , the through hole around the filter portion may possibly interfere and communicate with the filter portion . also , if the gap d is larger than three times the maximum length of opening in the through hole around the filter portion , the etchant is less effectively prevented from staying , causing a distribution in the etching rate . lastly , the dry film resist 19 on both sides is removed by a release agent , whereby the filter portion formed with the through holes 17 at equal interval is completed , as shown in fig6 d . in this example , the width of groove is 30 μm , but not limited to this value . that is , if the width of groove is smaller than the diameter of orifice 1 , the filter portion has a smaller length of one side than the diameter of orifice , whereby the orifice 1 is not clogged . usually , it is desirable that the diameter of orifice is 80 μm or less , and the width of groove is in a range from 20 to 60 μm . the number of through holes 17 can be adjusted by changing the pitch of grooves , whereby the aperture ratio is arbitrarily set up . for example , in a case where the width of groove is 30 μm and the pitch is 55 μm , the aperture ratio is 13 . 2 %. the aperture ratio is related with the resistance in the flow of ink , and has some influence on the frequency response characteristics in discharging the ink . usually , it does not matter that the aperture ratio is 10 % or more , whereby the pitch of groove may be chosen in this range . also , various methods are conceived for joining the filter plate with the support board 14 and the common ink supply passage member 15 . for example , when an adhesive having the ink - proofness is applied or transferred thin , the through hole portion 16 is useful as an escape hole for excess adhesive . since extrusion of the adhesive into the ink flow passage is prevented , there is the effect of reducing a dispersion in the ink discharge characteristic . [ 0041 ] fig7 is a characteristic curve showing the relationship between the drive frequency and the discharge rate of liquid droplets in the print head having built the filter plate of this example . it will be apparent that there is less variation in the discharge rate of ink droplets at a drive frequency of 20 khz , which indicates the excellent characteristic . [ 0042 ] fig8 is a cross - sectional view showing a second example of an ink jet print head filter portion according to the invention and fig9 is its upper view . in this example , a number of square concave portions are formed by etching on the surface and back face of the filter plate , as shown in fig9 . the depth of concave portions 401 , 402 and 402 on the surface is etched about half the thickness of the filter plate . on the other hand , the square size of concave portions 501 and 502 on the back face is etched larger than the square size of concave portions 401 , 402 and 403 on the surface , its depth being set to about half the thickness of the filter plate . consequently , the through hole 17 in the filter portion 9 is formed such that the width of groove on the ink inflow side is wider than the ink outflow side , as shown in fig8 . the resistance of the ink in passing through the through holes 17 in the filter portion 8 is affected by not only the diameter of hole but also the length of through holes 17 . since the function of the filter to impede passage of the foreign matter is not affected by the length of through holes , it is desirable to make the thickness of the filter plate as small as possible to reduce the resistance , but there is a limited thickness due to easy handling in working and assembling the head . that is , if the thickness is too small , the working and assembling operation becomes difficult . therefore , the resistance of ink flow is reduced while the diameter of through holes is kept at a predetermined size , making the handling easy in this example . in the above example , the square holes 17 are formed in the filter portion . the shape of holes is not limited to square , but may be circular in section . also , the depth of concave portions formed by etching on the surface and back face is about half the thickness of filter plate , but may be varied in various ways . conventionally , the thickness of the filter plate was set to the thickness of about 30 μm in consideration of the resistance of flow passage in the opening portion and the easy handling . however , if the opening portion is shaped as shown in fig8 the resistance of flow passage is reduced , whereby the thickness of the filter plate may be set as large as about 50 μm . also , the thickness of the smaller diameter portion in the opening portion 17 can be about 10 μm at minimum , and is desirably 25 μm or less due to the resistance of flow passage . accordingly , it is desirable that the thickness of the larger diameter portion is from 25 to 40 μm when the total thickness is 50 μm , or from 15 to 20 μm when the total thickness is 30 μm . that is , the desired range in this example is such that the filter plate from 25 to 50 μm , the thickness of the opening portion with smaller diameter is from 10 to 25 μm , and the thickness of the opening portion with larger diameter is 15 μm or more . [ 0046 ] fig1 is an upper view showing a third example of an ink jet head filter portion according to the invention . in this example , the surface of the filter portion is etched in the shape of rectangles 701 and 702 to form the concave portions , and the back face is etched in the shape of rectangles 602 and 603 to form the concave portions at shifted positions . in this manner , the overlapping area 801 , 802 and 803 of the rectangles 701 and 702 and the rectangles 601 , 602 and 603 become the through holes . with the progress of the lithography technique , it is relatively easy to form the openings of smaller diameter , but it may be difficult to bore the hole of about a few 10 μm depending on the material or thickness of plate . however , if the opening portion is formed in the manner as in the third example , there is the effect that the resolution of lithography is not required to be so high , and the hole portion is formed minutely . one example of an ink jet recording apparatus using the ink jet head according to the invention will be described below . in fig1 , a head base 31 is disposed on the top of a housing 30 , and a set of four print heads 32 are provided on the head base 31 . a roll paper conveying device and a control device , though not shown , are accommodated inside the housing 30 . the set of four print heads 32 is supplied with color inks of cyan , magenta , yellow and black for color printing from four ink supply pipes 34 . each set of heads 32 has twenty heads for example arranged in a direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the printing paper , each head being provided with for example 128 nozzles , as shown in fig1 . the printing paper 33 is conveyed to be opposite the orifices ( fig1 ) of the nozzles . in fig1 , the roll paper is conveyed in the arrow direction , and a roll paper supply device is disposed on the upstream side , but not shown in the figure . the rods 37 and 38 are provided between the upper frames 39 and 40 of the housing 30 , and borne so that the supporters 35 and 36 may be able to slide along the rods 37 and 38 . since the head base 31 is attached to the supporters 35 and 36 , the set of print heads 32 is moved in a direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the printing paper 33 up to a position of a head cleaning mechanism 40 . the ink jet head of the invention may be employed for a universal and small ink jet recording apparatus , in addition to the recording apparatus as described above . as described above , in the ink jet print head according to the invention , the aperture ratio of through hole is “ filter portion & lt ; through hole portion with a certain gap from the filter portion ”. thereby , etchant staying in the filter portion is reduced to prevent etching failure from being caused by a distributed etching rate . also , the interval between the filter portion and the through hole around filter portion is “ maximum opening length of the through hole around filter portion & lt ; interval between the filter portion and the through hole around filter portion & lt ; three times the maximum opening length of the through hole around filter portion ”. thereby , there is the effect of reducing the etching failure , and the through hole around filter portion does not interfere and communicate with the filter portion . moreover , the concave portions like grooves or rectangles are formed on the surface and back face of the filter plate , and the through holes are provided in the areas where the concave portions overlap , whereby the filter having the openings of small diameter is produced , and the high precision ink jet printer is realized employing this filter plate . additionally , the filter plate is made of stainless steel ( sus ), various kinds of ink and liquid are discharged , whereby the universal ink jet head is realized . | 1 |
referring to fig1 of the drawing , there is shown a multiple pushbutton switch of the type disclosed in u . s . pat . no . 3 , 271 , 530 issued to r . e . wirsching on september 6 , 1966 . the switch includes a housing 10 having a row of sleeve portions 13 and a longitudinal wall portion 15 extending parallel to the sleeve portions . the longitudinal wall portion 15 has a plurality of equally spaced guide slots 16 therein , and each guide slot is in alignment with an individual sleeve portion 13 . in addition , the longitudinal wall portion 15 has a rectangular recess 18 . an actuator 20 having a central aperture 22 that conforms to the sleeve portion 13 is disposed about each sleeve portion . in addition , each actuator 20 includes a raised guide portion 24 on one side thereof that is accommodated by the adjacent guide slot 16 in the longitudinal wall portion 15 . these elements cooperate to permit each actuator 20 to move up and down along the length of its associated sleeve portion 13 but prevent the actuator from rotating about the sleeve portion . the opposite side of each actuator 20 includes a spring engaging portion ( not shown ) that extends into juxtaposition with individual ones of a plurality of contact springs ( not shown ). the engaging portions deflect the contact springs into and out of engagement with adjacent contact springs responsive to the up and down movement of the actuator 20 . a button 30 is snap mounted to the upper end of each actuator 20 , while a compression spring 40 which is disposed about each sleeve portion 13 biases the actuator 20 upwardly . the upward movement of the actuator 20 is limited by the engagement of the guide portions 24 thereon with a cover member 50 . the cover member 50 is disposed about and fastened to the housing 10 , and the top of the cover member is provided with elongated opening 52 that is of a size to permit the buttons 30 but not the guide portions 24 of the actuators 20 to pass therethrough . in addition , the cover member 50 includes a skirt portion 54 that cooperates with the longitudinal wall portion 15 to retain a latch bar 60 and a plurality of lockouts 70 within the recess 18 in the wall portion . the latch bar 60 and lockouts 70 interact with interlocking members 80 respectively mounted on the guide portions 24 of the actuators 20 . referring to fig2 and 4 in accordance with the present invention , each interlocking member 80 comprises a cylindrical mounting portion 82 at its rear , a pin portion 84 at its front , and a cam portion 86 in between . as shown in fig4 the mounting portion 82 is accommodated by a complementary transverse opening in the actuator 20 that communicates with a slot 25 formed in the portion of the wall of the central aperture 22 in juxtaposition with the guide portion 24 . the length of the mounting portion 82 is such that with the cam portion 86 abutting the front of the guide portion 24 , the rear end of the mounting portion does not extend into the aperture 22 . thus , the mounting portion 82 does not interfere with the up and down movement of the actuator 20 on sleeve 13 . in addition , the mounting portion 82 includes a peripheral groove 83 adjacent to its rear end , and the dimensions of the mounting portion are such that with the cam portion 86 abutting the front of the guide portion 24 , the groove is located immediately adjacent to the front of the slot 25 . then , by positioning a c - shaped spring clip 88 over the groove 83 , the interlocking member 80 is secured rotatively in place . the front of the pin portion 84 advantageously includes a slot 85 of a size to accommodate the blade of the screw driver so that the interlocking member 80 can be readily rotated . the cam portion 86 of the interlocking member 80 has the shape of a sector of a circle , that is , it has two radially extending flat sides joined by an arcuate side . the center of the cam portion 86 is coincident with the longitudinal axis of the mounting portion 82 and pin portion 84 , and the angle subtended by the flat side is somewhat less than 180 degrees . the thickness of the cam portion 86 is slightly greater than the thickness of the lockout members 70 . consequently , when the interlocking member 80 is mounted on its associated actuator 20 , the distance between the rear of the pin portion 84 and the front of the guide portion 24 of the actuator is also greater than the thickness of the lockout members 70 . a groove 87 is thereby provided , that is , adapted to accommodate the edge of an adjacent lockout member 70 . referring again to fig1 the pin portions 84 of the interlocking members 80 extend into the plane of the latch bar 60 and interact with the latch bar in the manner described in the above - noted wirsching patent . that is , the pin portions 84 and latch bar interact to latch the actuators 20 in a downward position when any one of them is depressed and at the same time permit any previously latched - down actuator to return to its upward position under the bias of its compression spring 40 . similarly , as shown in fig2 the cam portions 86 of the interlocking members 80 lie in the same plane as the lockout members 70 , the lockout members having a triangular - like shape including a pair of inclined shoulder portions 72 and an enlarged base portion 74 . however , the cam portions 86 interact with the lockout members 70 in a totally different manner than the arrangement disclosed in the wirsching patent . the cam portions 86 cooperate with the lockout members 70 to permit only selected ones of the actuators 20 to be depressed simultaneously . with the cam portions 86 arranged in the manner shown in fig5 that is , with the cam portions 86 - 1 and 86 - 2 extending toward the right and the cam portions 86 - 3 , 86 - 4 and 86 - 5 extending toward the left , the actuators 20 - 1 and 20 - 2 can be depressed simultaneously , or the actuators 20 - 3 , 20 - 4 and 20 - 5 can be depressed simultaneously . but neither of the actuators 20 - 1 or 20 - 2 can be depressed simultaneously with any of the actuators 20 - 3 , 20 - 4 or 20 - 5 . this is because of the following : when , for example , the actuator 20 - 4 is moved to its downward position , the cam portion 86 - 4 engages the right hand shoulder portion 72 on the lockout member 70 - 3 and deflects the lockout member to the left . as a result , the base portion 74 of the lockout member 70 - 3 engages the base portion of the lockout member 70 - 2 which in turn engages the base portion of the lockout member 70 - 1 , and they end up in the positions shown in fig5 . it is seen that in this position of the lockout members 70 , the downward movement of the cam portion 86 - 3 is not blocked by the shoulder portions 72 on either of the lockout members 70 - 2 or 70 - 3 . thus , the actuator 20 - 3 can be depressed simultaneously with the actuator 20 - 4 , and when so depressed , the groove 87 of the interlocking member 80 - 3 moves over the shoulder portion 72 of the lockout member 70 - 3 in the manner shown in fig4 . similarly , if the actuator 20 - 5 is depressed , the cam portion 86 - 5 of the interlocking member 80 - 5 merely deflects the lockout member 70 - 4 into abutting engagement with the lockout member 70 - 3 , the shoulder 72 of the lockout member being moved into the groove 87 of the interlocking member 80 - 4 to the position shown in fig4 . thus , the actuators 20 - 3 , 20 - 4 and 20 - 5 can all be depressed simultaneously . conversely , it is seen that with the lockout members 70 positioned as shown in fig5 the downward movement of both the cam portions 86 - 1 and 86 - 2 are blocked by the shoulders 72 on the lockout members 70 - 1 and 70 - 2 . therefore , neither of the actuators 20 - 1 and 20 - 2 can be depressed simultaneously with the actuators 20 - 3 , 20 - 4 or 20 - 5 . however , for the same reasons that the actuators 20 - 3 , 20 - 4 and 20 - 5 can be depressed simultaneously with one another , the actuators 20 - 1 and 20 - 2 can be depressed simultaneously with one another . the lockout members 70 will then be shifted to the right to block the downward movement of the actuators 20 - 3 , 20 - 4 and 20 - 5 . if , for example , it is found desirable to have the actuator 20 - 3 depressable simultaneously with the actuators 20 - 1 and 20 - 3 , rather than with the actuators 20 - 4 and 20 - 5 , all that is necessary is to rotate the interlocking member 80 - 3 one hundred and eighty degrees to place the cam portion 86 - 3 on the right . this is accomplished without having to disassemble the multiple pushbutton switch . since the slot 85 in the front end of each interlocking member 80 is exposed through an opening 55 ( fig1 ) in the skirt 54 of the cover 50 , the interlocking members are readily rotated by means of a screwdriver . furthermore , if it is found desirable to prevent any of the actuators 20 from being depressed simultaneously with one another , this is achieved by merely rotating all of the interlocking members 80 , ninety degrees to have the cam portions 86 extend downward . although a specific embodiment of the invention has been shown and described , it will be understood that it is but illustrative and that various modifications may be made without departing from the scope and spirit of this invention as defined in the appended claims . | 8 |
the following description is of the best - contemplated mode of carrying out the invention . this description is made for the purpose of illustrating the general principles of the invention and should not be taken in a limiting sense . the scope of the invention is best determined by reference to the appended claims . fig1 a to 1f are schematic plane views showing a discontinuous capillary coating operation . as shown in fig1 a , a capillary tube 3 filled with a coating material 7 is moved downward . as shown in fig2 b , the capillary tube 3 contacts a coating substrate 6 , enabling the coating material 7 to adhere to the coating substrate 6 . as shown in fig1 c , the capillary tube 3 moves upward to a specific position , connecting the capillary tube 3 to the coating substrate 6 through a liquid bridge 8 . as shown in fig1 d , the capillary tube 3 is moved with respect to and parallel to the coating substrate 6 , coating the coating material 7 onto the coating substrate 6 , and further forming a liquid film 5 a . as shown in fig1 e , the capillary tube 3 is moved upward , cutting off the liquid bridge 8 between the coating material 7 and the coating substrate 6 , and thus forming a micro - patch 5 b . as shown in fig1 f , the capillary tube 3 is again moved with respect to the coating substrate 6 , producing the next coated patch . in the aforementioned coating process , the length of the micro - patch 5 b and the distance between the micro - patches 5 b can be adjusted by adjusting the coating operation . fig2 a to 2c are schematic plane views of a discontinuous capillary coating device . the discontinuous capillary coating device comprises a displacing platform 1 , a barricade 2 , a capillary tube 3 , two capillary tube holders 4 , and a coating substrate 6 . as shown in fig2 a , the capillary tube 3 is connected to the barricade 2 and is disposed on the capillary tube holders 4 . here , the capillary tube comprises a tapered outlet which comprises a polished flat opening , and the capillary tube holders 4 are fixed to the displacing platform 1 . as shown in fig2 b , when the discontinuous capillary coating device contacts the coating substrate 6 , upward and downward latitude is properly provided between the capillary tube 3 and the capillary tube holders 4 , preventing damage of the capillary tube 3 . as shown in fig2 c , the discontinuous capillary coating device produces a liquid film 5 a on the coating substrate 6 . fig3 a to 3d are schematic plane views showing a continuous capillary coating operation . the capillary tube 3 is connected to a fluid reservoir 10 through a connection member 9 . here , the fluid reservoir 10 can continuously supply the coating material 7 to the capillary tube 3 . as shown in fig3 a , the capillary tube 3 is moved downward . as shown in fig3 b , the capillary tube 3 contacts the coating substrate 6 , enabling the coating material 7 to adhere to the coating substrate 6 . as shown in fig3 c , the capillary tube 3 is moved upward to a specific position , connecting the capillary tube 3 to the coating substrate 6 through a liquid bridge 8 . as shown in fig3 d , the capillary tube 3 is moved with respect to and parallel to the coating substrate 6 , coating the coating material 7 onto the coating substrate 6 , and further forming a continuously coated liquid film 5 a . accordingly , the traversing mechanism drives the capillary tube filled with the coating material to move with respect to the coating substrate . when contacting the coating substrate , the coating material adheres to the coating substrate by a capillary force provided there between , thereby performing the coating operation . by controlling relative movement between the capillary tube and the coating substrate , various continuous stripe - like liquid films or discontinuous patch - like liquid films can be generated . furthermore , the patch pattern can be defined by the relative movement between the capillary tube and the coating substrate . by the capillary force provided between the coating material and the coating substrate , the capillary tube filled with the coating material can wet the coating substrate . the coating operation is performed on the coating substrate by movement of the traversing mechanism , coating various discontinuous liquid micro - patches on the coating substrate . for example , during manufacture of a color filter , patterns with r , g , and b patches can be generated on a coating substrate thereof . in conclusion , the disclosed methods can solve the problem of low utility rate of the raw materials provided by the spin coating and exposure development methods and can thus be applied to coating of large panels . moreover , the disclosed techniques can solve the problem of low productivity provided by the ink - jet printing method . additionally , compared with the stamping method , the disclosed methods can enhance the variability of the pattern . furthermore , compared with the stripe coating and discontinuous micro - patch coating methods , the disclosed methods can provide reduced manufacturing costs . in summary , as equipment and manufacturing costs are reduced and productivity is enhanced , the disclosed methods or techniques can be applied to the manufacture of the large panels and designing of complicated micro - structural patterns . moreover , the capillaries of the disclosed devices directly perform the coating operation . the coated patterns can be determined by the relative movement between the capillaries and the coating substrates . the separated distance between the capillaries of the disclosed devices can be freely adjusted , such that the coated patterns can be provided with enhanced variability , as compared with those generated by the conventional stamping and stripe coating methods . moreover , compared with the conventional inkjet printing method , the disclosed methods or techniques do not require high positioning precision and can enhance productivity . while the invention has been described by way of example and in terms of preferred embodiment , it is to be understood that the invention is not limited thereto . to the contrary , it is intended to cover various modifications and similar arrangements ( as would be apparent to those skilled in the art ). therefore , the scope of the appended claims should be accorded the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and similar arrangements . | 1 |
although this embodiment of the present invention refers to use of a piston assembly 10 in a prepackaged configuration 12 for use with an internal combustion engine 14 , it should be recognized that the invention is equally as valuable in use with an air compressor or other machines using piston assemblies . referring first to fig1 the engine 14 is illustrated as a partially sectioned view of an engine block 16 . a portion of a prepackaged piston assembly 18 is also shown . the block 16 defines a top surface 20 and a pair of outer walls 24 extending downward from each end of the top surface 20 . a cylinder bore 26 extends downward from the top surface 20 . the cylinder bore 26 may be positioned in a replaceable liner or a fixed bore in the engine block 16 . in this application , a water jacket 28 is interposed the cylinder bore 26 and the outer walls 24 ; however , as an alternative the engine 14 could be air cooled . the prepackaged piston assembly 18 as best shown in fig2 is comprised of a piston assembly 10 a sleeve 30 and a container 32 . the piston assembly 10 has a piston member 36 having a top portion 38 and an outer surface 40 defined on the piston member 36 . a plurality of ring grooves 42 are positioned in the outer surface 40 below the top portion 38 and a plurality of rings 46 are inserted in the ring grooves 42 . the plurality of rings 46 define a ring spread 48 . the ring spread 48 can be defined as an axial distance between the top of a top ring groove 50 and the bottom of a bottom ring groove 52 . a wrist pin bore 54 extends through the outer surface 40 of the cylindrical piston member 36 . a snap ring groove 58 is defined within the wrist pin bore 54 near each end . as an alternative the piston assembly 10 may further have a connecting rod 60 . the connecting rod 60 is affixed to the piston member 36 in a conventional manner by using a wrist pin 62 . a lubricant and or rust inhibitor may be applied to all or some surfaces of the pre - packaged piston assembly 18 . in the prepackaged configuration 12 of the piston assembly 10 , the sleeve 30 is positioned about the piston member 38 and the plurality of rings 46 . the sleeve 30 maintains the plurality of rings 46 in a compressed position . the pre - packaged piston assembly 18 may in be an individual configuration , or may be in a multiple configuration as shown if fig3 and 4 . the pre - packaged piston assembly 18 may include the connecting rod 60 although it is not required . the sleeve 30 may be manufactured in a number of ways . preferably the sleeve 20 is manufacture from a material and in a manner that would minimize cost . as further shown in fig5 a perspective view of one sleeve 30 of the present invention is illustrated . the sleeve 30 has a top surface 64 a bottom surface 66 and an outer wall 68 . a sleeve bore 70 ( or inner wall ) extends between the top surface 64 and the bottom surface 66 . a window 74 may extend from the outer wall 68 to the sleeve bore 70 . an alternative to the window 74 is a sleeve being made from a transparent material . the sleeve bore 70 is of a predetermined inside diameter 76 which is equal to or slightly smaller than the diameter of the cylinder bore 26 and slightly larger the outside diameter 78 of the piston member 36 . as further shown in fig6 another embodiment of the sleeve 30 is shown . the sleeve 30 has a top surface 64 a bottom surface 66 and an outer wall 68 . a sleeve bore 70 is defined between the top surface 64 and the bottom surface 66 . the sleeve bore 70 defines a straight portion 80 extending from the bottom surface 68 toward the top surface 66 . a tapered portion 82 of the sleeve bore 70 extends outwardly from a top end 84 of the straight portion 80 to the top surface 64 . the length of the straight portion 80 is at least equal to the ring spread 48 of the piston member 36 . referring now to fig7 - 11 , an alternate sleeve 30 ′ may be formed from a substantially flat strap 86 . the formed sleeve 30 ′ provides a variable inside diameter 90 that is substantially equal to that of the piston member 36 . the flat strap 86 includes a sleeve portion 88 having predetermined width 92 at a first end 94 of the strap 86 . additionally , the sleeve portion 88 includes a predetermined length 95 . the predetermined length 95 must be at least equal to the circumference of the piston member 36 that the sleeve 30 will be used on . a second end 96 has a narrower width than that of the predetermined width 92 . the predetermined width 92 is equal to or greater than the ring spread 48 of the piston member 36 . a latching member 100 is provided near the first end 94 . the latching member 100 is adapted to receive the second end 96 , to form the sleeve 30 ′. the latching member 100 is preferably adapted to varying the inside diameter 76 of the sleeve 30 ′. the latching member 100 may be provided in a variety of configurations . some examples of latching members 100 are described hereafter , but it should be noted that any number of conventional latching members are suitable , yet not described . an embodiment of a latching member 100 is illustrated in fig8 and is similar to that of a plastic wire tie . the latching member 100 includes a body portion 102 . the body portion 102 has a slot 104 defined therein . at least one barb 108 ( or catch ) is disposed within the slot 104 . a mating portion 110 of the strap 86 is adapted to be positioned within the slot 104 . the mating portion 110 may include a friction portion 112 . the friction portion 112 illustrated in fig7 is a plurality of ribs 114 disposed along a surface 116 of the strap 86 . the friction portion 110 is configured to permit movement of the mating portion 110 relative to the slot 104 . referring now to fig9 an embodiment for the latching member 100 is similar to that used to adjust the size of a hat . near the first end 94 of the strap 86 a plurality of openings 120 are spaced predetermined distance from one and other . on the first end 94 of the strap 86 one or more protrusions 122 extend outward from the surface 116 of the strap 86 . the protrusions 122 include a body portion 124 and a head portion 126 . the body portion 124 of the protrusion 122 is of a slightly smaller diameter than that of the head portion 126 . at least one of the protrusions 122 and at least one of the openings 120 are adapted to engage one and other and form a sleeve 30 of the appropriate inside diameter 76 . referring now to fig1 , an embodiment of a latching member 100 is illustrated . the body portion 102 is defined near the first end 94 of the strap 86 . the body portion 102 also includes the slot 104 and is adapted to receive the second end 96 . within the body portion 102 a rotatable cam 130 is disposed , and pivotable between a first and second position . the cam 130 includes a lever portion 132 adapted to rotate the cam 130 . in the first position the second end 96 of the strap 86 is moveable within the slot 104 . with the cam 130 in the second position , the second end 96 is fixedly interposed the cam 130 and the slot 104 . referring now to fig1 , an embodiment of the latching member 100 having a wedge member 134 is illustrated . the wedge member 134 is positioned within the slot 104 and moveable between a first position and a second position . in the first position the second end 96 of the strap 86 is moveable within the slot 104 . with the wedge member 134 in the second position the second end 96 of the strap 86 is fixedly interposed the slot 104 and the wedge member 134 . referring again to fig2 in the prepackaged configuration 12 , the pre - packaged piston assembly 18 is sealed in the container 32 . in this embodiment the container is a plastic bag 138 . the plastic bag 138 is coated on the inside with a rust inhibitor and / or lubricant . the plastic bag 138 defines a cavity 140 which is capable of accommodating the prepackaged configuration 12 of the piston assembly 10 . alternatively of the plastic bag 138 , a flexible sheet having a protective coating and a seal 142 could be used . the flexible sheet may be constructed of many different materials including , but not limited to , paper , waxed paper and plastic . the flexible sheet may additionally be coated or impregnated with the rust inhibitor and / or lubricant . referring again to fig3 and 4 , a plurality of pre - packaged piston assemblies 18 arranged in a single shipping container is shown . the piston assemblies 10 may include the connecting rod 60 as illustrated in fig4 . as shown in fig . 3 , the piston assemblies 10 may be packaged without the connecting rod 60 . the piston assemblies 10 may be coated with the lubricant and / or rust inhibitor as previously discussed . a foam sheet having a plurality of cavities 158 that are shaped to fit the piston assemblies 10 may be used . alternately , conventional packing materials may surround all or part of the piston assemblies 10 . the second container 144 may further be adapted to receive a plurality of layers of piston assemblies 10 . each of the plurality of layers may be positioned on a tray 162 that is adapted to hold the packing materials and piston assemblies 10 . sheets of plastic or paper having a protective coating may be wrapped around the piston assemblies 10 . the sheets of plastic or paper may also be coated with the lubricant and / or rust inhibitor . the second container 144 and / or the sheets may further be hermetically sealed . referring again to fig2 a second container 144 may also be provided but is not required in the present invention . the second container 144 illustrated in fig2 has a cylindrical configuration , but as an alternative could have other shapes such as a square or octagonal configuration . the second container 144 has a container wall 150 and a bottom 152 . an opening 154 in a top end of the second container 144 is closable . for example , a cap ( or a top ) 156 can be positioned in / or over the opening 154 . or as an alternative the second container 144 could be a box having an attachable top 156 . the second container also 144 defines a container cavity 158 which is of a sufficient size to allow insertion of the prepackaged configuration 12 of the piston assembly 18 or a plurality thereof . the second container 144 is adapted to hold the components firmly therein . a container seal 160 may be provided on the top 156 of the second container 144 to engage the container wall 150 when the top 156 is positioned over the opening 154 . additionally , alternate containers could be manufactured from foam , plastic or fiber materials . while the invention is susceptible to various modifications and alternative forms , a specific embodiment thereof has been shown by way of example in the drawings and is herein described in detail . it should be understood , however , that there is no intent to limit the invention to the particular form disclosed , but on the contrary , the intention is to cover all modifications , equivalents , and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims . the prepackaged piston assembly 10 of the present invention is prepared in the following manner . components including the piston member 36 the plurality of rings 46 and the sleeve 30 are gathered and inspected for conformity to manufacturer &# 39 ; s specifications . the plurality of rings 46 are installed into the ring grooves 42 in the appropriate positions . the plurality of rings 46 are compressed using a conventional ring compressor . referring to the sleeve 30 of fig5 and 6 , the sleeve 30 is positioned around the piston member until the sleeve 30 contacts the ring compressor . the sleeve 30 is pushed or pulled against the ring compressor sliding the sleeve 30 over the plurality of rings 46 . as the sleeve 30 slides over the plurality of rings 46 the ring compressor slides off of the plurality of rings 46 . when the plurality of rings are confined completely within the sleeve bore 54 the ring compressor is removed from the piston member 68 . if the sleeve 30 of the embodiment of fig6 is to be used , the step of compressing the plurality of rings 46 would not require a conventional ring compressor . after the plurality of rings 46 are properly positioned on lower portion of the piston member 36 the sleeve 30 is positioned over the piston member 36 with the tapered portion 82 toward the plurality of rings 46 . the sleeve 30 is them moved toward the plurality of rings 46 wherein the tapered portion 82 compresses the plurality of rings 46 as it moves . movement of the sleeve 30 is ceased when the plurality of rings 46 are confined within the straight portion 80 of the sleeve 30 . referring to the alternate sleeve 30 ′ of fig7 - 10 the standard ring compressor is not require and the following procedure is used . after the components have been inspected , the plurality of rings 46 are installed into the ring grooves 42 . the strap 86 is wrapped around the plurality of rings 46 that were previously installed in the ring grooves 42 . the second end 96 of the strap 86 is mated with the latching member 100 and pulled until the plurality of rings 46 are in the compressed position . once the plurality of rings 46 are in the compressed position , the latching member 100 is used to fix the variable inside diameter 90 of the sleeve 30 ′ and maintain the plurality of rings 46 . a connecting rod 60 can be included with the piston assembly 10 or attached by the mechanic , since the sleeve 30 does not interfere with access to the wrist pin bore 54 . the piston assembly 10 is next inserted into the a container 32 impregnated with a rust inhibitor and / or lubricant . alternately , piston assembly may be coated with lubricant and / or rust inhibitor and vacuum sealed . the container 32 and rust inhibitor / lubricant protects the piston assembly 10 from environmental contaminants such as dirt and moisture during storage and transportation of the prepackaged piston assembly 18 . the pre - packaged piston assembly 12 can be positioned in a second container 144 to protect the piston assembly 10 from physical damage such as breaking or scratching . the second container 144 may be adapted to hold a plurality of piston assemblies 10 in a pre - packaged configuration 12 . however it is possible to have a single container which is capable of protecting the all piston assemblies 10 from all of the previously mentioned concerns . the container ( s ) 32 , 144 can additionally be sealed in a manner which requires breaking of the seal 140 when the prepackaged piston assembly 18 is removed by the mechanic . usage of the seal 140 verifies to the mechanic that the piston assembly 10 has not been tampered with and conforms to the manufacturers &# 39 ; specifications . after the engine block 16 has been prepared for assembly , installation of the pre - packaged piston assemblies 18 is accomplished by breaking the seal 140 and opening the container 32 . the pre - packaged piston assembly 18 is then removed from the container 32 . although not required for the proper use of this invention , but desirable of a diligent mechanic , the position of the plurality of rings 36 may be verified through the transparent sleeve 30 or window 74 . in this example a connecting rod 60 is attached to the piston assembly 10 . the pre - packaged piston assembly 18 is now positioned above the respective cylinder bore 26 waiting installation . the piston assembly 10 is next lowered toward the cylinder bore 26 with the connecting rod 60 inserted first . the piston assembly 10 is further lowered toward and into the cylinder bore 26 until the bottom surface 66 of the sleeve 30 contacts the top surface 20 of the engine block 16 . when the sleeve 30 contacts the block 16 the piston assembly 10 can be further inserted into the cylinder bore 26 by pushing on the top portion 38 of the piston member 36 or by pulling on the connecting rod 60 . after the plurality of rings 46 have entered the cylinder bore 26 the sleeve 30 can be discarded . when all piston assemblies 10 have been installed into the engine 14 the remainder of the engine 14 components are assembled in a typical fashion . the sleeve 30 of the present invention can be manufactured in a number of ways . metal sleeves 30 can be machined from a removable cylinder liner by cutting the sleeves 30 to length and deburing the cut edges . additionally sleeves 30 could be cut from a piece of tube or pipe with the proper inside diameter . a third method of manufacturing sleeves 30 could include injection molding from a plastic or alternate material . primary considerations of manufacturing sleeves 30 is to select a material which is sufficiently rigid to resist distortion and thermal expansion . since there is typically only . 002 ″ difference between the inside diameter of the cylinder bore 26 and the outside diameter 78 of the piston member 36 the material characteristics must allow manufacturing to close tolerances . the cost of the selected material for the sleeve 30 should also be inexpensive , thus allowing the sleeve 30 to be discarded after a single use . recycling sleeves 30 at this time does not appear to be a cost effective option since it would require the added expense of transportation . thus is can be seen that using a piston assembly 10 in the prepackaged configuration 12 during the assembly of an engine 6 increases quality of the rebuilt engine 14 by insuring that the piston assembly meets or exceeds manufacturers &# 39 ; specifications . quality of the engine 14 is also enhanced when because the piston assembly 10 is less likely to be contaminated by dirt or moisture . the cost of rebuilding an engine 14 using the prepackaged piston assembly 18 is reduced because the time required to assembly large quantities of piston assemblies 10 in a factory setting is typically less than assembling small quantities in the field . | 5 |
this disclosure , its aspects and implementations , are not limited to the specific components , frequency examples , or methods disclosed herein . many additional components and assembly procedures known in the art consistent with encoding and decoding systems and methods are in use with particular implementations from this disclosure . accordingly , for example , although particular implementations are disclosed , such implementations and implementing components may comprise any components , models , versions , quantities , and / or the like as is known in the art for such systems and implementing components , consistent with the intended operation . implementations of a method of searching for candidate codewords in a dorsch decoding process using an optimally ordered pattern are disclosed . a dorsch decoder is unusual in that it is not necessary to know how to construct a decoder for a given code . the decoding is accomplished by using an encoder multiple times to iteratively search for the closest codeword to a received vector . non - limiting examples of implementations of methods for terminating the search when a codeword is found residing within a specified distance of the received point are disclosed . in addition , various non - limiting examples of implementations of a method for selectively mapping the received point onto a one or more planes of one or more surfaces of a hypercube when computing the distance to a given candidate codeword are also disclosed . in implementations of encoding and decoding systems disclosed in this document and the appendix to the previously filed u . s . provisional patent application no . 61 / 161 , 843 , the disclosure of which was previously incorporated herein by reference , the various method and system implementations may serve to minimize the average number of codewords that will need to be evaluated during the decoding process , correspondingly impacting the speed ( data rates ) at which the decoder can be operated . additionally , non - limiting examples of how multiple decoder instantiations can be interconnected to increase the overall throughput of the decoder are disclosed . in implementations of a method of searching for the candidate codewords in a dorsch decoding process using an optimal pattern and in implementations of a method of terminating the search when a codeword is found residing within a specified distance of a received constellation point , the collection of candidate codewords to test with the received vector can be generated in an ordered manner such that the probability of each successive codeword occurring is monotonically decreasing . this process enables the most probable codewords for matching to be checked first . a codeword for an ( n , k ) linear block code will contain n bits , k of which can used to uniquely represent the original data that was to be sent ( prior to being encoded into a codeword ). these k bits can arbitrarily be copied to the first k bits of the encoded codeword , whereas the remaining n - k bits are parity bits , generated using the first k bits and an encoding process . when an encoded n - bit codeword is sent over a noisy channel , the magnitudes of each of the sent bit positions become either more or less confident . the received fec vector can be sorted by the magnitude ( or confidence ) of each of its bit positions , with bits of the largest magnitude appearing first , and the bits with the least magnitude occurring last . in the sorted vector , the k most confident bits of the received fec vector can now be treated as if they were the original user data that was sent and the n - k least confident bits can be treated as the parity bits during the candidate codeword generation and distance calculation and correlation process . the process of generating candidate codewords requires creating perturbations to the first k bits ( user data ) of the base codeword of the sorted received fec vector and then using the perturbations in the comparison process . the sorted received fec vector may have a base codeword , represented by each of the k most likely bit positions being mapped to a − 1 if the bit position value is less than 0 , and 1 otherwise . the remaining n - k bit positions are generated as if a codeword was being encoded with the first k bits , but with a modified generation method . in implementations of encoding and decoding methods disclosed in this document , implementations of the methods include steps that determine how to choose a collection of the first k bit positions to use during perturbation of the base codeword to enable generation of new candidate codewords . if the noise on the communication channel can be described as additive white gaussian noise ( although one having ordinary skill in the art would readily recognize that the noise may take any other form in various implementations ), the magnitude of each of the received bit positions can be classified as an llr ( logarithmic likelihood ratio ), describing the logarithm of the probability that one received bit position takes on one sent value versus the probability that the received position takes on the opposite value . the value of the llr function monotonically increases for increasing received magnitudes . to introduce error patterns in a simple way , each of the k most reliable points in the received vector may be quantized to a fixed number of levels with a uniform integer scalar quantizer . perturbation points may then be chosen if they are equal to a target llr sum , or if any combination of the quantized points would reach that sum . a perturbation point may then have a hard decision value in the base codeword flipped and subsequently , a new codeword may be generated and tested using the perturbation point . if two points are included in a candidate codeword , the probability of both occurring simultaneously is described by the sum of each point &# 39 ; s quantized magnitude . accordingly , if the llr sum starts at zero and increases by one only after all possible quantized magnitudes of the k most - reliable positions have been used to try to reach that sum , candidate codewords will be tried in decreasing order of probability of occurrence , to maximize the opportunity for a matching codeword to be found at the beginning of the evaluation . for the exemplary purposes of this disclosure , an example is provided illustrating a particular evaluation flow of selection of candidate codewords for a ( 7 , 4 ) hamming code . in the example , the notation p1 , p2 , etc . represents a parity bit . received vector : [ 1 . 1 ,− 1 . 8 , 0 . 4 ,− 0 . 3 , 1 , 0 . 4 ,− 1 . 1 ] quantized received vector : [ 11 ],− 18 , 4 , 3 , 10 , 4 ,− 11 ] sorted quantized received vector : [− 18 , 11 ,− 11 , 10 , 4 , 4 , 3 ] base codeword : [− 1 , 1 ,− 1 , 1 , p1 , p2 , p3 ] the first k magnitudes of the sorted quantized received vector that are used to form the llr sum : [ 18 , 11 , 11 , 10 ]. no perturbations can be made at these levels ( 1 - 9 ) since the sum is below any of the possible magnitudes . a single sum can be formed by using item 4 of the first k magnitudes in the perturbation . thus the candidate codeword [− 1 , 1 ,− 1 ,− 1 , p1 , p2 , p3 ] should be checked , where p1 , p2 , p3 are parity bits generated using the modified codeword generation method . two different sums can be formed using either item 2 or item 3 of the first k magnitudes in the perturbation . candidate codewords [− 1 ,− 1 ,− 1 , 1 , p1 , p2 , p3 ] and [− 1 , 1 , 1 , 1 , p1 , p2 , p3 ] are equally probable . no perturbations can be made at these levels ( 12 - 17 ) since no components can be combined to form these sums . a single sum can be formed by using item 1 of the first k magnitudes in the perturbation . thus the candidate codeword [ 1 , 1 ,− 1 , 1 , p1 , p2 , p3 ] should be checked . no perturbations can be made at these levels ( 19 - 20 ) since no components can be combined to form these sums . two different sums can be formed using item 4 and either items 2 or 3 of the first k magnitudes in the perturbation . the candidate codewords [− 1 , 1 , 1 ,− 1 , p1 , p2 , p3 ] and [− 1 ,− 1 ,− 1 ,− 1 , p1 , p2 , p3 ] are equally probable . a single sum at this level ( 22 ) can be formed using items 2 and 3 of the first k magnitudes in the perturbation forming the candidate codeword [− 1 ,− 1 , 1 , 1 , p1 , p2 , p3 ]. the foregoing evaluation process may be continued until all possible candidate codewords have been generated or a fixed number of candidate codewords have been generated . if a candidate codeword is within a fixed squared distance of the received fec vector , it can be deemed to be the codeword that was sent across the channel and no further codewords need to be tested or generated . in implementations of a method for selectively mapping the received point onto a hypercube when computing the distance to a given candidate codeword , when a squared distance calculation is made between a received vector , r , and candidate codeword , c , a bit position ( dimension ) in the codeword , c i may have the same sign as the corresponding position ( dimension ), r i , in the received vector r . if both points agree in sign for a given dimension , and the magnitude of r in that dimension is greater than 1 , there is a distance contribution that may be referred to as being ‘ bad ’ in that dimension . this overly confident position is good for a correlation measurement between the two vectors but is undesirable for a squared distance calculation because the distance is contributed from a dimension that has a high probability of being correct . in implementations of the method , the bad distance is not included if the sign of a received bit position matches the sign of the same bit position in the prospective codeword and the magnitude of the received bit position is greater than 1 . this effectively maps bit positions made extra confident by noise back onto a hyper - cube containing codewords as vertices when computing the distance from the candidate codeword . fig1 shows a locus of points shaded in gray 100 that are less than a fixed square distance from a codeword . any received point in a gray region 100 maps to the codeword at the center of the region 110 . fig2 shows a new locus of points 200 that would be less than a fixed squared distance from the codeword , with the bad distance removed . comparing fig1 to fig2 , it is observed that fig2 includes significantly more area than fig1 , permitting a candidate codeword to be deemed the codeword that was sent across the channel for significantly more received vectors . moreover , there is no corresponding increase in the probability of falsely declaring a candidate codeword as the correct codeword when terminating the search process . in implementations of a method of placing decoders like those disclosed in this document and in the appendix of u . s . provisional application no . 61 / 161 , 843 in an interconnected network , the overall decoding speed of a stream of received vectors may be increased . in an interconnected network , any individual decoder implementing the methods described in this document may be assigned any received fec vector 300 . each decoder 310 will decode the assigned received fec vector 300 , and signal that decoding is complete , releasing the best match codeword into an output buffer 320 . the output buffer 320 , which can be of any size , may release best match codewords in the order they were originally received to a downstream receiver . the array of decoders 320 may permit one received fec vector 300 to be worked on for an extended period of time , while still allowing other codewords to be simultaneously decoded . for exemplary purposes , fig3 is provided to show how a particular implementation of a decoder network that includes multiple decoders 310 arranged to increase decoding speeds . as illustrated in the diagram , the decoders 310 keep track of a unique identifier for each received vector which allows each vector to be identified in the order it was received . fig4 illustrates another implementation of a decoder network that utilizes a separate ordering unit to tabulate the order of the received vectors 300 . any of a wide variety of arrangements is possible . implementations of encoding and decoding systems and related methods may reduce the average number of codewords that will need to be evaluated during the decoding process , reduce the average number of codewords evaluated while not substantially increasing the risk of error despite significantly more received vectors possibly being deemed the codeword that was sent across the telecommunications channel without increasing the probability of a false identification , and significantly increase the speed at which the stream can be processed due to multiple decoders decoding a stream of received vectors . the materials used for implementations of encoding and decoding systems may be made of conventional materials used to make goods similar to these in the art , such as , by non - limiting example , plastic , metals , semiconductor materials , and composites . those of ordinary skill in the art will readily be able to select appropriate materials and manufacture these products from the disclosures provided herein . the implementations listed here , and many others , will become readily apparent from this disclosure . from this , those of ordinary skill in the art will readily understand the versatility with which this disclosure may be applied . | 7 |
