Split (3)

train · 25k rows

text stringlengths 1.55k 332k	label int64 0 8
the improved mouthpiece according to the invention will now be described by referring to fig1 - 7 . the mouthpiece 10 has a circular connector piece 12 which engages the outlet of a nebulizer in the same way that the mouthpiece engages the nebulizer in fig . a . the opposite end of this mouthpiece device is the mouth shaped end piece 14 that , in use , is placed in the patient &# 39 ; s mouth . on top is a valve disc housing 16 that holds the exhaust valve for exhausting the exhalation from a patient . in the exploded view of fig1 the valve housing 16 contains an inner ring 18 the base which serves as a support ring for the valve disc . in the embodiment illustrated there is a central hub 20 which is supported by three arms 22 . these arms are quite thin so that the open areas 24 between them represent a substantial portion of the cross - sectional area in the housing . other configurations and different numbers of arms can be used . above the housing in the exploded view is the valve disc 26 sized fit on top of the arms and the support ring 18 . the arms 22 and hub 20 prevent the valve disc 26 from opening inwardly during inhalation . above the valve disc in the exploded view is a retainer ring 28 having the outer wall shown and an inner wall ( not shown ) which is of slightly smaller diameter . the outer wall screw threads over threads 30 of the valve housing wall 16 to hold the outer peripheral area of the valve disc in place , by means of the inner wall , when the unit is assembled . the retaining ring 28 has a series of projections or ribs to facilitate gripping the ring and twisting it off the threads 30 for removal . [ 0031 ] fig2 is a cross - sectional side view of the mouthpiece device showing the elevational relationship of the parts and passageways . for greater clarity , the retaining ring 28 and the valve disc have been removed . the circular connector 12 will fit into the conventional circular outlet port of nebulizer . the mouth shaped end piece 14 at the other end is positioned above the center line of the circular connector 12 . the back wall 13 of the connector 12 joins the connector to the upper mouthpiece . the valve housing 16 is part of the mouth shaped end piece 14 . inside the housing the support ring 18 together with the hub 20 and support arms 22 are arranged to support the valve disc 26 . when the mouthpiece is used by a patient , inspiration mist enters the circular connector 12 through its opening 32 and passes through the device and out the opening 34 in the mouthpiece . in that flow path inside the circular connector 12 is a deflector 36 which extends out at an obtuse angle from the inside wall of the circular connector 12 toward opening 34 . the purpose of the deflector is two fold . first , with regard to the incoming inspiration mist , the deflector deflects that gas stream away from the valve disc in the valve housing so that the mist will not strike the valve disc and thus there is no possibility that some of the mist might leave through the valve disc . the second function is that in the respiration cycle when the patient is exhaling , the exhalation gas will be deflected so that exhalation gas is directed into the valve housing 16 where it can exhaust through the valve disc 26 . [ 0033 ] fig3 is a top view of the thin valve disc 26 . the radial cuts 40 and annular cuts 42 in the valve disc facilitate draining the accumulated moisture back into the mouthpiece on inhalation . there can be many possible - cut patterns in the disc to define various flaps which will open upwardly when the exhalation pressure is applied to permit the exhalation gas to leave the mouthpiece . seen here are three radial cuts 40 from the center and three annular cuts 42 which define six flaps 41 . as exhalation gas pressure is applied from below , these flaps will open along the cut lines to let gas escape from the mouthpiece . [ 0034 ] fig4 is an outside view of the device showing again the elevational relationship between the circular connector 12 , its back wall 13 connecting to the higher level mouth shaped end piece 14 . the valve housing is made a part of the mouth shaped end piece 16 above where it connects to the circular connector . [ 0035 ] fig5 is a top view of the device without the retaining ring 28 and valve disc 26 . the support structure for the valve disc 26 is made up of the ring surface 18 , the three grille arms 22 and the central hub 20 . the end of the mouth shaped piece that is placed in the patient &# 39 ; s mouth has a greater width than the opposite end where the valve housing is located . the mouth end has an oval opening to better anatomically fit in the patient &# 39 ; s mouth . [ 0036 ] fig6 a - d illustrate various cut patterns for the valve disc 26 . in 6 a , each of six radial cuts the center form a flap 41 on either side of the cut in conjunction with annular cuts so as to provide twelve flaps which can open up in response to the exhalation pressure . in 6 b there are three large flaps 41 which pivot adjacent the disc center and extend toward the periphery . in 6 c where each radial cut meets the annular cut it forms the apex for a flap . thus here are five flaps formed in fig6 c . in 6 d each radial cut defines two flaps and so as to form six flaps formed . [ 0037 ] fig7 a , 7 b are plan views of alternative support means integral with the hollow mouthpiece element positioned so as to prevent the opening of the exhaust valve element during patient or user inhalation . referring to fig8 the valve body 16 is provided with interrupted threads 30 evenly spaced around the outer circumference of the valve body to engage protrusion receiving internal threads ( not shown ) in the retaining ring 28 . a filter body 44 is shown as being configured with a cylindrical base member 47 which is sized to be snugly fit into the interior of the retaining ring 28 . the cylindrical base 47 extends below the filter body a distance that is less than the distance from the top of the retaining ring 28 to the flexible valve . in this manner , the filter body will be sized to be snugly received in the retaining ring which will abut the surface 48 without the cylindrical base touching or otherwise interfering with the function of the one - way valve element ( valve disc 26 ). optionally , a positive expiratory pressure ( pep ) valve 50 having a body 51 configured with a base member 52 which is sized to be received in the retaining ring 28 with a snug fit is provided which will enable the mouthpiece to be used as described in u . s . pat . no . 5 , 584 , 285 as either a pep device or as a part of the breathing circuit described therein with a filter to reduce exposure to excess aerosol medication . this is an important use to reduce health care provider exposure to patient contaminating aerosol or highly toxic medicants . the pep valve 50 , which will be described more fully hereinafter , is provided with the feature of adjustable back pressure which can be used to aid in the deposition and prevent the loss of aerosol in the lungs by creating airflow conditions which are more controlled and thereby permit deeper deposits which are less susceptible to mucocillary removal . such devices also help improve patient compliance with proper breathing techniques and helps to strengthen the muscles of respiration . this can be accomplished by providing either inhalation resistance , exhalation resistance or both . further , the incorporation of the variable resistance valve combines maximum aerosol density and respiration of optimum particle size for many treatment options including antibiotics , antivirals , enzymes , bio - reactive substances and genetic therapies . the pep valve 50 has a variable cross - section semicircular slot 53 ( fig1 ) on a rotationally movable plate 54 can be adjusted to present the capability of providing for variable back pressure provided by an adjustably sized outlet for the opening 55 which communicates with the interior of the pep body 51 . the back pressure may be measured , if clinically desired , by a manometer fitted to the nipple 56 during treatment or exercise . a handle 57 is integral with the plate 54 which is rotatably captive in the pep body 51 by means of a rivet or pivot 58 . the components are sized to prevent significant leakage which could alter the value of the manometer readings . in operation the mouthpiece , the pep valve may be incorporated into a breathing circuit with or without the one way valve disc and filter 44 , or a pressurized external gas source can be used for various therapies and exercises . such a device , which can be called a positive airway pressure adjunct and can be used in modified circuits to mobilize secretions , treat atelectasis and provide continuous positive airway pressure ( cpap ), positive expiratory pressure ( pep ), and expiratory positive airway pressure ( epap ) therapies . during cpap therapy , the patient breathes from a pressurized circuit against a threshold resistor ( water - column , weighted , or spring loaded ) that maintains consistent preset airway pressures from 5 to 20 cm h 2 o during both inspiration and expiration . by strict definition , cpap is any level of above - atmospheric pressure . cpap requires a gas flow to the airway during inspiration that is sufficient to maintain the desired positive airway pressure . during pep therapy , the patient exhales against a fixed - orifice resistor , generating pressures during expiration that usually range from 10 to 20 cm h 2 o . pep does not require a pressurized external gas source . during epap therapy the patient exhales against a threshold resistor , generating preset pressures of 10 to 20 cm h 2 o . epap does not require a pressurized external gas source . the device described herein is suited for pep therapy in the configurations shown . the size of the device provides both convenience comfort and greater independence for the patient during treatment . referring now to fig1 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 and 16 , a filter housing 44 is provided which will fit into the retaining ring 28 as previously described . a filter element 60 is received in the housing 44 which is hinged at the back 61 and closed at the front with a suitable latch structure 62 . the interior of the filter housing 44 is provided with a peripheral apron 63 and locator pins 64 which , in combination with the structure of the rear of the housing locates the filter element 60 on the apron ( as shown in fig1 ). clamping protrusions 65 molded into the lid 66 of the filter housing 44 are sized to firmly squeeze the edge of the filter element 60 onto the apron 63 to seal and prevent lateral movement of the element during use . ribs 67 are provided as projections from the cylindrical base 47 to provide central support for the filter element to minimize sagging . the filter element itself is selected to provide a significant reduction in visible particles , a 3m product 0 . 3 micron filtrate filter being preferred . in the configuration shown the effective area of the filter exposed to patient exhalation is nominally a surface measuring about 5 cm by about 7 . 5 cm ( i . e . about 37 . 5 cm 2 ). in order to be most effective , the inlet and exhaust areas of the filter housing should be comparable in cross - sectional area . the textured outlet areas shown in fig1 on the top surfaces of the housing 44 are therefore sized to be substantially the same in effective exhaust area as the inlet cross - sectional area . in one arrangement the filter housing may be attached to the retaining ring by way of the pep valve . an alternative construction for the pep valve will now be described with reference to fig1 and 20 . a cylindrical body 70 has an integral annular flange 71 defining an annular array of three evenly spaced openings 72 defining a passageway through the valve under the control of a rotatable valve member 73 which defines an annular array of openings 74 of the same spacing as openings 72 and having a range of different sizes . the member 73 is rotatable by a handle 75 , integral therewith , relative to the openings 72 to adjust the size of the passageway . the valve member 73 is captively mounted to the body 70 by detents 76 formed on an exterior cylindrical surface of a hollow boss 77 integral with and forming a central opening in the flange 71 . the boss 77 defines a plurality of axially extending slots to provide for assembly as the detents are inserted in a bore of the valve member 73 for engagement with recesses 78 therein . valve member locating detents 84 resiliently retain the valve member 73 relative to body recesses 85 to retain desired alignment of openings 72 and 74 . a poppet valve member 79 is located in the central opening in the flange 71 and seats under the bias of a spring 80 against a valve seat 81 . the poppet valve member 79 includes a guide spider 82 about the spring 80 which is guided by a spider guide opening in the boss 77 to control alignment of the poppet valve member 79 with the valve seat 81 . in similar fashion to the pep valve described with reference to fig8 and 10 , the body 70 defines a base member 82 to be received in the retaining ring 28 and nipple 83 for attachment to a manometer to measure back pressure , if desired . in use , the passageway is adjusted to desired cross - sectional area by rotation of the valve member 73 . during exhalation , if the back pressure in the body 70 below the poppet valve exceeds the bias of spring 80 , the poppet valve member 79 lifts from the valve seat overcoming the spring bias to relieve the back pressure by allowing exhaled gas to bypass the passageway . the pep valve of this invention has a controllable exhalation resistance of from 5 - 20 cm . h 2 o ( water pressure ) at flow rates of 10 - 55 liters / minute . the pressure relief poppet valve is spring biased to insure that flow resistance values over 20 cm . h 2 o are actively vented .	0
the preferred embodiment of the invention for forming a uniform curtain for application to a receiving surface is shown in fig2 . the apparatus consists of a basin 10 divided into a primary channel 11 and a secondary channel 12 by dividing plate 13 . the basin has two end caps 14 that determine its lateral extent . replaceable endcaps of various lateral dimension may be used to change the width of the coating . the basin has an inlet end 15 where coating composition is supplied to the primary channel . the inlet has the following essential elements : a ) a port to receive the coating composition from the conduit . the supply conduit should be in a vertical plane that is perpendicular to the curtain at the center of the width of the curtain ; b ) the inlet itself is an enclosure ( box ) centered on this port and filling the cross section of the primary channel from the backwall of the basin to the dividing plate . the top , bottom , front and back sides of the inlet enclosure are solid . the sides of the inlet enclosure consist of one or more layers of perforated plate lying in vertical planes perpendicular to the curtain . coating composition exits the sidewalls in the direction of the axis of the channel and is distributed evenly over the cross section of the channel ; c ) preferably , the outermost perforated plate of the sidewall is corrugated so that the open area of this plate is at least 50 % of the cross - sectional area of the primary channel . the corrugations are symmetric about lines and planes parallel to the axis of the channel such that components of lateral flow ( flow perpendicular to the axis of the channel ) from the corrugations cancel one another . d ) optionally , the front plate of the inlet enclosure is gapped from the dividing wall and perforated . in fig2 coating composition is supplied through a conduit 16 to the center of the primary channel . an inlet 25 within the primary channel directs the liquid along the axis of the primary channel . the coating composition flows along the primary channel towards the end caps 14 because of its momentum in that direction from the inlet and because of gravitational leveling . when the momentum is significant , little or no drop in liquid level occurs from the center to the ends of the primary channel . a nearly uniform level in the primary channel favors uniform flow into the secondary channel . there are other , less advantageous ways in which the primary channel can be supplied with coating composition . a supply conduit can be located at other lateral positions or at an end of a channel , and multiple supply conduits can be distributed widthwise . the supply conduit can run through the primary channel from end cap to end cap and supply coating composition through numerous holes . the coating composition can be poured into the primary channel at one or more positions . the dividing wall 13 creates a resistance to flow from the primary channel to the secondary channel . this resistance promotes the distribution of the coating composition along the primary channel and diminishes any disturbances associated with the entry of the coating composition . the dividing wall is a critical element of the invention , and it is described in detail below . as shown in fig3 the coating composition entering the secondary channel 12 from the primary channel 11 flows primarily across the secondary channel to an outlet end 17 of basin 10 . the outlet end 17 is configured as a horizontal pouring lip that the coating composition overflows to form a free falling curtain 18 . the overflow may simply take place over a horizontal edge of the basin . preferably , however , the outlet end of the basin is a lip 19 contoured to direct the coating composition vertically downward . lip configurations conducive to forming a free falling curtain are known in the art ; for example , u . s . pat . nos . 5 , 462 , 598 and 5 , 399 , 385 . the pouring edge or lip must be lower in elevation than the end caps , the back wall of the basin , and the dividing wall so that the coating composition overflows only there . the pouring edge or lip should be accurately horizontal to promote a uniform curtain . it is well known in the art that if the edges of a free - falling curtain are not supported by vertical edge guides , the curtain narrows as it falls because surface tension causes the edges of the curtain to roll up . edge guides 20 can be employed to support surface tension and maintain the width of the free - falling curtain . in some applications , particularly when the curtain is wider than the receiving surface , the narrowing of the curtain is not objectionable . in most cases , however , maintaining the width of the curtain is desirable , and the edge guides known in the art can be used ; for example , u . s . pat . nos . 4 , 830 , 887 , 5 , 328 , 726 , and 5 , 395 , 660 . curtain height can vary from a few to several tens of centimeters . generally , higher curtains promote increased coating speed without the entrainment of air between the coating and the receiving surface . for high flow rates or low viscosities , the receiving surface is advantageously tilted forward to preclude the formation of a puddle at the line of impingement . in fig2 the receiving surface for the coating 21 is a web 22 conveyed through the curtain by a backing roller 23 , but many other receiving surfaces are possible . as another example , the receiving surface may consist of discrete objects on a conveyor belt . the receiving surface may also be the surface of a roller used to supply a roll coating process with coating composition , or a gravure cylinder that is subsequently bladed and contacted with a web . the dividing wall allows coating composition to pass from the primary to the secondary channel while providing some resistance . resistance is indicated by a drop in the elevation of the surface of the coating composition between the primary and secondary channels . preferably , as shown in fig3 and 4 , there is a continuous gap 24 between the dividing wall 13 and the basin 10 . the length and height of this gap determines the flow resistance . in the examples , the gap is 0 . 11 inches . the gap depends upon the flow rate and the properties of the coating composition . in practice , the gap is reduced until the level of the surface in the primary channel is higher than the level in the secondary channel by a distance of the order of a centimeter . the gap is readily altered by raising or lowering the dividing wall by its ends . besides the ease in adjusting flow resistance , the gapped dividing wall precludes the regions of stagnation and flow recirculation caused by a discontinuous flow path . the gapped dividing wall also helps to exclude large air bubbles from the coating . to reach the curtain , bubbles must be drawn under the dividing wall against their buoyancy . the gapped dividing wall also provides the option of varying the flow resistance across the width of the coating . the bottom of the wall may be contoured so that the gap varies along the length of the channels as desired , as shown in fig4 . alternatively , the thickness of the wall may be contoured . the gap can also be altered by applying an adjustable mechanical load to the dividing wall so that it bends . reasonable mechanical loads can be achieved through choice of construction material , or by designing the wall to weaken it structurally . although a continuous gap is preferred , the dividing wall 13 might alternatively be made of perforated or drilled plate , as shown in fig5 . the holes can have any cross sectional shape although a circular shape is most common . flow resistance is controlled primarily by the open area of such plates . a wall that is porous is the extreme of a wall with perforations . a perforated wall can be effective at laminarizing the flow and promoting a smooth curtain ; large turbulent eddies are broken down into smaller eddies that rapidly dissipate . however , walls with multiple passageways can create a three - dimensional flow field that is conducive to regions of stagnation and recirculation . part or all of the dividing wall may be perforated . the wall is perforated by drilling or punching , and most commonly the cross section of a perforation is circular . the diameter of the perforations should be small enough to provide flow resistance but large compared to any particulates dispersed in the coating composition and large enough for the drilling and punching operation ; for example , a suitable diameter may be about 0 . 1 inch . the size and spacing of the holes is determined so that , for the desired coating composition and flow rate , the level of the surface of the liquid in the primary channel is higher than the level in the secondary channel by a distance on the order of a centimeter . in a preferred embodiment , the basin and dividing wall can be contoured to reduce regions of stagnation and recirculation in the secondary channel . the dividing wall is preferably of cylindrical shape ( the surface is traced by a straight line moving parallel to a fixed straight line and intersecting a fixed planar closed curve ). as fig3 shows , the wall of the basin at the outflow end 17 is preferably angled upward from the dividing wall to avoid a corner . as an additional measure , the dividing wall can be shaped so as to reduce the angle at which the flow expands in the secondary channel , as shown in fig6 . the smaller the angle of divergence of the flow , the less likely flow recirculations will be encountered . as is well known in hydrodynamics , the larger the reynolds number , the more likely flow separation and turbulence will occur . the preferred reynolds number for the coating composition is between 0 . 1 and 10 . as a safety feature , it is preferred that the height of the edges of the basin , except for the edge where the liquid overflows to form the curtain , exceed the elevation of the top surface of the dividing wall . then , should the resistance of the dividing wall be too high , as by incorrect setting of the gap , or should the flow rate supplied surge for whatever reason , the liquid will overflow only the dividing wall and remain confined to the basin . in a preferred embodiment of the invention , the primary channel has a centrally located inlet 25 that receives the incoming coating composition and directs it along the length of the primary channel . to avoid areas of stagnation and recirculation , the velocity from the inlet should be nearly uniform over the cross section , as fig7 suggests . a central location for the inlet is preferred because this minimizes the distance over which the coating composition flows . gravitational leveling of the liquid in the primary channel promotes a uniform distribution over the width of the coating . however , the differences in depth that drives the liquid along the primary channel , the variation in the so called gravitational head , also drives liquid into the secondary channel through the flow resistance of the dividing wall . thus , minimizing the depth variation in the primary channel is advantageous . a way to accomplish this consistent with the object of minimizing the volume of liquid in the basin is to create an inlet that propels the liquid towards the end caps 14 of the basin . in this case , the momentum of the incoming liquid partially or completely counteracts viscous flow resistance , and less of a variation in gravitational head is required . this ideal condition is reached if a reynolds number appropriately defined for the primary channel is of the order of magnitude of unity so that the momentum of the incoming liquid is just sufficient to convey the liquid to the ends of the primary channel . ## equ1 ## wherein : ρ is the density of the coating composition q is the volumetric flow rate per unit of curtain width an effective inlet 25 has been found to be an enclosure with the walls opposite the endcaps of the basin 14 made of perforated plate . the supply conduit 16 is directed perpendicular to the lengthwise axis of the primary channel . the perforated side walls 27 are perpendicular to this axis so that the issuing liquid is directed toward the end caps of the basin . flow resistance through the side walls distributes the liquid over the cross section of the channel . ideally , the average velocity through the side walls based on the total open area of the perforations should approximate an average velocity based on the cross - sectional area of the primary channel . however , if the side walls are planar , the total area of all perforations must be substantially less than the channel area and the issuing velocity higher than desired . the open area of the sidewalls can be increased if their shape is corrugated rather than planar . bends of 45 degrees , for example , increase the open area by about 41 %. a section of sidewall that is slanted to the axis of the primary cavity produces an undesirable flow component across the cavity , and so it is desirable that for each slanted section there is an opposing section of equal area so that by symmetry there is no net cross flow . bending the sidewalls to the shape of a bellows is a practical way to achieve the desired symmetry . sidewalls of this shape are depicted in fig8 a and b . most advantageously , the sidewalls 27 of the inlet comprise a flat perforated plate in series with a perforated plate with angled , opposing sections . the flat plate is nearer the supply conduit , and its high flow resistance distributes the incoming liquid over the cross section . the plate comprising bent sections with a total open area more nearly that of the cross section of the primary cavity follows to reduce the velocity . the front wall 28 , shown in fig8 c , of the inlet opposing the dividing wall 13 is preferably separated from the dividing plate by a gap 29 ( fig8 b ) so that flow under the dividing plate is not blocked by the inlet . in the following example , the gap is 0 . 12 inches . the front wall of the inlet may have holes so that sufficient flow issues to supply that fraction of the cross section of the primary channel occupied by gap 29 . the top surface 30 of the inlet extends to the dividing wall so that the liquid issuing from front wall 28 is forced under the dividing wall and down the primary channel . any holes in the front wall of the inlet are preferably above the gap 24 between the dividing plate and the bottom of the basin so that direct jetting under the wall does not occur . for uniform flow distribution , the flow rate through a cross section of the primary channel decreases approximately linearly with distance from the center as liquid supplies the curtain . so , if the primary cavity has a constant cross - sectional area , the velocity of the liquid in the primary cavity falls off as the end caps 14 are approached , as fig9 illustrates . in fig9 arrows in the primary channel indicate the average velocity and direction of the coating composition . the length of the arrows is proportional to the speed , and so the arrows indicate that the coating composition slows down as it flows from the center to the end of the primary channel . low velocities may promote gravitationally induced inhomogeneity of the coating composition . the velocity of the liquid may be kept more uniform by tapering the cross - sectional area of the primary channel from the inlet to the cavity end , as shown by fig1 . the geometric simplicity of the weir lends itself to economic fabrication . the weir may be assembled from separately machined elements , for example a main body and two endcaps , in the most demanding applications where tight tolerances must be met . in somewhat less demanding applications , the main body can be extruded from materials such as aluminum and cut to length . for the best demanding applications , the main body can be inexpensively formed from sheet material such as stainless steel sheet . similarly , the dividing wall can be machined , extruded , or formed . a long dividing wall of small cross section can be mechanically stabilized with clips or brackets between the top of the dividing wall and the back ( inlet ) wall of the main body ; positioning elements immersed in the coating composition disrupt flow and are undesirable . the endcaps can be replaced to vary curtain width , or blocks of different thicknesses conforming to the cross - sectional shape of the channels can be inserted into the secondary channel or into both of the channels and attached to a permanent endcap . if the inlet does not have its own floor or backwall so that the floor and back wall of the main body of the weir complete the inlet enclosure , then a tight fit is essential to prevent jetting of the coating composition through inadvertent gaps . particularly undesirable is jetting along the floor of the weir directed under the dividing wall . in some applications , such as for highly volatile coating composition , a cover for the weir is beneficial . a two - channel weir was constructed with the cross - sectional dimensions given in fig1 . lengths are given in inches and angles in degrees . the gap under the dividing plate was 0 . 11 inches . the length of the two channels was 71 inches . the inner perforated sidewall of the inlet had holes 0 . 062 inches in diameter and a fractional open area of 30 %. the outer perforated plate of the inlet had holes 0 . 075 inch in diameter and a fractional open area of 0 . 51 ; the six sections of this plate were angled at 60 ° to the cross section so as to oppose one another . a test liquid of polyvinyl pyrrolidone in water was prepared to which surfactant was added as known in the curtain - coating art . the fluid properties were a density of 1 gm / cc and a viscosity of 40 centipoise . flow rate per unit width was 3 . 5 cc / sec per cm of curtain width . under these conditions , the reynolds number for the primary channel is 0 . 9 and has the preferred magnitude . thus , good uniformity was achieved with a uniform gap . reynolds numbers sufficiently higher or lower would have required tailoring the gap to achieve the desired uniformity in flow . the invention has been described in detail with particular reference to certain preferred embodiments thereof , but it will be understood that variations and modifications can be effected within the spirit and scope of the invention .	8
i summarize above a novel optical reticle projector suitable for use in a ground - based optical system . a preferred optical reticle projector 38 is shown in fig4 . preferred components of the optical reticle projector 38 are first disclosed , followed by a recital of its operation in a ground - based optical system . the optical reticle projector 38 preferably comprises a cylindrical housing 40 . the cylindrical housing preferably has a radius from 0 . 5 to 4 . 0 inches , with a radius of 1 . 0 inches being especially preferred . the housing 40 preferably comprises a rigid tube , and preferably comprises aluminum , invar or steel . the weight of the housing 40 is preferably as small as possible , without compromising a desired rigidity . for example , the housing 40 is preferably less than 5 . 0 pounds , particularly less than 3 . 0 pounds . a small weight is preferred , not only in and of itself , for ease in operation and compactness , but also to maximize a relative weight proportionality between the optical reticle projector 38 and a guide telescope . this last fact has an important functional counterpart : a maximized relative weight proportionality between the optical reticle projector 38 and the guide telescope functions to minimize the problem of differential flexure . the optical reticle projector 38 includes a source of radiation 42 that is secured to the housing 40 by conventional means , for example , light - weight brackets 44 . the source of radiation 42 outputs a radiation beam along an optical axis 46 that preferably is parallel to the housing 40 . a preferred source of radiation 42 comprises a conventional led ( light emitting diode ). the optical reticle projector 38 further includes an optical field element 48 conventionally secured by the housing 40 , and centered on the optical axis 46 . the optical field element 48 preferably comprises a condensing lens or a diffuser , for example , opal glass . the optical field element 48 preferably secures a reticle 50 . the reticle 50 preferably comprises a predetermined geometric configuration , for example , straight - line hatches , and is preferably clear on a dark surround . finally , the optical reticle projector 38 includes an imaging lens 52 conventionally secured by the housing 40 , positioned on the optical axis 46 , and capable of imaging the reticle 50 to infinity . the imaging lens 52 preferably comprises an achromatic lens that can function to collimate the radiation beam outputted from the reticle 50 , for imaging at infinity . attention is now directed to fig5 which shows a preferred optical system 54 employing the fig4 optical reticle projector 38 . the optical system 54 comprises a main telescope 56 , which secures the optical reticle projector 38 by conventional means , for example , a nut and bolt assembly ( not shown ), and a guide telescope 58 secured to the main telescope 56 by way of interface bracketry 60 . the guide telescope 58 may be modified so that it does not have an internal reticle component . a conventional computer 62 and a camera monitor 64 can receive vector a signals from the guide telescope 58 and computer 62 , respectively , along a set of lines 66 , 68 . the operation of the fig5 optical system 54 is as follows . the optical reticle projector 38 broadcasts an image of the reticle 50 into the guide telescope 58 . the guide telescope camera monitor 64 detects the reticle image as sharply focused on the sky ; conjugate , and in sharp focus with a guide star . the guide telescope 58 , also , simultaneously , images a guide star through its ( larger ) objective lens . the simultaneous imagery of guide star through a larger guide telescope objective lens , and the projected reticle via the optical reticle projector 38 , may be understood by reference to fig6 . in fig6 a large circle 70 represents an entrance pupil of the guide telescope 58 . a small circle 72 shows a portion of the entrance pupil that may be used to accept the projected radiation beam from the optical reticle projector 38 . because the guide telescope 58 is focused at infinity , and because the optical reticle projector 38 projects an image of the reticle to infinity , the guide telescope camera monitor 64 can sense a sharply focused image of the reticle , nominally centered in the camera &# 39 ; s field of view , but independent of the relative centering of the guide telescope 58 to the reticle projector 38 . the remainder of the large entrance pupil 70 receives ample starlight to result in a bright image of a guide star . in use , large or small mechanical swings or excursions of the optical system 54 result in negligible effects due to differential flexure . this point can be understood by reference to fig7 . fig7 a shows a camera monitor 64 display 74 at the beginning of an exposure . note that camera fiducials 76 , a projected reticle image 78 , and a star image 80 are all co - centered . fig7 b shows a display 82 at the end of an exposure . an operator or the computer 62 has maintained the star image 80 on the reticle image 78 center , in response to a vector a signal , by use of guide correction motors , or by adjusting the rates of main drive motors . however , note in particular that the reticle image 78 is no 1onger centered upon the camera fiducials 76 . this is because the guide telescope 58 has been differentially flexed during the exposure , by an amount equal to vector b . however , because the compact and light weight optical reticle projector 38 of the present invention has not incurred substantial differential flexure , an image from the main telescope 56 exposure is not smeared . referring to fig2 i have therefore correctly adjusted this image by an amount vector (-- a ), not the erroneous vector (-- c ). the structure , use , and key advantages of a novel optical reticle projector have now been disclosed . other important advantages are now noted . first , the lightweight and self - contained optical reticle projector eliminates certain difficulties heretofore attendant on the prior - art guide telescope operations . for example , the guide telescope may now be removed for cleaning and storage . its re - installation , ( or substitute such units ) in an optical system , for example , that of fig5 is straightforward , since the guide telescope mounting bracketry need not be as rigid as heretofore . further , optical alignment of a re - installed guide telescope to the optical reticle projector is direct , and may be done in daylight , thus reserving valuable night - time viewing for scientific research .	8
as discussed above , the present invention relates to an improved pc - pump . fig2 - 4 schematically show a preferred embodiment of the invention for use with a pc - pump driven by a hydraulic motor 21 . fig2 shows the system in its normal configuration ; fig3 shows the response of the system to a boot ( seal ) failure ; and fig4 shows the response of the system to an overheat condition , e . g ., a deadhead or dry pumping situation . motor shaft 26 extends through hydraulic motor 21 and is driven by high pressure hydraulic fluid which enters the motor through high pressure supply line 37 and leaves the motor through low pressure return line 39 . shaft 26 is connected directly to joint 8a via hub 29 . shaft 26 includes central channel 27 which communicates with reservoir 31 and the interior of sealed joint 8a . joint 8a is connected to joint 8b by connecting shaft 6c . shaft 6c includes central channel 25 which communicates with the interior of sealed joint 8a and with the interior of sealed joint 8b . sealed joint 8b is connected to rotor 5 . channel 23 is formed in rotor 5 and communicates at one end with the interior of sealed joint 8b . at its other end , channel 23 has a plug 19 composed of a material which melts at a predetermined temperature . channels 23 , 25 , and 27 can have diameter of about 6 - 8 millimeters , although other diameters can be used if desired . the predetermined melting temperature for plug 19 is chosen based on the material which is to be pumped . for example , for explosives , the temperature is chosen based on the explosives &# 39 ; maximum pumping temperature . in general , the predetermined melting temperature is about 20 ° c . to about 40 ° c . above the maximum pumping temperature , but well below the temperature where decomposition of the explosives can occur . the maximum pumping temperature for non - cap sensitive explosives is generally around 80 ° c ., while for cap sensitive explosives , the maximum pumping temperature is about 95 ° c . preferred predetermined melting temperatures for plug 19 are thus about 100 ° c . for non - cap sensitive explosives and about 125 ° c . for cap - sensitive explosives . the about 100 ° c . and about 125 ° c . values can be achieved using various eutectic or near eutectic alloys known in the art , e . g ., 26 % sn , 21 % cd , and 53 % bi to achieve a 103 ° c . melting temperature and 56 % bi and 44 % pb to achieve a 124 ° c . melting temperature . other alloys , as well as other materials having defined melting temperatures , can also be used if desired . reservoir 31 , sealed joints 8a and 8b , and channels 23 , 25 , and 27 form a continuous sealed system ( the &# 34 ; sealed lubricant system &# 34 ;). sealing is achieved through the use of static seals which have zero leakage at both ends of the hydraulic motor in combination with boots 17 which seal joints 8a and 8b . as shown in the figures , the static seals can be o - rings 62 and 64 . as discussed above , instead of boots 17 , other sealing means with zero leakage when intact can be used to seal off the joints , e . g ., a sleeve or hose which extends between the joints and surrounds connecting shaft 6c . it should be noted that when such a sleeve or hose is employed , central channel 25 can be eliminated if desired . the sealed lubricant system is filled with a joint lubricant , such as oil , through feed hole 47 . to remove air from the system , plug 19 is loosened and then retightened once bubble free oil is seen exiting around the plug . a preferred construction for plug 19 which facilities these operations is discussed below in connection with fig8 a and 8b . the sealed lubricant system is pressurized by using a pressurized source of joint lubricant and by closing off feed hole 47 while pressure is being applied from said source . in some cases , it may be desirable to evacuate the system before filling it with the joint lubricant so as to minimize the presence of air pockets around , for example , boots 17 . the initial pressure within the system is chosen to be greater than the expected head pressured within suction chamber 2 ( see fig1 ). in this way , if a boot 17 ruptures , fluid will exit the boot , rather than emulsion entering the boot . similarly , fluid will exit from plug 19 upon its melting under deadhead conditions ( see discussion below ). the initial pressure must be less than the pressure rating of boots 17 or other sealing mechanism of joints 8a and 8b . in the case of boots , a preferred initial pressure is between about 2 bar and about 4 bar , e . g ., about 3 bar , which is well within the range of pressures which commercially available boots can withstand . higher or lower pressures , e . g ., pressures in the range from about 0 . 2 bar to about 6 . 0 bar , can , of course , be used if desired , depending upon the specifics of the construction of the joints and their sealing mechanism . in addition to its initial pressurization during filling , pressure is also applied to the system through diaphragm 33 which forms one end of reservoir 31 . specifically , the high pressure hydraulic fluid in high pressure supply line 37 is used to drive plunger 45 of hydraulic valve assembly 35 towards diaphragm 33 . the front ( leading ) end of plunger 45 preferably is in the form of a cone - shaped , freely rotating bearing so as not to apply substantial torque to either diaphragm 33 or plunger 45 as motor shaft 26 rotates . preferably , the ratio of the cross - sectional area of the plunger to the cross - sectional area of the diaphragm is chosen so that when high pressure hydraulic fluid is supplied to supply line 37 , the pressure applied to the diaphragm through the cone - shaped bearing is approximately equal to the initial pressure in the system . in this way , during use , the diaphragm is under essentially no net force . as discussed above , the initial pressure in the system is preferably greater than the expected head pressure in suction chamber 2 . by making the pressure applied to diaphragm 33 approximately equal to this initial pressure , upon rupture of a boot or the melting of plug 19 , the pressure supplied to the system by the plunger will also be greater than the expected head pressure . as shown in fig2 - 4 , hydraulic valve assembly 35 is mounted directly on the back of hydraulic motor 21 . in some cases , it my be more convenient to integrate the assembly with the motor &# 39 ; s existing hydraulic control valving and to use a mechanical linkage to transmit force from the assembly to diaphragm 33 . such hydraulic control valving can , for example , be located above motor 21 in fig2 - 4 , and a lever type linkage can be used to transfer force to diaphragm 33 and to sense movement of the diaphragm as a result of a loss of pressure within the sealed lubricant system . diaphragm 33 can be made of , for example , stainless steel and can be in the form of , for example , a series of concentric ridges to provide the desired level of flexibility . fig3 shows the response of the system to a boot failure . the boot failure is schematically represented by reference number 50 and the flow of lubricant fluid to and through the ruptured boot is represented by arrows 49 . as can be seen in fig3 because the fluid is pressurized to a pressure greater than the expected head pressure in suction chamber 2 , lubricant fluid flows through the system to the failure location and exits from the system at that location . this causes diaphragm 33 to move to the left in the figure in response to the pressure applied to the diaphragm by plunger 45 . the movement of plunger 45 , in turn , causes high pressure bypass leg 41 to be connected to low pressure bypass leg 43 , thus shutting off hydraulic motor 21 . in this way , a boot rupture automatically prevents further operation of the pc - pump . it should be noted that since the shut - off mechanism is an integral part of the hydraulic motor , improper disablement of this safety system is less likely by operators . to further inhibit such activity , reservoir 31 , diaphragm 33 , and hydraulic valve assembly 35 can be enclosed in a housing rigidly fastened to the hydraulic motor and that housing can be permanently sealed or secured by a locking mechanism which is accessible only to supervisory personnel . fig4 shows the operation of the system during an overheat situation . plug 19 melts at its predetermined temperature , thus allowing the lubricant fluid to exit the system . the system then operates in the same manner as in fig3 to shut off hydraulic motor 21 . fig5 and 6 show an alternative to the use of plug 19 . this construction employs a vacuum chamber 52 which is received in chamber 56 formed in the end of rotor 5 . vacuum chamber 52 is sealed by sealing plug 54 which can be made of the same types of material as used for plug 19 . melting of plug 54 due to excess heat in rotor 5 caused by a deadhead or dry pumping situation allows lubricant fluid to enter the vacuum chamber . the operation of the system then follows the same pattern as discussed above with regard to fig4 . boot failure for this embodiment operates in the same manner as shown in fig3 for the plug embodiment . vacuum chamber 52 should be sized to be large enough to allow diaphragm 33 to move far enough to the left in fig6 so that plunger 45 opens the bypass between the high and low pressure sides of the hydraulic system . for the system of fig5 - 6 , an additional port ( not shown ) is preferably provided which is connected to , for example , chamber 56 to allow for bleeding of air from the lubricant fluid . vacuum chamber 52 can be equipped with a flexible disc 53 which provides a convenient monitor for the presence of vacuum within the chamber . specifically , when the disc is concave inward , vacuum is present , whereas when the disc is flat , vacuum is absent . the use of a vacuum chamber can allow for lower pressure values within the sealed lubricant system since during an overheat condition , specifically , a deadhead condition , the lubricant does not have to overcome the head pressure within suction chamber 2 . to detect boot failure , the lubricant does enter suction chamber 2 . if boot failure occurs during normal operation or during dry pumping , the pressure within suction chamber 2 is either low or negative ( normal operation ) or zero ( dry pumping ). if boot failure occurs during a deadhead condition , head pressure in suction chamber 2 can be high , but the deadhead condition will cause the vacuum chamber to operate through melting of plug 54 so that the power source for the pump will be disabled in any event . the embodiments of fig2 - 6 do not include a drive shaft 6a as shown in fig1 . such a shaft can be used if desired . in such a case , a channel will be formed in the drive shaft and static seals will be formed between the drive shaft and the motor shaft and the joint 8a . fig7 shows an alternate construction in which the pump &# 39 ; s motor operates through a gear box . specifically , as shown in this figure , a gear 68 is mounted on shaft 66 and a second gear 70 is mounted on the output shaft 71 of motor 72 to transfer power from the motor to shaft 66 and hence to the pump . motor 72 may be a hydraulic motor as in fig2 - 6 or an electric or pneumatic motor . shaft 66 includes central channel 74 which communicates with central channels in drive shaft 6a and connecting shaft 6c ( not shown in fig7 ), as well as with sealed joints 8a and 8b . rotor 5 is equipped with a temperature sensitive , pressure relief mechanism ( not shown ), such as the melting plug mechanism of fig2 - 4 or the melting plug / vacuum chamber mechanism of fig5 - 6 . as shown in fig7 reservoir 31 and diaphragm 33 are mounted at the right hand end of shaft 66 . o - ring 62 forms a static seal between the shaft and the reservoir . loss of liquid lubricant from the sealed system is detected by movement of diaphragm 33 . a generic detector is shown at 76 in fig7 . this detector may be an electronic or pneumatic proximity detector , an electronic , hydraulic , or pneumatic limit switch directly connected to the diaphragm , or similar devices capable of responding to the movement of the diaphragm . the output of the detector is used to control the operation of motor 72 . it should be noted that the motor control system of fig2 - 6 ( e . g ., hydraulic valve assembly 35 ) can be used with the embodiment of fig7 when motor 72 is a hydraulic motor . similarly , the motor control system of fig7 employing generic detector 76 can be used with the systems of fig2 - 6 if desired . a preferred construction for plug 19 is shown in fig8 . the plug includes a body 58 and a core 60 made of the meltable material . the body has a tapered thread on its outside surface for engagement with rotor 5 . this thread is preferably self - sealing . to avoid tampering with the safety system of the invention , a non - standard thread can be used for the outside of the plug &# 39 ; s body . the use of a threaded plug facilitates the replacement of plugs which have undergone melting during the protection of a pump from an overheat event . the body of the plug also has a parallel thread on its inside surface for engagement with a corresponding thread on the outside surface of core 60 . this provides greater purchase between the core and the body . body 58 also can include a recess at its upper end for receiving a key for tightening the plug into the rotor . the recess can be a standard hexagon of the allen wrench type . a non - standard recess can also be used to further minimize the chances of tampering with the safety system . the construction shown in fig8 for plug 19 can also be used for plug 54 used to seal vacuum chamber 52 in the embodiment of fig5 and 6 . since the operation of plug 19 and vacuum chamber 52 depends upon transfer of heat to the material which is to melt , it is important that rotor 5 have a sufficiently high thermal conductivity so that the system has an overall fast response time to deadhead or dry pumping situations . stainless rotors generally have a sufficient conductivity , although other materials having higher conductivity can be used if desired . also , the plug or vacuum chamber should be placed as close as possible to the stator inlet so as to minimize the distances over which heat has to travel from its point of generation within the rotor / stator assembly to the plug or vacuum chamber . further , rotor 5 can be equipped with an internal heat pipe to aid in the transfer of heat from remote parts of the rotor to the plug or vacuum chamber . from the foregoing , it can be seen that the present invention has , among others , the following advantages : ( 1 ) in comparison to the prior art , the invention is able to check deadhead , dry pumping and seal integrity using a single system . ( 2 ) the system trips reliably during deadhead and dry pumping at a predictable temperature because the trip is initiated by a low temperature eutectic alloy which has a sharp melting point and is placed in the hottest part of the pump , the rotor . ( 3 ) the invention permits continuous checking of the joint boots . should a leak develop , it is sensed immediately and the pump is stopped shortly thereafter . the prior art at best permitted the checking of the joint boots and other seals by periodic pressurization . such periodic inspection is time consuming and leaves the pump unprotected against boot failures between inspections . ( 4 ) in comparison to the prior art , the system of the present invention is more direct acting ( less signal transformations ) and has therefore a lower failure frequency rate . ( 5 ) the system is not susceptible to having its set point altered by operators as in the case of electrically based systems . variation in set point can be achieved by using materials which melt at different temperatures . operators , however , will not generally have such materials available or the means to fabricate them into a plug or similar structure . although specific embodiments of the invention have been described and illustrated , it is to be understood that modifications can be made without departing from the invention &# 39 ; s spirit and scope . for example , although the system has been illustrated in terms of detecting both failure of the joint lubrication containment system and overheat conditions in the rotor / stator assembly , the invention can also be practiced for just one of these events . for example , for a connecting shaft assembly which does not employ joints , e . g ., an assembly using a flexible connecting shaft , the heat detection aspects of the invention can be practiced by forming a central channel in the flexible shaft or surrounding the shaft with a flexible shell , and using that channel or shell to connect temperature responsive means at the rotor with control means for the pump &# 39 ; s power source . similarly , for a product which is not heat sensitive , but needs to be kept free of contamination from joint lubricant , the seal failure aspects of the invention can be practiced without using the overheat detection aspects . it should be noted , however , that even for materials that are not heat sensitive , the rotor / stator assembly is itself heat sensitive especially when run dry , and thus the overheat detection aspects of the invention are preferably employed even when the material being pumped is not itself heat sensitive . various constructions other than those illustrated in the figures can be used in the practice of the invention . for example , instead of using a flexible diaphragm 33 to form the face of reservoir 31 , a bellows system can be used having a rigid face with expansion and contraction of the reservoir space taking place by means of flexible side walls in the form of a bellows . as with the diaphragm , the bellows can be made of metal , e . g ., stainless steel . also , rather than using hydraulic valve assembly 35 to apply pressure to diaphragm 33 , a pneumatic pressure source operatively interlinked with a trip switch for the pump &# 39 ; s motor can be used . similarly , a hydraulic pressure source operatively interlinked with a remote trip switch can be used rather than the direct action system shown in fig2 - 6 . the direct action hydraulic system of fig2 - 6 , however , is preferred since it provides the most direct shut off of the motor . a variety of other modifications which do not depart from the scope and spirit of the invention will be evident to persons of ordinary skill in the art from the disclosure herein . the following claims are intended to cover the specific embodiments set forth herein as well as such modifications , variations , and equivalents .	5
the acidic aqueous compositions of the invention contain an inorganic acid and the acid employed under conditions of use must be capable of etching chrome . examples of inorganic acids are hydrofluoric acid , hydrochloric acid , phosphoric acid , and preferably sulfuric acid . mixtures of acids can be used if desired . one particular advantage of the invention is that the invention makes it possible to provide an etchant composition for chromium which does not require hydrochloric acid . also , preferably , the compositions of the invention should be substantially , if not entirely , free from nitric acid since it tends to attack copper , which is present beneath the top chrome layer in the articles treated by the compositions of the invention . the acid is present in the composition in amounts sufficient to etch the chrome , and these amounts are usually from about 1 . 0 to about 20 % by weight of the aqueous composition . preferred amounts of the acid is 3 to 10 % by volume at a temperature from about 30 ° to 90 ° c ., preferably 30 ° to 70 ° c . and this renders the ph of the composition less than (& lt ; 2 . 5 ); preferably , between 0 and 2 , and most preferably between 0 and 1 . in addition , the compositions of the present invention must include thiourea or at least one substituted thiourea or mixtures thereof . examples of some substituted thiourea compounds include alkylthiourea compounds such as 1 , 3 - dimethylthiourea , 1 , 3 - diethylthiourea , 1 , 3 - diisopropylthiourea , and 1 , 3 - dibutylthiourea ; allylthiourea ; diphenylthiourea ; and ethylenethiourea . the preferred compound employed is thiourea . the amount of the thiourea compound employed is usually about 1 to about 10 % by weight , and preferably about 2 to about 5 % by weight . the compositions of the present invention are especially suitable for etching chrome and for selectively etching chrome layers without affecting underlying copper , without affecting positive photoresist materials , and without significantly affecting the resistivity of cermet , which may also be present beneath the chrome . the etching can be achieved by immersing the particular article to be etched in a bath of the composition and maintaining the material to be etched in contact with the composition for about 10 seconds to about 10 minutes , and preferably for about 30 seconds to about 3 minutes . the composition is capable of etching chromium at a rate of 2000 å per minute , and at one fifth the cost per unit batch over the prior art permanganate process . the acidic aqueous compositions of the invention are approximately one - fifth less expensive than the potassium permanganate etch . moreover the ph of the acidic aqueous compositions is not critical within the acid range ( i . e . 0 to 7 ), and with a constant thiourea concentration , the etching speed varies with the acid concentrations . further , in contrast to the etching process using potassium permanganate , the photoresist layer in the invention process requires either no baking or a shorter baking time because it is not attacked by the acid etch . the acidic solution can be applied using spray or immersion techniques for etching and , due to the less expensive cost of the acidic aqueous compositions together with elimination of the oxalic acid rinse and the second potassium permanganate etching step required in the prior art process , the speed of the etching in the present invention is much faster and the cost of the etching in the present invention , especially as part of the gas panel fabricating process , is substantially lower than that in the potassium permanganate process . the compositions of the present invention are employed generally at temperatures of about 30 ° c . up to about the boiling point of the compositions , and preferably no higher than about 90 ° c . the preferred temperatures are about 30 ° to about 70 ° c . the time and temperature of the etching are inversely related . for example , at the lower temperatures longer immersion times of up to about 10 minutes are employed for etching away about 1 , 000 å of chromium . further , the time is somewhat related to the thickness of the material to be etched away . a particular type of article etched according to the invention is a glass plate on top of which is a first layer of about 1 , 600 å chromium , followed by a layer of about 25 , 000 å of copper , on top of which is another 1 , 600 å chromium layer . if desired , a cermet , such as a silicon monoxide cermet material can be placed between the glass plate and the first chromium layer . a typical example of a suitable cermet is obtained from firing a composition containing chrome and silicon monoxide . the following example is presented to further illustrate the invention in a nonlimiting way . an etch solution is prepared by dissolving sufficient concentrated sulfuric acid ( i . e . about 98 % concentration ) in water to obtain 3 to 10 % by volume of the acid in water and thiourea is added so that it is from 3 to 10 % by weight of the deionized water . a glass plate having a 1 , 600å layer of chrome , on top of which is a 25 , 000 å layer of copper , on top of which is another 1 , 600å layer of chrome on top of which is a layer of photoresist containing the desired conductor pattern is immersed in the etch solution . the solution is at a temperature between 30 ° to 70 ° c . the top chrome layer of 1 , 600å is etched away in about two minutes , and the acidic solution is washed off with deionized water . a predetermined portion of the copper is then etched away with an ammonium persulfate solution , and the bottom chrome layer is etched away with the same solution used to etch away the upper layer , after washing off the ammonium persulfate with deionized water . there is only minimum undercutting of the top chromium during the etching of the bottom chromium layer .	7
the present invention may in some applications advantageousely be applied to preformed heat - recoverable sleeves , e . g . heat - shrinkable tubes , in order to form one or more auxiliary conduits therein but , in general , is applied to heat - recoverable wrap - around articles , especially sleeves , in order to overcome the problem discussed above . accordingly , the invention will , for convenience , from hereon be described with reference to wrap - around sleeves . the size and position of the areas bonded together will , of course , depend on the nature of the auxiliary conduit required . however , in most simple applications a satisfactory branch conduit can be formed at one end of a wrap - around sleeve by bonding together two narrow - spaced - apart longitudinal strips at that end of the sleeve , the spacing of the strips and their length being chosen according to the end circumference and length , respectively , of the branch conduit required . in such an embodiment it will not be necessary to perform any other operation on the sleeve . however , in other more complex situations , additional steps carried out before or after the bonding step , such as cutting , may be employed . for example a branch conduit along the length of the sleeve may be made by bonding together two areas spaced apart along the length of the sleeve and then cutting a hole in the sleeve between the two bonded portions . it will be appreciated that the areas bonded together will be on the internal surface of the sleeve . it is , of course , possible to form more than one branch conduit in the sleeve and it is also within the scope of the present invention to form an auxiliary conduit which does not communicate with the main sleeve conduit . for example a sleeve could be formed as a double conduit by bonding together two narrow strips extending throughout its length . the bonding must be sufficiently strong that it is not significantly damaged upon recovery and that it fulfils any other requirement of the particular application . in this respect the present invention contemplates the use of many conventional methods of bonding including the use of adhesives including thermosetting polyimides , ethylene / vinyl acetate copolymers silicone resins and epoxy resins such as flexible epoxy polyamides . however , the method of bonding especially preferred for use in the present invention uses peroxides and other similar cross - linking agents . such materials can be used on their own if they exist in liquid form or if they exist in solid form may be used in solution in , for example , xylene or in dispersion in , for example , an adhesive material such as an ethylene / vinyl acetate copolymer . amongst suitable liquid agents there may be mentioned , for example t - butyl peroctoate and t - butyl perbenzoate . amongst suitable solids , those available commercially are varox ( 2 , 5 - bis - tert - butyl peroxy - 2 , 5 - dimethyl hexane ), luperco 130xl ( 2 , 5 - di - tert .- butyl peroxy - 2 , 5 - dimethyl - hexyne - 3 ) and dicup ( dicumyl peroxide ). other suitable agents include peroxysilanes and the cross - linking agents listed in british pat . nos . 1 , 131 , 010 , 1 , 242 , 911 and 1 , 258 , 982 , the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference . these materials can be readily applied to the surfaces to be bonded , for example by painting them on with a brush or by coating during manufacture of the sleeve . bonding can then be readily effected using conventional apparatus for the application of the necessary heat and pressure . typically bonding will be effected using a temperature in the range of from 200 ° to 350 ° c . and a pressure of from 5 to 20 kg / cm 2 , the heating cycle being from about 30 seconds to 1 minute or higher , depending on the thickness of the material , and the pressure being maintained for up to about 5 minutes as the bond cools or is cooled . many materials may be used to make the heat - recoverable wrap - around sleeves of the present invention . suitable materials are described for example in the afore - mentioned u . s . and british patents . it will also be appreciated that the sleeves may be provided with other means for improving their sealing ability etc . for example they may be internally coated with an adhesive or a mastic . such materials will , if present , in general be applied after bonding has been effected in accordance with the present invention , but may , if desired , be applied before bonding . as mentioned above , the present invention is especially applicable to the repair and formation of splices and breakouts from pressurised power cables . another application is in the connection and repair etc . of telephone cables . in such applications it is often preferable to provide the wrap - around sleeve with an inner lining of metal foil as so to form a moisture barrier . in order that the metal foil should not prevent or hinder recovery of the sleeve it may be corrugated , at least in the vicinity of the ends of the sleeve , as set forth in french patent application no . 74 . 30569 . such heat - recoverable sleeves can also be used in the present invention , a suitable adhesive being applied to the relevant areas of the metal foil , thereby forming a moisture impermeable joint . fig2 illustrates a wrap - around sleeve for use in the present invention ; fig3 illustrates the sleeve of fig2 after it has been bonded in accordance with the present invention ; fig4 illustrates the wrap - around sleeve of fig3 in position about the branch connection shown in fig1 ; fig5 illustrates the embodiment of fig4 after heat - recovery of the wrap - around sleeve ; fig6 illustrates a second form of wrap - around sleeve according to the present invention ; and fig7 illustrates a third form of wrap - around sleeve according to the present invention . referring to the drawings , in fig1 there is shown a typical branch connection between a main power cable 1 and a branch cable 2 , the cables being connected after stripping etc . by a connector member 3 . it is an object of the present invention to provide means for satisfactorily insulating and encapsulating such a branch connection . in fig2 there is shown a heat - recoverable wrap - around sleeve 4 . at or about one or both its edges 5 and 6 there are provided means ( not shown ) for holding it in the wrapped - up position during recovery . the internal surface of the sleeve 4 is provided at 7 and 8 with two narrow strips of a peroxide coating , typically about 10 mm wide . the coatings 7 and 8 may also contain one or more adhesives , for example an ethylene / vinyl acetate adhesive . in fig3 there is shown the wrap - around sleeve of fig2 after the two strips 7 and 8 have been bonded together in the manner described above to form an auxiliary conduit 9 . fig4 illustrates the sleeve of fig3 wrapped in position , prior to recovery , about the branch connection shown in fig1 . the positioning of the sleeve has been effected by passing the branch cable 2 through the auxiliary conduit 9 prior to forming the connection and then wrapping the sleeve 4 about the connection in a conventional manner . fig5 shows the position after heat - recovery of the wrap - around sleeve to give the final encapsulated connection . in fig6 there is shown a further form of wrap - around sleeve according to the present invention in which an auxiliary conduit 10 has been formed throughout the length of the sleeve . fig7 shows another form of wrap - around sleeve according to the present invention in which two bonds 11 and 12 have been formed across the length of the sleeve and then the sleeve has been cut or slit between these bonds to form a branch conduit 13 . the invention has been described with particular reference to the repair and formation of branch connections between cables but it will be appreciated that it will have many other applications .	7
a hearing device system is schematically shown in a block diagram according to fig1 . such a system comprises a hearing device 1 having electro - acoustic converters , namely at least a microphone , preferably two microphones 2 a and 2 b as shown in fig1 , as well as a receiver 3 ( speaker ). the microphones 2 a , 2 b are connected to an input to a transmission unit 5 adjustable in its transmission characteristics over an analog - to - digital converter 4 , the transmission unit 5 being on its output side connected to the receiver 3 over a digital - to - analog converter 6 . in the transmission unit 5 , a number of different sets of parameters are selectable , each set belonging to a hearing program . instead of microphones 2 a , 2 b other input units may be connected to the transmission unit 5 in further embodiments of the present invention . other input units may be , for example , the tele - coil , a fm —( frequency modulation ) unit , a bluetooth unit or a cellular phone having a wireless or wired connection to the hearing device . a signal processing unit 8 is further comprised in the hearing device 1 . the signal processing unit 8 itself comprises a signal analyzing unit 9 and a signal identification unit 10 connected to the signal analyzing unit 9 . the signal analyzing unit 9 is connected to the output of the analog - to - digital converter 4 ., the output of the signal identification unit 10 is connected to the transmission unit 5 to which an input part 11 is operationally connected in addition . this input part 11 forms , for the embodiment shown , a remote control 12 ( fig2 ) that is separated from the hearing device 1 and that communicates , as need be , wirelessly with the hearing device 1 . the remote control 12 , which is only shown schematically in fig2 , has a housing 13 in which the necessary electronic components ( not shown in fig2 ) are arranged , as well as two buttons 14 and 15 which can be easily recognized and operated by the hearing device user . it is also possible to incorporate the input part 11 — instead of the realization as a remote control 12 — into the hearing device 1 and to provide the buttons at the surface of the hearing device 1 . in either embodiment of the input part 11 , i . e . as remote control 12 or as switch on the hearing device 1 , one or two buttons can be used . in a further embodiment of the present invention , the input part 11 is designed in order that the functions of the button or the buttons 14 , 15 can be controlled by speech . the identification of the momentary acoustic situation is , for example , implemented according to the known teaching disclosed in wo - a - 01 / 20965 and us - a - 2002 / 0037087 . therefore , its content is herewith incorporated by reference . in summary , the identification of the momentary acoustic situation is performed as follows : in the signal analyzing unit 9 , characteristic auditory - based features and / or technically - based features are extracted from the output signal of the analog - to - digital converter 4 . based on the features extracted in the signal analyzing unit 9 , the momentary acoustic situation is determined by recognizing the same or similar patterns in the extracted features . from the result of the signal identification unit 10 , also called classifier , a corresponding output signal is generated for each available hearing program . this output signal , which may also be generated in the signal identification unit 10 , is hereinafter called suitability measure . in other words , the suitability measure is a measure of how well a particular hearing program fits to the detected momentary acoustic situation . these suitability measures are used , in one embodiment of the present invention , to arrange the hearing programs in a priority list ; the hearing program having the highest suitability measure is at the first position while the hearing program having the lowest suitability measure is at the last position of the priority list . in a further embodiment of the present invention , the presence of a new or changed priority list and / or one or several next best performing hearing programs are acoustically announced to the hearing device user before switching . this is achieved , for example , by a signal generating unit ( not shown in fig1 ) comprised in the transmission unit 5 , the signal generating unit being capable of synthesizing a corresponding acoustic signal or by reading out a memory containing the necessary information to generate the corresponding acoustic signal , i . e . voice . in yet another example , the signal generating unit may be a player to play back recorded voice . the acoustic announcement may also be realized by other acoustic signals than voice . for example , it could be a single frequency beep , a jingle , music , etc . in a further embodiment of the above - mentioned aspect of the present invention regarding the acoustic announcement , a new selection or an automatic adjustment of the hearing device must be accepted by the hearing device user in order to get activated . this can be by manually pressing a button at the hearing device or at the remote control . activation by a voice signal of the hearing device user may also be implemented , wherein a voice recognition algorithm is being used to detect a code word . fig3 shows a flow chart representing five different hearing programs p 1 to p 5 which are available in the hearing device 1 ( fig1 ). for a first acoustic situation , the hearing program p 1 has the highest suitability measure . according to the signal analyzing unit 9 , the hearing program p 1 is therefore best suitable for this first momentary acoustic situation . the hearing programs p 2 to p 5 follow each other in terms of its suitability measures , i . e . the hearing program p 2 has the second best suitability measure , the hearing program p 3 has the third best suitability measure , and so on , in respect to the first momentary acoustic situation . as is illustrated in fig3 a , all the hearing programs p 1 to p 5 are , for the sake of its selection , arranged in a circular buffer . instead of arranging the hearing programs p 1 to p 5 in a circular buffer , a further embodiment may , for example , also consist in using a circular buffer of pointers each pointing to a memory section of the corresponding hearing program p 1 to p 5 . once the circular buffer is set up as described above , the hearing device user may , starting from the first hearing program p 1 having the highest suitability measure ( arrow b in fig3 a ), jump to the next best hearing program p 2 having the second highest suitability measure by activating the hearing device 1 directly or over a remote control 12 , respectively . again , the activation may lie in pressing a button 14 , 15 ( fig2 ) at the remote control 12 or at the hearing device 1 . by this simple procedure , the hearing device user may correct the automatically selected hearing program p 1 by a simple activation assuming that , if not the first hearing program p 1 , at least the second or third hearing program p 2 , p 3 will meet the needs of the hearing device user . for a new or second detected acoustic situation , the hearing program p 1 to p 5 may be rearranged in a sequence as shown in fig3 b . according to the flow chart of fig3 b , the hearing program having the highest suitability measure is now p 3 . the sequence following the hearing program p 3 is p 1 , p 5 , p 4 and p 2 . again , this sequence is calculated by the signal processing unit 8 applying the above - referenced algorithms . according to the present invention , the hearing device user may again change the preferred offered setting by simply activating the hearing device 1 directly or via the remote control 12 . according to the present invention , the hearing device user is not forced anymore to activate the hearing device 1 several times in order to get to the desired hearing program . in addition , the hearing device user does not have to know at which position the desired hearing program is arranged . the sequence of the selectable hearing programs 21 to p 5 is arranged in accordance with the momentary acoustic situation determined by the signal processing unit 8 in order to simplify the selection of the desired hearing program by the hearing device user . the described information of the signal processing unit 8 ( fig1 ) consists in particular in that probabilities are generated for each hearing program p 1 to p 5 in the classifier operating in the signal processing unit b . the determined probabilities provide information about its suitability to operate in the detected acoustic situation and therefore are referred to as suitability measures . in other words , the suitability measures provide information about the efficiency of a hearing program applied in a certain acoustic situation . according to the above , the signal processing unit b suggests a best possible hearing program for a detected momentary acoustic situation . if , in addition , an input signal is detected at one of further inputs sources — as for example at a tele - coil ( t - coil ), an audio input or a fm —( frequency modulated ) input , a bluetooth receiver , an output signal of a cellular phone —, optimal parameters are suggested for a next best hearing program for this additional input source . the hearing device user may then select the second best hearing program in order to pay attention to the additional input source . these further input sources may , for example , also be incorporated into the priority list together with other possible hearing programs . for example , it might be possible to have the hearing program with the highest suitability measure at the first position and a hearing program handling a detected input source ( e . g . at the t - coil ) at the second position . in view of the above - described aspect of the present invention , it is understood that the term “ hearing program ” means not only the handling of a detected acoustic situation but also the handling of a further input source ( e . g . t - coil , bluetooth device , cellular phone , fm module , etc .). therefore , a signal of a further input source must also be understood as a momentary acoustic situation in the scope of this specification . a possible technology to detect a further input source is disclosed by u . s . patent application with ser . no . 10 / 452 731 which is hereby incorporated by reference . in one embodiment of the present invention , the best suitable hearing program p 1 or p 3 , respectively , may automatically be selected by the signal processing unit 8 of the hearing device 1 . in a further embodiment of the present invention , the most suitable hearing program is only selected after an activation signal has been received by the hearing device user . in other words , the most suitable hearing program is not automatically selected as soon as a new momentary acoustic situation has been detected . this may be of advantage in the case where the suitability measures of two different hearing programs are about equal and the likelihood of switching between this two hearing programs is therefore high . accordingly , it could have been prevented that the hearing device user is confronted with a switching back and forth between two or even more hearing programs . the above - described hearing device system cannot only be used within the meaning of a hearing aid which is used to correct a hearing impairment of a person . the present invention is also most suitable to be used with other acoustic communication systems , as for example in radio equipments . in addition , the afore - described present invention or aspects of the present invention may very well be used in connection with binaural hearing devices .	7
fig2 is a block diagram of a first embodiment of the present invention . in fig2 the same reference numeral or symbol as in fig1 designates the same unit or circuit as in fig1 . in fig2 the control unit cont unit 11 is functionally the same as cont unit 1 in fig1 except that cont unit 11 has a non - volatile memory ( mem ) 8 which is a random access memory ( ram ), for storing identification information on drives to be correctly installed in the array disc equipment and proc 41 is provided by modifying proc 4 in fig1 so as to operate with mem 8 . the identification information can be the actual manufacturing numbers ( mf nos .) of the drives . the mf nos . are memorized in a designated area on the memory disc , located , for example , at the last track of the last cylinder of the memory disc and not otherwise usable by users . the mf nos . will be used as the identification information hereinafter , and mf nos ., stored in mem 8 , of drives correctly installed and normally operating in the array disc equipment will be called &# 34 ; reference mf nos .&# 34 ; hereinafter . the reference mf nos . are used by proc 41 for determining whether drives installed or reconnected in the array disc equipment due to replacement or expansion are correctly connected by the connection cables in the array disc equipment , by comparing mf nos . read from the installed drives with the reference mf nos . in mem 8 , the state of the installed drives and the results of the comparison are also stored , forming a kind of a correspondence table . the correspondence table is represented as table 100 in fig2 and an example of table 100 is shown in fig3 . in table 100 in fig3 the reference mf nos . and the remarks on the state of the cable connection , the result of comparing between mf nos . read from the installed drives and the reference mf nos . and the trouble of the installed drives if occur are tabulated in accordance with the logical addresses of drives to be installed in the array disc equipment . in table 100 , 001 , 002 , --- in the column for &# 34 ; mf nos .&# 34 ; show an example of the reference mf nos ., a flag &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; in the column for connec . represents a good connection , a flag &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; in the column for mismatch represents that an mf no . read from an installed drive is not coincided with the reference mf no . of the drive to be installed and a flag &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; in the column for trouble represents that the corresponding drive has trouble . in the column for logical addresses in table 100 , the blank columns are provided for expanding drives . the increase or decrease of drives is usually performed every ld . regarding table 100 , a rule is implemented that no reference mf no . is ever changed unless an operator of the computer changes the reference mf no . with a message for informing the replacement or the new installation of a drive , by operating a control key - board , not depicted in fig3 equipped to the computer or the array disc equipment . the change of the reference mf nos . by the operator will be detailed later . when an array disc equipment being an article of good quality is equipped in the computer initially in the factory , the reference mf nos . must be initially stored in mem 8 . this is performed in accordance with the first flow charts shown in fig4 as follows : ( 1 ) after the array disc equipment is equipped in the computer , the power of the array disc equipment is turned on locally or in accordance with a command from the channel , which is represented as &# 34 ; power on &# 34 ; in fig4 ; ( 2 ) when the power of the array disc equipment is turned on , the channel asks proc 41 whether table 100 has a flag representing that the table 100 is ready to be used by filling the table 100 with the reference mf nos ., which is indicated by step 1 - 1 , representing &# 34 ; table 100 ready ?&# 34 ;; ( 3 ) the table 100 has not been accessed yet from the channel because the array disc equipment is firstly equipped , so that proc 41 will answer back to channel &# 34 ; no &# 34 ; as shown at step 1 - 1 ( the case of &# 34 ; yes &# 34 ; in step 1 - 1 will be explained later by using symbols &# 34 ; a &# 34 ; and &# 34 ; b &# 34 ;), then the channel sends a command to proc 41 so as to make table 100 in a state ready to be used , therefore , proc 41 instructs acc 6 to read the mf nos . of drives in the array disc equipment through dccs 7a to 7d , as indicated by step 1 - 2 , representing &# 34 ; read mf nos .&# 34 ;; ( 4 ) the mf nos . read from the drives are sent to proc 41 so as to be stored in mem 8 as the reference mf nos ., bringing table 100 in the state ready to be used , which is indicated by step 1 - 3 , representing &# 34 ; bring table 100 into ready state &# 34 ;; and ( 5 ) when table 100 becomes the ready state in step 1 - 3 , the channel sends a command to proc 41 to write or read data into or from the drives , then the data writing or reading is performed as explained in reference to fig1 which is indicated by step 1 - 4 , representing &# 34 ; accept command from channel &# 34 ;. during the time when write or read operation is performed in the array disc equipment , however , the hardware trouble cannot be avoided from occurring in the drives . when the trouble occurs in the drives , the trouble is usually backed up by other auxiliary drives in ld . however , if the trouble increase beyond a predetermined threshold , proc 41 catches this fact and produces an alarm signal , storing a trouble flag &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; in table 100 as shown in fig3 . the alarm signal is also sent to inform the operator which is the faulty drive . when the operator finds the faulty drive , he turns the local power of the faulty drive or the power of the array disc equipment off and replaces the faulty drive with a new good drive . then , the operator edits table 100 , by operating the control key - board , so as to put a replacement message in table 100 , instead of the reference mf nos . of the faulty drive . as a result of the change made to table 100 , the trouble flag in table 100 disappears due to the work of proc 41 . when a drive is replaced thus , table 100 is renewed by putting a new mf no . of the replaced drive in the column having the replacement message and confirms whether the replaced drive is correctly installed . the steps of putting the new mf no . of the replaced drive in table 100 and confirming whether the replaced drive is installed proceed in accordance with the second flow chart shown in fig5 as follows : ( 1 ) the local power of the replaced drive or the power of the array disc equipment is turned on after replacing the drive and editing table 100 so as to put the replacement message on the column instead of the reference mf no . of the faulty drive , which is represented as &# 34 ; power on &# 34 ; in fig5 ; ( 2 ) then the channel commands proc 41 to ask whether table 100 is ready , as indicated by step 2 - 1 , representing &# 34 ; table 100 ready ?&# 34 ;; ( 3 ) the table 100 has been in the ready state in this case , so that proc 41 answers back to the channel &# 34 ; yes &# 34 ; as shown in step 2 - 1 ( symbol &# 34 ; a &# 34 ; indicates this case , and &# 34 ; no &# 34 ; in step 2 - 1 has been explained in reference to fig4 as indicated by symbol &# 34 ; b &# 34 ;), then the channel asks proc 41 whether table 100 has any message on the column for the reference mf nos ., as indicated by step 2 - 2 , representing &# 34 ; any message in table 100 ?&# 34 ;; ( 4 ) since there is the replacement message in mem 100 , proc 41 answers back to the channel &# 34 ; yes &# 34 ; as shown in step 2 - 2 , then the channel commands proc 41 so as to put the mf no . of the replaced drive in the column having the replacement message , then proc 41 reads the mf no . of the replaced drive and stores it in the column , as indicated by step 2 - 3 , representing &# 34 ; put mf no . of installed drive instead of message &# 34 ;; ( 5 ) after putting the mf no . of the replaced drive , proc 41 instructs dccs to read mf nos . of all drives installed in the array disc equipment , as indicated by step 2 - 4 , representing &# 34 ; read mf nos . of all drives &# 34 ;; ( 6 ) then proc 41 compares the read mf nos . with mf nos ., which are now the reference mf nos ., stored in mem 8 ( table 100 ), as indicated by step 2 - 5 , representing &# 34 ; compare mf nos .&# 34 ;; ( 7 ) after performing the comparison in step 2 - 4 , if the mf nos . read from the installed drives coincide with those stored in mem 8 as shown by &# 34 ; yes &# 34 ; in step 2 - 5 , proc 41 accepts the command from the channel so as to perform the data write or read , as indicated by step 2 - 6 , representing &# 34 ; accept command from channel &# 34 ;; and ( 8 ) if the mf nos . read from the installed drives do not coincide with those stored in mem 8 , proc 41 sends an alarm signal to the channel so as not to send the command for performing the data writing or reading to the array disc equipment any more , as indicated by step 2 - 7 , representing &# 34 ; send alarm to channel &# 34 ;. as seen in the second flow chart , the operator performs two operations which are prone to mistake , one is replacing drives by disconnecting and connecting the cables and the other is operating the control key - board . however , no mistake can be made during the latter , because the array disc equipment or the computer provides a supervisory system by which a wrong operation of the control key - board can never occur . the former operation , however , has the possibility of a mistake . in particular , the wrong cable connection may be made during the replacement of the drives . however , this mistake can be found out in step 2 - 5 . because , if a mistake about the cable connection is made , mf nos . read from the replaced drives never coincide with the reference mf nos . stored in mem 8 . in the case of increasing or decreasing drives , the mistake of the cable connection cannot be made because the increase or decrease of the drives is performed for every ld and not every drive . however , since lds are usually moved here and there in the setting field of the computer for increasing or decreasing drives , it is possible to make a mistake in the cable connection . therefore , whether the drives are all correctly installed must be confirmed after the drive increase or decrease is complete . when drives are increased , the operator edits table 100 by operating the control key - board so as to put increase messages in blank columns in mf nos . columns , for informing where the drives are to be installed for increasing , after the increase of drives is complete . when the drives are decreased , the operator edits table 100 by operating the control key - board so as to put decrease messages in the columns for the mf nos . of the removed drives instead thereof , after the drives to be decreased are removed from the array disc equipment . after amending table 100 , the step of confirming whether the increase or decrease of drives is correctly performed ( in other words , whether the cable connection for the increase or decrease of drives is correctly performed ) is performed in accordance with the same flow chart as in fig5 . in the above case of replacing , increasing or decreasing drives , it is possible that an answer of &# 34 ; no &# 34 ; is output from , for example , step 2 - 2 when the operator forgets to edit table 100 . however , though the operator makes this mistake in operating the control key - board , in other words , though &# 34 ; no &# 34 ; is output from step 2 - 2 , this mistake can be detected in step 2 - 5 by outputting the alarm signal through step 2 - 7 , producing no problem . according to the first embodiment , if the mistake is made in the cable connection when the drives are replaced , increased or decreased , proc 41 only sends the alarm signal to the channel so as to stop the channel sending further commands for the data writing or reading to proc 41 . therefore , when the wrong cable connection occurs , the operator must check where the wrong cable connection exists and correct the cable connection . if the wrong cable connection can be changed by the array disc equipment itself instead of the operator , the operator becomes free from the trouble of changing the cable connection and the time spent for making that change can be saved . this improvement is realized in the second embodiment of the present invention . before explaining the second embodiment the table 100 will be discussed more in reference to fig6 to 8 and , in particular , the case of the wrong cable connection will be explained in reference to fig8 . a concrete explanation of the second embodiment will be made by using a schematic block diagram shown in fig9 . in fig6 to 8 , the same reference symbol as in fig3 designates the same logical address , mf nos . or flag &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; as in fig3 except that drive is partially abbreviated as d . in fig9 the same numeral or symbol as in fig2 designates the same unit or circuit as in fig2 except that cont unit 12 , proc 42 and acc 61 are functionally same as cont unit 11 , proc 41 and acc 6 respectively but modified in accordance with the second embodiment . furthermore in fig9 a data dividing and integrating circuit ( data div / int ) 611 is the prior art circuit having been in acc 6 in fig1 or 2 , except that a data path setting circuit ( dps ) 612 is a new circuit provided for the second embodiment . fig6 shows an example of table 100 having no wrong cable connection and no trouble . however , another column &# 34 ; read mf nos .&# 34 ; is attached to table 100 for the sake of explanation . the column &# 34 ; read mf nos .&# 34 ; is for the read mf nos . for drives installed the array disc equipment . fig7 shows an example of a case when a drive at the logical address of second drive in ld 3 ( 2nd d . ( ld3 )) is replaced by performing the correct cable connection . when the cables for the drives in 2nd d . ( ld3 ) and 3rd d . ( ld3 ) are mistakeably connected so as to be connected in opposite to each other , two mismatch flags &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; s appear in respective columns as shown in fig8 . the mismatch will be clear by comparing columns for reference mf nos . and read mf nos . in fig8 . when this wrong cable connection occurs , the alarm signal is output to the channel from proc 41 in the first embodiment . however in the second embodiment , proc 42 confirms that the installed drives are all belonged to the same ld 3 after the replacement is over , as shown by flags &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; s in the columns belonged to the same ld in fig8 and determines how the data paths should be changed for connecting the installed drives correctly , by comparing mf nos . in columns reference mf nos . and read mf nos . then , proc 42 instructs acc 61 so as to set the connection right by switching the route between accs 7a to 7d and data div / int 611 in dps 612 in accordance with the determination of the data path . in fig8 additional columns like read mf nos ., belonged to the same ld ? and data path to be connected to are provided in table 100 , however , they can be stored in proc 42 . fig9 is a schematic block diagram focused on acc 61 for explaining the second embodiment . in fig9 the same reference numeral as in fig2 designates the same unit or circuit as in fig2 . comparing with acc 6 used in the prior art or the first embodiment , in acc 61 , a data path setting circuit ( dps ) 612 is added to the data dividing and integrating circuit ( data div / int ) 611 of the prior - art . the dps 612 includes the same number of multiplexers ( four ) as the number of multiplexers ( mpxs ) m - 1 , m - 2 , m - 3 and m - 4 , drives in each ld , input switching circuits ( input sws ) s - 1 , s - 2 , s - 3 and s - 4 placed at the inputs of mpxs and output switching circuits ( output sws ) s - 5 , s - 6 , s - 7 and s - 8 placed at the outputs of mpxs , respectively . the mpxs m - 1 to m - 4 are for setting the paths of the divided data produced from data div / int 611 to dccs respectively when the divided data are written into the drives and for setting the paths of the divided data produced from the dccs 7a to 7d to data div / int 611 respectively when the divided data stored in drives are integrated at data div / int 611 . the paths are set in mpxs m - 1 to m - 4 by the instruction given from proc 42 . the instruction is produced in accordance with data path to be connected to explained in reference to fig8 and once stored in a register ( reg ). the reg consists of divided registers r - 1 , r - 2 , r - 3 and r - 4 for storing the instruction to m - 1 , m - 2 , m - 3 and m - 4 respectively and coders ( cod ) attached to the divided registers respectively . when the mis matched flags appear in table 100 as shown in fig8 proc 42 sends the instructions to r - 2 and r - 3 corresponding to the drives having the wrong cable connection . the instructions sent to r - 2 and r - 3 are coded by cod attached to r - 2 and r - 3 and sent to mpxs m - 2 and m - 3 , for changing the data paths between dcc 7b and data div / int 611 and between dcc 7c and data div / int 611 . in fig9 the data routes are set as follows : the input routes ( ins ) to mpxs m - 1 to m - 4 are switched by input sws s - 1 to s - 4 so that the outputs from data div / int 611 are fed to mpxs m - 1 to m - 4 and the output routes ( outs ) from mpxs m - 1 to m - 4 are switched by output sws s - 5 to s - 8 so that inputs to dccs 7a to 7d are output from the mpxs m - 1 to m - 4 respectively , by a write instruction ( w ) from proc 42 ; and the input routes ( ins ) to mpxs m - 1 to m - 4 are switched by input sws s - 1 to s - 4 so that the outputs from dccs 7a to 7d are fed to mpxs m - 1 to m - 4 and the output routes ( outs ) from mpxs m - 1 to m - 4 are switched by output sws s - 5 to s - 8 so that inputs to data div / int 611 are output from the mpxs m - 1 to m - 4 respectively , by a read instruction ( r ) from proc 42 .	6
hereinafter , preferred embodiments of the invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings . fig1 shows an optical configuration of a projection type image display apparatus according to embodiment 1 of the present invention . in this embodiment , reference character lcd denotes a liquid crystal display element as an image forming element which is driven on the basis of image signals from an image information supply apparatus ( not shown ) such as a personal computer , a vcr or a dvd player . although not shown , one liquid crystal display element is provided for each of the red , green , and blue lights obtained by using a color separating optical system ( illuminating system ) to separate light from a white light source . further , reference character gb denotes a color combining dichroic prism which combines the color lights modified by the three liquid crystal display elements and which guides the combined light to a projection lens ( projection optical system ) p . further , reference character st denotes an aperture stop . the projection lens p is composed of the first lens unit ( hereinafter referred to as the “ first negative lens unit ”) i having negative optical power ( the inverse of a focal length ) and the second lens unit ( hereinafter referred to as the “ second positive lens unit ”) ii having positive optical power , the first and second lens units being arranged in this order from the enlarging side ( emitting side : left end of fig1 ) of the projection lens p . the first negative lens unit i is composed of five lenses g 1 to g 5 , while the second positive lens unit ii is composed of six lenses g 6 to g 11 . further , in this embodiment , the focus is adjusted by moving the second lens unit ii in the direction of the optical axis of the projection lens p . the first lens unit i is designed so that a concave meniscus lens is arranged closest to the enlarging side . thereby , a large - aperture lens which covers a wide angle based on a projection ratio of 1 . 5 : 1 ( projection distance : screen breadth ) and which has an f of 1 . 5 is realized , while the first lens unit i has smaller diameter . further , the first lens unit i includes the three concave lenses g 1 , g 3 , and g 4 to gently bend off - axial rays , thereby preventing off - axial aberration . furthermore , the convex lenses g 2 and g 5 are composed of lanthanum - based heavy flint material , thereby allowing , in particular , chromatic aberration of magnification to be appropriately corrected over a wide visible - light band . the second lens unit ii has the functions of providing a reduction magnification to an image formed by the first lens unit i to obtain a desired focal length and arranging an image of the aperture stop st at an apparently distant position relative to the reducing side of the projection lens p . with the reduction of the optical power of the first negative lens unit i and the reduction of the magnification acting in the second positive lens unit ii , it becomes difficult to obtain the back focus . however , the back focus can be ensured by properly selecting the optical power arrangement and the position of the principal plane of the second positive lens unit ii . further , the second positive lens unit ii includes the aperture stop st , the biconvex lens g 6 in which both surfaces are convex surfaces , and the negative lenses g 7 and g 8 arranged in this order from the enlarging side . the negative lenses g 7 and g 8 , which have strong negative optical powers , are arranged where a paraxial marginal ray height is reduced by the aperture stop st and the biconvex lens g 6 , thereby reducing the petzval sum . the use of two negative lenses g 7 and g 8 according to this embodiment is disadvantageous in terms of correction of the petzval sum , but is effective in reducing excessive correction of an of f - axial peripheral sagittal flare . furthermore , the second positive lens unit ii contains the three convex lenses g 9 , g 10 , and g 11 to gently bend an off - axial principal ray so that the ray is parallel with the optical axis , thereby reducing , in particular , incoming comma aberration , astigmatism , and distortion . by thus arranging the first negative lens unit i with negative optical power on the enlarging side relative to the second positive lens unit ii ( a master section ) with positive optical power , a projection lens with a wide angle and a large aperture can be realized and a long back focus , as compared with the focal length ( e . g . about 1 . 2 times as large as the focal length ), can be ensured . thus , for example , in a projection type image display apparatus , if a color combining prism or the like is arranged between an image forming element such as a liquid crystal display element and a projection optical system , the color combining prism or the like can be arranged in a sufficiently large space . the projection lens p in this embodiment satisfies the following condition : where reference character t 1 denotes a distance from the reducing - side conjugate plane to the pupil , and reference character f denotes the focal length of the entire system . by satisfying conditional expression ( 1 ), a projection optical system ( projection lens p ) which exhibits adequate telecentric performance and which is bright ( e . g . f number of about 1 . 5 ) enough to illuminate even the peripheral areas of a screen ( projected image ) is realized . conditional expression ( 1 ) expresses a proper range of a reducing - side paraxial pupil position (\| f / t 1 \|). deviating from this range in either direction increases the angle between the off - axial principal ray and the optical axis . undesirably , this results in misalignment with the illuminating system , which illuminates the liquid crystal element , thereby making the luminance on the screen nonuniform and reducing illuminance of the peripheral areas on the screen . further , according to the present invention , when the focal length of the first negative lens unit i is defined as f 1 , the following relationship is preferably also satisfied : a rear focus method with few distance - based variations in aberration can be actualized by properly arranging the optical power according to conditional expression ( 2 ). this serves to provide a projection optical system which enables the length of the entire optical system to be maintained at a constant value in the range of the focus used and which helps reduce driving loads of an autofocus mechanism in the projection type image display apparatus , thereby achieving a high focus responsiveness . in this regard , conditional expression ( 2 ) is used to determined the magnification or the like of the second positive lens unit ii . when the lower limit value of this expression is exceeded , the distance by which the second positive lens unit ii is moved for focusing is reduced . this allows distance - based variations in aberration to be advantageously dealt with . however , the first negative lens unit i with negative optical power has stronger optical power , and the second positive lens unit ii is subjected to a larger magnification , resulting in an excessively long back focus . this leads to an unnecessarily large optical length or an increase of asymmetry of the optical power arrangement . consequently , it becomes difficult to correct distortion and chromatic aberration of magnification , which are likely to occur in the first negative lens unit i . conversely , when the upper limit value of conditional expression ( 2 ) is exceeded , aberration can advantageously be corrected . however , it undesirably becomes difficult to ensure the back focus or the second positive lens unit ii must be moved by a large amount , resulting in marked distance - based variations in aberration . and , preferably , the second lens unit is composed of at least one positive lens , at least one negative lens , and at least two positive lenses in this order from the enlarging side . the second positive lens unit ii is the master section of a retrofocus type lens , and in particular operates as a focus unit according to this embodiment . thus , to reduce distance - based variations in aberration , aberration must be sufficiently corrected in the master section . further , for the second positive lens unit ii , which has strong positive optical power , the petzvar sum of the entire system must be designed to be small . accordingly , the optical power of the master section is arranged according to a positive - negative - positive arrangement . furthermore , the optical power of the positive lens located closest to the reducing side tends to be increased in order to ensure the back focus . accordingly , off - axial aberration can be prevented by constructing the second positive lens unit ii using at least two positive lenses . further , when the second positive lens unit ii is further divided into two units which are disposed to each other across the largest air gap in the second positive lens unit ii , the optical powers of the enlarging ( emitting ) side lens unit ( the lenses g 6 and g 7 in fig1 ) and reducing ( incident ) side lens unit ( the lenses g 8 to g 11 in fig1 ) preferably satisfy the following relationship : where reference character f 2 f denotes the focal length of the emitting side lens unit and reference character f 2 r denotes the focal length of the incident side lens unit . when the upper limit value of conditional expression ( 3 ) is exceeded , the back focus becomes unnecessarily long , or it becomes difficult to correct incoming comma aberration and distortion . conversely , when the lower limit value of conditional expression ( 3 ) is exceeded , it becomes difficult to ensure the back focus from the second positive lens unit ii . accordingly , the negative optical power of the first negative lens unit i is increased to ensure the back focus . thus , as previously described , the asymmetry of the optical power arrangement undesirably increases , thereby making it difficult to correct comma aberration , distortion , or other aberrations , and also making the reducing - side pupil position excessively close . further , the use of at least one aspherical lens in the projection optical system ( projection lens p ) serves to correct asymmetry aberration specific to the retrofocus type optical system . to improve the correcting effect , for the first negative lens unit i , the enlarging side lens is constructed as an aspherical lens , and for the second positive lens unit ii , the lens located closer to the reducing side is constructed as an aspherical lens . the type of the aspherical lens is selected in the light of the desired resolution and aspherical accuracy of the lens system . the aspherical lens made of plastics is expected to be advantageous in terms of costs . further , color aberration , which may occur particularly in the master section , can be corrected by including at least one cemented lens ( e . g . a cemented lens including a convex lens arranged closer to the liquid crystal display element ) in the second positive lens unit ii . table 1 shows a numerical example ( numerical example 1 ) of this embodiment . in table 1 , reference character ri denotes a radius of curvature of the i - th lens surface ( si : in the drawing , only some of the lens surfaces are denoted by reference characters ) from the screen side ( enlarging side ), reference character di denotes a distance between the i - th and i + 1 - th lens surfaces , reference character ni denotes a refractive index of glass constituting the i - th surface , and reference character νi denotes an abbe number of the glass constituting the i - th lens . further , fig5 shows aberrations occurring when the retrofocus type projection lens p of this numerical example 1 is in - focus at a distance of 1 . 8 m by using the second positive lens unit ii . fig2 shows an optical configuration of a projection type image display apparatus according to embodiment 2 of the present invention . the projection lens , p is composed of the first lens unit ( hereinafter referred to as the “ first negative lens unit ”) i having negative optical power and the second lens unit ( hereinafter referred to as the “ second positive lens unit ”) ii having positive optical power , the first and second lens units being arranged in this order from the enlarging side ( emitting side ). the first negative lens unit i is composed of five lenses g 1 to g 5 , while the second positive lens unit ii is composed of six lenses g 6 to g 11 . further , the second positive lens unit ii is divided into two units , the enlarging side lens unit ( g 6 and g 7 ) and the reducing side lens unit ( g 8 to g 11 ) which are disposed to each other across the largest air gap in the second positive lens unit ii . in this embodiment , the lens g 10 of the second positive lens unit ii has an aspherical surface asp on its reducing side ( incident side ). the aspherical lens serves to sufficiently correct distortion which is asymmetric aberration specific to the retrofocus type lens , as well as curvature of field . other components common to embodiment 1 are denoted by the same reference characters as those of embodiment 1 . description of these components is omitted . table 2 shows a numerical example ( numerical example 2 ) of this embodiment . the numerical values in table 2 have the same meanings as those in numerical example 1 of embodiment 1 . z =( y 2 / r )/[ 1 +{ 1 −( 1 + k )( y 2 / r 2 )} ½ ]+ ay 4 + by 6 + cy 8 + dy 10 where reference character z denotes a depth in the direction of the optical axis and reference character y denotes a height in the radial direction . further , fig6 shows aberrations occurring when the retrofocus type projection lens p of this numerical example is in - focus at a distance of 1 . 8 m by using the second positive lens unit ii . fig3 shows an optical configuration of a projection type image display apparatus according to embodiment 3 of the present invention . the projection lens p is composed of the first lens unit ( hereinafter referred to as the “ first negative lens unit ”) i having negative optical power and the second lens unit ( hereinafter referred to as the “ second positive lens unit ”) ii having positive optical power , the first negative and second positive lens units i and ii being arranged in this order from the enlarging side ( emitting side ). the first negative lens unit i is composed of four lenses g 1 to g 4 , while the second positive lens unit ii is composed of six lenses g 5 to g 10 . the focus is adjusted by moving the second positive lens unit ii in the direction of the optical axis . further , the second positive lens unit ii divided into two units , the enlarging ( emitting ) side lens unit ( g 5 and g 6 ) and the reducing ( incident ) side lens unit ( g 7 to g 10 ) which are disposed to each other across the largest air gap in the second positive lens unit ii . in this embodiment , the convex lens g 1 of the first negative lens unit i is arranged closest to the enlarging side , thereby hindering distortion while realizing a wide - angle lens having a projection ratio of 1 . 5 : 1 . further , the first negative lens unit includes the two concave lenses g 2 and g 3 to gently bend off - axial rays , thereby preventing off - axial aberration . furthermore , the convex lens g 4 is composed of lanthanum - based heavy flint material , thereby allowing , in particular , chromatic aberration of magnification to be sufficiently corrected over a wide visible - light band . in this embodiment , the lens g 9 of the second positive lens unit ii has an aspherical surface on its reducing side . the aspherical lens serves to sufficiently correct distortion which is asymmetric aberration specific to the retrofocus type lens , as well as surface curvature of field . other components common to embodiment 1 are denoted by the same reference characters as those of the embodiment 1 . description of these components is omitted . table 3 shows a numerical example ( numerical example 3 ) of this embodiment . the numerical values in table 3 have the same meanings as those in numerical example 1 of embodiment 1 . further , the aspherical data complies with the same function as that described in embodiment 2 . further , fig7 shows aberrations occurring when the retrofocus type projection lens p of this embodiment ( numerical example 3 ) is in - focus at a distance of 1 . 8 m using the second positive lens unit ii . fig4 shows an optical configuration of a projection type image display apparatus according to embodiment 4 of the present invention . the projection lens p is composed of the first lens unit ( hereinafter referred to as the “ first negative lens unit ”) i having negative optical power and the second lens unit ( hereinafter referred to as the “ second positive lens unit ”) ii having positive optical power , the first and second lens units being arranged in this order from the enlarging side ( emitting side ). the first negative lens unit i is composed of four lenses g 1 to g 4 , while the second positive lens unit ii is composed of seven lenses g 5 to g 11 . further , the second positive lens unit ii is divided into two units , the enlarging ( emitting ) side lens unit ( g 6 and g 7 ) and the reducing ( incident ) side lens unit ( g 8 to g 11 ) which are disposed to each other across the largest air gap in the second positive lens unit ii . in this embodiment , the convex lens of the first negative lens unit i is arranged closest to the enlarging side , thereby hindering distortion while realizing a wide - angle lens having a projection ratio of 1 . 5 : 1 . further , the first negative lens unit i includes the two concave lenses g 2 and g 3 to gently bend off - axial rays , thereby preventing off - axis aberration . furthermore , the convex lens g 4 is composed of lanthanum - based heavy flint material , thereby allowing , in particular , chromatic aberration of magnification to be sufficiently corrected over a wide visible - light band . in this embodiment , the first negative lens unit i has stronger optical power than those in the other embodiments . further , on the basis of the tendency of the magnification acting in the second positive lens unit ii to increase , the refractive index is , advantageously arranged so as to ensure the back focus . further , the second positive lens unit ii includes the biconvex lens g 5 in which both surfaces are convex surfaces , the diaphragm st , the biconvex lens g 6 in which both surfaces and the negative lenses g 7 and g 8 are convex surfaces , arranged in this order from the enlarging side . the negative lenses g 7 and g 8 , which have strong negative optical powers , are arranged where a paraxial marginal ray height h is reduced , thereby reducing the petzval sum . the use of the two negative lenses g 6 and g 7 according to this embodiment is disadvantageous in terms of correction of the petzval sum , but is effective in reducing excessive correction of an off - axial peripheral sagittal flare . furthermore , the three convex lenses g 9 , g 10 , and g 11 are used to gently bend an off - axial principal ray so that the ray is parallel with the optical axis , thereby reducing , in particular , incoming comma aberration , astigmatism , and distortion . other components common to embodiment 1 are denoted by the same reference characters as those of embodiment 1 . description of these components is omitted . table 4 shows a numerical example ( numerical example 4 ) of this embodiment . the numerical values in table 4 have the same meanings as those in numerical example 1 of embodiment 1 . further , fig8 shows aberrations occurring when the retrofocus type projection lens p of this numerical embodiment 4 is in - focus at a distance of 1 . 8 m by using the second positive lens unit ii . the projection type image display apparatuses of the above - described embodiments are also applicable to an image projection system that drives an image display element on the basis of image information supplied by an image information supply apparatus ( a personal computer , a television , a vcr , a dvd player , any tuner for satellite broadcasting or cable tv , a camera , a video camera , etc .) ( not shown ) to display or project images . moreover , the projection type image display apparatuses of the above - described embodiments may be adapted to receive image information without any image information supply apparatuses by including a circuit that reads image information from a storage medium such as a dvd , a cd , or a vcr that stores the image information , receiving satellite or ground - wave tv broadcasting or the like through an antenna or the like , receiving cable tv , internet tv , or the like , or receiving image information via the internet . specifically , the projection type image display apparatus may include an antenna , a cable receptacle for cable tv or for an internet cable , or the like through which image information is received for projection . in this manner , a system can be constructed in which the projection type display apparatus of the present invention receives image information from various image supply means and projects the corresponding image on a projection surface . as described above , according to the above - described embodiments , the first lens unit having negative optical power is arranged on the enlarging side relative to the second lens unit having positive optical power and acting as a master section . this serves to increase the angle covered by the lens as well as the aperture thereof and to ensure a long back focus as compared with the focal length . thus , for example , in a projection type image display apparatus , if a color combining prism or the like is arranged between an image display element such as a liquid crystal display element and a projection optical system , it can be arranged in a sufficiently large space . further , by satisfying conditional expression ( 1 ), a projection optical system which exhibits adequate telecentric performance and which is bright enough to illuminate even the peripheral areas of the projected image is realized . furthermore , a rear focus method with few distance - based variations in aberration can be actualized by properly arranging the optical power according to conditional expression ( 2 ). this serves to provide a projection optical system which enables the length of the entire optical system to be maintained at a constant value in the range of the focus used and which helps reduce driving loads of an autofocus mechanism in the projection type image display apparatus , thereby achieving high focus responsiveness . moreover , when the second lens unit is composed of at least one positive lens , at least one negative lens , and at least two positive lenses , the positive and negative lenses being arranged in this order from the enlarging side , then aberration can be sufficiently corrected within the second lens unit , which constitutes both master section and focus unit of a retrofocus type lens . further , the petzvar sum of the entire system can be reduced by arranging the optical of the master section according to a positive - negative - positive arrangement . furthermore , the optical power of the positive lens located closest to the reducing side tends to be increased in order to ensure the back focus . accordingly , off - axial aberration can be prevented by constructing the second lens unit using at least two positive lenses . moreover , in connection with the optical power arrangement of the second lens unit , when the second lens unit is further divided into two units in which are disposed to each other across the largest air gap in the second lens unit , the optical powers of the enlarging and reducing side lens units satisfy conditional expression ( 3 ), described above . this prevents an unnecessarily long back focus and allows incoming comma aberration and distortion to be corrected easily . it also eliminates the need for an increase in the negative optical power of the first lens unit , which in turn increases the asymmetry of the optical power arrangement , thereby making it difficult to correct comma aberration , distortion , or other aberrations and making a reducing - side pupil position excessively close . further , the use of at least one aspherical lens in the projection optical system serves to correct asymmetry aberration specific to retrofocus type optical system . the correcting effect can be improved by constructing , for the first lens unit , the enlarging side lens as an aspherical lens and for the second lens unit , the lens located closer to the reducing side as an aspherical lens . furthermore , chromatic aberration , which may occur particularly in the master section , can be corrected by including at least one cemented lens in the second lens unit . while preferred embodiments have been described , it is to be understood that modification and variation of the present invention may be made without departing from the sprit or scope of the following claims .	6