referring to the drawings , fig1 presents a side view of the grass clipping collector affixed to a tractor 10 . the assembly consists of a blower duct housing 20 which functions as a mounting bracket adapted to support the refuse storage bin 30 and the duct conveyor 40 . the duct conveyor includes a rigid duct 41 affixed over an opening in the blower duct housing 20 , an adapter 42 connected to the lawn mower blade housing 11 and a flexible duct coupling the adapter 42 to the rigid duct 41 . the refuse storage bin 30 incorporates a screened portion 31 in the upper sector of at least one side and preferably on two sides . this screen provides a means for exhaust air to leave the refuse storage bin without a buildup of undue pressure which would hamper the operation of the system . the refuse storage bin also includes an access door 32 which is located at the back of bin and supported by hinges 33 which permit the door to be opened for easy access to the interior of the bin . a latch 34 is provided to prevent accidental opening of the refuse storage bin during use . fig2 is a top view of the grass clipping collector attached to a tractor . this view is partially cutaway to illustrate the location of the blower impeller blades 21 and driving pulley 22 . this illustration also portrays the idler pulleys 23 and 24 which in a preferred embodiment are supported by a slightly canted common support shaft 25 to provide the necessary straight belt runs between impeller drive pulley 22 and mower takeoff pulley 26 . this drive train may be better visualized by viewing fig4 in combination with fig2 where it can be seen that drive belt 27 circles power takeoff pulley 26 , is routed over idler pulleys 23 and 24 after being partially twisted , and then circles impeller drive pulley 22 . a tensioning idler pulley 28 is slidably mounted on a brace 29 affixed to the blower duct housing 20 , see fig5 . this pulley is provided to ensure that adequate tension is applied to the belt to prevent belt slippage . this pulley also provides a means to relieve tension on the belt for belt replacement purposes or to disable the collector while the mower is operating . the tensioning pulley 28 includes a shaft 51 which may be provided with a threaded end adapted to cooperate with a nut so that it may be securely affixed to brace 29 . in an alternate embodiment shaft 51 may be slidably secured in a slot in brace 29 and urged upward to tension the belt via a spring 52 incorporated in the slot of brace 29 . fig2 and 3 illustrate blower housing coupling flange 53 which includes four nuts and bolts 54 adapted to secure the housing to a flange 55 on the back of the tractor . the cutaway view of fig3 illustrates the opening 56 in the blower duct housing 20 to which rigid duct 41 is connected . when the system is in operation , clippings produced by lawn mower blades 61 of fig3 are drawn into adapter 42 and through the duct work into the blower duct housing by the blower impeller blades 21 . a channel is provided within the blower duct housing by a curved bottom wall 57 adapted to form an impeller cavity 58 and exhaust duct 59 in combination with side walls 81 and 82 and top wall 83 which channels refuse into the refuse storage bin 30 . fig3 and 4 depict the power takeoff adaption for the system which is simply a main drive pulley 26 secured to the top portion of the lawn mower blade drive shaft 62 so that as the lawn mower blades are being driven by belt 63 power will be provided via belt 27 to impeller 21 . fig6 is a cutaway view of the adapter 42 which couples the conveyor duct 41 , 43 to the lawn mower blade housing . this adapter incorporates a hinged door 71 which is held closed by a latch or in a preferred embodiment by spring biased hinges 72 . this access door is provided to enable the lawn mower to function by discharging grass clippings straight out rather than causing them to be conveyed to the refuse storage bin . when this mode of operation of the lawn mower is desired , a control means such as control rod 74 must be activated to relieve the tension applied via pulley 28 to the vacuum blower impeller via belt 27 . another primary function of the door 71 in the adapter is to provide access means whereby the duct may be unclogged in the event of excessive clippings plugging up the duct . although the preferred embodiments of this invention have been illustrated and described , variations and modifications may be apparent to those skilled in the art . therefore , i do not wish to be limited thereto and ask that the scope and breadth of this invention be determined from the claims which follow rather than the above description . | 0 |
according to one embodiment , the present invention features a stocking aid device 10 , fig1 , which facilitates putting on a sock or stocking , especially for someone with limited strength and / or mobility . the stocking aid device 10 includes a handle region 11 , a sock retainer 13 , and a spreader 22 . as will be explained in greater detail hereinbelow , a sock is inserted over the sock retainer 13 while in a retracted position as shown in fig1 and 3 . the sock retainer 13 is expanded as shown in fig2 and 4 using the spreader 22 which causes the sock to be stretched open . using the handle region 11 , the user slips the expanded sock over their foot . the spreader 22 expands the sock retainer 13 ( and consequently the sock ) sufficiently such that the sock exerts minimal resistance when the user slips it over their foot . the handle region 11 preferably includes two handles 12 each disposed proximate a first end 15 of an elongated vertical member 14 . the handles 12 optionally include a gripping area ( such as neoprene or a soft , mold material , rubberized coating ). the handle region 11 is preferably long enough such that the user to can hold the handles 12 while putting the sock on over their foot with minimal bending . optionally , the stocking aid device 10 may also feature one or more additional handles 76 disposed proximate the stock retainer 13 which provides another grasping point that further aids and facilitates the gripping of the stocking aid device 10 . in the preferred embodiment , the additional handles 76 feature a single handle 76 extending outwardly from the pivot 65 and away from handle region 11 . the sock retainer 13 is preferably connected to the handle region 11 and includes a first and a second side 21 , 23 that are substantially mirror images of each other and which are sized and shaped to accept at least a potion of a sock . as will be explained in greater detail hereinbelow , the first and second sides 21 , 23 are expanded and retracted by the spreader 22 to facilitate putting on a sock over a user &# 39 ; s foot . the handle region 11 and sock retainer 13 may be constructed of a metal alloy , plastic or composite . in an exemplary embodiment , the stocking aid device 10 may be made with a tubular aluminum alloy . each side 21 , 23 of the sock retainer 13 includes a heel region 24 disposed between the second ends 17 of the elongated vertical members 14 of the handles 12 and the lower substantially horizontal member 16 of the sock retainer 13 . a flared region 20 connects the lower substantially horizontal member 16 to the upper substantially member 18 . the flared region 20 preferably includes a generally “ u ” shaped area that flares outward and away from the longitudinal axis a of the upper and lower substantially horizontal members 16 , 18 while in the retracted position . with the stocking aid device 10 in the retracted position as shown in fig1 and 3 , the opening of the sock is inserted over the flared region 20 and the lower and upper substantially horizontal members 16 , 18 of the sock retainer 13 such that substantially only the toe portion of the sock is disposed around the flared region 20 . the flared region 20 spreads the sock in the toe region thereby accommodating a wide variety of foot and toe shapes including bunions or other sensitive foot and toe disfigurements . the bottom half of the sock is pulled along the length of the lower horizontal member 16 until the heel and ankle portions of the sock are disposed about the heel region 24 of the sock retainer 13 . as best seen in fig2 and 4 , the heel region 24 of the sock retainer 13 forms a lip 30 that is sized and shaped to engage the heel portion of the sock and prevent the sock from accidentally slipping off the sock retainer 13 . the top half of the sock is pulled along the length of the upper horizontal member 18 such that ankle portion of the sock is proximate a second end 31 of the upper horizontal member 18 . once the sock has been placed over the sock retainer 13 , the spreader 22 is used to move the sock retainer 13 from the retracted position as shown in fig1 and 3 to the extended position as shown in fig2 and 4 . the spreader 22 preferably moves the first and second side 21 , 23 of the sock retainer 13 generally outwardly and perpendicular to the longitudinal axis a of the upper and lower substantially horizontal members 16 , 18 . the spreader 22 includes any device or mechanism for altering the distance between the first and second side 21 , 23 of the sock retainer 13 . in the preferred embodiment , the spreader 22 includes a screw gear or the like 41 . the screw gear 41 includes a threaded rod 43 disposed through a first aperture 45 and at least a second aperture 47 proximate the second ends 31 of the upper substantially horizontal members 18 . in the preferred embodiment , the second aperture 47 is internally threaded and engages the threads of the threaded rod 43 . alternatively , the first aperture 45 could be threaded . to expand the stocking aid device 10 , the threaded rod 43 is rotated using a hand crank 50 , electric motor ( for example , but not limited to , a battery operated drill 60 or the like as shown in fig4 ), or any other device known to those skilled in the art . as the threaded rod 43 is rotated , the threads of the threaded rod 43 engage the internal threads of the second aperture 47 thereby causing the second aperture 47 ( and consequently the first and second sides 21 , 23 of the sock retainer 13 ) to move along the longitudinal axis b of the threaded rod 43 . the treaded rod 43 may also incorporate stop points to prevent the over expanding or over retracting of the stocking aid device 10 , for example , a locking bolt configuration ( not shown ) may be used to prevent the threaded rod &# 39 ; s 43 movement through the second aperture 47 . the hand crank 50 may be permanently coupled to the thread rod 43 or may be removably coupled to the thread rod 43 . in the preferred embodiment , the spreader 22 also includes a pivot 65 . referring specifically to fig1 and 3 , in the retracted position the lower horizontal members 16 are in very close proximity to each other while the upper horizontal members 18 are slightly spread apart . as the stocking aid device 10 is moved from the retracted position ( fig1 and 3 ) to the extended position ( fig2 and 4 ), the pivot 65 causes the lower horizontal member 16 to move outwardly more than the upper horizontal members 18 . this creates a larger opening for the user . additionally , the apertures 45 , 47 pivot to adjust the changing geometry of the handles 12 , 14 as they pivot about the pivot 65 . while the spreader 22 has been described as a screw gear 41 , those skilled in the art will recognize that other devices for causing the first and second sides 21 , 23 of the sock retainer 13 to expand and retract are possible and the present invention is not limited to just this arrangement unless otherwise specifically claimed as such . as mentioned above , the present invention is not intended to be limited to a system or method which must satisfy one or more of any stated or implied object or feature of the invention and should not be limited to the preferred , exemplary , or primary embodiment ( s ) described herein . the foregoing description of a preferred embodiment of the invention has been presented for purposes of illustration and description . it is 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 embodiment was chosen and described to provide the best illustration of the principles of the invention and its practical application to thereby enable one of ordinary skill in the art to utilize the invention in various embodiments and with various modifications as is suited to the particular use contemplated . all such modifications and variations are within the scope of the invention . | 0 |
fig1 shows a circuit diagram of a first embodiment in which the present invention is adapted to a cmos static - type ram . though there is no particular limitation , the ram of the same drawing is formed on a semiconductor substrate such as of a single silicon crystal in accordance with well - known techniques for producing bipolar ( bi ) and cmos ( complementary mos ) integrated circuits ( ics ). terminals a x , a y , d in , d out , we and cs serve as external terminals . incidentally , power supply terminals are omitted in the drawing . though there is no particular limitation , the cmos static - type ram of this embodiment has a memory capacity of about 64 kilo - bits . in order to reduce the stray capacitance that resides in a common data line that will be mentioned later , the memory array is divided into four blocks . a concrete circuit of memory cell mc is shown representatively . namely , the memory cell consists of memory ( drive ) mosfets q1 and q2 of which the gates and drains are coupled in a crossing manner ( in a latched form ), and high resistances r1 and r2 formed by polycrystalline silicon layers for holding the data , that are provided between the drains of the mosfets q1 , q2 and a power - source voltage v dd . transfer gate mosfets q3 and q4 are provided between the commonly connected points of mosfets q1 , q2 and the complementary data lines ( or digit lines ) d0 , d0 . other memory cells mc have also been constructed in the same manner as above . these memory cells mc are arranged in the form of a matrix to constitute a memory array m - ary0 that is representatively shown in fig1 . namely , gates of the transfer gate mosfets q3 , q4 of memory cells arranged in the same row are commonly connected to their corresponding word lines w1 and w2 , and input / output terminals of memory cells arranged in the same column are connected to their corresponding pairs of complementary data lines d0 , d0 and d1 , d1 . in order to reduce the power consumption of the memory cells mc , the resistor r1 has a resistance which is as high as that necessary for the gate voltage of the mosfet q2 to be maintained higher than a threshold voltage thereof when the mosfet q1 is rendered nonconductive . similarly , the resistor r2 also has a high resistance . in other words , the resistor r1 has the ability to supply an electric current to such a degree that the data or electric charge stored in the gate capacity ( not shown ) of mosfet q2 is not discharged by a drain leakage current of mosfet q1 . according to this embodiment , the memory cell mc is constituted by n - channel mosfets and polycrystalline silicon resistance elements as described above , though the memory array is produced by the cmos - ic technique this helps reduce the sizes of memory cells and memory array compared with when p - channel mosfets are used instead of the polycrystalline silicon resistance elements . that is , the polycrystalline silicon resistors can be formed as a unitary structure together with the gate electrodes of driving mosfets q1 , q2 , and their sizes can be reduced , too . unlike the case of using p - channel mosfets , furthermore , large spacing distances are not required from the driving mosfets q1 , q2 and , hence , useless blank portions are not formed . in the figure , the word line w1 is selected by a driving circuit dv1 which receives a select signal formed by an x - address decoder x - dcr . the same also holds true for the other word line w2 . the x - address decoder x - dcr is constituted by nor gate circuits g1 , g2 and so on that resemble one another . the inputs of these nor gate circuits g1 , g2 and so on receive internal complementary address signals in predetermined combinations , the internal complementary address signals being produced by the x - address buffer x - adb that receives external address signals a x supplied from a suitable circuit that is not shown . though there is no particular limitation , the pairs of data lines d0 , d0 and d1 , d1 in the memory array m - ary0 are connected to common data lines cd0 , cd0 via column switching circuits constituted by transfer gate mosfets q9 , q10 , q11 and q12 for select data lines . to the common data lines cd0 , cd0 , there are connected input terminals of a reading circuit r and output terminals of a writing circuit w . common data lines of other memory arrays m - ary0 to m - ary3 that are not shown , have also been connected to their corresponding input terminals of the reading circuit r and to their corresponding output terminals of the writing circuit w . the output terminal of the reading circuit r sends a read signal to the data output terminal d out , and a write data signal is applied from the data input terminal d in to the input terminal of the writing circuit w . select signals y1 , y2 are supplied from a y - address decoder y - dcr to the gates of mosfets q9 , q10 , q11 and q12 that constitute the above - mentioned column switching circuits . the y - address decoder y - dcr are constituted by nor gate circuits g3 , g4 and so on that resemble one another . to the input terminals of these nor gate circuits g3 , g4 are applied internal complementary address signals in predetermined combinations , the internal complementary address signals being produced by the y - address buffer y - adb that receives external address signals a y from a suitable circuit that is not shown . a control circuit con produces an internal control timing signal upon receipt of control signals from the external terminals we , cs . though there is no particular limitation in this embodiment , an internal chip select signal cs of the non - select condition which is formed by the control circuit con and which has the high level when the chip has not been selected is applied to the input terminals of the nor gate circuits g1 , g2 and so on constituting the x - address decoder x - dcr , so that all of the word lines are placed under the non - selected condition . this prevents a direct current from flowing through a load mosfet q5 of the data line , the transfer gate mosfet q3 of a memory cell mc connected to any word line that has been selected , and a memory mosfet q1 that has been rendered conductive , when the chip has not been selected . fig2 is a circuit diagram of the reading circuit according to the embodiment of the present invention . in this embodiment , use is made of bipolar transistors t1 , t2 of a differential form as a sense amplifier sa0 which amplifies a read signal from the memory array m - ary0 . that is , the read voltages of a memory cell appearing on the common data lines cd0 , cd0 are supplied to bases of the differential transistors t1 , t2 . an n - channel mosfet q13 which receives an operation timing signal φ pa0 is connected to common emitters of the differential transistors t1 , t2 . another memory array m - ary3 which is representatively shown is also equipped with a sense amplifier sa3 that consists of similar differential transistors t3 , t4 , and an n - channel mosfet q14 . the corresponding collectors of the differential transistors t1 , t2 , t3 and t4 and so on are commonly connected to a pair of input terminals of the main amplifier ma that will be described later . operation timing signals φ pa0 , φ pa3 supplied to the gates of mosfets q13 , q14 connected to common emitters of the differential transistors , are formed by nor gate circuits g5 , g6 that receive a read control signal we + cs which level is rendered to low level ( logical &# 34 ; 0 &# 34 ;) when the chip is selected and is placed under the read condition . gates g5 and g6 also receive complementary address signals axi , ayi that select the memory arrays m - ary0 to m - ary3 . therefore , only a mosfet which forms an operation current for a sense amplifier sa corresponding to a memory array that is selected to effect the reading operation , is turned on , and mosfets of the remaining three sense amplifiers sa are turned off . collectors of the differential transistors t1 , t2 , t3 and t4 constituting the common sense amplifiers sa0 to sa3 are connected to emitters of the base - grounded amplifier transistors t5 , t6 which constitute a circuit of the initial stage of a main amplifier ma . bases of these transistors t5 , t6 are served with a bias voltage formed by the next bias circuit . namely , serially connected diodes d1 , d2 for shifting the level of the power - source voltage v dd , and an n - channel mosfet q16 for flowing a bias current , are connected in series between the power - source voltage v dd and a point of ground potential . further , an n - channel mosfet q23 is connected in parallel with the diode d1 , and , though not specifically limited , the gate of the mosfet q23 is served with a read control signal we + cs which assumes the low level during the reading operation . n - channel mosfets q15 , q17 are connected to the emitters of the transistors t5 , t6 to form bias currents therefore . the gates of these mosfets q15 , q17 are served with a control signal we · cs which assumes the high level during the reading operation . therefore , the mosfets q15 to q17 are turned on only during the reading operation to form bias currents , respectively . p - channel mosfets q20 , q21 and n - channel mosfets q22 , q24 are connected in parallel , as load means between the power - source voltage v dd and the collectors of the transistors t5 , t6 . the p - channel mosfets q20 , q21 are rendered conductive at all times since their gates are always served with ground potential of the circuit , and the gates of the n - channel mosfets q22 , q24 are served with the read control signal we + cs . collector outputs of these transistors t5 , t6 are transmitted to a data output buffer dob via emitter - follower transistors t7 , t8 . the emitters of the transistors t7 , t8 are connected to n - channel mosfets q18 , q19 that form operation currents therefore and are served with the read control signal we · cs . operation of the circuit of this embodiment will be described below with reference to a timing chart of fig3 . in the reading operation , a write enable signal we is set to the high level , and a chip select signal cs is set to the low level . therefore , a read control signal we · cs becomes the high level , and an inverted signal we + cs thereof becomes the low level ( not shown ). accordingly , if the address signals axi , ayi supplied at this time assume the low level , the nor gate circuit g5 is opened to produce an output signal φ pa0 of the high level which renders the mosfet q13 conductive . an operation current flows into the differential transistors t1 , t2 , and the read signal from the memory array m - ary0 is amplified and is produced through the collectors . on the other hand , since the control signal we · cs of the main amplifier ma becomes the high level , mosfets q15 to q19 constituting the current sources are rendered conductive to flow operation currents into the transistors t5 to t8 . therefore , the output signals of the sense amplifier sa0 are supplied to a data output buffer dob which is not shown , and a read output signal d out is obtained from the external terminal . with regard to sense amplifiers sa1 to sa3 of other memory arrays m - ary1 to m - ary3 , the operation timing signals φ pa1 to φ pa3 become the low level , and mosfets q14 and the like that form operation currents , are rendered nonconductive . therefore , the sense amplifiers sa1 to sa3 establish the condition of high output impedance . hence , the main amplifier ma is served with only the electric current produced by the selected memory array m - ary0 . in the writing operation , the write enable signal we is set to the low level as indicated by a broken line in fig3 so that the control signal we · cs becomes the low level and its inverted signal we + cs becomes the high level . therefore , mosfets q13 to q19 for forming operation currents for the amplifier transistors of the sense amplifiers sa0 to sa3 and of the main amplifier ma , are all rendered nonconductive to inhibit their operation . in this case , depending upon the conductive condition of mosfet q23 , the bias voltage of the circuit of the initial stage of the main amplifier ma becomes nearly equal to v dd - v f ( v f denotes a forward voltage of the diode d2 ). further , n - channel mosfets q22 and q24 that serve as load means are turned on to raise the base potential of the emitter - follower transistors t7 , t8 , and p - channel mosfets ( not shown ) that constitute a circuit in the input stage of the data output buffer circuit dob are rendered nonconductive . fig4 is a circuit diagram of a second embodiment in which the present invention is adapted to a bipolar - type ram . the ram of the figure is formed on a semiconductor substrate such as a single silicon crystal by a technique for manufacturing semiconductor integrated circuits similar to that used in fig1 terminals xa0 to xak , ya0 to yal , d out , d in , cs , we , - v ee and gnd serve as external terminals . the figure , however , does not show power - source terminals - v ee and gnd . unlike the circuit of the embodiment of fig1 furthermore , transistors are denoted by q , and mosfets are denoted by m . among a plurality of memory cells constituting a memory array m - ary , a concrete circuit of only one memory cell is shown in the figure . though there is no particular limitation , in one memory cell , use is made of a flip - flop circuit which consists of drive npn - type transistors q12 , q13 of which the bases and collectors are coupled in a crossing manner , and pnp - type transistors q14 , q15 that are connected to their collectors . though there is no particular limitation , the drive npn - type transistors q12 , q13 are of the multi - emitter construction . the emitters on one side are commonly connected together , and the emitters of the other side serve as input / output terminals of a memory cell and are connected to a pair of complementary data lines d0 , d0 that are representatively shown . the drive npn - type transistors q12 , q13 may be constituted by two transistors of which the base and collectors are commonly connected together . further , the load transistors q14 , q15 may be replaced by load resistors and clamping diodes that are connected in parallel with each other . the common emitters of the load transistors q14 , q15 are connected to a word line w0 which is shown representatively . with the above - mentioned memory cell as a center , similar memory cells ( represented by a black box ) of a number of m are arranged along the laterally running row and are connected to the word line w0 . the laterally stretching row is provided with a holding current line st0 which corresponds to the word line w0 , and the commonly connected emitters of one side of drive transistors q12 , q13 of the memory cell are connected thereto . memory cells are also connected in the same manner as above with respect to another representatively shown row ( word line wn , holding current line stn ). the holding current lines st0 , stn are provided with constant - current source ist ( not shown ) that supply holding currents to the memory cells . further , the similarly constructed memory cells are arranged in a number of n along the vertical column , and input / output terminals thereof are commonly connected to the complementary data lines d0 , d0 . thus , memory cells are arranged in a number of m x n along the rows and columns to constitute a memory array m - ary . the word lines w0 , wn which are representatively shown are selected or not selected by word line drive transistors q16 , q17 that receive address decoded signals x0 , xn which are produced by the x - address decoder x - dcr . address signals supplied from a suitable circuit not shown are inputted to the address buffers xab0 to xabk via external terminals xa0 to xak . these address buffers xab0 to xabk form noninverted address signals and inverted address signals depending upon the input address signals , and send them to the x - address decoder x - dcr . then , the x - address decoder x - dcr forms a word line select signal to select a word line . in this embodiment , the complementary data lines d0 , d0 representatively shown are connected , via transistors q18 , q20 that serve as column switches , to n - channel mosfets m1 and m3 that are also provided commonly for other complementary data lines not shown , and that are turned on by an internal chip select signal cs to form a read / write current ir . an address decoded signal y0 produced by the y - address decoder y - dcr is applied to the bases of the transistors q18 and q20 that work as column switches . namely , address signals supplied from a suitable circuit not shown are inputted to the address buffers yab0 to yabl via external terminals ya0 to yal . the address buffers yab0 to yabl produce noninverted address signals and inverted address signals according to the input address signals and send them to the y - address decoder y - dcr . therefore , the y - address decoder y - dcr forms a data line select signal to select a pair of complementary data lines . according to this embodiment , though there is no particular limitation , a bias circuit is subsequently provided to apply a predetermined bias voltage to data lines that have not been selected . that is , a diode d3 and a resistor r6 are connected in series between the base and the collector of a transistor q21 of which the collector is served with ground potential of the circuit . the diode d3 and resistor r6 connected in series are connected , via a transistor q19 , to an n - channel mosfet m2 that produces a current ir like the one mentioned above . though there is no particular limitation , the transistor q21 is of the multi - emitter construction , and is connected to the complementary data lines d0 , d0 . a source of a very small constant current is coupled to the complementary data lines d0 , d0 . namely , a very small constant current is absorbed at all times by transistors q23 , ( q24 ) which receive a constant voltage b1 through the bases thereof and which have resistors connected to the emitters thereof . therefore , the data line which is not selected is biased by a voltage which is nearly equal to the sum of a forward voltage of the diode d3 and a voltage across the base and emitter of the transistor q21 . when the complementary data lines d0 , d0 are selected , the current ir produced by the mosfet m2 that is rendered conductive flows into the resistor r6 via the transistor q19 . therefore , the transistor q21 is rendered nonconductive , and potentials of the complementary data lines d0 , d0 are determined with the stored data in the selected memory cell . emitters of current switching transistors q7 , q6 are coupled to the complementary data lines d0 , d0 in order to write / read the data relative to a memory cell of a row that is shown representatively . collector outputs of these transistors q7 , q6 are sent to the input terminals of the main amplifier ma which effects the amplification operation and forms an output signal that meets the input level of a data output buffer dob constituted by ecl ( emitter coupled logic ). the data output buffer dob produces a read output signal that will be sent through the external terminal d out . the main amplifier ma is constructed similarly to the main amplifier of the emobdiment of fig1 . output voltages v1 , v2 of a writing circuit wa are applied to the bases of the current switching transistors q7 , q6 . the writing circuit wa which forms the output voltages v1 , v2 is constituted by differential transistors q1 to q3 , a constant - current source provided to the common emitters thereof , resistors r1 , r2 provided to the collectors of the transistors q1 , q2 , and a resistor r3 provided between the ground potential and a point where the resistors r1 , r2 and the collector of the transistor q3 are commonly connected together . bases of the transistors q1 , q2 are served with write data signals d in , d in sent from a data input buffer dib that will be described later , and base of the transistor q3 is served with an internal write enable signal we sent from a control circuit cont that will be described later . according to this embodiment , though there is no particular limitation , the data input buffer dib is constructed as described below , so that noise will not generate in the output voltages v1 , v2 of the writing circuit wa according to the change of levels of the input data signals d in , d in during the writing operation . namely , a transistor q8 receives a write data signal supplied through the external terminal d in , and a transistor q9 is impressed with a reference voltage vb2 through the base thereof to discriminate the input signal , and these transistors q8 and q9 are connected together in a differental manner . resistors r4 and r5 are connected to the collectors of these differential transistors q8 and q9 . collector outputs of the differential transistors q8 and q9 are applied to bases of emitter - follower transistors q25 , q26 , and data signals din and d in are sent from the emitters of these transistors q25 and q26 to the writing circuit wa . the collector of a differential transistor q10 is connected to the common emitters of the differential transistors q8 and q9 , so that the data signals d in and d in will not change depending upon the signals from the external terminal d in during the reading operation . a reference voltage vb3 is applied to the base of the transistor q10 to discriminate the internal write enable signal we . the internal write enable signal we is applied to the base of the transistor q11 which is connected in a differential manner relative to the transistor q10 . the collector of the transistor q11 is connected to the collectors of the differential transistors q8 and q9 via diodes d1 and d2 . according to this embodiment , although there is no particular limitation , the operation currents i1 to i4 for the transistors q1 to q5 and for the transistors q8 , q11 , q25 and q26 are formed by n - channel mosfets m4 to m9 that are rendered conductive by an internal chip select signal cs , in order to reduce the ineffective current when the chip is not being selected . the control circuit cont which receives control signals supplied via the external terminals we and cs , produces an operation control signal for the data output buffer dob , the internal write enable signal we that will be supplied to the writing circuit wa and to the data input buffer dib , and the internal chip select signal cs . internal circuitry for forming these signals can be constructed utilizing well - established principles for making such control circuitry . when the control signal cs is set to the low level in order to select the chip , the control circuit cont produces an internal chip select signal cs of the high level . on the other hand , when the control signal cs is set to the high level to place the chip under the nonselected condition , the control circuit cont produces an internal chip select signal cs of the low level . the reading operation is performed when the terminal we is set to the high level and the terminal cs is set to the low level . in the data input buffer dib in this case , the write enable signal we assumes the high level since the terminal we assumes the high level . therefore , the transistor q10 is rendered nonconductive , the transistor q11 is rendered conductive , and the electric current i4 flows being divided into one - half into the resistors r4 and r5 via diodes d1 , d2 . therefore , irrespective of the signals from the external terminal d in , the output level is fixed to the intermediate level , and noise caused by the change of level at the external terminal d in is prevented from appearing in the read reference voltage v1 , v2 ( v refc ) in the reading operation . according to this embodiment , the read / write current ir for the memory array m - ary , and operation current for the writing circuit wa that is representatively shown , are produced by the mosfets which are operated by the internal chip select signal cs . therefore , the ineffective current is prevented from flowing wastefully when the chip is not selected . current - source circuits for producing operation currents for the peripheral circuits , i . e ., for the address decoders x - dcr , y - dcr , are also constituted by the same mosfets that will be rendered conductive upon receipt of the internal chip select signal cs , in order to reduce the ineffective current . when the mosfets for producing operation currents for the address decoders x - dcr , y - dcr are rendered nonconductive under the condition where the chip is not selected , the output signals thereof take a non - select level . according to this embodiment , the mosfets for producing operation currents for the transistors are turned on or off responsive to a chip select signal depending upon whether the chip is selected or not selected , thereby to reduce the current from wastefully flowing under the condition in which the chip is not selected . furthermore , as shown in fig5 provision may be made of a circuit 100 for detecting the change of address signals , and a circuit 200 which , responsive to the detection outputs thereof , produces timing signals to time - serially operate the address buffer , address decoder , memory array m - ary , reading circuit and writing circuit in the order mentioned , so that each of the circuit blocks is time - serially operated only at required timings by the operating timing signals , under the condition where the chip is selected . in this case , the consumption of current can be reduced even under the condition where the chip is selected . with regard to such an arrangement , it is noted that construction of the circuit 100 for detecting the change of address signals is well known , and its details are not described here . similarly , construction of a timing signal generator 200 to produce time - serial timing signals can be done according to well - known design principles for making time circuitry . for instance , the timing signal generator 200 is comprised in combination of cmos slatic inverters for producing delay signals and cmos stacit gate circuits for producing the timing signals . in the aforementioned embodiments 1 and 2 , when the operation currents of the bipolar transistors are to be formed , the mosfets are operated in the saturated region . therefore , thw mosfets produce a nearly constant operation current for the bipolar transistors . in the embodiment 1 , furthermore , when the address buffer adb and the address decoder dcr are constituted by mosfets and bipolar transistors in order to increase the operation speed ( e . g ., when a required logic circuit is constituted by the mosfets , and a driver circuit constituted by bipolar transistors is provided to receive the output signal of the logic circuit , so that the subsequent stage can be driven at a high speed ), operation currents for the bipolar transistors are produced by the mosfets , and these mosfets are further controlled in the same manner as mentioned earlier , such that the ram consumes reduced amounts of electric power while still featuring an increased operation speed . in this case , furthermore , provision may be made of a circuit for detecting the change of address signals like the aforementioned circuit 100 for detecting the change of address signals , as well as a timing signal - forming circuit like the aforementioned circuit 200 for forming timing signals , in order to time - serially operate the address buffer , decoder , sense amplifier , writing circuit and the reading circuit in the order mentioned only at required timings , in the same manner as mentioned earlier . this makes it possible to reduce the consumption of electric power even under the condition where the chip is selected . preferably , the time - series outputs of the circuit 200 are coupled to the mosfets of the various peripheral circuits ( i . e ., address buffers , decoders , etc .) to provide the time - series operation by controlling the turn - on and turn - off time of the mosfets which serve as current sources for the bipolar transistor . by virtue of the construction set forth above , the following advantages can be achieved : ( 1 ) mosfets that will be turned on only during the periods of operation are used to produce operation currents for the bipolar transistors that require relatively large operation currents . therefore , wasteful consumption of electric current is reduced , and the consumption of electric power is greatly reduced . ( 2 ) since differential transistors consisting of bipolar transistors are used as a sense amplifier in a cmos static ram , only a very small electric current is allowed to flow into the data lines in reverse proportion to the current amplification factor . in other words , operation current of the sense amplifier can be increased even when the size of the memory cells is reduced to decrease the current driving ability . this makes it possible to accomplish a high reading operation . ( 3 ) since mosfets that will be turned on only during the reading operation are employed to produce operation currents for the differential transistors that constitute a sense amplifier , wasteful consumption of electric current is reduced . this helps maintain the advantage of low power consumption inherent in the cmos static ram , and a device employing bipolar transistor circuits can be realized which is powered by batteries and the like . ( 4 ) the memory array m - ary is divided into a plurality of blocks , and the sense amplifier is provided with an address decoder function , such that the consumption of electric power is further reduced and the operation speed is further increased . ( 5 ) since mosfets that will be turned on only when the chip is selected are used to produce reading and writing currents for the memory array m - ary in the bipolar ram and to produce currents for such peripheral circuits as the writing circuit and the reading circuit , it is made possible to greatly reduce the wasteful consumption of electric current when the chip is not being selected . ( 6 ) mosfets are used to produce operation currents for the circuit blocks in the ram , and the circuit blocks are time - serially operated at required timings responsive to change detection signals of address signals . therefore , wasteful consumption of electric current can be reduced under the condition in which the chip is selected . the invention accomplished by the inventor was concretely described in the foregoing by way of embodiments . however , it should be noted that the invention is in no way limited to the above embodiments only but can be variously modified within a scope that does not depart from the gist of the invention . for instance , the resistors for holding data in the memory cells of the embodiment of fig1 may be replaced by p - channel mosfets . in place of the cmos circuit , furthermore , either the n - channel mosfets or p - channel mosfets may be employed . further , the peripheral circuits and the timing control can be realized in a variety of other ways . moreover , the gates of p - channel mosfets which produce operation currents for the bipolar transistors may be served with a predetermined constant voltage at the timings of operation . the foregoing description has dealt with the case in which the invention accomplished by the inventor was adapted to the cmos static ram and to the bipolar ram that served as the background of the invention . the invention , however , should in no way be limited thereto only , but can be widely adapted to semiconductor integrated circuit devices that include bipolar transistors for amplifying and transmitting signals and a circuit that produces operation currents for the bipolar transistors . | 6 |
fig1 is a block diagram illustrating an engine status - detection circuitry 101 and third - party apparatus integration according to an embodiment of the present invention . in a preferred embodiment of the present invention engine status detection circuitry 101 is installed and integrated into a third - party aftermarket product illustrated herein as third - party apparatus 100 . however , in one embodiment detection circuitry 101 can be provided as a standalone vehicle engine - status circuit configured in its own housing and in a connectable or plug - in capacity state to applicable third - party apparatus . in a preferred embodiment connection of circuitry 101 is achieved through a vehicle lighter bay or other vehicle dc power socket by means of a conventional and well - known adapter 105 designed to plug - in to the power socket provided typically on the vehicle dashboard . a third - party appliance circuit 102 is illustrated within third - party apparatus 100 and is adapted to perform the stated function or functions of the third - party apparatus . in this example , circuitry 101 is connected to circuit 102 by a logical data path 103 . a ground path 104 is provided within apparatus 100 to provide a power return path for the circuit and for the purpose of electrical safety . circuitry 101 provides information in the form of a voltage differential detected in comparison of both on and off states of an engine . for example , the voltage difference between a state of engine running and engine off is approximately , but not limited to , a 10 percent voltage differential . circuitry 101 is adaptable to any type of engine that charges a set of batteries when it is running . this is because , to charge a battery , it is needed that the charging voltage be higher than the battery voltage , or current will not flow from the charging circuit into the battery . the application of an engine status detector is usable in any type of third - party application that has one or more functions that are dependent on knowledge of whether or not the engine is actually generating current ( on ) or not ( battery output ). fig2 a is a circuitry diagram of the detection circuitry of fig1 according to a preferred embodiment of the invention . circuitry 101 has a source supply voltage path 201 to a main supply of voltage , which for a typical vehicle is 12 - 14 . 4 v . circuitry 101 is a closed circuit with a series of resistors illustrated herein as resistor 1 ( r 1 ) at 102k ohms , a resistor 2 ( r 2 ) in series with r 1 , r 2 rated at 10k ohms , and a resistor 3 ( r 3 ) in parallel with r 1 , r 3 rated at 10k ohms . circuitry 101 has a common supply return path or circuit common 206 . a zener or band gap diode 205 is provided within circuit 101 and is adapted to provide a stable voltage reference for detection . it is assumed that a reference voltage for diode 205 is 1 . 2 v . in order to measure voltage differential , an analog to digital comparator circuit 203 is provided positively connected to circuit 101 by a path 200 and grounded by a path 202 . comparator circuit 203 has a digital output 204 that provides a logical 1 that indicates engine on , or a logical 0 that indicates engine off . comparator 203 can be a known integrated circuit ( ic ) such as an ic tlc3702 or any other comparable circuit for voltage comparison at the stated voltage levels . for engine circuitry carrying substantially more voltage or less voltage that is illustrated in this example illustrating voltage of a common vehicle voltage system , components rated at the appropriated voltage levels would apply . all that is required to practice the present invention is a closed circuit and comparator capable of detecting the voltage differential between battery voltage and generated voltage . fig2 b is a chart illustrating detected voltage variances used to determine engine on and off status as detected by circuitry 101 . in this example a typical voltage with the engine on is 14 . 4 volts . the typical voltage with the engine off is 12 . 4 volts . the comparator of fig2 a produces a logical 1 when the voltage level reaches a pre - set threshold , in this case , 13 . 4 volts . 13 . 4 volts is the detection voltage , or the voltage level that must be reached before the circuit senses that the vehicles engine is running . the resulting digital waveform ( shown below ) is the digital output value of the voltage comparator . fig3 is a simple block diagram illustrating a third - party pressure change detection sequence made possible by the detection scheme in an embodiment of the invention . in a preferred embodiment of the present invention the detection scheme and circuitry described above are applied to a novel third - party pressure - sensing device adapted to provide barometer readings and altimeter readings based on engine detection status . barometer readings determine atmospheric changes due to weather by measuring air pressure changes at a relative constant altitude . altimeter readings measure the altitude elevation gain or elevation loss by measuring pressure changes against a relatively constant barometric pressure . the detection mechanism of the present invention enables a combined sensor to produce relatively accurate readings based on actual circumstances of pressure change readings . the pressure change detection sequence is initiated by inputting an initial altitude when the vehicle is off and the sensor is in barometer mode illustrated as mode 300 . when the engine is powered on , the sensor function automatically switches to altimeter mode illustrated herein as mode 301 . when it is sensed that the engine has been turned off again the status reverts back to barometer mode , but saves the last altimeter reading . in this way the pressure calculations while the vehicle is running assume that any pressure change detected during the running state are due to altitude gain or loss . when the vehicle is off then , any pressure changes detected are attributed to weather changes . saving the last reading enables off - set calculations that provide increased accuracy for reporting current altitude , and pressure readings related to weather changes . the process is detailed more fully below . fig4 is a process flow diagram illustrating a barometer measuring sequence when the engine is off . when voltage measured by the detection circuit of the present invention is found to be below 13 . 4 volts or a similar pre - set threshold , the vehicle is considered to be off and idle . at step 400 the barometric mode of the sensor function begins . at step 401 a pressure - offset value is calculated to the last altimeter reading being saved to memory . therefore , p ( offset )= p [ a ] p [ 0 ]. the p ( offset ) value is then stored in memory . p [ a ] is the mean pressure value for the present altitude , which is a calculated value . p [ 0 ] is the mean sea level pressure , which is a well established constant of 1013 . 25 mbar . p [ offset ] value then becomes the pressure differential between sea level and the present altitude . at step 402 the sensor takes a pressure reading p ( r ). the device then computes the correct sea level pressure p ( s )= p ( r )− p ( offset ) at step 403 . at step 404 the device displays the altitude compensated barometric pressure , or sea level pressure , which is the most common form of reporting weather related barometric pressure it is noted that in continuous fashion , the sequence resolves back to step 402 . to automate switching between the two pressure sensitive modes , barometric mode and altimeter mode , the device depends on the knowledge of whether it is stationary or moving . with knowledge of vehicle engine status information an assumption can be made that any pressure change during the active state of “ engine on ” of the vehicle is due to altitude change . likewise , when the device is stationary it is assumed that pressure change is due solely to atmospheric changes ( weather ). the engine status information enables the third party device to intelligently switch between altimeter mode and weather monitoring ( barometric ) mode . the engine status signal provides the assumption that when the engine is on that the vehicle is most likely moving or going to be moving causing the sensor device to automatically switch operating mode between barometer mode and altimeter mode . this causes the processor to retrieve the previous attitude information stored in memory when the unit switched from altitude mode to barometer mode the last time . the logic is that since the engine was off the vehicle could not have moved and the altitude then could not have changed . fig5 is a process flow diagram illustrating an altimeter measuring sequence when the engine is on . at step 500 the engine is powered on and the altimeter mode begins . at step 501 the present sea level pressure p ( s ) is stored in memory . at step 502 a pressure reading p ( r ) is taken . at step 503 , the correct altitude ( a ) is computed a = a [ p ( r )− p ( s )]. at step 504 , the altitude value is displayed . the sequence resolves back to step 502 while the status signal continues to report an “ engine on ” status . in an alternative embodiment , the device can be calibrated ( enter the altitude value ) before the beginning of every trip if the trip starts basically from a same location . a one touch button can be provided and once depressed recalls a previously set altimeter value . this makes calibration easier in cases where the vehicle begins trips from the same location where it was previously calibrated . in the case of a pressure sensing device that senses atmospheric pressure , combined function while traveling enables relatively accurate results because the most current p ( s ) reading or the most current ( a ) reading is stored in memory at the time the device switches modes and used as the offset for computations . the engine detection circuitry can be applied to other third - party applications that utilize energy saving features in some or all of their functions . for example , when the engine is on and power is provided through a generation device , function can be maintained at a robust level without taxing the system . when the engine is determined to be off , power conservation measures installed with the device come into play to save battery power . in one embodiment of the invention the detection circuitry is provided as an adapter to a variety of third - party apparatus that may use the differential voltage signals to provide certain functions . in this case the third - party apparatus would be adapted to plug - in to the detector circuit . in still another embodiment the circuitry could be provided within the vehicle circuitry at various points that lead to application of third party apparatus . in this case the apparatus would plug into the access point that is best situated to service the apparatus . there are many possibilities . the method and apparatus of the present invention can be applied to any type of engine that uses a generator to charge system batteries and to power system apparatus while the engine is running . the method and apparatus of the invention , in light of the many possible embodiments , should be afforded the broadest possible scope under examination . the spirit and scope of the present invention is limited only by the claims that follow . | 1 |
hereunder , this invention will be concretely described in connection with embodiments . fig1 is a circuit diagram showing an embodiment in the case where this invention is applied to the automatic exposure control system of a camera . referring to the figure , numeral 1 designates an analog to digital converter ( a - d converter ) which converts into a digital value a shutter speed value ( t ) entered as an analog value . numeral 2 designates a memory circuit which serves to store the digital conversion output of the a - d converter 1 . shown at 3 is a decoder circuit . it provides a decoded output at any one of its output terminals a 0 - a 12 in correspondence with a binary signal of the shutter speed which appears at an output terminal 12 of the memory circuit 2 . more specifically , the respective digits of the output terminals a 0 - a 12 are endowed with weights of 4 , 2 , 1 , 1 / 2 , 1 / 4 . . . and 1 / 1000 seconds as shown in the figure . only the selected one of the output terminals is brought into a high level . thus , the shutter speed value is indicated . this circuit 3 is constructed of iil because a digital comparator is constructed of wired and circuits as will be stated later . it is constructed of , for example , a logical circuit which provides the high level selectively by combining the stored output of the memory circuit 2 and an inverted signal thereof . since it is constructed on the basis of the same concept as in circuits generally used in binary - coded decimal decoders etc . of electronic desk calculators etc ., it will not be explained in detail . the final stage of the circuit 3 includes inverters based on iil as shown in fig3 and the output terminals a 0 to a 12 thereof are made up of open collectors of iil . ff1 to ff19 denote trigger type flip - flops . each trigger type flip - flop is made up of inverters in20 to in27 of iil which has one to three output terminals as shown in fig8 . the details of the respective inverters in fig8 are shown in fig2 to 7 . a circuit in which the inverter of fig2 having a single output end b is constructed of iil is shown in fig3 . a circuit in which the inverter of fig4 having two output ends b and c is constructed of iil is shown in fig5 . likewise , a circuit in which the inverter having three output ends b to d as illustrated in fig6 is constructed of iil is shown in fig7 . thus , the inverters constituting the flip - flop are formed by the well - known iil technique . each inverter is made up of an injector formed of a lateral pnp - transistor q 1 , q 3 or q 5 , and an inverse npn - transistor q 2 , q 4 or q 6 . therefore , the output end or ends of each inverter become the open collector structure . in fig8 the output ends connected in common among different inverters construct wired and circuits . referring again to fig1 the trigger type flip - flops ff1 to ff19 are connected in cascade . therefore , they function as a frequency divider for a clock pulse signal cp of 32 khz entered into the first stage ff1 . as a result , each flip - flop circuit produces an output signal which has a divided frequency . in the various stages , the output terminals of from the output terminal q of the final stage ff19 generating pulses for 4 seconds ( the outputs of the frequency divider have a duty of 50 %, and the period of time in which a signal of 1 / 8 hz reaches the high level is 4 seconds ) to the output terminal q of the seventh stage ff7 generating pulses for about 1 / 1000 second ( 512 hz ) are respectively caused to correspond to the output terminals a 12 - a 0 of the decoder 3 and directly coupled therewith . that is , as shown in fig1 , the open collector terminals of the decoder 3 and the open collector terminals of the flip - flops are directly connected . as a result , points of the direct coupling as indicated at 13 , 14 and 15 function as wired and circuits respectively . since the points of direct coupling construct the wired and circuits , each of the flip - flops ff1 to ff19 uses one output terminal ( inverting output terminal ) q as a terminal for supplying a signal to the succeeding stage and the other output terminal ( non - inverting output terminal ) as an output terminal to the wired and circuit . this serves to prevent the frequency dividing operation from failing due to the output level of the decoder circuit 3 . output signals appearing at the points of direct coupling are respectively applied to inputs of inverter circuits in1 - in13 , and output lines of these inverter circuits are connected in common . thus , a wired nor circuit is constructed . an output from the wired nor circuit is inverted by an inverter circuit in14 . as a result , a circuit extending from the points of direct coupling to an output terminal of the inverter in14 operates as an or circuit . the or output is used as a set input of a flip - flop 4 . the details of the flip - flop 4 are shown in fig9 . likewise to the flip - flop of fig8 this circuit 4 is constructed of iil employing the inverters shown in fig2 to 5 . shown at 5 is a control circuit . it receives as an input a control signal s 1 which is generated upon turning - on of a first - stage release switch of release switches ( not shown ) of two stages of strokes in the camera , and it puts both drive signals α and β of a shutter into a high level ( power supply level ) with the input control signal s 1 , thereby to hold a front shutter blind and a rear shutter blind of the shutter at predetermined positions . subsequently , the second - stage release switch is turned &# 34 ; on &# 34 ; to enter a second control signal s 2 . thus , the holding signal α for the front shutter blind is put into a low level ( ground level ), to cause the front shutter blind to run and to start an exposure . simultaneously therewith , the frequency divider circuit ff1 - ff19 and the flip - flop 4 are released from the reset state . in consequence , the frequency divider circuit ff1 - ff19 operates . when the frequency division output has coincided with the output of the selected one output terminal of the decoder 3 , the input of a selected one of the inverter circuits in1 - in13 becomes the high level , and the output thereof becomes the low level . further , this signal sets the flip - flop 4 through the inverter in14 . using a set signal from a terminal q of the flip - flop 4 , the control circuit 5 puts the holding signal β for the rear shutter blind into the low level , to cause the rear shutter blind to run and to end the exposure . for example , when the shutter time is set at 1 / 60 second , only the output terminal a 4 ( 1 / 60 ) of the decoder circuit 3 becomes &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; ( high level ) and all the other output terminals are &# 34 ; 0 &# 34 ; ( low level ). 1 / 60 second after the frequency divider circuit has initiated the frequency dividing operation , the flip - flop ff11 at the eleventh stage becomes the high level . thus , the input of the inverter circuit in9 becomes the high level , so that the low level is obtained at the output thereof . the low level signal is inverted by the inverter circuit in14 , to set the flip - flop 4 at this timing . thereafter , the counter output of 32 hz changes in a period of 1 / 30 second ( the high level and the low level are repeated every 1 / 60 second ). however , the flip - flop 4 holds the set state unless it is reset . with a rise ( positive edge ) at the output terminal q of the flip - flop 4 , the control circuit 5 puts the rear shutter blind - holding signal β into the low level to cause the rear shutter blind to run , whereby a shutter release time conforming with the set value of the shutter time can be attained . after termination of the series of operations , the control circuit 5 provides a reset signal r at a reset terminal 20 , whereby the frequency divider circuit ff1 - ff19 and the flip - flop 4 are reset and the operations as above stated are conducted again . in this embodiment , the circuit of the open collector structure is employed as the circuit for forming the digital signal to be compared . the wired and and wired or circuits can therefore be utilized for the digital comparator , so that the circuit arrangement becomes very simple . the digital comparator can be made suitable for the form of a semiconductor integrated circuit by exploiting the iil as the circuit of the open collector structure and conjointly with the simplification of the circuit arrangement . this invention can be utilized , not only for the digital comparator as the timing generator circuit for the shutter speed control of the camera , but also for e . g . a digital comparator for the iris control of the camera . in this case , a set iris value is formed by the decoder circuit as in the previous description , and the high level is sequentially shifted by a shift register in conformity with a quantity of iris of one step . thus , the coincidence of both the values can be detected by circuits as previously described . in the foregoing embodiments , the set values of the shutter speed etc . may well be entered in the form of digital values . in that case , the analog to digital converter 1 becomes unnecessary . if the flip - flop 4 is adapted to be set by a negative edge , the inverter in14 is unnecessary . in order to form the open collector outputs , inverter circuits of iil may be employed for some of the outputs of the decoder circuit or the frequency divider circuit . | 7 |
a plurality of support units 1 to 18 are depicted in fig1 . these support units are arranged longitudinally and in front of a coal or mineral seam 20 . the seam 20 is being removed in the direction 22 by a cutting machine 21 moving reciprocally in the cutting direction 19 . the cutting machine 21 may be moved in the cutting direction 19 by means of a pull chain or hawser , not shown . the cutting machine may be provided with two cutting drums 23 , 24 which may be positioned at different levels and which are used to break and cut the forward face of the coal seam 20 . the broaken coal may be deposited on a conveyor 25 by the cutting machine 21 . the conveyor 25 may include trough 26 in which a tread - like conveyor 27 may be moved along , i . e . parallel to the face of the seam 20 . the cutting machine 21 may be provided with wheels 28 for movement along the front of the seam 20 . the trough 26 may be separated into individual units which while connected to each other may nevertheless be moved in the direction of mineral removal 22 . each unit may be connected to a support unit 1 to 18 by means of a piston cylinder unit 29 . every one of the support units 1 to 18 serves to shore up or brace the ceiling of the mine shaft . for this purpose , there may be provided a cylinder piston unit 30 for bracing a bottom plate 31 relative to a roof plate 32 . at its forward end pointing toward the seam 20 the roof plate 32 may be provided with a bumper 33 . the bumper 33 may be a plate which may be lowered in front of the face of the seam . as shown in fig2 this bumper or apron 33 has to be moved out of the way of the approaching cutting means . this may be accomplished by a cylinder piston unit , not shown . as shown in fig1 the cutting machine 21 is moving towards the right . this requires moving at least that bumper which is associated with support unit 14 as well as , possibly , the bumper associated with support unit 15 , both of these bumpers being positioned forward of the cutting machine 21 as seen in the direction of its movement . on the other hand , the trough 26 of the support unit 7 which is located behind the cutting machine 21 needs to be moved toward the face of the seam 20 , and in a similar manner the succeeding support units 6 , 5 , and 4 are shown to be moved toward the face of the seam 20 . the bumpers 33 associated with these support units may again be lowered . the supports unit 3 , 2 , and 1 have already been moved completely into their new positions and will remain there until such time as the cutting machine 21 is moved toward the left . for controlling the return movement there is provided on the trough 26 a switch 35 which preferably may be a proximity switch . the switch 35 may comprise two electro - magnets arranged successively in the direction of movement of the cutting machine 21 . that is to say , the electro - magnets may be actuated in succession by one of the wheels 28 of the cutting machine 21 . in this manner , two signals are generated whenever the cutting machine 21 is approaching the magnets . by means of conduits 36 mounted on the piston cylinder units 29 the signals may be transmitted to control units 34 associated with the respective support units . the control units 34 may be interconnected with each other . when the cutting machine 21 is approaching a control unit 34 , such as the one associated with support unit 12 ( see fig1 ) this control unit will receive two signals . the sequence of these signals indicates to this control unit 34 the direction of movement of the cutting machine 21 . accordingly , the control unit 34 generates the signals necessary for withdrawal of the bumpers 33 associated with the support units 14 and 15 and for advancing the support units 7 , 6 , 5 , and 4 behind the cutting machine toward the face of the coal seam . the control unit 34 may be a pre - programmed processor of the kind well known in the art provided with appropriate memory for generating the signals required as correct responses to the incoming signals . by means of the switch 35 and the control units associated with each support unit it is possible precisely to define the geometric position , and the direction of movement , of the cutting machine 21 so that the cutting machine may be operated safely and flawlessly . | 4 |
additional features and advantages of the invention will be set forth in the detailed description which follows , and in part will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art from that description or recognized by practicing the invention as described herein , including the detailed description which follows , the claims , as well as the appended drawings . it is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are merely exemplary of the invention , and are intended to provide an overview or framework for understanding the nature and character of the invention as it is claimed . the accompanying drawings are included to provide a further understanding of the invention , and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification . the drawings illustrate various embodiments of the invention , and together with the description serve to explain the principles and operation of the invention . a polysilicon surface - micromachined electrothermal vibromotor ( etv motor ) that is capable of long travel ranges , high speeds and simple directional control is taught by the present invention . with features like integrated circuit compatible driving voltages , and very small footprint , it is especially suitable for systems requiring a high - density of actuated devices on a silicon chip . the electrothermal - based vibromotor , taught by the present invention , occupies a space smaller than 200 × 300μm 2 and is driven using cmos integrated circuit compatible voltages . furthermore , the direction of the vibromotor can be changed by simply adjusting the applied electrical current , greatly simplifying the power supply design of the fiber optic switch system . optimization of the power consumption and speed of the linear vibromotor can be made using different materials and through better thermomechanical design of the thermal actuator . it is known that vibromotors rely on impact actuation to obtain relatively large armature movement from small - displacement vibrating elements . the present invention teaches a different method and apparatus to provide the impact actuation . a representation of an electrothermal linear vibromotor including vibrating thermal elements that drive a guided slider or any other movable guided element through oblique impact is shown in fig1 and fig9 . reference will now be made in detail to the present preferred embodiments of the invention , examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings . wherever possible , the same reference numbers will be used throughout the drawings to refer to the same or like parts . an exemplary embodiment of an apparatus of the present invention is the vibromotor of the present invention as shown in fig1 and fig9 and is designated generally throughout by reference numeral 10 . referring to fig1 an apparatus 10 to provide impact actuation in a microelectromechanical system ( mems ) includes an electrothermal linear vibromotor having at least one vibrating thermal element 20 pivotally attached for providing oblique impact actuation . a movable guided element 10 is slidable in response to the oblique impact actuation of the electrothermal linear vibromotor . the vibrating elements are thermal actuators 20 of fig2 that are positioned at 45 degrees on both sides of a slider 110 of fig1 . the slider 110 could hold a mirror 70 of fig7 for reflecting optical waves in switching applications , for example . each set of vibromotor 10 contains three independent thermal actuators 20 electrically wired in parallel . the number of the thermal actuators in a set could be adjusted depending on the load of the application . wiring in parallel ensures a lower operating voltage for the system . optionally , as seen in fig7 a second set of actuators at − 45 degrees would be used to give the motor bi - directional capability . however , the ability to use one set of actuators to drive the motor in both directions would reduce its size , a critical constraint in some applications . as a basic actuation element in this vibromotor , the thermal actuator 20 is utilized for its inherent low power level , fairly large force , and long - term reliability features . as a force generator , the thermal actuator 20 serves as an important energy converter , converting applied electrical energy to thermal energy and then to mechanical energy . the basic framework or body of the thermal actuator 20 , absent the impact head 40 , is a typical u - shaped , single - material , asymmetrical microstructure thermal actuator , as shown in fig2 and known in the art . the temperature of the actuator body structure is raised due to the joule heating effect when applying an electrical current across the two anchors 210 and 220 at the ends of the structure . because the cross - sectional areas of the thick arm 240 and thin arm 230 or beams are different , the higher electrical resistance in the thin arm 230 results in a higher temperature compared to that of the thick arm 240 . the effect of unequal thermal expansion of the structure is amplified by a joint between the thick arm 240 and the thin arm 230 at the tip , resulting in a lateral movement of the actuator tip towards the thick arm 240 side . a deflection as large as 15 μm can be achieved in the actuator 20 . the dimensions of the actuator 20 are optimized to deliver the highest force at any power . mechanical power transmission occurs during the impact of the thermal actuators 20 on both sides of a slider 110 . the slider 110 , used as a mechanical linkage , is composed of two parallel beams ( 15 μm wide each ) connected at both ends . the intention behind narrow beams is to make the sides of the slider slightly more compliant when pushed on . this y - direction compliance assures that more friction is generated when the head 40 of the thermal actuator 20 is in contact with the slider 110 . in order to lessen the friction due to the surface - to - surface contact between the moving slider 110 structure and a substrate 111 underneath , dimples 250 are added under the slider 110 and the structures that are attached to it . to achieve higher forces , the initial gap ( 2 μm ) between the slider 10 and the head 40 of the thermal actuator 20 are made as small as possible ( limited by the resolution of the process ). small deflections will also greatly lower the power consumption of this vibromotor . guide flanges 120 are used to constrain the slider 110 on the substrate 111 and to guide the slider 110 in a desired direction with minimum wobbling . the guide flanges 120 sit on the outside of the slider 10 to reduce the friction with the slider 110 during impact actuation of the head 40 . referring to fig2 a top view representation of the thermal actuator 20 of fig1 is shown . the following are examplary dimensions of the actuator 20 . the thin arm 230 is 200 × 2 . 5 μm while the thick arm 240 is 135 × 15 μm . the flexure 260 is 65 × 2 μm , and the gap between the thin and thick arms is 2 μm . the head 40 of the thermal actuator 20 includes a tip that is 2 μm in length and having a 20 μm - long 28 degree slightly curved slope of the triangular tip , as shown in fig4 . the head 40 is designed in a suitable shape such that it has two modes of operation , which enables it to have bi - directional travel , depending on the level of current applied . in contrast with prior - art micromotors , a typical energy - coupling element , such as the tooth - shaped drive yoke used in some stepper motors or a coupling gear in a microengine , is not needed in the driving mechanism design of the present invention . as a result , problems like gear backlash and improper impact contact that are often encountered due to the bearing clearances and improper tooth profile design can be minimized . hence , the etv motor as taught by the present invention has minimum structural complexity , which increases its reliability and also has some other advantages . since there is no additional coupling element needed between the slider 110 and a force generator ( the thermal actuator 20 , in this case .) direct coupling is possible . this direct coupling is much more efficient since no energy is lost in those extra components . no complicated sequence signal is required to drive different components in the device . in the present invention , each thermal actuator 20 in an array works independently without any linkage in between . in some prior - art devices , a mechanical linkage has to be used between the thermal actuators to increase the output force . however , additional energy is lost in the bending of these linkages . the electrothermal vibromotor ( etv motor ) is fabricated using the multi - user mems process ( mumps ) available at the microelectronics center of north carolina ( mcnc ). in this surface micromachining process , low - pressure chemical vapor deposition ( lpcvd ) polysilicon is used as the structural layers and lpcvd phosphosilicate glass ( psg ) is used for the sacrificial layers . a blanket 0 . 6 μm low - stress lpcvd silicon nitride layer is first deposited on the silicon wafers for electrical isolation . the first 0 . 5 μm - thick polysilicon layer is used to define the electrical interconnections and the electrical ground planes for the device . all the sliders 10 and the thermal actuators 40 are defined in the second 2 μm - thick polysilicon layer . the third 1 . 5 μm - thick polysilicon is used to define the guide flanges 120 only . two psg layers with thickness &# 39 ; of 2 μm and 0 . 75 μm , respectively , are deposited between the structural polysilicon layers . a final 0 . 5 μm - thick gold layer is deposited on the electrical probing pads . to release the structure from the oxide the sample is immersed in a bath of concentrated hydrofluoric acid ( hf ) at room temperature for 8 minutes . this is followed by several minutes of rinse in deionized water and then in isopropanol alcohol ( ipa ) bath for 15 minutes . finally , the chip is dried in an oven at 110 ° c . for 15 minutes . no significant stiction was observed after release . because of its structural simplicity the vibromotor 10 , as taught by the present invention , has high yields . in accordance with the teachings of the present invention , the motion of the slider 110 depends on the impact between the thermal actuator head 40 and the slider wall . using the sloped flat head as one embodiment of the present invention of the impact head 40 , the direction of travel for the slider 110 can be controlled by the amount of current , high or low level , through the thermal actuator 20 . referring to fig3 the basic driving mechanism of the current - controlled bi - directional electrothermal vibromotor 10 of fig1 is shown . in the initial rest position 300 of the head 40 of the thermal actuator 20 , there is some space or gap between the wall of the slider 10 and the head 40 , before impact . when driven with lower currents ( push mode ), the slider 110 moves forward ( the direction to which the thermal actuator 20 swings or taps much like the motion of a chicken pecking ). this forward motion can been visualized looking at how the dimple 250 moves ahead of the actuator head 40 , from representations 301 to 303 , after each impact when the space between the head 40 and the slider 110 is closed or otherwise removed . such actuator impact motion , swing , or pivoting contact is much like the tapping of a woodpecker &# 39 ; s bill on a stationary tree or a sliding woodpecker on a stationary pole toy . in the push modes of 301 and 303 , the tip of the thermal actuator &# 39 ; s head 40 makes contact with the slider 110 and keeps pushing . the preferably slope - shaped design of the head 40 causes the friction between the head 40 and the slider 10 to increase as the actuator 20 continues to deflect causing more contact and greater normal force exerted on the slider 110 . at some point 303 , the friction becomes large enough so that the head 40 grips the slider 110 and the slider 110 is pushed forward during the rest of the thermal actuator &# 39 ; s forward swing . as the head 40 swings back it releases itself from the slider 110 . at higher currents ( pull modes 304 and 306 ), a larger deflection of the thermal actuator 20 pushes the head 40 harder into the slider 110 . because the body of the thermal actuator 20 is framed by the two beams 230 and 240 of fig2 the actuator 20 also acts as a spring pushing against the slider 110 , making sure the head 40 is in full contact with the slider 110 , as can be seen by representation 304 . when the head 40 of the thermal actuator 20 starts to swing back , there is still friction between the head 40 and the slider 110 , which pulls the slider in the backward direction as seen in representation 306 , again referencing the dimple 250 movement from representations 304 to 306 . even though the speed is extremely high , the slider speed in the two directions are not equal because of the different impact conditions . referring to fig8 for a more detailed explanation , there are two modes of operation for the actuator 20 of fig1 as previously discussed . one is the lower current push mode , where the slider 110 can be pushed forward ( the direction to which the thermal actuator 20 including its head 40 swings ). the other is the higher current pull mode , where the slider 110 can be pulled backwards . the first representation 800 shows the initial rest position of the impact head 40 with respect to the wall of the slider 110 . the distance between a tip section of the impact head 40 and the wall of the slider 110 is denoted as a , while b is the distance between a tail section of the impact head and the wall of the slider 110 . because the slope of the tail section is steeper , more inclined , or otherwise corresponding less to the shape of the slider 110 , distance b is also greater than distance a . the thermal actuator 20 of fig2 will start to swing back and forth when supplied with an ac signal . during the thermal actuator &# 39 ; s forward swing 801 to 803 , the impact head 40 moves inward to the slider 10 and closes the gap before the tip of the head 40 touches the wall . because the thermal actuator 20 is somewhat compliant in the y - direction due to its two - beam structure , the tip of the impact head 40 will act as a pivot point and the head 40 rotates as the thermal actuator 20 continues pushing into the slider 110 , making b & lt ; 1 μm in 803 . the friction between the impact head 40 and the wall of the slider 110 will increase , proportionally to the normal force 84 exerted on the slider 110 , and at some point , grasps the slider 110 and push it forward as denoted in 803 . before the whole impact head 40 makes full contact with the slider ( b = 0 ), the head 40 of the thermal actuator starts to swing back , releasing itself from the slider 110 in 805 . the impact head 40 will then go back to its initial position , preparing for the next swing in the push mode situation . however , in the pull mode 806 , 808 , and 810 , due to the higher current applied , the impact head 40 will rotate further and makes full contact ( b = 0 ) while the head 40 of the thermal actuator keeps pushing inward to the slider in 808 . now the head 40 of the thermal actuator acts like a gripper that clamps the slider 110 in position , and the energy is stored in the bending of the thermal actuator 20 of fig2 . when the head 40 of the thermal actuator starts to swing back , a partial force in the x - direction 86 is exerted on to the slider 110 while the impact head 40 rotates back , which pulls the slider 110 to move backwards in 810 . then the head 40 releases from the slider 110 and back to its initial position , waiting for another cycle . as noted before , because of different impact conditions in these two modes , the speed of the slider 110 will not be the same as it moves in the two directions . conventional thermal actuators reported to date have used a driving signal of either a dc voltage or a voltage square wave with a 50 % duty cycle . usually a strong decrease in the deflection of beams that are 200 μm in length is observed when driven by signal frequencies up to 1 . 5 khz . although a higher deflection can be achieved at this frequency by increasing applied current , it often leads to permanent plastic deformation of the thin arm . this occurs when the brittle - to - ductile transition temperature is reached in the thin arm which cannot dissipate the excess heat fast enough . the stress on the two ends of the arm leads to buckling , causing the actuator to bend back and change its rest position from that of the initial state . this not only limits the driving frequency and speed of the electrothermal vibromotor , but also is a detriment to its lifetime . to improve its frequency performance , the effect of the driving signal has been explored . when driven at frequencies above 4 . 5 khz with a sinusoidal ac signal , a conventional thermal actuator responds with a fixed deflection rather than oscillation . this is because the cooling of the conventional thin arm can no longer keep up with the driving frequency . although oscillation on top of this offset deflection can be seen by increasing the applied current , the swing amplitude is so small (& lt ; 1 μm ) that it is generally not useful . furthermore , it would often quickly lead to permanent plastic deformation of the thin arm , or even fuse the device . this not only limits the maximum possible driving frequency , and thus the speed of the etv motor , but also is a detriment to its lifetime , as previously mentioned . theoretically , reducing the thermal time constant through optimized thermomechanical design can increase the frequency performance of the actuator , however , the use of an ac + dc driving signal has been found to improve the performance of the system . the swing amplitude can be increased enormously at high frequencies by adding a dc bias on top of the sinusoidal ac signal . under this driving condition , the thermal actuator oscillates from a point that is different from the initial rest position . this new starting point is the offset deflection caused by the high frequency ac , as described earlier . this method opens up a possibility for thermal actuators to be safely tuned to a much higher frequency while still having useful swing amplitudes . the highest frequency observed in the actuator 20 is above 70 khz . the power dissipated in the thermal actuator is equal to i 2 r , where i is the amount of current applied and r is the resistance of the beams . this energy raises the temperature of the actuator , while the heat is dissipated mainly through conduction via the anchor to the substrate , and convection and radiation to the ambient air . if the square of the input current ( i 2 ) versus time ( t ) is plotted , the area under the curve is proportional to the energy input to the system over a period of time . there exists a “ threshold ” area under the curve for a specific period of time , above which plastic deformation will occur . this threshold will depend on the heat dissipation rate under the applied current condition during that period of time . for a sinusoidal ac voltage input , the i 2 − t plot will look like the one shown in fig5 a , assuming that the resistance of the thermal actuator does not change with time . as the actuator is driven to higher frequencies , the amplitude of the deflection decreases . increasing the current driving the actuator as is shown in fig5 b can compensate for the decrease in deflection . however , at a certain frequency , governed by the thermal time constant of the element , the actuator will no longer work . a reduction of the thermal time constant through optimized thermomechanical design can increase the frequency performance of the actuator and increase the speed of the vibromotor . however , because of the magnitude of the input current , the temperature of the element could easily pass the threshold for plastic deformation . in accordance with the teachings of the present invention , a waveform consisting of a sinusoidal ac voltage offset by a dc bias as shown in fig5 c is applied . the dc bias will cause a deflection of the actuator 20 reducing the gap between the head 40 and the slider 110 . the time of impact occurs sooner due to the ac voltage improving the motor performance . this i 2 − t plot of the faster impact is shown in fig5 d . because current never reaches zero due to the dc offset , the total energy fed into the system is greatly increase . hence , the peak voltage level needed to reach the desired deflection is reduced . the frequency of impacts is reduced by a factor of two compared to that of a pure ac signal where impact occurs at both the positive and negative peak . this operation method allows the thermal actuator 20 to be safely tuned to a much higher frequency . the testing of the electrothermal vibromotor , in accordance with the present invention , was conducted in an open bay lab . the test setup consisted of a probe station , a function generator , a dc power supply , two multimeters and a ccd camera attached to the microscope . video was recorded on a computer for analysis . first , a 200 hz sinusoidal ac voltage input ( no dc bias ) was used to drive the electrothermal vibromotor 10 of fig1 . the amplitude of the voltage was increased from 0 v to a level where the head 40 of the thermal actuator 20 starts to tap or otherwise provide impact to the slider 110 but not enough to make full area contact with the slider 110 . at this point the slider will start to move forward , as in fig8 . 1b . observation of how the head 40 of the thermal actuator 20 contacts the slider 110 is straightforward because the image is a superposition of the vibrating element . when the applied voltage is further increased , the slider 110 will suddenly change its direction and starts to move backward , as in fig8 . 2c . travel across the full range ( 390 μm ) of the actuator 20 of fig2 in both directions was observed though the speed was inconsistent . this inconsistency was due to variation in the step sizes from factors such as the friction with the substrate 111 and the guide flanges 120 of fig1 . the ability to drive the electrothermal vibromotor with ac signal frequencies above 2 khz was achieved . applied ac voltages to the system range from 5 . 4 v to 6 . 6 v , and the total current ( for six thermal actuators 20 ) were measured from 18 . 3 ma to 23 . 0 ma . the change from forward actuation to backward actuation can be controlled by increasing the ac voltage by about 1 volt . typically , prior - art thermal actuators are not expected to move at such high frequencies , however , in this case the structures and the deflections are small ( microns ) for the actuators 20 as taught by the present invention . a 2 v sinusoidal ac signal at 5 khz plus a 10 v dc bias , which corresponds to a total current of 49 . 6 ma can be used , as an example , to drive the thermal elements or actuators 20 . the measured total current for both operation modes is plotted in fig6 . under this driving signal , travel in both directions was very smooth . it was also very easy to change the direction of motion by simply adjusting the dc bias level ( plus or minus 1 volt ). the traveling speed observed is proportional to the driving frequency . from the recorded video , a speed above 3 mm / set was measured for the slider 110 . backward motion of the slider was faster than the forward motion . this is expected because the head 40 is in full contact longer during the pull mode , as depicted in fig8 . 2b . driving the thermal elements or actuators 20 at 10 khz has been done by tuning the ac signal to 4 volts . the force generated by this ac + dc operation appears much larger than when driving with pure ac . furthermore , the ability to drive the slider 110 with only one set of thermal actuators 20 on only one side of the slider 110 was achieved . in some situations , even one thermal actuator 20 alone is enough to move the slider 110 . a round - headed thermal actuator 440 , as shown in the picture insert in fig4 has been included as a test structure and shows only the pull mode operation or backward travel motion . this alternate design could be used in applications where only one traveling direction is needed or similar traveling speed in two directions is preferred . referring to fig7 a scanning electron microscope ( sem ) photograph of a fiber optic switch with an integrated electrothermal vibromotor 10 of fig1 in accordance with the present invention is shown . as a demonstration of this electrothermal vibromotor 10 of the present invention , it was coupled with a gear 300 μm in diameter , making a rotation stage for optical applications a possibility . in addition , the motor was used to drive a vertical micromirror 70 that was designed for a free space optical fiber switch . the micromirror has a dimension of 300 × 400 μm and could be move back and forth over the full travel range of 350 μm . hence , a compact polysilicon surface - micromachined electrothermally actuated vibromotor 10 of fig1 is taught by the teachings of the present invention . mechanical power transmission occurs during the impact of the thermal actuators 20 on the sides of a movable guided slider 10 . current - controlled bi - directional operation is made possible through the impact head design 40 having at least two different edges . a traveling speed of at least 3 mm / sec was measured when driven with a 2 . 0 v ac input signal at 5 khz plus a 10 . 0 v dc bias offset . the electrothermal vibromotor 10 has been actuated with thermal elements or actuators 20 driven at frequencies above 19 khz . as a demonstration , a hinged vertical micromirror 70 designed for free - space fiber - optic switch systems has been moved back and forth over a full range of 350 μm . it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made to the present invention without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention . thus , it is intended that the present invention cover the modifications and variations of this invention provided they come within the scope of the appended claims and their equivalents . | 1 |