in a preferred embodiment of the invention , a new jackpot trigger mechanism provides the casino operator with a far higher degree of flexibility . unlike conventional combination triggered jackpots , the jackpots here are won from a feature game . the feature game is triggered randomly as a function of credits bet per game . when a feature is triggered , a feature game appears . each jackpot can only be won from this feature game . during the feature game a second set of reel strips appears and a “ spin and hold ” feature game commences . the feature prize score is calculated by the total of the points appearing on the centre line of all 5 reels . feature jackpots in this format exhibit significant differences over previous jackpot systems : ( i ) a jackpot game is provided which is compatible with any existing game combination within an installation independent of the platform , denomination or type of game ( e . g . slot machines , cards , keno , bingo or pachinko ). this will allow for the linking of combinations between game type , platform type and denomination . using this system , jackpot games can now be developed using specific combinations for the base game which were previously unsuitable for link progressive systems . these games will compete with the appeal of the latest games on the market . ( ii ) there is no longer a need to develop mathematically exact combinations in the base game . ( iii ) unlike the multiplier game in combination triggered jackpot embodiments , the present invention provides a direct relationship between the number of credits bet and the probability of winning the jackpot feature game on any one bought game . betting 10 credits per line will produce ten times as many , hits into the feature game than betting 1 credit per line . this is achieved by using a jackpot trigger which is directly related to the wager bet on a respective game and the turnover , instead of using conventional combination triggers . ( iv ) jackpot hit rates can now be changed without making changes to the base game . this was previously not possible using combination triggered jackpots . ( v ) the jackpot feature system can be used across . a wide - area - network ( wan ), local - area - network ( lan ), used as a stand - alone game independent of a network or used with a mystery jackpot flexibility is available to change combinations at will . referring to fig1 a plurality of electronic gaming consoles 10 are connected to a network 11 , to which a feature jackpot controller 12 and display means 13 are also connected . each of the electronic gaming consoles 10 are provided with a network interface arranged to provide a signal onto the network 11 on each occurrence of an operation of a respective console and the jackpot controller 12 is arranged to receive each of the console operation signals and to increment the value of a random jackpot prize on the occurrence of each of these operation signals . a flow chart for a prize awarding algorithm is illustrated in fig2 . referring to the algorithm of fig2 , machine contributions go into the prize pool as with known prior art jackpot systems , while the overhead display shows the incrementing prize value . in the emg , an average value of machine turnover between jackpot hits , is programmed and is used to randomly generate trigger data for the jackpot feature games . in step 20 of the algorithm of fig2 , the actual number range and therefore probability of a feature jackpot game being awarded will depend upon the value of a credit in the particular machine and is calculated by dividing the turnover value by the value of a credit ( e . g ., $ 5000 /$ 0 . 05 = 100 , 000 ). the average turnover value is fixed for the egms and the random number generator is initialised ( see step 20 ) at startup to generate numbers from the preprogrammed range determined from that value . for every game that is played , a random trigger value is selected ( see step 21 ) in the preprogrammed range as determined from the average turnover value . when the game is commenced , it is then reported ( see step 22 ) to the controller , which allocates a contribution to the prize pool . each game is also allotted ( see step 23 ) numbers from the same number range that from which the random number was selected , one number in the range being allotted for each credit bet such that the player &# 39 ; s probability of being awarded a jackpot feature game is proportional to the bet . the previously selected random number is then used as a trigger value and compared with the values allotted to the player , if there is a match ( see step 24 ) between the trigger value and the player values , the player is given an opportunity to play a jackpot feature game ( see step 25 ). alternatively , at step 23 , a number is allocated which is equal to , or proportional to the number of credits bet in the respective game and in step 24 , the trigger value is compared with the single player value and a jackpot feature awarded if the trigger value is less than or equal . to the player value . it will be appreciated that this alternative arrangement is mathematically equivalent to the previously described arrangement , the range of numbers below the allotted number in the alternative arrangement being equivalent to the set of allotted numbers in the previously described arrangement in the preferred embodiment , a prize is always awarded in the jackpot feature game , the feature game being used to determine the size of the prize to be awarded ( see step 27 ). the winning machine is then locked up ( see step 28 ) and the controller awaits an indication that the prize has been paid before allowing the machine to be unlocked ( see step 29 ). in some embodiments , the machine will not be locked up in steps 28 and 19 , but instead the prize will simply be paid and the program will return to step 21 . the machine then returns to step ( see step 21 ) and , commences a new game . if the trigger value does not match ( see step 27 ) then there is no feature game awarded for that bought game and the machine returns to step ( see step 22 ) and waits for the next game to commence . by way of example , a feature game might be triggered by an egm every $ 5000 of turnover played , which is equivalent to 100 , 000 credits on a $ 0 . 05 machine . this is referred to as the jackpot feature game hit rate in credits . a random number is generated within a prescribed range of numbers at the egm at the commencement of each bought game . the prescribed range of numbers is determined by the jackpot feature game hit rate which has been determined previously , from typical values of casino turnover , expected jackpot amounts and jackpot frequencies . the prescribed range in this example is therefore 1 to 100 , 000 and before the commencement of each bought game a random number is generated within this range . a bet of 20 credits will result in the numbers between 1 and 20 ( inclusive ) being allotted to the game ( note that statistically it does not matter if the numbers are randomly selected or not or allotted as a block or scattered , the probability of a feature game being awarded is unchanged ). if the number 7 is produced by the random number generator , then the feature game will be triggered . if any number between 21 and 100 , 000 is produced by the random number generator , the feature game will not be triggered . similarly , a bet of 200 credits will result in the numbers between 1 and 200 ( inclusive ) being allotted to the game . if any number between 1 and 200 is produced by the random number generator , then the feature game will be triggered . if any number between 201 and 100 , 000 is produced by the random number generator , the feature game will not be triggered . the example below has been developed using example turnover data . a trigger of the second screen feature game is expected every $ 5000 of turnover ( i . e . 100000 credits on a $ 0 . 05 machine ). increasing the number of credits bet increases the chance of triggering the feature on any bought game . preferably , when a jackpot feature game is triggered , all players are alerted by a jackpot bell that a possible grand jackpot is about to be played for . this is done so that all players share in the experience of a jackpot win . anecdotal evidence of players watching feature games being played in australian casinos suggests that the drawing power of such games is immense . players are alerted by the jackpot bell instantaneously at any point during a game , but the feature game will not appear until the current game ( including base game features ) are completed . in this embodiment the feature game appears with the new reel strips already spinning and accompanying feature game tunes playing . the player stops the reels spinning by pressing the corresponding playline buttons in order . the feature prize score is calculated by the total of the points appearing on the centre line of all 5 reels . across the top of the screen , a sum of the score is displayed . the 4 feature prize meters in descending order of value are : ( i ) grand feature prize . a score of ≧ 100 wins the grand feature jackpot ; ( ii ) major feature prize . a score of 90 - 99 ( inclusive ) wins the major feature jackpot ; ( iii ) minor feature prize . a . score of 80 - 89 ( inclusive ) wins the minor feature jackpot ; ( iv ) mini feature prize , a score of ≦ 79 wins the mini feature jackpot . by way of example , referring to fig3 , a 5 reel by 3 row window is displayed . if the reels of the feature game stop on the numbers shown in fig3 , then the progressive jackpot won is the sum of the numbers on the center line i . e ., 12 + 10 + 18 + 13 + 22 = 75 which is within the range for the mini feature jackpot . the instant the feature game is completed and the sum of scores from all 5 reels is shown , the feature jackpot screen and signs display which jackpot has been won . this celebration of the jackpot win is conducted in a traditional manner ( i . e . flashing displays , jackpot alarms , music etc .) as the time between jackpot game awards is related to turnover , the number of jackpot games played by a player between feature games and hence their chance of winning is directly related to the size of each bet on each game played . ( 1 ) all machines on the link have a feature game , be it a second screen animation game or a second set of reel strips . ( 2 ) the link has a number of feature jackpot meters ( up to 8 ). all feature jackpots may be linked . ( 3 ) the feature game is activated as a function of machine turnover . this means that on average the feature game will occur one in , for example every $ 5000 . 00 . there are a number of advantages of activating the feature game on turnover . for example , it enables for the first time , a relatively simple mechanism for allowing mixed denomination on a link . the feature game gives the player the chance of winning one of the available feature jackpots if a certain outcome appears . for example , a new set of reel strips might appear with only 2 or 4 different symbols : jackpot 1 , jackpot 2 , or ( jackpot 1 , jackpot 2 , jackpot 3 , jackpot 4 ). the first time 5 of the same appear on the centre line the stated feature jackpot is won . ( 4 ) another advantage of using a random trigger for a feature game , is that it can be applied to any game . it will be appreciated by persons skilled in the art that numerous variations and / or modifications may be made to the invention as shown in the specific embodiments without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention as broadly described . the present embodiments are , therefore , to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive .	6
the process of comparing the measured value to a cut - off value of an analyte is aimed at establishing if the measured value of the analyte is greater than , equal to or smaller than the respective cut - off value , and thus to generate specific combinations of comparison results for the analytes , based on which combination specific information will be generated and for example displayed on a display . thus according to the invention , for each subject to be tested , the data processing means generate a specific set of comparison results , which set is obtained by comparing a measured value to a predetermined cut - off value for the analytes , in any given order , or simultaneously . in the context of the invention , a subject means a mammal , such as a human , or an animal , such as a pet , e . g . a dog . the present invention thus includes in a first step a method for determining at least a helicobacter pylori marker , pepsinogen i ( pgi ) and gastrin . the marker or indicator for helicobacter pylori infection can thus , according to the invention , be for example a helicobater pylori antibody , the value of which can be measured from a body fluid sample . such a sample is advantageously a serum sample , but can also be a saliva , urine or lacrimal fluid sample , e . g . commercial kits being available for measuring the antibody value . the cut - off value for helicobacter pylori antibodies can easily be defined by a person skilled in the art . in one embodiment of this invention we have used a value of 30 eiu as a cut - off for indicating the presence or absence of a helicobacter pylori infection . specific antibodies to helicobacter pylori can also be measured using western blot . another alternative is to evaluate the presence of a helicobater pylori infection by determining the presence of the antigen itself . such measurement can for example be carried out on a stool sample from a patient , and assays , such as enzyme immunoassays are commercially available for this purpose ( cf . for example lancet 1999 ; 354 , 30 - 33 ). it is also possible to determine the presence of the antigen from the breath of a patient , using the well known techniques of measuring the carbon dioxide content , the formation of which from labeled urea is catalyzed by helicobacter pylori bacteria , and systems for this assay are also commercially available ( e . g . heliprobe ™ by noster ab , sweden ). another alternative is to determine the presence of the antigen in a biopsy sample taken during endoscopy from the stomach of a paint . in this alternative the tests are either positive or negative for antigen , and a presence of antigen is taken as being indicative of a helicobacter pylori infection . the result of the test is suitably entered in the data processing system as a boolean parameter . pepsinogen and gastrin are preferably determined from a body fluid sample , especially from a serum sample , or from a urine , salivary , or lacrimal fluid sample . the method includes measuring the pepsinogen i analyte , but according to an embodiment of the invention it is also possible the measure , in addition , the concentration of the pepsinogen ii analyte ( pgii ), and using the ratio pgi to pgii instead of pgi , or in addition thereto as the value to be compared to a predetermined cut - off value . pepsinogen i and also the ratio of pepsinogen i to ii tend to decrease linearly with worsening of the atrophy of the corpus mucosa . in the method according to the invention a first lower cut - off value for pepsinogen i is typically used , which is the ‘ normal ’ cut - off value for differentiating between normal and atrophic corpus mucosa . in addition a second higher cut - off value for pepsinogen i can be used , such higher value , when the gastrin concentration is in its cut - off range indicating only slightly stimulated gastrin activity , defining the cut - off between a non - atrophic ( incl . corpus ) gastritis ( pepsinogen i above second cut - off ), and only mildly atrophic corpus mucosa ( pepsinogen i below second cut - off ) in combination with antrum atrophy . the said second cut - off value can easily be determined by the person skilled in the art . the concentration of gastrin , and especially of gastrin - 17 , likewise decreases with worsening of the atrophy of the antrum mucosa . for gastrin , a cut - off range can be used . this range has a lower cut - off limit , values below which indicate atrophy of at least the antrum , as well as an upper cut - off limit , values above which can indicate normal , non - atrophic gastritis or an atrophic corpus mucosa . values in the range between the lower and the upper value can indicate atrophy at least in the antrum area , or , in combination with a high pepsinogen value ( above the second higher cut - off value ), also non - atrophic gastritis , as discussed above . in addition , a third cut - off value , a lowest cut - off value for gastrin can be applied for indicating a normal mucosa when pepsinogen i is equal to or above its first cut - off value . the gastrin analyte can be total gastrin , that is essentially the sum of gastrin - 34 and gastrin - 17 , but according to a preferred embodiment of the invention , gastrin - 17 is measured . as mentioned earlier , the methods for measuring pepsinogen i , pepsinogen ii and and gastrin are well known in the art . the measurements are usually immunological methods , using mono - or polyclonal antibodies to the said analytes . the detection methods for use include , for example , measuring absorbance , fluoresence or luminescence . it is also possible to carry out all three analyte measurements simultaneously , for example on the same microplate , in different wells or in the same well thereon , which provides for al especially convenient method . the analyte values so obtained are then entered in a data processing means , such as a data terminal , which has the necessary operating system and which can be provided with means for data input and data output and which comprises means for comparing a measured analyte concentration to a predetermined cut - off value for the analyte . the data can be entered using any data terminal equipment with a proper user interface ( ui ) or by reading data from a data carrying and storing medium , or by receiving data from a data providing system , via data transmission means and data communication networks , such as internet . the user interface is thus the means by which the user can communicate with the information providing system , and by means of which data is entered , validated and whereto generated information is reported or displayed , or for further transmission , for storage , or to be printed on a printer . the concept of cut - off values in assays involving the determination of analyte concentrations is well known to the person skilled in the art , and it generally means a value or a set of values chosen as a limit between the reference values ( normal values ) and the abnormal values for the test in question . such cut - off values are method - specific and depend on the specifity and sensitivity chosen for the test method used for the determination of the analyte concentrations , see for example william j marshall , clinical chemistry , third edition , 1995 , mosby . the cut - off values can be entered into the data processing system prior to entering the measured analyte values , or they can be pre - stored in the data processing system . according to the invention it is also contemplated to modify the cut - off values when carrying out the method , in case it is desired change the sensitivity or specificity of the method . according to the invention the data processing means perform a comparison operation , according to which the various analyte concentrations measured are compared to a respective cut - off value or cut - off range for said analyte , the comparison results obtained are combined , and information in response to the said combination of comparison results and optionally to other or additional data or parameters entered in the data processing means , is generated , which information can be displayed for example on a display on the user interface . information created by the data processing means can take the form of a diagnosis displayed in a window on a display , or it can take the form of suggestions for treatment , or suggestions for further investigations or tests , displayed in the same or in a different display window . thus in accordance with the invention , depending on the specific combination of comparison results obtained , a main diagnosis can refer to ‘ normal ( mucosa )’, ‘ atrophic corpus gastritis ’ ( optionally of autoimmune type ), ‘ atrophic antrum and corpus gastritis ’ ( pangastritis ), ‘ atrophic antrum gastritis ’, or ‘ non - atrophic gastritis , supplemented with information relating to the presence or absence of a helicobacter pylori infection . the following table includes specific combinations of comparison results associated with the different diagnoses , when the analytes are hp - marker , such as a hp - antibody , pepsinogen i and gastrin . from the table it can be seen that the helicobacter pylori marker divides the set of specific combinations into two groups , wherein the measured hp marker analytes are either above or below the cut - off value for the hp marker ( hp - co ). when the hp - marker value is equal to or below the cut - off , a pgi value equal to or above the first pg cut - off value ( p - coi ) indicates a normal mucosa , whereas if the pgi value is below the said cut - off , a gastrin value equal to or above the upper cut - off limit for gastrin ( g - coii ) indicates atrophic corpus gastritis , whereas if this value is below the said cut - off , atrophic antrum / corpus gastritis , i . e . pangastritis is indicated . instead of the provision of ‘ any value ’ for gastrin in the diagnosis of a normal mucosa , one can also apply a third lowest cut - off value for gastrin ( g - coiii ) above which the gastrin concentration should be to indicate a normal mucosa . on the other hand , when the hp - value is above its cut - off value , and the gastrin value is below its lower cut - off limit ( g - coi ), the indication is pangastritis if also the pepsinogen i is below its first cut - off , and the indication is atrophic antrum gastritis if the pepsinogen i is equal to or above its first cut - off . if the gastrin value is in the cut - off range ( g - coi - g - coii ), and the pepsinogen i is below its second cut - off value ( p - coii ) the indication is also atrophic antrum gastritis , but when the pepsinogen i is equal to or above its second cut - off , the indication is non - atrophic gastritis . finally , when the gastrin is above the upper cut - off limit ( g - coii ), and the pepsinogen i is equal to or above the first cut - off , non - atrophic gastritis is indicated , but when the pepsinogen is below the first cut - off , atrophic corpus gastritis is indicated . in the above table , when the presence of a hp marker , such as the antigen , rather than the antibody concentration is determined , the table includes only the options of presence or absence of antigen in the sample . the above mentioned diagnoses can further be supplemented with information relating to a risk of developing peptic ulcer ( gastric and / or duodenal ) as well as the associated risk factor therefore , as well as a possible risk of cancer , and its associated risk factor . the criteria for establishing the risk of peptic ulcer and of cancer based on the measured pgi and g - 17 values as compared to their cut - off and reference values , have been described in the wo 00 / 67035 and wo 96 / 15456 respectively . the different risk factors associated with peptic ulcer and cancer have been described in detail for example in gastroenterology clinics of north america , volume 29 , no . 3 ( 2000 ), reference being made especially to page 586 , where the various risk factors associated with normal , non - atrophied , mild , moderate and severe atrophy of the antrum and corpus mucosa are disclosed both for peptic ulcer and cancer , in diagram form . further optional parameters that can be taken into account , when creating the information for display for example in the form of a diagnosis , can be the age of the patient , a condition of e . g . reflux symptoms , dyspepsia , and / or anemia , or also other symptoms and disease states , whereby , according to an embodiment of the invention , the mentioned sympoms or diseases can be entered into the data processing means as boolean parameters . the table disclosed above can be supplemented , for example , with a cut - off value for age , whereby , for example , an age over 45 years in combination with dyspepsia in patients with a helicobacter pylori infection and a non - atrophic gastritis or atrophic corpus gastritis can , in addition to the diagnosis relating to the state of the gastric mucosa , prompt a suggestion to treat the patient for helicobacter pylori infection . furthermore , for example a diagnosis of atrophic corpus gastritis optionally in combination with pernicious anemia irrespective of age could prompt a suggestion for testing for vitamin b12 and homocysteine from the serum , and possibly also a suggestion for b12 vitamin supplementation treatment . the invention is also directed to a kit comprising means for measuring , from a sample , the pepsinogen i and / or gastrin concentration , and / or means for determining the concentration or presence of a helicobacter pylori marker . the kit thus contains the various means , such as reagents , needed for measuring the concentration or presence of the analyte in question , packed in different containers but contained in the same package . the kit also can contain instructions of use . in addition the kit contains a computer program product embodied on a computer readable medium and comprising computer code means , which when run on a computer , are adapted to perform the steps of comparing the measured concentration values of an analyte with its predetermined cut - off value to provide the combination of comparison results , which together with optionally other data entered forms the basis for the information to be generated when used on a computer . the computer program product can contain pre - stored cut - off values for one or more of the analytes to be measured , or such values can be entered at the time of use . when using the kit , the concentration of the at least one analyte , as well as the concentrations of any of the other analytes as required , measured with the same kit or using other means or kits , are entered when using the program on a computer . yet another object of the invention is a computer program product embodied on a computer readable medium and comprising computer code means adapted to perform the steps of comparing the measured concentration values of an analyte , such as the analytes hp - marker , pgi and gastrin , with its predetermined cut - off value , to provide combinations of comparison results to generate , optionally with other data entered , information , when run on a computer . reference is made to the enclosed fig1 , wherein a diagram referring to a test panel or ‘ decision tree ’ according to an embodiment of the invention is disclosed . the cut - off values for each one of the analytes are those indicated in the diagram and referred to below , which have shown to give accurate diagnoses for the average population . naturally it is possible to use also other or more or less modified cut - off values , should the methods used for the determination of the analyte concentrations , and / or the sensitivity and specificity so require . the sample used is a serum sample , and the gastrin is gastrin - 17 ( g - 17 ). in the determination of serum pepsinogen i the cut - off - value for atrophic gastritis is , according to our previous studies , 20 - 30 μg / l depending on the specificity and sensitivity agreed upon for the method in question , which corresponds to appr . 450 - 690 pmol / l . in this example we have used a value of 25 μg / l as the first cut - off value for atrophic gastritis in the corpus area or atrophic pangastritis . however , according to the invention it is possible to use also a second value for pgi as a cut - off value to distinguish between atrophic gastritis in the antrum ( with only mild atrophic corpus gastritis ) and non - atrophic gastritis , respectively , when the g - 17 is within the cut - off range for g - 17 . in the context of this invention , this second value is termed the second cut - off value . in this example we have used a value of 50 μg / l for this second cut - off value , a value appr . twice that of the first cut - off value . if the pepsinogen ii analyte concentration is measured in addition , the first cut - off value for the ratio of pgi to pgii can be for example 2 . 5 , and the second cut - off for example appr . 5 . in this example we use the serum gastrin - 17 concentration obtained after protein stimulation , i . e . the postprandial gastrin - 17 . the cut - off range for ‘ stimulated ’ gastrin - 17 ( g - 17st ) is normally in the range of 5 to 10 pmol / l , whereby the lower limit of 5 pmol / l forms a lower cut - off value , the upper limit of 10 pmol / l the upper cut - off value , and the intermediate range a third cut - off range . in addition there is a lowest cut - off for gastrin - 17 of 0 . 5 pmol / l which is applicable for indicating a normal mucosa with normal pgi values ( pgi ≧ 25 μg / l ). the corresponding values and ranges for unstimulated g - 17 would be approximately half of those given for the stimulated values . in this example we have used the helicobacter pylori antibodies as a hp - marker , and we have found that a suitable cut - off value for the helicobacter pylori antibody value is appr . 30 eiu . according to the embodiment described in this example , the data processing means carries out a comparison of the measured hp - ab value to the cut - off value for hp - ab , which is indicated as being 30 eiu . depending on the measured value being higher than , or equal to or lower than the predetermined cut - off value , the data processing means perform in the first case a comparison of the measured g - 17st to is its cut - off range , and in the later case the data processing means perform a comparison of pgi to its first cut - off value . if , in the first case , the g - 17st is either below the lower cut - off value , or above its higher cut - off value , the data processing means perform a comparison of the pgi to its said first cut - off value . when g - 17st is below its lower cut - off and the pgi is below its first cut - off value , the data processing system will generate information relating to a diagnosis of atrophic antrum and corpus gastritis ( pangastritis ), but if the pgi is equal to or higher than the first cut - off value , the information will relate to atrophic gastritis of the antrum . when g - 17st is above its upper cut - off and the pgi is below the fist cut - off value for pgi , the information generated will relate to atrophic gastritis of the corpus , but if the measured pgi is equal to or above the first cut - off value for pgi , the information generated will relate to non - atrophic gastritis . the same diagnosis will be displayed if the measured pgi is high , and equal to or higher than the second cut - off value for pgi in combination with a g - 17st in the cut - off range . if in turn , the measured pgi is below the second cut - off value for pgi , with g - 17st in the cut - off range , the diagnoses displayed will be atrophic gastritis of the antrum area . on the other hand , if the hp - ab value is lower than or equal to its cut - off value , the data processing means perform a comparison of the measured pgi value with the first cut - off value for pgi . in case the measured pgi value is equal to or higher than the said cut - off value , the information generated will refer to a diagnosis of a normal mucosa at a gastrin - 17st value above the third lowest cut - off which in this example is 0 . 5 pmol / l . however , if the said measured pgi value is below the first cut - off value , the information displayed will relate to a diagnosis of atrophic corpus gastritis when the measured g - 17st is equal to or higher than the upper cut - off value , and to a diagnosis of pangastritis , when also the g - 17st is low , namely below the upper cut - off limit . the atrophic corpus gastritis will in this case be of the autoimmune type . as stated earlier , by feeding additional parameters into the data processing system , and combining them with the generated information , it is possible to provide additional information , for example in the form of suggestions for further treatments and / or further investigations , such as a suggestion to undergo endoscopy , to determine b12 vitamin and homocysteine levels , and eradication treatment of helicobacter pylori infection . the following examples are intended to illustrate the invention without restricting it in any way . the analytes measured are serum pepsinogen i , serum gastrin - 17 and helicobacter pylori antibodies ; the cut - off values are those shown in fig1 . also the age of the patient has been included as a parameter , the cut - off being 45 years . the respective diagnosis is given in each example , together with further suggestions for examinations and treatments , when applicable . 1 ) no atrophic gastritis 2 ) no h . pylori infection 3 ) no risk of gastric cancer and peptic ulcer diseases ( duodenal and gastric ); risk factor 1 × 1 ) peptic ulcer disease ( duodenal and gastric ulcer ) unlikely 2 ) autoimmune type atrophic corpus gastritis 3 ) increased risk of gastric cancer ( risk factor 3 - 5 × 1 ) peptic ulcer disease ( duodenal and gastric ) unlikely 2 ) increased risk of gastric cancer ( risk factor 3 - 90 ×) 1 ) peptic ulcer disease ( duodenal and gastric ) unlikely 2 ) increased risk of gastric cancer ( risk factor 3 - 90 ×) vitamin b12 replacement therapy , if b12 below 170 pmol / l . treatment of h . pylori infection necessary . 1 ) high risk of peptic ulcer disease ( duodenal and gastric ) ( risk factor 10 - 20 ×) 2 ) increased risk of gastric cancer ( risk factor 18 ×) 1 ) high risk of peptic ulcer disease ( duodenal and gastric ) ( risk factor 10 - 20 ×) 2 ) increased risk of gastric cancer ( risk factor 18 ×) 1 ) increased risk of peptic ulcer disease ( duodenal and gastric ) ( risk factor 10 ×) 2 ) low risk of gastric cancer ( risk factor 1 - 2 ×) 1 ) increased risk of peptic ulcer disease ( duodenal and gastric ) ( risk factor 10 ×) 2 ) low risk of gastric cancer ( risk factor 1 - 2 ×) vitamin b12 replacement therapy , if b12 below 170 pmol / l . treatment of h . pylori infection . 1 ) increased risk of peptic ulcer disease ( duodenal and gastric ) ( risk factor 10 ×) 2 ) low risk of gastric cancer ( risk factor 1 - 2 ×) endoscopy advisable . treatment of h . pylori infection if dyspeptic symptoms . vitamin b12 replacement therapy , if b12 below 170 pmol / l . treatment of h . pylori infection necessary if dyspeptic symptoms .	6
in accordance with the present invention there is shown and described a needle deployment device . the needle deployment device includes a main body having a driving mechanism therein . a pair of needle holder assemblies , wherein the needle holder assemblies include needles and needle guides . a suture holder having a first end and a second end , wherein the first end is operatively coupled to the driving mechanism and the second end is adapted to receive the needles , wherein the needles received sutures disposed within the suture holder . referring now to fig1 there is shown a representative embodiment of the needle deployment device 10 according to the present invention . the needle deployment device 10 includes a main body 20 including a fluid inlet 15 and a fluid outlet 16 ( not shown ), a needle holder assembly 40 and a suture holder 60 . the needle deployment device 10 will be described in greater detail below with reference to fig1 - 15 . the main body 20 of the needle deployment device 10 may be constructed of any bio - compatible material such as titanium , stainless steel , or plastics . in a preferred embodiment , the main body 20 is constructed of plastic such as polyvinyl chloride or nylon or delrin . the main body 20 may be constructed as a unitary body utilizing manufacturing processes such as injection molding or milling . alternatively , the main body 20 may be constructed of multiple pieces which may then be assembled utilizing a bio - compatible adhesive . the main body 20 includes a chamber 22 wherein the fluid inlets 15 and the fluid outlet 16 are in fluid communication with the chamber 22 . the chamber 22 is adapted to slidably receive a driving assembly 90 . the driving assembly includes a wiper seal , a piston cap , a return spring , an end cap , a locking frame , and a drive shaft , each of which will be described in greater detail below with reference to fig2 - 14 . referring now to fig2 there is shown the drive shaft 50 of the driving assembly 90 . the drive shaft 50 comprises an elongated body 52 having a proximal end portion 51 and distal end portion 53 , a first slot 54 , grooves 56 , projections 58 , and pins 59 extending from the projections 58 . the proximal end portion 51 of the drive shaft is adapted to be fixedly attached to the wiper seal 95 of the driving assembly 90 . the drive shaft 50 may be constructed as a unitary member of may be constructed of multiple parts which may then be assembled . the drive shaft may be constructed of bio - compatible materials such as titanium , stainless steel , or plastics . preferably , the drive shaft 50 is constructed of a bio - compatible plastic such as delrin or nylon . referring now to fig3 there is shown the locking frame 60 of the driving assembly 90 . the locking frame includes a body 62 , wherein the body 62 includes a first projection 64 and a second projection 64 ′ ( not shown ). the body 62 further includes a plurality of apertures 63 and 65 disposed therethrough . the apertures 63 are adapted to receive and retain a tab disposed upon the needle guide assembly as will be described in greater detail below . additionally , the locking frame further includes biasing members 67 . the biasing members 67 are fixedly attached to a first side 66 of the body 62 of the locking frame 60 and extend into the aperture 65 of the locking frame 60 . the distal end portion 61 of the first and second projections is adapted to receive the needle guide assembly as will be described in greater detail below . the locking frame may be constructed of bio - compatible materials such as stainless steel , titanium or plastics . in a preferred embodiment the locking frame 60 is constructed of nylon . the locking frame may be constructed utilizing known manufacturing processes such as machining or injection molding . the biasing members 67 may be constructed of a bio - compatible material such as stainless steel , titanium or plastics . in a preferred embodiment the biasing members 67 are constructed of a nickel - titanium alloy nitinol . in accordance with the present invention the biasing members 67 may be integrally formed with the locking frame 60 . as previously noted , the needle deployment device 10 includes guide assemblies 40 , wherein the guide assemblies 40 will be described in greater detail below with reference to fig4 through 7 . referring now to fig4 there is shown a guide assembly 40 in accordance with the present invention . the guide assembly 40 includes a needle block assembly 70 having a plurality of needles 78 , and a core 80 . the needles 78 include a distal end portion 77 ( not shown ) and a proximal end portion 79 , wherein the distal end portion 77 is adapted to be received within apertures 73 formed within the needle block 72 . the proximal end portion 79 of the needles 78 contain a reduced cross - sectional area 75 as shown in fig4 . the needles 78 extend from the needle block 72 , wherein the outer needles do not extend from the needle block 72 as far as the inner needles . the needle block 72 further includes a chamber 74 and at least one aperture 76 disposed therethrough , wherein the chamber 74 and aperture 76 are disposed about an axis perpendicular to an axis which the needles 78 extend along . furthermore , the aperture 76 is adapted to receive the pins 59 extending from the projections 58 of the drive shaft 50 as will be described in greater detail below . the needle block 72 may be constructed of bio - compatible materials such as titanium , stainless steel , nitinol , or plastics . in a preferred embodiment the needle block 72 is constructed of nylon . the needles 78 may be constructed of bio - compatible materials such as stainless steel or titanium . in a preferred embodiment the needles are constructed of a nickel - titanium composite ( nitinol ). additionally , the needles are constructed wherein the needles are sufficiently resilient and are capable of being readily deformed . the needles in a preferred embodiment have a round cross - sectional profile , though it is contemplated that the needles may have other cross - sectional profiles . for example , the needles may have a square , rectangular , oval or similar cross - sectional profile . as discussed above the distal end portion of the needles are fixedly attached within the apertures 73 of the needle block 72 . the needles may be fixedly attached within the apertures 73 using bio - compatible adhesives . alternatively , the needles 78 may be inserted within the molding process if the needle block 72 is molded . still further , it is contemplated that other methods may be utilized to affix the needles within the needle block 72 , for example , the needles may be fixed within the needle block by melting the needle block . as previously noted , the needle deployment device 10 of the present invention includes a plurality of guide assemblies 40 . the guide assemblies 40 include a housing , a core , and a needle block assembly wherein the needle block assembly includes a plurality of flexible needles . the guide assemblies 40 will be described in greater detail with reference to the fig5 - 8 . referring now to fig5 there is shown a front view of a guide assembly 40 , wherein the guide assembly 40 includes a housing 41 , a biasing member 47 ( not shown ), a locking pin 48 , and a needle block 80 . a detailed description is provided below with reference to a single guide assembly 40 , wherein it shall be understood that the second guide assembly in a preferred embodiment is a mirror image thereof , excluding the biasing member and locking pin of the first guide assembly wherein the second guide assembly is adapted to receive the locking pin projecting from the first guide assembly . referring now to fig6 and 7 there are shown an expanded view and an assembled isometric view of the guide assembly 40 in accordance with the present invention , wherein the guide assembly 40 and the core 80 have been assembled within the body 41 of the guide assembly 40 . a needle block assembly 70 ( not shown ), as described in detail above , may be slidably disposed within the chamber 44 of the body 41 of the guide assembly 40 . the needles 78 are adapted to be received within a plurality of needle guides 50 , as will be described in greater detail below . the core 80 as assembled within the body 41 of the guide assembly 40 retains the biasing member 47 and the locking pin 48 , wherein the locking pin 48 may be biased between a retracted position and an extended position . referring now to fig6 and the core 80 shown therein . the core 80 further includes a recessed area 82 and an aperture 83 wherein the aperture 83 is adapted to slidably receive the locking pin 48 therein . the core 80 further includes a first cavity 84 and a second cavity 86 , wherein the first cavity 84 and the second cavity 86 are adapted to receive the distal end portion 61 of the locking frame 60 as will be described in greater detail below . referring now to fig7 there is shown an isometric view of the guide assembly 40 according to the present invention . as shown in fig7 the body 41 of the guide assembly 40 further includes a tab 43 projecting from the proximal end portion 45 of the body 41 . the tab 43 is adapted to be received within the locking frame 60 as will be described in greater detail below . in addition , the body 41 is adapted to slidably receive the needle block assembly 70 , wherein the needles 78 are slidably received within the needle guides 50 . as shown in fig6 the needle guides are adapted to direct the flexible needles 78 at an angle relative to the direction of motion of the needle block assembly . the function of the needle guides will be described in greater detail below . the core 80 , body 41 and locking pin 48 may be constructed of bio - compatible materials such as titanium , stainless steel , or plastics . in a preferred embodiment , the core 80 and body 41 are constructed of plastic . in a preferred embodiment , the locking pin 48 is constructed of stainless steel . the core 80 and body 41 may be constructed using known manufacturing methods such as machining or injection molding . in a preferred embodiment , the core 80 and body 41 are constructed using injection molding . the locking pin 48 may be constructed using any of the methods described above , in a preferred embodiment the locking pin 48 is machined . the core 80 may be secured to the body 41 using a plurality of pins 81 as shown in fig7 . alternatively , in accordance with the present invention , the core may be fixedly attached to the body using a bio - compatible adhesive . in accordance with the present invention , the core and body may be integrally formed wherein the needle guides are formed therein during the manufacturing process . referring now to fig8 there is shown the suture guide 100 in accordance with the present invention . the suture guide 100 includes a foot portion 110 and a shaft portion 120 . the shaft portion 120 of the suture guide 100 includes an aperture 122 disposed therethrough adjacent a proximal end portion 121 and a second aperture 123 disposed adjacent the foot 110 . additionally , the shaft portion 120 further includes a groove 125 disposed therein adjacent the foot portion 110 of the suture guide 100 , wherein the groove 125 is adapted to receive a suture hook 150 ( shown in fig1 ). the foot 110 of the suture guide 100 further includes a plurality of a suture holders 112 , wherein the suture holders 112 are adapted to receive cuffs 130 as shown in fig1 . the cuffs 130 are fixedly attached to suture 170 , wherein the suture is guided through a suture guide 113 of the foot 110 . additionally , the cuffs 130 are further adapted to receive the proximal ends 79 of the needles , wherein the proximal ends 79 of the needles 78 engage the cuffs 130 as will be described in greater detail below with reference to fig1 a through 15d . referring now to fig1 - 12 , there are shown partial cross - sectional views or cut - away views of the needle delivery device 10 as assembled . referring now to fig1 , there is shown a cross - sectional side view of the needle delivery device 10 in accordance with the present invention . as shown in fig1 , the driving assembly 90 is disposed within the chamber 22 of the main body 20 . the wiper seal 95 sealingly engages the wall of the chamber 22 , thereby providing a fluid tight seal between the chamber and the proximal end of the wiper seal 95 . the end cap 97 is disposed at the distal end of the chamber 22 , whereby the end cap 97 may be fixedly attached to the main body 20 with a bio - compatible glue or alternatively , the end cap 97 may be removably attached to the main body 20 through the use of mechanical fasteners or molded fasteners . the wiper seal 95 may be constructed of a suitable pliable material such as rubber , silicone , urethane or preferably of polyisoprene . the piston cap ( not shown ), end cap 97 , drive shaft 50 , and locking frame 60 may be constructed of a bio compatible material such as titanium , stainless steel , or plastics , preferably they are constructed of polycarbonate according to known manufacturing methods such as injection molding or machining . the return spring 98 and locking tabs 67 are preferably constructed of stainless steel , though it is contemplated that other bio - compatible materials may be utilized . as fluid force acts on the proximal end of the wiper seal 95 , the driving assembly 90 is advanced within the chamber 22 of the main body 20 , thereby advancing the locking frame along the length of the drive shaft 50 . at least one locking tab 67 disposed upon the locking frame 60 is received within a slot 56 on the drive shaft 50 as shown in fig1 . after the locking tab 67 has engaged the drive shaft 50 as shown in fig1 , the guide assembly 40 can no longer advance along the length of the drive shaft 50 . at this point , the guide assembly 40 is positioned at a pre - determined height above the vessel wall for deployment of the needles . after the guide assembly 40 engages the drive shaft 50 as described above , further force acting on the driving assembly 90 causes the drive shaft 50 to advance the needles 78 . the needles are operatively coupled to the drive shaft 50 through pins 59 extending from the projections 58 of the drive shaft 50 which are disposed within the aperture 76 of the needle block assembly 70 as shown in fig1 . as shown in fig1 the tab 43 disposed on the proximal end portion of the body 41 of the guide assembly 40 is received within the aperture 63 of the locking frame 60 and the distal end portion 61 of the locking frame 60 is received within the first chamber 84 of the core 80 , thereby removably attaching the guide assembly to the distal end portion of the needle deployment device 10 . referring now to fig1 , there is shown a cut - away isometric view of the distal end portion of the needle deployment device 10 . as shown in fig1 , the core 80 is adapted to guide the needles 78 such that the proximal end portion 79 of the needles 78 are received within the cuff holders 112 of the foot 110 . referring now to fig1 and 14 there are shown a side view and a top view of the proximal end portion 79 of the needle 78 as received within the cuff holder 112 and cuff 130 . as shown , the proximal portion of the cuff holder 112 is adapted to direct the proximal end portion 79 of the needle 78 towards the chamber 132 of the cuff 130 . therefore , when the needles 78 are driven into the cuff holders 130 the cuff holders 112 will ensure that the proximal end portion 79 of the needles are received within the chamber 132 of the cuff 130 , thus ensuring capture of the cuffs 130 by the needles 78 . furthermore , this feature allows for greater manufacturing tolerances as well as for variables which are unforseen during use . for example , if a needle is slightly deflected due to plaque buildup within a vessel , the proximal portion of the cuff holder 130 will ensure that the needle 78 will be received within the cuff 130 for capture . the cuffs 130 may be manufactured of a bio - compatible material such as titanium , stainless steel , or plastics . the cuffs 130 have a generally cylindrical cross - sectional profile with an aperture disposed therethrough . the proximal end portion of the cuff 130 is adapted to receive the proximal end portion 79 of the needle 78 . the distal end portion of the cuff 130 is adapted to receive suture 170 , wherein the suture may be fixedly attached within the aperture 171 of the cuff with a bio - compatible adhesive , fusing the cuff with the suture , crimping the cuff , or similar methods of attachment . the suture may be any one of the known sutures available from various suppliers and known to one skilled in the art . as shown in fig9 the suture s extending from the distal end of the cuffs is gathered and arranged to run along the distal surface of the foot 110 from the distal end portion through a suture channel 113 disposed within the proximal end portion of the foot 110 . the suture s then extends along the elongated shaft within the groove of the suture holder 100 , wherein the suture hook 150 retains the suture within the groove as shown in fig1 . the suture hook 150 may be constructed of bio - compatible materials such as stainless steel , titanium or nitinol . in accordance with the present invention , referring now to fig1 a - 15 d there is shown in sequence the needle deployment device 10 in use . referring now to fig1 a there is shown a partial front view of the needle deployment device 10 , wherein the distal end portion of the needle deployment device has been inserted into a vessel . a fluid force f is applied to the drive shaft 50 by applying force to a fluid source that is operatively coupled to the chamber 22 of the main body 20 , wherein the fluid force f acts upon the driving assembly 90 as described above . in response to the fluid force f applied to the driving assembly 90 , the guide assemblies 40 are driven along the length of the suture guide 100 until the locking tabs 67 are received within a recessed area 56 of the drive shaft 50 , whereby the locking tabs 67 prevent further motion of the guide assemblies 40 as well as placing the guide assemblies 40 at a pre - determined height above the surface of the vessel in which the needles are to be deployed . referring now to fig1 b , wherein the guide assemblies 40 have become locked , the force f subsequently drives the needle block assemblies 70 and needles 78 through the vessel wall v , wherein the proximal end 79 of the needles 78 are received within the cuffs 130 of the foot 110 as shown in fig1 c . the needles are driven in a predetermined path defined by the needle guides within the body and core of the needle assembly . the path which the needles are driven along is at an angle relative to a vertical axis of the foot 110 . the curved needle path allows for greater tissue capture during deployment of the device . the term tissue capture shall be understood as the amount of tissue between the incision through which the foot has been placed and the location within the vessel wall where the needles enter . the needle deployment device exhibits good tissue capture because the needles are driven through the vessel wall at a distance from the incision through which the foot is placed . after the proximal ends 79 of the needles 78 have been received within the needle cuffs 130 as shown in fig1 d , a vacuum force is applied to the chamber 22 of the main body 20 , wherein the vacuum and return spring act to withdraw the needles from the foot 110 and through the vessel wall as shown in fig1 e . as described in detail above , the foot is adapted to receive and align the proximal end portion of the needles such that the needles are axially received within the cuff 130 . as the needles are retracted into the guide assemblies 40 , the suture 170 previously retained within the suture track 113 on the foot 110 of the needle deployment device 10 is drawn through the vessel wall v . after the needles have been fully retracted within the guide assemblies 40 , the guide assemblies 40 may be removed from the distal end portion of the needle deployment device 10 and the foot may be removed from the vessel . referring now to fig1 there is shown an anastomosis assembly 15 , the assembly includes a first needle deployment device 10 connected with a second needle deployment device 10 ′. as shown in fig1 the two needle deployment devices 10 and 10 ′ are connected with a flexible belt 200 . the flexible belt 200 includes at least one lumen extending therethrough , wherein a first end 202 of the belt 200 is connected to the first needle deployment device 10 and the second end 204 of the belt is connected to the second needle deployment device 10 ′. a first end of the suture 270 extends from the suture support 100 of the first needle deployment device 10 , through the lumen of the belt 200 to the suture support 100 ′ of the second needle deployment device 10 ′ as shown . as shown in fig1 , the belt may further include a buckle 230 as shown , wherein the buckle 230 includes a first aperture 231 and a second aperture 232 wherein the belt is threaded therethrough , and the buckle 230 being slidably disposed upon the belt 200 . the anastomosis assembly 15 is suitable for performing side to side anastomosis between two vessels , wherein the first needle deployment device 10 and the second needle deployment device 10 ′ are inserted into a first and second vessel respectively . after each of the devices have been deployed as described in detail above , the belt is opened , thereby releasing the sutures from the lumen therein . the belt may be opened by splitting the casing along a perforated line , or other means may be employed to open the belt , such as having a sealable closure or other device disposed upon the belt . once the belt is removed and the two vessels have been brought together , the buckle is utilized to organize the sutures and to enable a surgeon to then tie off the sutures in a conventional manner . referring now to fig1 there is shown a second anastomosis system 18 in accordance with the present invention . as shown in fig1 the anastomosis system 18 includes a needle deployment device , a belt , and a suture placement device . referring to fig1 , the suture placement device 312 comprises a body 314 and two suture holder retainers 316 , 318 . each retainer 316 , 318 is mounted on the body 314 by means of a pivotal connection 320 , 322 respectively . the device 312 further comprises a vessel support shaft 324 for receiving an end portion of a vessel , or graft , or the like , thereon . the shaft 324 is mounted on the body 314 . the shaft 324 is arranged to be passed through the mouth of the vessel so that the vessel can be supported at an operative position on the shaft 324 at which position the device 312 can pass a plurality of suture elements through the wall of the vessel adjacent its mouth . the body 314 comprises a piston and cylinder arrangement similar to that of the needle deployment device 10 described above . the piston and cylinder arrangement is indicated schematically and generally by reference numeral 326 . a socket for receiving an end of the conduit portion 421 of the flexible elongate member 420 is indicated at 327 . when the conduit portion 421 is connected to the socket 327 , a chamber within the body 314 is connected in fluid flow communication with a female luer - type connector . referring now to fig1 to 21 of the drawings , the shaft 324 defines a plurality of longitudinally extending passages indicated schematically by reference numeral 328 . the passages 328 have bends 330 leading to mouths 332 opening at an outer surface 334 of the shaft 324 . as can best be seen with reference to fig2 and 21 , a needle 335 is received in each of the passages 328 . each needle 335 defines a pointed end 435 . an actuation member in the form of an elongate pin or rod formation 336 is received in each of the passages 328 immediately behind the needles 335 . the pin formations 336 are operatively associated with the piston on the body 314 so that the formations 336 are caused to advance , as indicated by arrow k , in response to the piston being caused to advance within its associated cylinder . it will be appreciated that the piston of the device 312 is caused to advance within its associated cylinder in a manner similar to that of the piston and cylinder arrangement of the needle deployment device 10 , as described above , namely , by depressing a plunger of a syringe connected in fluid flow communication with the female luer - type connector 140 , as can best be seen with reference to fig1 . with reference to fig2 , upon advancement of the pin formations 336 along the passages 328 , the needles 335 are caused to advance along the passages 328 also . the needles 335 are caused to advance such that their pointed ends 435 are pushed out of the mouths 332 and laterally outwardly from the surface 334 of the shaft 324 . referring now to fig2 of the drawings , ends 438 of a plurality of suture elements 338 are operatively engaged to end portions of the needles 335 adjacent the ends 435 of the needles 335 . the ends 438 of the suture elements 338 can be operatively engaged to the end portions of the needles 335 in any appropriate manner . for example , the end portions of the needles 335 can have laterally extending apertures through which end portions of the suture elements 338 can be threaded . the suture elements 338 typically extend along the outer surface 334 of the shaft 324 , along an outer surface of the body 314 and into the suture container portion 421 of the elongate flexible member 120 , as can best be seen with reference to fig1 of the drawings , in a fashion similar to that described above with reference to the system 15 . it will be appreciated that opposed ends of the suture elements 338 are held on the suture support 118 of the device 112 of the system 310 in a fashion similar to that of the ends 460 of the suture elements 160 of the system 110 . the operation of the device 312 will now be described with reference to fig2 to 25 of the drawings . it will be appreciated that opposed ends of the suture elements 338 are placed through a vessel wall by means of the needle deployment device 10 and adjacent an incision in that vessel wall in a manner similar to that described above with reference to the system 15 . referring to fig2 , an end portion 450 of a vessel , or graft , indicated generally by reference numeral 350 , is shown in a received condition on the shaft 324 . the end portion 450 of the vessel 350 was positioned on the shaft 324 by displacing the suture holder arrangements 316 , 318 angularly about the pivotal connections 320 , 322 into open positions and then passing the end portion 450 of the vessel 350 over the shaft 324 . conveniently , marks 352 are provided on the shaft 324 to indicate an appropriate position of an end 450 of the vessel 350 on the shaft 334 so as to enable the suture elements to be passed through a vessel wall 451 of the vessel 350 at an appropriate distance from the end 452 . in fig2 , only the suture holder retainer 318 is shown in an open condition . typically , both retainers 316 , 318 are opened so as to pass the vessel portion 450 over the shaft 324 . when the end portion 450 of the vessel 350 has been positioned such that its end 452 is in register with the marks 352 on the shaft 324 , the retainers 316 , 318 are displaced angularly about the pivotal connections 320 , 322 into a closed condition in which the end portion 450 of the vessel 350 is embraced between the retainers 316 , 318 and the shaft 324 . fig2 shows the retainer 316 having been displaced from an open condition into a closed condition after the portion 450 of the vessel 350 has been appropriately positioned on the shaft 324 . conveniently , the vessel 350 is shaped to have an angled , or inclined , end 452 so as to permit an end - to - side anastomosis to be formed in which the one vessel extends from the other at an acute angle , as can best be seen with reference to fig2 of the drawings . the marks 352 are formed on the shaft 324 to extend circumferentially around the shaft 324 so as to align with a vessel having such an inclined end 452 . [ 0088 ] fig2 shows the portion 450 of the vessel 350 having been received on the shaft 324 and further shows both retainers 316 , 318 in closed conditions . as can best be seen with reference to fig2 of the drawings , the retainers 316 , 318 are provided with cooperating engaging formations so as to lockingly engage with each other when in their closed conditions . conveniently , the engaging formations comprise tongue members 354 , 354 and slot arrangements 356 , 356 for snap - lockingly receiving the tongue members 354 , 354 . after the end portion 450 of the vessel 350 has been received on the shaft 324 and the retainers 316 , 318 have been closed so as to engage lockingly with each other , the needles 335 bearing the ends 438 of the suture elements 338 are caused to advance along the passages 328 . this is achieved by means of the pin formations 336 being displaced along the passages 328 in response to actuating a syringe connected in fluid flow communication with the female luer - type connector 140 operatively associated with the device 312 . as the needles 335 are caused to advance in this fashion , the ends 435 of the needles 335 are driven through the wall 451 of the vessel 350 adjacent its mouth . the ends 438 of the suture elements 338 are passed through the vessel wall 451 together with the ends 435 of the needles 335 , since the ends 438 of the suture elements 338 are appropriately attached to the ends of the needles . after the ends 435 of the needles 335 have passed through the vessel wall 452 , the ends 435 are driven into suture holders 358 , 360 releasably mounted on the suture holder arrangements 316 , 318 to be held captive by the holders 358 , 360 . the retainers 316 , 318 are then angularly displaced about the pivotal connections 320 , 322 into their open conditions to enable the vessel 350 to be removed from the shaft 324 . the suture holders 358 , 360 are removed from the retainers 316 , 318 , while the needle ends 435 , and consequently also the ends 438 of the suture elements 338 , are held captive on the suture holders 358 , 360 . to remove the holders 358 , 360 from the retainers 316 , 318 , hand grippable portions 450 , 360 . 1 of the holders 358 , 360 are typically manipulated to cause the holders 358 , 360 to be slid along slots 362 defined by the retainers 316 , 318 . as can best be seen in fig2 of the drawings , each retainer 316 , 318 has a part annular shoulder formation 364 arranged to retain the holders 358 , 360 in a mounted condition on the retainers 316 , 318 . when the holders 358 , 360 are removed from their associated retainers 316 , 318 , the hand grippable portions 458 , 460 are manipulated resiliently to urge the holders over the annular shoulder formations 364 . fig2 shows the end portion 450 of the vessel 350 having been removed from the shaft 324 and further shows the holders 358 , 360 having been removed from the associated retainers 316 , 318 . referring now to fig2 and 28 of the drawings , the suture holder 358 is shown in greater detail , and after it has been removed from its associated retainer 316 . in fig2 and 28 , the holder 358 is shown after the needles 335 have been passed through the portion of the vessel 350 and into engagement with the holder 358 . in fig2 , the suture holder is shown having a shape corresponding to the shape which it has when mounted on its associated retainer 316 . when mounted on the retainer 316 , opposed flange portions 358 . 2 of the suture holder 358 are held in a resiliently deformed condition such that an inner surface 459 defined by the flange portions 458 extends generally along a circular circumference so as to extend snugly around the vessel portion 450 when held between the retainers 316 , 318 and the shaft 324 . the suture holder 358 is typically made from a resilient material , such as silicone , or the like . in fig2 , the suture holder 358 is shown after having been removed from its associated retainer 316 . after having been removed , the flange portions 459 take up a relaxed condition in which they have a straighter profile than in the case when mounted on the retainer 316 . in this relaxed condition , the spacing between the needle ends 335 on which the ends 435 of the suture elements 338 are carried is greater than in the case when the holder 358 was mounted on the retainer 316 . the holder 358 is designed so that when in its relaxed condition , the spacing between adjacent suture element ends 435 on the needles 335 generally corresponds with the spacing between adjacent suture element ends when held on the needle block assembly 70 and 70 ″ of the suture guide 40 and 40 ′ of the needle deployment device 10 . to form the end - to - side anastomosis , the needle deployment device 10 is used to place the opposed ends of the suture elements 338 through another vessel wall adjacent an incision in the other vessel wall in a fashion similar to that described above with reference to the system 15 . after the suture elements 338 have been placed through the wall of the portion 450 of the vessel 350 adjacent its mouth , as described above , and after opposed ends of the suture elements 338 have been placed through a vessel wall adjacent an incision in the vessel wall by the needle deployment device 10 , in a manner similar to that described above , the suture holders 358 , 360 are paired up with the suture attached to the proximal end portion of the needles 78 of the needle deployment device 10 . conveniently , the holders may be distinctively colored to indicate to the user which of the holders is to be matched up with which of the holders . accordingly , in this fashion , opposed ends of the same suture elements are paired up with each other . the paired up end portions of the suture elements can then be passed into the slots of a suture handling device as described above , for example . after having been received in the slots of the suture handling device as described above , the suture elements can be removed from the suture handling device and can be tied , or otherwise secured together , so as to form sutures between the vessels thereby to form an end - to - side anastomosis between the vessels . although the present invention has been described in considerable detail with reference to certain preferred embodiments , it is contemplated that one skilled in the art may make modifications to the device herein without departing from the scope of the invention . therefore , the scope of the amended claims should not be considered limited to the embodiments described herein .	0