an embodiment of a case where the present invention is applied to a data projector apparatus of the dlp ( registered trademark ) system will be described below with reference to the drawings . fig1 is a block diagram showing the schematic functional configuration of an electronic circuit provided in a data projector apparatus 10 according this embodiment . a reference symbol 11 in fig1 denotes an input / output connector section , which includes , for example , a pin - jack ( rca ) type video input terminal , d - sub 15 type rgb input terminal , and universal serial bus ( usb ) connector . image signals of various standards to he input from the input / output connector section 11 are input to an image conversion section 13 through an input / output interface 12 , and system bus sb . the image conversion section 13 converts the input image signals into image signals of a predetermined format suitable for projection , appropriately writes the image signals onto a video ram 14 which is a buffer memory for display , thereafter reads the written image signals , and transmits the read image signals to a projection image processing section 15 . at this time , data such as symbols or the like indicating various operational states for on screen display ( dsd ) are superimposed on the image signals read from the video ram 14 as the need arises , and the resultant image signals are written onto the video ram 14 again . thereafter , the processed image signals are read and transmitted to the projection image processing section 15 . the projection image processing section 15 display - drives a micromirror element 16 which is a spatial light modulation ( slm ) element by time - division drive of higher speed obtained by multiplying a frame rate conforming to a predetermined format , for example , 120 frames / second by a division number of color components , and display gradation number in accordance with image signals transmitted thereto . the micromirror element 16 forms a light figure by the light reflected therefrom by individually subjecting each of inclination angles of a plurality of minute mirrors arranged in an array corresponding to , for example , xga ( 1024 pixels in the lateral direction × 768 pixels in the longitudinal direction ) to an on / off operation at high speed . on the other hand , primary - color light components of red , green , and blue are cyclically emitted from a light source section 17 by time division . each of the primary - color light components of red , green , and blue from the light source section 17 is reflected from a mirror 18 , and is applied to the micromirror element 16 . further , a light figure is formed by the reflected light of the micromirror element 16 , and the formed light figure is projection - displayed on a screen ( not shown ) which is a projection object through a projector lens unit 19 . the light source section 17 the specific optical configuration of which will be described later , includes two types of light sources , i . e ., a semiconductor laser 20 emitting blue laser light , and led 21 emitting red light . the blue laser light emitted from the semiconductor laser 20 is reflected from a mirror 22 , is thereafter transmitted through a dichroic mirror 23 , and is then applied to one point on the circumference of a color wheel 24 . the color wheel 24 is rotated by a motor 25 . on the circumference of the color wheel 24 irradiated with the laser light , a green fluorescent reflection plate 24 g and blue light transmission diffusion plate 24 b are jointly formed into a ring - like shape . when the green fluorescent reflection plate 24 g of the color wheel 24 is located at the irradiation position of the laser light , green light is excited by the irradiation of the laser light , the excited green light is reflected from the color wheel 24 , and is thereafter reflected also from the dichroic mirror 23 . thereafter , the green light is further reflected from a dichroic mirror 28 , is formed into a light flux having substantially uniform luminance distribution by an integrator 29 , is thereafter reflected from a mirror 30 , and is then sent to the mirror 18 . further , when the blue light transmission diffusion plate 242 of the color wheel 24 is located at the irradiation position of the laser light as shown in fig1 , the laser light is transmitted through the color wheel 24 while being diffused by the blue light transmission diffusion plate 24 b , and is thereafter reflected from each of mirrors 26 and 27 . thereafter , the blue light is transmitted through the dichroic mirror 28 , is formed into a light flux having substantially uniform luminance distribution by the integrator 29 , is thereafter reflected from the mirror 30 , and is then sent to the mirror 18 . furthermore , the red light emitted from the led 21 is transmitted through the dichroic mirror 23 , is thereafter reflected from the dichroic mirror 28 , is formed into a light flux having substantially uniform luminance distribution by the integrator 29 , is thereafter reflected from the mirror 30 , and is then sent to the mirror 18 . as described above , the dichroic mirror 23 has the spectral characteristics of transmitting the blue and red light therethrough , whereas reflecting the green light . further , the dichroic mirror 28 has the spectral characteristics of transmitting the blue light , whereas reflecting the red and green light . the light emission timing of each of the semiconductor laser 20 and led 21 of the light source section 17 , and rotation of the color wheel 24 by the motor 25 are controlled by a projection light processing section 31 in a unifying manner . the projection light processing section 31 controls the light emission timing of each of the semiconductor laser 20 , and led 21 , and the rotation of the color wheel 24 in accordance with the timing of the image data supplied from the projection image processing section 15 . a cpu 32 executes a control operation in the data projector apparatus 10 by using a main memory 33 constituted of a dram , and program memory 34 constituted of an electrically rewritable nonvolatile memory in which an operation program , various standardized data items are stored . the cpu 32 executes various projection operations in accordance with key operation signals from an operation section 35 . the operation section 35 includes a key operation section provided on the main body of the data projector apparatus 10 , and laser reception section configured to receive infrared light from a remote controller ( not shown ) to be exclusively used for the data projector apparatus 10 , and directly outputs a key operation signal based on the key operated by the user by using the key operation section of the main body or the remote controller to the cpu 32 . the operation section 35 is provided with , together with the above - mentioned key operation section and remote controller , for example , a focus adjustment key ( focus ), zoom adjustment key ( zoom ), input image switching key ( input ), menu key ( menu ), cursor (←, →, ↑, and ↓) key , set key ( enter ), cancel key ( esc ), and the like . the cpu 32 described above is further connected also to a sound processing section 36 through the system bus sb . the sound processing section 36 is provided with a sound source circuit such as a pcm sound source or the like , converts the sound data supplied thereto at the time of the projection operation into analog data , drives a speaker section 37 to loudspeaker - release the sound or generate beep sound or the like as the need arises . next , a specific configuration example of the optical system of the light source section 17 is mainly shown by fig2 . fig2 is a view expressing the configuration of the periphery of the light source section 17 in the plane layout . for example , three semiconductor lasers 20 a , 20 b , 20 c , having the same light - emitting characteristics , are provided . the laser light of each of these semiconductor lasers 20 a , 20 b , 20 c is blue and , for example , the emission wavelength is about 450 nm . the blue light oscillated by each or these semiconductor lasers 20 a , 20 b , 20 c is made substantially parallel with each other through each of lenses 41 a to 41 c , is then reflected from each of mirrors 20 a , 20 b , 20 c , is passed through lenses 42 and 43 , is thereafter transmitted through the dichroic mirror 23 , then is transmitted through a lens group 44 , and is then applied to the color wheel 24 . in this embodiment , the lenses 42 and 43 , and lens group 44 constitute a light - condensation optical system configured to condense the substantially paralleled blue light at the position of the color wheel 24 on the optical axis . on the color wheel 24 , as described above , the blue light transmission diffusion plate 24 b , and green fluorescent reflection plate 24 g are positioned to constitute a ring on the same circumference . when the green fluorescent reflection plate 24 g of the color wheel is located at the irradiation position of the blue light , green light of a wavelength range centering on a wavelength of about 530 nm is excited by the irradiation . the excited green light is reflected from the reflection surface of the color wheel 24 , and is thereafter reflected also from the dichroic mirror 23 through the lens group 44 . the green light reflected from the dichroic mirror 23 is further reflected from the dichroic mirror 28 through the lens 45 , and is guided to the integrator 29 through a lens 46 . in this embodiment , the lens group 44 , lens 45 , and lens 46 are designed to form a light guiding optical system 1 configured to guide the green light excited at the color wheel 24 to the integrator 29 in which the beam size of the green light fits in the aperture size of the integrator 29 . the magnifying power of the light guiding optical system is designed to substantially coincide with the ratio of the aperture size of the integrator 29 to the irradiation size of the light to be applied to the color wheel 24 . further , the green light is formed into a light flux having substantially uniform luminance distribution by the integrator 29 , is thereafter reflected from the mirror 30 through a lens 47 , and is sent to the mirror 18 through a lens 48 . the green light reflected from the mirror 18 is then applied to the micromirror element 16 through a lens 49 . further , a light figure of the green component is formed by the reflected green light , and is projected on the outside through the lens 49 , and projector lens unit 19 . further , when the blue light transmission diffusion plate 24 b of the color wheel 24 is located at the irradiation position of the blue light , the blue light is transmitted through the color wheel 24 while being diffused by the blue light transmission diffusion plate 24 b with lower diffusion characteristics than the green light excited by substantially perfect diffusion light . furthermore , the blue light is reflected from the mirror 26 through a lens 50 located on the back side . the motor 25 configured to rotate the color wheel 24 is arranged on the same side as the lens 50 configured to condense the blue light transmitted through the color wheel 24 . the blue light transmitted through the color wheel 24 has lower diffusion than the green light reflected from the color wheel 24 , and hence it is possible to make the size of the lens 50 smaller than the lens group 44 configured to condense the green light reflected from the color wheel 24 . furthermore , the blue light is reflected from the mirror 27 through a lens 51 , is passed through a lens 52 , is then transmitted through the dichroic mirror 28 , and is guided to the integrator 29 through the lens 46 . in this embodiment , the lenses 50 , 51 , 52 , and 46 are designed to form a light guiding optical system configured to guide the blue light transmitted through the color wheel 24 to the integrator 29 in which the beam size of the blue light fits in the aperture size of the integrator 29 . the magnifying power of the light guiding optical system is designed to substantially coincide with the ratio of the aperture size of the integrator 29 to the irradiation size of the light to be applied to the color wheel 24 . further , the blue light is formed into a light flux having substantially uniform luminance distribution by the integrator 29 , is thereafter reflected from the mirror 30 through the lens 47 , and is sent to the mirror 18 through the lens 48 . the blue light reflected from the mirror 18 is then applied to the micromirror element 16 through the lens 49 . further , a light figure of the blue component is formed by the reflected blue light , and is projected on the outside through the lens 49 , and projector lens unit 19 . on the other hand , the led 21 emits red light of , for example , a wavelength of 620 nm . the red light emitted from the led 21 is transmitted through the dichroic mirror 23 through a lens group 53 , is thereafter reflected from the dichroic mirror 28 through the lens 45 , and is further guided to the integrator 29 through the lens 46 . in this embodiment , the lens group 53 , lens 45 , and lens 46 are designed to form a light guiding optical system configured to guide the red light emitted in the emission size of the led 21 to the integrator 29 in which the beam size of the red light fits in the aperture size of the integrator 29 . the magnifying power of the light guiding optical system is designed to substantially coincide with the ratio of the aperture size of the integrator 29 to the emission size of the led 21 . further , the red light is formed into a light flux having substantially uniform luminance distribution by the integrator 29 , is thereafter reflected from the mirror 30 through the lens 47 , and is sent to the mirror 18 through the lens 48 . further , the led 21 is arranged near the semiconductor lasers 20 a , 20 b , 20 c , and in a direction in which the optical axis thereof is parallel with those of the semiconductor lasers 20 a , 20 b , 20 c . by arranging the led 21 in this way , it becomes easy to integrate , although not shown , a heat sink provided on the back side of the led 21 , and configured to cool the led 21 , and heat sink provided on the back side of the semiconductor lasers 20 a , 20 b , 20 c , and configured to cool the semiconductor lasers with each other , and it is further possible to reduce the size of the overall apparatus , and reduce the number of pieces of the components . the red light reflected from the mirror 18 is then applied to the micromirror element 16 through the lens 49 . further , a light figure of the red component is formed by the reflected red light , and is projected on the outside through the lens 49 , and projector lens unit 19 . in this embodiment , as shown in fig3 a , the blue light transmission diffusion plate 24 b constituting the color wheel 24 is arranged on a part of the circumference having a central angle of about 150 ° at a position of 0 ° to about 150 ° in the rotational phase corresponding to the image frame . on the other hand , the green fluorescent reflection plate 24 g is arranged on a part of the circumference having a central angle of about 210 ° at a position of about 150 to 360 ° ( 0 °) in the same rotational phase . here , it is assumed that it is possible to switch the mode between the normal mode and green - emphasized mode as two color modes . in the normal mode , as shown in fig3 b , the continued time ratio of periods in which the primary color images of blue , red , and green constituting one frame of the color image to be projected are projected is made 1 : 1 : 1 . the periods in which the primary color images of blue , red , and green are projected are defined as the b -, r - and g - fields , respectively . that is , the continued time ratio b : r : g of the b -, r - and g - fields becomes 120 °: 120 °: 120 ° in terms of the central angles of the color wheel 24 with respect to 360 ° corresponding to one rotation of the color wheel 24 rotating at a constant rotational speed . in the green - emphasized mode on the other side , as shown in fig3 c , the continued time ratio of periods in which the primary color images of blue , red , and green constituting one frame of the color image are projected is made 10 : 11 : 15 . that is , the continued time ratio b : r : g of the b -, r - and g - fields becomes 100 °: 110 °: 150 ° in terms of the central angles of the color wheel 24 with respect to 360 ° corresponding to one rotation of the color wheel 24 rotating at a constant rotational speed . all the operation control concomitant with the switching of the color mode is executed by the projection light processing section 31 under the centralized control of the cpu 32 . fig3 b shows the relationship among the color of the light figure formed at the micromirror element 16 at the normal mode time , emission timing of the led 21 , emission timing of each of the semiconductor lasers 20 a , 20 b , 20 c , and output of the color wheel 24 . at this normal mode time , at the beginning of one frame , in the period of the b - field corresponding to 120 ° in terms of the central angle of the color wheel 24 , blue light is emitted by the oscillation of the semiconductor lasers 20 a , 20 b , 20 c as shown by the cw output of fig3 b . further , the blue light transmitted through the blue light transmission diffusion plate 24 b of the color wheel 24 , and diffused is applied to the micromirror element 16 . at this time , an image corresponding to the blue light is displayed by the micromirror element 16 , whereby a blue light figure is formed by the reflected light thereof , and is projected onto an external projection object through the projector lens unit 19 . during this period , the led 21 is kept in the off - state . thereafter , the on - state of the led 21 is started in synchronization with a temporary stop of the oscillation of the semiconductor lasers 20 a , 20 b , 20 c . after that , in the period of the r - field corresponding to 120 ° in terms of the central angle of the color wheel 24 , red light is emitted by the on - state of the led 21 , and is applied to the micromirror element 16 as shown by r - led of fig3 b . at this time , an image corresponding to the red light is displayed by the micromirror element 16 , whereby a red light figure is formed by the reflected light thereof , and is projected onto the external projection object through the projector lens unit 19 . during this period , the oscillation of the semiconductor lasers 20 a , 20 b , 20 c is temporarily stopped . accordingly , even when the blue light transmission diffusion plate 24 b or green fluorescent reflection plate 24 g of the color wheel 24 exists at the position on the optical axis , the oscillation of the semiconductor lasers 20 a , 20 b , 20 c is temporarily stopped , and hence neither blue light nor green light is generated as the light - source light . thereafter , in synchronization with turning - off of the led 21 , the oscillation at the semiconductor laser 20 a , 20 b , 20 c is resumed . after that , in a period of the g - field corresponding to 120 ° in terms of the central angle of the color wheel 24 , green reflected light excited at the green fluorescent reflection plate 24 g of the color wheel 24 is applied to the micromirror element 16 as the light - source light . at this time , an image corresponding to the green light is displayed by the micromirror element 16 , whereby a green light figure is formed by the reflected light thereof , and is projected onto the external projection object through the projector lens unit 19 . furthermore , the color wheel 24 rotates to terminate the g - field and one - frame periods . thereafter , when the blue light transmission diffusion plate 24 b is positioned again on the optical axis from the semiconductor lasers 20 a , 20 b , 20 c in place of the green fluorescent reflection plate 24 g , the b - field period of the next frame is started . as described above , the oscillation - timing and turning - on - timing of each of the semiconductor lasers 20 a , 20 b , 20 c , and led 21 are controlled in synchronization with the rotation of the color wheel 24 on which the blue light transmission diffusion plate 24 b and green fluorescent reflection plate 24 g are formed . as a result of this , the green and blue light resulting from the oscillation of the semiconductor lasers 20 a , 20 b , 20 c , and red light resulting from the on - state of the led 21 are cyclically generated by time division , and are applied to the micromirror element 16 . next , an operation at the green - emphasized mode time will be described below . fig3 c shows the relationship among the color of the light figure formed at the micromirror element 16 at the green - emphasized mode time , emission timing of the led 21 , emission timing of each of the semiconductor lasers 20 a , 20 b , 20 c , and output of the color wheel 24 . at this green - emphasized mode time , at the beginning of one frame , in the period of the b - field corresponding to 100 ° in terms of the central angle of the color wheel 24 , blue light is emitted by the oscillation of the semiconductor lasers 20 a , 20 b , 20 c as shown by the cw output of fig3 c . further , the blue light transmitted through the blue light transmission diffusion plate 24 b of the color wheel 24 , and diffused is applied to the micromirror element 16 . at this time , an image corresponding to the blue light is displayed by the micromirror element 16 , whereby a blue light figure is formed by the reflected light thereof , and is projected onto an external projection object through the projector lens unit 19 . during this period , the led 21 is kept in the off - state . thereafter , the on - state of the led 21 is started in synchronization with a temporary stop of the oscillation of the semiconductor lasers 20 a , 20 b , 20 c . after that , in the period of the r - field corresponding 110 ° in terms of the central angle of the color wheel 24 , red light is emitted by the on - state of the led 21 , and is applied to the micromirror element 16 as shown by r - led of fig3 c . at this time , an image corresponding to the red light is displayed by the micromirror element 16 , whereby a red light figure is formed by the reflected light thereof , and is projected onto the external projection object through the projector lens unit 19 . during this period , the oscillation of the semiconductor lasers 20 a , 20 b , 20 c is temporarily stopped . accordingly , even when the blue light transmission diffusion plate 24 b or green fluorescent reflection plate 24 g of the color wheel 24 exists at the positions on the optical axis , the oscillation of the semiconductor lasers 20 a , 20 b , 20 c is temporarily stopped , and hence neither blue light nor green light is generated as the light - source light . thereafter , in synchronization with turning - off of the led 21 , the oscillation at the semiconductor laser 20 a , 20 b , 20 c is resumed . after that , in a period of the g - field corresponding to 150 ° in terms or the central angle of the color wheel 24 , green reflected light excited at the green fluorescent reflection plate 24 g of the color wheel 24 is applied to the micromirror element 16 as the light - source light . at this time , an image corresponding to the green light is displayed by the micromirror element 16 , whereby a green light figure is formed by the reflected light thereof , and is projected onto the external projection object through the projector lens unit 19 . furthermore , the color wheel 24 rotates to terminate the g - field and one - frame periods . thereafter , when the blue light transmission diffusion plate 24 b is positioned again on the optical axis from the semiconductor lasers 20 a , 20 b , 20 c in place of the green fluorescent reflection plate 24 g , the b - field period of the next frame is started . as described above , the oscillation - timing and turning - on - timing of each of the semiconductor lasers 20 a , 20 b , 20 c , and led 21 are controlled in synchronization with the rotation of the color wheel 24 on which the blue light transmission diffusion plate 24 b and green fluorescent reflection plate 24 g are formed . as a result of this , the green and blue light resulting from the oscillation of the semiconductor lasers 20 a , 20 b , 20 c , and red light resulting from the on - state of the led 21 are cyclically generated by time division , and are applied to the micromirror element 16 . furthermore , the r - field resulting from the on - state of the led 21 is arranged in synchronization with the timing of the border between the blue light transmission diffusion plate 24 b , and green fluorescent reflection plate 24 g each constituting the color wheel 24 , and the emission timing of each of the semiconductor lasers 20 a , 20 b , 20 c , and led 21 is controlled as shown at the normal mode time , and green - emphasized mode time described above , whereby it is made possible to adjust the time length of each of the b -, r - and g - fields in the one frame period . as described above , according to this embodiment , although the above - mentioned optical system is an optical system using a color wheel , it becomes possible to arbitrarily adjust the time length to be assigned to each color component , and respond to desired color environment such as color balance , brightness of the projection image , or the like , as needed . particularly , in the green - emphasized mode , the projection time of the green image based on the green light closer to the luminance component than the other primary color components is set longer . as a result of this , not only an image in which the green light is simply emphasized as a whole is obtained , but also the luminance of the overall image is improved , and a brighter image is projected . it should be noted that in the above embodiment , as a light source configured to generate blue and green light by using a color wheel 24 , semiconductor lasers 20 a , 20 b , 20 c are used , whereby it becomes possible to realize a stable operation particularly excellent in response speed and light intensity . furthermore , it is possible to enhance the marketability by using an element more suitable for the light source of the data projector apparatus . in addition to the above , with the fluorescent substance practically used at present , the efficiency of the wavelength conversion of converting the blue laser light to red laser light is low , and sufficient emission luminance cannot be obtained . thus , by using a red led as the second light source element , and making it possible to adjust the period of each of the primary color image fields as described above , it becomes possible to realize projection - display of the red image having sufficient emission luminance . next , another operation example according to this embodiment will also be described below . in this operation example too , it is assumed that as shown in fig4 a , while a blue light transmission diffusion plate 24 b constituting a color wheel 24 is arranged on a part of the circumference having a central angle of about 150 ° at position of 0 ° to about 150 ° in the rotational phase corresponding to the image frame , a green fluorescent reflection plate 24 g is arranged on a part of the circumference having a central angle of about 210 ° at a position of about 150 to 360 ° ( 0 °) in the same rotational phase . here , it is also assumed that it is possible to switch the mode between the normal mode and luminance - emphasized mode as two color modes . in the normal mode , the continued time ratio of periods in which the primary color images of blue , red , and green constituting one frame of the color image to be projected are projected is made 1 : 1 : 1 . that is , the continued time ratio b : r : g of the b -, r - and g - fields becomes 120 °: 120 °: 120 ° in terms of the central angles of the color wheel 24 with respect to 360 ° corresponding to one rotation of the color wheel 24 rotating at a constant rotational speed . in the luminance - emphasized mode on the other side , in addition to the primary color images of blue , red , and green constituting one frame of the color image , an image of yellow is also projected . the continued time ratio of periods in which the primary color images of blue , red , green , and yellow are projected is made 1 : 1 : 1 : 1 . the period in which the primary color image of yellow is projected is defined as a y - field . that is , the continued time ratio b : r : g : y of the b -, r -, g - and y - fields becomes 90 °: 90 °: 90 °: 90 ° in terms of the central angles of the color wheel 24 with respect to 360 ° corresponding to one rotation of the color wheel 24 rotating at a constant rotational speed . all the operation control concomitant with the switching of the color mode is executed by a projection light processing section 31 under the centralized control of a cpu 32 . fig4 b shows the relationship among the color of the light figure formed at the micromirror element 16 at the normal mode time , emission timing of the led 21 , emission timing of each of the semiconductor lasers 20 a , 20 b , 20 c , and output of the color wheel 24 . at this normal mode time , at the beginning of one frame , in the period of the b - field corresponding to 120 ° in terms of the central angle of the color wheel 24 , blue light is emitted by the oscillation of the semiconductor lasers 20 a , 20 b , 20 c as shown by the cw output of fig4 b . further , the blue light transmitted through the blue light transmission diffusion plate 24 b of the color wheel 24 , and diffused is applied to the micromirror element 16 . at this time , an image corresponding to the blue light is displayed by the micromirror element 16 , whereby a blue light figure is formed by the reflected light thereof , and is projected onto an external projection object through the projector lens unit 19 . during this period , the led 21 is kept in the off - state . thereafter , the on - state of the led 21 is started in synchronization with a temporary stop of the oscillation of the semiconductor lasers 20 a , 20 b , 20 c . after that , in the period of the r - field corresponding to 120 ° in terms of the central angle of the color wheel 24 , red light is emitted by the on - state of the led 21 , and is applied to the micromirror element 16 as shown by r - led of fig4 b . at this time , an image corresponding to the red light is displayed by the micromirror element 16 , whereby a red light figure is formed by the reflected light thereof , and is projected onto the external projection object through the projector lens unit 19 . during this period , the oscillation of the semiconductor lasers 20 a , 20 b , 20 c is temporarily stopped . accordingly , even when the blue light transmission diffusion plate 24 b or green fluorescent reflection plate 24 g of the color wheel 24 exists at the position on the optical axis , the oscillation of the semiconductor lasers 20 a , 20 b , 20 c is temporarily stopped , and hence neither blue light nor green light is generated as the light - source light . thereafter , in synchronization with turning - off of the led 21 , the oscillation at the semiconductor laser 20 a , 20 b , 20 c is resumed . after that , in a period of the g - field corresponding to 120 ° in terms of the central angle of the color wheel 24 , green reflected light excited at the green fluorescent reflection plate 24 g of the color wheel 24 is applied to the micromirror element 16 as the light - source light . at this time , an image corresponding to the green light is displayed by the micromirror element 16 , whereby a green light figure is formed by the reflected light thereof , and is projected onto the external projection object through the projector lens unit 19 . furthermore , the color wheel 24 rotates to terminate the g - field and one - frame periods . thereafter , when the blue light transmission diffusion plate 24 b is positioned again on the optical axis from the semiconductor lasers 20 a , 20 b , 20 c in place of the green fluorescent reflection plate 24 g , the b - field period of the next frame is started . as described above , the oscillation - timing and turning - on - timing of each of the semiconductor lasers 20 a , 20 b , 20 c , and led 21 are controlled in synchronization with the rotation of the color wheel 24 on which the blue light transmission diffusion plate 24 b and green fluorescent reflection plate 24 g are formed . as a result of this , the green and blue light resulting from the oscillation of the semiconductor lasers 20 a , 20 b , 20 c , and red light resulting from the on - state of the led 21 are cyclically generated by time division , and are applied to the micromirror element 16 . next , an operation at the luminance - emphasized mode time will be described below . fig4 c shows the relationship among the color of the light figure formed at the micromirror element 16 at the luminance - emphasized mode time , emission timing of the led 21 , emission timing of each of the semiconductor lasers 20 a , 20 b , 20 c , and output of the color wheel 24 . at this luminance - emphasized mode time , at the beginning of one frame , in the period of the b - field corresponding to 90 ° in terms of the central angle of the color wheel 24 , blue light is emitted by the oscillation of the semiconductor lasers 20 a , 20 b , 20 c as shown by the cw output of fig4 c . further , the blue light transmitted through the blue light transmission diffusion plate 24 b of the color wheel 24 , and diffused is applied to the micromirror element 16 . at this time , an image corresponding to the blue light is displayed by the micromirror element 16 , whereby a blue light figure is formed by the reflected light thereof , and is projected onto an external projection object through the projector lens unit 19 . during this period , the led 21 is kept in the off - state . thereafter , the on - state of the led 21 is started in synchronization with a temporary stop of the oscillation of the semiconductor lasers 20 a , 20 b , 20 c . after that , in the period of the r - field corresponding 90 ° in terms of the central angle of the color wheel 24 , red light is emitted by the on - state of the led 21 , and is applied to the micromirror element 16 as shown by r - led of fig4 c . at this time , an image corresponding to the red light is displayed by the micromirror element 16 , whereby a red light figure is formed by the reflected light thereof , and is projected onto the external projection object through the projector lens unit 19 . during this period , the oscillation of the semiconductor lasers 20 a , 20 b , 20 c is temporarily stopped . accordingly , even when the blue light transmission diffusion plate 24 b or green fluorescent reflection plate 24 g of the color wheel 24 exists at the position on the optical axis , the oscillation of the semiconductor lasers 20 a , 20 b , 20 c is temporarily stopped , and hence neither blue light nor green light is generated as the light - source light . thereafter , in synchronization with turning - off of the led 21 , the oscillation at the semiconductor laser 20 a , 20 b , 20 c is resumed . after that , in a period of the g - field corresponding to 90 ° in terms of the central angle of the color wheel 24 , green reflected light excited at the green fluorescent reflection plate 24 g of the color wheel 24 is applied to the micromirror element 16 as the light - source light . at this time , an image corresponding to the green light is displayed by the micromirror element 16 , whereby a green light figure is formed by the reflected light thereof , and is projected onto the external projection object through the projector lens unit 19 . furthermore , the color wheel 24 rotates to terminate the g - field . thereafter , the on - state of the led 21 is further started without subsequently stopping the oscillation of the semiconductor lasers 20 a , 20 b , 20 c . after that , in the y - field period corresponding to 90 ° in terms of the central angle of the color wheel 24 , red light is emitted by the on - state of the led 21 as shown by r - led of fig4 c . accordingly , yellow light resulting from the color mixture of the red light based on the on - state of the led 21 , and green light based on the reflection at the green fluorescent reflection plate 24 g is applied to the micromirror element 16 . at this time , an image corresponding to the yellow color is displayed by the micromirror element 16 , whereby a yellow light figure is formed by the reflected light thereof , and is projected onto the external projection object through the projector lens unit 19 . furthermore , the color wheel 24 rotates to terminate the y - field and one frame periods . thereafter , when the blue light transmission diffusion plate 24 b is positioned again on the optical axis from the semiconductor lasers 20 a , 20 b , 20 c in place of the green fluorescent reflection plate 24 g , the b - field period of the next frame is started . as described above , the oscillation - timing and turning - on - timing of each of the semiconductor lasers 20 a , 20 b , 20 c , and led 21 are controlled in synchronization with the rotation of the color wheel 24 on which the blue light transmission diffusion plate 24 b and green fluorescent reflection plate 24 g are formed . as a result of this , the green and blue light resulting from the oscillation of the semiconductor lasers 20 a , 20 b , 20 c , red light resulting from the on - state of the led 21 , and yellow light resulting from the color mixture are cyclically generated by time division , and are applied to the micromirror element 16 . furthermore , the r - field resulting from the on - state of the led 21 is arranged in synchronization with the timing of the border between the blue light transmission diffusion plate 24 b , and green fluorescent reflection plate 24 g each constituting the color wheel 24 , and the emission timing of each of the semiconductor lasers 20 a , 20 b , 20 c , and led 21 is controlled as shown at the normal mode time , and luminance - emphasized mode time described above , whereby it is made possible to adjust the time length of each of the b -, r -, g - and y - fields provided as the need arises all of which are in the one frame period . as a result of this , in this operation example too , it becomes possible to respond to desired color environment such as color balance , brightness of the projection image , or the like , as needed . particularly , in the luminance - emphasized mode shown in another operation example described above , the projection time of the yellow image based on the yellow color closer to the luminance component owing to the color mixture of the green and red light than the other primary color components each of which singly uses each light source is newly provided , and hence it is possible to significantly improve the luminance of the overall image , and project a bright image . it should be noted that although not shown in the above operation example , a period may be provided in which red light based on the led 21 is emitted simultaneously with the timing at which the blue light transmission diffusion plate 24 b of the color wheel 24 is present on the light path from the semiconductor lasers 20 a , 20 b , 20 c , magenta light is generated by the color mixture , and a corresponding light figure is formed . further , when attention is paid to the turning - on period of the led 21 shown by r - led of fig4 c , the on - state and off - state of the led 21 are provided in two cycles for the two fields including the r - and y - fields in each of which the on - state of the led 21 is required in one frame . by increasing the drive frequency of the led 21 , and shortening the continuous on - time as described above , it is possible to maintain emission drive at stable and high luminance while taking the characteristics of the led 21 that the emission luminance is lowered by the thermal resistance due to continuous drive into consideration . it should be noted that the above embodiment has been described on the assumption that while the blue laser light is oscillated by the semiconductor lasers 20 a , 20 b , 20 c , and the blue and green light are generated by the color wheel , the red light is emitted from the led 21 . however , the present invention is not limited to this and , for example , the led 21 may be changed to a semiconductor laser configured to oscillate red laser light . in this case , it becomes necessary to provide a diffusion plate configured to diffuse red laser light to generate red light at a position on the optical axis of the semiconductor laser configured to oscillate the red laser light . that is , when the luminance balance of primary color light which can be emitted by using one light source is not suitable for practical use , the present invention can be applied to a light source section in which a plurality of types of light sources are used to compensate the above drawback by using another light source , and a projection apparatus using such a light source section . further , in the above embodiment , the case where the present invention is applied to a data projector apparatus of the dip ( registered trademark ) system has been described . however , the present invention can also be applied to a liquid crystal projector or the like configured to form a light figure by using a transmission type monochrome liquid crystal panel in the same manner . furthermore , the present invention is not limited to the embodiment described above , and can be variously modified in the implementation stage within the scope not deviating from the gist of the invention . further , the functions carried out in the above - mentioned embodiment may be appropriately combined with each other to the utmost extent to be implemented . various stages are included in the above - mentioned embodiment , and by appropriately combining a plurality of disclosed constituent elements with each other , various inventions can be extracted . for example , even when some constituent elements are deleted from all the constituent elements shown in the embodiment , if an advantage can be obtained , the configuration from which the constituent elements are deleted can be extracted as an invention . additional advantages and modifications will readily occur to those skilled in the art . therefore , the invention in its broader aspects is not limited to the specific details and representative embodiments shown and described herein . accordingly , various modifications may be made without departing from the spirit or scope of the general inventive concept as defined by the appended claims and their equivalents . | 6 |
while the apparatus for chemical measurement of blood characteristics of the present invention may be used in a variety of clinical and experimental environments , the preferred embodiment of the invention is described as being used in major surgery . this description should not be taken to limit the applicability of the present invention . fig1 shows in schematic form a blood gas analysis system suitable for use during surgery in which a patient 10 is sustained by a heart / lung machine 12 . this system allows a test sample of blood to be diverted from either the venous flow 14 or the arterial flow 15 of the heart / lung machine 12 , as selected by the system using a two - way valve 18 , directly to a cartridge 20 containing a bank of sensing electrodes 64 - 69 . these electrodes 62 - 69 generate electrical signals proportional to distinct characteristics of the blood sample . these signals are transmitted to a microprocessor 100 , contained within a blood chemistry analysis machine 80 into which the cartridge 10 has been inserted . after analyzing these signals , microprocessor 100 controls a display 104 to display the values of these parameters of the blood sample to provide the surgeon with information on the status of the patient 10 . the system operator uses a keyboard 102 to program microprocessor 100 with the desired frequency of assays to be made by the system during surgery . the microprocessor 100 then controls the selection valve driver means 84 in machine 80 to cooperate with a selection valve 40 in cartridge 20 to allow the sequential flow flow from a calibrating solution bag 22 and a calibrating solution bag 24 , both contained in cartridge 20 , and then from the venous flow 14 or arterial flow 15 , into electrode channel 61 exposed to electrodes 62 - 69 . the distinct reference solutions from bags 22 and 24 provide a two - point calibration of the electrodes 62 - 69 . in a similar manner , at the selected intervals , subsequent assays of blood samples are made , most preceded by one - point calibration , with occasional two - point calibration made to ensure continued accuracy . upon completion of the surgery or depletion of the calibrating solutions , the cartridge 20 is discarded and replaced by a new cartridge 20 for subsequent use of the system . all of these features and additional features are explained more fully herein . referring now to the fig2 and 3 , there is shown a box - like cartridge 20 which is preferably made of rigid plastic . the dimensions of the cartridge allow insertion into a blood gas electrolyte analysis machine 80 , shown in fig1 appropriately engaging features to be described herein . the main body of cartridge 20 is partially enclosed to provide protection of its contents , flexible bags 22 , 24 , and 28 . calibrating solution bags 22 and 24 contain solutions and dissolved gases therein that preferably are specially formulated as described hereinafter , having known , distinct electrochemical characteristics . for a description of the technology of packaged reference or calibration solution , see u . s . pat . no . 4 , 116 , 336 . the third bag 28 is a waste collection bag which begins in an empty state and is intended to collect waste calibrating solution and blood products following assays . preferably , calibrating solution bags 22 and 24 are encircled by the two sides of waste collection bag 28 , as shown in fig4 . the bags 22 and 24 each are gas impermeable and contain an aqueous reference ( i . e ., calibration or control ) solution ( a solution electrochemically resembling blood with respect to dissolved gas and electrolyte ) having known values of the chemical characteristics over a range of values that the system is intended to monitor . the values of those characteristics are different in the two bags so that by sequential passage of the two calibrating solutions over the electrodes 62 - 69 , a two point calibration or bracket ( e . g . high and low ) calibration of the measurement characteristics of the electrodes may be made . in order to maintain the concentration of gases , such as oxygen and carbon dioxide , at a known constant level in the bags 22 and 24 , independent of variations in ambient pressure and temperature , the gases are added to the solutions , during their packaging , in a special manner . as a feature of the invention , the packaging in one embodiment to be described is performed under conditions of pressure and temperature which are different from those that will be encountered during normal use of the solutions , so that advantageously the solutions may be fully saturated with the gases at the time of packaging with the important but hitherto unrealized result that these same solutions will be suitably unsaturated during use . typically , both the temperature will be higher and the ambient pressure lower during the packaging procedure than will ever be encountered in use . for example , for a blood facsimile formulation tonometered with oxygen , co 2 and nitrogen packaging may occur at a pressure in the range from about 0 . 80 ( 612 mm hg ) to about 0 . 95 atmospheres , and preferably from about 0 . 86 to about 0 . 92 atmospheres , and at temperatures in the approximate range from 45 ° to 50 ° c . during packaging the liquids are fully saturated with the gases and the packages are sealed in an effort to minimize entrapped air . it is found that when the temperature and ambient pressure are at normal use values , the solutions will not be saturated but their analyte concentrations will still be at the known values achieved during initial filling process . since the solutions are unsaturated , there is no tendency for the gases in the solution to outgas into any gas bubbles formed during use . by way of illustration but without limitation , a preferred embodiment of reference solutions for dual monitoring as described above , comprises the following solutions designated a and b and their respective methods of tonometry . calibration reference solution a : na + , ca ++ , pco 2 , ph prepared at 37 ° c . and at atmospheric pressure tonometered with 8 % co 2 -- n 2 gas . all compounds are weighed , combined , and diluted to volume except the calcium salt which is added after tonometering has started . __________________________________________________________________________compound concentration mass . 1 . 0 l__________________________________________________________________________buffer 3 - morpholinopropane - 14 . 0 mmol / l 2 . 926 gsulfonic acid ( mops ) buffer , namops 36 . 0 mmol / l 8 . 316 gbuffer , nahco . sub . 3 14 . 5 mmol / l 1 . 218 gnacl 110 mmol / l 6 . 430 gnan . sub . 3 . 01 % w / w . 007 gkcl 6 . 0 mmol / l . 447 gcacl . sub . 2 . 2h . sub . 2 o 1 . 25 mmol / l . 184 g1 . 0 . sub .-- n hcl ca 8 mmol / l ca 8 ml25 wt . % surfactant ( brij35 ) aq . soln . __________________________________________________________________________this gives parameter levels of : mmol / lph pco . sub . 2 mm hg po . sub . 2 mm hg k . sup .+ - radiometer k . sup .+ - beckman ca ++ __________________________________________________________________________7 . 330 - 7 . 345 15 . 5 - 19 . 0 116 - 120 5 . 6 - 5 . 8 5 . 60 - 5 . 75 . 85 -. 95__________________________________________________________________________ calibration reference solution b : na + , ca ++ , po 2 , pco 2 , ph prepared at 50 ° c . and at 700 mm hg absolute pressure tonometered with 21 % o 2 -- 4 % co 2 -- n 2 gas . all compounds except the calcium salt are weighed , transferred and combined , and diluted to volume with h 2 o . the calcium salt is added after tonometering has started . __________________________________________________________________________compound concentration mass . 1 . 0 l__________________________________________________________________________buffer : imidazole 50 mmol / l 3 . 405 gna . sub . 2 so . sub . 3 10 mmol / l 1 . 260 gnahco . sub . 3 11 . 5 mmol / l 0 . 966 gnacl 93 mmol / l 5 . 44 gnan . sub . 3 . 01 % w / w . 007 gkcl 2 . 0 mmol / l . 149 gcacl . sub . 2 . 2h . sub . 2 o 0 . 25 mmol / l . 037 g1 . 0 . sub .-- n hcl 23 mmol / l 23 ml25 wt . % surfactant ( brij 0 . 25 ml / l35 ) aq . soln . __________________________________________________________________________this gives parameter levels of : mmol / lph pco . sub . 2 mm hg po . sub . 2 mm hg k . sup .+ - radiometer k . sup .+ - beckman ca ++ __________________________________________________________________________6 . 890 - 6 . 910 44 - 48 0 . 0 1 . 8 - 1 . 9 1 . 83 - 1 . 98 . 18 -. 22__________________________________________________________________________ thus the reference solution in packaged form for use in blood / gas measuring or monitoring equipment according to a preferred embodiment of the invention comprises a flexible gas - impermeable void - free package of an aqueous solution electrochemically resembling arterial blood or venous blood . the solution contains electrolyte ( ionic potassium and calcium ) and dissolved gas at known partial pressure . the mentioned packaged solution may thus be regarded as an electrochemical facsimile of blood in a stable form such as that exemplified by reference solution b above . the total gas pressure in the packaged solution is in the range from about 0 . 80 to about 0 . 