the prophylactic and / or therapeutic agent of the present invention for side effects of anticancer agent is not particularly limited as long as it is a prophylactic and / or therapeutic agent for side effects of anticancer agent containing alas . the agent of the present invention can be taken before the anticancer agent therapy , simultaneously with the anticancer agent therapy , after the anticancer agent therapy , or after the occurrence of the anticancer agent side effects , as appropriate according to the embodiment . by employing the prophylactic and / or therapeutic agent of the present invention for side effects of anticancer agent , the side effects of anticancer agent are alleviated , and thereby in some cases can allow increase in the administration dose of anticancer agent . the prophylactic and / or therapeutic agent of the present invention for side effects of anticancer agent can also be used in combination with an anticancer agent , for example as a drug combination , or used as a kit . the anticancer agent in the present invention is not particularly limited . a non - limiting example of such an anticancer agent can include platinum - containing antitumor agent ( such as cisplatin ). the side effects of anticancer agent in the present invention refer to the physical deficiency in general due to an anticancer agent . the side effects of anticancer agent are various . non - limiting examples of such side effects can include ( 1 ) side effects related to blood or bone marrow such as decrease of hemoglobin , hemolysis , and anemia , ( 2 ) side effects related to general symptoms such as weakness , malaise , and weight loss , ( 3 ) side effects related to skin symptoms such as hair loss and rash , ( 4 ) side effects related to the gastrointestinal system such as nausea , retching , constipation , and diarrhea , and ( 5 ) side effects related to the kidney ( nephrotoxicity ) such as renal failure . the compound employed as the prophylactic and / or therapeutic agent of the present invention for side effects of anticancer agent is alas . alas herein refer to ala or a derivative thereof or a salt thereof . examples of ala derivatives can include compounds represented by the following formula ( i ). in formula ( i ), r 1 represents a hydrogen atom or an acyl group , and r 2 represents a hydrogen atom , a linear or branched alkyl group , a cycloalkyl group , an aryl group , or an aralkyl group . in formula ( i ), ala corresponds to the case where r 1 and r 2 are hydrogen atoms . alas may be those that act in vivo as an active ingredient as the ala of formula ( i ) or a derivative state thereof , and can also be administered as a prodrug ( precursor ) that is degraded by an in vivo enzyme . the acyl group in r 1 of formula ( i ) can include a linear or branched alkanoyl group having 1 to 8 carbons such as formyl , acetyl , propionyl , butyryl , isobutyryl , valeryl , isovaleryl , pivaloyl , hexanoyl , octanoyl , and benzylcarbonyl groups , and an aroyl group having 7 to 14 carbons such as benzoyl , 1 - naphthoyl , and 2 - naphthoyl groups . the alkyl group in r 2 of formula ( i ) can include a linear or branched alkyl group having 1 to 8 carbons such as methyl , ethyl , propyl , isopropyl , butyl , isobutyl , sec - butyl , tert - butyl , pentyl , isopentyl , neopentyl , hexyl , heptyl , and octyl groups . the cycloalkyl group in r 2 of formula ( i ) can include a cycloalkyl group having 3 to 8 carbons with saturated or possibly partially unsaturated bonds , such as cyclopropyl , cyclobutyl , cyclopentyl , cyclohexyl , cycloheptyl , cyclooctyl , cyclododecyl , and 1 - cyclohexenyl groups . the aryl group in r 2 of formula ( i ) can include an aryl group having 6 to 14 carbons such as phenyl , naphthyl , anthryl , and phenanthryl groups . the aralkyl group in r 2 of formula ( i ) can include the same exemplification as the above aryl groups for the aryl moiety and the same exemplification as the above alkyl groups for the alkyl moiety , specifically , an aralkyl group having 7 to 15 carbons such as benzyl , phenethyl , phenylpropyl , phenylbutyl , benzhydryl , trityl , naphthylmethyl , and naphthylethyl groups . preferred ala derivatives include compounds where r 1 is e . g . a formyl , an acetyl , a propionyl , or a butyryl group . preferred ala derivatives also include compounds where the above r 2 is e . g . a methyl , an ethyl , a propyl , a butyl , or a pentyl group . preferred ala derivatives also include compounds where the combination of the above r 1 and r 2 is each a combination of ( formyl and methyl ), ( acetyl and methyl ), ( propionyl and methyl ), ( butyryl and methyl ), ( formyl and ethyl ), ( acetyl and ethyl ), ( propionyl and ethyl ), or ( butyryl and ethyl ). among alas , examples of a salt of ala or a derivative thereof can include a pharmaceutically acceptable acid addition salt , a metal salt , an ammonium salt , and an organic amine addition salt . examples of an acid addition salt can be , for example , each of inorganic acid salts such as hydrochloride , hydrobromide , hydroiodide , phosphate , nitrate , and sulfate salts , and each of organic acid addition salts such as formate , acetate , propionate , toluenesulfonate , succinate , oxalate , lactate , tartrate , glycolate , methanesulfonate , butyrate , valerate , citrate , fumarate , maleate , and malate salts . examples of a metal salt can be each of alkali metal salts such as lithium , sodium , and potassium salts , each of alkaline earth metal salts such as magnesium and calcium salts , and each of metal salts such as aluminum and zinc salts . examples of an ammonium salt can be alkyl ammonium salts such as ammonium and tetramethylammonium salts . examples of an organic amine salt can include each of triethylamine , piperidine , morpholine , and toluidine salts . these salts can also be employed as a solution at the time of use . among the above alas , the most preferred are ala and various esters such as ala methyl ester , ala ethyl ester , ala propyl ester , ala butyl ester , and ala pentyl ester , as well as hydrochloride , phosphate , and sulfate salts thereof . among these , ala hydrochloride and ala phosphate salts can be exemplified as particularly preferable . the above alas can be produced by e . g . a well - known method such as chemical synthesis , microorganic production , and enzymatic production . the above alas may also form a hydrate or a solvate , and alas can be employed alone or in an appropriate combination of two or more . the prophylactic and / or therapeutic agent of the present invention for side effects of anticancer agent is preferably those further containing a metal in a range that does not cause symptoms due to excess . a metal compound can be favorably employed as said metal , as long as it does not adversely affect the advantages of the present invention . the metal according to the present invention can include iron , magnesium , zinc , nickel , vanadium , cobalt , copper , chromium , and molybdenum , although iron and zinc are preferred . examples of an iron compound can include ferrous citrate , sodium ferrous citrate , iron sodium citrate , iron ammonium citrate , ferric pyrophosphate , heme iron , iron dextran , iron lactate , ferrous gluconate , iron sodium diethylenetriaminepentaacetate , iron ammonium diethylenetriamine pentaacetate , iron sodium ethylenediaminetetraacetate , iron ammonium ethylenediaminepentaacetate , triethylenetetramine iron , iron sodium dicarboxymethylglutamate , iron ammonium dicarboxymethylglutamate , lactoferrin iron , transferrin iron , ferric chloride , iron sesquioxide , sodium iron chlorophyllin , ferritin iron , ferrous fumarate , ferrous pyrophosphate , saccharated iron oxide , iron acetate , iron oxalate , ferrous succinate , iron sodium succinate citrate , iron sulfate , and iron glycine sulfate . among these , ferrous citrate and sodium ferrous citrate are preferred . zinc compounds can include zinc chloride , zinc oxide , zinc nitrate , zinc carbonate , zinc sulfate , zinc diammonium diethylenetriaminepentaacetate , zinc disodium ethylenediaminetetraacetate , zinc protoporphyrin , zinc - containing yeast , and zinc gluconate . one or two or more of each of the above metals can be employed , and the administration dose of the metal can include a molar ratio of 0 . 01 to 10 - folds , preferably 0 . 1 to 5 - folds , and more preferably 0 . 2 to 2 - folds relative to the administration dose of alas . the alas and the metal contained in the prophylactic and / or therapeutic agent of the present invention for side effects of anticancer agent can be administered as a composition comprising the alas and the metal or as each alone , but simultaneous administration is preferred even when they are each administered alone . however , it may not need to be strictly simultaneous , but may be performed without a substantial interval between the two so that the administration of the alas and the metal can show an additive or synergistic effect . examples of the administration route for the prophylactic and / or therapeutic agent of the present invention for side effects of anticancer agent can include oral administration including sublingual administration , or parenteral administration such as inhalation administration , intravenous administration including infusion , transdermal administration by e . g . a poultice , suppository , or administration by forced enteral nutrient employing a nasogastric tube , a nasointestinal tube , a gastrostomy tube , or an enterostomy tube , but oral administration is used in general . the administration subject is typically a human , but a non - human animal such as a pet , an experiment animal , and a farm animal may also be included . the dosage form of the prophylactic and / or therapeutic agent of the present invention for side effects of anticancer agent can be appropriately determined depending on the above administration routes , and can include , for example , injections , infusions , tablets , capsules , fine granules , powders , solutions , liquors dissolved e . g . in a syrup , poultices , and suppositories . in order to prepare the prophylactic and / or therapeutic agent of the present invention for side effects of anticancer agent , a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier , excipient , diluent , additive , disintegrant , binder , coating , lubricant , gliding agent , glossing agent , flavoring agent , sweetening agent , solubilizer , solvent , gelling agent , and nutrient etc . can be added as necessary , specific examples of which can be water , saline , animal fat and oil , vegetable oil , lactose , starch , gelatin , crystalline cellulose , gum , talc , magnesium stearate , hydroxypropylcellulose , polyalkylene glycol , polyvinyl alcohol , and glycerin . when the prophylactic and / or therapeutic agent of the present invention for side effects of anticancer agent is prepared as an aqueous solution , care must be taken so that the aqueous solution will not be alkaline in order to prevent the degradation of alas . if it becomes alkaline , degradation can also be prevented by removing oxygen . the amount / frequency / duration of the prophylactic and / or therapeutic agent of the present invention for side effects of anticancer agent will vary according to the age , weight , and symptoms etc . of the person that is to utilize the prophylactic and / or therapeutic agent of the present invention for side effects of anticancer agent . examples of the preferred administration dose can include 4 μmol to 13100 μmol , preferably 7 μmol to 4400 μmmol , more preferably 13 μmol to 3100 μmol , and further preferably 20 μmol to 880 μmol per one adult . note that the above preferred administration dose range are exemplary and are not limiting . the administration timing of the prophylactic and / or therapeutic agent of the present invention for side effects of anticancer agent is most desirably continuously administering of agent of the present invention from at least three days or more before starting the administration of the anticancer agent , and continuing the administration of the agent of the present invention even during the duration of therapy by anticancer agent . however , a certain effect can be expected even if administration of the agent of the present invention is started when starting the administration of the anticancer agent , and continuing the administration of the agent of the present invention during the duration of therapy by anticancer agent . moreover , a certain effect can be expected even if the agent of the present invention is administered only during the period before starting the administration of the anticancer agent . moreover , by administering the prophylactic and / or therapeutic agent of the present invention for side effects of anticancer agent , for example , administration of a standard amount of anticancer agent to a patient may become possible even when the anticancer agent cannot be administration at all or a standard amount of anticancer agent cannot be administered to the said patient due to severe side effects . accordingly , by administering the prophylactic and / or therapeutic agent of the present invention for side effects of anticancer agent , the inherent effect of the anticancer agent can be drawn at its maximum , and not only the effect of improving the qol of the patient but also the effect of extending the patient &# 39 ; s life may be expected . the prophylactic and / or therapeutic agent of the present invention for side effects of anticancer agent can also be used in combination with other existing prophylactic and / or therapeutic agents for side effects of anticancer agent . examples of existing prophylactic and / or therapeutic agents for side effects of anticancer agent include a large - scale administration of an electrolyte by infusion or chinese herbal medicines such as shiquan dabu teapills . since the mechanisms of these agents and ala regarding the prophylactic and / or therapeutic agent for side effects of anticancer agent are each thought to be fundamentally different , additive , and in some cases synergistic effect can be expected . unless otherwise defined , the terms used herein are employed to describe a particular embodiment and do not intend to limit the invention . in addition , the term “ comprising ” as used herein , unless the content clearly indicates to be understood otherwise , intends the presence of the described items ( such as components , steps , elements , and numbers ), and does not exclude the presence of other items ( such as components , steps , elements , and numbers ). unless otherwise defined , all terms used herein ( including technical and scientific terms .) have the same meaning as that broadly recognized by those skilled in the art of the technology to which the present invention belongs . unless explicitly defined otherwise , the terms used herein should be construed to have meanings consistent with those herein and in the related technical fields , and are not to be construed as idealized or excessively formal meanings . the present invention will now be more specifically described by examples , but the technological scope of the present invention is not limited to these exemplifications . example 1 : effect of reducing the side effects of ala administration on various side effects accompanying cisplatin administration in order to verify the effect of reducing the side effects by administration of alas on side effects arising from anticancer agent administration , cisplatin and ala were administered to rats , and the influence on rats was verified . forty - four 6 weeks - old sd rats ( male ) were purchased from japan slc , inc . they were used for experiments after conditioning for 7 days after purchase . the experiment duration was a total of 16 days , and experiment groups were divided into the following 5 groups i to v according to the ala administration condition . in all experiment groups except the negative control group ( group i ), cisplatin ( cddp ) was administered on day 6 from the start of experiment . cddp administration dose was 8 . 0 mg / kg of body weight , and each rat was intraperitoneally administered . saline was administered instead of cisplatin to group i as the negative control group . ala was also administered to groups iii , vi , and v according to the following schedule . on the other hand , no ala was administered to the positive control group ( group ii ). ala administration to groups iii , iv , and v was performed by daily oral administration of 10 mg / kg of body weight of ala hydrochloride salt + 15 . 7 mg / kg of body weight of sodium ferrous citrate ( dissolved in distilled water and sodium bicarbonate ). group i ( negative control group ): saline was administered on day 6 from the start of experiment . they were otherwise kept as usual . n = 4 group ii ( positive control group ): cddp was administered on day 6 from the start of experiment . they were otherwise kept as usual . n = 10 group iii (“ pre - administration group ”): ala was administered for a total of 5 days from the starting day of experiment to day 5 . cddp was also administered on day 6 . they were otherwise kept as usual . n = 10 group iv (“ post - administration group ”): on day 6 from the start of experiment , ala was administered , and then cddp was administered . ala was also administered for 10 days from day 6 to day 15 . they were otherwise kept as usual . n = 9 group v (“ full administration group ”): ala was administered for 15 days from the starting day of experiment to day 15 . on day 6 , ala was administered , and then cddp was administered . n = 9 blood was collected every two days for 15 days from the starting day of experiment to day 15 . observation of hair luster , stool state , and activity of rats was also carried out . each rat was also dissected on day 16 , and the kidney was resected . kidney sections were prepared after resection , and observed under a microscope after he staining . the rat survival rate of each experiment group for the duration of this experiment is shown in fig1 . as shown in fig1 , in the positive control group ( group ii ), reduction in the survival rate was seen on day 9 from the starting day of experiment due to the side effects of anticancer agent . in contrast , in groups administered with ala ( groups iii , iv , and v ), the timing of the start of reduction in the survival rate was delayed due to side effects from anticancer agent . it is also shown in groups administered with ala ( groups iii , iv , and v ) that reduction in the survival rate until day 16 could be suppressed . the “ full administration group ” administered with ala throughout the duration of experiment ( group v ) had the highest survival rate . however , a certain suppression effect on the side effects of anticancer agent was shown even for the “ pre - administration group ” ( group iii ) or the “ post - administration group ” ( group iv ). accordingly , reliable therapeutic and prophylactic effects by ala administration were shown in regards to reduction in the survival rate due to the side effects of anticancer agent . after fixing the kidney resected by dissection from each rat on day 16 with formalin , sections were prepared , and the state of the kidney was verified by he staining . the he staining images of the kidney are shown in fig2 . as shown in fig2 , administration of ala has alleviated the damage to the kidney due to the side effects of anticancer agent . the “ full administration group ” administered with ala throughout the duration of experiment ( group v ) was the most effective . however , a certain effect was shown even in the “ pre - administration group ” ( group iii ) and the “ post - administration group ” ( group iv ). accordingly , reliable therapeutic and prophylactic effects were shown in regards to the damage to the kidney due to the side effects of anticancer agent . the evaluation regarding hair luster , stool state , and activity of each rat in groups i to v is shown in the following table 1 . side effects were strongly observed from day 9 to day 13 from the starting day of experiment . accordingly , the state on days 9 , 11 , and 13 were scored and evaluated . hair luster here evaluates the side effect related to skin symptoms . stool state evaluates the side effect related to the gastrointestinal system . activity evaluates the side effect related to general symptoms , in particular evaluates the side effect related to malaise . each item was evaluated for each mouse by the following criteria , and is the numerical value of the sum of the three days ( days 9 , 11 , and 13 ) divided by the number of evaluation subject mice . 5 : very good , 4 : ordinarily state , 3 : slightly poor , 2 : poor , and 1 : death 5 : ordinarily stool , 4 : small amount of stool , 3 : slight diarrhea , 2 : diarrhea , and 1 : death 5 : ordinarily state , 4 : weak movement , 3 : slight movement , 2 : no movement , and 1 : death 5 : very good , 4 : ordinarily state , 3 : slightly poor , 2 : poor , and 1 : death as apparent from table 1 , ala administration was shown to have an alleviating action on various side effects caused by anticancer agent . the “ full administration group ” administered with ala throughout the duration of experiment ( group v ) showed the most preferable result . however , a certain effect was shown even in the “ pre - administration group ” ( group iii ) or the “ post - administration group ” ( group iv ). accordingly , reliable therapeutic and prophylactic effects by ala administration were shown in regards to the side effects of anticancer agent . example 2 : effect of reducing the side effects of ala administration on side effects on the kidney accompanying cisplatin administration in order to verify the effect of reducing the side effects by administration of alas on side effects on the kidney ( nephrotoxicity ) by anticancer agent administration , cisplatin and ala were administered to rats , and the influence on rat serum creatinine , urea nitrogen value ( bun ), and urine protein was verified . serum creatinine and urea nitrogen value ( bun ) were measured from blood samples . moreover , urine protein was measured from urine samples . weight loss which is a side effect on general symptoms as well as a side effect related to the gastrointestinal system was also observed at the same time . forty - six 6 weeks - old sd rats ( male ) were purchased from japan slc , inc . they were conditioned for 7 days after purchase . body weight measurement , blood collection , and urine collection of each rat were performed at the end of the conditioning period . the experiment was started on the next day with 44 rats . two individuals that had poor serum creatinine , urea nitrogen value ( bun ), and urine protein value at the measurement after conditioning were excluded from the experiment . in this experiment , experiment groups were divided into the following 4 groups i to iv according to the ala administration condition . the experiment was otherwise performed similarly to example 1 . group i ( negative control group ): saline was administered on day 6 from the start of experiment . they were otherwise kept as usual . n = 8 group ii ( positive control group ): cddp was administered on day 6 from the start of experiment . they were otherwise kept as usual . n = 14 group iii (“ post - administration group ”): on day 6 from the start of experiment , ala was administered , and then cddp was administered . ala was also administered for 10 days from day 6 to day 15 . they were otherwise kept as usual . n = 10 group iv (“ full administration group ”): ala was administered for 15 days from the starting day of experiment to day 15 . on day 6 , ala was administered , and then cddp was administered . n = 11 the body weight of each rat was measured , and blood and urine collection was carried out on starting day of experiment , days 6 , 7 , 9 , 11 , 13 , and 15 . the collected blood samples were used for measuring serum creatinine and urea nitrogen value ( bun ). in addition , the collected urine samples were used for measuring urine protein . each rat was also dissected on day 16 , and the kidney was resected and observed . the rat body weight change of each experiment group for the duration of this experiment is shown in fig3 . as shown in fig3 , in the positive control group ( group ii ), decrease in body weight was seen on day 1 and after due to the side effects of anticancer agent . in contrast , in groups administered with ala ( group iii , group iv ), decreased in body weight due to the side effects from anticancer agent was suppressed . further , in groups administered with ala ( group iii , group iv ), re - increase of body weight was observed on day 5 and after . although the “ full administration group ” administered with ala throughout the duration of experiment ( group iv ) was the most effective , a certain effect was shown even in the “ post - administration group ” ( group iii ). accordingly , reliable therapeutic and prophylactic effects by ala administration were shown in regards to weight loss which is a side effect of anticancer agent . the change in rat serum creatinine value of each experiment group for the duration of this experiment is shown in fig4 . as shown in fig4 , in the positive control group ( group ii ), a rapid increase in serum creatinine amount was seen on day 3 and after due to the side effects of anticancer agent . on the other hand , in groups administered with ala ( group iii , group iv ), although serum creatinine value due to the side effects from anticancer agent showed slight increase on day 5 , a value not much different from the negative control group was maintained . the change in rat urea nitrogen value ( bun ) of each experiment group for the duration of this experiment is shown in fig5 . as shown in fig5 , in the positive control group ( group ii ), a rapid increase in urea nitrogen value ( bun ) was seen on day 3 and after due to the side effects of anticancer agent . on the other hand , in groups administered with ala ( group iii , group iv ), it is shown that although urea nitrogen value due to the side effects from anticancer agent showed slight increase on day 5 , a value not much different from the negative control group was maintained . the change in rat urine protein value of each experiment group for the duration of this experiment is shown in fig6 . as shown in fig6 , in the positive control group ( group ii ), a rapid increase in urine protein value was seen on day 1 and after due to the side effects of anticancer agent . on the other hand , in groups administered with ala ( group iii , group iv ), it is shown that although urine protein value due to the side effects from anticancer agent showed slight increase on day 3 compared to the negative control group ( group i ), a value not much different from the negative control group was maintained . as apparent from fig4 to 6 , ala can alleviate kidney damage due to the side effects of anticancer agent . although the “ full administration group ” administered with ala throughout the duration of experiment ( group iv ) was the most effective , a certain effect was shown even in the “ post - administration group ” ( group iii ). accordingly , reliable therapeutic and prophylactic effects by ala administration were shown in regards to the side effects of anticancer agent on the kidney . the photographic figure of the kidney of each rat resected on day 16 is shown in fig7 . the kidneys of individuals that could be decided to have damage produced on renal function during the experimental period from serum creatinine value , urea toxin value ( bun ), and urine protein value were yellow and edematized . the kidneys that were yellow and edematized are shown with arrows in fig7 . it was validated whether or not ala administration has an influence on the cell toxicity ( anticancer effect ) of anticancer agent against cancer cells . the following cancer cells were employed in this experiment : t24 cells ( human transitional cell bladder cancer cells ) and 253j - bv cells ( human urinary tract epithelium cancer cells ). cisplatin was employed as the anticancer agent . ala hydrochloride salt was employed as ala . in addition , sodium ferrous citrate was administered together with ala administration . the concentrations of ala and sodium ferrous citrate were concentrations that are about 3 . 35 - folds higher ( ala hydrochloride salt : 200 μm , sodium ferrous citrate : 100 μm ) than the concentrations where the effect of alleviating the side effects of anticancer agent was obtained in examples 1 and 2 ( ala hydrochloride salt : 10 mg / kg of body weight ( about 59 . 67 μm ), sodium ferrous citrate : 15 . 7 mg / kg of body weight ( about 29 . 85 μm )). specifically , they were calculated so that the amounts of the concentration per 1 kg of body weight of ala and sodium ferrous citrate in example 3 are about 3 . 35 - folds of the amounts of ala and sodium ferrous citrate per 1 liter volume in examples 1 and 2 ( about 1 . 5 - fold for cisplatin below was calculated similarly .). on the other hand , the concentrations of cisplatin was a 2 - fold dilution series with the maximum at about 1 . 5 - folds of the concentration used in examples 1 and 2 ( 8 mg / kg of body weight ( about 26 . 66 μm )), which is 40 μm ( 40 μm , 20 μm , 10 μm , 5 μm , 2 . 5 μm , 1 . 25 μm , 0 μm ). cell toxicity at each concentration was compared in the following groups i to iv . group i : “ no addition group ,” i . e . the group with no ala administered group ii : “ pre - administration group ,” i . e . the group with ala administered only “ during preculture ” group iii : “ simultaneous administration group ,” i . e . the group with ala administered only “ with cisplatin administration ” group iv : “ full administration group ,” i . e . the group with ala administered “ during preculture ” and “ with cisplatin administration ” the meanings of each group will be further clearly described below . ( 1 ) t24 cells ( human transitional cell bladder cancer cells ) or 253j - bv cells ( human urinary tract epithelium cancer cells ) were cultured with a 10 cm dish in dmem medium comprising 10 % fbs to a subconfluent state . they were then collected by trypsin treatment . ( 2 ) for test groups group i ( no addition group ) and group iii ( simultaneous administration group ), the cells collected in ( 1 ) were suspended to a density of 50000 cells / ml in dmem medium comprising 10 % fbs . for test groups group ii ( pre - administration group ) and group iv ( full administration group ), the cells collected in ( 1 ) were suspended to a density of 50000 cells / ml in dmem medium comprising 200 μm of ala hydrochloride salt , 100 μm of sodium ferrous citrate , and 10 % fbs . ( 3 ) next , each suspension obtained in ( 2 ) was dispensed in a 96 - well microplate at 100 μl per well , and precultured at 37 ° c . for 24 hours . ( 1 ) after preculture , the medium was removed from each well . dmem medium comprising various concentrations ( 40 , 20 , 10 , 5 , 2 . 5 , 1 . 25 , 0 μm ) of cisplatin and 10 % fbs was added to group i ( no addition group ) and group ii ( pre - administration group ), and cultured in a co2 incubator at 37 ° c . in addition , dmem medium containing various concentrations ( 40 , 20 , 10 , 5 , 2 . 5 , 1 . 25 , 0 μm ) of cisplatin , 200 μm of ala hydrochloride salt , and 100 μm of sodium ferrous citrate , and 10 % fbs was added to group iii ( simultaneous administration group ) and group iv ( full administration group ), and cultured in a co2 incubator at 37 ° c . ( 2 ) after culturing for 48 hours in the presence of cisplatin , 10 μl of wst - 8 which is the substrate for cell counting kit - 8 ( from dojindo ) was added to each well , and chromogenic reaction was allowed at 37 ° c . for 2 hours . the survival rate was then measured for each well by measuring the absorbance at 450 nm . the absorbance of culturing in cisplatin - free medium was set at 100 % survival rate . in addition , the absorbance of color development by adding wst - 8 to cell - free medium was set at 0 % survival rate . with this , “ cell survival rate (%)” was calculated for each well . “ cell death rate (%)” was also calculated by the following formula . the cell death rate of groups i to iv are shown in fig8 and 9 . since cell death is the inhibition of cell survival by cisplatin , “ cell death rate (%)” is described as “ inhibition rate (%)” in fig8 and 9 . fig8 shows the death rate (%) of t24 cells ( human transitional cell bladder cancer cells ) due to cisplatin administration . the 50 % inhibitory concentration ( 50 % lethal concentration ) ( μm ) of t24 cells in groups i to iv were 5 . 73 μm ( group i ), 5 . 21 μm ( group ii ), 4 . 87 μm ( group iii ), and 5 . 56 μm ( group iv ), respectively . fig9 shows the death rate (%) of 253j - bv cells ( human urinary tract epithelium cancer cells ) due to cisplatin administration . the 50 % inhibitory concentration ( 50 % lethal concentration ) ( μm ) of 253j - bv cells in groups i to iv were 3 . 92 μm ( group i ), 3 . 92 μm ( group ii ), 2 . 80 μm ( group iii ), and 2 . 89 μm ( group iv ), respectively . as shown in fig8 and 9 , it was shown that ala administration hardly attenuated the effect of anticancer agent on anticancer effect of cisplatin , regardless of its administration timing and administration duration . an emergency surgery was performed on a woman who developed intestinal obstruction in the advanced colon cancer on aug . 19 , 2009 ( 61 - years old at the time ). according to the observation at the time of surgery , there was colon cancer the size of a fist , and although the cancer was resected and the intestinal obstruction was cleared , numerous peritoneal metastases were seen and remaining life expectancy was declared at 3 months . after the surgery , a molecular target drug such as avastin was concomitantly used in addition to folfox ( triple - drug combination of 5 - fu , isovorin , and elprat ) and folfiri ( triple - drug combination of 5 - fu , isovorin , and campto ) as anticancer agent therapy . further , 50 mg of aminolevulinic acid phosphate salt and 57 . 4 mg of sodium ferrous citrate per day were orally taken concurrently with this anticancer agent therapy . as a result , it was possible to continue anticancer agent therapy for one year after the surgery . administration of anticancer agent was given up after one year due to side effects , but oral intake of 50 mg of aminolevulinic acid phosphate salt and 57 . 4 mg of sodium ferrous citrate were continued , and she was able to survive for as long as one and a half years largely exceeding the declared 3 months life expectancy in a state with improved side effects . since the patient presented strong anemic symptom as a side effect , anemia improvement effect was selected as the comparison subject as the index of side effect improvement . the number of erythrocytes , hemoglobin value , and the number of leukocytes at ( i ) aug . 19 , 2009 which is just before the surgery and ( ii ) jan . 28 , 2011 which is about 1 year and 5 months after starting intake of aminolevulinic acid phosphate salt and sodium ferrous citrate are shown in table 2 below . as recognized from the above table , it is found that although decrease in the number of erythrocytes and hemoglobin as well as increase in leukocytes due to inflammation due to cancerous anemia were seen just before the surgery , the number of erythrocytes and hemoglobin are increased and anemia as a side effect of administration of anticancer agent is improved by administration of aminolevulinic acid phosphate salt and sodium ferrous citrate at about 1 year and 5 months after starting intake at ( ii ). on the other hand , the number of leukocytes settled at a normal value . it is thought that there was also strong damage on the hematopoiesis system considering the fact that strong side effects due to anticancer agent were shown , but the result that anemia is improved is astounding , and life with improved qol could be spent for as long as one and a half years even while carrying peritoneal metastasis , which largely exceeds the doctor &# 39 ; s life expectancy declared at 3 months . the agent of the present invention can be advantageously utilized as a prophylactic and / or therapeutic agent for side effects of anticancer agent .	0
the tissue concentration of an intravascular contrast agent c ( t ), depends on the tissue flow f , tissue function r ( t ), and the arterial input function v ( t ). the functional relationship is a convolution between r ( t ) and v ( t ), where u ( t )= f · r ( t ). the residue function r , describes the fraction of contrast still present in a tissue region at time t after instantaneous injection , and is thus a function of the physiological parameters of the tissue ( blood volume and mean transit time ). the flow f , can be obtained from the initial height of the deconvolved contrast concentration function , as no contrast has left the tissue at time t = 0 ( r ( 0 )= 1 ). in eq . ( 1 ), extravascular leakage and recirculation of contrast have been ignored . this is a sufficient approximation in perfusion studies with an intact blood brain barrier , and when only time point measurements representative of the first pass of the contrast agent are analyzed . eq . ( 1 ) is valid for each voxel ( i ), which has its own specific arterial input function and tissue residue function a voxel specific arterial input function includes any delay δ , and dispersion g , of the arterial input function from the injection vein w ( t ), on its passage to the observed tissue v i ( t )= w ( t )* g i ( t )* δ i ( t − t 0i ) ( 3 ) where t 0i is the arrival time of contrast bolus in voxel ( i ). the vascular transport function described in the literature is thus expressed by the convolution between g and δ . before using eq . ( 2 ) in mr perfusion imaging , c i ( t ) must be related to the corresponding change in mr signal intensity , s i ( t ). a linear relationship between the relaxation properties of the tissue and the contrast concentration is a good approximation for echo - planar imaging experiments , c i ⁡ ( t ) = - k te · ln ⁢ ⁢ s i ⁡ ( t ) s i ⁡ ( 0 ) ( 4 ) where te is echo time , s i ( 0 ) is the constant signal intensity before the contrast injection . the proportionality constant k , depends on the magnetic field strength , the type of contrast agent and the imaging sequence parameters . the complex cepstrum is a special frequency representation of an observed signal . if the observed signal is a collection of several individual signals , which belong to separate bands in the complex cepstrum , signal decomposition is possible by filtering the complex cepstrum . in the present invention , complex cepstrum analysis may be applied to the convolution in eq . ( 2 ) in order to determine voxel specific arterial input functions . a complex cepstrum representation is obtained by homomorphic transformation of the signal of interest . several homomorphic transformations exist , resulting in different cepstrums , like the bicepstrum , the spectral root cepstrum , the generalised cepstrum and the complex cepstrum . the homomorphic transformation used to compute the complex cepstrum , is the complex logarithmic function , log , which has the complex exponential function , ae iø = a cos ( ø )+ iasin ( ø ), as inverse . this homomorphic transformation can be computed in different ways , including a fourier transform method and a complex root extraction procedure . in the fourier method , the fourier transformation , f , is applied to the convolution in eq . ( 2 ) c i ( z = e jw )= f [ c i ( t )]= f [ v i ( t )]· f [ u i ( t )] ( 5 ) ĉ i ( z )= log ( c i ( z ))= log ([ v i ( t )])+ log ([ u i ( t )]) ( 6 ) inverse fourier transforming ( f − 1 ) the expression for ĉ i ( z ), gives the desired complex cepstrum representation , ĉ i ( t )={ circumflex over ( v )} i ( t )+ û i ( t ). thus , a linear relationship between the two convolved functions in eq . ( 2 ) may be established . computationally demanding phase unwrapping schemes and aliasing due to finite fourier representation , however , can be a problem using this approach and instead complex root extraction as described below , and which is not affected by aliasing , is preferably used in the method of the invention . the contrast signals in eq . ( 2 ), ĉ i ( t ), tε [ 1 , t ] are real , stable and finite . in this case , c i ( z ), the z transform of c i ( t ), is analytic in a region that includes the unit circle , and can be expressed as a complex polynomial of degree n = m i + m o , c i , ⁡ ( z ) =  a i ,  ⁢ ∏ k = 1 m i ⁢ ⁢ ( 1 - a i , k ⁢ z - 1 ) ⁢ ∏ k = 1 m o ⁢ ( 1 - b i , k ⁢ z - 1 ) ( 7 ) the coefficients , \| a i , k \|≦ 1 and \| b i , k \|≦ 1 , so that the factorization terms in eq . ( 7 ) represent m i zeros and m o zeros inside and outside the unit circle , respectively . the complex logarithm of eq . ( 7 ) is ĉ i ( z )= log \| a i \|+ r · log ( z )+ σ k = 1 m i log ( 1 − a i , k z − 1 )+ σ k = 1 m i log ( 1 − b i , k z ) ( 8 ) thus , by using a numerical polynomial rooting algorithm , the complex zeroes a i , k and 1 / b i , k of eq . ( 8 ) can be computed directly . the complex cepstrum ĉ i ( t ), can be computed according to c ^ i ⁡ ( t ) = { log ⁢ ⁢  a i  t = 0 - ∑ k = 1 m i ⁢ a i , k t t t & lt ; 0 - ∑ k = 1 m o ⁢ b i , k - t t t & gt ; 0 perfusion imaging series , of typically 50 time point measurements , give convergence and stable results in in vivo evaluations . by only including image frames representative of the first pass of the contrast bolus ( e . g . 22 time point measurements ), computation time may advantageously be decreased . the linear relationship in the complex cepstrum ĉ i ( t )={ circumflex over ( v )} i ( t )+ û i ( t ), means that if the two derived functions are located in different bands in the complex cepstrum , then they can be separated by simple ideal band pass filtering . correct separation is important to determination of the voxel specific arterial input functions . after ideal low pass filtering , the complex cepstrum may be assumed to be ĉ i ( t )={ circumflex over ( v )} i ( t ). next , inverse homomorphic transformation , based on the fourier method , may be applied to the filtered - complex cepstrum data to obtain v i ( t ). the first step is to transform v to the logarithmic fourier domain , f 1 ( v i )= v i ( e iω ), and then to the ordinary fourier domain , v i ( z = e i · ). all arterial input functions estimated according to this procedure may be normalised to unit area in the spatial domain , because any multiplicative coefficient to the arterial input function cannot be uniquely determined from the cepstrum separation . a possible physical explanation of this normalisation is that the same amount of contrast agent , in this case a contrast bolus of unit area , passes through each image voxel . thus , assuming that the shape of the voxel specific arterial input function is correctly reproduced , only a scaling factor separates it from the corresponding manually selected arterial input function . simple frequency domain wiener filtering is the preferred method for deconvolving the voxel specific arterial input functions and the tissue residue function according to u i ⁡ ( ⅇ ⅈ ⁢ ⁢ ω ) = c i ⁡ ( ⅇ ⅈ ⁢ ⁢ ω ) ⁢ v i * ⁡ ( ⅇ ⅈ ⁢ ⁢ ω )  v i ⁡ ( ⅇ ⅈ ⁢ ⁢ ω )  2 + q i ( 9 ) the parameter q i is the squared , inverse signal - to - noise ratio of the computed contrast concentrations . this wiener filter gives the maximum a posteriori probability estimate of the original signal with the corrupting noise modelled as independent gaussian processes , and the signal - to noise ratio taken as constant for all frequencies . the wiener filtering method could be replaced by any other standard deconvolution method , e . g . regularization , singular value decomposition or maximum likelihood based methods . while in certain instances the method of the invention may be carried out without taking into consideration the possibility of contrast agent leakage out of the vasculature or of contrast agent recirculation , it is generally desirable to take account of these factors , especially where the contrast agent is a simple chelate which distributes into the extracellular fluid ( rather than a blood pool agent which is retained in the blood ). almost all tissues have a substantial leakage of contrast across the capillary membranes , except for normal brain tissue . many brain tumors do not have an intact blood - brain barrier , and leak contrast out into the extravascular space . the leakage usually gives a significant contribution to the contrast signal , and should not be ignored in the determination of the voxel specific arterial input functions . to estimate the leakage term , the late part of the first pass contrast signal has to be considered . this late signal part is generally contaminated by the signal of the recirculated contrast . hence , recirculation effects should desirably be included in the determination of the voxel specific arterial input functions . thus in a preferred embodiment , the contrast signal of each voxel is split into first pass and second pass components with no leakage and with a leakage component . then , an initial estimate of each voxel specific arterial input function is obtained through filtering in the complex cepstrum domain . it has , however , been seen that the final results are not substantially influenced by the initialization provided that all initial values are larger than zero . thereafter , the one - dimensional iterative lucy - wiener deconvolution method may be used to improve the initial calculated values for each voxel specific arterial input function and its corresponding tissue residue function and leakage term . in this embodiment , the additive terms of the contrast signal due to recirculation and leakage are removed first , using standard models for leakage and recirculation ( see vonken et al ., mrm 43 : 820 - 827 ( 2000 )). estimation of these additive terms may be done using picard iterations and simple properties of the contrast signal in the spatial or fourier domain . after the removal of the additive terms , the first pass signal is isolated . an initial estimate of the arterial input function in each voxel is obtained using the complex cepstrum analysis . the resulting initial estimates of the arterial input functions may be used as the input to a nonparametric deterministic image constraints deconvolution algorithm ( see kundur et al ., ieee signal processing magazine 13 : 43 - 64 ( 1996 )). in these algorithms , deterministic constraints of non negativity and known finite support of both the arterial input functions and the tissue residue functions are used . estimates of the voxel specific tissue residue - functions and of the arterial input functions are updated iteratively to a local optimum . for each iteration , the prior image constraints are enforced . there is a large class of nonparametric deterministic image constraints deconvolution algorithms ( see kundur et al ., ieee signal processing magazine 13 : 43 - 64 ( 1996 )). some of the older and most well known are the iterative blind deconvolution algorithm , the non negativity and support constraints recursive inverse filtering algorithm , and a simulated annealing algorithm . a good review of these algorithms and others is given in kundur ( supra ). a recent development of nonparametric deterministic image constraints deconvolution algorithms is iterative chain algorithms ( see tsumuraya et al ., j . opt . soc . am . a 13 : 1532 - 1536 ( 1996 )). these algorithms combine two different deconvolution algorithms in sequence to exploit the advantages of both . in the preferred embodiment now described , the one - dimensional iterative lucy - wiener deconvolution algorithm is used to improve the initial estimates of each voxel specific arterial input function and its corresponding tissue residue function . the choice of the iterative lucy - wiener deconvolution algorithm is advantageous because no parameters have to be set manually and the two deconvolution algorithms in each iterative step tend to cancel the negative effects each of the algorithms has on the deconvolution result when used alone . this has been confirmed on simulated data and on in vivo data . the results were much less affected by noise than those obtained with the preceding algorithms . the contrast signal model with leakage , but no recirculation for a single voxel , i , is : c i ⁡ ( t ) = f i · r i ⁡ ( t ) * υ i ⁡ ( t ) + κ i · ∫ 0 t ⁢ f i · r i ⁡ ( τ ) * υ i ⁡ ( τ ) ⁢ ⅆ τ + v i ⁡ ( t ) ( 10 ) where c i ( t ) is the contrast signal , f i blood flow , r i ( t ) the tissue residue function , ν i ( t ) the arterial input function , κ i the leakage constant and ν i ( t ) the noise signal , which is usually assumed uncorrelated and gaussian distributed . in the simple standard prior art model , the recirculated fraction of the contrast , mε & lt ; 0 , 1 & gt ; is a parameter assumed common for all voxels . also the additional arterial input function due to recirculation of the contrast once through the circulation system , v0 ( t ), is assumed common for all voxels . these assumptions have been thought to be reasonable due to the structure of the body and the cardiovascular system . the recirculation time , t i , is specific for each voxel . using these assumptions , the voxel specific contrast signal model with one recirculation of contrast , but no leakage becomes : c i ( t )= f i · r i ( t )* ν i ( t )+ m · ν0 ( t )[( f i · r i ( t ) ν i ( t + t i )]+ v i ( t ) ( 11 ) combining eqs . ( 10 ) and ( 11 ) gives the voxel specific contrast signal model with leakage and recirculation time t i ; c ij ⁡ ( t ) = f i · r i ⁡ ( t ) * υ i ⁡ ( t ) + m · ( f i · r i ⁡ ( t ) * υ ⁢ ⁢ 0 ⁢ ( t ) * υ i ⁡ ( t + t i ) + κ i · ∫ 0 t ⁢ f i · r i ⁡ ( τ ) * υ i ⁡ ( τ ) ⁢ ⅆ τ + κ i · ∫ 0 t ⁢ f i · r i ⁢ ( τ ) * υ ⁢ ⁢ 0 ⁢ ( τ ) * υ i ⁡ ( τ + t i ) ⁢ ⅆ τ ) + v i ⁡ ( t ) ( 12 ) the fourier domain of eq . ( 12 ) can be factorized in the convenient form c i ⁡ ( ω ) = f i · r i ⁡ ( ω ) · v i ⁡ ( ω ) * ( 1 + κ i j ⁢ ⁢ ω ) · ( 1 + m · v ⁢ ⁢ 0 ⁢ ( ω ) · ⅇ - j ⁢ ⁢ t i ⁢ ω ) + n i ⁡ ( ω ) ( 13 ) where the upper case letters symbolizes the fourier transform of the corresponding time signals given by the same lower case letters . when contrast leakage and recirculation can be ignored , eq . ( 13 ) simplifies to the complex product this is the standard starting expression used previously for estimating the arterial input function , v i ( t ), in the complex cepstrum domain . the noise term , n i ( ω ) is ignored . however , usually contrast leakage and recirculation cannot be ignored , so the estimation of v i ( t ) has to be based on eq . ( 13 ). hence , the contributions of the contrast leakage and recirculation have to be removed from the contrast signal , c i ( t ), before the arterial input function is estimated . otherwise , the functions and 1 + m · e − jtω will corrupt the estimation of the slowly changing function v i ( t ). and ignoring the noise term , eq . ( 13 ) can be simplified to c i ⁡ ( ω ) = d i ⁡ ( ω ) * ( 1 + κ i j ⁢ ⁢ ω ) · ( 1 + m · v ⁢ ⁢ 0 ⁢ ( ω ) · ⅇ - j ⁢ ij ⁢ ω ) ( 16 ) thus , for each contrast signal , optimal estimation of d i ( t ) corresponds to optimal estimation of the global parameter m , the global recirculation function v0 ( t ) and all the voxel specific leakage constants , κ i , and local recirculation times , t i , i = 1 , 2 , n , where n is the number of voxels within the region of interest . to simplify the estimation problem , v0 ( t ) is simply selected as a gaussian or a gamma function where the parameters are set manually for a given acquisition sequence and all patients . this is a reasonable first order approximation since the vascular system properties are similar for all humans . in preliminary experiments , a gaussian distribution with mean zero and standard deviation 2 worked best with the acquisition parameters used . all three remaining parameters can be optimized , but here the recirculation fraction , m , is fixed to value 0 . 05 based on preliminary experiments , varying m in the interval [ 0 . 025 - 0 . 