95 atmospheres at use temperature , i . e ., temperature encountered during storage and monitoring . the package may be a flexible bag , as indicated , or other suitable container package . it is found that the preparation of the above - mentioned packaged blood facsimile involves previously unrealized compatibility problems . in this regard , when constituting the solution by conventional tonometry procedures , one finds that the compounds are incompatible in that ionic calcium separates unmanageably from the solution as a non - ionic precipitate . therefore , another preferred aspect of the invention resides in a method of producing a packaged blood facsimile reference solution containing oxygen gas , carbon dioxide gas and ionic potassium and calcium , without the unwanted precipitation of calcium . the method comprises constituting an aqueous buffered solution containing ionic sodium at a predetermined concentration , subjecting the resulting solution to tonometry with the gases , and following initiation tonometry admitting ionic calcium in predetermined amount with the tomometered solution , whereby the resulting solution is stable with respect to the desired ionic parameters and the solution can be suitably packaged . still another preferred method aspect of the invention concerns a method of producing a package of an electrochemically stable tonometered blood facsimile solution , as indicated , for storage and for use in blood / gas monitoring at normal atmospheric pressure . the method comprises packaging the solution in a sealed flexible gas - impermeable envelope free of voids ( i . e ., zero head space ) while maintaining the solution at sub - atmospheric pressure and at temperature higher than said use temperature , as described hereinbefore . the packaging can be done in any suitable way by packaging art means which per se may be conventional . a preferred embodiment of the package aspect of the invention concerns a flexible gas - impermeable package . the package contains a blood facsimile reference solution for use in blood gas electrolyte analysis , comprising ionic potassium and calcium and tonometered with oxygen and carbon dioxide , the package contents being entirely liquid and free of voids or bubbles under conditions of use . both calibrating solution bags 22 and 24 contain tube fittings 26 , as shown in fig3 and 4 , which connect in turn to calibrating solution tubes 23 and 25 respectively . calibrating solution tubes 23 and 25 subsequently connect to selection valve 40 as described later . waste collection bag 28 , suitable for collection of waste blood products and calibrating solutions following assay , is formed of a material which is semi - permeable to gases but impermeable to the liquid component of blood and to the calibrating solutions . it is thus intended that only the liquid component of blood and of the calibrating solution will occupy space in waste collection bag 28 . in the preferred embodiment , bags 22 , 24 and 28 are contained in the main body of cartridge 20 such that as waste collection bag 28 fills , it will occupy the space created by the emptying of calibrating solutions bags 22 and 24 . waste collection bag 28 also has a tube fitting 26 , shown in fig4 connected to a waste tube 76 , which originates at the discharging end of electrode card 60 . a check valve 77 ( fig3 ) is disposed in the flow line to the collection bag 28 to prevent back - flow . the trailing end of cartridge 20 which is inserted into blood gas analysis machine 80 , contains a blood intake port 30 , shown in fig2 and 3 , connected by tubing 16 to either the venous blood flow 14 or the arterial blood flow 15 of a heart / lung machine 12 used to sustain the patient 10 during surgery . the system operator controls the selection of a blood sample from either the venous flow 14 or the arterial flow 15 by use of a valve 18 in tubing 16 . blood intake port 30 is connected by blood intake tube 32 , passing through the interior of the cartridge 20 between bags 22 and 24 , to selection valve 40 at the insertion end of cartridge 20 . as shown in fig2 and 6b , the insertion end of cartridge 20 includes a selection valve 40 , an electrode card 60 , a peristaltic pump slot 74 , and a metal plate 70 . in the preferred embodiment , this insertion end of cartridge 20 is protected by the overhanging sides and top of the plastic encasing material of cartridge 20 but is exposed to the connecting portions of blood gas analysis machine 80 . referring to fig2 and 3 , selection valve 40 , electrode card 60 , and peristaltic pump slot 74 are all intended to connect with appropriate contacts in blood gas analysis machine 8 . insertion end wall 50 , formed of plastic , serves to provide partial protection to the bags inside the main body of cartridge 20 , and to provide well - positioned contact between the appropriate portions of cartridge 20 and blood gas analysis machine 80 upon insertion of the former . as shown in fig5 the selection valve 40 has a rotating plug 42 , formed of a thick ring of plastic , which houses the electrode input tube 58 , running ultimately to the input end of electrode channel 61 . rotating plug 42 is held flush against insertion end wall 50 by a bolt 46 passing through the center of plug 42 and through end wall 50 into the interior of cartridge 20 . as bolt 46 extends into the interior of cartridge 20 , it passes through a spring 48 which seats against a nut 47 which in turn serves to seat the plug 42 flush against the head 44 of bolt 46 . spring 48 thus serves to urge rotating plug 42 against insertion end wall 50 . the exterior end of the bolt head 47 is recess ( e . g ., allen - recess ) adapted to receive a drive shaft 84 in matching relation when cartridge 20 is inserted into machine 80 . rotating plug 42 seats against that portion of insertion end wall 50 having three ports 52 , 54 and 55 . blood sample port 52 connects in the interior of cartridge 20 to blood intake tube 32 ; calibration solution ports 54 and 55 connect in the interior of cartridge 20 to calibration solution tubes 23 and 25 respectively . each end of ports 52 , 54 and 55 which contacts rotating plug 42 is sealed by a rubber ring 56 to provide a leakproof connection to electrode input tube 58 . as seen in fig5 selection valve 40 allows the microprocessor to direct rotating plug 42 into a position aligning electrode input tube 58 with either blood intake tube 32 , calibrating solution tube 23 , or calibrating tube 25 ; when aligned with one of these tubes , rotating plug 42 blocks the flow from the other two tubes . another feature of the insertion end of cartridge 10 is the electrode card 60 , best shown in fig6 a and 6b . the electrode card 60 is formed of polyvinylchloride in a generally rectangular shape and contains a bank of electrodes 62 - 69 . electrode card 60 is fastened to the insertion end wall 50 such that the electrode bank protrudes and connects with an electrode interface 94 , within blood gas analysis machine 80 . preferably , each of the electrodes 62 - 69 are distinctly formed planar solid state electrodes which allow assay of different characteristics of human blood . the distinct construction of each electrode 62 - 69 produces a plurality of voltages or currents proportional to different chemical characteristics of a test sample . electrodes 62 - 69 are formed in preformed circular slots in electrode card 60 . these solid state electrodes may be either of the ion - selective membrane type , as is preferable , of the metal / metal - oxide type or of polarographic type , as is also preferable , all well known to the prior art . once electrodes 62 - 69 are formed , their interior analyte sensing ends remain exposed to an electrode channel 61 and to any sample contained therein . electrode channel 61 is connected at one end to the electrode input tube 58 and at the other end to waste tube 76 and is adapted to contain a sample being exposed to the electrodes 62 - 69 . in one preferred embodiment the flow path of the electrode channels is rectilinear in cross - section ( e . g ., 1 mm × 2 mm ) having a total volume of ca . 80 μl . electrode card 60 is backed by a metal plate 70 disposed adjacent the electrode channel 61 which makes contact with a thermal unit 96 in machine 80 , allowing the microprocessor 100 to monitor and control the temperature of the sample while in channel 61 . the exterior end of each of electrodes 62 - 69 is topped with an electrically conductive material . this conductive material is then drawn out to the distal end of electrode card 60 to complete , upon insertion of cartridge 20 , the contact between the electrodes assaying the sample and electrode interface 94 which connects to the microprocessor 100 contained in machine 80 . microprocessor 100 is programmed to monitor , store , and display the assay results , among its other functions . fig7 illustrates the peristaltic pump slot 74 which is disposed in the insertion end of cartridge 20 . peristaltic pump slot 74 is a concave a slot in insertion end wall 50 . the waste tube 76 running from the output end of channel 61 to bag fitting 26 of waste collection bag 28 is brought out of the main body of cartridge 20 through insertion end wall 50 and suspended across the peristaltic pump slot 74 . upon insertion of cartridge 20 , drive rollers 90 in machine 80 pinch the exposed portion of waste tube 76 against the concave wall of the slot 74 . the rotation of the rollers 90 thus forces the test sample across channel 61 of electrode card 60 , through waste tube 76 , and into waste collection bag 28 . in the preferred embodiment , blood gas analysis machine 80 houses a selection valve driver means 84 , a peristaltic pump driver means 88 , thermal unit 96 , an electrode interface 94 , microprocessor 100 , an operator keyboard 102 , a printer 106 and a display 104 , an internal digital clock 108 , and back - up power source 110 , as seen in the schematic diagram of fig1 . power is provided to blood gas analysis machine 80 by connection to a standard electrical outlet . a back - up power source 110 , comprising a standard battery device which can power the system to maintain calibration for up to 30 minutes , is contained within machine 80 . internal digital clock 108 contained in machine 80 is of standard design and provides a time base for the operation of the system . the valve driver means 82 , shown in fig1 and 8 , which selectively directs either calibrating solutions or test sample solution to electrodes 62 - 69 , preferably includes a rotatable shaft 84 which fits into the end of the bolt 46 of selection valve 40 . the position of the shaft 84 is controlled by the microprocessor 100 through a solenoid 86 . the peristaltic pump driver means 88 , shown in fig1 and 8 , which drives the fluid flow through cartridge 20 comprises rotatable peristaltic pump driver rollers 90 which contact a portion of waste tube 76 suspended across peristaltic pump slot 74 when cartridge 20 is inserted into blood gas analysis machine 80 . the rotation of driver rollers 90 , powered by a motor 92 , is controlled by microprocessor 100 . the thermal unit 96 includes a resistance heater and thermistor which are controlled by microprocessor 100 to obtain a constant , predetermined temperature of samples in electrode channel 61 . heat generated by thermal unit 96 is conducted to metal plate 70 adjacent channel 61 . the electrode interface 94 , within machine 80 , connects to electrodes 62 - 69 when the cartridge 20 has been inserted and selects one of the plurality of signals generated by the electrodes 62 - 69 . this selected signal passes through to microprocessor 100 which converts the signal from analog to digital form and then further processes the signal . microprocessor 100 is programmed to control those means described above and to control the printer 106 and display 104 ; additionally , microprocessor 100 receives , analyzes , and stores calibrating and test sample signals from electrodes 62 - 69 . keyboard 102 is a standard keyboard device having a touch sensitive membrane which is mounted on the front panel and has a format as shown in fig9 . keyboard 102 allows the operator to initiate the input of calibrating solution or test sample solution , to enter patient and operator identification information , to initiate print or display functions , to set the clock , to set the temperature , and to enter such data . in the preferred embodiment , the display 104 is a standard , commercially available led device , having a format shown in fig9 . display 104 , controlled by microprocessor 100 , provides a constant reading of ph and of co 2 and o 2 pressures in mmhg for the last sample from both venous flow 14 and arterial flow 15 , as well as the operator &# 39 ; s choice of hemocrit , k + or ca ++ readings of the last sample . display 104 can also provide readings of the current temperature , oxygen saturation , base excess , total co 2 , bicarbonate , oxygen consumption rate , or total blood volume consumed to date , as well as the status of the back - up power system , all available at the operator &# 39 ; s discretion . printer 106 is a standard printer , such as a dot matrix or thermal printer , adapted to provide a hard copy of the time , date , patient and operator id numbers , and temperature , as well as the values of all parameters of blood characteristics which can be displayed by display 104 , as described above . in operation , power is provided to a blood chemistry analysis machine 80 and a cartridge 20 is inserted therein . blood intake valve 30 is connected by tubing 16 to the venous blood flow 14 and arterial blood flow 15 of a conventional heart / lung machine 12 sustaining a surgical patient 10 . an automatically operated valve 18 allows the operator to select between the venous flow 14 or arterial flow 15 . inside cartridge 20 and passing between calibrating solution bags 22 and 24 , a blood intake tube 32 connects blood intake valve 30 to a selection valve 40 . upon insertion of cartridge 20 into blood gas analysis machine 80 , a nut 47 of selection valve 40 connects to a shaft 84 in machine 80 , electrode card 60 connects to electrical contacts 95 in machine 80 which lead to a microprocessor 100 contained therein , and peristaltic pump slot 74 connects to rotating drive rollers 90 in machine 90 . a metal plate 70 in cartridge 20 connects to a thermal unit 96 of the machine 80 , to monitor and control the temperature of samples in electrode channel 61 . to initiate the automatic cycle of periodic analyses of the blood samples , the operator uses a keyboard 102 to enter the desired frequency of assays into microprocessor 100 . microprocessor 100 then directs shaft 84 , which is in contact with nut 44 , to rotate a plug 42 of a selection valve 40 , aligning an electrode input tube 58 with the calibrating solution ports 54 or 55 . port 54 is connected by tubing to calibrating solution bag 22 ; port 55 is connected to calibrating solution bag 24 . the microprocessor 100 selects first the calibrating solution in bag 22 and then the calibrating solution in bag 24 to establish a two - point calibration of electrodes 62 - 69 . once rotating plug 42 is appropriately positioned , the rotation of rollers 90 along a portion of a waste tube 76 , suspended across peristaltic pump slot 74 , draws the appropriate calibration solution into channel 61 of electrode card 60 . when either calibrating solution is in contact with the electrodes 62 - 69 , a plurality of voltages or currents proportional to distinct ionic characteristics or gas concentrations of the solution pass from the electrodes 62 - 69 to an electrode interface 94 which selects one of the plurality of the signals . this selected signal passes to microprocessor 100 which converts it from analog to digital form . in subsequent turns , the electrode interface 94 selects each of the other voltage signals . after the two - point calibration , the microprocessor 100 causes rotating plug 42 to align electrode input tube 58 with blood sample port 52 . the drive rollers 90 then draw a blood sample into channel 61 , at the same time forcing the calibration solution through waste tube 76 and into waste collection bag 28 . the several voltage and current signals of the blood sample are measured , the distinct parameters are valued according to the two - point calibration and are displayed through appropriate means on blood gas analysis machine 80 . additionally , the values of the distinct parameters of the blood sample may be stored in microprocessor 100 for subsequent recall and display . constant temperature of samples in the channel 61 is insured by preprogramming microprocessor 100 to monitor and control the temperature of a metal plate 70 through a thermal contact 97 . and a thermal unit 96 . the calibration solution and blood sample assay sequence is repeated at intervals previously selected by the operator . for most subsequent interval assays , a one - point recalibration of the electrodes 62 - 69 is made ; occasionally , a two - point recalibration is initiated by microprocessor 100 to ensure continued accuracy . alternatively , a discrete blood sample may be connected to blood intake port 30 and subjected to the above - outlined sequence , enabling the system to operate as a standard lab - based blood gas analyzer . following the exhaustion of calibrating solutions or following the termination of the surgical procedure of a particular patient , spent cartridge 20 may be discarded and replaced with a new cartridge for subsequent use of the blood gas analysis system . therefore it is seen that the blood gas analysis system provides an economical , highly automated , contamination - free means to provide a surgeon with almost immediate information on the surgical patient &# 39 ; s blood characteristics , which reflects the patient &# 39 ; s status . | 8 |
fig1 illustrates a computer 102 which , in the example of fig1 , comprises a notebook computer . the subject matter described herein , however , is usable in conjunction with other types of computer and other types of systems besides computers . the illustrative computer 102 comprises a chassis 104 with a hinged cover 106 having a flat - panel display 108 . the cover 106 closes against chassis 104 to protect display 108 and keyboard 110 , which is contained in chassis 104 . fig2 illustrates a side view of computer 102 with the hinged cover 106 ( and thus display 108 ) in the closed position . as shown , a slot 120 is provided on a side surface of chassis 104 . the slot 120 is configured for a predetermined type of electrical interface . examples of the slot &# 39 ; s electrical interface type comprise the personal computer memory card international association ( pcmcia ) and universal serial bus ( usb ), but other electrical interface types are possible as well . a peripheral device can be installed in slot 120 as long as the peripheral device has an electrical interface that is compatible ( e . g ., the same as ) the electrical interface of the computer &# 39 ; s slot 120 . fig2 also illustrates a compatible peripheral device 130 that can be installed in slot 120 . if the slot 120 is , for example , a pcmcia slot , device 130 is a pcmcia card ( e . g ., a wireless card ). absent the adapter described below , peripheral devices having a different electrical interface type ( i . e ., different than the electrical interface type of the slot ) will not properly communicate and thus not be usable by the computer 102 . an eject button 124 is also provided adjacent the slot 120 to eject whatever peripheral device is installed in the slot 120 . fig3 illustrates an embodiment of an adapter 150 that can be installed in slot 120 in place of peripheral device 130 . the adapter 150 is adapted to receive one or more electronic devices that each have an electrical interface that differs from the electrical interface of the slot 120 . thus , the slot 120 is configured to receive either the adapter 150 having electronic devices that are incompatible with the electrical interface of the slot 120 or a peripheral device 130 that is compatible with the electrical interface of the slot 120 . the adapter 150 containing otherwise incompatible electronic devices and the compatible peripheral devices can both be received into the slot , albeit not simultaneously , and communicatively coupled to the computer 102 . the embodiment of fig3 illustrates that the adapter 150 comprises a generally rectangular outer frame 152 that is of a size and shape generally compatible with the size and shape of the slot 120 . as such , the adapter 150 fits in slot 120 as would peripheral device 130 . further , the adapter 150 slides into and blind - mates into the slot 120 in much the same way as a peripheral device 130 . in at least some embodiments , the adapter 150 is a tray on which electronic devices are mountable , the tray slidingly engaging into the slot 120 . the adapter 150 of fig3 also comprises cross members 154 that define four receiving cavities 160 , 162 , 164 , and 166 . each receiving cavity is adapted to receive an electronic device that has an electrical interface different from the electrical interface of the slot 120 into which the adapter is received . with four receiving cavities 160 , 162 , 164 , and 166 , four electronic devices are possible . although four receiving cavities 160 , 162 , 164 , and 166 are shown in the illustrative embodiment of fig3 , any other number of receiving cavities ( i . e ., one or more ) can be provided . the number of receiving cavities is influenced by the size of the electronic devices that are to be received into the adapter and the anticipated number of electronic devices that a user would desire to use with the adapter . in some embodiments , the electronic devices are pre - installed on the adapter 150 at the factory . in other embodiments , the user of the computer 102 can choose the electronic devices to be installed on the adapter and change that selection at any time . in at least some embodiments , each electronic device received on to adapter 150 comprises a non - volatile memory device such as a secure digital ( sd ) card , a smart media card , etc . the adapter 150 also comprises a printed circuit board ( pcb ) 170 which comprises bridge logic 172 . bridge logic 172 converts the slot &# 39 ; s electrical interface type to the electrical interface type associated with each electronic device installed on the adapter 150 . in some embodiments , the slot &# 39 ; s electrical interface type is in accordance with the pcmcia standard and the electronic device is an sd card . in such case , the bridge logic 170 converts between pcmcia and sd . in some embodiments , all of the electronic devices installed on the adapter 150 have the same electrical interface type ( e . g ., all are sd cards ). in other embodiments , at least one of the electronic devices has an electrical interface types that is different from at least one other electronic device . in still other embodiments , all of the electronic devices installed on the adapter 150 have electrical interface types that are different . further still , while at least one electronic device has an electrical interface type that differs from the slot &# 39 ; s electrical interface type , at least one other electronic device has an electrical interface type that is the same as the slot &# 39 ; s electrical interface type . the ability of the adapter 150 to accommodate multiple electronic devices that may or may not have the same electrical interface type as the slot into which the adapter is received provides the user with considerable flexibility . for example , the user can install multiple ( e . g ., four ) sd cards on the adapter 150 , install the adapter in a non - sd slot 120 ( e . g ., a pcmcia slot ), and then selectively access each sd card for storing and / or reading information . referring still to fig3 , each receiving cavity 160 , 162 , 164 , and 166 of the adapter 150 comprises an electrical connector suitable for mating to a corresponding connector on the electronic device installed in that cavity . thus , receiving cavity 160 comprises an electrical connector 161 , while receiving cavities 162 , 164 , and 166 comprise electrical connectors 163 , 165 , and 167 , respectively . each electrical connector 161 , 163 , 165 , and 167 is electrically coupled to the bridge logic 172 on the pcb and , through the bridge logic 172 to edge connector 175 on the adapter 150 via conductor 154 . the edge connector 175 mates with a corresponding connector provided internal to the computer &# 39 ; s slot 120 . as noted above , connector 175 may blind - mate to the slot connector . as such , connector 175 is generally compatible with the electrical interface of the slot 120 , while connectors 161 , 163 , 165 , and 167 may not be compatible with the slot &# 39 ; s electrical interface . fig4 illustrates a block diagram of computer 102 into which the peripheral device 130 and / or adapter 150 can be received . as shown , computer 102 comprises a processor 202 coupled to a north bridge 204 . the north bridge 204 couples to a south bridge 205 and , via a peripheral component interconnect ( pci ) bus 207 to , for example , a pcmcia controller ( also referred to as cardbus controller ) 208 . the slot 120 is electrically coupled to the pcmcia controller 208 . the architecture of fig4 can be varied depending on the type of electrical interface associated with slot 120 . the above discussion is meant to be illustrative of the principles and various embodiments of the present invention . numerous variations and modifications will become apparent to those skilled in the art once the above disclosure is fully appreciated . it is intended that the following claims be interpreted to embrace all such variations and modifications . | 7 |
the novel oxazolinone derivatives of the present invention exhibit very useful herbicidity . accordingly , the present invention also provides a herbicide containing the oxazolinone derivative as the effective ingredient . even when the herbicide is applied to crops after as well as before the sprouting , it is effective to them . in most cases , pre - sprouting herbicides , if the crops are not sprouted , are scattered over the cultivated fields whenever prior to , during or subsequent to the sowing of the seeds of the crops , with the aim of treating of the soil . on the other hand , post - sprouting herbicides are applied during the growth periods of crops after the crops are sprouted . as mentioned previously , the herbicide of the present invention shows herbicidal effect for the crops irrespective of the application time . that is , it is effective whether the present herbicide is applied in the cultivated fields prior to or subsequent to the sprouting of the crops . in more detail , the herbicide of the present invention shows better prevention of the breeding and extermination of wide - leaf weeds than gramineae weeds , in dry fields . more particularly , it exhibits superior herbicidal activity against black nightshade ( solanum nigrum l .) and velvetleaf ( abutilon avicennae gaertn ) when it is applied to after the sprouting of crops while maintaining relative stability to gramineae crops , especially , corn ( zea mays l . ), wheat ( triticum aestirum l .) and rice ( oryza sativa l ). in rice paddy fields , it is preventive of the breeding and extermination of barnyardgrass ( echinochloa crus - galli p . bezuv . var . oryzicola ohwi ) and monochoria ( monochoria vaginalis presl .) and is little harmful to rice ( oryza sativa l ). therefore , the oxazolinone derivatives of the present invention are sufficiently useful as herbicidal ingredient . a better understanding of the present invention may be obtained in light of following examples which are set forth to illustrate , but are not to be construed to limit , the present invention . 4 . 2 g ( 0 . 02m ) of ethyl 2 - amino - 2 - p - tolyl propionate and 3 g ( 0 . 03m ) of triethylamine were dissolved in 40 ml of methylene dichloride . to this , 3 . 5 g ( 0 . 02m ) of meta chlorobenzoyl chloride in 5 ml of methylene dichloride was slowly dropwise added . after being stirred for 1 hr at room temperature the resulting solution was washed with water and dried and removed the solvent , to give 6 . 5 g of the titled compound : 95 % yield . 1 . 2 g ( 0 . 02m ) of potassium hydroxide was dissolved in a mixed solution of 30 ml of ethanol and 5 ml of h 2 o . to this solution , 3 . 5 g ( 0 . 01m ) of ethyl 2 -( m - chlorobenzamido )- 2 -( p - tolyl ) propionate obtained in example i was added . the resulting solution was heated for 1 hr with reflux , cooled and distilled in vacuo to remove ethanol . the remainder was adjusted into ph 2 with 2 n hcl solution and extracted with methylene dichloride . thereafter , the extract was distilled in vacuo , to give 2 . 9 g of the titled compound : 92 % yield . 3 . 17 g ( 0 . 01m ) of 2 -( m - chlorobenzamido )- 2 -( p - tolyl ) propionic acid was dissolved in 30 ml of acetic anhydride and the resulting solution was heated for 1 hr with reflux . the reaction solution was cooled and distilled out acetic anhydride in vacuo . the residue was subjected to chromatography , to give 2 . 4 g of the object compound , pure oily compound : 80 % yield . nmr ( cdcl 3 ) δ1 . 83 ( s , 3h ), 2 . 32 ( s , 3h ), 7 . 13 - 8 . 13 ( m , 8 h ) using the starting material and acid chloride as indicated in the following table 1 , 2 and 3 , the compounds represented in the table 1 , 2 and 3 were obtained in the same manners as those of examples i , ii and iii . table i__________________________________________________________________________ ## str7 ## cpd . no . x y z r nmr data ( cdcl . sub . 3 ) yield__________________________________________________________________________1 cl h h p - chloro - 1 . 79 ( s , 3h ) 7 . 27 - 7 . 99 ( m , 8h ) 72 % phenyl2 h cl h p - chloro - 1 . 80 ( s , 3h ) 7 . 29 - 8 . 15 ( m , 8h ) 81 % phenyl3 h cl h m - tolyl 1 . 77 ( s , 3h ) 2 . 33 ( s , 3h ) 79 % 7 . 01 - 7 . 99 ( m , 8h ) 4 h h cl m - tolyl 1 . 77 ( s , 3h ) 2 . 32 ( s , 3h ) 77 % 7 . 04 - 8 . 03 ( m , 8h ) 5 h h cl p - chloro - 1 . 83 ( s , 3h ) 7 . 24 - 8 . 10 ( m , 8h ) 83 % phenyl6 cl h cl p - chloro - 1 . 85 ( s , 3h ) 7 . 30 - 7 . 97 ( m , 7h ) 85 % phenyl7 h cl h p - tolyl 1 . 83 ( s , 3h ) 2 . 32 ( s , 3h ) 85 % 7 . 13 - 8 . 13 ( m , 8h ) 8 h h cl p - tolyl 1 . 80 ( s , 3h ) 2 . 21 ( s , 3h ) 75 % 7 . 11 - 8 . 10 ( m , 8h ) 9 cooch . sub . 3 h h isopropyl 1 . 01 ( d , 3h ) 1 . 11 ( d , 3h ) 71 % 1 . 52 ( s , 3h ), 2 . 03 ( dq , 1h ) 3 . 88 ( s , 3h ), 7 . 47 - 7 . 89 ( m , 4h ) 10 cooch . sub . 3 h h m - trifluoro 1 . 86 ( s , 3h ) 3 . 08 ( s , 3h ) 70 % tolyl 7 . 46 - 7 . 91 ( m , 4h ) 11 cooch . sub . 3 h h ch . sub . 3 1 . 53 ( 9 , 6h ) 3 . 86 ( s , 3h ) 72 % 7 . 47 - 7 . 92 ( m , 4h ) 12 ccoch . sub . 3 h h m - chloro - 1 . 85 ( s , 3h ) 3 . 82 ( s , 3h ) 80 % phenyl 7 . 18 - 7 . 88 ( m , 8h ) 13 cooch . sub . 3 h h m - tolyl 1 . 90 ( s , 3h ) 2 . 39 ( s , 3h ) 83 % 3 . 87 ( s , 3h ) 7 . 26 - 8 . 04__________________________________________________________________________ table ii__________________________________________________________________________ ## str8 ## cpd . no . x y z r nmr data ( cdcl . sub . 3 ) yield__________________________________________________________________________14 cl h cl m - tolyl 1 . 88 ( s , 3h ) 2 . 35 ( s , 3h ) 72 % 7 . 05 - 8 . 15 ( m , 10h ) 15 cl h cl m - chloro - 1 . 89 ( s , 3h ) 7 . 05 - 8 . 12 ( m , 10h ) 81 % phenyl16 cl h cl p - chloro - 1 . 87 ( s , 3h ) 7 . 04 - 8 . 15 ( m , 10h ) 79 % phenyl17 h cf . sub . 3 h m - tolyl 1 . 77 ( s , 3h ) 2 . 32 ( s , 3h ) 77 % 7 . 03 - 8 . 17 ( m , 11h ) 18 h cf . sup . 2 h m - chloro - 1 . 83 ( s , 3h ) 7 . 05 - 8 . 18 ( m , 11h ) 83 % phenyl19 h cf . sub . 3 h p - tolyl 1 . 85 ( s , 3h ) 2 . 33 ( s , 3h ) 85 % 7 . 05 - 8 . 16 ( m , 11h ) 20 h cf . sub . 3 h p - chloro - 1 . 84 ( s , 3h ) 7 . 06 - 8 . 19 ( m , 11h ) 85 % phenyl21 cl h cf . sub . 3 isopropyl 0 . 98 ( d , 3h ) 1 . 13 ( d , 3h ) 71 % 1 . 49 ( s , 3h ) 2 . 15 ( m , 1h ) 7 . 01 - 8 . 16 ( m , 6h ) 22 cl h cf . sub . 3 m - trifluoro 1 . 89 ( s , 3h ) 6 . 98 - 8 . 17 ( m , 10h ) tolyl23 cl h cf . sub . 3 m - tolyl 1 . 87 ( s , 3h ) 2 . 37 ( s , 3h ) 70 % 7 . 03 - 8 . 18 ( m , 10h ) 24 cl h cf . sub . 3 m - chloro - 1 . 87 ( s , 3h ) 7 . 01 - 8 . 17 ( m , 10h ) 72 % phenyl25 cl h cf . sub . 3 p - chloro - 1 . 87 ( s , 3h ) 7 . 02 - 8 . 16 ( m , 10h ) 80 % phenyl26 cl h cf . sub . 3 p - tolyl 1 . 85 ( s , 3h ) 2 . 32 ( s , 3h ) 83 % 7 . 00 - 8 . 14 ( m , 10h ) __________________________________________________________________________ table iii______________________________________ ## str9 ## cpd . no . x r nmr data ( cdcl . sub . 3 ) yield______________________________________27 cf . sub . 3 m - tolyl 1 . 88 ( s , 3h ) 2 . 36 ( s , 3h ) 82 % 7 . 09 - 7 . 66 ( m , 9h ) 8 . 32 - 8 . 44 ( m , 2h ) 28 cf . sub . 3 m - chloro - 1 . 88 ( s , 3h ) 7 . 16 - 7 . 71 ( m , 9h ) 79 % phenyl 8 . 36 - 8 . 48 ( m , 2h ) 29 cf . sub . 3 p - tolly 1 . 85 ( s , 3h ) 2 . 33 ( s , 3h ) 85 % 7 . 12 - 7 . 62 ( m , 9h ) 8 . 33 - 8 . 45 ( m , 2h ) 30 cf . sub . 3 p - chloro - 1 . 86 ( s , 3h ) 7 . 09 - 7 . 71 ( m , 9h ) 90 % phenyl 8 . 33 - 8 . 45 ( m , 2h ) 31 cl m - tolyl 1 . 89 ( s , 3h ) 2 . 37 ( s , 3h ) 77 % 7 . 14 - 7 . 62 ( m , 9h ) 8 . 39 - 8 . 50 ( m , 2h ) 32 cl m - chloro - 1 . 88 ( s , 3h ) 7 . 12 - 7 . 69 ( m , 9h ) 83 % phenyl 8 . 37 - 8 . 46 ( m , 2h ) 33 cl p - tolyl 1 . 86 ( s , 3h ) 2 . 35 ( s , 3h ) 85 % 7 . 11 - 7 . 65 ( m , 9h ) 8 . 33 - 8 . 45 ( m , 2h ) 34 cl p - chloro - 1 . 86 ( s , 3h ) 7 . 09 - 7 . 77 ( m , 9h ) 82 % phenyl 8 . 32 - 8 . 47 ( m , 2h ) ______________________________________ sterilized sandy soil mixed with a proper amount of manure was put into test pots ( 348 cm 2 ). after holes were formed , test weed or crop seeds ( common sorghum ( sorghum bicolor moench ), branyardgrass ( echinochloa crus - galli p . beauv ), japanese bromegrass ( thunb . ex murr . ), large crabgrass ( digitaria sangunalis ( l .) scop . ), fall pandicum ( panicum dichotomiflorum michx . ), bindweed ( calystegia japonica choisy ), cocklebur ( xanthium strumarium l . ), velvetleaf ( abutilon avicennae gaetn ), indian jointvetch ( aeschynomene indica l . ), black nightshade ( solanum nigrum l . ), corn ( zea mays l . ), soybean ( glycine max ( l .) merr . ), cotton ( gossypium hirsumm l . ), wheat ( triticum aestirum l .) rice ( oryza sativa l .) were sown in the holes . subsequently , the seeds were covered with fine soils and the test pots were put in a greenhouse . after being weighed , each of the test compounds ( compound nos . 14 and 15 in table 1 ) was diluted with water containing a nonionic surfactant ( tween - 20 ), to a ratio of 1 : 1 . the diluted solutions were sprayed at 14 ml per pot . the herbicide formulations were sprayed one day after the sowing , for the pre - sprouting soil treatment and 8 - 12 days after the sowing , for the post - sprouting light leaf treatment . since then , the crops were further grown for 2 - 3 weeks . based on morphological and physiological observation , the herbicidal effects on the vegetation were examined . in this test , the herbicidal activity was graded into 11 levels from 0 of no protection to 100 of perfect protection . the grades of not less than 70 were in practice regarded as to be effective to the vegetables . the results are given as shown in the following table 4 . table iv - 1__________________________________________________________________________herbicidity testcpd . no . type kg / ha zeamx glxma goshi trzaw orysa sorbi echcg__________________________________________________________________________14 pre - 2 0 0 20 0 0 0 0 sprouting . 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 treatment . 125 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 . 03 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 post - 2 15 40 100 30 10 20 20 sprouting . 5 10 20 80 20 0 10 10 treatment . 125 0 20 50 10 0 0 0 . 03 0 10 30 0 0 0 015 pre - 2 0 0 30 0 0 0 0 sprouting . 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 treatment . 125 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 . 03 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 post - 2 20 40 100 40 10 20 20 sprouting . 5 10 30 80 20 0 10 10 . 125 10 25 60 10 0 10 0 . 03 0 20 40 10 0 0 0__________________________________________________________________________ table iv - 2__________________________________________________________________________herbicidity testcpd . no . type kg / ha broja digsa pandi solni aesin abuth xansi cache__________________________________________________________________________14 pre - 2 0 0 0 100 80 30 10 60 sprouting . 5 0 0 0 0 0 20 0 0 treatment . 125 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 . 03 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 post - 2 20 20 50 100 90 100 x 50 sprouting . 5 0 0 20 100 90 100 x 50 treatment . 125 0 0 0 80 80 100 x 20 . 03 0 0 0 70 65 30 x 1015 pre - 2 0 0 0 100 100 70 20 65 sprouting . 5 0 0 0 60 10 20 0 30 treatment . 125 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 . 03 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 post - 2 10 20 60 100 100 100 x 100 sprouting . 5 10 0 40 100 100 100 x 100 treatment . 125 0 0 0 100 100 100 x 40 . 03 0 0 0 70 50 30 x 30__________________________________________________________________________ x : untested . as apparent from table iv , the oxazolinone derivatives of the present invention are very effective in removing the vegetables even at small amounts , showing better herbicidal effects upon application after than before the sprouting . in addition , the data shows that the herbicidal effect on the monocotyledonous vegetables ( corn , soybean , cotton , wheat , rice , common sorghum and branyardgrass ) is larger than that on the dicotyledonous vegetables ( fall panicum , black nightshade , indian jointvetch , velvetleaf , and bindweed ). other features , advantages and embodiments of the present invention disclosed herein will be readily apparent to those exercising ordinary skill after reading the foregoing disclosures . in this regard , while specific embodiments of the invention have been described in considerable detail , variations and modifications of these embodiments can be effected without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as described and claimed . | 2 |
as described above , the present invention is directed at providing a medical lead having improved electrode performance by providing carbon nanotube coated electrodes . fig1 a and 1b depict exemplary medical leads of the type that may be used with the present invention . fig1 a is a plan view of a medical lead 10 that may typically be used for cardiac pacing and / or sensing . lead 10 is provided with an elongated lead body 12 , a helical tip electrode 14 located at the distal end of the lead and a ring electrode 16 spaced proximally from tip electrode 14 . a connector assembly 18 at the proximal end of lead 10 is used to connect the lead to a medical device , such as a pacemaker . conductors extending the length of lead body 12 electrically couple the tip electrode 14 and ring electrode 16 to respective connectors carried by the connector assembly 18 . fig1 b is a plan view of the distal end of a medical lead 20 of the type that may be used for pacing , sensing , cardioversion and / or defibrillation . lead 20 is provided with a tip electrode 22 and a ring electrode 24 , which are generally used for pacing and / or sensing , and two defibrillation coil electrodes 26 and 28 for delivering high - energy shocking pulses for cardioversion or defibrillation . the exemplary leads 10 and 20 of fig1 a and 1b are shown to illustrate the various types of electrodes , including ring electrodes ( 16 and 24 ), coil electrodes ( 26 and 28 ), helical electrodes ( 14 ), or generally hemispherical electrodes ( 22 ), with which the present invention may be used . other electrodes of various geometries may exist that may also benefit from the use of carbon nanotube coating as provided by the present invention . the application of the present invention is therefore not limited to the types of electrodes depicted in fig1 a and 1b . the present invention may also be used in conjunction with electrodes for neurological stimulation or sensing , smooth or skeletal muscle sensing or stimulation or any other types of medical electrodes that may benefit from increased active surface area and / or increased current density capacity . an electrode used with the present invention is preferably fabricated from a conductive biocompatible material appropriate for depositing carbon nanotubes thereto . cvd methods begin with supported catalyst particles that are exposed to a carbon feedstock gas ( e . g ., acetylene or methane ). carbon atoms from the dissociation of these molecules at the catalyst surface dissolve in the catalyst particles to reappear on the surface , where they organize to form nanotubes . depending on the growth conditions ( e . g . gas mixture , gas flows , reaction temperature , reaction time , and catalyst ), the catalyst particle either remains on the surface ( base growth ) or is lifted from the surface by the nanotube ( tip growth ). as mentioned earlier , adapting the catalyst to the substrate is critically important and note that catalysts can also be deposited to the substrate surface before introducing the carbon nanotubes . noble metal substrates such as gold are known to suppress growth . the problem is most likely due to alloy formation with the catalyst material . refractory metals and their nitrides can act as a diffusion barrier to the chosen catalyst . also , applying an ac or dc electric field helps in nanotube growth . the electrode material may be , for example , platinum , platinum - iridium , iridium , titanium or alloys , tantalum , and other non - noble metals . the electrode surface may also be treated or coated to enhance the surface for nanotube deposition , as will be further described below . carbon nanotubes may be grown and deposited onto a surface by at least three methods : 1 ) chemical vapor deposition , 2 ) carbon arc deposition , and 3 ) laser evaporation deposition . chemical vapor deposition methods generally use a metal catalyst substrate at a high temperature to which a hydrocarbon gas is exposed . carbon nanotubes are deposited on the catalyst surface and may be grown in various structures such as straight tubes that may be well - aligned or coiled tubes . a method for growing densely packed , uniform nanotube arrays perpendicular to a substrate is generally disclosed in u . s . pat . no . 6 , 361 , 861 issued to gao et al ., incorporated herein by reference in its entirety . carbon arc deposition methods include evaporating material from a graphite electrode in an electric arc discharge between two graphite electrodes . carbon nanotubes deposit on the other graphite electrode and are generally straight but may be impure with a high percentage of nanoparticles . laser evaporation techniques involve forming carbon nanotubes in a plume of carbon vapor evaporated from a graphite target by a laser at high temperature . methods for growing and depositing carbon nanotubes on a substrate may produce varying purity , density , alignment , structure , and size of the nanotubes . carbon nanotubes are formed as one or more concentric shells of graphite and therefore may be single - walled , double - walled or multi - walled tubes . nanotubes may be straight or may have irregular curving or coiling shapes . nanotubes reportedly range in diameter from 1 nanometer to several hundred nanometers . nanotubes may be grown to be on the order of 1 micron to several hundred microns in length . future methods for carbon nanotube growth and deposition may be developed that improve the purity , increase uniformity or achieve desired geometries or properties of the nanotubes , such as desired electrical properties . in the present state of the art , carbon nanotube coated electrodes are contemplated to be produced by chemical vapor deposition methods , though any of the above described methods or modifications thereof or newly developed methods may be used . fig2 is a flow chart depicting one method for producing a carbon nanotube coated electrode . the method may begin by preparing an electrode surface for deposition of the carbon nanotubes at step 102 . the electrode is preferably fabricated from platinum or platinum - iridium . the electrode may take the form of any known types of electrodes , such as those shown in fig1 a and 1b . the platinum iridium surface of the electrode may be a sufficient catalyst for carbon deposition . alternatively , the electrode surface may be prepared by creating a more porous surface and / or coating the surface with an alternative biocompatible catalyst to promote strong bonding of the carbon nanotubes to the electrode surface or to enhance the deposition process . for example , a platinum electrode may be coated with a porous coating of catalytic nanoparticles . the porous coating may provide a better catalyst for carbon nanotube deposition in that the growth direction , size , and density of the nanotubes may be controlled by the pores ( see li et al ., science , 1996 ; 274 ( 5239 ): 1701 - 3 . the electrode may then be mounted in a vacuum chamber at step 104 through which an inert gas flows , such as a helium - argon gas , to raise the pressure in the chamber at step 106 . the temperature of the substrate is raised at step 108 . the temperature may typically be raised to a level on the order of 500 to 1000 degrees c . resistive heating elements may be used to heat the substrate , although other equivalent means may be employed . a carbon source in the form of a hydrocarbon gas , which may be , for example , acetylene gas , methylene gas , or ethylene gas , is then allowed to flow through the chamber at step 110 . at step 112 , nanotube deposition and growth are allowed to occur . the time required for adequately coating the electrode surface with a carbon nanotube coating may range from several minutes to several hours . the size of the nanotubes and their uniformity and density may be controlled by the flow rate of the hydrocarbon gas , the temperature of the substrate , the density of the catalyst on the substrate or other conditions . verification of the carbon nanotube coating may be performed by scanning electron microscopy or other methods at step 114 . verification may be performed to ensure a desired density or size of the nanotubes has been achieved or to ensure that the nanotubes are well attached to the electrode surface . the carbon nanotube coated electrode may then be assembled onto a lead at step 116 and electrically coupled to a conductor extending through the lead body . nanotubes may be deposited in an orderly , aligned fashion using various deposition methods . fig3 is an illustration of a side view of an ordered nanotube “ forest ” 30 as it may be deposited on the surface of an electrode 32 . the nanotube “ forest ” 30 may be grown such that the nanotubes are well aligned with one another and each generally have one end attached to the electrode surface . the nanotubes may be on the order of 0 . 1 to 300 microns in length and one to 200 nanometers in diameter depending on the deposition method used . a preferred range of diameters is in the range of approximately about one nm to about 20 nm but the present invention is not to be strictly limited to this range . in certain embodiments of the present invention a highly ordered array of swnt members disposed approximately perpendicular to a supporting member having a diameter dimension on the order of approximately about one to about five nm diameters . but that does not mean an excellent electrode couldn &# 39 ; t be had with random mwnt &# 39 ; s about 200 nm diameter in a urethane paste and the like . fig4 illustrates an alternative arrangement of deposited nanotubes on a medical electrode surface . nanotubes 36 may be deposited in a disorderly fashion wherein nanotubes 36 are straight but not aligned with respect to each other . the tubes will still have one end generally attached to the electrode surface 38 . fig5 illustrates yet another arrangement of deposited nanotubes 40 on a medical electrode surface 42 . in this embodiment , coiled nanotubes 40 , having one end attached to the electrode surface 42 , are arranged randomly on electrode surface 42 . deposition methods resulting in coiled nanotubes have been described previously in the prior art . the paste method described earlier is a preferred manner of coupling nanostructures to chronically implanted medical devices . in an alternative embodiment , carbon nanotubes may be grown and purified in a first process and then deposited onto an electrode surface as a coating in a second process . a method for depositing a purified carbon nanotube material onto a conductive substrate is generally disclosed in u . s . pat . no . 6 , 280 , 697 issued to zhou et al ., incorporated herein by reference in its entirety . fig6 is a flow chart summarizing this alternative method for manufacturing carbon nanotube coated electrodes . carbon nanotubes are grown at step 122 and purified at step 124 . for example , carbon nanotubes may be formed by arc or laser deposition methods , or any known method , and purified by an appropriate method such as filtering through a microporous membrane . alternatively , carbon nanotube materials that may be suitable for coating medical electrodes may be obtained directly from commercial sources such as nanolab , brighton , mass . ; carbolex , lexington , ky . ; materials and electrochemical research corporation , tucson , ariz ., among a growing number of other suppliers . at step 126 , the nanotubes are suspended in a solvent , such as alcohol . an electrode to be coated may then be placed in a vessel with the suspension of carbon nanotubes at step 128 . the solvent is then driven off at step 130 leaving a coating of nanotubes on the surface of the electrode . the nanotube coating may be verified at step 132 as described above . the electrode may then be assembled onto a medical lead at step 134 . the increase in active surface area created by a carbon nanotube coating is expected to be a minimum of 1 , 000 × to potentially on the order of about 10 , 000 ×. this increase is theorized to result in a reduction in interfacial impedance at low frequencies from approximately 1000 ×, associated with prior known electrode coating methods such as sputtered porous titanium nitride , and iridium oxide . that is , the increase in active surface area created by a carbon nanotube coating is expected to be on the order off 1 , 000 to about 10 , 000 ×. the low frequencies referred to hereinabove , are on the order of less than about 0 . 1 hz ( or lower ). such a decrease in interfacial impedance improves electrode sensing performance which is very important for certain medical applications , such as cardiac rhythm management . this reduction in interfacial impedance and the high current density properties of carbon nanotubes also reduces pacing and / or defibrillation thresholds . methods for increasing the defects in the walls of the deposited nanotubes or for opening the ends of the tubes may be used to further increase the active surface area of the electrode . for example mechanical ball - milling or exposure to ultrasonic energy as generally disclosed in u . s . pat . no . 6 , 280 , 697 may be applied to increase the available , accessible surface area . theoretically , by creating more openings in the nanotubes , electrolytes may enter the tubes , which would expectedly further reduce the interfacial impedance , improving the electrode performance . fig7 is a flow chart summarizing steps performed in a method for fabricating a nanostructure coated medical device . the performance of the implantable medical device may be improved by a reduction of the interfacial impedance provided by a nanotube or other nanostructure coating . the medical device may be a low - voltage electrode , high - voltage electrode , a portion of an implantable medical device housing , a biosensor , or other implantable medical device . method 200 includes applying an adhesion layer to the medical device substrate on which the nanostructures may be deposited . at step 205 , an adhesion layer is applied to the medical device by coating the desired surface area of the medical device with a conductive polymer coating . the polymer coating can be formed from a polymer base with a conductive additive . the polymer base is a medical grade polymer having biocompatibility properties appropriate for the intended use of the medical device . the polymer base may be , for example , polyurethane , epoxy , silicone or a hydrogel . the polymer base is made conductive by doping the polymer with a conductive material such as a carbon - based material or another biocompatible conductive material . in some embodiments , the polymer base may be made conductive by doping the polymer with carbon black or with conductive carbon nanotubes or other nanostructures . alternatively the conductive polymer coating may be formed of an inherently conductive polymer , such as polypryrrole . an inherently conductive polymer may be also be doped with a conductive material such as carbon black or conductive carbon nanotubes or other nanostructures . the conductive polymer coating may be less than 1 micron to several microns in thickness , although greater thicknesses may be suitable for creating an adhesion layer to which a coating of nanostructures can be applied . practice of the present invention is not limited to an adhesion layer of a particular thickness . in one embodiment , the conductive polymer coating is annealed to the medical device substrate at step 210 . the conductive polymer coating is annealed , or treated to reflow , to cause formation of a conformable interface between the conductive polymer coating and the substrate surface . reflow of the conductive polymer coating can be accomplished by heating the polymer coating to at least about the melt flow temperature of the polymer for a time sufficient to reflow the polymer . reflow can alternatively be achieved by using thermal treatment , infrared treatment , microwave treatment , rf treatment , mechanical treatment such as compression or shearing , or solvent treatment . annealing step 210 may be performed according to the methods generally disclosed in u . s . pat . app . no . p - 10753 , incorporated herein by reference in its entirety . annealing step 210 can be performed in air but may be preferentially performed in an inert gas such as nitrogen . annealing the conductive polymer coating can improve adhesion of the adhesion layer to the underlying medical device substrate . in experiments performed by the inventors , annealing a polyurethane coating doped with carbon black improved the adhesion of the coating to a platinum - iridium electrode substrate as found by performing tape tests . annealing was performed at 220 degrees celsius in air for 5 minutes . if annealing is performed , at step 210 , a second conductive polymer coating is applied at step 215 . typically the second coating is a relatively thinner coating than the first coating . the second coating is applied to provide an adhesive surface on to which the nanostructure coating can be applied . the nanostructure coating is applied at step 220 by dipping the device in a nanostructure powder prior to allowing the second conductive polymer coating to cure . thus , the adhesion layer is formed of two conductive polymer coatings with the first coating annealed to the medical device substrate to promote adhesion to the substrate and the second coating providing an adhesive surface on which to deposit the nanostructures . if the annealing step 210 is not performed , the nanostructure coating may be applied at step 220 by dipping the device in a nanostructure powder prior to allowing the first conductive polymer coating to cure . a second conductive polymer coating is not necessary for providing an adhesive surface for attaching the nanostructures . thus , in some embodiments , the adhesion layer is formed of a single conductive polymer coating . in other embodiments , the adhesion layer is formed of a first conductive polymer coating , which may be annealed to the substrate surface for enhanced adhesion , and a second conductive polymer coating . by applying the second conductive polymer coating , greater flexibility is gained during manufacturing processes since the nanostructures can be applied after the first conductive polymer coating has cured . prior to dipping the medical device in the nanostructures at step 220 , the nanostructures may be purified at step 218 to achieve desired electrical properties of the nanostructure coating . for example , pure conductive nanotubes may be separated from semi - conductive and resistive nanotubes . after applying the nanostructure coating , the conductive polymer coating is allowed to cure at step 225 . the conductive polymer coating that is allowed to cure at step 225 is either a first conductive polymer coating that has not been annealed or a second conductive polymer coating that is applied over a cured or annealed first conductive polymer coating . the curing time and conditions ( e . g ., temperature , gas exposure , humidity ) are suitably selected for the type and thickness of the polymer applied . fig8 is a graph of frequency - dependent impedance characteristics of a platinum - iridium ( pt — ir ) electrode . a comparison of frequency - dependent impedance measurements was made for the bare platinum - iridium electrode substrate , the pt — ir substrate coated with a conductive polymer , and the pt — ir substrate coated with a conductive polymer and carbon nanotubes . in this example , the conductive polymer was 75d polyurethane doped with 20 % carbon black . the conductive polymer coating had an effect of increasing the low - frequency impedance response of the pt — ir electrode substrate . however , the addition of the carbon nanotube coating on top of the conductive polymer coating resulted in about a 100 - fold decrease in impedance compared to the pt — ir substrate alone . fig9 is a graph of the post - pulse electrode polarization response of a carbon nanotube coated electrode compared to bare pt — ir electrode and a pt — ir electrode coated only with a conductive polymer . the post - pulse polarization voltage was measured 20 ms after application of a stimulation pulse . the conductive polymer coating ( 75d polyurethane doped with 20 % carbon black ) caused the post - pulse polarization voltage to increase compared to the bare pt — ir electrode post - pulse polarization voltage . the addition of a coating of carbon nanotubes applied over the conductive polymer coating resulted in about a 20 - fold decrease in post - pulse polarization voltage . thus , an improvement in the electrical properties of the pt — ir electrode was achieved by application of a carbon nanostructure coating using a conductive polymer adhesion layer . the benefit of the carbon nanostructure coating is expected to be related to the increase in active surface area of the electrode . an improved medical lead having carbon nanostructure coated electrodes and method for manufacture provided by the present invention has been described according to specific embodiments . it is recognized that one knowledgeable in the art may conceive variations of these embodiments that generally gain the benefits provided by a carbon nanostructure coated electrode . the above described embodiments should therefore not be considered limiting in regard to the following claims . | 8 |