200 ]. again , this is a reasonable first order approximation since the vascular system permeability properties are similar for all humans . optimizing the value of m with small incremental steps is straight forward , but may increase the total computation time substantially . the parameters κ i and t i may be optimized in the spatial or fourier domain using a simple picard relaxation algorithm with 5 iterations ( see kreyszig “ advanced engineering mathematics ”, john wiley , ny , 1999 , page 1156 ). it may be assumed that the late part of the contrast signal curve represents a steady state , where there is an equilibrium of contrast between the intravascular and extravascular spaces . an initial value for κ i is found by ignoring any recirculation effects and using the steady state assumption ( see vonken ( supra )). the optimizing criterion is simply the total distance between the estimated function with leakage and recirculation and the observed concentration signal . for each estimate of κ i the optimal value of t i is determined by testing all possible integer values of t i within a prespecified range . lower and upper limits for t i can be specified dependent on the body part which is being examined . once the optimization is finished , the first pass contrast signal , d i ( t ), is known . after substitution of c i ( t ) with d i ( t ), eq . ( 14 ) can then be used as a starting point for determination of the voxel specific arterial input function v i ( t ), using complex cepstrum analysis as before . in the preferred embodiment now described , the iterative lucy - wiener deconvolution algorithm is introduced to obtain better estimates of both the voxel specific arterial input functions and the voxel specific tissue residue functions . the arterial input function estimates from the complex cepstrum filtering are used only as initial estimates . the lucy - wiener deconvolution algorithm is a combination of two deconvolution algorithms . the first part is the richardson - lucy deconvolution algorithm , which works in the spatial domain for images with additive poisson distributed noise . it is an expectation maximization ( em ) algorithm given by r j + 1 ⁡ ( x ) = { [ c ⁡ ( x ) r j ⁡ ( x ) * υ ⁡ ( x ) ] * υ ⁡ ( - x ) } ⁢ r j ⁡ ( x ) , ( 17 ) where j is the iteration number . the index i , denoting the voxel , has been suppressed . this algorithm is popular and used extensively by the astrophysical community to deconvolve speckled astronomical images recorded through the atmosphere . it satisfies the image constraints of positivity , energy conservation and support automatically . as this model has an inherent positivity constraint the number of possible solutions are therefore reduced and physiologically meaningful results can be obtained . further , the conservation of contrast may optionally be forced by normalising the arterial input functions to the same ( unit ) area , to assure that the same amount of contrast passes through all voxels . further , the arterial input function may be restricted to the same time bins as the first pass contrast signals , i . e . time points after the pre - bolus and before those identified by the leakage model as non - first pass . the tissue residue function is restricted to the first time points . as it is an em algorithm , it is guaranteed to converge to an optimum , when used alone . the optimum is the maximum posterior probability or likelihood , given the input functions . assuming that the additive noise is gaussian , a different em algorithm results , which does not guarantee positivity of the image values . the optimum will always be local . its distance from the global optimum is determined by the initial estimates of the arterial input function . frequency domain based deconvolution methods do not have the problems of spatially varying convergence rate and ringing , which cause local information losses in the spatial domain . hence , frequency domain based deconvolution methods can recover the local information losses in the spatial domain . the frequency domain wiener deconvolution filter minimizes the mean - square error to the contrast signals , c ( t ), when the arterial input function , v ( t ) is known . the wiener filter is given by r ⁡ ( ω ) = c ⁡ ( ω ) v ⁡ ( ω ) +  n ⁡ ( ω )  2  r ⁡ ( ω )  2 ( 18 ) in a statistical formulation , the algorithm maximizes the posterior probability of the tissue residue function when the noise is gaussian distributed . as seen from eq . ( 18 ), although the estimation of the tissue residue function is wanted , the power spectrum of this function itself is needed for this purpose . this makes the construction of the optimum filter difficult and sensitive to noise . however , by first using the richardson - lucy deconvolution method to obtain an estimate of the tissue residue function , the wiener filter can be constructed much more reliably and with less noise sensitivity . these two algorithms are used sequentially in an iterative loop . first , both the tissue residue function and the arterial input function are initialized using complex cepstrum analysis or to constant values greater than zero . then the tissue residue function is estimated , using the richardson - lucy algorithm . secondly , this estimate is used to find a new estimate of the arterial input function with the same algorithm : r j + 1 ⁡ ( x ) = { [ c ⁡ ( x ) r j ⁡ ( x ) * υ j ⁡ ( x ) ] * υ j ⁡ ( - x ) } ⁢ r j ⁡ ( x ) ( 19 ) υ j + 1 ⁡ ( x ) = { [ c ⁡ ( x ) υ j ⁡ ( x ) * r j + 1 ⁡ ( x ) ] * r j + 1 ⁡ ( - x ) } ⁢ υ j ⁡ ( x ) ( 20 ) then , the wiener deconvolution filter is used to find a new estimate of the tissue residue function and so forth . finally , the loop is finished by finding a new estimate of the arterial input function using the wiener deconvolution filter . the previous estimate of the arterial input function or the tissue residue function is used when the wiener filter is computed . r j + 2 ⁡ ( ω ) = c ⁡ ( ω ) v j + 1 ⁡ ( ω ) +  n ⁡ ( ω )  2  r j + 1 ⁡ ( ω )  2 ( 21 ) v j + 2 ⁡ ( ω ) = c ⁡ ( ω ) r j + 2 ⁡ ( ω ) +  n ⁡ ( ω )  2  v j + 1 ⁡ ( ω )  2 ( 22 ) in a preferred embodiment of the method of the invention , account is taken of leakage of contrast agent from the vasculature and of contrast agent recirculation effects . for organs and tissues other than the brain , there is considerable contrast agent leakage where a conventional ecf - distributing contrast agent , e . g . gddtpa , is used . moreover , even in brain perfusion imaging , contrast agent leakage across the blood brain barrier can occur as brain tumours may have leaky capillaries . in the preferred embodiment , leakage and recirculation effects are estimated automatically for each voxel . their signal contributions are then removed from the measured contrast signals . the remaining signal is the first pass signal of the contrast agent . this signal is then used for automatic , iterative estimation of voxel specific arterial input functions and voxel specific tissue residue functions . using this embodiment of the method of the invention , the wiener filter constant is estimated automatically leaving it only necessary to define the filter in the complex cepstrum domain if used for initialization ; however with the iterative calculation of the voxel specific arterial input and tissue residue functions , the exact value and shape of the complex cepstrum filter is much less important , optionally signal transformation to the complex cepstrum can be omitted . in a further aspect of the invention , the richardson - lucy deconvolution is used for all blind estimates . after the first pass contrast signal has been isolated , an initial estimate for the two convolved functions is set . these estimates are either obtained through cepstrum analysis , or by setting the function values to constants larger than zero , i . e . non - negative . for the initialization , it is preferred that the total energy ( the area under the curve ) of the convolved contrast signal is conserved in the initialization of the tissue residue function and the arterial input function , i . e . the area of the tissue residue function scaled by flow is equal to the area of the convolved contrast signals divided by the area of the arterial input function . in a preferred embodiment , the conservation of contrast may optionally be forced by normalising the arterial input functions to the same ( unit ) area , to assure that the same amount of contrast passes through all voxels . in a further preferred embodiment , the arterial input function is restricted to the same time bins as the first pass contrast signals , i . e . time points after the pre - bolus and before those identified by the leakage model as non - first pass . the tissue residue function is restricted to the first time points . in a preferred embodiment , the maximum likelihood formulation with poisson noise , as used in the richardson - lucy algorithm , can be improved by using a maximum aposteriori probability ( map ) solution , see , for example , the poisson bayes model ( stark et al , “ deconvolution in astronomy : a review ”, publications of the astronomical society of the pacific , vol 114 , 1051 - 1069 ( 2002 ). this and all other citations mentioned in any part of this application are hereby incorporated herein by reference . r j + 1 ⁡ ( x ) = r j ⁡ ( x ) ⁢ exp ⁡ [ ( c ⁡ ( x ) v ⁡ ( x ) * r j ⁡ ( x ) - 1 * v * ⁡ ( x ) ) ] ( 23 ) in a another preferred embodiment , to reduce noise , the richardson - lucy algorithm may also be regularised using the following formula : r j + 1 ⁡ ( x ) = r j ⁡ ( x ) ⁢ ( c j ⁡ ( x ) + r _ j ⁡ ( x ) c j ⁡ ( x ) * v * ⁡ ( x ) ) ( 24 ) thereafter , iterations are started by first improving the estimate of the arterial input function . this may be done by initializing the arterial input function to the normalized convoled contrast concentration . this estimate is used to improve the estimate of the tissue residue function and so forth . richardson - lucy deconvolution is used in each iteration . either function is updated iteratively to a local optimum . typically , the iterations are ended after about 6 iterations . a computer software product for use in implementation of the invention may be provided in the form of a physical carrier such as a disk , tape or other memory device , or may be provided as signals transmitted from a remote location , for example over a network such as the internet . the invention will now be described with reference to the following examples and the accompanying drawings in which : fig1 is a plot of two arterial input functions v i ( t ) against time simulating the effects of dispersion ; fig2 is a plot of arterial input functions with no noise ( estimated ( solid line ) and simulated ( dashed - dotted line ). a ) and b ) case i in table ( 1 ), c ) and d ) case ii of table ( 1 ). delayed arrival time of 3 s in c ) and d )); fig3 is a plot of arterial input function with acquisition noise added ( estimated ( mean value ± two standard deviations , solid line ) and simulated ( dashed - dotted line ). a ) and b ) case i in table ( 1 ), c ) and d ) case ii of table ( 1 ). delayed arrival time of 3 s in c ) and d )); fig4 is a plot of tissue residue functions scaled by flow with no noise ( deconvolved ( solid line ) and simulated exponential ( dashed - dotted line ). a ) and b ) case i in table ( 1 ), c ) and d ) case ii of table ( 1 ) delayed arrival time , 3 s , of the arterial input functions is used in c ) and d )); fig5 is a plot of tissue residue functions scaled by flow with acquisition noise added ( deconvolved ( solid line ) and simulated exponential ( dashed - dotted line ). a ) and b ) case i in table ( 1 ), c ) and d ) case ii of table ( 1 ) delayed arrival time , 3 s , of the arterial input functions is used in c ) and d )); fig6 is a plot of shape and initial height ( flow ) of deconvolved contrast concentration functions with no noise ( tissue residue functions with exponential shape (( a ) and ( b )), triangular shape (( c ) and ( d )), and box - shape . left column ; deconvolved ( solid line ) and initial ( dashed - dotted line ) concentration functions ( f = 60 ml / 100 g / min , mtt = 4 s ). right column ; computed flow values ( mean ± standard deviation ) for increased input flow values with mtt of 3 s (◯), 4s (∉), 5 s ( ε )); fig7 is a plot of estimated flow with decreasing signal - to - noise ratios ( mean value ( solid line ) and standard deviation ( dashed line ) of fifty voxels a ) when repeatedly optimizing the wiener filter constant and b ) with a non varying wiener filter constant , q = 0 . 01 ); fig8 shows images of in vivo deconvolved contrast concentrations as a function of time ( changes in signal intensity in a selection of eight time point measurements after deconvolving each voxel with a ) in - slice , manually selected arterial input function , b ) blind estimated , voxel specific arterial input function ); fig9 shows images of cerebral blood flow ( upper row ), time - to - peak ( middle row ) and mean transit time ( lower row ) ( manual selected arterial input functions ( left ) blind estimated arterial input functions ( right ). darker values in flow images represent voxels with high flow , while darker values in time - to - peak and mean transit time images represent shorter times ); fig1 shows images of tissue label masks ( a ) precontrast perfusion image . b ). tissue label masks superimposed on same image . white matter ; black masks just above the lateral ventricles . grey matter ; the six remaining black masks . the two most frontal mask ; cortical grey substance . the two masks just posterior to the side ventricles ; caput nucleus caudatus . the two most posterior masks ; nucleus lentiformis ); fig1 shows parametric perfusion images ( darkness increase linearly with volume and flow . brightness increase linearly with time . time to peak and mean transit time images linearly scaled to show relevant image features . a ) complete model with recirculation , leakage and improved estimates of arterial input functions . b ) complete model with recirculation , leakage and complex cepstrum estimates of arterial input functions . c ) model with no recirculation and no leakage and complex cepstrum estimates of arterial input functions . first line : blood volume . second line : blood flow . third line : mean transit time . fourth line : time of delay ); fig1 shows the time course of tissue residue function ( darkness increase linearly with flow . a ) complete model with recirculation , leakage and improved estimates of arterial input functions . b ) complete model with recirculation , leakage and complex cepstrum estimates of arterial input functions . c ) model with no recirculation and no leakage and complex cepstrum estimates of arterial input functions . line one : frame 18 . line two : frame 20 . line two : frame 23 . line two : frame 26 ); and fig1 shows leakage and recirculation images ( darkness increase linearly with leakage volume . brightness increase linearly with size of leakage coefficient and with time . all images linearly scaled to show relevant image features . leakage coefficients larger than 0 . 1 set to 0 . 1 . first line , leakage coefficient images . second line , steady state contrast signal images . third line , recirculation time images . a , c ) complete model with recirculation , leakage and improved estimates of arterial input functions . b , d ) model with leakage and improved estimates of arterial input functions , but no recirculation term . e ) complete model with recirculation , leakage and improved estimates of arterial input functions . f ) model with recirculation and improved estimates of arterial input functions , but no leakage term ). fig1 shows modeling of leakage and recirculation . selected regions of interest in data from tumor patient : a ) results in tumor area , b ) results in cortical gray matter , c ) convergence properties for combined recirculation and leakage function in tumor area , d ) regions - of - interests superimposed on the first image in the perfusion time series . fig1 shows modeling of leakage and recirculation . selected region - of - interest in healthy gray matter in data from patient with fibromuscular dysplasia . fig1 shows time - to - peak , estimated leakage and recirculation parameters . a ) relative time - to - peak ( rttp ) i . e . the time - to - peak of the convolved contrast signals , b ) absolute time - to - peak ( ttp ) i . e . time - to - peak after deconvolution ( here iterative blind deconvolution ) c ) ti , i . e . the time - to - peak of the second pass , d ) leakage parameter , κ i . brighter values are larger than darker values . estimated flow values when varying a ) the arterial input functions but with fixed tissue residue function ( exponential with mtt = 4 s ), b ) the noise conditions for fixed arterial input function ( a = 3 , b = 1 . 8 ) and fixed tissue residue function ( exponential with mtt = 4 s ), c ) the shape of the tissue residue function but fixed arterial input function ( a = 3 , b = 1 . 8 ). the reproduced mean transit times using different shaped tissue residue functions ( with input mean transit time 4 s ) is shown in d . fig1 shows in vivo arterial input functions . time difference between image frames is tr = 1 . 442 seconds . higher values are dark . a ) left frontal lobe tumor . b ) right middle cerebral fibromuscular dysplasia . fig1 shows in vivo tissue residue functions . time difference between image frames is tr = 1 . 442 seconds . the first time bin is the maximum value of the tissue residue function , r ( t )= 1 . smaller values are brighter in colors . a ) left frontal lobe tumor . b ) right middle cerebral fibromuscular dysplasia . fig2 shows in vivo analysis of a patient with right middle cerebral artery fibromuscular dysplasia . a ) selection of arterial input function as the voxels with the earliest and largest signal change ( the upper darker curve ), and subsequently gamma fitting ( the lighter curve ). seven voxels were selected ( the highlighted voxels in the smaller image ), b ) mean transit time proposed method , c ) time - to - peak conventional method d ) time - to - peak proposed method . darker values represent shorter times . fig2 region - of - interests . patient with right middle cerebral artery fibromuscular dysplasia . mean values of mtt and ttp shown in table 12 . synthetic data were generated following the description in calamante et al . mrm 44 : 466 - 473 ( 2000 ) and østergaard et al . mrm 36 : 715 - 725 ( 1996 ). parameters were adjusted to mimic data acquired during a typical , in vivo perfusion study . in each case , a time series containing fifty images was generated . since the time evolution of each voxel is treated separately in the algorithm described , the synthetic data were often divided into different spatial segments , each representing either different physical ( i . e . noise ) or physiological ( i . e . tissue properties ) conditions . in all evaluations , flow is set to the maximum value of the deconvolved contrast concentration curves , while the elapsed time before the occurrence of this maximum value gives time - to - peak . both the arterial input function and the tissue residue function had to be modelled . a gamma variate function was used to simulate the arterial input function . v i ⁡ ( t ) = { 0 if ⁢ ⁢ t & lt ; t 0 ⁢ ⁢ i ( t - t 0 ⁢ ⁢ i ) a ⁢ ⅇ ( t - t 0 ⁢ i ) / b if ⁢ ⁢ t ≥ t 0 ⁢ i where t 0i is the time of bolus occurrence in the voxel ( i ) of interest , and a and b are model dependent parameters . the tissue residue function , r i ( t ), was in general modelled as an exponentially decaying function . when multiplied with the tissue flow , f i it can be expressed as u i ( t )= f i · r i ( t )= f i · e − t / mtt i ( 25 ) where mtt i represents the corresponding mean transit time through the voxel of interest . the convolution between u i ( t ) and v i ( t ) was obtained by a simple multiplication in fourier domain , c i ( t )= − 1 [ ν i ( t )]. [ u i ( t )]] ( 26 ) where and − 1 represent the fourier transform and its inverse . as this approach might be affected by the ringing artifacts of the finite , discrete fourier transform , comparison to the analytical expressions in calamante et al ( supra ) was performed . the contrast concentration curves , c ( t ), in eq . ( 26 ) were subsequently converted to signal - time curves . the baseline signal intensity was set to s i ( 0 )= 600 mr units . to obtain realistic noise distributions , a part of a data set outside object boundaries was extracted from a clinical perfusion measurement . these fifty time frame measurements ( 64 × 64 pixels ) with noise were added to the synthetic data sets after removal of the mean noise value . the effects of dispersion and delay in the arterial input function were studied separately to simplify the interpretation of the simulation results . a delayed arrival time of the bolus injection was simulated by adding a delay δt 0 , δt 0 ε [ 0 , 5 ] s , to the arterial input function . dispersion was simulated by choosing different parameter values for the arterial input function . the area under the arterial input function was in each case normalised to unit area . thus , the broader the arterial input function , the smaller the maximum amplitude . alternatively , dispersion can also be achieved by convoluting the arterial input function with a transport function ( see calamante et al ( supra )). two different arterial input functions ( see fig1 of the accompanying drawings ) are used in presentation of the delay and dispersion results . the same exponential tissue residue function is used for both arterial input functions table ( 1 ). in the current algorithm , the different shapes of the simulated arterial input functions should be reconstructed . any delayed time - of - arrival , on the other hand , is added to the tissue residue functions . the arterial input function ν i ( t ), and the tissue residue function ( scaled by flow ), u i ( t ), are separable in the complex cepstrum domain . to demonstrate this , various arterial input functions were convoluted with exponentially decaying box shaped or triangular tissue residue functions , respectively . deconvolution algorithms are sensitive to noise . to test the noise sensitivity of the wiener filter deconvolution , monte carlo simulations were used . the arterial input functions and tissue residue functions given in table ( 1 ) ( case 1 ) were applied with synthetically generated noise added . independent gaussian noise , with zero mean , was generated and applied to produce signal - to - noise ratios , snrs , ranging from 10 to 10000 . results were computed by averaging over fifty individual time series . the in vivo measurements included in this study were selected from a major ongoing study of professional deep - sea divers ( n = 120 ). the mechanisms by which the brain of deep sea divers is damaged is still unknown , however previous studies concluded that most findings could be explained by vascular obstructions . in this study , the selected subjects are considered healthy as no obvious pathology is identified . the perfusion acquisitions were performed on a siemens vision 1 . 5 t whole body clinical scanner . a standard , commercial gradient - echo planar imaging ( ge - epi ) sequence , with parameters tr / te = 1442 ms / 60 . 70 ms , fov = 230 × 230 , matrix = 128 × 128 , was selected . the contrast agent , gadolinium diethylene triamine penta - acetic acid ( gd - dtpa — available as magnevist ® from schering ag , was injected automatically after 12 seconds . in total , 50 time points were measured . image data were transported to an off line computer for post processing . in addition to the proposed method , deconvolution was performed using a manually selected arterial input function . the procedures were implemented in c , including several numerical recipes routines . image processing tools based on the xite package and matlab were used for image handling , visualization and evaluation . both the band pass filter and the wiener deconvolution filter should be optimized for the method to work optimally . in this study , these parameter values were optimized by inspecting the computed complex cepstrum and deconvolved contrast concentration functions , u i ( t ). the same band pass filter value was chosen for all voxels in all in vivo studies . it is assumed that the most slowly varying function , the arterial input function , is located in the early part of the complex cepstrum , while the more rapidly varying tissue residue function is located at later times . typically , the four or five lowest time bins in the complex cepstrum were selected to isolate the arterial input function . generally , the outcome of the filtering was not much altered if an extra time bin was included or excluded when isolating the arterial input function . the wiener filter constant , q , is used when deconvolving the contrast concentration function from the estimated voxel specific arterial input function . this constant is directly related to the signal - to - noise ratio of the observed contrast concentration functions . by choosing a too small value for q , noise is enhanced . on the other hand , with a too large value of q , no deconvolution is achieved . in the simulations , a small q - value of 0 . 009 was chosen when no noise was added . this q - value was increased with increasing noise values : q [ 0 . 009 , 0 . 15 ] for snrε [ 10000 , 10 ]. a value of q = 0 . 05 was chosen for each voxel in the in vivo data . the simulated data were used to study the performance of the new , blind method for calculating voxel specific arterial input functions and tissue residue functions . the in vivo recordings were used to compare the performance of this method to the traditional method where a single arterial input function is manually selected . the time course of the simulated arterial input functions was estimated accurately in the simulations both when no noise , fig . ( 2 ), and acquired noise , fig . ( 3 ), was added . as described above , the induced delay in arrival time ( images to the right in both figures ) is not included in the estimated arterial input functions . the shape of the simulated residue functions was only partly reproduced in the deconvolved contrast concentration functions , u i ( t )= f i · r i ( t ). the initial amplitude of the exponential function ( dashed - dotted line ) was replaced by a more gaussian shaped function ( fig . ( 4 ) and fig . ( 5 )). similarly , the deconvolution procedure failed to reproduce the initial sharp edge of a linearly shaped , or the constant plateau of a box - shaped , tissue residue function ( fig . ( 6 )). the delayed arrival time , which was added to the arterial input function in some simulations , ( figs . ( 1 c , d )-( 2 c , d )), was seen , as expected , in tissue residue functions ( figs . ( 4 c , d )-( 5 c , d )). repeated simulations , with input flow values of f = 30 ml / 100 g / min and f = 60 ml / 100 g / min using an exponentially shaped tissue residue function , showed an almost exact match between increase in delayed arrival of the simulated arterial input functions and the increase in computed time - to - peak values , ttp , ( table ( 2 )). for each of the simulated delays in contrast arrival , similar flow values were computed . although independent of delay , the flow values were always underestimated compared to the input values ( table 2 )). the same trend was seen when using other shapes for the tissue residue functions ( fig6 )). for each shape of the tissue residue functions , a linear relation was found between the input and computed tissue flow values . the fact that no unique relation was found for all models chosen for the tissue residue functions , shows that the deconvolution procedure was dependent on the shape of the tissue residue function . the estimated arterial input functions were not influenced by the differently shaped input tissue residue functions , implying a fairly correct separation in the complex cepstrum . the same wiener filter constant was applied in all simulations . thus , any effect obtained by optimizing this constant was ignored in the above simulations . monte carlo simulations , with various levels of gaussian noise added , showed that input flow values ( f = 60 ml / 100 g / min ) were underestimated by the deconvolution procedure ( fig7 ). by repeatedly optimizing the wiener filter constant , q , stability of the proposed method was obtained over the complete range of signal - to - noise values ( fig . ( 7 a )). in fig . ( 7 a ), q was increased six times in the presented range of signal - to - noise ratios , while a constant q = 0 . 01 was applied in fig . ( 7 b ). the performance of the proposed blind estimation method in in vivo measurements was evaluated by comparing to results obtained from the conventional method where an in - slice , manually selected arterial input function is used in the deconvolution . for comparison , this arterial input function was normalized to unit area prior to deconvolution . parametric maps describing blood flow , f , mean transit time , mtt , and time - to - peak , ttp , were computed in both cases . the time course of the deconvolved contrast concentrations showed that the first pass of contrast bolus was visible in fewer time frames when using the new method compared to the conventional method , fig . ( 8 ). this suggests differences in mean transit times and time - to - peak values between the two methods . voxel - wise comparison showed that 60 % of the object voxels had more than 5 % decrease in mean transit time compared to the conventional method ( average decrease of 19 . 6 % relative to the conventional method ). a slight increase in mean transit time was seen in 20 % of the object voxels , with an average value ( 19 %). more than 5 % increase in flow values were seen in 40 % of the object image voxels when using the new method ( mean increase of 21 . 2 % relative to conventional method ), while 35 % of the remaining voxels showed decreased values ( mean decrease 19 . 2 % relative to conventional method ). about 37 % of all object image voxels had more than 5 % increase in time - to - peak in the new method compared to the conventional method ( mean increase 50 %), while all other object voxels had less than 5 % difference between the two methods . the parametric images were noisy ( fig . ( 9 )), but the different tissue structures were clearly more visible when using the new method ( right column ) compared to the conventional method ( left column ). for quantitative analysis , regions - of - interest representing normal frontal white matter ( wm ) and normal cortical grey matter ( gm ) were selected ( table ( 3 )). similar flow ratios of grey matter to white matter were obtained when using the blind estimation method ( gm / wm = 2 . 4 ± 0 . 7 ) and the manually selected arterial input function method ( gm / wm = 2 . 3 ± 0 . 7 ). the mean transit time values were smaller when using blindly estimated arterial input functions . the difference in time - to - peak between gray matter and white matter regions was larger when using the blind estimation method ( 1 . 7 ± 0 . 8 s ) compared to the conventional method ( 0 . 8 ± 0 . 8 s ), allowing better visual differentiation of the tissue structures . the subjects were chosen from a database where male deep sea divers had been examined with an extensive mr protocol of conventional mr imaging and perfusion mr imaging . from the database , the ten youngest male divers without obvious pathology were selected . the males had mean age 39 . 4 ( range 33 - 43 years ). the mr images were recorded with a siemens vision 1 . 5 tesla whole body clinical scanner . all patients had perfusion mr examinations using dynamic susceptibility contrast imaging . a gradient - echo echo - planar sequence with parameters tr / te 1442 ms / 60 . 70 ms , flip angle 90 degrees , field of view 230 × 230 pixels and matrix size 128 × 128 pixels was used . slice thickness : 5 mm with a 0 . 3 mm interslice gap . scan time : 1 minute and 12 seconds with 11 slices and 50 acquisitions per slice . slice orientation parallel to a line drawn between basis of the frontal lobe and caudal border of cerebellum . contrast agent : 1 mmol / ml gadobutrol . contrast volume : 0 . 2 ml / kg of body weight . all examinations were performed using a power injector with a rate of 5 ml / s through a 18 - gauge i . v . catheter in a cubital vein . the contrast injection delay was 12 seconds followed directly by injection of 20 ml 0 . 9 mg / ml sodium chloride . the perfusion images were transferred to an off line computer for post - processing . image processing tools were the xite public domain image processing package from the dept . of informatics , university of oslo , norway . the first pass bolus signal and the second pass bolus signal did not overlap in time . hence , recirculation effects were avoided by simply using the first pass bolus part in the voxel specific arterial input function determination . since the perfusion recordings were done on healthy males , the blood brain barrier was assumed intact . hence , no leakage term had to be included in the determination of the voxel specific arterial input functions . the deconvolution step was done by simple wiener filtering in the frequency domain with the same empirically found inverse squared signal to noise ratio for all deconvolutions . manual selection of arterial input function : arterial input function voxels were selected manually in the same slice as the anatomic regions of interest were defined . the six voxels with the earliest , most rapid and marked signal drop from the circumference of arteria cerebri anterior were selected . selection of anatomical regions : all regions of interest were selected from the slice where deep grey matter nuclei were best defined . these regions of interest were drawn manually by selecting about 20 voxels from each caput nucleus caudatus and nucleus lentiformis , from left and right frontal cerebral cortex and left and right frontal white matter ( see fig1 a , b ). voxels within the region of interest with signals similar to the arterial input function were excluded . they must have contained arteries or veins . following deconvolution , the region of interest masks were used to compute the mean values and standard deviations of rttp , rmtt , rcbf and rcbv for each region of interest . signals and statistical analysis : the blind deconvolution method of the invention normalized each arterial input function to unit area . hence , it was only meaningful to compare ratios of rcbf and rcbv for different tissues . note , however , that a correct normalization can easily be obtained by incorporating a method to automatically identify arterial input functions of large arteries . ideally , deconvolution should not affect the voxel specific cerebral brain volumes . however , all deconvolution methods decrease the signal to noise ratio and might affect the residue functions of various tissues differently . as a consequence , the ratio between the cerebral blood volume of grey and white matter might be changed following deconvolution . the ratio was computed for the blind deconvolution method of the invention , for the conventional deconvolution method and with no deconvolution . the two sided wilcoxon signed rank test was used to identify statistically significant differences between the two deconvolution methods . the test was done for rttp , rmtt and for the ratios of rcbf and rcbv . a p - value smaller than 0 . 0125 on each tail was considered significant . two digits were used when computing significance levels to avoid most ties . regional time to peak : the time to peak was slightly longer for both grey and white matter with the new method than with the conventional method ( 1 . 8 % and 6 . 0 %, table 4 ). the corresponding difference in peak times of grey and white matter was substantially larger for the new method ( 36 . 8 %, table 4 ). regional mean transit time : the mean transit time for grey matter was not significantly different for the two methods . in contrast , the time difference between the mean transit times of grey and white matter was substantially longer for the new method than for the conventional method ( 21 . 3 %, table 5 ). regional cerebral flood flow : the flow ratio between grey and white matter was not significantly different for the two methods ( table 6 ). regional cerebral blood volume : the volume ratio between gray and white matter was slightly lower for the new method than for the conventional method . correspondingly , the volume ratio between gray and white matter was lower for the conventional method than for volume computation from the observed data with no deconvolution ( table 7 ). synthetic data were generated as above . parameters were adjusted to mimic data acquired during a typical , in vivo magnetic resonance t2 * perfusion examination . these simulations were performed to investigate how the method of the invention performs in the presence of recirculation . an exponential function having a delay of 8 s and a dispersion with a time constant of 30 s was convolved with either of the two arterial functions ( and tissue residue functions ) given above . in vivo imaging was done on one patient with a tumour in the left frontal lobe of the cerebrum using a siemens vision 1 . 5 t whole body clinical scanner . the perfusion examination was part of the routine , clinical evaluation . a standard , commercial gradient - echo planar imaging ( ge - epi ) sequence , with parameters tr / te = 1442 ms / 60 . 70 ms , fov = 230 × 230 , matrix = 128 × 128 , was selected . the contrast agent , gadolinium diethylene triamine penta - acetic acid ( gd - dtpa , schering ), was automatically injected after 12 seconds . eleven sections parallel to the base of the cranium were recorded and 50 time points were measured for each voxel . image data were transported to an off line computer for post processing . the procedures were implemented in c , including several numerical recipes routines . image processing tools based on the xite package and matlab were used for image handling , visualization and evaluation . after logarithmic transform of all acquired data , frames 3 to 14 of each image sequence were used to compute a base line tissue signal of each voxel . this base line constant signal was subtracted from the logarithmic transformed voxel signal to give the voxel specific contrast signal . the computations were done with scripts under linux , where each minor processing step was stored to disc on a personal computer with a pentium ii board . the computation time for each section was about 20 minutes within this framework . simple optimization on a modern computer will reduce the computation time by a factor of 50 - 100 . to estimate tissue specific parameters within small localized regions , small tissue masks were drawn interactively on a screen . more than 20 voxels were labelled for each tissue class . the masks for grey matter and white matter were in the left parietal region . region 1 of the tumor was located peripherally , while region 2 was located centrally to the part which had the largest contrast signals . using only complex cepstrum estimation of the voxel specific arterial input functions , inclusion of leakage and recirculation terms reduced the variance of the tissue specific hemodynamic volume and time parameters ( tables 8 and 9 , models 1 and 2 ). refinement of the voxel specific arterial input function estimates and tissue residue function estimates by iterative chain deconvolution reduced the variance of the tissue specific hemodynamic volume and time parameters further ( table 8 and 9 , models 2 and 5 ). the leakage term was more important than the recirculation term in the variance reduction ( tables 8 and 9 , models 2 , 3 and 5 ). the reduced variance in the tissue specific hemodynamic volume and time parameters with the complete model and iterative chain estimates made the different tissue components easier to separate visually in the parametric images ( fig1 ). in particular , the tumor became more distinct with high blood volumes , high blood flow , mixed time to peaks and fairly long mean transit times . also the time course of the tissue residue functions became much smoother and of apparent shorter duration ( fig1 ). the estimated leakage coefficients were low and similar for both grey matter , white matter and the two tumor regions ( table 10 ). ignoring recirculation had only a very minor effect on the estimated leakage coefficients ( table 10 , fig1 a , b ). thus , the persistence of a distinct contrast signal in the tumor area after the first pass bolus had passed ( fig1 , c , d ), has to be explained by more leakage than in normal cerebral cortex due to high blood flow ( see table 8 ). the high contrast signals in the meningeal membranes and in the plexus choroideus of the steady state leakage images ( fig1 , c , d ), were in accordance with the fact that the capillaries in these tissues are permeable to contrast . the circulation path from the heart and back is longer for white matter than grey matter . this is because the brain arteries enter the brain through grey matter before entering white matter . hence , the recirculation time should be longer for white matter than for grey matter . the tissue specific recirculation times of the complete model with iterative chain estimates were in agreement with this prediction ( table 10 and fig1 e ). in contrast , when the leakage term was ignored , the recirculation time for grey matter , white matter and the two tumor regions all became long and more similar ( table 10 and fig1 f ). synthetic data of the first pass signal was simulated for the purpose of evaluating the richardson - lucy iterative blind deconvolution method . the influence of the leakage and recirculation modeling was evaluated in a few in vivo measurements . for the first pass data , convolution , c ( t )= u ( t )* v ( t ), between synthetically generated arterial input functions and tissue residue function was performed using simple multiplication in fourier domain . the arterial input function was modeled by a gamma variate function of time , t , v ( t )= c 0 ( t − t 0 ) a e −( t − t 0 )/ β ( 27 ) where t 0 is the contrast arrival time , c 0 , a and β parameters determining the shape of gamma function . the expression for the arterial input function was valid for all values t ≧ t 0 , and elsewhere zero . values α = 3 and β ·[ 1 . 2 , 2 . 0 ] were selected to study arterial input functions with different shapes . for all arterial input functions , c 0 was used to normalize the arterial input functions to unit area . the tissue residue functions scaled by cerebral blood flow , cbf , were simulated by linear or exponential shapes , u exp ⁡ ( t ) = cbf · ⅇ 1 mtt ⁢ ⁢ t ≥ 0 ( 28 ) u lin ⁡ ( t ) = cbf · ( 1 - 1 2 ⁢ mtt ) ⁢ ⁢ t ≤ 2 ⁢ mtt ( 29 ) u box ⁡ ( t ) = cbf ⁢ ⁢ t ≤ mtt ( 30 ) and zero for all other time points ( østergaard et al .). a larger range of flow values , cbf ·[ 10 , 60 ] ml / 100 g / min were investigated for fixed mean transit times , mtt = 4 seconds . the convolved data , c ( t ), were transformed to mr signal intensities , s ( t ), through , s ⁡ ( t ) = s 0 ⁡ ( t ) ⁢ ⅇ - k · te · p k h · o ⁡ ( t ) + n · η ⁡ ( t ) , ( 31 ) assuming a linear relation between the vascular contrast concentration and the observed susceptibility contrast . te was the echo time of the sequence and k an experimental specific constant assumed common for all tissues ( here set to unity ), d was the density of brain tissue , and k h a correction factor for hematocrit differences between capillaries and large vessels ( mccallum optics communications 75 : 101 - 105 ( 1990 )). the baseline signal intensities , so , were set to values commonly obtained in perfusion examinations for normal gray matter ( 500 mr units ). finally , image noise o ( t ), t = 1 , . . . , 50 from outside object boundaries in a real in vivo examination was added , allowing 64 × 64 image voxels with individual noise variations . before adding the image noise , the mean value over all noise voxels was subtracted . noise was added with different scaling factors ( n = 0 , 1 , 2 . 5 , 4 ) to obtain different signal - to - noise ratios . this gave pre contrast noise standard deviation , σ s = 0 , 15 , 30 , 50 , respectively . data obtained from two patients with various cerebrovascular abnormalities were used to test the proposed methodology ; one patient with tumor ( anaplastic oligoastrocytoma ) in the left frontal lobe of the cerebrum and one patient suffering from fibromuscular dysplasia . the in vivo perfusion examinations were all part of routine , clinical evaluation . no experimental investigations were done on the patients , and the acquired data were used in agreement with hospital policies . a standard , vendor provided gradient - echo echo planar imaging sequence ( ge - epi , siemens vision 1 . 5 t , erlangen , germany ), with parameters tr / te = 1442 ms / 60 . 70 ms , flip angle = 90 degrees , field of view = 230 × 230 mm , matrix = 128 × 128 , was selected . the contrast agent gadovist ( schering , germany ) was automatically injected after 12 seconds using an mr - compatible power injector ( medirad , pittsburg ), and dose according to body weight ( 0 . 2 mmol / kg ). subsequent saline flushing was performed with the same injection speed ( 5 ml / s ) as was used for the contrast injection . eleven image slices , slightly tilted from a true axial acquisition to avoid susceptibility artifacts in the frontal sinuses , were measured repeatedly for a total of fifty time points . the synthetic data were generated in matlab ( mathworks , natic , mass ., usa ). these data and the acquired image data were subsequently processed and visualized using a special , extended implementation of the otherwise commercially available nice software provided by nordicneurolab as ( nordicneurolab as , bergen , norway ). the proposed methodology was implemented by the authors using c / c ++, including several numerical recipes routines ( press et al . numerical recipes in c , cambridge university press ( 1992 )). the computation time using the current implementation on a 2 . 2 ghz pentium iii intel processor , was 15 seconds for one in vivo image slice ( 128 × 128 voxels ) with 50 time point measurements . after logarithmic transform of the simulated or acquired perfusion time series , about ten precontrast images were averaged to compute a base line tissue signal of each voxel . the precontrast image ranges and a limit for the first pass were selected interactively for each time series , but common for all voxels in the series . the base line was subtracted from the logarithmic transformed voxel signals to give the voxel specific contrast signals . no smoothing was performed . to investigate the influence of the leakage and recirculation modeling , small ( 6 × 6 voxels ) regions of interest in gray matter , white matter and pathologic regions were selected from the patient data , averaged and followed through the various post processing steps . estimates of m , κ i , t i in different regions were computed . blood volume was computed as the area under the first pass signal resulting after subtracting leakage and recirculation . this blood volume was compared to blood volume computed as the area under all acquired time points , as the area under a selection of time points representative of the first pass , and as the area under a gamma fitted first pass function . after deconvolution , hemodynamic maps of cerebral blood flow , cerebral blood volume ( defined as the area of the deconvolved contrast concentrations ), mean transit time and time - to - peak , were computed voxelwise for all time series . blood flow and blood volume were identified as the maximum value and the area of the deconvolved contrast signals , respectively . mean transit time was subsequently computed from the central volume theorem , mtt = cbv / cbf , and time - to - peak was set to the time point were the maximum value of the estimated arterial input function occurred . while the normalization of the arterial input function in in vivo data , influences the absolute values of blood flow and blood volume , the mean transit time values are comparable to those obtained when the true area of the arterial input functions is used . for the simulated data , the computed hemodynamic parameters were compared with the true , input values . the simulations allowed to test the iterative algorithm for reproducibility of ( i ) differently shaped arterial input functions , ( ii ) different flow conditions , ( iii ) differently shaped tissue residue function ( i . e . different vascular structures ) ( iv ) different signal - to - noise ratios . for the in vivo data , the voxel specific arterial input functions and the deconvolved tissue residue functions were visualized as functions of time . additionally , region of interest analysis were performed by interactively selecting tissue regions ( 14 × 14 voxels ) in the computed hemodynamic maps . these results were compared to values obtained in the same regions using the standard approach with truncated singular value decom - position ( fixed truncation threshold of 0 . 2 ) ( østergaard et al . mgm 50 : 164 - 174 ( 2003 )). in the standard approach , which in the following is referred to as the global approach , the artery contrast signal is used as the arterial input function in all voxels . the global arterial input function was selected semi - automatically by finding the in - slice image voxels with the earliest and largest changes in contrast signal intensities . a gamma variate function was subsequently fitted to this arterial signal to avoid recirculation effects , fig . ( 20 ). for reasons of compatibility , this global arterial input function was normalized to unit area prior to deconvolution . the new method gave a good voxelwise approximation to the leakage and recirculation , otherwise contaminating the first pass signal ( selected examples fig1 , fig1 ). convergence of the estimation parameters m , t i , κ i was obtained within few iterations ( fig1 c ), so the number of iterations was held fixed ( total 5 iterations ) for all patients and all image voxels . it sufficed to keep the parameter m constant for all voxels in one patient , but the parameter had to be optimized for each patient . for instance , the value was m = 0 . 05 in the tumor patient , while it was increased to m = 0 . 15 in the patient with fibromuscular dysplasia . substituting a fixed gaussian model for the dispersion of contrast in the human body v 0 is crude , but sufficed in for all patients in this study . blood volume was reduced when identifying the contrast first pass as proposed in this study , compare to identification using a gamma fit ( table 11 ). mean value ± standard deviation . each region - of - interest ( roi ) contained 6 × 6 voxels . model 1 ) area under all measured time frames . model 2 ) area under a fixed number of time frames ( manual cut - off frame selected interactively but common for all image voxels ). model 3 ) area under gamma fitted first pass ( non - linear levenberg - marquant least squares fit ). model 4 ) area under remaining first pass signal after recirculation and leakage terms have been removed as proposed in this paper . units of ml / 100 g scaled by a constant due to the normalized arterial input functions . the proposed method also showed reduced variation in values within the regions of interest compared to blood volume computed using other strategies ( table 11 ). the estimated leakage coefficients were similarly low for gray matter and white matter , κ i = 1 . 6 , but elevated for the two tumor regions , κ i = 5 . 7 ( fig1 ). the circulation times t i were similar for white matter than for gray matter ( t i = 20 . 2 seconds ). in the absence of noise , the input flow values were exactly reproduced by the iterative blind deconvolution method in some simulated settings ( fig1 a ). smaller variations in estimated flow values were however identified when using different parameter settings for the arterial input functions ( fig1 a ). an arterial input functions with parameters a = 3 and b = 1 . 8 , and an exponential tissue residue functions with mtt = 4 seconds , reproduced close to true input flow values in the absence of noise ( fig1 b ). mean flow values were also reproduced in the presence of increasing noise levels ( results shown for n = 0 , 1 , 2 . 5 and 4 in eq . ( 31 )). when noise levels were high ( n = 4 ), mean flow values were overestimated and the variance in the value was increased ( fig1 b ). the iterative blind deconvolution method gave similar flow estimates for exponentially and linearly shaped tissue residue functions under reasonable noise conditions ( n = 1 , eq . ( 31 )). flow values were consistently lower for box - shaped tissue residue functions , ( fig1 c ). the input mean transit time value ( 4 seconds ) was reproduced for all simulated flow values ( fig1 d ). the arterial input functions estimated in two patients correlated well with the patients &# 39 ; blood supply pattern as diagnosed from the complete radiological examination ( fig1 ). in the tumor patient , the arrival of contrast is in parts of the tumor area as early as in the brain feeding arteries . the contrast then arrives in gray matter slightly earlier than in the white matter ( fig1 , frames a ii and iii ). in the dysplasia patient , contrast arrives earlier in the left hemisphere compared to the dysplasia - affected right area . the contrast bolus also passes slower through the middle right area , as can be seen by comparing the number of frames from contrast arrival to contrast washout in the left and right hemisphere . this is in good agreement with the collateral circulation that was identified in the right hemisphere from the patient &# 39 ; s angiography examinations . again , the contrast arrives normal gray matter earlier than normal white matter ( fig1 , frames b ii and iii ). detailed contrast washout dynamics were seen when visualizing the tissue residue functions as function of time ( fig1 ). in the tumor patient , an area with slower contrast washout was seen in the central part of the tumor ( fig1 vi , black arrow ). slower washout compared to the contralateral hemisphere was also seen in areas in the right hemisphere in the dysplasia patient . for the patient with fibromuscular dysplasia in the right hemisphere , a gamma function with parameters ( a = 4 . 13 , b = 1 . 53 ) was found to represent the voxels with the earliest and largest signal change ( fig2 , seven voxels ). this gamma function was used as the arterial input function in the global approach . the time - to - peak map obtained in this patient using either the proposed or the conventional method , showed later time - to - peaks in the area normally supplied by the right middle cerebral artery ( fig2 ). differences in time - to - peak were more apparent in the proposed method . region - of - interest analysis in the patient with fibromuscular dysplasia gave comparable hemodynamic parameters between the proposed method and conventional method ( table 12 , fig2 ). the mean transit time values obtained by the proposed method were slightly shorter than those obtained with the conventional method , but would probably even out if a smaller truncation factor than 0 . 2 would be selected for the current signal - to - noise ratio . the difference could also be explained by the different strategies for identifying the first pass . the variance in the mean transit time and time - to - peak values was lower for the proposed method . for the proposed method it was seen that the mean transit times in the affected right hemisphere ( roi 2 , 4 , 6 ) are longer than in healthy white matter ( roi 3 , 5 ), which again were longer than in healthy cortical gray matter ( roi 1 ). the corresponding values for the conventional method were less distinguishable , except for the lower most region ( roi 6 ). in contradiction to the proposed method , both time - to - peak and mean transit time values were longer in roi 6 than in the closely located roi 4 . the proposed method showed later and more dispersed arterial input functions in roi 6 than in roi 4 ( fig1 , gray arrow ). patient with right middle cerebral artery fibromuscular dysplasia . mean values ( standard deviation . m1 : iterative deconvolution after first pass identification with proposed leakage and recirculation modelling . m2 : truncated singular value decomposition after identification of first pass by only including the first 27 of 50 image frames .	6
fig1 and 2 show a user &# 39 ; s ear 1 and anatomical parts of the ear . in fig1 there can be seen the external auditory canal 2 , ear canal wall 3 , auricle 4 , isthmus 5 , tympanic membrane 6 , middle ear 7 and inner ear 8 . in fig2 a dam 9 such as a cotton dam or otoblock ® dam is positioned at the isthmus 5 . the dam 9 is used as a first step of the method of the present invention wherein a form portion 11 or impression material is formed of silicone , methylmethacrylate or algenate . the form 11 is formed in between dam 9 and auricle 4 as shown in fig2 . during the method step of making the form 11 , the form 11 conforms to all of the curvatures of the ear canal 3 so that an accurate form 11 is provided for making a female mould . the female mould 15 is shown in fig5 and 9 - 12 . in fig3 and 4 , the form 11 is shown after being removed from the ear 1 ( fig3 ) and during a cutting of the form 11 using knives 12 to cut excess material that is designated as 13 , 14 in fig4 . the form 11 is separated from excess material 13 and 14 at sagittal plane 16 . after the form 11 is trimmed in fig4 a technician &# 39 ; s hand 18 dips the form 11 into vessel 17 as schematically indicated by the arrow 20 . the vessel 17 includes a liquid material 21 that cures at room temperature such as room temperature curing methacrylate ( sold by esschem ). it is preferable to use a clear material 21 in the method step shown in fig5 . in fig6 the technician &# 39 ; s hand 18 has removed the form 11 so that a coating of material 21 cures at room temperature ( or with an ultraviolet light process ) to form female mould 15 on form 11 . after it cures , the female mould 15 is removed from form 11 for use as shown in fig9 and 10 during assembly of the apparatus 10 of the present invention . the mould 15 can be a few millimeters in wall thickness ( typically 1 - 3 mm ). a number of electronic components are mounted to a mounting member 22 prior to use of the female mould 15 . mounting member 22 provides a medial side 23 and lateral side 24 . the medial side 23 supports a number of hearing aid electronic components as shown in fig7 , and 10 . in fig7 these hearing aid electronic components include commercially available hearing aid components including a microphone 25 , volume control , battery , socket or plug 28 for communicating with a computer , chip or micro processor circuit , wiring harness 38 , input capacitor , amplifier 34 , receiver / speaker 35 , and receiver tube 37 . in fig8 the lateral side 24 of mounting member 22 shows the microphone 25 , battery compartment 26 , volume control 27 , programming socket 28 for communicating with a computer , silicone plug 54 ( see fig9 ), and vent opening 29 that communicates with vent tube 30 ( see fig1 ). in fig9 battery 31 is shown housed in battery compartment 26 . the electronic hearing aid components also include a battery terminal 32 , voltage regulating capacitor 33 ( see fig1 ), amplifier / microprocessor 34 , receiver 35 having speaker port 36 , and receiver tube 37 . a wiring harness 38 includes a plurality of wires that connect to various electronic components of the hearing aid device together . the wiring harness 38 includes a length of wires 39 that are arranged in an s or multiple curved pattern as shown in fig7 . this “ s loop ” configuration of wires 39 helps protect the integrity of the electronics when the hearing aid apparatus 10 is flexed as occurs during use because of its soft nature . further , the s - loop wires 39 are preferably a 44 gauge five strand litz wire ( or magnet wire ). the length of the s - loop wires 39 is preferably at least 1 . 5 times the distance between the terminals to the receiver ( or microprocessor ) 35 and the amplifier 34 terminals . these “ s - loop ” wires 39 prevent excess tension or compression from being transmitted to the electronics during use ( e . g . flexing , elongation , compression of hearing aid 10 ). vent tube 30 is anchored to the mounting member 22 and preferably also to one of the electronic components at a position spaced away from the mounting member 22 . vent tube 30 acts as a tensile load carrying member that carries tension so that the wiring harness 38 is substantially free of a tensile load that could damage the wiring harness 38 . also , when vent tube 30 is anchored to one of the electronic components ( such as receiver 35 ) at a position spaced away from the mounting member 22 , it may provide enough strain relief that it would not be necessary to coil wires 39 as shown ( they could be straight instead ). something else could be used as a load carrying member , in place of vent tube 30 ( in which case vent tube 30 would not necessarily be anchored to one of the electronic components ( such as receiver 35 )) at a position spaced away from the mounting member 22 . for example , a monofilament cantilever 55 can be used to carry tension so that tension is not transmitted to wiring harness 38 . in fig7 a , and 7 b the link 55 is anchored to plate 22 at opening 56 . fastener 57 affixes to receiver tube 37 at large opening 59 . monofilament cantilever 55 attaches to fastener 57 at smaller diameter opening 58 . alternatively , vent tube 30 could be manufactured of a tensile material that carries tensile load . the vent tube 30 would then be anchored to plate 22 and fastener 57 as the tensile member . the monofilament cantilever 55 provides longitudinal stability to the body . it minimizes longitudinal displacement ( stretching as well as compression ) and thus acts as a longitudinal stabilizer ( a longitudinal load carrying member ). after the electronic components ( sometimes designated generally in the drawings by the letter “ e ”) are assembled to the medial 23 side of mounting member 22 , female mould 15 is used to complete the method of construction of the present invention as shown in fig9 - 13 . in fig9 the female mould 15 is placed over the electronic components “ e ” beginning with the distal end portion of receiver tube 37 and the distal end portion of vent tube 30 as indicated by arrows 40 in fig9 . a plurality of three openings 41 , 42 , 43 are provided at distal end 44 of female mould 15 as shown in fig9 . the proximal end 45 of female mould 15 provides an annular edge surface 19 that engages the medial 23 side of mounting member 22 as indicated by the dotted line 46 in fig9 . a joint is formed between annular edge surface 19 of female mould 15 and medial surface 23 of mounting member 22 at a position schematically indicated as dotted line 46 in fig9 using the method of the present invention . the medial surface 23 of mounting member 22 is cleaned with a suitable solvent . acetone can be used as a solvent in the case of a mounting plate 22 that is made of acrylic . the medial surface 23 of mounting member 22 is then painted with a primer using a swab or brush . the primer is allowed to dry . a bonding agent is then applied to the medial surface 23 of mounting member 22 and allowed to dry . the bonding agent or bonding enhancer can be product a - 320 of factor ii , inc . of lakeside , ariz ., which is a member of the chemical family “ silicone primer ”. the female mould 15 is placed against the medial side 23 of mounting member 22 . a liquid acrylic is used to form an acrylic seam at the interface of annular edge surface 19 of female mould and the medial side 23 of mounting member 22 ( see fig1 ). as the female mould 15 is assembled to mounting member 22 , vent tube 30 passes through opening 41 . receiver tube 37 passes through opening 42 . the opening 43 is then used for injection of filler material 50 ( e . g . via needle 49 ) as shown by arrows 51 , 52 in fig1 . during this process , temporary seal 47 holds the liquid filler material 50 within the interior 53 that is formed by female mould 15 and mounting member 22 . the filler material 50 can be a liquid during the injection step of fig1 so that it encapsulates at least the receiver / speaker electronic component 35 and preferably other components as well . in fig1 , the female mould 15 is removed after the material 50 has set . the mounting member 22 ( which can be in the form of a circular , generally flat face plate ) is then cut at the phantom line 46 that basically tracks the periphery of female mould 15 at annular edge surface 19 at proximal end 45 thereof . this cutting of the unused , unneeded part of mounting member 22 is shown in fig1 . fig1 - 17 show the completed apparatus 10 of the present invention . the present invention provides a soft , yet solid hearing aid instrument that will provide a more appropriate environment for both the high fidelity performance of today &# 39 ; s advanced circuitry and the dynamic ear canal . the present invention teaches a soft construction of at least the distal portion of the apparatus 10 so that at least the receiver / speaker is encapsulated with the soft material 50 . this construction results in a precise representation of the human ear canal , flex with jaw motion , and cushion for the embedded electronic components “ e ”. fig1 demonstrates real ear occlusion gain ( reog ) finding obtained from a wearer having a tortuous ear canal . the curve 101 represents the reog of a hard shell , hollow type hearing aid instrument . the curve 102 represents the reog of an instrument 10 made according to the method of the present invention . as can be seen in fig1 , the present invention instrument provided 20 db more attenuation than did the hard shell , hallow hearing aid instrument represented by the curve 101 . because of the sharp first directional bend of the wearer &# 39 ; s ear canal , the hard shell instrument could not be inserted without modification . the apparatus 10 of the present invention was insertable without modification thereby yielding a tighter seal in the wearer &# 39 ; s ear . fig1 is a graphical representation that demonstrates real ear aided gain ( reag ) findings obtained from a wearer having a tortuous ear canal . the curves shown ( 103 , 104 ) were obtained from the instruments used to generate the finding shown in fig1 . curve 103 represent reag before feedback of the apparatus 10 of the present invention . curve 104 demonstrates the reag before feedback of a hard shell , hollow type hearing aid instrument of the prior art . as can be seen in fig1 , the instrument 10 of the present invention represented by curve 103 provided more gain across the frequencies . this reag is inversely proportional to the amount of occlusion gain ( reog ) or attenuation provided by the apparatus 10 of the present invention . it should be restated that , because of the sharp first directional bend of the wearer &# 39 ; s ear canal , the hard shell , hollow type instrument of the prior art could not be inserted without being modified . the apparatus of the present invention was insertable without modification , thus the present invention provides higher added gain values ( reag ) when a more negative reog can be achieved while maintaining comfort . the apparatus 10 of the present invention will result in a better utilization of advanced circuitry and a more comfortable hearing instrument . the soft construction solves the problem of peripheral leakage , poor fit , and pivotal displacement that often occurs with jaw motion . another problem that is solved with the present invention is the elimination of internal cross - talk of components housed in hollow shell type hearing aids . the following table lists the parts numbers and parts descriptions as used herein and in the drawings attached hereto . the foregoing embodiments are presented by way of example only ; the scope of the present invention is to be limited only by the following claims .	7