methods and systems are provided for supporting calibration and / or diagnostics in an open architecture test system . the following description is presented to enable any person skilled in the art to make and use the invention . descriptions of specific techniques and applications are provided only as examples . various modifications and combinations to the examples described herein will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art , and the general principles defined herein may be applied to other examples and applications without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention . thus , the present invention is not intended to be limited to the examples described and shown , but is to be accorded the widest scope consistent with the principles and features disclosed herein . fig1 illustrates an open architecture test system according to an embodiment of the present invention . a system controller ( sysc ) 102 is coupled to multiple site controllers ( sitecs ) 104 . the system controller may also be coupled to a network to access associated files . through a module connection enabler 106 , each site controller is coupled to control one or more test modules 108 located at a test site 110 . the module connection enabler 106 allows reconfiguration of connected hardware modules 108 and also serves as a bus for data transfer ( for loading pattern data , gathering response data , providing control , etc .). in addition , through the module connection enabler , a module at one site can access a module at another site . the module connection enabler 106 allows different test sites to have the same or different module configurations . in other words , each test site may employ different numbers and types of modules . possible hardware implementations include dedicated connections , switch connections , bus connections , ring connections , and star connections . the module connection enabler 106 may be implemented by a switch matrix , for example . each test site 110 is associated with a dut 112 , which is connected to the modules of the corresponding site through a loadboard 114 . in one embodiment , a single site controller may be connected to multiple dut sites . the system controller i 02 serves as the overall system manager . it coordinates the site controller activities , manages system - level parallel test strategies , and additionally provides for handler / probe controls as well as system - level data - logging and error handling support . depending on the operational setting , the system controller 102 can be deployed on a cpu that is separate from the operation of site controllers 104 . alternatively a common cpu may be shared by the system controller 102 and the site controllers 104 . similarly , each site controller 104 can be deployed on its own dedicated cpu ( central processing unit ), or as a separate process or thread within the same cpu . the system architecture can be conceptually envisioned as the distributed system shown in fig1 with the understanding that the individual system components could also be regarded as logical components of an integrated , monolithic system , and not necessarily as physical components of a distributed system . according to an embodiment of the open architecture test system of the present invention , the plug - and - play or replaceable modules is facilitated by use of standard interfaces at both hardware and software levels . a tester operating system ( tos ) allows a user to write test plan programs using a test plan programming language , to operate the test system in a way specific to a particular device under test ( dut ). it also allows for the packaging of sequences of the test system operations commonly used in test plan programs as libraries . these libraries are sometimes referred to as test classes , test templates , and other names . vendor - supplied test modules are likely to require calibration of measurement / response values as well as means for diagnosing problems . a calibration and diagnostics ( c & amp ; d ) framework within the tos needs to be able to invoke these capabilities for any module by using a standard interface . in this way , the proper behavior may be invoked for each test module without requiring any vendor - specific knowledge on the part of the tos . this approach simplifies the tos design and encapsulates the vendor &# 39 ; s implementation of the module - specific c & amp ; d modules . in the embodiment of the open architecture test system , framework classes are used to enable , activate , control and monitor the modules . a framework is a set of classes and methods that implement common test - related operations . this includes classes for calibration and / or diagnostics , power supply , pin electronics sequencing , setting current / voltage levels , setting timing conditions , obtaining measurements , controlling test flow , etc . the framework also provides methods for runtime services and debugging . in one approach , framework objects are used to implement standard interfaces . a c ++ based reference implementation of the framework classes is provided to implement standard interfaces of the framework objects . the test system further supports user specific framework objects . the open architecture tester system uses a minimum set of interfaces at the system framework level . the c & amp ; d framework is designed to operate on objects that present generic and universally applicable interfaces . when a third party module vendor integrates its calibration and / or diagnostics software into the system , the vendor needs to provide new components supporting the same interfaces of the system as those interfaces supported by existing components . such standard interfaces of an embodiment of the invention allow for seamless integration of vendor - supplied modules into the system in a plug - and - play manner . in one embodiment , standard interfaces to the system tos are defined as pure abstract c ++ classes . vendor - supplied module - specific calibration and / or diagnostics classes are provided in the form of executables , such as dynamic link libraries ( dlls ), which may be independently and dynamically ( on demand ) loaded by the system software at runtime . each such software module is responsible for providing vendor - specific implementations for the system calibration and / or diagnostics interface commands , which comprise the application programming interface ( api ) for calibration and diagnostic software development . the requirement for performing calibration and / or diagnostics varies widely across modules of different types , as well as across modules of the same type from different vendors . the c & amp ; d framework &# 39 ; s interface classes are designed to address such a wide variety of situations . since the nature of the calibration and / or diagnostics modules and routines are widely variable , vendors provide information about their test modules in a standard way . thus , the actual calibration and / or diagnostics routines are located in modules exposing standards , abstract interfaces , backed by implementations specific to that module type . in addition , there is a facility for invoking non - well - known interfaces in order to support vendor - specific calibration and / or diagnostics capabilities . fig2 a illustrates a method for integrating vendor - supplied c & amp ; d data using a c & amp ; d framework according to an embodiment of the present invention . as shown in fig2 a , the c & amp ; d framework 200 , illustrated as a unified modeling language ( uml ) class diagram , includes a c & amp ; d vendor common information interface 202 ( icdvendcommoninfo ) which comprises mechanisms to allow the c & amp ; d framework to obtain information about the contents of the calibration and / or diagnostics routine sets . the icdvendcommoninfo interface 202 includes a number of routines and component modules , as well as the names and identifiers ( ids ) of methods with non - standard interfaces . in one approach , the icdvendcommoninfo interface includes the following list of methods : getvendorinfo ( ), getmoduleinfo ( ), getdllrev ( ), getlevelandcategory ( ), getgroups ( ), getthirdpartyaccess ( ), getswmodules ( ), and runswmodules ( ). the getvendorinfo ( ) method reads the vendor name of the hardware module that the dll corresponds to . this vendor name string is intended to describe the name of the vendor , as related to its module id . for example , if the hardware module is advantest &# 39 ; s dm250 mhz module , then the string could be something like “ advantest ”. the vendor name returned contains numeric and alphabetical characters (‘ a ’-‘ z ’, ‘ a ’-‘ z ’, ‘ 0 - 9 ’). the getmoduleinfo ( ) method reads the module name of the hardware module that the dll corresponds to . this module name string is intended to describe the name of the hardware module , as related to its module id . for example , if the hardware module is advantest &# 39 ; s dm250 mhz module , then the string could be something like “ dm250 mhz ”. the module name returned contains numeric and alphabetical characters (‘ a ’-‘ z ’, ‘ a ’-‘ z ’, ‘ 0 - 9 ’). the getdllrev ( ) method reads the revision of this dll in string . this interface is also used during the installation . the getlevelandcategory ( ) method reads the supported levels and categories from the vendor module . according to the returned levels and categories , the framework will query the supported program groups using the method getgroups ( ). the getgroup ( ) method returns the program groups belong to the specified program level and category . the specified program level and category are the ones returned through the method getlevelandcategory ( ). the getthirdpartyaccess ( ) method gets information about a third party access ( tpa ) method for the whole calibration and diagnostic module . by using this , the vendor module may plug in a vendor specific property displayed on a calibration and diagnostics gui tool . if the vendor c & amp ; d module does not need to have this interface , then a null pointer is returned from this method . the getswmodules ( ) method sets the detailed calibration or diagnostic program name to the framework . if the module has a set of programs that belong to the specified level and the category and group , the implementation of this method has to return the set of program information to the framework through a program information method . the level , category , group are used to classify the programs in the gui tool . since it doesn &# 39 ; t create a scope for the program names , the program identifier ( progid ) may be unique in a particular calibration or diagnostics software module . the runswmodules ( ) method asks the module to execute a selected program . one program may be selected at a call . the framework has the sequence of the programs selected by the user in gui tool , and it calls this method through the responsible modules . the user may select the hardware entity ( a channel , in general ) to run the program . this information is passed through a parameter env . each program code needs to run on the selected hardware entity . the uml diagram of fig2 a also includes a module configuration data 204 , a module manager 206 , a system control c & amp ; d framework 208 , a site controller c & amp ; d framework 210 , a system controller 212 , a site controller 214 and a c & amp ; d gui tool 216 . the uml diagram further includes a vendor calibration common information object 218 which retrieves information from a vendor calibration dll object 220 ; and a vendor diagnostic common information object 222 which retrieves information from a vendor diagnostic dll object 224 . the test system is configured by the module configuration data 204 . the module manager 206 manages vendor - supplied driver software , calibration software , and diagnostic software . the c & amp ; d framework retrieves the vendor calibration and diagnostic program information through the icdvendcommoninfo interface 202 according to the configuration data held in the module manager . each vendor may implement , in its own specific way , a vendor calibration common information object ( vendorcal &# 39 ; s commoninfo ) 218 or a vendor diagnostic common information object ( vendordiag &# 39 ; s commoninfo ) 222 derived for its calibration or diagnostics functionalities respectively . the c & amp ; d framework passes the vendor c & amp ; d software information to a c & amp ; d graphical user interface ( gui ) tool 216 running on the system controller 212 . when a user operates the c & amp ; d system through this c & amp ; d gui tool 216 , the user may choose from the set of c & amp ; d programs retrieved from all vendor c & amp ; d software loaded in the current system configuration . the c & amp ; d framework 208 in the system controller distributes the selected program ( s ) to the responsible site controllers 214 , and then the c & amp ; d framework 210 in the site controller executes the programs on the appropriate vendor c & amp ; d modules , using the icdvendcommoninfo interface 202 . thus , by using the icdvendcommoninfo interface 202 , the c & amp ; d framework provides vendors a set of standard interfaces for integrating vendor - supplied c & amp ; d modules into the test system . in addition to the icdvendcommoninfo interface 202 , the c & amp ; d framework further includes the following interfaces : this interface provides a framework supported utility used by vendor components to access c & amp ; d framework environment settings required for the execution of the vendor program . this includes algorithm versions , calibration data revision settings , etc . this interface provides a framework supported utility used by vendor components to produce standardized messages to be directed to the c & amp ; d gui tool , or other applications running on the system controller , as well as providing for datalogging services . this interface provides a framework supported utility used by vendor components to transmit the status of vendor program execution ( e . g ., “ percentage complete ” information , etc .). this interface is also used to halt c & amp ; d execution flow invoked from c & amp ; d gui tool or to pause or resume execution . this interface provides a framework supported utility used by vendor components to read and write system files such as calibration data , etc . the system device site manager ( isysdevicesitemgr ) interface provides a framework supported utility used by vendor components to access shared system devices or instruments . for example , it provides access to the instruments on the system controller , connected through a gpib bus , or by rs - 232c . proxy objects , such as igpibdeviceproxy and irs232proxy , are provided . these give the vendor modules remote access to the devices or instruments installed on the system controller . fig2 b illustrates the scheme used by the test system for accessing shared instrument according to an embodiment of the present invention . runtime calibration is a set of calibration activities that may be invoked from test classes or from the c & amp ; d framework while the system is loading or executing a test plan program . in one embodiment , the method of performing runtime calibration includes : the tos determines whether all modules have been calibrated and are ready to test the dut . a user may compensate module - specific timing calibration data , which is used with a particular performance board ( or loadboard ). note that the system timing calibration does not take into account the propagation delays of the trace lines on the particular performance board chosen by the user at device test time , as a performance board is designed for a particular dut type . since there is non - zero delays on the lines from the tester module channels to the dut pins , the timing calibration data needs to be compensated with regard to the length of the trace lines on the performance board . time domain reflection ( tdr ) is a method used to measure the length of trace lines using electric reflection , and the measured data is then used to compensate the timing calibration data . also note that since the timing calibration data is specific to each vendor - supplied module , the data compensation process becomes specific to the vendor - supplied module . the tos and user are able to compensate module - specific timing calibration data with regard to changes dictated by conditions occurred during test execution , performance board effects , and other factors . in other words , the timing calibration data often needs to be compensated according to the actual conditions of the test . in one embodiment , fig3 a illustrates a digital function generator module that calibrates its driver timings to assure that the specified timing is generated at a 50 % point 302 of vih ( high driver voltage ) 304 and vil ( low driver voltage ) 306 . the digital function generator module has two online calibration parameters , vih 304 and vil 306 , which are used to specify the 50 % point of the driver voltage amplitude . the base timing calibration data is obtained with a set of predefined voltage amplitudes . for example , with vih = 3v and vil = 0v , a 50 % point of vih and vil is at 1 . 5v . the vih and vil values are used to compensate this timing calibration data for the driver timing during device test execution . as shown in fig3 b , if the driver of a pin ( or pin group ) is programmed to have vih = 1 . 0v ( 308 ) and vil = 0v ( 310 ) during a test , the 50 % point 312 of this driver amplitude is 0 . 5v . online calibration is employed to use the specified vih and vil values to compensate the timing calibration data so that it is adequate for these operative driver voltages . in an open architecture test system , the hardware resource representation used in the test plan program language is vendor independent . for example , a user is allowed to declare a pin group not only with individual pins provided by a particular vendor , but also with pins provided by other vendors , as long as such pins satisfy certain system requirement ( if any ). since a test class uses the hardware representation specified in a test plan program , it supports this type of vendor independent ( i . e ., logical ) hardware representation . even if the vendor - specific runtime calibration implementations are exposed by the system through an interface , for example through an interface class icdvendrtcal , the actual implementations may be different . thus , each vendor - specific runtime calibration component has a different access handle for its functionality . a test class developer ( i . e ., the user ) needs to obtain vendor - specific access handles associated with the same logical hardware representation separately , and processes each access handle separately ( each of which is responsible for the particular vendor - specific hardware resources extracted from the same logical hardware representation ). in order to avoid this complexity during test class development , the c & amp ; d framework hides this complexity , and provides a proxy implementation with the icdruntimecal interface . fig4 is a uml class diagram that illustrates the integration of vendor - specific calibration information into an open architecture tester framework during runtime according to an embodiment of the present invention . the uml diagram includes a c & amp ; d vendor runtime calibration ( icdvendrtcal ) interface 402 , a c & amp ; d runtime calibration ( icdruntimecal ) interface 404 and a c & amp ; d runtime system ( icdruntimesys ) interface 406 . the icdvendrtcal interface 402 contains mechanisms to allow the framework to obtain the particular implementation of a vendor - specific runtime calibration routine set . the icdruntimecal interface 404 allows users to access different vendor - specific implementations of the icdvendrtcal runtime calibration interface 402 . the uml diagram of fig4 further includes a site controller 214 , a site controller c & amp ; d framework 210 , a vendor runtime calibration class 408 , a runtime calibration class 410 and a test class 412 . in one embodiment , the icdvendrtcal interface 402 , icdruntimecal interface 404 , and icdruntimesys interface 406 include one or more of the following methods : getswmodule ( ), getalgrev ( ), isinitialized ( ), loaddccaldata ( ), loadaccaldata ( ), getattributecache ( ), tdrcal ( ), gettdrcaldatafromfile ( ), puttdrcaldatatofile ( ), mergecal ( ), and loadaccaldata ( ). the getalgrev ( ) method returns the algorithms or the data type name the test module supports . the c & amp ; d framework requests the default revision and the supported revisions via the getalgrev ( ) method . the revision selection is made by the user on the c & amp ; d gui tool . the framework provides a utility for the vendor module in order to read the selected revision . the test module uses the selected revision to support bundle capabilities . the isinitialized ( ) method is called by the c & amp ; d framework to determine whether the test modules are initialized . the loaddccaldata ( ) method is called when the dc calibration data needs to be loaded onto the hardware modules in order to be ready to be operated . the framework queries the modules that they &# 39 ; re ready or not by calling isinitialized ( ) method on the vendor modules , and call this function on demand to load the dc calibration object for the particular module . the vendor modules obtain the algorithm revision that the user wants to use . the functionalities for this activity are provided by the c & amp ; d framework . the loadaccaldata ( ) method is called when the ac calibration data needs to be loaded onto the hardware modules in order to be ready to be operated . the framework requests the modules that they &# 39 ; re ready or not by calling isinitialized ( ) method on the vendor modules , and call this function on demand to load the ac calibration for the particular module . the vendor modules obtain the algorithm revision that the user wants to use . the functionalities for this activity are provided by the c & amp ; d framework . the standard ac calibration data is the calibration data measured for the default condition . this default condition is decided by vendor hardware module . for example , advantest dm250 mhz module measures the standard ac calibration data with 0 v - 3 v driver voltage swing . the method getattributecache ( ) method obtains an icdcalattributecache object . icdcalattributecache is a vendor module specific interpreter of the parameter - value pairs described in calibration block in the oasis test program language ( otpl ). the calibration block describes the condition for the online calibration condition . each vendor hardware module needs to have different set of parameters as the online calibration condition . these online calibration parameters are listed in the resource file . if the resource type supported by any particular module has the online calibration parameters , it needs to be listed in the correspondent resource file . the resource files are read by the system and used to determine what calibration module is responsible to accept the parameters specified in the calibration block . icdcalattributecache is the interface to provide the methods to set the vendor hardware module specific online calibration parameters and also to write it to the hardware module . the calibration module developers implement this interface which returns an instance for a particular resource type through getattributecache ( ), if the hardware module requires the calibration data compensation according to the condition in which user uses this particular module . the framework passes the online calibration parameters to this instance , and call apply ( ) method to write it to the hardware module . the parameters are stored in test condition memory ( tcm ) and the framework will give an id for a set of icdcalattributecache objects that realize a test condition . the tdrcal ( ) method measures the length of the cable on the particular channel by using time domain reflection ( tdr ) method in order to compensate the calibration data . this method is implemented for the hardware modules that require this functionality . the gettdrcaldatafromfile ( ) method reads the tdr data file , which is created by tdrcal ( ) method . the vendor implementation needs to read the tdr data file for the performance board identifier . this method reads the tdr data of the pins in the data file . the puttdrcaldatatofile ( ) method writes the tdr data file . this method is used by a user who wants to create tdr data file from other user oriented data file , or who wants to compensate tdr data measured by tdrcal ( ). the mergecal ( ) method compensates the standard ac calibration data with the tdr result data . the standard ac calibration or the arbitrary calibration data needs to be loaded before calling this method . the loadaccaldata ( ) method is called when the user tries to load the standard ac calibration or the arbitrary ac calibration or the merged ac calibration data from the data file . when the destination is the test condition memory , the block identifier is specified to tcmid . the created test condition memory block would be selected by selecttestcondition ( ) method . the specified tcmid may be used by the system to revert the calibration data back from the online calibration data to the original calibration data loaded by this method at test execution time . if the user does not use this method to load the data onto the test condition memory , the system calls selecttestcondition ( ) on the vendor module with the unknown tcmid . the vendor module returns an error in this situation . runtime calibration activities may be performed during test plan program execution . for example , online calibration may be done every time after any condition that may cause a loss of the system accuracy is detected . this online calibration causes an overhead for test execution time , and which in turn may reduce the productivity of the test system . in order to alleviate this overhead , according to another embodiment of the present invention , the test system preloads a set of predefined calibration data , and stores it in a test condition memory . the test condition memory ( tcm ) is a condition data cache for storing test conditions , and it can effectively transfer a test condition data from the tcm to hardware registers . this test condition memory may be implemented by either software or hardware . the c & amp ; d framework will create , select , delete test conditions using a itcmmanipulator interface that has the following methods implemented by vendor calibration modules . tcmid_t is an identifier of a test condition . the framework will specify an identifier for creation ( opentestcondition ( ) and closetestcondition ( )), selection ( selecttestcondition ( )), deletion ( removetestcondition ( )) of a test condition . the tcmmanipulator is returned by the icdvendrtcal :: gettcmmanipulator ( ). during test plan program execution time , the c & amp ; d framework selects the appropriate test condition memory blocks , and transfers them to the corresponding hardware module registers . fig5 illustrates a method for implement a test condition memory according to an embodiment of the present invention . the method includes a test condition memory manipulator interface ( itcmmanipulator ) 502 , a c & amp ; d vendor runtime calibration interface 402 , and a vendor runtime calibration data object 408 . the itcmmanipulator interface 502 is used by the c & amp ; d framework to manipulate the test condition memory . by implementing this interface , any vendor &# 39 ; s test condition data can be integrated and loaded into the tcm seamlessly , thereby reducing the calibration overhead of the test system . there are several benefits achieved by the disclosed c & amp ; d framework . first , it enables multi - vendor ( i . e ., third party ) software and instruments to be developed , certified individually , and integrated reliably into the test system , while not requiring any vendor - specific , proprietary treatment for calibration and / or diagnostics of the instruments . in addition , the disclosed c & amp ; d framework organizes vendor - supplied calibration and / or diagnostics modules into separate components , thereby providing seamless support for integration and use of a particular vendor - supplied component . moreover , the disclosed c & amp ; d framework provides a remote access scheme for sharing system instruments by module c & amp ; d components . furthermore , the c & amp ; d framework provides mechanisms for storing calibration data in a test condition memory , which reduces test program runtime overhead typically incurred during testing due to re - calibrations of the test system . one skilled in the relevant art will recognize that many possible modifications and combinations of the disclosed embodiments may be used , while still employing the same basic underlying mechanisms and methodologies . the foregoing description , for purpose of explanation , has been described with references to specific embodiments . however , the illustrative discussions above are not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise forms disclosed . many modifications and variations are possible in view of the above teachings . the embodiments were chosen and described to explain the principles of the invention and its practical applications , and to enable others skilled in the art to best utilize the invention and various embodiments with various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated . | 6 |
hereinafter , the preferred embodiments of the present invention will be concretely described with reference to the appended drawings . incidentally , if a component , section , or the like , in one of the appended drawings is designated by the same referential symbol used in another drawing to designate a component , section , or the like , the two correspond to each other . fig1 is a vertical sectional view of the ink jet recording apparatus in the first embodiment of the present invention . in fig1 , designated by a referential symbol 7 is a sheet feeder cassette , and designated by a referential symbol 8 is a pickup roller . designated by referential symbols 9 and 10 are conveyance rollers . designated by referential symbols 11 and 12 are registration rollers . designated by a referential symbol 13 is a conveyance guide 13 , which is on the recording medium entrance side . designated by a referential symbol 14 is a conveyance guide for two - sided recording , and designated by a referential symbol 15 is a conveyance guide , which is on the recording medium exit side . designated by referential symbols 16 , 17 , and 18 are a delivery tray , a sheet directing flap , and a sheet discharging roller , respectively . designated by a referential symbol 19 is a sensor for detecting the vertical movement of the recording head , and designated by a referential symbol 20 is a rack for vertically moving the recording head . the sheet feeder cassette 7 makes up a part of a sheet feeding station 101 . the recording mediums p , such as sheets of recording paper , stored in the sheet feeder cassette 7 of the sheet feeding station are fed , as necessary , into the main assembly of the recording apparatus , by the pickup roller 8 , while being separated one by one , and are conveyed to a sheet conveying device 102 of the belt type . while each recording medium is conveyed by the sheet conveying device 102 , an image ( inclusive of letters , symbols , etc .,) is recorded on the recording medium . after the recording of the image on the recording medium , the recording medium is sent into the tray 16 through a sheet discharging portion 105 . the recording apparatus shown in fig1 is for recording a color image , and its image forming section 103 has four recording heads 1 c , 1 m , 1 y , and 1 bk held by a head holder 4 . each recording head is of the line type , and its ink jetting surface is provided with multiple ink jetting openings 2 a , which are arranged at a preset pitch . the number of the ink jetting openings 2 a is large enough to extend from one edge of the recording medium to the other , in terms of the width direction of the recording medium p . designated by a referential symbol 104 is a capping portion , which makes up a part of the recovery unit for maintaining and / or restoring the ink jetting performance of the recording heads 1 . the capping portion 104 is provided with four caps 3 c , 3 m , 3 y , and 3 bk for capping the ink jetting openings 2 a of the ink jetting surface of the recording heads 1 c , 1 m , 1 y , and 1 bk , respectively . each cap 3 also has the function of reducing the ink evaporation from the ink jetting openings 2 a , and protecting the ink jetting openings 2 a . incidentally , fig1 shows the recording apparatus , which is ready for recording an image , and in which its capping portion 104 has been retracted ( separated ) from the image forming portion 103 . fig2 is a block diagram showing the ink supplying system of the recording apparatus showing in fig1 , which is for supplying each of the multiple recording heads 1 with ink , and the recording performance recovery system of the recording apparatus , which is for restoring the recording performance of each recording head by circulating ink through the ink supplying system by pressure application . in fig2 , the ink jetting surface 2 a of the recording head 1 is provided with the multiple ink jetting openings 2 a , which are arranged at a preset pitch . each ink jetting opening 2 a is connected to a common liquid chamber 152 in the recording head . the multiple ink jetting openings are evenly distributed from one end of the recording head 1 to the other , in terms of the width direction of the recording medium , enabling the recording head 1 to record all at once across the entirety of the recordable range of the recording medium , from one end of the recording medium p to the other , in terms of the width direction of the recording medium p . therefore , this recording apparatus can record an image in entirety , without moving the recording heads , that is , simply by selectively driving the heat generating elements placed in the liquid passages , which lead to the ink jetting openings . designated by referential symbols 155 and 156 are a subordinate ink container for supplying the recording head 1 with ink , and a main ink container for supplying the subordinate ink container 155 with ink , respectively . during an image forming operation , an electromagnetic valve 162 , with which an ink supply line 157 is provided , is kept open to allow the ink in the subordinate ink container 155 to be supplied to the common liquid chamber 152 through the ink supply line 157 . the subordinate ink container 155 is supplied with the ink sent by a pump 159 from the main ink container 155 through a one - way valve 158 . designated by a referential symbol 160 is a one - way valve , which is used for the performance restoration operation for restoring ink jetting function of the recording head 1 . designated by a referential symbol 161 is a recirculation line , which has the one - way valve 160 . the subordinate ink container 155 is provided with an air bleeding valve 163 . referring to fig2 , during an image forming operation , the electromagnetic value 162 is kept open to allow the ink in the subordinate ink container 155 to be supplied by its own weight to the common liquid chamber 152 , from which the ink is led to each ink jetting opening 2 a through the corresponding liquid passage . also during an image forming operation , the performance restoration operation is carried out for the purpose of not only removing the bubbles remaining in the recording head 1 and / or ink supplying system , but also , cooling the recording head 1 . this type of performance restoration operation is an operation in which ink is recirculated by the application of pressure ; the pump 159 is driven to send ink into the common liquid chamber 152 through a recirculation line 161 , and then , return the ink from the common liquid chamber 152 to the subordinate ink container 155 through the ink supply line 157 . this type of performance restoration operation is for unplugging the ink passages to the ink jetting openings , by discharging , by a small amount , the body of ink , which is being recirculated . when filling the recording head 1 with ink for the first time , the pump 159 is driven , with the electromagnetic valve 162 kept closed , so that ink is sent to the common liquid chamber 152 through the recirculation line 161 in order to jet ink , along with bubbles , through the ink jetting openings 2 a . when a recording apparatus is not used for recording , its recording heads are often left as they are , that is , with ink remaining in the ink passages leading to the ink jetting openings . thus , when a recording apparatus is not used for recording , a capping operation is carried out ; a cap is pressed upon the ink jetting surface 2 a to seal the ink jetting opening 2 a . with the ink jetting openings 2 a sealed from the ambience by capping , the air in the cap is saturated with ink vapor . as a result , the ink in each ink passage leading to the corresponding ink jetting opening 2 is prevented from evaporating and / or increasing in viscosity , by the saturation vapor pressure of the ink at the time of capping . however , it is possible that while an ink jet recording apparatus is left unused in a low humidity environment , or for a long period , the ink in the recording head will increase in viscosity , even the ink jetting surface 2 is left capped ( sealed ) with the cap left pressed upon the ink jetting surface 2 . thus , an ink jet recording apparatus sometimes completely fails to jet ink , or jet ink in a proper manner , failing therefore to normally record , when it is used for recording for the first time ( with the cap removed ), after a long period of no usage . in order to solve this problem , both the above described performance restoration operation , in which ink is jetted from all the ink jetting openings by recirculating the ink by driving the pump 159 , shown in fig2 , and the following performance restoration operation described next . that is , when the decline in the ink jetting performance of the recording heads is relatively slight , the energy generating means in all the ink jetting nozzles of a recording apparatus are driven to jetting ink , that is , ink is jetted based on the same mechanism as that based on which ink is jetted in an normal recording operation . in this patent application , this type of ink jetting operation will be referred to as “ non - recording ink jetting operation ”. as described above , if an ink jet recording apparatus is left unused while being kept in the condition in which it is not ready for recording , or in the like condition , the body of ink in the ink jetting opening portion of an ink jetting nozzle , and the body of ink in the liquid passage leading thereto , sometimes lose their liquid ingredients , increasing thereby in viscosity and / or solidify . in such a situation , the operation in which ink is recirculated through the recording head by pressure application to restore the performance of the recording head . if the length of time an ink jet recording apparatus has been left unused is relatively short , and therefore , the amount of the increase in ink viscosity is slight , the abovementioned “ non - recording ink jetting operation ”, that is , the ink jetting operation which is not intended for recording , is carried out to restore the recording head into the condition in which it can normally record . fig3 is a schematic drawing showing the operational sequence to be carried out to restore the performance of the recording head of the ink jet recording apparatus in the first embodiment . fig4 is a perspective view of the recording head , in the first embodiment , which is in the capped state . fig5 is a perspective view of the same recording head as the one shown in fig4 , which has been separated from the capping portion by being horizontally moved after being raised from the position shown in fig4 . fig6 is a perspective view of the cleaning apparatus for cleaning the ink jetting surface of the recording head of the ink jet recording apparatus in the first embodiment . fig7 is a side view of the wiping member and absorbent member , in the first embodiment , showing the state of contact between them and the ink jetting surface of the recording head during the cleaning operation . fig8 is a side view of the cleaning apparatus of the ink jet recording apparatus in the first embodiment . referring to fig4 and 5 , the ink jet recording apparatus in the first embodiment has four recording heads 1 c , 1 m , 1 y , and 1 bk , which are different in the color of the ink therein , and which are mounted on the common head holder 4 . the recording heads 1 c , 1 m , 1 y , and 1 bk are recording heads which use cyan , magenta , yellow , and black inks , respectively . the recording heads on the head holder 4 are precisely positioned relative to the head holder 4 so that their relationship in terms of parallelism , interval , etc ., is highly precisely maintained . incidentally , when it is necessary to refer to a specific component , among the components , such as recording heads or caps , the number of which corresponds to the number of inks different in color , which is linked to a specific ink color , one of the referential suffixes c , m , y , and bk which represent the color of the inks , one for one , is assigned to the primary referential symbol which designates a specific group of components which are identical in structure . however , when it is necessary to refer to the entirety of the multiple components , such as the multiple recording heads or multiple caps , or to refer to one of the multiple components , which is not linked to a specific color , it will be referred to only by the primary referential symbol . a command for starting the cleaning operation is issued from the control portion , with the ink jetting surface capped as shown in fig4 , after the completion of an operation for recording an image on recording medium , the completion of the performance restoration operation in which ink is forcefully jetted through the ink jetting openings , or after the completion of the like operations . as the command is issued , the relationship between the recording head and the capping portion changes from the one shown in fig4 to the one shown in fig5 . that is , as the command for starting the cleaning operation is issued , the relationship between the recording head changes from the one in which the ink jetting surface of the recording head is capped with the capping portion ( made op of four caps 3 ), to the one in which the capping portion ( made up of four caps 3 ) are not in contact with the recording head 1 . more specifically , the head holder 4 is moved upward by a motor 24 along the vertical guide 25 , and then , the capping portion ( made up of four caps 3 ) is horizontally moved leftward ( in fig5 ) to move the cap portion away from the recording head 1 . then , the actual cleaning operation , which will be described later with reference to fig3 , is carried out while the recording head 1 and capping portion are kept in the state shown in fig5 . at this point in time , referring to fig4 - 6 , a cleaning apparatus 110 for cleaning the ink jetting surface of the recording head will be described . in fig4 - 6 , designated by a referential symbol 54 is an absorbent member for removing , from the ink jetting surface 2 , the ink , etc ., which have adhered to the ink jetting surface 2 , by absorbing the ink , etc . the absorbent member 54 is in the form of a cylindrical roller , and is formed of an absorbent substance . as for the material for the absorbent member 54 , a substance , such as a porous substance formed of hydrophilic polyurethane or a porous substance formed of hydrophilic polyethylene , which is excellent in liquid absorbency , is used . designated by referential symbols 50 and 51 are wiping members for wiping ( scraping ) away the ink , etc ., which have adhered to the ink jetting surface 2 . as the material for these wiping members , an elastic substance , such as urethane resin , is used . the wiping members are in the form of a piece of thin plate ; they are in the form of a blade . the absorbent member 54 and wiping members 50 and 51 are mounted on a cleaner base 52 , which is movable by an unshown driving force source , for example , a performance restoration motor , which is the driving force source of the performance restoration unit , along a rail 53 disposed in the direction parallel to the direction in which the ink jetting openings of the recording head 1 are arranged . the absorbent member 54 is rotatably supported on the cleaner base 52 . the absorbent member 54 cleans the ink jetting surface 2 of the recording apparatus by contacting the ink jetting surface 2 while being rotated by the friction between the absorbent member 54 and ink jetting surface 2 . the wiping members are paired for the following reason . that is , in order to improve the wiping member in wiping performance , the cleaning apparatus is structured so that when wiping the ink jetting surface of a recording head , in particular , a full - line head , which is very long , the wiping member 51 , or the leading wiping member , wipes the entirety of the ink jetting surface , whereas the wiping member 50 , or the trailing wiping member , wipes only the area of the ink jetting surface , across which the ink jetting openings are arranged . fig9 is a vertical sectional view of the absorbent member 54 and recording head 1 , in the first embodiment , at a plane perpendicular to the direction in which the absorbent member 54 is moved when cleaning the ink jetting surface . referring to fig9 , the absorbent member 54 is made up of multiple ( three in this embodiment ) absorbent sections 54 a , 54 b , and 54 c , which are in the form of a roller ( or cylindrical or disklike ). these absorbent sections are joined ( inclusive of being solidly joined ) in the direction roughly perpendicular to the cleaning direction ( direction in which ink jetting openings are arranged ). on the other hand , the ink jetting surface 2 of the recording head 1 is provided with the multiple ink jetting openings 2 a , which are arranged in two columns , which are perpendicular to the surface of the drawing . the center absorbent section 54 b is positioned so that it absorbs the ink having adhered to the area of the ink jetting surface 2 , which is the adjacencies of the two columns of ink jetting openings 2 a , by coming in contact with the area . the lateral small absorbent sections 54 a and 54 c are positioned so that they come into contact with the areas of the ink jetting surface 2 other than the abovementioned area , or do not come into contact with the ink jetting surface 2 . incidentally , the absorbent member 