fig1 depicts a simple flow control loop comprising a flow line 10 having fluid 15 flowing therein . an orifice meter 20 is inserted in line 10 to measure the flow rate of fluid 15 . the state of upstream and downstream pressure of the orifice meter 20 is measured through lines 25 , 30 , respectively , which connect with a differential pressure transmitter 35 . transmitter 35 is connected as the process feedback 40 to controller 45 . controller 45 also has a set point 50 which can be entered into the controller 45 by hand manipulation or by remote actuation . the output of controller 45 controls valve 55 by a set of solenoid valves 60 , 65 . solenoid valve 60 controls flow of compressed air or other gas from source 70 associated with the pneumatic drive of valve 55 . valve 65 controls the venting of compressed air or other gas in valve 55 . it should be understood that this is a simplified control loop and any control loop could be used for any process variable and control element . this would include remote setting of another controller by controller 45 as a control element and could be any industrial variable and should not be taken to even be limited to pressure , temperatures , levels , flows and the like . further , the set point 50 may be locally entered at controller 45 or might be remotely set by another controller not shown . also , normally and preferably , solenoid valves 60 , 65 are packaged within controller 45 . in addition , normally and preferably , the adjusting screw and cap of valve 55 are not used . fig2 depicts the basic functional blocks of controller 45 . the set point signal 50 and process feedback 40 are feed to a differential amplifier 71 , such as an instrumentation amplifier , to generate an error signal 75 designated as e 0 . the error signal 75 is the difference between the set point 50 and the process feedback 40 . the differential amplifier 71 may have a gain other than one , such as for example two . in such a case , differential amplifier 71 generates error signal 75 , which is the difference between the set point 50 and the process feedback 40 , multiplied by the gain of the amplifier 71 . also , there may be an invertor to invert the signal . the final error signal 75 then may be an inverted signal . the error signal 75 is feed to a precision rectifier 80 . as shown in fig2 error signal 75 is not inverted , which would be the case for a direct acting control system . however , an inverting amplifier ( not shown ) can be interspersed between the differential amplifier 71 and the precision amplifier 80 to invert signal 75 to permit the controller to be a reverse acting controller . a switch ( not shown ) may also be used to permit selection of the use of the control as a direct or reverse acting controller . typically , a circuit for precision rectifier 80 would be constructed using two serial connected operational amplifiers ( not shown ). the offset of the output of the first operational amplifier may be trimmed by a potentiometer ( not shown ). in addition , an adjustable voltage , typically called a &# 34 ; dead band &# 34 ; voltage , may be added to the input of the second stage operational amplifier by a second potentiometer ( not shown ). this second potentiometer permits adding an adjustable dead band to the controller 45 , effectively maintaining the output 85 of precision rectifier 80 at zero when the error input 75 to the precision rectifier 80 , after adjustment for offset discussed above , falls within the selected dead band . thus , when the error signal 75 falls within the selected dead band , the controller 45 would maintain its level of output . the rectified error signal , which is the output 85 of precision rectifier 80 , is then fed to an adjustable gain amplifier 90 . the adjustable gain amplier 90 is typically constructed by using a variable resistor ( not shown ) to set the gain of controller 45 . typically the variable resistor would be in the feedback circuit ( not shown ) of an operational amplifier making up the adjustable gain amplifier 90 . in the preferred embodiment , the variation of gain is approximately 10 : 1 . presuming that the gain of the amplifier is &# 34 ; a &# 34 ; and the gain of the differential amplifier 71 is one , then the output of the amplifier 90 is ae 0 for an error signal e 0 and is shown in fig2 with identifier 95 . the gain a can be smaller than 1 or larger than 1 . typically in the controller 45 , the gain adjustment a would be through the above - referenced potentiometer which would be labeled as &# 34 ; response speed &# 34 ; to an operator . as with all illustrations of electronic circuitry , the illustration of using an operational amplifier with a variable resistor in the feedback circuit is just one illustration of the way the gain portion of the circuit could be accomplished by those skilled in the electronics arts . the output 95 of adjustable gain amplifier 90 is fed to one side of a comparator 100 . the other input of comparator 100 is the output of a ten hertz sawtooth generator 110 . sawtooth generator 110 is a fixed frequency sawtooth generator . although the preferred embodiment uses ten hertz as its frequency , this frequency is not critical to the operation of the controller 45 . while many different mechanisms may be used to produce a sawtooth wave form , an integrated circuit ( not shown ) to produce ten hertz pulses may be fed to an operational amplifier ( not shown ) having a capacitor feedback in parallel with a field effect transestor ( not shown ). the ten hertz pulse may turn on the field effect transistor , thus discharging the capacitor ( all of which are not shown ) at a rate of ten hertz . accordingly , when the field effect transistor is off , a ramp would be generated at the output of the operational amplifier as a capacitor charges . with one input of comparator 100 being the output 120 of the sawtooth generator 110 and the other input being the output 95 , i . e . ae 0 , of adjustable gain amplifier 90 , comparator 100 will have an output 130 which is a pulse width modulated , the pulse width being directly proportional to the error signal 95 . this is because the output 120 of the sawtooth generator 110 is compared with the output 95 of the adjustable gain amplifier by the comparator 100 . the comparator 100 is a very high gain amplifier which changes its output when the two inputs are almost equal . therefore , the equation to be used to determine the pulse width of the output is : ae 0 = v 1 = k 1 t 1 . see fig3 . in this equation , k 1 is the change of voltage with respect to time of the sawtooth generator ; i . e . the slope of the curve of the sawtooth , and t 1 represents the elapsed time during the sawtooth . accordingly , when the comparator 100 is turned on so that there is a level signal from its output 130 , the voltage output 95 of adjustable gain amplifier 90 must be equal to the voltage output 120 at the time of equality with the output of sawtooth generator 110 as expressed by the above equation . the time in which this occurs would be : ## equ1 ## equation ( 1 ) shows that the time t 1 is directly proportional to amplifier 90 gain &# 34 ; a &# 34 ; and error signal e 0 , where k 1 as discussed above is a constant fixed by the sawtooth generator . accordingly , equation ( 1 ) shows that by fixing the gain of the amplifier by adjusting the response speed potentiometer ( not shown ) of gain amplifier 90 , the pulse width t 1 is directly proportional to the error signal e 0 . the output signal 130 of comparator 100 is thus pulse width modulated (&# 34 ; pwm &# 34 ;) based on error signal e 0 . output 95 is also the voltage input to sawtooth generator 135 . because amplified error signal 95 is an input to sawtooth generator 135 , the output voltage 140 , which is a sawtooth wave form , has a value v 2 at any time t 2 which follows the equation : v 2 = a e 0 t 2 ÷ k 2 , where k 2 is a constant equal to the inverse of change in voltage over time , which is the slope of the sawtooth generator . the output 140 of sawtooth generator 135 is fed to a comparator 145 . the other input of comparator 145 is a dc voltage 150 . as discussed above , the comparator 145 is also a very high gain amplifier which changes its output when the two inputs are almost equal . therefore , the output 155 of comparator 145 would occur when the inputs 140 , 150 to comparator 145 follow the equation : v 2 = a e 0 t 2 ÷ k 2 = v dc , where v dc is the reference voltage 150 to the comparator 145 . thus , the time in which this occurs is given by the equation : ## equ2 ## as is seen from equation ( 2 ), the interval of the signal will be longer with decreases in the error signal , e 0 . the output 155 of comparator 145 is fed to a monostable 160 which sets the length of its pulses but the frequency of which will be set by comparator 145 through its output 155 . thus , the output 165 of monostable 160 will be pulses of fixed width , but variable frequency depending of the error signal e 0 , with the frequency decreasing as the error signal e 0 becomes smaller . it is preferable in the preferred embodiment that the pulse width is 15 milliseconds for the pulse frequency modulated signal (&# 34 ; pfm &# 34 ;). signals 130 and 165 are fed to a decision maker 170 . the purpose of decision maker 170 is to determine to send either the pwm or the pfm signal to its output 175 . the decision is made based on the length t 1 of the pulse width of signal 130 . when the time t 1 falls below a predetermined duration , such as 15 milliseconds , decision maker 170 would permit the pfm signal 165 to be its output and block the pwm signal 130 . when t 1 is above the predetermine duration or at the predetermined duration , such as , for example , 15 milliseconds , decision maker 170 will permit the pwm signal 130 to be output 175 and will block the pfm signal 165 . the necessity for having a pfm signal instead of always using a pwm signal is evidenced by equation ( 1 ). ultimately , the duration of the pwm signal 130 would be the duration of the output signal to the solenoids 60 , 65 . as can be seen from equation ( 1 ), the pulse width is proportional to the error signal , e 0 . as the error signal , e 0 , approaches zero , the pulse width of the pwm signal 130 becomes so small that solenoids 60 , 65 would not be properly turned on , for example , with pulse durations typically less than 10 milliseconds . this would mean that the controller 45 could never reduce the error signal e 0 to zero . to overcome this difficulty , it is necessary to turn the solenoids on until the error is actually zero . to energize at a minimum value while the error signal e 0 is still greater than zero , the widths of the pfm was chosen at approximately 15 milliseconds so that the solenoids 60 , 65 are energized with fixed pulse width but not so often ( based on frequency ) to achieve an unstable system . this is the reason the change is made in the mode of the operation from pwm to pfm ( with a fixed but small pulse duration and with frequency decreasing as the error signal , e 0 , reaches zero ). this is the integral action of controller 45 and in the preferred embodiment is not adjustable . it automatically eliminates reset wind - up . a feature of differential amplifier 71 is that it is bidirectional . this means that when the process feedback 40 is above the set point 50 , the error signal e 0 75 is positive , and when the set point 50 is below the process feedback 40 the error signal e 0 75 would be negative . this error signal 75 also feeds a summer 180 . ( for a reverse acting controller , the inverted error signal 75 would be fed to summer 180 .) the other input to summer 180 may be ground 185 if the derivative portion of the controller is not needed , indicated by the position of switch 181 . in such a circumstance , the output of 195 of summer 180 would be the error signal fed directly to steering circuit 195 . steering circuit 195 determines whether output 175 is fed to solenoid 60 or solenoid 65 . this is done by and gates 200 , 205 . the polarity of error signal 75 determines whether and gate 200 or and gate 205 is activated to route the pulse signals 175 to either solenoid 60 or solenoid 65 . for a positive error e 0 75 , gate 200 would be activated ( presuming a direct acting controller ) and for a negative signal of error e 0 75 , and gate 205 would be activated ( presuming a direct acting controller ). thus , for example , if the flow rate of fluid 15 is line 10 were below set point 50 , and gate 200 would cause solenoid drive 60 to be actuated , which would permit air , for example , to be introduced from source 70 to valve 55 , causing valve 55 to further open and increase the flow of fluid 15 . alternatively , if the fluid flow rate 40 was above the set point 50 , then solenoid drive 65 would be activated through and gate 205 , causing air , for example , to bleed from the valve 55 , which would cause it to close , shutting down the flow of fluid 15 to some extent . thus , for a pi controller , the circuitry would operate by comparing the set point 50 to the process feedback , to produce an error signal 75 which would be rectified and have a gain 95 applied to achieve proportional operation , which would be gated appropriately to solenoid drive 60 , 65 to drive valve 55 to compensate for deviation from set point 50 . in addition , integration would occur through the use of decision maker 170 to continue to output to the solenoid drives 60 , 65 , either by signal 165 or signal 130 until the error has gone to zero , final adjustments probably being made through pfm to decision maker 170 . thus , controller 45 would be responsive when installed on fast systems , such as pressure or flow control . however , if installed on a slower system , such as temperature or level control , controller 45 may not operate satisfactorily because of the lag in the system . accordingly , derivative action may also be included as part of controller 45 . as shown in fig2 error signal 75 may be introduced into a low pass filter 210 . low pass filter 210 allows only low frequencies to go through to its output 215 , while high frequency and noise are filtered out . this prevents differentiation in differentiator 220 of high frequencies or noise , which because of their high rate of change , would upon differentiation mask all differentiation of low frequencies . differentiator 220 performs a taking of the first derivative of error signal 75 with respect to time and multiplying such differentiation by a constant k , which is the derivative rate constant . in the preferred embodiment of the present invention , k is not adjustable . the resulting signal 225 is then fed to an invertor 230 which inverts the signal ; i . e . producing a signal 235 equal to ## equ3 ## . if switch 181 is set for the derivative position 240 for summer 180 , steering circuit 195 would be effected by an input signal 190 , equal to the difference between e 0 and . thus , steering circuit 195 would change when the load and vent solenoids 60 , 65 , respectively , are activated by controller 45 , based not on when the error signal e 0 75 change polarity , but when . thus , this derivative control allows the controller 45 to take early action looking at the rate of change of the error signal e 0 , while permitting correction to be applied as a function of the error signal e 0 75 . this is a different control strategy from the conventional pid controller which would have the output as a function of the sum of the error signal e 0 75 and its integral and its derivative . while the above describes the preferred embodiment of the present invention , many variations are possible . for example , a display console may be included on the face of the panel to , for example , display calibration of the low range limit and high range limit of the transmitter values , the set point , the process variable , and the error signal . in addition , there may be potentiometers available to set the set point , response speed or dead band . in addition , the display unit may be a liquid crystal display or other suitable display . further , the unit may have its own power supply using external supply voltage of 120 v at 50 or 60 hertz , or 240 v at 50 or 60 hertz , which would be switch selectable . further , it could accept standard 4 to 20 milliamp signals or rtd temperature inputs . further , the remote set point adjustment may be a 4 to 20 milliamp standard input . it may also have multiple enclosures , such as nema 1 , 2 , 3 , 35 , 4 , 4 ×, 12 and 13 . because many varying and differing embodiments may be made within the scope of the inventive concept herein taught , including equivalent structures and materials hereinafter thought of , and because many modifications may be made in the embodiments herein detailed in accordance with the descriptive requirements of the law , it is to be understood that the details herein are to be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense .	6
the present invention will be described with respect to certain drawings but the invention is not limited thereto but only by the claims . the drawings described are only schematic and are non - limiting . each drawing may not include all of the features of the invention and therefore should not necessarily be considered to be an embodiment of the invention . in the drawings , the size of some of the elements may be exaggerated and not drawn to scale for illustrative purposes . the dimensions and the relative dimensions do not correspond to actual reductions to practice of the invention . furthermore , the terms first , second , third and the like in the description and in the claims , are used for distinguishing between similar elements and not necessarily for describing a sequence , either temporally , spatially , in ranking or in any other manner . it is to be understood that the terms so used are interchangeable under appropriate circumstances and that operation is capable in other sequences than described or illustrated herein . moreover , the terms top , bottom , over , under and the like in the description and the claims are used for descriptive purposes and not necessarily for describing relative positions . it is to be understood that the terms so used are interchangeable under appropriate circumstances and that operation is capable in other orientations than described or illustrated herein . it is to be noticed that the term “ comprising ”, used in the claims , should not be interpreted as being restricted to the means listed thereafter ; it does not exclude other elements or steps . it is thus to be interpreted as specifying the presence of the stated features , integers , steps or components as referred to , but does not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features , integers , steps or components , or groups thereof . thus , the scope of the expression “ a device comprising means a and b ” should not be limited to devices consisting only of components a and b . it means that with respect to the present invention , the only relevant components of the device are a and b . reference throughout this specification to “ an embodiment ” or “ an aspect ” means that a particular feature , structure or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment or aspect is included in at least one embodiment or aspect of the present invention . thus , appearances of the phrases “ in one embodiment ”, “ in an embodiment ”, or “ in an aspect ” in various places throughout this specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment or aspect , but may refer to different embodiments or aspects . furthermore , the particular features , structures or characteristics of any embodiment or aspect of the invention may be combined in any suitable manner , as would be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art from this disclosure , in one or more embodiments or aspects . similarly , it should be appreciated that in the description various features of the invention are sometimes grouped together in a single embodiment , figure , or description thereof for the purpose of streamlining the disclosure and aiding in the understanding of one or more of the various inventive aspects . this method of disclosure , however , is not to be interpreted as reflecting an intention that the claimed invention requires more features than are expressly recited in each claim . moreover , the description of any individual drawing or aspect should not necessarily be considered to be an embodiment of the invention . rather , as the following claims reflect , inventive aspects lie in fewer than all features of a single foregoing disclosed embodiment . thus , the claims following the detailed description are hereby expressly incorporated into this detailed description , with each claim standing on its own as a separate embodiment of this invention . furthermore , while some embodiments described herein include some features included in other embodiments , combinations of features of different embodiments are meant to be within the scope of the invention , and form yet further embodiments , as will be understood by those skilled in the art . for example , in the following claims , any of the claimed embodiments can be used in any combination . in the description provided herein , numerous specific details are set forth . however , it is understood that embodiments of the invention may be practised without these specific details . in other instances , well - known methods , structures and techniques have not been shown in detail in order not to obscure an understanding of this description . in the discussion of the invention , unless stated to the contrary , the disclosure of alternative values for the upper or lower limit of the permitted range of a parameter , coupled with an indication that one of said values is more highly preferred than the other , is to be construed as an implied statement that each intermediate value of said parameter , lying between the more preferred and the less preferred of said alternatives , is itself preferred to said less preferred value and also to each value lying between said less preferred value and said intermediate value . the use of the term “ at least one ” may mean only one in certain circumstances . the principles of the invention will now be described by a detailed description of at least one drawing relating to exemplary features of the invention . it is clear that other arrangements can be configured according to the knowledge of persons skilled in the art without departing from the underlying concept or technical teaching of the invention , the invention being limited only by the terms of the appended claims . fig1 is a perspective view of a known fixing device having a body 1001 of a substantially cylindrical form , with an axial depth of approximately 11 . 5 mm and a diameter of approximately 20 mm . the body 1001 has an anchor receiving aperture 1003 , which passes axially through the body 1001 , is internally threaded , and has a diameter of approximately 6 . 5 mm . the body includes two passages that extend through the body 1001 , each passage having an axis parallel to , and spaced from , the axis of the anchor receiving aperture 1003 . the two passages are disposed diametrically opposite one another around the body 1001 , and set in from the edge of the body 1001 . each passage has an open - sided keyhole - shaped cross - section , and includes a constriction for retaining a 1005 a , 1005 b within the circular portion of the keyhole shape . either side of each passage are provided slots 1047 a , 1047 c and 1047 b , 1047 d , respectively , each projecting semi - radially inward from the outer surface of the body 1001 and running parallel to the axis of the passages . the body 1001 is also provided with two wings 1015 a , 1015 b diametrically opposed around the circumference of the body 1001 , and offset from the passages . fig2 is a perspective view of a body 2001 of a fixing device according to the invention , having a substantially cylindrical form . the body 2001 is provided with an anchor receiving aperture 2003 centrally located therein , and a slot 2004 located across a diameter of the aperture 2003 and extending into the body 2001 in diametrically opposite directions . the slot 2004 is of uniform width ( although a variable width is also possible ) and extends through the entire depth of the body 2001 ( i . e . axially from one substantially cylindrical face to another ). the body 2001 is also provided with two passages 2037 a , 2037 b that extend through the body 2001 , each passage having an axis parallel to , and spaced from , the axis of the anchor receiving aperture 2003 . the passages 2037 a , 2037 b are disposed diametrically opposite one another around the body 2001 , are set in from the edge of the body 2001 , are offset from the slot 2004 and are substantially circular in cross - section . the passages 2037 a , 2037 b are disposed within respective recesses 2007 a , 2007 b in a surface 2009 of the body 2001 . the recesses 2007 a , 2007 b are substantially rectangular in form and are of uniform depth . the portion of the surface 2009 remaining forms an approximately h - shaped guide rail . a peripheral flange 2010 runs around a perimeter of the surface 2009 , and is split into four sections by the recesses 2007 a , 2007 b and vertical grooves 2020 . fig3 is a perspective view of a collar 2050 for use with the body 2001 . the collar 2050 is configured to receive the body 2001 snugly therein , such that rails 2060 engage with the grooves 2020 . an internal flange 2070 is shown which prevents passage of the body 2001 all the way through the collar 2050 when inserted from the top . the collar 2050 is also provided with four wings 2015 for preventing rotation of the fixing device about the axis of the anchor receiving aperture 2003 . the wings 2015 are substantially trapezoidal and project radially outward from the surface of the collar 2050 , parallel to the axis of the body 2050 . the wings 2015 are spaced equally around the exterior surface collar 2050 , offset by 45 degrees from the passages 2037 a , 2037 b . along the top of the wings 2015 is provided an over - insertion stop 2080 in the form of an exterior flange on the collar . fig4 is a cross - sectional view showing the body 2001 inserted fully into the collar 2050 ; other parts of the fixing device such as the shaft and retaining members are not shown for clarity . fig5 is an exploded perspective view of a further fixing device according to the invention including a body 3001 , collar 3050 , retaining members 3019 , and an activation member 3031 ; other parts of the fixing device such as the shaft are not shown for clarity . the body comprises a surface 3009 , passages 3037 in recesses 3007 , a peripheral flange 3010 , and vertical grooves 3020 substantially the same as in the arrangement shown in fig2 . the central hole 3002 is of a larger diameter than the anchor receiving aperture 2003 , as it is configured to accommodate the activation member 3031 therein . the activation member 3031 includes the anchor receiving aperture 3003 and the slot 3004 , as well as a bar 3080 disposed on a lower flange 3090 . the collar 3050 includes the same features of rails 3060 , an internal flange 3070 , wings 3015 and over - insertion stop 3080 ; however , in this arrangement , the over - insertion stop 3080 is split into four portions , each capping the top of one of the wings 3015 . when the slot 3004 is engaged with a tool ( for instance a flat head screw driver ), the whole of the activation member 3031 may be rotated , such that the bar 3080 rotates , pushing the retaining members 3019 out from their retracted position to their deployed position . axial motion of the activation member 3031 is prevented by the flange 3090 preventing passage up through the hole 3002 , and is prevented by the retaining members 3019 preventing passage down through the hole 3002 . fig6 is a perspective view of the fixing device of fig5 in an assembled state , with the body 3001 in a fully retracted position within the collar 3050 . fig7 shows a fixing device , comprising a body 1 of a substantially cylindrical form , having an axial depth of approximately 11 . 5 mm and a diameter of approximately 20 mm . the body includes an anchor receiving aperture 3 , which passes axially through the body , is internally threaded , and has a diameter of approximately 6 . 5 mm . a slot 4 is located across a diameter of the aperture 3 , and extends into the body 1 in diametrically opposite directions . the slot 4 is of uniform width ( although a variable width is also possible ) and extends through the entire depth of the body ( i . e . axially from one substantially cylindrical face to another ). the body also includes shafts 5 a , 5 b , of a substantially rod - like shape , further described with reference to fig6 , below . the shafts 5 a , 5 b are provided within respective passages 37 a , 37 b ( not shown in fig1 ), which extend through the body 1 , each passage having an axis parallel to , and spaced from , the axis of the anchor receiving aperture 3 . the passages 37 a , 37 b are disposed diametrically opposite one another around the body 1 , set in from the edge of the body 1 , and are substantially circular in cross - section . the passages 37 a , 37 b are internally smooth . the passages 37 a , 37 b are disposed within respective recesses 7 a , 7 b in a surface 9 of the body 1 . the recesses 7 a , 7 b are in the form of circular segments in the surface 9 , of uniform depth , with their respective chords being parallel to one another . the portion of the surface 9 remaining forms an approximately rectangular shaped guide rail . spring - clips 11 a , 11 b ( shown in detail in fig7 ) are provided around the shafts 5 a , 5 b , respectively , to limit axial movement of the shafts 5 a , 5 b . the spring - clips 11 a , 11 b are provided on respective circumferential grooves 39 a , 39 b ( not shown in this figure ) about one end of each shaft 5 a , 5 b , which limit axial movement of each shaft 5 a , 5 b within the passages 37 a , 37 b . the shafts 5 a , 5 b have respective slot screw drives 13 a , 13 b , in respective ends , for receiving a slot screw driver for rotating the shafts 5 a , 5 b . the body 1 is also provided with wings 15 a , 15 b for preventing rotation of the body 1 about the axis of the anchor receiving aperture 3 . the wings 15 a , 15 b are substantially trapezoidal and project radially outward from the surface of the body 1 , parallel to the axis of the body 1 . the wings 15 a , 15 b are disposed diametrically opposite one another around the exterior surface body 1 , offset by 90 degrees from the passages 37 a , 37 b . fig8 shows the fixing device of fig7 from the reverse side . flanges 17 a , 17 b , in the form of circular discs coupled to the end of the shafts 5 a , 5 b opposing the screw drives , are welded to respective arms 19 a , 19 b , which are shown in the retracted position in which they sit within the axial profile of the body . the arms 19 a , 19 b are flat plates of a substantially semi - circular profile , in one corner of each is a hole through which the respective shaft 5 a , 5 b is passed such that the respective flange 17 a , 17 b abuts the side of the arm 19 a , 19 b opposite the distal end of the shaft 5 a , 5 b . rotation of a shaft 5 a , 5 b causes rotational movement of the respective arm 19 a , 19 b in the plane of fig2 , which is limited by a respective stop 21 a , 21 b in the clockwise direction and another respective stop 21 b , 21 a in the anti - clockwise direction . the stops 21 a , 21 b are integrally formed with the body 1 , and project beyond the rear circular face of the body , into the plane occupied by the arms 19 a , 19 b . fig9 shows a cross - section of the fixing device along line a - a of fig7 and 8 , when inserted into a wall . the arms 19 a , 19 b are shown in their retracted position . the wings 15 a , 15 b have cut into plasterboard 23 , which is bonded to masonry wall 25 with adhesive 27 , to form a cavity 28 . the cavity 28 may vary in thickness between 10 mm and 25 mm , depending on the thickness of the adhesive 27 at the time the plasterboard 23 was placed in position against the wall 25 . an activation tool 29 is shown inserted into the aperture 3 and slot 4 . aperture 3 is shown with an internal screw thread 33 . the activation tool 29 comprises an activation member 31 , which is passed through the slot 4 ( and out the other side ), a shaft 34 , which is passed into the aperture 3 , and a handle 35 for manipulation by a user . the length of the shaft 34 is substantially equal to the thickness of the body 1 , and the handle 35 has a lateral extent ( for instance , a diameter in embodiments where it is substantially cylindrical ) greater than the diameter of the aperture 3 . in this way , the tool 29 cannot be over inserted and , when inserted fully , the activation member 31 is correctly located to engage with the arms 19 a , 19 b . fig1 shows the same view of the fixing device as fig8 , but with the arms 19 a , 19 b having been pushed into the optimal extended position by the activation tool 29 ( indicated in the figure ). thus , the arms 19 a , 19 b project radially away from the body 1 , in order to maximise a surface area for contact with the rear of the plasterboard 23 , and abut stops 21 a , 21 b respectively . fig1 shows a cross - section of the fixing device along line b - b of fig4 , when inserted into a wall . the arms 19 a , 19 b are in their extended position . shaft 5 a is provided within passage 37 a . the shaft 5 a in knurled adjacent the flange 17 a to improve contact with the arm 19 a . fig1 shows a perspective view of an actuation member in accordance with the fixing device shown in fig7 to 11 that comprises the shaft 5 a , having a circumferential groove 39 a for receiving the spring - clip 11 a and the slot screw drive 13 a , and the arm 19 a coupled thereto , as described above . the shafts 5 a , 5 b can be individually rotated , using the slot screw drives 13 a , 13 b , in order to move their respective arm 19 a , 19 b between the retracted position and the extended position . fig1 shows the spring - clip 11 a in accordance with the fixing device shown in fig7 to 12 . fig1 shows another fixing device , comprising a body 101 , similar to the body 1 of fig7 , and an anchor receiving aperture 103 , substantially the same as the anchor receiving aperture 3 . however , three slots 104 are provided tangentially to the aperture 103 . although radial arrangement of the slots 104 is preferred , the tangential arrangement is shown as an example of an alternative ; further intermediate arrangements are also considered useful in some embodiments . the fixing device comprises three shafts 105 a , 105 b , 105 c , each substantially the same as the shafts 5 a , 5 b , provided within respective passages 137 a , 137 b , 137 c , each substantially the same as the passages 37 a , 37 b , and disposed rotationally symmetrically around the axis of the body 101 . the passages 137 a , 137 b , 137 c are disposed within respective recesses 107 a , 107 b , 107 c in a surface 109 of the body 1 . the recesses 107 a , 107 b , 107 c are in the form of a rectangular hollow in the surface 9 , of uniform depth , each centred on its respective passage 137 a , 137 b , 137 c . spring - clips 111 a , 111 b , 111 c , substantially identical to the spring - clips 11 a , 11 b , are provided around the shafts 105 a , 105 b , 105 c to limit axial movement of the shafts 105 a , 105 b , 105 c . the shafts 105 a , 105 b , 105 c each have slot screw drives 113 a , 113 b , 113 c respectively , substantially the same as the slot screw drives 13 a , 13 b . the body 101 is also provided with three wings 115 a , 115 b , 115 c , substantially the same as the wings 15 a , 15 b , for preventing rotation of the body 101 about the axis of the anchor receiving aperture 103 . the wings 115 a , 115 b , 115 c are disposed symmetrically around the exterior surface of the body 101 , offset from the passages 137 a , 137 b , 137 c . fig1 shows the fixing device of fig1 from the reverse side . flanges 117 a , 117 b , 117 c , substantially the same as the flanges 17 a , 17 b , provided on each of the shaft 105 a , 105 b , 105 c are welded to the arms 119 a , 119 b , 119 c , respectively , which are shown in the retracted position . rotational movement of one arm 119 a in the plane of fig1 is limited by a stop 121 a in the clockwise direction and another arm 119 b in the anti - clockwise direction . the same limits on rotational movement of the other arms 119 b , 199 c apply mutatis mutandis . fig1 shows a cross - section of the fixing device along line c - c of fig1 and 15 , when inserted into a wall , and with a tool 129 in place therein , the tool 129 having three arms for use in the three slots 104 , but being otherwise similar to the tool 29 . the arms 119 a , 119 b , 119 c are in their extended position . the wings 115 a , 115 b , 115 c have cut into plasterboard 123 , which is bonded to masonry wall 125 with adhesive 127 , to form a cavity 128 . the cavity 128 may vary in thickness between 10 mm and 25 mm , depending on the thickness of the adhesive 127 at the time the plasterboard 123 was placed in position against the wall 125 . the shaft 105 a is provided within passage 137 a and has a circumferential groove 139 a provided with spring - clip 111 a , which limits axial movement of the shaft 105 a within the passage 137 a . fig1 shows the same view of the fixing device as fig1 , but with the arms 119 a , 119 b , 119 c shown having been pushed into the optimal extended position , abutting their respective stops 121 a , 121 b , 121 c , by the tool 129 . fig1 shows a cross - section of a fixing device . the body 201 is substantially cylindrical in form , having an axial depth of approximately 11 . 5 mm and a diameter of approximately 20 mm , and has an anchor receiving aperture 203 , similar to the anchor receiving aperture 3 but with a diameter of approximately 4 . 5 mm , and two passages 237 a , 237 b , substantially the same as the passages 37 a , 37 b . the two passages 237 a , 237 b are disposed diametrically opposite one another around the body 201 , set in from the edge of the body 201 and are provided within respective recesses in the top surface 9 . the recesses 207 a , 207 b are each centred on their respective passage 237 a , 237 b , and each comprises a central sub recess and an extended top recess . each central sub recess is in the form of a rectangular hollow in the surface 9 , of uniform depth . each extended top recess is in the form of circular segment in the surface 9 , of uniform depth less than the depth of the central sub recess , with their respective chords being parallel to one another . the portion of the surface 9 remaining forms an approximately ‘ h ’ shaped guide rail . disposed within each passage 237 a , 237 b is a respective shaft 205 a , 205 b , substantially the same as the shafts 5 a , 5 b , each having a circumferential groove ( not shown ), provided with a spring - clip 211 a , 211 b . at the top of each shaft 205 a , 205 b is a respective slot screw drive 213 a , 213 b , substantially the same as the screw drives 13 a , 13 b , and at the bottom of each shaft is a respective flange 217 a , 217 b in the form of a countersunk head ( i . e . a conical portion , flaring out from the main portion of the shaft 205 a , 205 b ). each flange 217 a , 217 b is coupled to a respective arm 219 a , 219 b , which are shown in their retracted position in which they sit within the axial profile of the body 201 . the arms 219 a , 219 b are flat plates , a first plate 219 a of which has a substantially circular profile , a second plate 219 b or which has a substantially semi - circular profile . on a circumferential edge of each plate 219 a , 219 b is a hole through which the respective shaft 205 a , 205 b is passed such that the respective flange 17 a , 17 b abuts the side of the arm 19 a , 19 b opposite the distal end of the shaft 5 a , 5 b . the hole in each plate is a corresponding countersink ( i . e . a conical hole arrangement ) at one end of each hole . the combination of the arm 219 a and the spring - clip 211 a substantially prevents any axial movement of the shaft 205 a within the passage 237 a . in contrast , the combination of the arm 219 b and the spring - clip 211 b substantially limits axial movement of the shaft 205 b within the passage 237 b to a distance equal to the thickness of the arms 219 a , 219 b ; that is , around 1 . 2 mm . thus , the second arm 219 b can therefore be moved into and out of the plane of the first arm 219 a , once the first arm has been moved into its extended position . the arm 219 a has a larger surface area than the arm 219 b . fig1 shows an underside view of the fixing device of fig1 , which has wings 215 a , 215 b , substantially the same as the wings 15 a , 15 b , provided on the body 201 . fig2 shows a top view of the fixing device of fig1 and 19 , in which the arms 219 a , 219 b are located in the extended position . the recesses 207 a , 207 b are shaped to form a guide rail 241 in the top surface of the body 201 , to assist the automatic orientation of the body during automatic assembly of the fixing device . fig2 shows the same view of the fixing device as fig1 , but with the arms 219 a , 219 b in the optimal extended position . a hollow 243 is provided in the rear surface of the body 201 for accommodating the second arm 219 b when both arms 219 a , 219 b are in the retracted position . the first shaft 205 a can be rotated in order to move the first arm 219 a from its retracted position into its extended position , then the second shaft 205 b can be moved axially to move the second arm 219 b into the same plane as the first arm 219 a , and finally the second shaft 205 b can be rotated to move the second arm 219 b from its retracted position into its extended position . similarly , the second shaft 205 b can be rotated to move the second arm 219 b from its extended position into its retracted position , the second shaft 205 b can then be moved axially to move the second arm 219 b out of the plane of the first arm 219 a , and finally the first shaft 205 a can be rotated in order to move the first arm 219 b from its extended position into its retracted position . fig2 shows a body 301 of a fixing device . the body 301 is of a substantially cylindrical form , having an axial depth of approximately 11 . 5 mm and a diameter of approximately 20 mm . the body 301 has an anchor receiving aperture 303 , which passes axially through the body 301 , is internally threaded , and has a diameter of approximately 6 . 5 mm . the body includes a slot 304 similar to the slot 4 ; however , the slot 304 is substantially wider , and therefore can accommodate a more robust and / or stronger tool ( not shown ). the body 301 also includes two passages 337 a , 337 b that extend through the body 301 , each passage 337 a , 337 b having an axis parallel to , and spaced from , the axis of the anchor receiving aperture 303 . the two passages 337 a , 337 b are disposed diametrically opposite one another around the body 301 , set in from the edge of the body 301 , and are provided within respective recesses 307 a , 307 b , substantially the same as recesses 7 a , 7 b , in the top surface . each passage 337 a , 337 b has an open - sided keyhole - shaped cross - section , and includes a constriction 345 a , 345 b for retaining a shaft within the circular portion of the keyhole shape . either side of each passage 337 a , 337 b are provided two slots 347 a , 347 c and 347 b , 347 d , respectively , each projecting semi - radially inward from the outer surface of the body 301 and running parallel to the axis of the passages 337 a , 337 b . the slots 347 a , 347 c , 347 b , 347 d enable resilient biasing of the side walls of the shafts 337 a , 337 b to allow insertion of a shaft 305 a , 305 b radially into the circular portion of the keyhole shape , via the constriction 345 a , 345 b . a shaft 305 a can be inserted radially into the flared portion of the keyhole shaped passage 337 a . if a pressure is applied to the shaft 305 a radially , then the shaft 305 a can force the side walls of the passage 337 a apart , widening the constriction 345 a . the shaft 305 a can then move into the circular portion of the keyhole shaped passage 337 a , and the constriction 345 a returns to its original size . the body 301 is also provided with two wings 315 a , 315 b , substantially the same as the wings 15 a , 15 b , diametrically opposed around the circumference of the body 301 , and offset from the passages 337 a , 337 b . fig2 shows a cross - section along line e - e of a fixing device having the body shown in fig1 , when inserted into a wall . the arms 319 a , 319 b , substantially the same as the arms 19 a , 19 b , are shown in their retracted position . the arms 19 a , 19 b are coupled to respective flanges 317 a , 317 b . the wings 315 a , 315 b are shown having cut into plasterboard 323 , which is bonded to masonry wall 325 with adhesive 327 , to form a cavity 328 . the cavity 328 may vary in thickness between 10 mm and 25 mm , depending on the thickness of the adhesive 327 at the time the plasterboard 323 was placed in position against the wall 325 . an anchor 329 , in the form of a countersunk bolt with a screw thread engages with the complementary screw thread in the anchor receiving aperture 303 is located in the anchor receiving aperture 303 . the anchor 329 anchors a plate 335 to the plasterboard 323 by means of a corresponding countersunk arrangement ( i . e . conical hole arrangement ) at one end of a through - hole in the plate 335 . the plate 335 shown is a flat sheet with a depth of 3 - 4 mm , and having a width substantially greater than the diameter of the body 301 . if the body 301 has been over - inserted into the plasterboard 323 , such that the front surface lies within the hole in the plasterboard , below the front of the plasterboard 323 , then anchoring the plate 335 to the body 301 by means of anchor 329 will draw the body 301 into a position flush with the surface of the plasterboard 323 . for instance , tightening the anchor 329 draws the body 301 toward the plate 335 , by means of the complementary screw threads and thereby draws the arms 19 a , 19 b against the rear surface of the plasterboard 323 . fig2 shows a rear view of the fixing device shown in fig2 , with the arms 319 a , 319 b shown in the retracted position . the body 301 is provided with stops 321 a , 321 b , substantially the same as the stops 21 a , 21 b . to accommodate a larger activation member on the tool , cut - out regions 324 are formed in the wings 319 a , 319 b , of a size so as not to overlap the slot 304 . the cut - out regions 324 may be formed by cutting out portions from pre - formed wings 319 a , 319 b ; however , in preferred embodiments , the cut - out regions 324 are integrally formed with the wings 319 a , 319 b . for instance , the wings 319 a , 319 b may be cast , pressed or cut to include the cut - out regions 324 . fig2 shows the same view of the fixing device as fig2 , but with the arms 319 a , 319 b in the optimal extended position , abutting stops 321 a , 321 b respectively . fig2 shows a cross - section along line f - f of a fixing device having the body shown in fig2 , when inserted into a wall . the arms 319 a , 319 b have been coupled to their respective shafts 305 a , 305 b using respective flanges 349 a , 349 b . the flanges 349 a , 349 b are each formed in a mushroom shape comprising a narrow portion , for insertion through a hole in one of the arms 319 a , 319 b , and a head portion for retaining the arm 319 a , 319 b on the shaft , the head portion having a larger diameter than that of the hole . the narrow portion of the flange 349 a , 349 b is passed through the hole in the arms 319 a , 319 b , before coupling securely to the main part of the shaft 305 a , 305 b . welding the flange 349 a , 349 b to the arm 319 a , 319 b secures the two components together . fig2 shows a perspective view of an actuation member in accordance with the fixing device shown in fig2 that comprises a shaft 305 a , having an enlarged head 351 a and a slot screw drive 313 a , and an arm 319 a coupled thereto . the enlarged head 351 a is substantially cylindrical in shape , and is positioned axially at one end of the shaft . the diameter of the enlarged head is larger than the diameter of the shaft and the diameter of the circular cross - section portion of the passage 337 a . the enlarged head therefore substantially limits axial movement of the shaft through the passage . fig2 shows a body 401 of a fixing device . the body 401 is of a substantially cylindrical form , having an axial depth of approximately 11 . 5 mm and a diameter of approximately 16 mm . the body 401 has an anchor receiving aperture 403 , which passes axially through the body 401 , is provided splines 453 that project radially into the centre of the anchor receiving aperture 403 , and has a diameter of approximately 4 . 5 mm . a slot 404 is formed in a similar manner to the slot 4 . the body 401 also includes two passages 437 a , 437 b that extend through the body 401 , each passage 437 a , 437 b having an axis parallel to , and spaced from , the axis of the anchor receiving aperture 403 . the two passages 437 a , 437 b are disposed diametrically opposite one another around the body 401 , set in from the edge of the body 401 , and are provided within respective recesses 407 a , 407 b , substantially the same as recesses 7 a , 7 b , in the top surface . each passage 437 a , 437 b has an open - sided keyhole - shaped cross - section , and includes a constriction 445 a , 445 b for retaining a shaft within the circular portion of the keyhole shape . on one side of each passage 437 a , 437 b is provided a slot 447 a , 447 b , respectively , each projecting radially inward from the outer surface of the body 401 and running parallel to the axis of the passages 437 a , 437 b . the slots 447 a , 447 b , enable resilient biasing of one of the side walls of the shafts 437 a , 437 b to allow insertion of a shaft 305 a , 305 b radially into the circular portion of the keyhole shape , via the constriction 445 a , 445 b . a shaft 305 a can be inserted radially into the flared portion of the keyhole shaped passage 437 a . if a pressure is applied to the shaft 305 a radially , then the shaft 305 a can force the side walls of the passage 437 a apart , widening the constriction 445 a . the shaft 305 a can then move into the circular portion of the keyhole shaped passage 437 a , and the constriction 445 a returns to its original size . the body 401 is also provided with two wings 415 a , 415 b , substantially the same as the wings 15 a , 15 b , diametrically opposed around the circumference of the body 401 , and offset from the passages 437 a , 437 b . fig2 shows a perspective view of the activation tool 29 , with the activation member 31 , the shaft 34 and the handle 35 . fig3 shows a fixing device , comprising a body 501 , being substantially cylindrical in shape and defining a hollow cavity therein . the body 501 has a diameter for insertion into a hole of approximately 13 mm and a depth of approximately 17 mm . the body 501 includes a casing 557 , configured to sit within a hole in a plasterboard sheet , and an integral plate 555 that forms the top surface of the body 501 , and has a diameter larger than the diameter for insertion into a hole , of approximately 14 mm . the body 501 is provided centrally with a threaded anchor receiving aperture 503 in the integral plate 555 that extends from the top surface of the body 501 into the hollow cavity . the body is further provided with first and second shafts 505 a , 505 b , provided within respective first and second passages that are parallel to and axially spaced from the axis of the anchor receiving aperture 503 , and extend from the top surface of the body 501 , through the hollow cavity to the lower surface of the body 501 . the passages are unthreaded , and circular in cross - section . nuts 559 a , 559 b are provided on top ends of the respective shafts 505 a , 505 b . each shaft 505 a , 505 b is provided with a respective slot screw drive 513 a , 513 b , also on their top ends , substantially the same as the screw drives 13 a , 13 b . fig3 shows the fixing device of fig3 inserted into plasterboard 523 . each shaft 505 a , 505 b is threaded 561 a , 561 b at its top end in order to threadably receive a respective nut 559 a , 559 b thereon . each shaft 505 a , 505 b has at a flange 517 a , 517 b disposed on its lower end for the coupling of a respective arm 519 a , 519 b thereto . the flanges 517 a , 517 b , arms 519 a , 519 b and their means of coupling are substantially the same as described in respect of flanges 17 a , 17 b and arms 19 a , 19 b . movement of the arms 519 a , 519 b between their respective extended and retracted positions is substantially the same as that described with respect to arms 19 a , 19 b . the shafts 505 a , 505 b may be individually rotated in order to move the arms 519 a , 519 b from a retracted position into the extended position shown in fig2 . tightening the nuts 559 a , 559 b on the shafts 505 a , 505 b draws the arms 519 a , 519 b against the rear surface of the plasterboard 523 adjacent the cavity 528 . pressure between the arms 519 a , 519 b and the integral plate 555 holds the fixing device securely in the plasterboard 523 . a forged steel eye bolt 529 is threadably received in the anchor receiving aperture 503 . the forged steel eye bolt 529 secures a cap 563 over the integral plate 555 such that access to the nuts 559 a , 559 b is prevented without removal of the cap 563 . the cap 563 is substantially cup - shaped , and includes a hole in its flat end for receiving the forged steel eye bolt 529 therethrough . fig3 shows a rear view of the fixing device of fig3 and 31 with the arms 519 a , 519 b shown in the retracted position . fig3 shows the same view as fig3 , but with the arms 519 a , 519 b shown in the extended position . fig3 shows an arm 619 , having a hole 665 therethrough at one end , and a tongue 667 adjacent the hole 665 . the tongue is formed by partially cutting out a portion of the flat arm 619 , which is then bent out of the plane of the flat arm 619 . fig3 shows the arm 619 having a shaft ( 605 , not shown ) located within the hole 665 . at one end of the shaft 605 is a flange 617 . the shaft 605 , excluding the flange 617 , may be configured in the same way as any shaft previously described herein . the flange 617 has a socket 669 for receiving the tongue 667 therein , when the shaft 605 has been fully inserted into the hole 665 . the socket 669 is sized to receive the tongue 667 in a close fit , so that there is substantially no rotational movement between the shaft 605 and the arm 619 , about the axis of the shaft 605 . fig3 shows a partial cross section of the arrangement of fig1 along the line g - g . the flange 617 abuts the rear face of the arm 619 to prevent axial movement of the shaft 605 in one direction through the hole 665 . the shaft may comprise limiting means such as an enlarged head or a circlip , as hereinbefore described . once the shaft 605 is inserted into a passage of a fixing device body , the arm 619 is held between the rear surface of the body and the flange 617 , so as to prevent any movement of the arm 619 along the axis of the shaft 605 . further , the engagement of the tongue 667 with the socket 669 prevents any movement of the arm 619 rotationally about the axis of the shaft 605 , relative to the shaft 605 . accordingly , rotation of the shaft 605 about its axis causes corresponding rotation of the arm 619 about the shaft &# 39 ; s 605 axis .	5
this application claims the benefit of the priority date of u . s . provisional application ser . no . 61 / 751 , 983 , filed jan . 14 , 2013 , the contents of which are incorporated by reference herein for all purposes . this application is also related to u . s . pat . no . 8 , 304 , 187 , filed on feb . 11 , 2010 , the contents of which are incorporated by reference herein in its entirety . the explanations and illustrations presented herein are intended to acquaint others skilled in the art with the teachings , its principles , and its practical application . those skilled in the art may adapt and apply the teachings in its numerous forms , as may be best suited to the requirements of a particular use . accordingly , the specific embodiments of the present teachings as set forth are not intended as being exhaustive or limiting of the teachings . the scope of the teachings should , therefore , be determined not with reference to the above description , but should instead be determined with reference to the appended claims , along with the full scope of equivalents to which such claims are entitled . the disclosures of all articles and references , including patent applications and publications , are incorporated by reference for all purposes . other combinations are also possible as will be gleaned from the following claims , which are also hereby incorporated by reference into this written description . recent studies have shown blood plasma to contain low abundance cfrna targets , an example of which is circulating tumor cell - derived rna . polymerase chain reaction detection of these cell - free targets within a high amount of cellular background rna is challenging , requiring specialized protocols and / or large volumes of starting material . as a result , minimizing the release of cellular rna from nucleated cells ( e . g ., background rna ) is essential for accurate analysis of true cfrna . in current practice , it is recommended that blood samples be immediately centrifuged to isolate and freeze plasma to prevent background rna contamination of cfrna during sample processing , transportation and storage . however , the examples discussed herein demonstrate that the stabilizing blood collection device of the present invention prevents the release of background rna into plasma post - phlebotomy for up to 3 days , thus avoiding these labor - intensive requirements ( e . g ., centrifugation and freezing ). using the stabilizing blood collection device disclosed herein , ex vivo storage at room temperature becomes possible , allowing flexibility for offsite blood draws to be sent to central laboratories for downstream analysis of the cfrna without preliminary centrifugations or cryopreservation . as mentioned above , transportation of blood samples from the site of phlebotomy to another facility is commonly required for molecular diagnostic testing . in this regard , several studies have focused on pre - analytical variables that might compromise the accuracy cfrna measurements , including the selection of blood collection devices , sample storage and shipping conditions . each of these parameters affects the amount of nucleated blood cell lysis that occurs post - phlebotomy . such nucleated cell lysis leads to release of cellular rna , elevating rna backgrounds and suppressing true and accurate cfrna measurement . accordingly , inaccurate cfrna measurement reduces or even eliminates the utility of such measurements for disease diagnosis , genetic testing or other purposes . the devices disclosed herein allow for minimized background rna increases by utilizing a stabilizing blood collection device with the ability to stabilize nucleated blood cells during shipping movement and temperature fluctuations . the examples discussed herein evaluate the ability of the stabilizing blood collection device taught herein and traditional k 3 edta tubes to preserve cfrna and prevent background rna release when subjected to conditions that can occur during sample storage and shipping . during transport of samples , shaking may disrupt nucleated blood cell integrity and compromise accuracy of sample testing , as described above . for the examples described herein , blood samples were shipped in either k 3 edta tubes or the stabilizing blood collection device taught herein . the resulting mrna or rrna copy numbers ( as measured by c - fos , β - actin or 18s rna markers ) showed increased background rna for the shipped samples in the k 3 edta tubes as compared to those samples in the stabilizing blood collection device taught herein . the stabilizing blood collection device samples showed stable mrna or rrna copy numbers before and after shipping . this suggests nucleated cell disruption occurred in blood samples that were shipped in k 3 edta leading to cellular rna release , as this did not occur in the samples within the stabilizing blood collection device . variation in sample storage temperature is another post - phlebotomy condition that can cause undesirable changes in background rna concentration . here , we studied the effect of three different storage temperatures on the mrna copy numbers of blood drawn into k 3 edta and the stabilizing blood collection device taught herein . following blood draw , samples were incubated at 6 ° c ., 22 ° c . or 30 ° c . for 3 days . significant increases in k 3 edta blood sample background rna concentrations were seen at 6 °, 22 ° c . and 30 ° c . by day 3 ( as measured by c - fos , and β - actin markers ) ( fig3 a - 3b ). as shown , blood drawn into the stabilizing blood collection device showed no significant increase in mrna copy number at any temperature on day 3 . the stabilizing blood collection device may include diazolidinyl urea and aurintricarboxylic acid . the stabilizing blood collection device may include aurintricarboxylic acid and sodium fluoride . the stabilizing blood collection device may include imidazolidinyl urea and glycine . the stabilizing blood collection device may include diazolidinyl urea and glycine . the stabilizing blood collection device may include diazolidinyl urea , aurintricarboxylic acid and sodium fluoride . the stabilizing blood collection device may include some combination of diazolidinyl urea , imidazolidinyl urea , aurintricarboxylic acid , glyceraldehyde , and sodium fluoride , and edta . the imidazolidinyl urea may be present in an amount of from about 100 g / l to about 1000 g / l . the imidazolidinyl urea may be present in an amount of from about 300 g / l to about 600 g / l . the diazolidinyl urea may be present in an amount of from about 50 g / l to about 800 g / l . the diazolidinyl urea may be present in an amount of from about 100 g / l to about 400 g / l . the edta may be present in an amount of from about 20 g / l to about 150 g / l . the edta may be present in an amount of from about 50 g / l to about 100 g / l . the glycine may be present in an amount of from about 10 g / l to about 150 g / l . the glycine may be present in an amount of from about 35 g / l to about 100 g / l . the glyceraldehyde may be present in an amount of from about 10 g / l to about 150 g / l . the glyceraldehyde may be present in an amount of from about 35 g / l to about 100 g / l . the aurintricarboxylic acid may be present in an amount of from about 1 g / l to about 40 g / l . the aurintricarboxylic acid may be present in an amount of from about 5 g / l to about 20 g / l . the sodium fluoride may be present in an amount of from about 0 . 1 g / l to about 30 g / l . the sodium fluoride may be present in an amount of from about 0 . 5 g / l to about 10 g / l . for the examples below , blood donors were recruited with informed consent from streck , inc . in omaha , nebr . donors were both male and female and presumed to be healthy . all draws were performed using venipuncture . to study the effect of storage temperature on cfrna concentration , samples were stored at 6 °, 22 ° and 30 ° c . for 3 days . for each experiment , plasma was separated at various time points by centrifugation at 300 × g for 20 min followed by transferring the upper plasma layer to a new tube , and then re - centrifuging at 5 , 000 × g for 10 min . total plasma cfrna was extracted and reverse transcriptase real - time pcr ( rt - qpcr ) was used to quantify mrnas for c - fos , β - actin , and 18s rrna . to study the effect of transportation , blood was drawn from 10 donors . blood was drawn from each donor into three 10 ml k 3 edta tubes and three 10 ml stabilizing blood collection devices in accordance with the teachings herein . one k 3 edta tube and one stabilizing blood collection device from each donor were processed within two hours ( 2 h ) of blood draw . another k 3 edta tube and stabilizing blood collection device from each donor were shipped with a temperature tracking device to a laboratory in springfield , mass . and back to nebraska during the course of three days . the remaining k 3 edta tube and stabilizing blood collection device from each donor were kept at 22 ° c . for three days and processed with the returned shipped blood tubes . the temperature tracking device kept inside the shipping container showed a temperature range of 15 °- 29 ° c . ( see fig1 ), as demonstrated at fig2 a - 2c , shipped blood samples drawn into k 3 edta tubes showed a significant increase in mrna or rrna copy numbers for β - actin , c - fos , and 18s rrna . in contrast , shipped blood samples drawn into stabilizing blood collection devices showed only a slight change in mrna or rrna copy numbers for β - actin , c - fos , and 18s rrna . as shown in fig3 a - 3b , blood stored in k 3 edta tubes at 6 , 22 and 30 ° c . for 3 days showed a significant increase in mrna copy numbers for β - actin or c - fos . compared to k 3 edta tubes , blood stored in stabilizing blood collection devices at 6 , 22 and 30 ° c . for 3 days showed slight to moderate increases in mrna copy numbers for β - actin and c - fos . the results above demonstrate that the stabilizing blood collection devices taught herein have a dramatic and previously unrecognized effect on the amount of background rna that results from shipping and storage temperatures above freezing . it can be appreciated that the stabilizing blood collection devices not only protect target nucleic acids from degradation , but also maintain the quantity of such target nucleic acids . as a result , these quantities remain substantially stable without the intrusion of background nucleic acids so that the relative quantities can be effectively utilized for measurements that may assist in disease diagnosis and tracking . it will be appreciated that concentrates or dilutions of the amounts recited herein may be employed . in general , the relative proportions of the ingredients recited will remain the same . thus , by way of example , if the teachings call for 30 parts by weight of a component a , and 10 parts by weight of a component b , the skilled artisan will recognize that such teachings also constitute a teaching of the use of component a and component b in a relative ratio of 3 : 1 . teachings of concentrations in the examples may be varied within about 25 % ( or higher ) of the stated values and similar results are expected . moreover , such compositions of the examples may be employed successfully in the present methods to isolate fetal nucleic acids ( e . g ., cell - free rna ). it will also be appreciated that the above is by way of illustration only . other ingredients may be employed in any of the compositions disclosed herein , as desired , to achieve the desired resulting characteristics . examples of other ingredients that may be employed include antibiotics , anesthetics , antihistamines , preservatives , surfactants , antioxidants , unconjugated bile acids , mold inhibitors , nucleic acids , ph adjusters , osmolarity adjusters , or any combination thereof . the explanations and illustrations presented herein are intended to acquaint others skilled in the art with the invention , its principles , and its practical application . those skilled in the art may adapt and apply the invention in its numerous forms , as may be best suited to the requirements of a particular use . accordingly , the specific embodiments of the present invention as set forth are not intended as being exhaustive or limiting of the invention . the scope of the invention should , therefore , be determined not with reference to the above description , but should instead be determined with reference to the appended claims , along with the full scope of equivalents to which such claims are entitled . the disclosures of all articles and references , including patent applications and publications , are incorporated by reference for all purposes . other combinations are also possible as will be gleaned from the following claims , which are also hereby incorporated by reference into this written description .	2