54 shown in fig9 is also usable with a recording head , the ink jetting openings of which are arranged in a single column , or three or more columns , as effectively as it is usable with the recording head 1 in this embodiment . as the material for each of the absorbent sections 54 a , 54 b , and 54 c of the absorbent member 54 , which is in the form of a roller , a substance , such as a porous substance formed of hydrophilic polyurethane or a porous substance formed of hydrophilic polyethylene resin , which excels in liquid absorbency , is preferable . thus , in this embodiment , the center absorbent section 54 b of the absorbent member 54 , which is in the form of a roller and comes into contact with the ink jetting openings and the areas adjacent thereto , is formed of a porous substance , which is greater in average pore diameter than the substance of which the lateral absorbent sections 54 a and 54 c are formed . fig1 is a vertical sectional view of another absorbent member 54 in the first embodiment , which is different in structure from the absorbent member 54 shown in fig9 . the absorbent member 54 shown in fig1 is made up of four absorbent sections 54 a , 54 b , 54 c , and 54 d , which are in the form of a roller . the four absorbent sections 54 a , 54 b , 54 c , and 54 d are joined in the direction which is roughly perpendicular to the direction in which the absorbent member 54 is moved to clean the ink jetting surface 2 . on the other hand , the center area of the ink jetting surface 2 of the recording head 1 is provided with the multiple ink jetting openings 2 a , which are arranged in two columns , which are perpendicular to the surface of fig1 . the absorbent sections 54 b and 54 bb , that is , the center absorbent sections of the absorbent member 54 , which are greater in average pore diameter than the lateral absorbent sections 54 a and 54 c , are positioned so that they absorb the ink having adhered to the areas of the ink jetting surface 2 , which are adjacent to the two columns of ink jetting openings 2 a , by coming in contact with the areas . the lateral absorbent sections 54 a and 54 c , which are smaller in average pore diameter than the absorbent sections 54 b and 54 b , are positioned so that they come into contact with the areas of the ink jetting surface 2 other than the abovementioned areas , or do not come into contact with the ink jetting surface 2 . incidentally , the absorbent member 54 shown in fig1 is also usable with a recording head , the ink jetting openings of which are arranged in a single column , or three or more columns , as effectively as it is usable with the recording head 1 in this embodiment . fig1 is a vertical sectional view of yet another absorbent member 54 in the first embodiment , which is different in structure from the preceding ones . the absorbent member 54 shown in fig1 is made up of two absorbent sections 54 a and 54 b which are in the form of a roller . the two absorbent sections 54 a and 54 b are joined in the direction roughly perpendicular to the cleaning direction . on the other hand , the ink jetting surface of the recording head is provided with a single column of ink jetting openings 2 a , which is on the right - hand side ( in drawing ) and is perpendicular to the surface of the drawing . the right - hand absorbent section 54 b , which is greater in the average pore diameter , is positioned so that it comes into contact with the single column of ink jetting openings 2 a and its adjacencies to absorb the ink having adhered thereto . the left - hand absorbent member 54 a , which is on the left - hand side ( in drawing ) and is smaller in average pore diameter , is positioned so that it comes with the areas of the ink jetting surface other than the abovementioned area of the ink jetting surface , with which the absorbent member 54 a comes into contact , or do not come into contact with the ink jetting surface . incidentally , the absorbent member shown in fig1 is also usable with a recording head , the ink jetting surface of which are arranged in a single column , or three or more columns , as effectively as it is usable with the recording head 1 in this embodiment . that is , in this embodiment , the absorbent roller 54 as an absorbent member is made up of multiple absorbent sections , which are different in average pore diameter . the multiple absorbent sections are joined so that their axial lines coincide . the cleaning apparatus is structured so that the absorbent section which is larger in average pore diameter is placed in contact with the ink jetting openings of the ink jetting surface 2 , and their adjacencies , to remove the ink by absorbing the ink . the absorbent sections 54 a and 54 c , or the lateral absorbent sections , and the absorbent section 54 b , or the center absorbent section , may be formed of the same material , as long as the lateral sections can be rendered different in pore diameter from the center section . according to the studies conducted by the inventors of the present invention , it is desired that the porous substance used as the material for the absorbent sections 54 a and 54 c is roughly 5 - 10 μm in average pore diameter , whereas the porous substance used as the material for the absorbent section 54 b which is to be placed in contact with the areas adjacent to the ink jetting openings is roughly 50 - 100 μm in average pore diameter . incidentally , the number of the absorbent sections to be joined in a single line to make up the absorbent member 54 , and the average pore diameter of each absorbent section , may be adjusted as necessary . with the employment of the above described structural arrangement , as the absorbent member 54 is moved in contact with the ink jetting surface of the recording head , the ink on the ink jetting surface is absorbed first by the absorbent section 54 b of the absorbent member 54 , which is larger in average pore diameter than the lateral absorbent sections 54 a and 54 c . the ink absorbed by the absorbent section 54 b is absorbed by ( transferred into ) the absorbent sections 54 a and 54 c of the absorbent member 54 , which are in contact with the absorbent section 54 b , and are smaller in average pore diameter , being therefore stronger in capillary force , than the absorbent section 54 b . as a result , the absorbent section 54 b , which came into contact with the adjacencies of the ink jetting openings and absorbed the ink thereon , is reduced in the amount of the ink therein . thus , the absorbent section 54 b is restored in ink absorbency . in other words , it is possible to prevent the reduction in the ink absorption performance of the absorbent section 54 b attributable to the increase in the amount of the ink in the absorbent section 54 b . therefore , the ink absorption performance of the absorbent member is kept at a satisfactory level for efficiently removing the ink by absorbing it . incidentally , it is needless to say that the absorbent member needs to be adjusted in average pore diameter according to the materials for the absorbent member , and the viscosity , surface tension , dye , pigment , etc ., of the ink , which affect ink properties . one of the essences of the present invention is that the absorbent section of the absorbent member , which comes into contact with the ink jetting openings 2 a and their adjacencies , is rendered greater in average pore diameter than the absorbent sections of the absorbent member , which are in contact with the absorbent section of the absorbent member , which comes into contact with the ink jetting openings 2 a and their adjacencies . another essence of the present invention is to absorb the ink into one of the absorbent sections of an absorbent member , and then , transfer the ink in this absorbent section , into the absorbent sections adjacent to this absorbent section , by utilizing the capillary force of the adjacent absorbent sections . referring to fig4 - 6 , the absorbent roller 54 , and wipers 50 and 51 , are mounted on the cleaner base 52 . as the cleaner base 52 is moved along the rail 53 by an unshown driving force source , the cleaning apparatus 110 having the absorbent roller and wipers moves in the direction parallel to the direction in which the ink jetting openings of the recording head are arranged . while the cleaning apparatus 110 is moved in the abovementioned direction , the absorbent member 54 and wipers 50 and 51 move in contact with the ink jetting surface , while being kept pressed upon the ink jetting surface of the recording head , by the preset amount of contact pressure , and therefore , apparently intruding into the ink jetting surface by preset amounts . referring to fig6 - 8 , the absorbent rollers 54 are rotatably supported by arms 42 , which are attached to the cleaner base 52 so that the arms 42 are allowed to pivot about the pins with which the arms 42 are attached to the cleaner base 52 . the absorbent rollers 54 are kept at a preset height from the cleaner base 52 , by springs 41 . the positional relationship among the absorbent member 54 , wiping members 50 and 51 , and ink jetting surface 2 while the ink jetting surface 2 is cleaned is as shown in fig7 . while the cleaning apparatus is in the position in which the cleaning apparatus does not face the ink jetting surface , the positional relationship , in terms of vertical direction , between the absorbent member and wiping member on the cleaner base is as shown in fig8 . in this embodiment , the recording apparatus is structured so that while the ink jetting surface is cleaned with the absorbent member and wiping member , the absorbent member is moved ahead of the wiping member , as shown in fig3 ( e ). referring to fig8 , the absorbing member 54 and wiping members 50 and 51 are disposed on the cleaner base 52 so that the position of the top of the absorbent member 54 remains higher by a value of h than the highest point of the wiping member 50 or 51 . the value of h is in the range in which the absorbent member 54 is elastically compressible . referring to fig7 , when the ink jetting surface is cleaned by both the absorbent member 54 and wiping members 50 and 51 , the wiping members 50 and 51 are kept in contact with the ink jetting surface , with the edge portions 50 a and 51 a of the wiping members 50 and 51 , respectively , remaining elastically bent , so that the amount of the apparent intrusion of the wiping members into the ink jetting surface is a preset value of dw . incidentally , as it will become evident from the preceding , as well as following , descriptions of this embodiment , the recording apparatus in this embodiment is provided with four cleaning apparatuses 110 , shown in fig7 and 8 , one for each of the four ink jet recordings heads different in color . in practical terms , the four cleaning apparatuses 110 are the same in structure and operation . thus , the structure and operation of only one of the four cleaning apparatuses will be described with reference to fig3 , and 7 - 11 , which show one of the four cleaning apparatuses 110 . first , referring to fig3 , an example of the performance restoration sequence which is carried out with the use of the cleaning apparatus 110 in the first embodiment described above will be described . disposed on the right - hand side ( in fig3 ) of the ink jetting surface 2 of the full - line recording head 1 are a wiping member cleaning means for cleaning wipers 50 and 51 , and a squeezing means for squeezing ink out of the absorbent member 54 . the wiping member cleaning member is made up of a pair of wiper cleaners 57 and 58 . the squeezing means is made up of a squeezer roller 55 and a cam 56 . as the absorbent member 54 is moved in contact with the ink jetting surface 2 to clean the ink jetting surface 2 , it is rotated by the friction between the absorbent member 54 and ink jetting surface 2 , being thereby enabled to absorb the ink , or the like , having adhered to the ink jetting surface 2 , while wiping the ink jetting surface 2 without rubbing it . referring to fig3 , fig3 ( a ) shows the cleaning apparatus which is on standby during the performance restoration sequence . when the cleaning apparatus is in the state shown in fig3 ( a ), or on standby , the cap 3 is kept away from the recording head 1 , with the cleaner base 52 , which are holding the absorbent member 54 and wiping members 50 and 51 , positioned on the right - hand side ( in drawing ). it is when the cleaning apparatus is in this state that the ink discharging operation in which ink is discharged from all of the ink jetting openings of the recording head 1 as shown in fig3 ( b ) is carried out . in this ink discharging operation , ink is circulated through the common liquid chamber 152 with the pressure generated by driving the pump 159 in the performance restoration system shown in fig2 . as ink is circulated , the ink is discharged from all the ink jetting openings . as a result , the ink in the ink jetting nozzles of the recording head is replaced with a fresh supply of ink . however , if the amount of decline in the ink jetting performance of the recording head is relatively small , the so - called non - recording ink jetting operation , that is , the ink jetting operation in which ink is jetted out of all the ink jetting openings , for a non - recording purpose , may be carried out instead of the above described ink discharging operation , depicted in fig3 ( b ) in which ink is circulated by the pressured generated pump 159 . as ink is discharged as described above , the ink jetting surface 2 is covered with the ink mist or the like ; after the ink discharge , the ink jetting surface 2 is covered with the ink having adhered thereto . after the ink discharge , the recording head 1 is lowered by the motor 24 ( fig5 ) in the direction indicated by an arrow mark in fig3 ( b ) to position the recording head 1 so that the ink jetting surface 2 can be cleaned by the absorbent member 54 . then , the cleaning apparatus 110 is moved leftward ( in drawing ) to cause the absorbent member 54 to remove ( wipe away ) the ink having adhered to the ink jetting surface 2 by absorbing the ink , as shown in fig3 ( c ). when the cleaning apparatus 110 is in the state shown in fig3 ( c ), the wiping members 50 and 51 are not in contact with the ink jetting surface 2 ; in other words , only the absorbent member 54 is in contact with the ink jetting surface 2 to clean the ink jetting surface 2 . as the absorbent member 54 is moved , it is rotated by the friction between the ink jetting surface 2 and absorbent member 54 while cleaning the ink jetting surface 2 . as the ink jetting surface 2 is cleaned as shown in fig3 ( c ), the cleaner base 52 moves to the left - hand end of its moving range , shown in fig3 ( d ), and stops there . while the recording head is in the position shown in fig3 ( d ), it is lowered by a preset distance ( in addition to preset distance by which it was lowered at right - hand end of its moving range ). as a result , both the absorbent member 54 and wiping members 50 and 51 are placed in contact with the ink jetting surface 2 in a manner to apparently intrude into the ink jetting surface 2 by a preset distance as shown in fig7 . then , the cleaning apparatus 110 is moved rightward ( in drawing ) to clean the ink jetting surface 2 with both the absorbent member 54 and wiping members 50 and 51 , as shown in fig3 ( e ). during this period , the amount of the contact pressure applied to the ink jetting surface 2 by the absorbent member 54 is kept at a proper level by the resiliency of the springs 41 shown in fig6 and 7 . in other words , in this embodiment , as the cleaning apparatus is moved from the right - hand end of its moving range to the left - hand end , and then , is returned to the right - hand end , the ink jetting surface 2 is cleaned by the synergistic combination of the wiping ( cleaning ) functions of the absorbent member 54 and wiping members 50 and 51 . therefore , even the ink jetting surface 2 of a full - line recording head of a substantial length can be efficiently cleaned . fig3 ( f ) shows the process for cleaning the wiper cleaners 57 and 58 which are for cleaning the wiping members 50 and 51 . that is , at the end of the ink jetting surface cleaning process shown in fig3 ( e ), the cleaner base 52 is stopped in the position shown in figure ( f ) to place the absorbent member 54 in contact with the wiper cleaner 57 . then , the wiper cleaner 57 is rotationally driven to clean the wiper cleaners 57 and 58 . the wiper cleaners 57 and 58 are in the form of a roller , and are formed of the same material as that for the absorbent member 54 , for example , porous hydrophilic resin , porous hydrophilic polyethylene , or the like , which is highly ink absorbent . fig3 ( g ) and 3 ( h ) show the wiper cleaning process for cleaning the wiping members 50 and 51 . after the completion of the cleaning process shown in fig3 ( f ), the cleaner base 52 is moved rightward ( in drawing ) by a preset distance to the position shown in fig3 ( g ), in which the cleaner base 52 is stopped , with the wiping member 50 is placed in contact with the wiper cleaner 57 . then , the cleaner base 52 is moved further rightward by a preset distance to the position shown in fig3 ( h ), in which the wiping member 51 is placed in contact with the wiper cleaner 57 . in both positions , the corresponding wiping members 50 or 51 is cleaned by rotationally driving the wiper cleaner 57 . after the completion of the wiping member cleaning processes shown in fig3 ( g ) and 3 ( h ), the cleaner base 52 is moved rightward ( in drawing ) by a preset distance to the position shown in fig3 ( i ) and 3 ( j ), in which the process for restoring the absorbent member 54 in absorbency is carried out as shown in fig3 ( i ) and 3 ( j ). this restoration process is for squeezing ink out of the absorbent member 54 . that is , the cleaner base 52 is stopped in the position shown in fig3 ( i ) so that the absorbent member 54 is placed close to , or in contact with , the squeezer roller 55 . then , the cam 56 is rotationally driven by a preset angle to press the squeezer roller 55 upon the absorbent member 54 so that a preset amount of contact pressure is generated between the squeezer roller 55 and absorbent member 54 . then , the ink having been absorbed in the absorbent member 54 is squeezed out by rotationally driving the squeezer roller 55 as shown in fig3 ( j ). as a result , the absorbent member 54 is restored in ink absorbency . the cleaning apparatus position shown in fig3 ( j ), in which the ink in the absorbent member 54 is squeezed out , is the home position of the cleaning apparatus 110 ( cleaning base 52 ). after the completion of the process ( for squeezing out ink ), shown in fig3 ( j ), which is for restoring the absorbent member 54 in absorbency , which is shown in fig3 ( j ), the head holder 4 ( recording head 1 ) is raised along the vertical guide 25 , by driving the motor 24 , to the standby position shown in fig3 ( a ). thereafter , the cape 3 is horizontally moved to make the cap 3 face the ink jetting surface 2 of the recording head 1 . then , the recording head 1 is lowered to place the ink jetting surface 2 airtightly in contact with the cap 3 , as shown in fig4 , completing thereby the performance restoration sequence . in some cases , the recording head 1 may be kept in the position shown in fig3 ( a ); it may be kept on standby for the following performance restoration operation . incidentally , in this embodiment , the recording apparatus was structured so that the performance restoration operation was carried out all at once for all the recording heads . however , the recording apparatus may be structured so that the multiple cleaning apparatuses 110 , with which the multiple recording heads are provided one for one , can be individually or selectively driven to individually or selectively clean the recording heads different in color . further , the recording apparatus was structured so that the absorbent member 54 was rotated by the friction between the absorbent member 54 and recording head 1 . however , the recording apparatus may be structured so that the absorbent member 54 is rotationally driven by its own driving force source . further , the recording apparatus was structured so that the tip portions of the wiping members are cleaned while the cleaner base 52 was kept stationary in the positions shown in fig3 ( g ) and 3 ( h ). however , the recording apparatus may be structured so that the tip portions are cleaned without stopping the cleaner base , for example , while moving the cleaner base at a preset speed . moreover , each of the processes described with reference to fig3 ( a )- 3 ( j ) may be switched in position , eliminated , or repeated , as necessary . fig1 is a perspective view of the cleaning apparatus 110 in the second embodiment of the present invention . referring to fig1 , in this embodiment , the absorbent member 54 , which is mounted on the cleaner base 52 , is made of three absorbent sections 54 h , 54 i , and 54 j which are in the form of a block . the three absorbent sections 54 h , 54 i , and 54 j are joined in a single line so that the combination of the three absorbent sections is also in the form of a block . in this embodiment , the recording apparatus is structured so that the absorbent member , in the formed of a block , which is solidly attached to the cleaner base 52 , is employed in place of the rotatable absorbent member ( absorbent roller ) employed in the first embodiment . in other words , the recording apparatus in this embodiment is different from that in the first embodiment only in that the absorbent member 54 is in the form of a block ; otherwise , the two recording apparatuses are practically the same in structure . therefore , the components , portions , etc ., of the recording apparatus in this embodiment , are designated by the same referential symbols as those given to the corresponding components , portions , etc ., in the first embodiment , and will not be described in detail . referring to fig1 , the absorbent member 54 is made up of multiple ( three in this embodiment : sections 54 h , 54 i , and 54 j ) absorbent sections which are in the form of a block . the multiple absorbent sections 54 h , 54 i , and 54 j are joined ( inclusive of being solidly joined ) in a single line in the direction which is roughly perpendicular to the cleaning direction ( which is parallel to the direction in which ink jetting openings are arranged ). this absorbent member 54 is used in the state shown in fig9 . that is , the center absorbent section 54 i of the absorbent member 54 is positioned so that it absorbs the ink having adhered to the ink jetting openings 2 a arranged in a single or two or more columns , and the adjacencies thereof , by coming in contact therewith , whereas the two lateral absorbent sections 54 h and 54 j of the absorbent member 54 are disposed in contact with the other areas of the ink jetting surface 2 , or not to contact the ink jetting surface 2 . as the material for each of the absorbent sections 54 h , 54 i , and 54 j of the absorbent member 54 , porous hydrophilic resin , porous hydrophilic polyethylene , or the like , for example , which is highly ink absorbent , is suitable . thus , the absorbent member 54 in this embodiment is made up of one of the abovementioned substances , and the center absorbent section 54 i which comes into contact with the ink jetting openings of the ink jetting surface and the adjacencies thereof to absorb ink is rendered larger in average pore diameter than the lateral absorbent sections 54 h and 54 j . further , the absorbent member 54 in this embodiment may be made up of four absorbent sections , which is joined in a single line in the direction roughly perpendicular to the direction in which ink jetting openings are arranged in fig1 , or may be made up of two absorbent sections joined in the same direction as the direction in which the abovementioned four absorbent sections are aligned ; it may be variously structured . these absorbent sections of the absorbent member 54 in this embodiment are joined in the same manner as those in the first embodiment so that the center absorbent section 54 i of the absorbent member 54 comes into contact with the single , or two or more , columns of ink jetting openings , and the adjacencies thereof , and absorb the ink having adhered thereto , whereas the two lateral absorbent sections 54 h and 54 j of the absorbent member 54 are placed in contact with the other areas of the ink jetting surface 2 , or not to contact the ink jetting surface 2 . fig1 is a schematic drawing showing the operation sequence for restoring the performance of the recording head in the third embodiment of the present invention . in this embodiment , the cleaning apparatuses in the above described first and second preferred embodiments is employed by an ink jet recording apparatus of the serial type . referring to fig1 , the recording head 1 is mounted on a carriage 61 , which is reciprocally movable along a guide shaft 62 and a guide rail ( unshown ), with which the main assembly of the recording apparatus is provided , in the primary direction , which is parallel to the width direction of the recording medium , in a manner of scanning the recording medium . the ink jetting surface 2 of the recording head 1 is provided with multiple ink jetting openings 2 a , which are arranged in the direction roughly perpendicular to the moving direction of the carriage 61 . in practical terms , the cleaning apparatus 110 in this embodiment is the same in structure , operation , and effect , as those in the preceding preferred embodiments , unless specifically noted . referring to fig1 , the cleaning apparatus 110 made up of the absorbent member 54 and wiping members 50 and 51 is structured so that it can clean the ink jetting surface 2 in the direction parallel to the direction in which the ink jetting openings are arranged . thus , this absorbent member 54 is also made up of multiple porous absorbent sections , which are joined in a line in the direction roughly perpendicular to the cleaning direction ( parallel to direction in which ink jetting openings are arranged ), as in the preceding preferred embodiments described above . further , some of the multiple absorbent sections are rendered larger in average pore diameter than the others , as those in the preceding embodiments . moreover , the recording apparatus in this embodiment is structured so that when cleaning the ink jetting surface 2 , the absorbent sections of the absorbent member 54 , which are larger in average pore diameter , are placed in contact with the ink jetting openings and their adjacencies of the ink jetting surface , to absorb ink . next , referring to fig1 , an example of the performance restoration operation sequence in this embodiment will be described . in fig1 , fig3 ( a ) shows the cleaning apparatus which is on standby during the performance restoration sequence . when the cleaning apparatus is in the state shown in fig3 ( a ), or on standby , the cleaner base 52 is on the left - hand side ( in drawing ) of the recording head . it is when the cleaning apparatus is in this state that an ink discharging operation similar to the ink discharging operation 1 shown in fig3 ( b ) is carried out . this ink discharging operation is an operation in which ink is discharged from all the ink jetting openings with the use of the same method as the one shown in fig2 . also in this case , the pressurized ink circulating operation may be replaced with a non - recording ink jetting operation , that is , an operation in which ink is jetted from all the ink jetting openings for a non - recording purpose . as ink is discharged as described above , the ink jetting surface 2 is covered with the ink having adhered thereto . incidentally , the ink mist generated during a recording operation sometimes adheres to the ink jetting surface 2 . after the ink discharge , the recording head 1 is lowered to position the recording head 1 so that the ink jetting surface 2 can be cleaned . then , the cleaning apparatus 110 is moved rightward ( in drawing ) to cause the absorbent member 54 and wiping members 50 and 51 to clean the ink jetting surface 2 . the absorbent member shown in the drawings is in the form of a roller . however , the absorbent member in this embodiment may also be in the form of a block like the one in the second embodiment . after the cleaning operation , the cleaning apparatus 110 is stopped on the right - hand side ( in drawing ) of the recording head , at the location shown in fig3 ( d ). then , when the cleaning apparatus 110 is at this location , the recording head is raised . then , the recording head is moved into the position in which its ink jetting surface directly faces the cap . then , the recording head is lowered to cap the ink jetting surface of the recording head , ending thereby the recovery sequence . incidentally , the cleaning apparatus 110 and recording head may be put on standby in the positions shown in fig1 ( d ), for the next cleaning of the ink jetting surface , as it is on standby in the position shown in fig1 ( a ). in the preceding preferred embodiments described above , the recording apparatus is provided with the cleaning apparatus 110 which cleans the ink jetting surface 2 by moving the absorbent member 54 in contact with the ink jetting surface 2 , in the direction in which the ink jetting openings are arranged . the absorbent member 54 is made up of multiple absorbent sections 54 a , 54 b , and 54 c ( or 54 h , 54 i , and 54 j ), which are different in average pore diameter and are joined in a line . further , the recording apparatus is structured so that when cleaning the ink jetting surface 2 , the absorbent section 54 b ( or 54 i ) of the absorbent member 54 , which are larger in average pore diameter , is placed in contact with the ink jetting openings 2 a , and their adjacencies , of the ink jetting surface 2 to absorb ink . in the recording apparatus structured as described above , as the absorbent roller 54 is moved in contact with the ink jetting surface 2 , the ink on the ink jetting surface 2 is absorbed first into the absorbent section 54 b ( or 54 i ) of the absorbent member 54 , which is larger in average pore diameter . then , the absorbed ink is absorbed into the absorbent sections 54 a and 54 c ( or 54 h and 54 j ) of the absorbent member 54 , which are in contact with the absorbent section 54 b ( or 54 i ) of the absorbent member 54 , which are smaller in average pore diameter than the section 54 b ( or 54 i ), being therefore stronger in capillary force than the absorbent section 54 b ( or 54 i ). as a result , the absorbent section 54 b ( 54 i ) of the absorbent member 54 is reduced in the amount of the ink therein , being thereby restored in ink absorbency by the amount proportional to the amount by which the ink therein is reduced . therefore , when removing the ink having adhered to the ink jetting surface of the recording apparatus , by absorbing the ink , the ink absorption performance of the absorbent member is kept at a satisfactory level for efficiently removing the ink by absorbing it . incidentally , the present invention is applicable to various recording apparatuses regardless of the recording head structure , scanning method , recording head count , arrangement of the ink jetting openings of the ink jetting surface , ink type , ink count , ink characteristics , etc ., as effectively as it is to the recording apparatuses in the preceding embodiments described above . according to the preferred embodiments of the present invention , the absorbent member is made up of multiple absorbent sections which are different in average pore diameter and are joined in a single line . further , the recording apparatus is structured so that the absorbent section of the absorbent member , which is larger in average pore diameter than the rest , is placed in contact with the ink jetting openings , and its adjacencies , of the ink jetting surface to remove the ink having adhered to the adjacencies of the ink jetting openings , by absorbing the ink . therefore , when removing the ink having adhered to the ink jetting surface of the recording head , by the absorbent member , the ink absorption performance of the absorbent member is kept at a satisfactory level for efficiently removing the ink by absorbing it . while the invention has been described with reference to the structures disclosed herein , it is not confined to the details set forth , and this application is intended to cover such modifications or changes as may come within the purposes of the improvements or the scope of the following claims . this application claims priority from japanese patent application no . 323900 / 2005 filed nov . 8 , 2005 which is hereby incorporated by reference . | 1 |
the novel features of the present invention will become apparent to those of skill in the art upon examination of the following detailed description of the invention . it should be understood , however , that the detailed description of the invention and the specific examples presented , while indicating certain embodiments of the present invention , are provided for illustration purposes only because various changes and modifications within the spirit and scope of the invention will become apparent to those of skill in the art from the detailed description of the invention and claims that follow . the description of laproscopic surgery is set forth to demonstrate the use of the present invention in one type of surgery and is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the scope of the invention . many modifications and variations are possible in light of the teachings described herein without departing from the spirit and scope of the following claims . it is contemplated that the use of the present invention can involve components having different characteristics . it is intended that the scope of the present invention be defined by the claims appended hereto , giving full cognizance to equivalents in all respects . surgical trocars are most commonly used in laparoscopic surgery . for example , prior to use of the trocar , the surgeon may introduce a veress needle into the patient &# 39 ; s abdominal cavity . the veress needle has a stylet , which permits the introduction of gas into the abdominal cavity . after the veress needle is properly inserted , it is connected to a gas source and the abdominal cavity is insufflated to an approximate abdominal pressure of , e . g ., 15 mm hg . by insufflating the abdominal cavity , pneumoperitoneum is created separating the wall of the body cavity from the internal organs . a trocar with a piercing tip is then used to puncture the body cavity . the piercing tip or obturator of the trocar is inserted through the cannula or sheath and the cannula partially enters the body cavity through the incision made by the trocar . the obturator may then be removed from the cannula and an elongated endoscope or camera may be inserted through the cannula to view the body cavity , or surgical instruments may be inserted to perform ligations or other procedures . a great deal of force is often required to cause the obturator to pierce the wall of the body cavity . when the piercing tip breaks through the cavity wall , resistance to penetration ceases and the tip may reach internal organs or blood vessels , with resultant lacerations and potentially serious injury . the creation of the pneumoperitoneum provides some free space within which the surgeon may stop the penetration of the trocar . to provide further protection , trocars have more recently been developed with spring loaded shields surrounding the piercing tip of the obturator . once the piercing tip of the obturator has completely pierced the body cavity wall , the resistance of the tissue to the spring - loaded shield is reduced and the shield springs forward into the body cavity and covers the piercing tip . the shield thereby protects internal body organs and blood vessels from incidental contact with the piercing tip and resultant injury . once the cannula has been introduced into the opening in the body cavity wall , the pneumoperitoneum may be maintained by introducing gas into the abdominal cavity through the cannula . various seals and valves have been used to allow abdominal pressure to be maintained in this fashion . maintaining abdominal pressure is important both to allow working room in the body cavity for instruments introduced through the cannula and to provide free space for the puncturing of the body cavity wall by one or more additional trocars as may be required for some procedures . a principal limitation of traditional laparoscopy relates to the fixed working envelope surrounding each trocar . these relatively small working envelopes often necessitate the placement of multiple ports in order to accommodate necessary changes in instrument position and to improve visibility and efficiency . the creation of additional ports is known to contribute to post - operative pain and to increase the risk of bleeding or organ damage . therefore , the present invention has been developed to : ( 1 ) improve the control of tools within a surgical envelope ; ( 2 ) reduce the number of trocars required ( e . g ., a single puncture ); ( 3 ) improve the working envelope associated with , e . g ., laproscopic surgery ; and / or ( 4 ) improve instrument positioning , visibility and efficiency . the present invention has been evaluated in a dry laboratory as well as in porcine models , with several others currently under investigation . some of the anchoring designs disclosed herein have been optimized for size , strength and surgical compatibility , as well as the benefits , limitations and prospects for the use of incision - less , magnetically - coupled tooling in laparoscopic surgery are now being performed with the use of trocars and cannulas . originally these devices were used for making a puncture and leaving a tube to drain fluids . as technology and surgical techniques have advanced , it is now possible to insert surgical instruments through the cannulas and perform invasive procedures through openings less than half an inch in diameter . these surgical procedures required previously incisions of many inches . by minimizing the incision , the stress and loss of blood suffered by a patient is reduced and the patient &# 39 ; s recovery time is dramatically reduced . the present invention is a platform capable of supporting one or more surgical tools that may are secured to the abdominal wall and subsequently positioned within the abdominal cavity through surgeon - controlled , e . g ., using external magnetic couples on the patient &# 39 ; s abdomen . using the surgical anchor disclosed herein , in conjunction with the techniques outlined for magnetic manipulation , instruments such as miniature endoscopic cameras may be used to augment , e . g ., the surgical field of view and surgical tools . the present inventors have evaluated the theoretical and empirical uses of anchoring designs optimized for size , strength and surgical compatibility , as well as the benefits , limitations and prospects for the use of incisionless , magnetically - coupled tooling in laparoscopic surgery . one such system is a magnetic anchoring system design . several types and generations of magnetic anchoring schemes have been developed and evaluated . a fundamental design decision arises in generating the magnetic field electrically or via permanently magnetized materials . electromagnets were initially favored due to : ( 1 ) the intrinsic ability to control the field strength , from zero to a maximum desired value ; and ( 2 ) high magnetizing forces available in a relatively small footprint . ex vivo and in vivo studies were used to evaluate the attractive force needed for use of electromagnets and permanent magnets . with electromagnets it was found that field strength was high at direct contact with the core , however , the field strength across tissue dropped - off drastically over relatively short distances , resulting in relatively bulky and heavy devices even after optimizing their length - to - diameter ratio and winding configuration . it was also found that heating caused by resistance limited the useful force attainable from an electromagnet due to its effect on skin contact temperature , winding insulation integrity , and surgeon comfort ; these drawbacks may be overcome with active cooling . given these constraints , permanent magnets were also investigated and they were found to deliver a higher coupling force per unit volume than the basic electromagnetic designs , and they can be controlled , when required , by adjusting their distance from their magnetic couple manually or in a closed - loop system . one limitation of permanent magnets relative to electromagnets is that the coupling force is always present , causing attraction to unintended targets and thus requiring strict handling procedures in the operating room . as such , in some applications electromagnets may be preferred , while in others permanent magnets may be preferred . magnetic performance is the result of complex , three - dimensional field interactions governed by material , size , shape , location of magnetic poles , and location relative to the target . for this reason , practical design analyses and optimization are tractable only through computer simulation and empirical testing . in a transabdominal magnetic anchoring system design it was found that the coupling force between two magnets as a function of distance . a baseline analytic relationship is given by : f = b 2 a 8 π ( 1 ) where f is the attractive force in dynes , b is the flux density in gauss , and a is the gap cross - sectional area in cm 2 . in the simplest case of interest , a pair of identical opposing cylindrical magnets of radius r , length l , and separated by an air gap g , the flux density at the gap center is approximated by : b = b r [ l + g 2 r 2 + ( l + g 2 ) 2 - g 2 r 2 + ( g 2 ) 2 ] ( 2 ) the resulting force vs . gap characteristic resembled an inverse power relationship . in arriving at an optimal magnetic anchoring system configuration , the main constraint is the size of the intraabdominal couple ; e . g ., it was designed to fit through a standard 12 or 15 mm trocar port in conjunction with its attached tooling . the dimensions of the external anchor are not critical but must be kept as small as practical and ergonomically compatible with abdominal laparoscopic surgery . lastly , the device will produce generally an appropriate coupling force , nominally higher than 500 grams at a 10 mm gap to be useful . these parameters have led to two different magnetic anchoring system embodiments , based on a ø9 × 12 mm internal magnet coupled to a ø25 × 50 mm external magnet in single - stack and double stack ( side - by - side , 25 mm between centerlines ) configurations ; all use ndfeb rare - earth magnets . the surgical anchor described herein may be used as a general purpose platform to which a variety of intraabdominal tools can be attached as well as externally positioned by the surgeon . one design constraint for these tools is that they must collapse to a cylindrical envelope 12 to 15 mm in diameter for insertion through the trocar ; this is typically accomplished through pin joints which also allow for relative link motion when coupled to two external anchors . the tools that may be anchored to the surgical anchor may also be capable of self - actuation , e . g ., self - actuating scissors , graspers , hook cautery , and fine - scan motion cameras . unlike the recent generation of laparoscopic surgical robots , however , these instruments neither require , nor are limited , by the standard working envelope of a dedicated trocar port . fig1 a is an isometric view of one embodiment of the surgical anchor 10 of the present invention . the surgical anchor 10 depicted incorporates an opening 12 depicted having a conical shape within top surface 14 and having a conical focal point at the bottom of the opening 12 through which a pin ( not depicted ) is inserted to anchor the surgical anchor 10 to a surface . also depicted are two pads 16 that , in this embodiment , are generally round and are inserted into the top surface 14 of the surgical anchor 10 . pads 16 may be made from , e . g ., a ferrous material , coated with teflon or even a magnetic material . in one example , the pads 16 may be a ferrous , ferromagnetic , a magnetic material or combinations thereof that provide for external magnetic positioning and control of the surgical anchor 10 within a body lumen , e . g ., the peritoneal cavity after insertion through a trocar . in this view , at least one anchor point 18 is depicted for holding a surgical tool ( not depicted ). the anchoring mechanism of the anchor point 18 may be integral with the surgical anchor 10 , however , in this embodiment is depicted with a cotter pin 20 to which a wide variety of surgical tools may be attached . fig1 b and 1c are cross - sectional view of surgical anchor 10 of the present invention in which two types of locking mechanisms for the pin 15 having a pin lock 17 . the pin 17 will generally have a sharpened point for traversing a tissue . to hold the pin 15 in place , a pin lock 17 , in this embodiment depicted as having a shaft 17 a and a lock pad 17 b is depicted . as with the surgical anchor 10 depicted in fig1 a , the surgical anchor of fig1 b includes as opening 12 having a conical focal point at the bottom of the opening 12 through which the pin 15 is inserted to anchor the surgical anchor 10 , and having a locking arm 19 that self - locks . the pin 15 depicted has serrations 21 , which may be used to increase friction and thereby improve the anchoring capacity of the surgical anchor 10 . fig1 c depicts another variation of a locking mechanism for the pin 15 and surgical anchor 12 in which the serrations 21 thread into an internal thread 23 . when using the surgical anchors 10 depicted in fig1 b and 1c , the surgeon position the surgical anchor 10 as the anchor site and then may lock the anchor into position semi - permanently by inserting the pin 15 into the self - locking mechanism . in traditional forms of laparoscopic surgery , laparoscopic instruments inserted into a body cavity are manipulated principally by the application of force to the portion of the laparoscopic instrument protruding from the patient and integral with a handle . the handle is controlled by the surgeon and requires at all times insertion through a trocar , e . g ., a 5 , 8 , 10 , 12 or even a 15 mm id ( internal diameter ) trocar . although this method is useful for adjusting the depth of insertion of the laparoscopic instrument and can provide a limited range of angular or side - to - side movement , all but minor changes in the orientation of the laparoscopic instrument may be accomplished without the creation of additional incisions in the patient . the surgical anchor 10 of the present invention provides several distinct advantages over the use or conventional hand - held laproscopic tools . first , it provides an independent anchor point for the attachment of one or more surgical tools , retractors , scalpels , cameras , lights and the like that are inserted once into the patient through a single trocar . the independent surgical anchor 10 is anchored to the lumen of the body cavity by insertion of a single small pin , which may attached via , e . g ., a self - locking mechanism , thereby providing a hands - free anchor point for other tools while also freeing - up the trocar for insertion of additional anchors of providing for insertion of another working surgical tool . second , one or more independent surgical anchors may be inserted and tools may be swapped between the anchors without the need for additional large incisions . third , by using magnetic positioning , the same surgical anchor may be moved from location to location , again reducing the number of major incisions while allowing maximum flexibility for tool use and positioning . fig2 a is a bottom view of the surgical tool 10 that depicts a single anchor - point opening 22 in relation to the pads 16 and the opening 12 . a self - locking ring 24 is depicted at the focal point of - the opening 12 . the self - locking ring 24 may easily be replaced with a screw ( internal or external ), a bolt or other fastener for a pin . in one embodiment , the entire structure of the surgical tool may be a plastic or ferrous material . fig2 b is a cross - section of the surgical tool 10 that depicts the relationship between the opening 12 , pad openings 16 , the anchor point 18 and the cotter pin 20 . in this cross - sectional view the surgical anchor 10 is depicted as top and a bottom components ( 26 , 28 ), however , the surgical anchor 10 may be of unitary construction using , e . g ., molding , milling and the like . the opening 12 is depicted as having generally a conical shape , however , any number of shapes or combination of shapes may be used for the opening , e . g ., a circular and / or conical shape having a 135 degree internal angle may be used for pin insertion . fig2 c is a top of the surgical anchor 10 that depicts two pad openings 26 in relation to the opening 12 on top surface 14 . as will be apparent from the current disclosure , additional openings 12 and pad openings 26 may be added and positioned in a linear , parallel , square , oval , round , and / or in two and three - dimensions . the surgical anchor 10 shown in fig1 is positioned in place by manual manipulation , or may be positioned with the help of , e . g ., a magnetic field . fig3 shows the empirical versus simulated coupling force of a magnetic field . fig3 shows the force ( in grams ) versus gap data . fig4 is a magnetic field simulation of the magnetic flux paths for a single - stack magnet configuration . in certain embodiments , the magnets may be permanent magnets generating a magnetic field of a constant strength . in other embodiments , the magnetic field may be an electromagnetic field having a constant strength , a variable strength , or a varying time - dependent strength . magnetic fields for use with the present invention may be single magnetic sources , or may be composed of arrays of smaller sources . in one embodiment , the pads 16 are magnetic pads that are attracted to a ferrous material external to the lumen , e . g ., a single attachment point on a stand , a wire or even a three - dimensional cover that is positioned over the surgical subject or patient . in yet another embodiment , both the surgical anchor 12 and the external positioning and / or attachment point are magnetic . surgical tools for use with the present invention will generally be sized to be passable through a trocar port by a laparoscopic grasper or forceps for attachment to the surgical anchor 10 . in some cases , it may be desirable for the surgical tools to be a camera , a camera with one or more lights ( e . g ., optic fibers ), surgical retractors , e . g ., a retractor , a sling retractor , a paddle retractor , a basket , a bag , a hook and the like , a cutting tool , e . g ., a laser or a scalpel , or even a suction tube for removal of tissue . the surgical tool will include a hook or other locking mechanism that is complementary with the anchor point 18 . the surgical anchor 10 , the surgical tools , etc . may be formed of metal , plastic , combination of metal and plastics or other suitable material . the surgical tool may also include drawstrings to help remove the surgical tool through the trocar or other opening after use . in one specific example , the surgical tool that is anchored to the abdominal lumen may be a high - resolution charge - coupled device ( ccd ) camera or even an analog camera . while the camera may obtain and transmit a signal independent of an external power source , the surgical anchor of the present invention may also provide electrical and optical contacts with the surgical tool attached to the surgical anchor . for example , a camera and lights may obtain , e . g ., electrical power from the pin and be grounded via the patient or a wire within the pin . if the pin is made of , or includes , optic fiber , a signal may be transmitted to and from the camera through the pin itself . the pin may even provide electrical , mechanical , pneumatic , communications and the like to the surgical tool via or around the surgical anchor . in another embodiment , the camera delivers a signal via a radio frequency or other transmission system and is wireless . the sensitivity , reliability and simplicity of operation of the system may be evaluated by direct comparison to conventional images captured using conventional laparoscopic instruments . other image capture systems may be used in conjunction with the imaging system . for example , fiber optic leads may be placed close to the image and the image transferred for capture outside the body . in addition , wavelengths outside visible light may be captured by the imaging system . fig5 a and 5b are a side and a bottom view of a trocar cable and light port 40 , respectively , that may be used in conjunction with the present invention . typically , light is required for any video system to transmit a signal for use in surgery . the trocar cable and light port 40 permits for the insertion of additional wires , optical fiber and pneumatic lines into , e . g ., the abdominal area to provide command , control and electrical connections through the abdominal wall without leaking gas out of the abdomen . the trocar cable and light port 40 has one or more internal conduits 42 that traverse the length of the trocar cable and light port 40 and through which one or more cables , optic fiber and pneumatic lines may be inserted into the patient , while at the same time maintaining access to the intraabdominal cavity through the trocar . when not in use , the conduits 42 may be plugged at one or both ends or may even include a gel or gel - like materials that seals the conduit and thereby the trocar . furthermore , the trocar cable and light port 40 depicted also includes a gas release opening 44 for introduction or release of gas from the intraabdominal or other cavity . in conjunction with the surgical anchor 10 , one or more conventional laproscopic tools may be inserted , positioned and used at the same time after introduction into the abdominal cavity through a single abdominal incision . unlike conventional trocars which have a single smooth opening , the trocar cable and light port 40 allows the insertion of cables and a conventional laproscopic tool at the same time . fig6 a and 6b are a top and cross - sectional view , respectively , of a dual external magnet stack 50 for use with the surgical anchor when the surgical anchor is made of , or includes , a magnetically attracting material . the dual external magnet stack 50 has magnet openings 52 in casing 54 and will generally be small enough to be hand - held . into each of the magnet opening 52 may be inserted a magnetic source in : n — s , s — n , s — s or n — n orientation . in one embodiment , the magnet is an electromagnet and the strength and orientation of the field may be externally controlled by providing power to the electromagnet . the magnet openings 52 are depicted as cylindrical , however , they may have any shape : oval , square , rectangular , etc . the holes 56 in the casing 54 and may be used to attach the dual external magnet stack 50 to a stand or holder . one particularly useful aspect of the dual external magnet stack 50 is that , when used in conjunction with the surgical anchor 10 depicted in fig1 having pads 16 , the dual external magnet stack 50 may be used to turn the surgical anchor 360 degrees while anchored by magnetically coupling the each of the magnets of the dual stack each to one of the pads 16 . fig6 c combined the dual external magnet stack 50 has magnets 58 in the casing 54 in combination with the surgical anchor 10 depicted in fig1 a . the surgical anchor 20 is also shown in cross - section and with opening 12 through which the pin 15 is inserted to anchor the surgical anchor 10 , and having a locking arm 19 that self - locks . the pin 15 then traverses the magnet stack 50 , which includes within its casing 54 an opening 59 that has a internal opening into which the pin lock 17 is inserted and which may even permit the pin 15 to be locked into position with the magnet stack 50 . by using the combination of the magnetic stack 50 with the pin 15 and the surgical anchor 10 , the surgical anchor may even be rotated 360 degrees under the external control of the surgeon by rotating the magnet stack 50 , which is magnetically connected with the surgical anchor when the pads 16 are of a magnetically attracting material . a wide variety of permanent magnets may be used with the present invention , such as rare earth magnets , ceramic magnets , alnico magnets , which may be rigid , semi - rigid or flexible . flexible magnets are made by impregnating a flexible material such as neoprene rubber , vinyl , nitrile , nylon or a plastic with a material such as iron having magnetic characteristics . other examples of magnets for use as described hereinabove , are rare earth magnets include neodymium iron boron ( ndfeb ) and samarium cobalt ( smco ) classes of magnets . within each of these classes are a number of different grades that have a wide range of properties and application requirements . rare earth magnets are available in sintered as well as in bonded form . ceramic magnets are sintered permanent magnets composed of barium ferrite ( bao ( fe 2 o 3 ) n ) or strontium ferrite ( sno ( fe 2 o 3 ) n ), where n is a variable quantity of ferrite . also known as anisotropic hexaferrites , this class of magnets is useful due to its good resistance to demagnetization and its low cost . while ceramic magnets tend to be hard and brittle , requiring special machining techniques , these magnets can be used in magnetic holding devices having very precise specifications or may be positioned within a protective cover , e . g ., a plastic cover . anisotropic grades are oriented during manufacturing , and must be magnetized in a specified direction . ceramic magnets may also be isotropic , and are often more convenient due to their lower cost . ceramic magnets are useful in a wide range of applications and can be pre - capped or formed for use with the present invention . fig7 is an isometric view of one embodiment of an anchored tool 60 . the anchored tool 60 has surgical anchors ( 62 a , 62 b ) that may be individually anchored and / or controlled . in the embodiment depicted , magnets ( 64 a , b , c and d ) are depicted in the surgical anchors 62 a , 62 b for control and positioning via , e . g ., the dual external magnet stack 50 . in the anchored tool 60 , the surgical anchors 62 a , 62 b art connected via universal joints ( 64 a , 64 b ) to arms ( 66 a , 66 b ), respectively , which are in turn connected to each other at joint 68 . connected to the joint 68 and under three dimensional control by the surgical anchors 62 a , 62 b via the arms 66 a , 66 b , is a tool 70 , in this case depicted as a paddle retractor . fig8 is an isometric view of another embodiment of an anchored tool 80 that includes , in this example , an actuated paddle retractor 82 and further includes a piston 84 that may be connected to a pneumatic source ( not depicted ) through an opening 86 in the pin 15 . by providing pneumatic power from an external source through the opening 86 in pin 15 via a pneumatic connection 88 with the piston 84 to the paddle retractor 82 , the surgeon is able to apply variable amounts of pressure at the desired time to the tool 80 . the anchored tool 80 is depicted with two different embodiment of the surgical anchors 62 a , 62 b for control and positioning via the dual external magnet stack 50 . in this embodiment , the magnet stack 50 is depicted with locks 90 that lock into position the pins 50 and which , as depicted , may be used to raise and lower the pins 15 in relation to anchors 62 a , 62 b via fine adjustments . an example of a lock 90 may be a self - locking or even a threaded lock that holds the pin via mechanical friction . fig9 is an isometric view of another embodiment of an anchored tool 100 that includes , in this example , a cutting hook 102 that is connected to an actuation arm 104 and further includes a piston 84 that may be connected to a pneumatic source via pneumatic connection 88 by pneumatic power provided through opening 86 in the pin 15 . also depicted in fig9 is an electrical actuator 106 that is electrically connected to an external power source via wires 108 that electrically connect via the surgical anchor 10 with external electrical power provided via pin 15 . by providing both electrical and pneumatic power from an external source through the pin 15 , the surgeon is able to apply variable amounts of pressure at the desired time to the tool 80 , provide for electrical and even computer control of the arm 104 and power to the hook cutting tool 102 . the embodiments and examples set forth herein are presented to best explain the present invention and its practical application and to thereby enable those skilled in the art to make and utilize the invention . those skilled in the art , however , will recognize that the foregoing description and examples have been presented for the purpose of illustration and example only . other variations and modifications of the present invention will be apparent to those of skill in the art , and it is the intent of the appended claims that such variations and modifications be covered . the description as set forth is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the scope of the invention . many modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teaching without departing from the spirit and scope of the following claims . it is contemplated that the use of the present invention can involve components having different characteristics . it is intended that the scope of the present invention be defined by the claims appended hereto , giving full cognizance to equivalents in all respects . | 0 |
in fig1 , a lattice piece 10 of the invention is shown in perspective . this lattice piece consists of four corner posts 12 , which are connected with each other via diagonal bars 14 and 16 and null bars 18 and 20 , respectively . a lattice piece 10 , as shown in fig1 to 5 , for instance has a length l of 11 m , a width b of 8 m and a height h of 6 m . to be able to transport this lattice piece on the road , it is divided in two . there are formed two lattice piece halves , which each comprise two corner posts 12 . proceeding from the assembled lattice piece as shown in fig1 , these lattice piece parts are formed in that corresponding bolt connections on the diagonal bars 16 and on the null bars 18 are released on at least one side each . the respectively divided lattice pieces 10 then are transferred into a folded position , as shown in fig2 . for this purpose , the null bars 20 are folded in and the diagonal bars 14 , which are telescopable , are telescoped in . the correspondingly folded or extended condition is shown in fig3 by the distinction between continuous lines and dash - dotted lines . as shown in fig3 , the diagonal bars 14 each are hinged at swivel points 22 and 24 of the corner posts 12 . in the extended position , as shown in fig3 in a continuous line , the diagonal bars 14 are bolted in their extended position via bolts 26 . the null bars 20 each are hinged at a corner post 12 via swivel points 28 . the opposite free end can be bolted with the opposite corner post 12 . in fig4 , a top view is shown . here , the corner posts 12 are connected with each other via the diagonal bars 16 and the null bars 18 . the diagonal bars 16 can be swivelled about swivel points 28 , whereas the null bars 18 can be swivelled about swivel points 30 and 32 , respectively . the position swivelled in each is represented in fig4 by dash - dotted lines . in the illustrated extended position , the free ends of the diagonal bars 16 and null bars 18 , respectively , each are bolted with the opposite bolting point on the corner post 12 . as shown in fig5 , no spatial diagonal bars are provided . only the adjacent corner posts 12 each are connected with each other . this is enabled by creating rigid connections between the corner posts 12 and the diagonals 16 and 14 , respectively , and the null bars 18 and 20 , respectively . between the lattice pieces , very high forces must be transmitted . thus , the fork - finger connections 34 provided on the corner pieces 12 are subjected to very high loads . to facilitate the handling of the bolts , multishear fork - finger connections 34 can be used , as shown for instance in fig4 or fig1 . here , comparatively smaller bolts can be used . the corner posts 12 can be fabricated of any kind of profile . advantageously , the profile is made of two angular and welded sheets 36 , 38 , in accordance with the embodiments as shown in fig6 . the profile of square cross - section has a side length of about 800 × 800 mm . to the corner piece , guide sheets 40 with corresponding reinforcements 42 can be welded for receiving the null bars or diagonal bars . bolt connections here are designated with reference numeral 44 . the profiles of the diagonal bars 14 , 16 and of the null bars 18 , 20 can be as desired . for instance , they consist of a welded pipe construction or a welded construction of straight or bent sheets . in any case , however , the profiles are protected against buckling . with reference to fig7 , the procedure for assembly of the lattice piece of the invention is shown schematically and by way of example . fig7 a shows how a first transport unit 46 is removed by means of a non - illustrated auxiliary crane from a likewise non - illustrated flat container , on which the first transport unit was transported , and is put down by a second transport unit 48 at a distance b . this second transport unit 48 previously likewise was picked up from a flat container by means of the auxiliary crane and put down at the position shown in fig7 a . as shown in fig7 b , the lower diagonal bars 16 first were swivelled out and bolted , whereby the distance b of 8 m is obtained . for correspondingly unfolding , the diagonal bars 16 and the null bars 18 are suspended on an auxiliary crane . after the lower diagonals 16 and the lower null bars 18 were swivelled out and bolted , the upper diagonals 16 and the upper null bars 18 , i . e . the diagonals 16 and the null bars 18 of the upper disk , are swivelled out and bolted with the corner posts 12 by means of bolts 50 . as shown in fig7 c , the upper disk then is lifted to the top in the direction of arrow a by means of a non - illustrated auxiliary crane . as a result , the four telescopable diagonal bars 14 , which are shown in fig7 c not in a side view , but in a front view , are extended , so that the height of 6 m is obtained . in the corresponding end position , the diagonal bars are bolted with each other via bolts 26 . while erecting the lattice piece 10 by means of the auxiliary crane , the null bars 20 , which for simplification are not shown in fig7 c , run over rollers 52 ( cf . fig3 ) along the corner posts 12 into their assembly position . as shown in the slightly modified embodiment of fig3 , the null bars 20 can enclose the corner posts 12 in a fork - like manner . in this position , the null bars 20 can be bolted with the corner posts 12 . in accordance with the embodiment of fig1 and fig5 , the null bars 20 are bolted with corresponding tabs welded to the corner posts . what is not shown here are rollers , which act similar to the way described in fig3 . for again folding the boom 10 now from its erected position , as it is shown for instance in fig3 , the null bars 20 are slightly pressed to the inside after removing the bolts , until a lever arm is obtained on the roller 52 , so that when lowering the upper disk , the null bar 20 runs further along the corner post 12 under its own weight . during disassembly , the bolts 26 of course are withdrawn , so that the telescopable diagonal bars 24 can be pushed together . similar to the lattice pieces 10 shown here , the hinged piece or the head piece ( not shown here ) can be designed to be foldable . | 1 |
fig1 illustrates an apparatus 10 for testing a semiconductor wafer 12 according to the present invention . the semiconductor wafer 12 includes a semiconductor substrate 14 and a dielectric or insulating layer 16 disposed on the substrate 14 . the substrate 14 is typically a silicon substrate and the insulating layer 16 is typically an oxide layer . however , it should be understood that the method of the present invention is applicable to a variety of insulating layers grown and / or deposited on substrates of semiconductor materials or metals . an air / dielectric interface 18 is formed at the top surface of the insulating layer 16 and a dielectric / substrate interface 20 is formed between the insulating layer 16 and the substrate 14 . a measurement region 22 of the insulating layer 16 is selected to be tested by the apparatus 10 . the illustrated apparatus includes a wafer chuck 24 for holding the wafer 12 during testing , a contactless calibrated corona discharge source or gun 26 for depositing corona charges , a coulombmeter 28 for measuring deposited corona charges , an spv device 30 for measuring surface photovoltages , a position actuator 34 for locating various components over the wafer 12 , and a controller 36 for operating the apparatus 10 . the wafer chuck 24 holds the wafer 12 during the measurement process and the wafer 12 is preferably secured to the wafer chuck 24 with a vacuum . the corona gun 26 includes a non - contact corona - charge depositing structure such as one or more needles 38 and an electrode housing 40 which , along with the needles 38 , focuses the corona discharge onto the measurement region 22 of the insulating layer 16 . the needles 38 are preferably disposed a distance above the top surface 18 of the insulating layer 16 to minimize fringing effects and other causes of charge deposition non - uniformity . u . s . pat . no . 5 , 498 , 974 , expressly incorporated herein in its entirety by reference , discloses a suitable corona gun for depositing corona charge on an insulating layer and a suitable kelvin probe for measuring the voltage on the surface of the layer . the needles 38 are connected to a charge biasing means such as a high - voltage power supply 42 via a suitable line . the power supply 42 provides a desired high voltage output ( e . g ., ± 6 - 12 kv ) to the corona gun 26 to produce positive or negative corona charges depending on the polarity of the supply . the power supply 42 is suitably connected to the controller 36 via an appropriate signal line for feedback control of the power supply 42 during operation of the apparatus 10 as described in more detail hereinafter . the coulombmeter 28 is used to measure the deposited corona charge and preferably includes a first operational amplifier or current - to - voltage converter 44 and a second operational amplifier or charge integrator 46 . the input of current - to - voltage converter 44 is connected via a suitable signal line to the substrate 14 and the wafer chuck 24 . a corona current i c flows from the corona gun 26 and through the wafer 12 to the current - to - voltage converter 44 . this current i c is converted by the current - to - voltage converter 44 to a voltage and then integrated by the charge integrator 46 to generate a voltage proportional to the charge q c deposited onto the insulating layer 16 by the corona gun 26 . the outputs of the current - to - voltage converter 44 and the charge integrator 46 are each connected to the controller 36 via suitable signal lines to feed the current i c and the deposited corona charge q c information to the controller 36 during operation of the apparatus 10 as described in more detail hereinafter . note that an electrical contact between the wafer 12 and the chuck 24 because the regulating displacement currents are sufficient to perform the measurement . the spv device 30 is used to measure surface photovoltages of the insulating layer 16 and preferably includes a very high intensity light source 48 such as , for example , a xenon flash tube . it is noted , however , that other types of spv devices can be used such as , for example , led , laser , or ac with lock - in . the position actuator 34 is used to locate the corona gun 26 , and the spv device 30 , over the measurement region 22 of the water 12 . the position actuator is preferably a high - speed linear translator including a mobile carriage which selectively moves along a track disposed above the wafer chuck 24 . the corona gun 26 and the spv device 30 , are each suitably spaced apart and attached to the carriage . a control unit is suitably connected to the controller 36 via an appropriate signal line for feed - back control during operation of the apparatus 10 as described in more detail hereinafter . the controller 36 is used to control the operation of the apparatus 10 and preferably includes an input device 62 connected via a suitable line . the controller 36 controls the high - voltage power supply 42 , the spv device 30 , the kelvin control 54 , and the position actuator control unit 60 and receives information from the current - to - voltage converter 44 and the current integrator 46 . based on the method set forth hereinbelow , the controller 36 can provide a measurement of total charge q tot of the insulating layer 16 . the controller 36 may be , for example , a dedicated microprocessor - based controller or a general purpose computer . to obtain a total charge q tot measurement for an insulating layer 16 of a semiconductor wafer 12 according to a first method of the present invention , the actuator preferably first locates the spv device 30 over the measuring region 22 of the wafer 12 to obtain an initial spv measurement v spv of the insulating layer 16 . the lamp 48 is flashed and a recording of a peak intensity of the spv transient is captured by an a / d card of the controller 36 . because of the high intensity output of the lamp 48 , a measurable spv can be obtained in both in accumulation and in depletion or inversion . note that other types of spv devices such as , for example , led , laser , or ac lock - in amplifier can be used . the position actuator 34 next locates the corona gun 26 over the measuring region 22 of the wafer 12 to deposit a corona charge q c on the measurement region 22 of the insulating layer 16 . the controller 36 provides appropriate control signals for the corona gun 26 to deposit a corona charge q c . the corona charge q c deposited on the insulating layer 16 is measured by the coulombmeter 28 and recorded by the controller 36 . the position actuator then locates the spv device 30 over the measuring region 22 of the wafer 12 to again measure the spv v spv of the insulating layer 16 . the spv measurement v spv is preferably recorded by the controller 36 and compared to a predetermined target value v spvtarget stored in the controller 36 . preferably , the target value v spvtarget is equal to a fixed value ( 0 volts ) which indicates a “ flatband condition ”. at flatband , no net charge is present on the insulating layer 16 and no space charge imaging is in the silicon substrate 14 . it should be understood that the target value v spvtarget can be equal to fixed values other than zero . for example , the target value v spvtarget can be equal to a fixed value ( typically about ± 0 . 300 v ) which indicates a “ midband condition ”. at midband , the spv v spv is equal to the fixed value which depends on the doping of the particular substrate 14 . if the spv measurement v spv is not substantially equal to the target value v spvtarget , the above described steps of depositing the corona charge q c and remeasuring the spv are repeated . if the new spv measurement v spv changes beyond the target value v spvtarget from the previous spv measurement v spv , the controller 36 provides appropriate control signals for the corona gun 26 to reverse the polarity of the next deposited corona charge q c . note that for a target value v spvtarget of zero volts , a change in polarity from the previous spv measurement to new spv measurement indicates that the polarity of the next deposited corona charge q c should be reversed . as required , the controller 36 can adjust the magnitude of the next deposited corona charge q c to obtain an spv measurement v spv equal to the target value v spvtarget . when the spv measurement v spv is substantially equal to the target value v spvtarget , the controller 36 sums each of the individual corona charge increments q c to obtain a total corona charge q applied @ target applied to the insulating layer 16 to obtain the spv measurement v spv equal to the target value v spvtarget . the controller 36 then determines the total charge q tot of the insulating layer 16 from the total applied corona charge q applied @ target wherein the total charge q tot is the negative of the total applied corona charge q applied @ target , i . e . q tot =− q applied @ target . fig3 illustrates an example of this first method wherein the target value v spvtarget is zero volts , or flatband condition . a first corona charge q c of − 0 . 20e − 07 c / cm 2 is applied on the insulating layer and an spv measurement v spv of about 0 . 090 volts is obtained . a second corona charge q c of − 0 . 20e − 07 c / cm 2 is then applied on the insulating layer 16 such that the total corona charge q applied is − 0 . 40e − 07 c / cm 2 . the second spv measurement v spv is about 0 . 100 volts . a third corona charge q c of + 0 . 40e − 07 c / cm 2 is applied on the insulating layer 16 such that the total corona charge q applied is 0 . 00e − 07 c / cm 2 . the third spv measurement v spv is about 0 . 060 volts . note that the polarity of the third deposited corona charge q c was changed , because the spv measurements v spv were going away from the target value ( zero ) and the magnitude of the third deposited corona charge q c was changed , specifically increased or doubled , to avoid duplicating the first measurement . a fourth corona charge q c of + 0 . 20e − 07 c / cm 2 is applied on the insulating layer 16 such that the total corona charge q applied is + 0 . 20e − 07 c / cm 2 . the fourth spv measurement v spv is about − 0 . 100 volts . a fifth corona charge q c of − 0 . 10e − 07 c / cm 2 is applied on the insulating layer 16 such that the total corona charge q applied is + 0 . 10e − 07 c / cm 2 . the fifth spv measurement v spv is about 0 . 000 volts and substantially equal to the target value v spvtarget . note that the polarity of the fifth deposited corona charge q c was changed because the fourth spv measurement v spv went past the target value ( zero ) v spvtarget and the magnitude of the fifth deposited corona charge q c was changed , specifically reduced by half , to avoid duplicating the third measurement . therefore , the total applied corona charge q applied @ target to obtain the target value v spvtarget is + 0 . 10e − 07 c / cm 2 . the controller 36 then determines the total charge q tot of the insulating layer is + 0 . 10e − 07 c / cm 2 . in a second method of measuring the total charge q tot of the insulating layer 16 according to the present invention , the position actuator 34 alternately locates the corona gun 26 and the spv device 30 over the measuring region 22 of the wafer 12 to deposit increments of corona charge q c on the insulating layer 16 and to obtain spv measurements v spv of the insulating layer 16 . the controller 36 records each spv measurement v spv and determines and records the total corona charge q applied applied to the insulating layer 16 to obtain that spv measurement v spv . therefore , a data set is obtained containing the plurality of spv measurements v spv along with the corresponding total applied corona charges q applied . the controller 36 then determines the total applied corona charge q applied @ target required for the spv measurement v spv to be substantially equal to the target value v spvtarget from the data set . the value q applied @ target is preferably interpolated from the data set of discrete points . the controller 36 then determines the total charge q tot of the insulating layer 16 from the total applied corona charge q appliedatarget wherein the total charge q tot is again the negative of the total applied corona charge q applied @ target , i . e . q tot =− q applied @ target . fig4 illustrates an example of this second method wherein the target value v spvtarget is zero volts , or flatband condition . a data set is obtained by incrementally depositing a plurality of corona charges q c on the insulating layer and obtaining a spv measurement v spv for each incremental deposition . the illustrated data set contains 19 discrete points containing the spv measurements v spv and the corresponding total applied corona charges q applied . the controller 36 interpolates the discrete points to determine that the total applied corona charge q applied @ target at the target value v spvtarget is about + 0 . 10e − 07 c / cm 2 . the controller 36 then determines the total charge q tot of the insulating layer is + 0 . 10e − 07 c / cm 2 . when the target value v spvtarget is zero volts , each of the spv measurements v spv are preferably corrected with a small dember voltage correction in either of the methods . the dember voltage correction is a small “ second order ” correction which can be applied via well known equations . it should be evident that this disclosure is by way of example and that various changes may be made by adding , modifying or eliminating details without departing from the fair scope of the teaching contained in this disclosure . the invention is therefore not limited to particular details of this disclosure except to the extent that the following claims are necessarily so limited . | 6 |
fig1 shows a procedural course of a method according to the invention . the method runs in a cad - system 20 for the design of a geometry of forming stages . the method uses functions of a physical simulation system 40 which are either integrated into the cad - system 20 or are made available via a program interface by way of the physical simulation system 40 . a step for model production of a geometry object 22 is carried out after the start 21 of the method within the cad - system 20 . thereby , the model , for example in the working memory region of a computer , is produced by way of user inputs or by way of stored model data , so that it may be processed by the cad - system 20 . in a step for the definition of an operator 23 , the operator which sets the geometry objects in a relationship to one another , is manually defined or is read from a stored model description . the operator may , for example , be written as f , wherein wherein g 1 indicates a first , and g 2 a second geometry object , and p , parameters of the operator , thus a description of one or more corresponding processing steps . a computation method for the forming method allocated to the operator is called operator method for simplicity . the operator method is carried out with an application of an operator 24 , wherein a physical simulation 26 is also carried out . for this , firstly a computation mesh , in particular a finite element mesh is produced in a first conversion step 25 from a cad - model of the first geometry object . this is modified by the simulation 26 whilst taking into account physical material properties of a sheet metal blank 1 as well as process properties corresponding to one or more physical processing steps . the simulation may also include several iteratively implemented individual simulations . the modified finite element mesh , if required , is converted into a display which is accessible to the cad system 20 in a second conversion 27 . the features which are of relevance to the operator concerned are extracted in the model in a step for the extraction of relevant features 28 . optionally , this step 28 may happen also before the second conversion 27 . the relevant features are represented in a visualisation in a display 29 , for example in a certain processing stage and are superimposed for example on a representation of the formed sheet metal blank 1 . they may of course also be used in further steps of the geometric modelling . with regard to computer technology , the operator is implemented by a data structure or a software object in the context of object orientated programming , which for example represents indicators to the linked geometry objects , and properties of the one or more processing steps . in the step “ waiting for changes ” 30 , a monitoring routine of the cad - system 20 controls whether changes have occurred in the first geometry object or in the parameters , and triggers a new computation corresponding to the operator method . as long as the observed geometry objects in the cad - system 20 are processed , the method is in the waiting condition 30 or in the new computation 24 - 28 . the method is completed 31 on completion of the processing . fig2 to 8 show different processing stages of a forming process , in each case in a cross section . fig2 shows a sheet metal part , also called blank 1 , in the flat initial condition . fig3 shows the course of the sheet metal blank 1 after clamping between a lower die 11 and a binder 10 of a deep - drawing press . after the drawing by way of a punch which has not been shown , the sheet metal blank 1 has the shape according to fig4 , also called draw stage . the draw stage comprises a so - called addendum 4 which is later cut away , but which indeed influences the material properties in the end product . fig5 shows the sheet metal blank 1 after a trimming operation , which is carried out along a trimming line 3 , and wherein an edge of the sheet metal blank 1 is formed . fig6 shows the sheet metal blank 1 after the reshaping , wherein individual shapes are shaped to a greater extent . fig7 shows the sheet metal blank 1 after the flanging of flanges 5 , in fig8 after the setting of the flange 5 . other cross sections through the sheet metal blank 1 ( for example from above to below and perpendicular to the plane of the drawing ) are mannered similarly to those shown . the shown processing sequence is simplified by way of example . further processing steps of a similar manner may be added , in order to fashion individual detail shapes , for example openings . one may also carry out several trimming operations , for example , after the reshaping . fig9 shows a deep - draw stage with flange regions 14 mapped thereon . with this , an unrolling of the trimming line 3 from the end condition according to fig8 to the draw stage 2 is illustrated . the unrolling may be carried out in a single step or via one or more intermediate stages . fig1 shows a schematic detailed view of a blank before and after the deep - drawing . the figure is schematic in the sense that in reality the sheet metal blank 1 is held between the binder 10 and the lower die 11 , and is pulled tightly over a drawing radius 15 of the lower die 11 . additionally shown is a sheet metal edging line before the deep - drawing 6 a , a sheet metal edging line after the deep - drawing 6 b , a punch opening line 8 and a punch direction 12 , thus the movement direction of the punch which is not shown . fig1 shows a displacement of certain material points of this detailed view , and a region a channels 9 which arises on the sheet metal blank 1 by way of the deep - drawing . a physical unrolling is effected by way of inverse single - step simulation , instead of a normal geometric unrolling in individual steps perpendicular to the edge line . this method is applied for the forming operation for producing the flange 5 . it may be integrated into the cad - process as a physical operator of the associativity , said operator combining the component edge line unrolled onto the addendum , with the addendum . the method constitutes a reliable analysis means for assessing the manufacturability of the flange 5 by way of this , said analysis or its results preferably likewise being associatively linked to the addendum . thereby , the following steps are carried out , see also fig8 and 9 for this , which show the finished formed component and the draw stage 2 . a ) generating the finite element mesh as a computation mesh on the component with intermediately or finished formed flanges 5 . b ) mapping this mesh onto the geometry of the draw stage 2 before the forming of the flange 5 . this mesh represents the start solution for the equilibrium iteration d ). for example , a projection in the punch direction , geometric unrollings or rotary projection algorithms may be used as a mapping function . c ) initialising extensions and stresses in the component mesh ; either to zero in the cases that the extensions and stresses caused by the forming of the draw stage are not to be taken into account , or initialisation to the extensions and stress values and / or hardening or strength and sheet metal thickness of the draw stage 2 in the start solution . d ) iteration of the equilibrium by way of the inverse finite element method in the draw stage . thereby , the mesh nodes are iteratively shifted along the draw stage until the element forces in the nodes are in equilibrium . with this , thus the equilibrium in the initial position of the forming ( thus on the draw stage ) is iterated , i . e . one searches for that node position in the initial condition which leads to an equilibrium condition in the predefined end condition ( component mesh ). e . g . an elastic , rigid - plastic or however a more accurate elasto - plastic law may be approximately applied as a material law . e ) possible re - iteration of the initialisation of the extensions and stresses , in the case that the extensions and stresses have been taken into account in the draw stage . this is necessary since the initial mesh has shifted , and , thus , other initial extensions and stresses may be present at a certain material point . the re - initialisation may also be effected simultaneously with the equilibrium iteration . instead of the stresses and extensions , one may also use the cutting forces in an analogous manner . the result is the final iterated mesh in the draw stage : its edge represents the flange edging 3 unrolled onto the draw stage 2 . the evaluated extensions in the draw stage 2 may be inverted and then represent the extensions in the component 1 which have arisen by way of the flanging . with this , without further working steps , with each change of the draw stage geometry , in particular its addendum 4 , in each case the resulting unrolled component edging 3 , thus the position of the trimming line 3 is visible on the addendum 4 , and simultaneously also the extensions and stresses ( as well as variables derived therefrom ), caused by the forming of the flange 5 is visible in the flanges 5 , and this allows one to recognise whether a flange 5 may be formed at all . the advantages of the method are : a greatly accelerated development of an addendum 4 which is optimal with respect to following flange operations . the method also forms a basis for the analysis of a feasibility of the trimming line , as is described further below ; and leads to less required try - out iterations . the evaluation of a smallest possible blank by way of inverse single - step simulation permits the estimation of the material costs , and results in a starting blank for the simulation of the forming process as well as for the try - out . the evaluation of the smallest possible blank edging may be linked associatively to the addendum or to the geometry of the drawing operation . by way of this , it may be integrated into the cad - process by way of a physical operator of the associativity . it is simultaneously also a reliable analysis means for assessing the feasibility of the drawing operation , wherein a representation of the analysis is likewise associatively linked to the addendum or the draw stage . one possible embodiment of the method for determining the smallest possible blank edging is based on the situations according to fig1 . the method is basically analogous to the above described method for determining the trimming line . instead of the shifting of the trimming line over different forming steps , a shifting of the blank edging on deep - drawing is considered . this results in the following steps for the simulation of the drawing operation with inverse single - step simulation : a ) setting the desired sheet metal edging 6 b after the drawing operation on the drawing tool . this edging line 6 b may also be automatically produced , e . g . as a line with a constant offset to the punch opening line . b ) interlinking the drawing geometry edged by this line . c ) initialising the extensions and stresses or cutting forces in this mesh to zero . d ) evaluating a start solution for equilibrium iteration in the initial sheet metal plane , e . g . by way of projection . e ) iteration of the equilibrium with the inverse finite - element method in the plane , initial sheet metal . in each case , one may also take into account constraints such as retaining forces in particular binder forces , in the above steps . this simulation may alternatively also be effected in several steps , e . g . in a first step from the draw geometry back to the binder surface , and then in a second step back to the initial sheet metal . the result is the necessary edging 6 a of the plane initial sheet metal 1 which after the drawing operation leads to the defined sheet metal edging 6 b . the extensions and stresses may be simultaneously evaluated — these then permit an estimation of the forming ability / component quality for the drawing operation , which is associatively linked to the cad - design . each change of the addendum ( or also component ) immediately results in a new minimal blank and in a visualisation of the forming ability . the material costs may also be estimated from the size of the minimal blank . thus the influence of a change in the draw stage geometry , in particular of the addendum 4 , on the material costs is immediately evident , which greatly simplifies the optimisation of the addendum 4 with regard to the material costs . with this , characteristic properties of the trimming line in the initial condition are automatically evaluated and assessed . this includes an assessment of the trimming line and the cutting bench with regard to feasibility ( cutting angle and shear angle , width and flatness of the cutting bench ), and an evaluation of the trimming direction . the evaluation and assessment of the cutting angle properties and cutting bench properties are preferably associatively linked to the addendum . a representation of the cutting angle along the trimming line 3 is preferably effected via colours , so that full information along the trimming line is present , not only a pointwise analysis in individual points . the assessment is preferably effected not only on the trimming line itself , but via a belt running on both sides of the trimming line in the sheet metal blank 1 , a so - called cutting bench . an automatic evaluation of the optimal cutting direction or an automatic allocation of a working direction may additionally take place on regions of the trimming lines . one possible embodiment is : the unrolled sectional line on the addendum may be assessed with regard to cutting angle and shear angle after each change in the draw stage geometry or in the addendum , and be represented immediately in coloured manner . for this , one must previously define from which angle the trimming lines 3 or regions of the trimming lines 3 are to be cut ; this is preferably the main working direction of one of the forming operations , but may however also be lateral directions ( with cam trimmings ). alternatively , one may determine the optimal cutting direction for given regions of trimming lines 3 by way of independently selecting a cutting direction which fulfil the assessment criteria on all selected regions of the trimming lines 3 , or by way of representing the possible angular range for the working direction in a diagram , and the user selecting a working direction with the help of this diagram or a graphic display . furthermore , the possibility also exists of allocating trimming line regions automatically to one of a given quantity of working directions and / or cam directions , so that the assessment criteria are fulfilled . the flanges 5 to be formed in the subsequent operations are unrolled onto the addendum , in order to obtain the trimming lines 3 . the trimming lines 3 are examined with regard to feasibility : the cutting angle should be smaller than a predefined limit , e . g . 15 degrees . the cutting angle characterises the slant of the arising section surface at the end face and is e . g . defined as follows : the cutting angle is enclosed by the surface normal on the section curve and the projection of the cutting direction onto the normal plane of the section curve . the shear angle should be smaller than a predefined limit , e . g . 80 degrees the shear angle characterises the slant of the knife engagement and is e . g . defined as follows . the shear angle is enclosed by the surface normal on the cutting curve and the projection of the cutting direction onto the plane which is formed by the surface normal and the tangential vector to the cutting line . the width of the cutting benches : the cuts of the geometry in planes which are perpendicular to the cutting line should be adequately flat in a margin along the cutting line 3 , said margin being 5 mm wide on both sides . for this e . g ., the maximum radius of curvature of these sections in the margin may be determined . this margin must then be greater than a limit , e . g . larger than 20 mm . the reason for this is the necessity of a “ clean ” contact surface for the holding tools , a minimal width or minimal strength of holding tools and cutting knife , or a “ reserve ” in the case that surfaces bordering the cutting benches must be changed during the try - out . an iterative change / adaptation of the intermediate stage , in particular of the addendum 4 is effected when these criteria are not fulfilled . the procedure according to the fig2 to 8 corresponds to a very simple process . trimming operations are , for example , often carried out on several forming stages . different sections of the final edge line , thus , originate from trimmings of different forming stages of the same sheet metal . here too , proceeding from a first preliminary design , the position of the trimming lines on the various forming stages are determined and iteratively corrected . the combined simulation of the consecutive processing steps results in a current component edge in the end condition which depending on the progress of the iteration lies close to the desired predefined component edge . with this , in the end condition , a point of the desired predefined component edge and a corresponding deviation may be allocated to each material point of the current component edge . with this , a deviation distribution along the component edge in the end condition and , over a rearward mapping with the help of the material points , is defined in the preceding forming stages . this deviation distribution is then used in order to iteratively correct or adapt a section of the trimming line in a trimming operation on a preceding forming stage in which the corresponding section of the component edge is produced , with the aim of the simulation of the consecutive machining steps following in the iteration , whilst using this new trimming line in the end condition , and providing a corresponding section of the component edge which lies closer to the desired defined component edge . this iterative simulation of the consecutive processing steps is carried out until the deviation in the end condition , between the component edge resulting from the simulation , and the predefined component edge , falls short of a predefined tolerance for all edge sections produced in the different forming stages . trailing edges arise when the sheet metal flows over the draw radius 15 . the draw radius 15 is an inner edge of the lower die 11 over which the sheet metal blank 1 is pulled . the inner edging of all material points which have flowed over the draw radius 12 is indicated as the trailing edge 13 . channels or a region with surface scratches or channels 9 are formed between the trailing edge 13 and the draw radius 15 . these channels , after the drawing operation , may not come to lie in a visible region of the finished component . channels and accordingly also a trailing edge arise analogously also on the other side of the sheet metal , in that the sheet metal 1 is drawn over a so - called impacting edge of the punch . the evaluation of the trailing edges 13 is effected preferably by way of a simulation , wherein this evaluation is fixedly integrated into the cad - process . thereby , an associative connection of the trailing edge 13 to the addendum 4 is carried out via a physical associativity operator . a change of the trailing edge 13 at the same time is immediately visible with each change of the addendum 4 ; and an addendum 4 which is optimal with respect to this may be produced considerably more quickly and reliably . one possible embodiment based on the conditions according to fig1 : the drawing operation is simulated , for example with a single or two consecutive single - step methods ( forwards or backwards ; an incremental method would also be possible ). thereby , with the use of two steps , the sheet metal shape as an intermediate geometry should be present after closure of the binder , as in fig3 , as well as the formed geometry at the end of the drawing operation . a bijective mapping between these two geometries is present by way of the materially fixed points . the material points which lie at the beginning of the draw radius after the closure of the binder or are defined in a similar manner , form the trailing edge in the geometry at the end of the drawing operation . for evaluating the trailing edge 12 , one proceeds from a projection of the punch opening line 8 onto the forming stage before the deep - drawing . the punch opening line 8 is essentially a section of an extension of a perpendicular surface of the lower die 11 with the sheet metal blank 1 . by way of the simulation , one determines where the points of the punch opening line 8 come to lie on the draw stage 2 . these points are observed as a trailing edge 13 . in another variant of the invention , one proceeds from a line 8 ′ which is located at a constant distance within the punch opening line 8 . a second trailing edge 13 ′ results from this . in the shown example , the second trailing edge 13 ′ lies within the trimming line 3 . this is allowable or not , depending on the demands on the part . in a further variant , one assumes a line with a constant distance to an inner binder with a clamped forming part before the deep - drawing . | 6 |
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