while the present invention will be described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings , in which particular embodiments and methods of implantation are shown , it is to be understood at the outset that persons skilled in the art may modify the invention herein described while achieving the functions and results of this invention . accordingly , the descriptions which follow are to be understood as illustrative and exemplary of specific structures , aspects and features within the broad scope of the present invention and not as limiting of such broad scope . like numbers refer to similar features of like elements throughout . first , the patient spine is exposed through an anterior approach ( i . e . the surgeon creates an access hole which permits direct interaction with the anterior and / or anterio - lateral portion of the intervertebral bodies ). in the case of scoliosis , as well as in other disorders in which the intervertebral space requires distraction and / or repositioning , the surgeon removes the intervertebral disc material , usually leaving some portion of the annulus ( the cylindrical weave of fibrous tissue which normally surrounds and constrains the softer cartilage cushion of the disc material ). the surgeon then , in succession , inserts a series of intervertebral trial spacers of defined width . each of the series of spacers is of a progressively wider thickness , resulting in the continual widening of the space until restoration of the proper disc height has been achieved . proper disc height restoration is determined by surgical experience , and by observation of the annulus . ( often , the tightening of the annulus indicates that the proper disc height has been reached , inasmuch as the annulus is much less likely to be distorted by the same disruption that caused the intervertebral disc to collapse in the first place .) more particularly , with respect to the specific instruments disclosed herein , a series of solid trial spacer elements and an instrument for their insertion and removal is now provided . each trial spacer is a generally cylindrical disc having a deep annular groove at its midpoint , which forms a central trunk and radial flanges at each end of the trunk . stated alternatively , two cylindrical upper and lower halves of the disc are held in a closely coaxial spaced apart association by the central trunk , which forms a coaxial bridge between the upper and lower halves . the annular groove is particularly useful for holding the spacer using the spacer insertion instrument of the invention , described below , in that the holding end of the insertion instrument fits within the groove . a variety of features of embodiments of the trial spacer elements are disclosed . in some embodiments , such as the first and second embodiments described below , support portions ( the portions that are in contact with the adjacent vertebral bodies when the spacer is disposed between the bodies ) of the top and bottom surfaces are parallel . spacers having this feature are generally described herein as “ constant thickness ” trial spacers . in other embodiments , such as the third and fourth embodiments described below , the support portions are not parallel , providing an overall taper to the spacer at an angle . spacers having this feature are generally described herein as “ tapered thickness ” trial spacers . the tapered thickness trial spacers are particularly useful for treating scoliosis , as described below . other features of embodiments of the trial spacer elements include beveled flanges and non - parallel annular groove walls . more specifically , in some embodiments , such as the second and fourth embodiments described below , the flanges are radially beveled in that an outer edge of the top surface of the disc is tapered toward an outer edge of the bottom surface of the disc . in other embodiments , such as the first and third embodiments described below , the flanges are not radially beveled in this manner . the radial beveling feature can be particularly useful for easing the insertion of the spacer in between collapsed vertebral bodies , as described below . further , in some embodiments , such as the first and third embodiments described below , the walls of the annular groove are parallel , such that the floor of the groove is as wide as the opening of the groove . in other embodiments , such as the second and fourth embodiments described below , the walls of the annular groove are tapered toward one another with the increasing depth of the groove , such that the floor of the groove is narrower than the opening of the groove . each type of annular groove is useful , depending on the particular surgical application and on the particular embodiment of the spacer insertion instrument that is used to insert the spacer . collections of trial spacer elements are provided by the invention . preferably , each spacer in a particular set maintains the same diameter as the other spacers in the set . ( it shall be understood that different collections of spacers may be provided such that the diameter of the selected collection of trial spacers is appropriate for the specific patient being treated . for example , the diameters of the trial spacers in a collection that is suitable for use with pediatric patients would be smaller than the diameters of the trial spacers in a collection that is suitable for use with adult patients .) also preferably , each spacer in a particular set has a predetermined depth that differs from the depth of the other spacers in the set . the predetermined depth is provided in that while each spacer in the set shares the same annular groove dimensions ( so that each can be held by the same insertion instrument ), each spacer has a different flange thickness ( in sets where the spacers are constant thickness spacers ). for sets of tapered thickness spacers , the predetermined maximum depth and predetermined minimum depth ( the two depths providing the overall taper ) are provided in that while each spacer in the set shares the same annular groove dimensions ( so that each can be held by the same insertion instrument ), each spacer has a different maximum flange thickness and a different minimum flange thickness . preferably in sets of tapered thickness spacers , the overall taper angle is the same for each spacer in the set . the usefulness of providing sets of spacers similar in most respects except for the depth dimension will be described in greater detail below . referring now to fig1 a - c , a first embodiment of an intervertebral trial spacer 100 of the invention is illustrated in side , top and side cutaway views , respectively . the spacer 100 is a cylindrical disc with an annular groove 102 that forms a central trunk 103 and radial flanges 104 , 106 at each end of the trunk 102 . in this embodiment , support portions 108 , 110 of the top and bottom surfaces 112 , 114 of the disc are parallel . further in this embodiment , the walls 120 , 122 of the annular groove 102 are parallel , such that the floor 124 of the groove 102 is as wide as the opening 126 of the groove 102 . further in this embodiment , the spacer 100 has a central bore 128 . referring now to fig1 d , a set of intervertebral spacers 100 a - l of the invention are illustrated in a side view . each spacer 100 a - l is formed generally similarly to the intervertebral spacer 100 of fig1 a - c , except that each spacer 100 a - l has a predetermined depth ( denoted by the preferred dimension identified adjacent each spacer ) provided in that while each spacer 100 a - l shares the same annular groove dimensions as the other spacers , each spacer 100 a - l has a different flange thickness dimension . for example , the flanges 1041 , 1061 are thicker than the flanges 104 a , 106 a . referring now to fig2 a - c , a second embodiment of an intervertebral spacer 200 of the invention is illustrated in side , top and side cutaway views , respectively . similarly to the spacer 100 , the spacer 200 is a cylindrical disc with an annular groove 202 that forms a central trunk 203 and radial flanges 204 , 206 at each end of the trunk 202 . however , in this embodiment , the flanges 204 , 206 are radially tapered in that support portions 208 , 210 of the top and bottom surfaces 212 , 214 of the disc are parallel , while an outer edge 216 of the top surface 212 is tapered toward an outer edge 218 of the bottom surface 214 . further in this embodiment , in contrast to the spacer 100 , the walls 220 , 222 of the annular groove 202 are tapered toward one another with the increasing depth of the groove 202 , such that the floor 224 of the groove 202 is more narrow than the opening 226 of the groove . further in this embodiment , the spacer 200 has a central bore 228 . referring now to fig2 d , a set of intervertebral spacers 200 a - l of the invention are illustrated in a side view . each spacer 200 a - l is formed generally similarly to the intervertebral spacer 200 of fig2 a - c , except that each spacer 200 a - l has a predetermined depth ( denoted by the preferred dimension identified adjacent each spacer ) provided in that while each spacer 200 a - l shares the same annular groove dimensions as the other spacers , each spacer 200 a - l has a different flange thickness dimension . for example , the flanges 204 l , 206 l are thicker than the flanges 204 a , 206 a . with regard to the instrument for the insertion and removal of the trial spacer elements , a first embodiment ( particularly useful for inserting constant thickness trial spacers ) of a spacer insertion tool includes an elongated shaft and a handle at one end of the shaft . the distal end of the shaft includes semi - circular hook that is adapted to hold a trial spacer within an enclosure formed by the hook . the angle swept out by the hook is slightly greater than 180 degrees , but the inner diameter of the hook is only slightly larger than the central trunk of the trial spacer . therefore , the trial spacer may be snapped into the enclosure , but maintains complete rotational freedom within its grasp . a loading tool may be provided to assist in the loading and unloading of the trial spacer from the trial spacer insertion instrument of this embodiment . this loading tool comprises a forked hook having two tines separated by a notch that engages the shaft of the insertion tool as the tines engage the flanges of the trial spacer , to force the trial spacer into the enclosure . alternatively and / or additionally , the same device may be utilized to remove the spacer from the enclosure , by reversing the position of the forked hook relative to the insertion tool and the spacer . referring now to fig5 a , a first embodiment of a spacer insertion tool 500 of the invention is illustrated in a side view . the insertion tool 500 includes an elongated shaft 502 and a handle 503 at one end of the shaft 502 . at the other end of the shaft 502 , the insertion tool 500 includes a semi - circular hook 504 that is adapted to hold an intervertebral spacer of the invention within an enclosure 506 of the hook 504 . the central trunk of the spacer can be snapped into the enclosure 506 of the hook 504 so that the extent of the hook 504 fits loosely within the annular groove of the spacer and is flanked by the flanges of the spacer . the central trunk of the spacer can also be snapped out of the enclosure 506 . in this regard , the hook 504 has an opening 508 that temporarily expands when the central trunk of the spacer is forced through the opening 508 . that is , the outer diameter of the central trunk is greater than the width of the opening 508 , so that the central trunk cannot pass through the opening 508 without force . the application of a force sufficient to cause the opening 508 to expand when confronted with the central trunk causes the central trunk to pass through the opening 508 . after the central trunk has cleared the opening 508 , the opening 508 will contract . the temporary expansion in this embodiment is provided by the hook 504 being formed of a material having a low elasticity and the hook 504 being provided with a stress notch 510 on the extent ( preferably located opposite the opening 508 for maximum efficiency ) to ease the expansion . once the spacer is loaded into the enclosure , the opening 508 , having contracted back to its resting width , prevents the central trunk from exiting the enclosure radially through the opening , because , as stated above , the outer diameter of the central trunk is greater than the width of the opening 508 . further , by flanking the extent of the hook 504 , the flanges of the spacer prevent the spacer from exiting the enclosure laterally . the hook 504 therefore holds the spacer loosely in the enclosure so that the spacer can rotate about the cylindrical axis of the central trunk while being held by the hook 504 . referring now to fig5 b , a cutaway view of the insertion tool 500 of fig5 a holding the spacer 100 of fig1 a - c shows the extent of the hook 504 in cross - section and fitting within the annular groove of the spacer . it can be seen that to enable the spacer 100 to be loosely held in the enclosure , the width of the extent is smaller than the width of the annular groove , and the depth of the extent is less than the depth of the annular groove if it is desirable for the flanges to fully flank the extent . preferably , as shown , the outer diameter of the hook 504 is substantially equal to the outer diameter of the spacer 100 . referring now to fig6 a - b , an embodiment of a loading accessory 600 for a spacer insertion tool of the invention is illustrated in side and top views , respectively . the loading accessory 600 can be used to ease the passing of the central trunk of the spacer through the opening of the spacer insertion tool , both for loading the spacer into the enclosure and unloading the spacer from the enclosure . the loading accessory 600 includes an elongated shaft 602 and a forked hook 604 at an end of the shaft 602 . a notch 606 having a base 608 separates the tines 610 , 612 of the forked hook 604 . the width of the notch 608 separating the tines 610 , 612 is wide enough to accommodate the width of the hook 504 of the insertion tool 500 and the width of the shaft 502 of the insertion tool 500 , but narrow enough so that the tines 610 , 612 can engage the edges of the flanges of the spacer . preferably , as shown , the curvature of the tines 608 , 610 follows the curvature of the edges of the flanges . referring now to fig6 c , the loading accessory 600 of fig6 a - b is shown in operation to load the spacer 100 of fig1 a - c into the spacer insertion tool 500 of fig5 a . initially , the spacer 100 is positioned adjacent the opening 508 of the insertion tool 500 . then , the tines 610 , 612 of the loading accessory 600 are passed on either side of the shaft 502 of the insertion tool 500 such that the notch 606 accommodates the shaft 502 and until the base 608 of the notch 606 contacts the shaft 502 . then , the loading accessory 600 is rotated , using the contact between the shaft 502 and the base 608 as a fulcrum , to cause the tines 610 , 612 to engage the flanges 104 , 106 of the spacer 100 and push them into the enclosure 506 of the tool 500 . applying a force to the rotation , sufficient to cause the opening 508 of the tool 500 to expand when confronted with the central trunk of the spacer , causes the central trunk to pass through the opening 508 . referring now to fig6 d , the loading accessory 600 of fig6 a - b is shown in operation to unload the spacer 100 of fig1 a - c from the spacer insertion tool 500 of fig5 a . initially , with the spacer 100 held by the tool 500 , the tines 610 , 612 of the loading accessory 600 are passed on either side of the shaft 502 of the insertion tool 500 such that the notch 606 accommodates the shaft 502 and until the base 608 of the notch 606 contacts the shaft 502 . then , the loading accessory 600 is rotated , using the contact between the shaft 502 and the base 608 as a fulcrum , to cause the tines 610 , 612 to engage the flanges 104 , 106 of the spacer 100 and push them out of the enclosure 506 of the tool 500 . applying a force to the rotation , sufficient to cause the opening 508 of the tool 500 to expand when confronted with the central trunk of the spacer , causes the central trunk to pass through the opening 508 . the width of the notch 606 accommodates the width of the hook 504 as the spacer 100 is being pushed out of the enclosure 506 . the insertion tool of this first embodiment can be used to insert a series of constant thickness trial spacers ( some of which may have beveled flange edges for easing the insertion between the collapsed bones and into the space to be distracted ). more specifically , thinner trial spacers can initially be inserted into the spacer , followed successively by thicker trial spacers until the desired spacing is achieved . once the appropriate spacing has been achieved , immobilization of the spine by fixation , fusion , or non - fusion techniques and devices , such as those set forth in co - pending u . s . patent application ser . nos . 09 / 906 , 117 and 09 / 906 , 118 , entitled “ an intervertebral spacer device having a wave washer force restoring element ” and “ an intervertebral spacer device having a spiral wave washer force restoring element ”, respectively , as well as u . s . pat . no . 5 , 989 , 291 , entitled “ an intervertebra spacer device ”, each of which ha ; been assigned to the same assignee as this present invention , the specifications of which are all fully incorporated herein by reference , may be desirable . while simple distraction to a constant height across the intervertebral space is appropriate for standard disc compression pathologies , in the case of scoliosis , simple constant thickness distraction is insufficient to remediate the pathological condition . what is necessary is the distraction of the sequence of spaces , each to an appropriate angle and height , such that the overall spinal configuration is anatomically correct . tapered trial spacers , such as those disclosed in the present application , are the first such distraction tools to provide such a tailored correction of the misangulation of the spinal bones . more particularly , the surgeon inserts the tapered trial spacers into the intervertebral space ( presumably from the anterior , or anterio - lateral , approach ) with the narrow edge of the trial spacer forming a wedge and sliding between the adjacent bones . by utilizing either a second or third embodiment of the spacer insertion tool , described more fully hereinafter with respect to fig7 a - c and 8 a - c respectively , the surgeon may turn the spacer around its axis within the intervertebral space to find the most appropriate rotational position ( corresponding to the most desirable straightening effect on the spinal column ). stated alternatively , each of the tapered trial spacers has an overall wedge shape that generally corresponds to the pathological tapering of the adjacent bones that characterizes scoliosis . by rotating the wedge - shaped spacer after it has been placed between the adjacent bones , the overall disc alignment may be compensated , restoring appropriate anatomical status . it should be understood that additional rotation of the spacer may restore lordosis to the spine , and that over - rotation ( if the particular spine is flexible enough ) of the spacer would result in a pathological curvature in the opposite direction . referring now to fig3 a - c , a third embodiment of an intervertebral spacer 300 of the invention is illustrated in side , top and side cutaway views , respectively . similarly to the spacer 100 , the spacer 300 is a cylindrical disc with an annular groove 302 that forms a central trunk 303 and radial flanges 304 , 306 at each end of the trunk 303 . however , in this embodiment , support portions 308 , 310 of the top and bottom surfaces 312 , 314 of the disc are not parallel , providing an overall taper to the spacer 300 at an angle . still , similarly to the spacer 100 , the walls 320 , 322 of the annular groove 302 are parallel , such that the floor 324 of the groove 302 is as wide as the opening 326 of the groove 302 . further in this embodiment , the spacer 300 has a central bore 328 . referring now to fig3 d , a set of tapered intervertebral spacers 300 a - j of the invention are illustrated in a side view . each spacer 300 a - j is formed generally similarly to the intervertebral spacer 300 of fig3 a - c , except that each spacer 300 a - j has a predetermined maximum depth ( denoted by the preferred maximum depth dimension identified adjacent each spacer ) and a predetermined minimum depth ( denoted by the preferred minimum depth dimension identified adjacent each spacer ), each provided in that while each spacer 300 a - j shares the same annular groove width dimension as the other spacers , each spacer 300 a - j has a different maximum flange thickness dimension and a different minimum flange thickness dimension . for example , the flanges 304 j , 306 j have a thicker maximum flange thickness dimension and a thicker minimum flange thickness dimension than the flanges 304 a , 306 a . referring now to fig4 a - c , a fourth embodiment of an intervertebral spacer 400 of the invention is illustrated in side , top and side cutaway views , respectively . similarly to the spacer 200 , the spacer 400 is a cylindrical disc with an annular groove 402 that forms a central trunk 403 and radial flanges 404 , 406 at each end of the trunk 403 . however , in this embodiment , support portions 408 , 410 of the top and bottom surfaces 412 , 414 of the disc are not parallel . still , similarly to the spacer 200 , the flanges 404 , 406 are radially tapered in that an outer edge 416 of the top surface 412 is tapered toward an outer edge 418 of the bottom surface 414 . further in this embodiment , similarly to the spacer 200 , the walls 420 , 422 of the annular groove 402 are tapered toward one another with the increasing depth of the groove 402 , such that the floor 424 of the groove 402 is more narrow than the opening 426 of the groove . further in this embodiment , the spacer 400 has a central bore 428 . referring now to fig4 d , a set of tapered intervertebral spacers 400 a - j of the invention are illustrated in a side view . each spacer 400 a - j is formed generally similarly to the intervertebral spacer 400 of fig4 a - c , except that each spacer 400 a - j has a predetermined maximum depth ( denoted by the preferred maximum depth dimension identified adjacent each spacer ) and a predetermined minimum depth ( denoted by the preferred minimum depth dimension identified adjacent each spacer ), each provided in that while each spacer 400 a - j shares the same annular groove width dimension as the other spacers , each spacer 400 a - j has a different maximum flange thickness dimension and a different minimum flange thickness dimension . for example , the flanges 404 j , 406 j have a thicker maximum flange thickness dimension and a thicker minimum flange thickness dimension than the flanges 404 a , 406 a . it should understood that the various features of the different embodiments of the intervertebral spacer of the invention discussed above can be used in various combinations and permutations to form the illustrated embodiments and other embodiments of the intervertebral spacer of the invention . in some embodiments , the walls of the annular groove are parallel . in other embodiments , they are not parallel . in some embodiments where they are not parallel , they are tapered toward one another with the increasing depth of the groove . in other embodiments where they are not parallel , they are tapered toward one another with the decreasing depth of the groove . in some embodiments , the support portions of the top and bottom surfaces are parallel . in other embodiments , they are not parallel . in some embodiments , the flanges are radially tapered in that the outer edge of the top surface is tapered toward an outer edge of the bottom surface . in other embodiments , the flanges are not radially tapered . in some embodiments , the spacer has a central bore . in other embodiments , the spacer does not have a central bore . it should be understood that while in the illustrated embodiments where spacers in a set have an overall taper , the angle of the overall taper of each spacer in the set is the same as the angle of the overall taper of the other spacers in the set , the invention encompasses a set of spacers in which the angle of the overall taper of each spacer in the set is different than the angle of the overall taper of at least one other spacer in the set . it should be understood that while in the illustrated embodiments where the spacer has an overall taper , the angle of the overall taper can be predetermined , such that the maximum flange thickness and the minimum flange thickness can be selected to achieve a desired overall taper angle . it should be understood that while in the illustrated embodiments the spacers are shown as having a cylindrical shape , it should be understood that in other embodiment , the spacers can have oval , square , or rectangular cross - sections , or cross - sections of other shapes , provided that any corners are rounded as necessary to prevent damage to surrounding tissue . as suggested previously , the insertion , rotation and removal of the tapered trial intervertebral spacers requires an alternate spacer insertion tool . this second embodiment of the spacer insertion tool includes a handle and an elongated dual shaft , the dual shaft culminating in a trial spacer grasping pincer , rather than the simple hook of the first embodiment . this pincer differs from the hook of the first embodiment of the trial spacer insertion tool described above , inasmuch as the dual shaft includes a fixed shaft and a selectively engagable shaft which , together , form pincer . more specifically , the fixed shaft includes a semicircular hook portion of the pincer at its distal end , having an enclosure within which a trial spacer can be placed . the selectively engagable shaft includes the complementary portion of the pincer , which moves toward the hook portion to grasp and hold the trial spacer when the engagable shaft is engaged , and moves away from the hook portion to release the trial spacer when the engagable shaft is disengaged . ( the spacer can be unloaded and loaded when the engagable shaft is disengaged .) the engagement action prevents the spacer from moving relative to the tool , and therefore permits the surgeon to rotate the tapered spacer in between the vertebral bodies ( by contrast , the first embodiment of the trial spacer insertion instrument permitted the spacer to rotate freely in the enclosure of the hook ). referring now to fig7 a , another embodiment of a spacer insertion tool 700 of the invention is illustrated in a side view . the insertion tool 700 includes an elongated shaft 702 and a handle 704 at one end of the shaft 702 . the insertion tool 700 further includes a compression assembly that is adapted to hold an intervertebral spacer of the invention at the other end of the shaft 702 so that the spacer cannot move when held . the insertion tool 700 further includes a release assembly that is adapted to release the spacer from being held . the compression assembly includes a semicircular hook 706 at the other end of the shaft 702 and a compression surface 708 adjacent the hook 706 . the hook 706 has an enclosure 709 defined by the extent of the hook 706 and an opening 710 through which the central trunk can pass freely to be placed into the enclosure 709 . that is , the width of the opening 710 is greater than the diameter of the central trunk . when the central trunk is placed within the enclosure 709 , the extent of the hook 706 fits loosely within the annular groove of the spacer . the compression assembly further includes a compression trigger 712 mechanically connected to the hook 706 such that as the compression trigger 712 is placed in an engaged position , the hook 706 is pulled toward the compression surface 708 . the mechanical connection includes a rod 714 connected at one end to the hook 706 and at the other end to a plate 716 . a rod 718 protruding from the plate 716 is engaged by a slot 720 in a lever 722 attached to the compression trigger 712 . when the compression trigger 712 is engaged , the rod 714 of the lever 722 pulls the plate 716 by the slot 720 . the plate 716 in turn pulls the rod 714 , which in turn pulls the hook 704 toward the compression surface 708 . when the hook 706 is pulled toward the compression surface 708 when the central trunk of the spacer is in the enclosure 709 , the central trunk is compressed within the enclosure 709 between the hook 706 and the compression surface 708 so that the spacer cannot move . the release assembly includes a spring 724 biasing the compression trigger 712 to a disengaged position . therefore , after the compression trigger 712 is released , it moves to the disengaged position . however , so that the central trunk remains compressed within the enclosure even after the compression trigger 712 is released ( e . g ., so that the surgeon does not need to continue holding the compression trigger 712 to effect the compression ), the compression assembly further includes teeth 726 on the rod 714 and corresponding teeth 730 that confront the rod teeth 726 to prevent the rod 714 from retreating , to maintain the compression . the release assembly further includes a release trigger 732 that can be engaged to release the rod teeth 726 from the corresponding teeth 730 to allow the rod 714 to return to its rest position , thereby alleviating the compression . more specifically , the release trigger 732 has the corresponding teeth 730 and the release assembly further includes a spring 734 that biases the release trigger 732 toward a position in which the corresponding teeth 730 engage the rod teeth 726 . this arrangement allows the release trigger 732 to be engaged by pressing the release trigger 732 with a force great enough to overcome the bias of the spring 734 , so that the corresponding teeth 730 are disengaged from the rod teeth 726 . therefore , when the release trigger 732 is pressed , the compression is alleviated , and the central trunk of the spacer can be freely passed through the opening 710 to be taken out of the enclosure 709 . referring now to fig7 b , a cutaway view of the insertion tool 700 of fig7 a holding the spacer 400 of fig4 a - c shows the extent of the hook 706 in cross - section and fitting within the annular groove of the spacer as the spacer is compressed between the compression surface 708 and the hook 706 . it can be seen that the width of the extent of the hook 706 is smaller than the width of the annular groove , and the depth of the extent is less than the depth of the annular groove if it is desirable for the flanges to fully flank the extent . preferably , as shown , the outer diameter of the hook 706 is substantially equal to the outer diameter of the spacer 400 . referring now to fig8 a - b , yet another embodiment of a spacer insertion tool 800 of the invention is illustrated in open and closed side views , respectively . the insertion tool 800 includes an elongated shaft 802 and a handle 804 at one end of the shaft 802 . the insertion tool 800 further includes a compression assembly that is adapted to hold an intervertebral spacer of the invention at the other end of the shaft 802 so that the spacer cannot move when held . the insertion tool 800 further includes a release assembly that is adapted to release the spacer from being held . the compression assembly includes a claw 806 at the other end of the shaft 802 having opposing pincers 807 a , 807 b , each providing one of opposing compression surfaces 808 a , 808 b . the claw 806 has an enclosure 809 defined by the extents of the pincers 807 a , 807 b and an opening 810 through which the central trunk can pass freely to be placed into the enclosure 809 when the claw 806 is open ( i . e ., when the opposing pincers 807 a , 807 b are separated ). that is , the width of the opening 810 is greater than the diameter of the central trunk when the claw 806 is open . when the central trunk is placed within the enclosure 809 , the extents of the pincers 807 a , 807 b fit loosely within the annular groove of the spacer . the compression assembly further includes a compression slide 812 that when moved to an engaged position ( here , a forward position shown in fig8 b ) closes the claw 806 . the closure of the claw 806 by the compression slide 812 is effected as follows . one of the pincers 807 a is in a fixed position relative to the elongated shaft 802 whereas the other pincer 807 b is adapted to rotate about an axis transverse to the shaft 802 . in this embodiment , the rotation is provided by a pin 813 passing through each pincer at a rotation point along the transverse axis . one position of the movable pincer 807 b along the rotation path ( shown in fig8 a ) defines the opened claw 806 in that the pincers 807 a , 807 b are separated . another position of the movable pincer 807 b along the rotation path ( shown in fig8 b ) defines the closed claw 806 in that the pincers 807 a , 807 b are brought together . when the pincers 807 a , 807 b are separated , an engagement surface 814 of the movable pincer 807 b is placed in an available compression path of an engagement surface 816 of the compression slide 812 . the engagement surface 814 is tapered so that when the compression slide 812 is moved to the engaged , the engagement surface 816 of the compression slide 812 moves along the available compression path and engages the tapered surface 814 to push the surface 814 aside and thereby cause a rotation of the movable pincer 807 b to the position defining the closed claw 806 . when the pincers 807 a , 807 b are thereby brought together to close the claw 806 when the central trunk of the spacer is in the enclosure 809 , the compression surfaces 808 a , 808 b come to bear on the central trunk to compress it within the enclosure 809 so that the spacer cannot move . the release assembly includes a spring 818 biasing the movable pincer 807 b to the rotation path position defining the open claw 806 . therefore , when the compression slide 812 is moved to a disengaged position ( here , a backward position ), the engagement surface 816 of the compression slide 812 moves along an available release path ( here , a backtracking along the compression path ) and frees the engagement surface 814 of the movable pincer 807 b to allow the engagement surface 814 to return to a place in the available compression path by the biasing action of the spring 818 . when the claw 806 is open , the compression is alleviated and the central trunk of the spacer can be freely passed through the opening 810 to be taken out of the enclosure 809 . the release assembly further includes at least one barrier 820 a , 820 b that limits the biasing action of the spring 818 by preventing the movable pincer 807 b from rotating beyond the position that places the engagement surface 814 in the available compression path . in this embodiment , confrontation surfaces 822 a , 822 b on the movable pincer 807 b confront the barriers 820 a , 820 b as the pincer 807 b rotates toward the rotation path position defining the open claw 806 under the biasing force of the spring 818 . when the engagement surface 814 is returned to the place in the available compression path , the barriers 820 a , 820 b prevent the confrontation surfaces 822 a , 822 b from advancing further . the spring 818 and the barriers 820 a , 820 b maintain the movable pincer 807 b in this position until the compression slide 812 is advanced toward the engaged position by a force great enough to overcome the biasing force of the spring 818 . referring now to fig8 c , a cutaway view of the insertion tool 800 of fig8 a - b holding the spacer 400 of fig4 a - c shows the extents of the pincers 807 a , 807 b in cross - section and fitting within the annular groove of the spacer as the spacer is compressed between the compression surfaces 808 a , 808 b . it can be seen that the width of each extent is smaller than the width of the annular groove , and the depth of each extent is less than the depth of the annular groove if it is desirable for the flanges to fully flank the extents . preferably , as shown , the outer diameter of the claw 806 is substantially equal to the outer diameter of the spacer 400 . there are alternative insertion and rotating instruments that may be designed , so long as they selectively and alternatingly release or hold the trial spacer securely against rotation ( the spacer can &# 39 ; t rotate freely if it is to be turned in the intervertebral space ). the tapered trial spacers themselves can include angle markers that clearly indicate to the surgeon the amount of rotation that was necessary for the correction of the spinal deformity . such angle markers can also serve as a guide for the implantation of a secondary bone graft ( e . g ., a femoral ring ) or another intervertebral spacer device . once the surgeon has determined the appropriate geometry for the surgical implants via the trial spacers , he or she is ready to immobilize the spine in that position . while multiple ways for immobilizing the spine are disclosed in the prior art , any one of which may be suitable for the specific surgical patient &# 39 ; s treatment , three alternative ways are herein described . first , the trial spacers may be left in the patient while rod fixation apparatuses ( anterior or posterior ) are mounted to the spine , thereby holding the spine in its desired orientation even after the trial spacers are subsequently removed . alternatively , surface plating and / or intervertebral cage devices may be mounted to the spine to promote fusion without the need for bulky rod assemblies . ( while this approach may seem more surgically desirable , questions regarding the long - term stability of these constructs have led to some surgeons to choose combinations of rodding and cages .) a third approach to immobilizing the corrected spine is to insert a shaped bone graft , or suitably contoured porous metal spacer , into the properly distracted intervertebral space , and either plating or using rod fixation to hold the construct stable as the spine fuses . the insertion of a femoral ring allograft , or porous metal implant into an intervertebral space is described more hilly in co - pending u . s . patent application ser . nos . 09 / 844 , 904 and 09 / 906 , 123 , entitled “ a porous interbody fusion device having integrated polyaxial locking interference screws ” and “ porous intervertebral distraction spacers ”, assigned to the same assignee as the present invention , the specifications of each being incorporated herein by reference . the tapered trial spacers may also serve as precursors ( measuring instruments ) for another spacer ( e . g ., a porous metal spacer ), similarly shaped , which is inserted into the intervertebral space by the same instrument .	0
the present invention relates to coating particulate materials in a continuous feed process , and more particularly to a continuous feed process for coloring sand . in the process of the present invention , a particulate material 10 , such as sand is fed into a mixer 20 through feed hopper 21 and through feed opening 22 , located on top of mixer 20 , by conveyor belt 25 , while the coating materials , typically one or more colorants 30 and a binder 32 , are fed into the mixer 20 by a series of pumps 35 a and 35 b through feed opening 22 . it is generally preferred to mix from about 0 . 01 to about 1 . 00 percent by weight of colorant , from about 0 . 01 to about 1 . 50 percent by weight of binder , and the balance of the mixture as particulate material — the percents being based on the total weight of the composition . it is even more preferred to mix about 0 . 20 - 0 . 60 weight percent of colorant , about 0 . 75 - 1 . 25 weight percent binder , and the balance of the mixture as particulate material . again , material 10 , colorants 30 and binder 32 enter at the same point , namely feed opening 22 . alternatively or in addition to , colorants 30 and / or binder 32 may be added to the process at a point further downstream ( not shown ). alternatively , the particulate material 10 can be fed to mixer 20 by a blower . mixer 20 churns and mixes the material , thereby providing an even coating on the particulate material 10 . the actual mixing rates can be adjustable for each of the material 10 , colorants 30 and binder 32 . the colored product 40 then exits the mixer 20 through output opening 42 at the bottom of the mixer 20 and then delivered to a drying unit ( not shown ). the drying unit can be one or more commercially available blower , or fan , units . the blow - drying can take place in a tumbler ( not shown ). alternatively , the forced air from the blower units can be heated . because drying is critical to the adhesion of the sand , it is preferred to use added heat to the blowing air , or that some other mechanism of heating element be introduced , such as outputting the colored sand product 40 onto a conveyor that first exposes the sand to heat lamps before discharge . it will be appreciated by those of skill in the art that other drying units may also work , such as conveyance of colored product 40 under one or more infrared heaters ( not shown ) with or without blowers , tumblers , and the like , and can be introduced into the process and not depart from the spirit and scope of the present invention . one significant advantage of the present invention is that the process does not require additional water for diluting the pigment dispersions , as is known in the art . therefore , drying times and the energy required for the drying process are significantly reduced . the colored product 40 is then delivered to a packaging or storage area by a discharge conveyor 26 or blower . once to the packaging or storage area , the colored product can be bagged for shipping or dispensed into holding tanks , silos , or large piles for storage . the feed rates for the particulate material 10 , colorant 30 and binder 32 depends on the particular material 10 being colored , the type of colorant 30 being used and the intensity and shade desired . essentially any mixer capable of thoroughly mixing solid particulate materials on a continuous basis can be used for mixer 20 . preferred mixers are those which force the mixture to move from an inlet to an outlet along a travel path which is at least three , preferably at least five and even more preferably at least eight , times as long as it is wide . an example is a paddle - type mixer having paddles arranged on a rotating shaft so as to push the mixture from the inlet to the outlet of the travel path . another example is an auger type mixer . for convenience these mixers are referred to herein as “ conveyance mixers .” especially preferred mixers are conveyance type mixers in which the travel path is arranged at an acute angle with respect to the horizontal plane , preferably in the range of about 30 - 60 degrees and most preferably at about a 45 degree angle . examples of commercially available conveyance mixers which are useful in the present invention are those color mills available from amerimulch ®, a division of chromascape , inc ., namely the high volume mega - mite ™, the medium volume middie mite ™, or the smaller volume mini - mite ™ mixers . these are high - shear , paddle - type mixers . an example of an auger style mixer is the amerimulch 5000 series color mill . when coating the particulate material with a colorant , it is preferred to use an aqueous dispersion of organic pigments , such as phthalocyanine blues and greens , dna orange , napthol reds , carbazole violet , quinacridone reds and diarlyide yellows . other preferred embodiments might include organic pigment dispersions , such as those including one or more of iron oxide , titanium dioxide and chrome oxide green . when choosing pigments , it is preferred to use pigments with high degrees of light stability . examples of such dispersions include those prepared by cdr pigments ( formerly alper dispersions co . ), chromascape , inc . under the amerimulch brand , becker underwood , creanova , cardinal color , clariant , magruder , sun chemical and bayer corporation . the hue and intensity of the colorant can be modified to prepare custom colors by blending the pigments with one another or with a blend of titanium dioxide white pigment . organic pigment dispersions that are water - based are preferred to solvent - based pigment dispersions because they are less hazardous and more environmentally friendly . furthermore , dry pigments , such as iron oxides , chromium oxides , and various organic pigments can also be used . the binder is preferably a water - based self - cross - linking acrylic emulsion , such as cook composites and chemicals &# 39 ; esicryl 1000 xl ™ cross - linked at room temperature , since the cross - linking action improves the water resistance of the colored particulate materials . other suitable binders include water - based dispersions of non - cross - linking acrylics , such as s . c . johnson &# 39 ; s jonacryl ®, polyurethane , vinyl acetate , vinyl acrylic type polymers , thermosetting resins , such as a two part epoxy system , cook composites and chemicals &# 39 ; esicryl 749 ™, and johnson wax company &# 39 ; s jonacryl acrylic binder ®. orange sand was produced using a middie mite ™ paddle type mixer available from amerimulch , located at 6409 granger road , independence , ohio 44131 , configured in the manner illustrated in fig1 but with a travel path of the mixer arranged at a 45 degree angle with respect to the horizontal plane . approximately 98 . 75 % by weight of sand was fed to the inlet of the mixer by a conveyor , 0 . 25 % by weight of dna orange dispersion ( d - 0005 - 182 , available from alper / cdr pigments , was used ) was fed by pump , and 1 . 00 % by weight of esicryl 1000xl ™ was fed by pump as illustrated in fig1 . paddle rotation was carried out at 120 rotations per minute , allowing about 40 , 000 pounds of coated sand to be produced per hour . as illustrated in fig1 coated sand was discharged from the outlet end of the travel path of the mixer onto a discharge conveyor where it was dried by a method of conveyance through air being blown from an air blower powered by a large , 55 - 60 horsepower engine . the colored sand product was visually inspected and found to exhibit a uniform , vibrant orange color which remained intact even when the sand was repeatedly handled . example 1 was repeated using a dispersion of phthalo blue pigment , code ob15c - 888 , available from alper / cdr pigments , to produce coated sand having a vibrant blue coating . example 1 was repeated using 0 . 10 % by weight of quinacridone magenta dispersion , code no . dr122 - 127 , available from alper / cdr pigments , mixed with 0 . 40 % by weight of titanium dioxide , and 1 . 00 % by weight of esicryl 1000xl ™ to provide a sand product with a vibrant pink color . using similar processes as those described in examples 1 - 3 , limestone particles were colored . the particle sizes were approximately 0 . 25 to 1 . 25 inches in diameter , with the majority of the particles approximately 0 . 75 inches in diameter . a number of the limestone particles broke due to the shear and intensity of the mixing action in the paddle mixer , leaving edges uncolored as the breaks occurred after the exposure to the colorant and binder . this left occasional segments of white , uncolored stone in the mix of otherwise uncoated limestone . this may be overcome with the addition of additional colorant and binder later in the process as mentioned above . while the present invention has been illustrated by the detailed description , figure , and examples it is not the intention of the applicant to restrict or in any way limit the scope of the appended claims to such details . additional advantages and modifications will readily appear to those skilled in the art . therefore , the invention in its broader aspects is not limited to the specific details , representative apparatuses and materials , and illustrative figures shown and described . accordingly , departures may be made from such details without departing from the spirit or scope of the applicant &# 39 ; s general inventive concept .	2
a weld gun assembly according to the invention can include the following illustrated major component parts : a transformer 12 ; a base plate 14 ; at least one transformer mounting strap 16 ; a slide block 18 ; at least one side plate 20 ; at least one rail 22 ; a positioning cylinder 24 ; a clevis bracket 25 ; a spring lock 26 , a spring cup 28 ; a threaded rod 30 ; an equalizing spring 32 ; a power cylinder 34 ; an electrode adapter 38 ; a guide block 40 ; a moveable cap adapter 42 ; a first cap 44 ; an electrode holder 46 ; a stationary cap adapter 48 ; a hose fitting 50 ; a second cap 52 ; at least one transformer terminal 54 , 56 ; at least one shunt 58 , 60 ; at least one shunt adapter 62 , 64 , 66 ; at least one nut 68 , 70 , 72 ; and a cooling tube 80 . main body transformer 12 is of known form and can have a monolithic rectangular configuration including a top face 12 a and side faces 12 b . base plate 14 ( fig1 and 13 ) can have a rectangular configuration generally corresponding to the configuration and dimensions of the top face 12 a of the transformer 12 . base plate 14 can include a pair of slots 14 a proximate the front end of the plate 14 and a rectangular opening 14 b proximate the rear end of the plate 14 . transformer mounting straps 16 ( fig2 ) can be fixedly secured to the side face 12 b of the transformer 12 and can include a notch 16 a proximate the upper end of the strap 16 receiving a side edge 14 c of the base plate 14 so as to mount the base plate 14 in overlying relation to the upper face 12 a of the transformer 12 but spaced from the upper face 12 a . slide block 18 ( fig3 ) can have an “ h ” shaped cross - sectional configuration defining opposed longitudinal guide grooves or keyways 18 a . slide block 18 is fixed to the upper face of base plate 14 . slide block 18 can be formed of aluminum and can include chrome plated equalizing keyways . side plates 20 ( fig1 and 11 ) can be identical to one another and disposed on opposite sides of the slide block 18 . each side plate 20 can include a main body portion 20 a , a front pedestal portion 20 b , an intermediate pedestal portion 20 c , and a rear strap portion 20 d terminating in a rear end 20 e . side plates 20 can preferably be formed of stainless steel . rails 22 can be secured to the inboard faces of strap portions 20 d and can be slidably received in the opposed keyways 18 a of slide block 18 to mount the side plates 20 for sliding equalizing movement on the slide block 18 . positioning cylinder 24 can be carried by clevis bracket 25 which in turn can be mounted on a reduced thickness platform mounting portion 14 d at the rear of base plate 14 . spring block 26 can be positioned between the rear ends 20 e of side plates 20 to fixedly interconnect the rear ends of the side plates . spring cup 28 ( fig2 ) can have a generally cup shaped configuration and can define a socket 28 a sized to receive one end of spring 32 . threaded rod 30 ( fig3 ) can be fixedly secured at its rear end 30 a to the piston of positioning cylinder 24 and can include a threaded portion 30 b extending forwardly through a central aperture 26 a in spring block 26 and through a central aperture 28 b in the rear wall of spring cup 28 . nuts 68 , 70 can be received on threaded portion 30 b and can engage opposite side faces of spring block 26 to lock the spring block with respect to the threaded rod . a further nut 72 can be received on threaded portion 30 b and can engage the rear wall of the spring cup 28 to adjustably mount the spring cup on the forward end of the threaded rod 30 . equalizer spring 32 can have a coil configuration and can be received at its front end 32 a in a socket 18 b in the rear face of slide block 18 and at its rear end 32 b in the socket 28 a of spring cap 28 . power cylinder 34 can preferably be an air cylinder and can include a cylinder body 74 slidably mounting a piston ( not shown ), and a piston rod 76 . the forward end 74 a of the cylinder 74 can be fixedly mounted between the pedestal portions 20 c of spaced side plates 20 . electrode adapter 38 ( fig1 , 35 , 36 and 37 ) can include a monolithic , generally rectangular main body rear portion 38 a and a forward rod portion 38 b of rectangular cross - section . main body portion 38 a can include a socket 38 c at its rear end receiving the front end 36 a of piston rod 76 . main body portion 38 a can be split at 38 d and 38 e to facilitate the grasping of the front end 36 a of the piston rod 76 using fasteners 78 . adapter 38 can include a longitudinal bore 38 f communicating with a transverse “ in ” bore 38 g and a counterbore 38 h communicating with a transverse “ out ” bore 38 i . a tube 80 can be positioned in bore 38 f to communicate with “ in ” bore 38 g . guide block 40 ( fig1 ) can be fixedly positioned between pedestal portions 20 b of the spaced side plates 20 and can slidably receive the rod portion 38 b of electrode adapter 38 via a square central passage 40 a drilled at the corners 40 b to facilitate the sliding movement of rod portion 38 b in the guide block . moveable cap adapter 42 can be fixedly mounted on the front end 38 j of the rod portion 38 b of electrode adapter 38 and first welding cap 44 can be fixedly positioned on the front end of the cap adapter 42 . it should be understood that , in known manner , the cooling tube 80 ( fig3 ) can extend forwardly through cap adapter 42 and into proximity with welding cap 44 and can be positioned in spaced relation to an interior bore of adapter 42 allowing cooling fluid to flow through “ in ” port 38 g and through cooling tube 80 and into proximity with cap 44 , whereafter the cooling fluid can leave the cap and flow around the cooling tube back through adapter 42 and rod portion 38 b for discharge through “ out ” port 38 i . electrode holder 46 ( fig2 ) can have a generally rectangular configuration and can be fixedly positioned between the front ends 20 f of side plates 20 beneath guide block or holder 40 . electrode holder 46 can define a central aperture 46 a for fixed receipt of stationary cap adapter 48 . as seen in fig8 , electrode holder 46 can preferably be sandwiched between insulator plates 82 ( fig2 ) which can be formed for example of a mica or similar insulating material stationary cap adapter 48 ( fig1 , 15 and 16 ) can be shaped depending on the particular gun configuration being employed . in the illustrated configuration of the welding gun , adapter 48 can have a tubular u - shaped configuration with a rear end 48 a of the adapter positioned in and passing through the aperture 46 a of electrode holder 46 and the other end 48 b of the adapter 48 mounting the second welding cap 52 . a central tube 84 can be positioned within a central bore 48 c of adapter 48 and can extend through the adapter so as to provide , in known manner , means for introducing cooling fluid into the adapter for delivery to the welding cap and means for returning cooling fluid outside of the tube back to a cooling fluid discharge . hose fitting 50 ( fig1 and 35 ) can include a threaded forward end 50 a adapted to be threadably received in a threaded bore 48 c in the rear end 48 a of adapter 48 and can further include an “ in ” port 50 b and an “ out ” port 50 c . it should be understood that “ in ” port 50 b can be configured to communicate with cooling tube 84 proximate the rear end 84 a of that tube and “ out ” port 50 c can be configured to communicate with an annular area outside of the tube end 84 a to receive the return fluid flow . transformer 12 , in known manner , can include terminals 54 and 56 positioned on the front face 12 c of the transformer . shunt adapter 62 ( fig8 and 21 ) can have an l - shaped configuration and can be fixedly and electrically secured to the front face of terminal 54 . shunt 58 ( fig2 and 24 ) can have a u - shaped configuration and can extend between adapter 62 and the underface of the main body portion 38 a of electrode adapter 38 . it can be seen that adapter 62 and shunt 58 can coact to provide an electrical flow path from transformer terminal 54 to electrode holder 38 to deliver electric power to welding cap 44 . shunt 58 can be of the laminated copper type and should be understood to provide flexibility as between the connection with the adapter 62 and the underface of block 38 a . adapter 64 ( fig2 and 22 ) can have a t - shaped configuration including a t - bar portion 64 a fixedly and electrically secured to transformer terminal 56 and a stem portion 64 b . adapter 66 ( fig2 and 20 ) can have an l - shaped configuration and can define a central aperture 66 a proximate the upper end 66 b of the adapter . aperture 66 a can be intended to fit over the rear end 48 a of adapter 48 as the rear end 48 a projects rearwardly beyond the rear face of holder 46 . the upper end of the adapter 66 can be fixedly secured to the rear end 48 a of adapter 48 using a suitable fastener coacting with a split 66 c to facilitate the squeezing engagement of adapter 66 with the rear end 48 a of the adapter 48 . this arrangement can allow the hose fitting 50 to readily and threadably access the rear end of adapter 48 without interference from the upper end of adapter 66 and without interference from electrode holder 46 . shunt 60 ( fig8 and 23 ) can electrically interconnect adapter 66 and adapter 64 and , in known matter , can have a laminated copper construction to provide a flexible electrical interconnection between terminal 56 and welding cap 52 via adapter 64 , shunt 60 , adapter 66 , and adapter 48 . in typical operation of the welding gun according to the present invention , the gun can be attached to a robot ( as for example by attaching the robot to the side face 12 b of the transformer ); gross adjustment of the overall welding gun can be performed using the robot ; fine adjustment of the overall welding gun can be performed using positioning cylinder 24 ; and adjustment of the space or gap between the welding caps 44 / 52 to grip the item to be welded can be achieved using power cylinder 34 in combination with equalizing spring 32 . specifically , once the caps of the open gun have been positioned on opposite sides of the article to be welded , power cylinder 34 can be fired to bring cap 44 into engagement with one face of the article whereafter continued extending movement of piston rod 36 allows equalizing spring 32 to act to bring the cap 52 into engagement with the other face of the article to be welded . the welding gun according to the present invention can provide many important advantages as compared to prior known welding guns . the square rod portion 38 b of the electrode adapter can be slidably received in the square opening in the guide block 40 to preclude unwanted rotation of the electrode adapter . the design allows the ready interchange of the power cylinder 34 with a servo motor , such as for example the servo motor 100 shown in fig3 . the use of the identical side plates 20 to establish all of the critical dimensions of the components of the gun can insure that tolerances will be maintained on all of the critical dimensions and at all of the critical points . the use of the identical side plates 20 further can simplify reconfiguration of the gun since the shape and configuration of the side plates can be changed to accommodate a different welding requirement while continuing to use much of the same components of the welding gun in the new configuration . the rod portion 38 b of the adapter 38 can be chrome treated to enhance work characteristics and reject weld splatter . the use of insulating plates 82 to embrace the electrode holder 46 can allow a metal to metal configuration at the arm engagement and the holder to prevent rotation of the arm under usage . the design can allow dual attachment points of the electrode adapter or shunt adapter to allow for a new attachment point after a wear failure or electrical arcing failure . the use of the hose fitting 50 attached directly to the rear end of electrode adapter 48 for coaction with tube 84 can simplify the connection of the inlet water and the outlet water to the electrode adapter 48 and specifically avoids complex routing of the coolant through the gun frame . the design of electrode adapter 38 can allow the in and out ports in the adapter main body portion 38 a to communicate directly with the central bore in the adapter as well as with the central tube to simplify electrode construction and provide a more direct routing of the in and out coolant , thereby avoiding complex routing of the coolant though the gun frame . while the invention has been described in connection with what is presently considered to be the most practical and preferred embodiment , it is to be understood that the invention is not to be limited to the disclosed embodiments but , on the contrary , is intended to cover various modifications and equivalent arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the appended claims , which scope is to be accorded the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and equivalent structures as is permitted under the law .	1
in all four embodiments , melting vat 1 is a walled vat consisting of a ceramic material . connecting line 2 constitutes a conducting connection between melting vat 1 and plaining container 3 connected on the output side . as is apparent , connecting line 2 exits from melting vat 1 from its bottom area and enters into the bottom area of the first plaining container 3 . the first plaining container 3 is designed in the manner of a skull crucible . it is built up by a crown of vertical , liquid - cooled metal tubes that are not shown in detail here . the crown of metal tubes is surrounded by windings 3 . 1 of a high - frequency heating device . the arrangement of connecting line 2 in the described manner results in the following advantage in the embodiment according to fig1 and 2 : the glass , ceramic , or glass - ceramic melt is relatively cold in the bottom area of melting vat 1 . after its entrance into the bottom area of skull crucible 3 it is heated by hf device 3 . 1 and rises up . it is then so hot in the upper area that the gas bubbles burst on account of the low viscosity of the melt and can then exit . in the embodiment according to fig1 a second plaining container in the shape of a groove 4 is connected in on the output side of first plaining container 3 . thus , a lying or horizontal plaining container 4 follows standing plaining container 3 . groove 4 is again designed in the manner of a skull crucible . it accordingly comprises a crown of horizontally running metal tubes that can be circular in shape . this crown of metal tubes is again surrounded by windings 4 . 1 of a hf coil . accordingly , the axis of winding of the coil windings also runs horizontally . the manner of transferring the melt from skull crucible 3 to skull groove 4 is not shown here . the melt can either flow over in the area of the upper edge of skull groove 4 , e . g ., over a dam or it can also flow over in the area of the lower edge of skull groove 4 , e . g ., through a connecting line . there is the possibility of introducing oxygen in the form of bubbles ( so - called oxygen bubbling ) between the two plaining containers 3 , 4 ( see arrow 5 ). there is also the possibility of introducing active plaining media instead of the above or in addition thereto ( see arrow 6 ). skull groove 4 is followed by cooling - off groove 7 . cooling - off groove 7 is followed by conditioning container 8 with agitator 8 . 1 and discharge 8 . 2 . the process in the device of fig1 is to be described in the following again in more detail . the first plaining container 3 is designated thereby as a glass pot , or crucible and the second plaining container 4 as a groove . a combination of chemical plaining by an appropriately selected redox - or evaporation plaining medium with maximum release of gas in the temperature range of the glass pot , or crucible and of a physical plaining effect takes place in the glass pot , or crucible due to the low viscosity at high temperatures , the resulting high rise rate of the bubbles and the greater convection . a primarily physical plaining of the glass takes place in the groove at comparable plaining temperatures which physical plaining is particularly effective here on account of the combination of strong convection and low bath depth . when comparable plaining temperatures are used in the glass pot , or crucible and the groove , at the end of the first plaining step the bubbles are approximately 1000 times smaller then before the hf plaining . a further degassing takes place through the second plaining chamber , which degassing brings about a reduction of the bubble numbers by an approximate factor of only 10 to 100 on account of the consumption of the plaining medium by the first zone , but still contains as a positive effect the physical plaining that plays an important part at the high melting temperatures and low viscosities . a further increase of the plaining effectiveness of this double arrangement can take place by the addition of two different plaining media of which the one plaining medium is activated in the glass pot , or crucible at temperature t ( 1 ) and the second plaining medium is activated in the groove at a temperature of t ( 2 ) where t ( 1 ) is lower than t ( 2 ). an example for this is the addition of stannous oxide and titanium oxide in an aluminosilicate glass . stannous oxide has its optimal plaining temperature at approximately 1800 to 1900 ° c . in this temperature range there is still no release of gas from titanium oxide ( tio 2 ). titanium oxide plains at 2000 to 2100 ° c . if the plaining temperature is adjusted in the first plaining part to 1850 ° c . and in the second part to 2100 ° c ., both plaining units connected in series can be utilized in an optimum fashion as regards chemical and physical plaining . in principle , plaining effects could occur in the case of glasses with low viscosity in melting vat 1 already if the melting crucible or parts of it are at a temperature level favorable for the plaining reaction so that melting vat 1 could already be considered as the first stage of the cascade plaining . however , this arrangement is less favorable then the arrangement described here with two or more genuine plaining units separated spatially from the melting crucible due to the flow conditions , batch charges , solids mixture charges , and glass discharges the movement of the glass mass acts against the upward movement of the bubbles and draws rising bubbles repetitively down again and again . moreover , in this instance the bubbles would have to penetrate the cold batch top surface , which is normally not successful , or the surface would have to be allowed to melt plain and clear in the meantime , which opposes a high throughput and is thus uneconomical . in the case of glasses with high viscosity a plaining can not be expected in any case since the bath depth is too great for a rise of bubbles in a glass with high viscosity and thus having a low rising rate . a further improvement of the plaining in the double crucible system can take place by oxidizing the reduced plaining medium to a higher valency prior to the entrance of the melt into the second plaining phase . this can take place , for example , by bubbling in oxygen . it is advantageous if the temperature of the glass melt is lowered during the oxidation to a higher valency to a lower temperature before it is raised again in the second plaining phase . a further possibility for improvement is the supplying of active plaining medium into the melt prior to the start of the second plaining phase . in this instance there is the same reduction of bubbles in the second plaining phase as in the first plaining phase . that is , the number of bubbles is reduced twice by the same factor , which signifies , e . g ., at a reduction by a factor of 10 3 in one plaining part a total reduction of the bubble number of a factor of 10 6 . in the device according to fig2 the second plaining container 4 is also a skull crucible . there are also the possibilities here of oxygen bubbling reference arrow 5 , or of the addition of active plaining media reference arrow 6 . a cooling - off groove 7 is also provided here , moreover , a conditioning device 8 with agitator 8 . 1 and discharge 8 . 2 . fig3 describes an interesting variant of the invention . in it melting vat 1 is followed by a first plaining groove 3 with skull design as well as by a second plaining groove 4 , also in skull design . the other units are substantially the same as in the devices according to fig1 and 2 . the supplying of the active plaining medium can take place , as shown in fig1 to 3 , by means of a crucible in which a suitable glass with a high content of active plaining medium is produced in situ and directly supplied . of course , the glass can also be poured first in rods or other suitable formats that can be suspended instead of the crucible at the same location in the melt and continuously supplied . the requirements to be placed on the plaining glass are as follows : the active plaining medium present in the plaining glass can be a redox plaining medium ( as 2 o 5 , sb 2 o 5 , sno 2 , tio 2 and others ) or an evaporation plaining medium ( nacl , bacl 2 , zno and others ) the plaining glass may only contain components that are also contained in the glass to be plained or do not cause problems in it . due to the fact that the plaining glass is supplied to the glass to be plained in a dilution ratio of 1 : 20 to 1 : 100 , minority components can be absolutely tolerated since they are then present in the finished product in a concentration that has no appreciable effects on the nature of the product . the plaining glass must be miscible with the glass to be plained at the injection temperature . the plaining glass must be meltable at low temperatures since high temperatures generally result in an undesired , premature consumption of the plaining medium . this can be brought about by , among other things , a high percentage of alkali oxides , boric oxide or fluorine ; alkali oxides have the additional advantage of stabilizing the higher - valent oxidation states in the case of as and sb and fluorine the additional advantage of evaporation plaining . as can be replaced sb if required ; however , the concentrations of the other elements must then be readjusted , if necessary . example 2 ( several glasses from the same system are collated here that vary in the concentrations of the individual oxides . the indicated limits follow from the concrete class compositions and do not represent any basic limitation ): the cited glasses are to be understood as merely exemplary embodiments . a plurality of other glasses are also conceivable that can be used instead of the cited ones without making any basic changes to the method . if the quality of the glass so requires , a series of any desired number of plaining crucibles is conceivable and the adjusting of as many good glass qualities as desired is possible in this manner . the optimizing factor here is the cost - effectiveness ratio since every further plaining stage not only produces an improvement of the quality but also additional expense . however , any required quality can be adjusted with the concept of cascade plaining . in all instances described the walls of the plaining units are built up from liquid - cooled , metallic tubes or air - cooled , ceramic parts that are of such a nature that they are transparent for electromagnetic radiation in the frequency range of 10 khz to 5 mhz . the plaining zones are heated by radiating high - frequency energy into the melt . suitable frequency ranges are in a range of 10 khz to 5 mhz , according to the type of glass and the size of the aggregate unit . a frequency range of 100 khz to 1 mhz proved to be a preferred range for the glasses tested at plaining volumes of 50 to 600 liters . the embodiment of fig4 shows melting vat 1 again . plaining groove 3 is connected to the latter . the plaining groove is surrounded by windings 3 . 1 of a hf coil . the particular feature of this embodiment is that the batch mixture located in melting vat 1 is retained by bridge wall 10 . while this invention has been described as having a preferred design , the present invention can be further modified within the spirit and scope of this disclosure . this application is therefore intended to cover any variations , uses , or adaptations of the invention using its general principles . further , this application is intended to cover such departures from the present disclosure as come within known or customary practice in the art to which this invention pertains and which fall within the limits of the appended claims .	2
with reference to fig1 to 14 , fig1 shows a power cutter which comprises a housing 800 in which is located a two stroke engine 116 , 118 , a rear handle 802 , a support aim 804 and a front handle 806 . a cutting blade 808 is rotatably mounted on the support arm and which can be driven by the engine . a guard 810 surrounds the top part of the blade 808 . referring to fig2 , the two stroke internal combustion engine 116 , 118 is fed with an air / fuel mixture from a carburetor 126 . the engine 116 , 118 burns the mixture in a well known mariner to generate rotary motion of its crank shaft 114 , which connects to an output shaft . the exhaust gases are then expelled from the engine 116 , 118 through an exhaust 146 to the surrounding atmosphere . the engine 116 , 118 is started using a pull cord in well know manner . the power cutter comprises a fuel tank 124 in which is located fuel for driving the two stroke internal combustion engine 116 , 118 . fuel will pass from the tank 124 via passageway 144 through the carburetor 126 which will mix the fuel with air from an air filter 890 , prior to being forwarded to the cylinder 120 where it will be burnt . a second tank 128 , as shown in which lubricating oil will be contained , will also be mounted in the body . the oil will be pumped out of the tank 128 via an oil pump 700 . the oil pump 700 will pump the oil through the oil passageways indicated by lines 142 from the oil tank 128 via the pump 700 into the passageway 132 between the carburetor 126 and the cylinder 120 , in a suitable form , for example , as a spray or atomized , which is then mixed with the air / fuel mixture generated by the carburetor 126 . a sensor 140 is mounted within the passageway 132 between the carburetor 126 and cylinder 120 . the sensor monitors the amount of oil being added to the fuel / air mixture and sends a signal , via an electric cable 701 , indicative of the amount of oil in the passageway 132 back to an electronic controller 716 ( see fig3 ). such a sensor can be of a capacitance type whereby the sensor monitors the change in capacitance between two plates , the capacitance being a function of the amount of oil there is in the fuel / air mixture . the carburetor 126 is a standard design which , during normal operation , operates with out any external power input . however , the carburetor 126 comprises a solenoid 714 . there are a number of ways a carburetor can use a solenoid . two ways are : ( 1 ) the solenoid can open a channel within the carburetor which allows the fuel to get direct access to the passageway leading to the cylinder . this provides the engine with an air / fuel mixture which is richer in fuel ; and ( 2 ) the solenoid can close an air channel within the carburetor , which passes clean air around the carburetor to the passageway . with the airflow closed by the solenoid ( or substantially closed ), the air / fuel mixture is richer in fuel . the solenoid is used when the engine is cold to provide an air / fuel mixture which is richer in fuel to help start the engine . when the engine is warm , the solenoid is either non - utilized or is switched off . the temperature of the engine is measured using a sensor 710 located on the engine block . the solenoid 714 is used to replace the choke on the carburetor whereby an operator could manually adjust the valve to start the engine when it is cold . the engine ignition system is controlled by the electronic controller 716 , the function of which is described in more detail below with reference to fig3 . mounted on the end of the end of the crank shaft 114 is a flywheel 702 which contains a number of metal fins 704 which form an impeller . as the flywheel 702 rotates , the impeller blows air around the out side of the engine . adjacent the impeller 702 are two generators 706 , 708 . the two generators generate electricity using magnets and the change of inductance caused by the rotating flywheel 702 . as the flywheel 702 rotates , it causes the two generators 706 , 708 to produce electricity . the first generator 706 is used to provide electricity for the ignition system of the engine and the electronic controller 716 . the second generator 708 is used to provide electricity for the oil pump 700 and the solenoid 714 in the carburetor . both are connected to the electronic controller 716 via cables 717 . also mounted adjacent the flywheel are two sensors 710 , 712 . the first sensor 710 monitors the temperature of the engine block and sends a signal via an electric cable 711 indicative of the temperature to the electronic controller 716 . the second sensor 712 monitors the angular position of the flywheel 702 and sends a signal via an electric cable 713 indicative of the angular position of the flywheel 702 back to the electronic controller 716 . this signal can also be used by the electronic controller 716 to determine the rate of rotation of the flywheel 702 , as well as its angular position . the oil pump 700 is an electrically powered oil pump 700 , the power for which is supplied by the electronic controller 716 via electric cable 715 . the oil pump is shown in fig4 . this type of oil pump is described in ep1236894 . the oil pump 700 is driven by the electronic controller 716 which sends a square shaped voltage signal 892 to the oil pump ( see fig1 a ) when the voltage is at v 1 , it causes the piston 850 of the pump to move , reducing the size of the oil chamber 852 . this causes a preset amount of oil to be pumped out of the chamber 852 . when voltage is “ 0 ”, the piston returns to its starting position due to the biasing of the spring 854 , enlarging the oil chamber 852 and allowing the chamber 852 to fill with oil . the higher the frequency of the square shaped voltage signal 892 , the more oil the oil pump 700 pumps per unit of time . the oil pump is capable of running at two speeds ( the first speed shown in fig1 a , the second speed being shown in fig1 b where the frequency of the square shaped voltage signal 892 , and hence the movement of the piston 850 , is double ) and its general operation is described in more detail below . a spark plug 730 is connected to the electronic controller 716 via a cable 732 . ignition of the spark plug is controlled by the electronic controller 716 . a primer 734 is mounted on the rear wall 736 of the housing 800 of the power cutter . see fig1 . the primer is a manual pump . a first pipe 738 connects from the fuel tank 124 to the primer 734 . a second pipe 740 connects from the primer to the carburetor 126 . a brief description of the principle of how the primer works will now be described with reference to fig5 . the primer has two valves 742 , 744 located in series which allow the fuel to flow one way through them only ( indicated by arrows a and b ). located between the two valves 742 , 744 is a chamber 750 having a rubber dome 746 forming a wall which is accessible to the user of the power cutter . one valve 742 only allows fuel to enter the chamber 750 , while the other only allows fuel to leave the chamber 750 . in order to use the primer , the operator , presses the rubber dome 746 ( shown as dashed lines 748 ). this reduces the amount of volume in the chamber 750 formed between the valves and hence the amount of space which can contain fuel . as such , fuel is ejected from the primer through the one of the valves 744 , as the second valve 742 remains closed , preventing fuel from leaving the chamber 750 via that valve 742 . when the operator releases the dome 746 , the volume of the chamber 750 increases , causing fuel to be sucked into the chamber 750 through the second valve 742 as the first valve remains closed 744 preventing fuel from entering the chamber 750 through that valve 744 . repetitive pressing and releasing of the dome 746 results in the fuel being pumped through the primer 734 . the primer is arranged so that the operator can manually pump the fuel from the tank 124 to the carburetor 126 through the pipes 738 , 740 . the purpose of the primer is to enable the operator to place fuel into the carburetor . otherwise the operator has to spin the engine a number of times using the pull cord before a sufficient amount of fuel is sucked through into the carburetor 126 . a deco valve 752 is mounted on the side of the cylinder 120 . the valve 752 is opened manually by the operator prior to starting the engine . when opened , the deco valve reduces the pressure within the cylinder 120 prior to ignition . this enables the starting of the engine using the pull cord to be easier as the amount of compression of the fuel / air mixture required is reduced . when the engine is started , the deco valve automatically closes . the electronic controller 716 has an on / off switch 754 in the form of a rotatable knob 758 . the on / off switch 754 is connected to the electronic controller via an electric cable 756 . the knob 758 has a pointer 764 integrally formed on its periphery . the rotatable knob 758 has two angular positions between which it can rotate . in the first position , the switch is on . in this position , the pointer 764 points to an on label 762 ( see fig1 ). in the second position , the switch is off . in this position , the pointer 764 points to an off label 760 . when the rotatable knob is in the on position , the operator can start the engine and use the power cutter . when the rotatable knob 758 is in the off position , the engine is prevented from being started . if the rotatable knob 758 is moved from the on to the off position when the engine is running , the engine is automatically switched off a stop button 766 is located in the center of the knob 758 . if the engine is running ( i . e ., the knob is in the on position ), depression of the stop button 766 will result in the engine being switched off . the knob 758 then automatically returns to the off position . if the knob 758 is prevented from returning to the off position after the stop button has been depressed , the engine will not be able to be started until the knob 758 has been allowed to return to the off position . the construction of the assembly for the on / off switch 754 , which includes the knob 758 and stop button 766 , will now be described . the on / off switch assembly comprises the rotatable knob 758 , a crank 768 , a switch cam 770 and the stop button 766 . the crank 768 is rigidly fixed into the rear wall 736 of the housing 800 and prevented from rotation . the crank 768 comprises a socket 772 into which is rigidly mounted a micro switch 774 ( see fig8 c ). as shown in fig7 , rotatably mounted on the outside of the crank 768 is the knob 758 . rotatably mounted on the inside of the crank 768 is the switch cam 770 . a bolt 778 , which passes through the base of a tubular recess 776 formed in the knob 758 , screws into the switch cam 770 and is rigidly attached thereto . sandwiched between the head of the bolt 778 and the base of the recess 776 is a spring 780 . the bolt 778 and spring 780 hold the knob 758 and switch cam 770 onto the crank 768 , biasing them towards each other as the spring biases the head of the bolt 778 away from the base of the recess 776 . the knob 758 can rotate through a limited range of positions ( between the on and off positions ) relative to the crank 768 . the range of positions is limited by pegs 786 formed on the underside of the knob engaging with recesses 788 formed in the edge of the rear wall 736 of the housing . the switch cam 770 can also rotate through a limited range of positions relative to the crank 768 . in addition , the switch cam 770 can axially slide relative to the crank 768 in a direction parallel to the longitudinal axis of the bolt 778 over a limited range of positions , the range being limited by the length of the bolt 778 within the recess 776 . the bolt 778 rotates and slides with the switch cam 770 . the stop button 766 is mounted within the tubular recess 776 formed in the knob 758 and encloses the end of the bolt 778 located in the recess 776 and the spring 780 . ( see fig9 ). the stop button 766 can axially slide within the recess 776 towards or away from the switch cam 770 . the range of outward axial movement of the stop button is limited by stops 782 each engaging with an inner step of the knob 758 . the head of the bolt 778 directly abuts the underside of the stop button 766 . depression of the stop button , causes the bolt 778 to be pushed through the base , compressing the spring 780 , moving the switch cam 770 away from the crank 768 and knob 758 . connected between the knob 758 and the crank 768 is a long helical spring 784 . the helical spring 784 is located in a circular channel 790 formed on the underside of the knob 758 as best seen in fig1 . one end of the helical spring 784 abuts against a wall 792 at the end of the channel 790 . the other end abuts against a stop ( not shown ) formed on the crank 772 . the spring 784 rotationally biases the knob 758 relative to the crank to its off position . connected between the switch cam 770 and the crank 768 is a leaf spring 794 as best seen in fig1 and 13 . one end of the leaf spring 794 is connected using a small bolt 796 to the switch cam 770 . the other end abuts a stop 798 on the crank 768 . the leaf spring 794 rotationally biases the switch cam 770 relative to the crank to an off position . formed on the underside of the knob 758 are two ramps 820 , each ramp having a ramp end 822 as best seen in fig1 . formed on the side of the switch cam 770 which faces the knob 758 are ramp recesses 824 which have ramp recess ends 826 as best seen in fig9 . when the switch assembly is in the off position i . e . when both the knob 758 and the switch cam 770 are in their off positions under the biasing force of their respective springs 784 , 794 , each of the two ramps 820 is located in a corresponding ramp recess 824 with the ramp ends 822 of each ramp 820 abutting directly against the ramp recess ends 826 of the corresponding ramp recess 824 . formed on the underside of the crank 768 are two crank ramps 828 , each ramp 828 having a crank ramp end 830 as best seen in fig8 c . formed on the side of the switch cam 770 which faces the knob 758 are switch cam crank ramps 832 which have switch cam crank ramp ends 834 as best seen in fig9 . when the switch assembly is in the off position i . e . with both the knob and the switch cam 770 in their off positions under the biasing force of their respective springs 784 , 794 , each of the two switch cam crank ramps 832 are located against the low end ( the end of the crank ramp 828 away from the crank ramp end 830 ) of the corresponding crank ramp 828 as shown in fig8 c . formed around the edge of the switch cam 770 is a peripheral cam 836 as best seen in fig8 a and sb . the micro switch 774 comprises a pin 838 which projects from the body of the micro switch 774 . the pin 838 slides axially in or out of the body of the micro switch 774 and is biased to its outer most position by a spring ( not shown ) inside the micro switch 774 . the pin 838 engages the peripheral cam 836 . rotation of the switch cam 770 causes the pin 838 to slide along the peripheral cam 836 , which causes it to be pushed into the body of the micro switch 774 against the biasing force of the spring , or allows it to slide out of the body of the micro switch 774 under influence of the spring . when the switch cam 770 is in its off position , the pin is pushed into the body of the micro switch 774 as shown in fig8 a . when switch cam is rotated to its on position , the pin 838 extends to its outer most position as shown in fig8 b . the operation of the assembly for the on / off switch will now be described . initially , the knob 758 and the switch cam 770 are both located in their off positions . the operator of the power cutter desires to turn the unit on using the on / off switch . the operator uses their hand to rotate the knob 758 from its off position to its on position . when the knob 758 is rotated , it causes the switch cam 770 to rotate in unison as the rotary movement is transferred from the knob 758 to the switch cam 770 by the ramp ends 822 of each ramp 820 pushing the ramp recess ends 826 of each corresponding ramp recess 824 , against which it abuts , in the direction of arrow m in fig9 , to cause the switch cam 770 to rotate with the knob 758 . as the switch cam 770 rotates , the two switch cam crank ramps 832 , which are initially located against the low end of the crank ramps 828 ( shown in fig8 c ), ride up the crank ramps 828 ( shown in fig8 d ), which are stationary . as the switch cam crank ramps 832 ride up the crank ramps 828 due to the rotation of the switch cam . 770 , the switch cam 770 is forced to axially slide away from the knob 758 ( direction of arrow n in fig9 ), causing the spring 780 to be compressed and the head of the bolt 778 to move towards the base of the recess 776 . when the switch cam has rotated sufficiently that the crank ramp ends 830 and the switch cam crank ramp ends 834 become aligned , the switch cam 770 axially slides under the biasing force of the spring 780 towards the knob 758 , ensuring that the crank ramp end 830 and the switch cam crank ramp ends 834 abut against each other as shown in fig8 e . when the crank ramp ends 830 and the switch cam crank ramp ends 834 abut each other as shown in fig8 e , the switch cam 770 is in its on position and is prevented from returning to its off position , under the influence of the leaf spring 794 , as the crank ramp ends 830 and the switch cam crank ramp ends 834 prevent relative movement as they are jammed against each other . the knob 758 is prevented from returning to its off position under the influence of the spring 784 by the ramps 820 being held within the ramp recesses 824 by the action of the spring 780 which overrides the spring 784 . when the switch cam 770 rotates from the off position ( see fig8 a ) to the on position ( fig8 b ), the peripheral cam 836 rotates , which in turn allows the pin 838 to extend from the body of the micro switch 774 . this in turn makes a connection which allows the electric controller 716 to activate the power cutter and allow it to start when the pull cord is pulled . as such , the assembly of the on / off switch is now on with the knob 758 and the switch cam 770 both in their on positions , allowing the pin 838 to extend from the body of the micro switch 774 . there are two ways of switching the on / off switch assembly to its off position . the first method comprises the depression of the stop button 766 . depression of the stop button 766 causes the head of the bolt 778 to slide towards the base of the recess 776 of the knob 758 , compressing the spring 780 , which in turn causes the switch cam 770 to axially slide away from the knob 758 . as the switch cam 770 axially slides , the switch cam 770 moves away from the crank 768 , which in turn causes the crank ramps 828 and the switch cam crank ramps 832 to move away from each other , and thus causes the crank ramp ends 830 and the switch cam crank ramp ends 834 to disengage . as such , the switch cam 770 can now rotate back to its off position under the influence of the leaf spring 794 . as the knob is held in its on position by the ramps 820 being held within the ramp recesses 824 , the knob 858 will also return to its off position as the ramp recesses 824 rotate with the switch cam 770 . should the ramps 820 become disengaged from the ramp recesses 824 due to the sliding movement of the switch cam 770 relative to the knob 758 , the knob 758 will return to its off position under the influence of the spring 784 between the knob 758 and the crank 768 . the second method of switching the on / off switch assembly off comprises the rotation of the knob 758 . the operator rotates the knob 758 to its off position . as the ramps 820 are held within the ramp recesses 824 , rotation of the knob 758 urges rotation of the switch cam 770 . however , the switch cam 770 is prevented from rotating as the crank ramp ends 830 and the switch cam crank ramp ends 834 abut each other . therefore , the ramps 820 slide out of the ramp recesses 824 , the ramp ends 822 moving away from ramp recess ends 826 . as the ramps 820 slide out of the ramp recesses 824 , the switch cam 770 , which is prevented from rotating , axially slides away from the knob 858 by the caming action of the ramps 820 and ramp recesses 824 . when the switch cam 770 has slid sufficiently far enough away from the knob 758 , the crank ramp ends 830 and the switch cam crank ramp ends 834 , which are sliding away from each other , become disengaged . thus , the switch cam 770 can rotate under the influence of the leaf spring 794 to its off position . the knob 758 will move under the influence of the operator and / or the spring 784 . as such , both the knob 758 and the switch cam 770 return to their off position where they are held by the springs 784 , 794 . when both the knob and switch cam 770 move to their off positions , the ramps 820 engage with the ramp recesses 824 so that the switch can be used again to switch on the power cutter . the operator first activates the deco valve 752 and then pumps some fuel into the carburetor 126 using the primer 734 . the operator then switches the on / off switch to on by rotation of the knob 758 to its on position . the operator then pulls the pull cord to rotate the crank 114 of the engine . as the crank 114 rotates , the flywheel 702 also rotates causing the two generators 706 , 708 to produce sufficient electricity to operate the power cutter . the electronic controller 716 checks the temperature of the engine using sensor 710 . if the engine is cold , the electronic controller uses the electricity from the second generator 708 to power the solenoid 714 in the carburetor to set the “ automatic choke ”. the second generator 708 is not powerful enough to power both the oil pump 700 and solenoid 714 at the same time . therefore , when the electronic controller 716 is operating the solenoid 714 , it switches off the oil pump 700 . it has been found that the period during which lubricating oil is not required before the engine is damaged is greater than that required to heat up the engine . the electronic controller 716 supplies the power to the spark plug 730 to cause combustion in the engine , the power being provided by the first generator 706 , the timing being determine by the electronic controller 716 based on the signal provided by the sensor 712 in relation to the angular position of the flywheel 702 . once the engine commences firing , the deco valve automatically closes . the electronic controller 716 continues to monitor the engine temperature and when it has reached a predetermined temperature , the electronic controller 716 switches the solenoid 714 in the carburetor 126 off . the electronic controller 716 then commences supplying a square shape voltage signal to the oil pump to commence pumping oil . the electronic controller 716 monitors the speed of the engine using the signal provided by the sensor 712 monitoring the angular position of the flywheel 702 to calculate the rotational speed . if the rotational speed is below a predetermined value , the electronic controller 716 sends a signal ( fig1 a ) to the oil pump 700 to cause it to pump at a slow speed . if the rotational speed is above a predetermined value , the electronic controller 716 sends a signal ( fig1 b ) to the oil pump 700 to cause it to pump at a higher speed . the speed of the engine is dependent on the operator squeezing a trigger switch which connects to the carburetor via a cable . while the engine is running , the electronic controller 716 monitors the oil being added to the fuel / air mixture using the sensor 140 . if the sensor 140 detects that the rate of flow of the oil being pumped by the oil pump 700 has dropped below a predetermined amount ( e . g . there is a blockage in the oil pipe 142 or the tank 128 is empty ), the electronic controller places the engine into an idle mode using the ignition system so that the engine runs , but at a minimal rate . the operator cannot speed up the engine using the trigger until the sensor 140 detects the flow of oil . this protects the engine from damage due to a lack of lubrication . it has been found that the engine can run in idle mode for a considerable period of time before damage to the engine results . in order for the operator to stop the power cutter , the operator either depresses the stop button 766 or rotates the knob 758 to its off position . an embodiment of an on / off switch according to the present invention will now be described with reference to fig1 to 24 . this embodiment provides an alternative design of the on / off switch to the example described above and can be substituted for that design in a power cutter as described above . where the same features in this embodiment are the same as those disclosed in the previous example of the on / off switch described above , the same reference numbers have been used . except for the design of the on / off switch 754 , the design of the rest of the power cutter is that same as that described above with reference to fig1 to 14 . the switch 754 comprises a rotatable knob 758 . the knob 758 has a pointer 764 integrally formed on its periphery . the rotatable knob 758 has two angular positions between which it can rotate . in the first position , the switch is on . in this position , the pointer 764 points to an on label 762 ( see fig1 a ). in the second position , the switch is off . in this position , the pointer 764 points to an off label 760 ( see fig1 a ). when the rotatable knob is in the on position , the operator can start the engine and use the power cutter . when the rotatable knob 758 is in the off position , the engine is prevented from being started . if the rotatable knob 758 is moved from the on to the off position when the engine is running , the engine is automatically switched off . a stop button 766 is located in the center of the knob 758 . if the engine is running ( i . e . the knob is in the on position ), depression of the stop button 766 will result in the engine being switched off . a circular hole 900 is fowled through the rear wall 736 of the housing 800 . the rotatable knob 758 is mounted onto the outside of the rear wall 736 adjacent the circular hole 900 . a cam wheel 902 is rotatably mounted on the inside of the rear wall 736 adjacent the circular hole 900 . two screws ( not shown ) connect the rotatable knob 758 to the cam wheel 902 , the screws passing through the circular hole 900 . the peripheries of the rotatable knob 758 and the cam wheel 902 sandwich the periphery of the circular hole 900 to hold the rotatable knob 758 and the cam wheel 902 in place on the rear wall over the circular hole 900 . the rotatable knob 758 and the cam wheel 902 can rotate about the central axis of the circular hole , the rotatable knob 758 and the cam wheel 902 rotating in unison . formed on the part of the rear wall 736 sandwiched between the rotatable knob 758 and the cam wheel 902 is a curved rib 904 ( see fig1 ). formed on the rear of the rotatable knob 758 is a correspondingly shaped groove 906 ( see fig2 ). when the rotatable knob 758 is mounted on the rear wall 736 , the rib 904 locates inside the groove 906 . the length of the groove 906 is longer than the rib 904 allowing the rib 904 to slide within the groove . this restricts the amount of pivotal movement of the knob , and hence the cam wheel 902 , to sixty degrees , allowing the pointer 764 to pivot between its angular positions between its on and off positions . also formed on the rear of the rotatable knob 758 are two pockets 908 , 910 . located in each pocket 908 , 910 are pins 912 and springs 914 which bias the pins 912 out of the pockets 908 , 910 . the pins 912 are prevented from completely exiting the pockets 908 , 910 by the springs 914 . formed on the part of the rear wall 736 sandwiched between the rotatable knob 758 and the cam wheel 902 are two pairs of recesses 916 , each recess 916 in each pair being located on the opposite side of the circular hole 900 to the other recess in that pair . the location of each pair of recesses 916 corresponds to an angular position of the knob 758 . when the knob 758 is rotated to one of its angular positions , the pins 912 locate within the recesses 916 of the first corresponding pair , due for the biasing force of the springs 914 , to latch the knob 758 in that angular position and hold it there . when the knob 758 is rotated , the pins 912 ride out of the recesses 916 by being pushed into the pockets 910 . as the knob 758 rotates , the pins 912 remain in the pockets 910 . when the knob 758 moves to its second angular position , the other pair of recesses 916 align with the pins 912 , which then move out of the pockets 910 and enter the recesses 916 under the biasing force of the springs 914 . the knob is then latched in its second angular position . mounted with a bracket 926 on the inside of the rear wall 736 , adjacent the cam wheel 902 is a micro switch 918 ( see fig1 b ). the micro switch 918 comprises a pin 920 which projects from the body of the micro switch 918 . the pin 920 slides axially in or out of the body of the micro switch 920 and biased to its outer most position by a spring ( not shown ) inside the micro switch 920 . a lever 922 is pivotally attached to the micro switch 918 . the lever 922 lies across the end of the pin 920 . pivotal movement of the lever 922 towards the micro switch 918 , pushes the pin 920 into the micro switch 918 . formed around the edge of the cam wheel 902 is a peripheral cam 924 as best seen in fig1 b . the peripheral cam 924 engages with the lever 922 . rotation of the cam wheel 902 causes the lever 922 to slide along the peripheral cam 924 , which causes it to be pivoted towards the body of the micro switch 918 , which in turn pushes the pin 920 into the micro switch 918 , against the biasing force of the spring , or to be pivoted away from the body of the micro switch 918 , due to biasing force on the pin 920 , allowing the pin 920 to slide out of the body of the micro switch 918 wider influence of the spring . when the cam wheel is in its off position ( fig1 b ), the pin 920 is pushed into the body of the micro switch 918 . when the cam wheel 902 is rotated to its on position , the pin 920 extends to its outer most position as shown in fig1 b . the micro switch 918 can be switched on and off by the depression or release of the pin 920 by the rotation of the knob 758 between its two angular positions . the stop button 766 is mounted within a tubular recess 934 formed in the knob 758 and slides within the recess 934 towards or away from the base 936 of the recess 934 . a spring 928 is sandwiched between the stop button 766 and the base 936 of the recess and biases the stop button 766 out of the recess 934 . the range of outward movement of the stop button 766 is limited by four stops 930 mounted on legs 932 which engage with the underside of the knob 758 when the stop button has reached its maximum outward position . the range of inward movement of the stop button 766 is limited by the base 936 of the recess 934 . attached to the underside of the stop button 766 is a flexible tongue 938 . the tongue extends through an aperture in the base 936 of the recess 934 and then is curved by a guide 940 formed on the inner wall 942 of the wheel cam 902 through 90 degrees towards an aperture 923 formed in the peripheral cam 924 ( see fig2 a ). as can be seen , the aperture 923 is formed at a side edge 925 of the peripheral cam 924 , the peripheral cam 924 providing three sides to the aperture 921 however , it will appreciated that the aperture 923 can be formed in the middle of the peripheral cam 924 as shown in fig2 b . alternatively , the end 944 of the tongue can pass along side of the peripheral cam 924 as shown in fig2 c , thus avoiding the need to form an aperture in the peripheral cam 924 . when the stop button 766 is located in its most outward position , the end 944 of the tongue 938 is located just inside of the guide 940 adjacent the aperture 923 in the peripheral cam 924 . when the stop button 766 is located in its most inward position , the end 944 of the tongue 938 passes through and projects from the aperture 923 in the peripheral cam 924 . depression of the stop button 766 causes the end 944 of the tongue 938 to exit the aperture 923 in the peripheral earn 924 . when the knob 758 is in its on position as shown in fig1 a , the aperture 923 in the peripheral cam 924 faces the lever 922 . when the knob 758 is in its on position , the peripheral cam 924 allows the lever 922 to pivot away from the micro switch 918 , in turn allowing the pin 920 to slide out of the micro switch ( see fig1 b ). the stop button 766 is biased towards its outward position by the spring 928 . as such , the end 944 of the tongue 938 is located within the cam wheel 902 . however , when the stop button is pushed into the recess , the end 944 of the tongue is pushed through the aperture in the peripheral cam 924 , away from the cam wheel 902 , into engagement with the lever 922 . as the end 944 of the tongue continues to move away from the cam wheel 902 , it pivots the lever 922 toward the micro switch , pushing the pin 920 on the micro switch 918 into the micro switch . when the knob 758 is in its off position as shown in fig1 a , the aperture in the peripheral cam 924 is located away from the lever 922 and therefore depression of stop button has no effect on the lever as the end of the tongue can not engage it . initially , the on / off switch is in its off position , with the rotatable knob 758 in its first angular position and the pointer 764 pointing to the off label 760 . the peripheral cam 924 on the cam wheel 902 , is located in a position where it pushes the pivotal lever 922 towards the micro switch 918 which in turn pushed the pin 920 into the micro switch ( see fig1 a ). when the pin is in this position , it provides a signal to the electric controller 716 , when an electrical power supply is provided to the micro switch 918 and electric controller 716 by the operation of the pull cord of the power cutter that the engine can not be started . in order for the power cutter to be started , the rotatable knob 758 is rotated to its first angular position , the pointer 764 pointing to the on label 762 to put the on / off switch in its on position . as the rotatable knob 758 rotates , the cam wheel 902 , and hence the peripheral cam 924 also rotate in unison . the peripheral cam 924 rotates to a position where it allows the pivotal lever 922 to pivot away from the micro switch 918 which in turn allows the pin 920 to extend from the micro switch ( see fig1 b ). when the pin 920 is in this position , it provides a signal to the electric controller 716 , when an electrical power supply is provided to the micro switch 918 and electric controller 716 by the operation of the pull cord of the power cutter , that the engine can be started . whilst the engine is running , the pin 920 must remain extended from the micro switch 918 . in order to switch the power cutter off , the pin 920 of the micro switch must be pushed into the micro switch 918 . this is achieved in one of two ways . firstly , the rotatable knob 758 can be rotated to its off position . rotation of the knob 758 results in rotation of the cam wheel and peripheral can 924 , causing the peripheral cam 924 to push the lever 922 towards the micro switch 918 and hence the pin into the micro switch 918 . secondly , the stop button 766 can be pushed into the recess 934 , causing the end 944 of the tongue 938 to project out of the aperture 923 in peripheral cam 924 and into engagement with the lever 922 , causing it pivot towards the micro switch 918 hence pushing the pin into the micro switch 918 . when the pin 920 is pushed inside of the micro switch 918 , it provides a signal to the electric controller 716 that the engine should be stopped . if the engine is stopped by depression of the stop button 766 , release of the stop button will allow to return to its outer most position under the biasing force of the spring 928 . when this happens the end 944 of the tongue 938 is retracted through the aperture in the peripheral cam 924 inside of the cam wheel 902 allowing the lever 922 to pivot away from the micro switch and hence the pin 920 to slide out of the micro switch 91 . the operation of the power cutter is the same for this embodiment of on / off switch as for the previous example of on / off switch . it will be appreciated by a person skilled in the art that an additional safety feature could be added whereby , when the engine has been stopped by depression of the stop button 766 , the rotatable knob 758 has to be first rotated to its off position and then back to its on position before the engine can be started again . fig2 shows an alternative design of stop button 766 where the tongue 938 is integrally formed with the button 766 .	7
the present invention generally relates to a cutting system , method and apparatus . more specifically , the present invention relates to a cutting apparatus having bits to cut an object . to this end , in an embodiment of the present invention , a bit apparatus is provided . the apparatus may have a body having a first end and a second end . the body may have a top side , a bottom side , a first side and a second side . the first side and the second side may be substantially perpendicular to the top side and the bottom side . the body may have a flank at the first end . the flank may have a surface on the top side . the body may have a shank at the second end . the shank may extend from the top side to the bottom side and may extend from the first side to the second side . serrations may be formed in the flank extending from the first end to the shank . referring now to the drawings wherein like numerals refer to like parts , the figures generally illustrate a cutting apparatus 10 in embodiments of the present invention . the cutting apparatus 10 may be a clamshell lathe . the cutting apparatus 10 may be a portable pipe lathe . specifically , the mactech series lc clamshell lathes ( manufactured by the assignee of this application , mactech inc ., red wing , minn .) may be such an example that may be used for numerous operations . for example , the cutting apparatus 10 may be designed to simultaneously sever and / or bevel in - line pipe , as well as machine any angle bevel simultaneously with the severing operation . however , the invention is not limited to clamshell lathes . a standard lathe or other cutting apparatus may be used and is considered to be within the scope of the invention . the cutting apparatus 10 may have a frame 100 . the frame 100 may be designed to permit the cutting apparatus 10 to be opened and fitted around in - situ pipe 50 or other round workpieces as shown in fig2 . the frame 100 may be split for easy installation as described in more detail hereafter . a first tool bit 110 and / or a second tool bit 111 may automatically feed and / or advance into the pipe 50 with each rotation of the cutting apparatus 10 to assure precise machining as also shown in fig2 . the cutting apparatus 10 may perform numerous functions using various tool bits designed to perform a particular function . for example , the cutting apparatus 10 may sever in - line pipe , sever and bevel in - line pipe , sever and j - bevel in - line pipe , sever and double - bevel in - line pipe , counter bore an inner diameter ( i . d .) of a pipe and / or remove socket welds . in particular , the cutting apparatus 10 may use the first tool bit 110 and / or the second tool bit 111 to prepare weld profiles on an end of a pipe 50 to facilitate butt welding of two round pipes 50 or other round components as shown in fig1 . further , the cutting apparatus 10 may machine pipe formed of various materials , such as steel and various steel alloys , stainless steel , aluminum , copper - nickel , nickel - copper - iron and / or bronze . however , the present invention is not limited to cutting a particular type of pipe ; other materials and objects may also be cut using the cutting apparatus 10 . in an embodiment , the cutting apparatus 10 may have several component parts . for example , the cutting apparatus 10 may have a split ring assembly 150 that may be disassembled for installation on and / or around in - line piping . in an embodiment , the frame 100 may be solid aluminum . the frame 100 may have a housing 160 and bearing mountings ( not shown ) for a rotating cutting head assembly 170 , a mounting bracket 175 for a drive motor 180 , a gear shield 185 and / or locator pads 190 for clamping the cutting apparatus 10 to the pipe 50 . the housing 160 may provide a mounting surface for the locators 190 , bearings ( not shown ), the drive motor 180 and a trip pin 200 . the housing 160 may also provide rigidity to the cutting apparatus during the machining process . a gear 210 may rotate on the housing 160 . the gear shield 185 may be configured as a metal cover to shield the operator from the rotating gear 210 . tool blocks 215 and / or slides 220 may be mounted on the surface of the cutting head assembly 170 . in an embodiment shown in fig1 , the two tool blocks 215 and the slides 220 are located approximately 180 degrees from each other on the cutting head assembly 170 . the cutting head assembly 170 may be equipped with the split ring gear assembly 150 that may be manufactured from steel , such as , for example , heat treated 4140 alloy steel . the split ring gear assembly 150 may align with split lines 222 of the frame 100 enabling the cutting apparatus 10 to split in half along the split lines 222 . swing bolts 225 may hold each part of the cutting apparatus 10 together . loosening the swing bolts 225 may enable the operator to split the cutting apparatus 10 along the split lines 222 to open the cutting apparatus 10 . the cutting apparatus 10 may encircle the pipe 50 to install the cutting apparatus 10 around closed loop piping . the cutting head assembly 170 may run on precision bearings ( not shown ) that provide for both axial and radial force reactions that may be experienced in pipe machining . the bearings may be designed so that adjustments are not required . the gear 210 of the cutting head assembly 170 may be an integral spur gear . a lock pin 250 may be located on the face of the cutting assembly 150 to impinge upon the gear 210 . the lock pin 250 may have a handle 255 . in an embodiment , one lock pin 250 may be provided on each half of the cutting assembly 150 . each lock pin 250 may prevent the gear 210 from rotating while not in use . further , the cutting apparatus 10 may operate using different drives . for example , a pneumatic / air drive assembly 260 may be used as shown in fig1 . the air drive assembly 260 may include an air caddy ( filter and lubricator , not shown ) and / or a right angle or an in - line air drive 265 . also , the cutting apparatus 10 may operate using a hydraulic drive assembly 270 as shown in fig2 . in addition , the cutting apparatus 10 may operate using an electrical drive assembly ( not shown ). in the embodiment shown in fig1 , the cutting apparatus 10 may have the air drive motor assembly 260 mounted to the frame 100 . the air drive assembly 260 may include the air drive motor 180 . the pneumatic / air motor 180 may be a type of drive motor that may use compressed air to drive a gearbox 195 . the gearbox 195 may drive the cutting apparatus 10 for cutting and / or machining operations . the air drive motor 180 may be the in - line air drive 265 shown in fig1 or a right angle air drive ( not shown ). in an alternative embodiment shown in fig2 , the hydraulic drive assembly 270 may include a hydraulic drive motor 275 . the hydraulic drive motor 275 may use hydraulic fluid ( powered by a power supply , not shown ) flowing through hydraulic lines 280 to the drive motor 275 to drive a gearbox 285 . the gearbox 285 may drive the cutting apparatus 10 for cutting and / or machining operations . in the embodiment shown in fig2 , the cutting apparatus 10 may have the hydraulic drive assembly 270 mounted to the frame 100 . either the air drive motor assembly 260 or the hydraulic drive assembly 270 may be configured with a pinion gear on a shaft with sealed ball bearings ( not shown ). the air drive motor 180 may have the mounting bracket 175 designed to accept the reaction torque generated by the air drive motor 180 . the cutting apparatus 10 may use certain tooling for performing severing and / or beveling operations on the pipe 50 . for example , ½ ″, ¾ ″ and / or 1 ″ high speed tool steel inserts of various sizes may be used , depending upon the machining operation desired . such tool steel inserts may be the first tool bit 110 and / or the second tool bit 111 . any degree of bevel or counter bore may be provided . moreover , standard preparation configurations may include right hand bits for beveling on the side of the cut on which the cutting apparatus 10 may be mounted and left hand bits for beveling on the opposite side of the cut . as shown in fig1 - 4 , the cutting apparatus 10 may have tool blocks 215 designed to hold the first tool bit 110 and / or the second tool bit 111 . the tool block 215 and the slide 220 may position the first tool bit 110 and / or the second tool bit 111 at the desired location on the diameter of pipe during a cutting operation . in particular , fig4 illustrates the tool block 215 and the slide 220 separate and apart from the cutting apparatus 10 . a combination of the tool block 215 and the slide 220 may hold the first tool bit 110 and / or the second tool bit 111 during the machining process and may also feed the first tool bit 110 and / or the second tool bit 111 into the pipe 50 . the tool block 215 may move along the slide 220 as the first tool bit 110 and / or the second tool bit 111 may be fed into the pipe 50 by a feed screw 310 . for example , the feed screw 310 may be a threaded rod integrated with the tool block 215 and the slide 220 . the feed screw 310 may also be connected to an automatic radial feed star wheel mechanism 330 shown in fig1 . the combination of the feed screw 310 and the star wheel mechanism 330 may enable the tool block 215 to advance along the slide 220 . the first tool bit 110 and / or the second tool bit 111 may thereby feed and / or advance into the pipe 50 during a machining and / or cutting operation . the tool block 215 may be mounted to the cutting head assembly 150 and may have the automatic radial feed star wheel mechanism 330 and adjustable tapered gibs 335 . the star wheel mechanism 330 may be a seven point star or a nine point star . in an embodiment , a feed rate may be controlled by the star wheel mechanism 330 . as the cutting bit 110 advances into the pipe 50 , the star wheel mechanism 330 may be incremented upon each revolution of the cutting apparatus 10 . therefore , the user may compensate for a size of the pipe 50 , an amount and / or a type of material located in the wall of the pipe 50 , and / or other conditions . accordingly , the feed rate may be maintained at the predetermined feed rate and may stay constant during cutting and / or machining of the pipe 50 . further , the tool block 215 may be designed to maintain the radial clearance equal to the frame diameter and have adjustable gibs 335 to adjust for wear . the cutting apparatus 10 may use either light duty ( ld ) or ultra strength ( us ) blocks . the tool blocks 215 and / or the slides 220 may have bolts 340 to securely hold the first tool bit 110 and / or the second tool bit 111 . during a machining and / or cutting operation , the first tool bit 110 and / or the second tool bit 111 may experience high forces . the bolts 340 may securely hold the first tool bit 110 and / or the second tool bit 111 to withstand such forces . the trip pin 200 may be located on a fixed bracket 345 on the housing 160 of the cutting apparatus 10 . the trip pin 200 may “ trip ” the star wheel 330 on the feed screw 310 , enabling the feed screw 310 to rotate , which in turn may advance the tool block 215 down the tool slide 220 into the pipe 50 . further , the cutting apparatus 10 may have the adjustable locator pads 190 . the pads 190 may be actuated by turning set screws 350 located in the housing 160 . the cutting apparatus 10 may have a set of four stackable locator pads 190 , covering the standard range of pipe for each cutting apparatus 10 . the stackable locator pads 190 may enable the operator to center the cutting apparatus 10 on the pipe 50 . the four adjustable locator pads 190 may be actuated by jackscrews 355 from the outside of the frame 100 . additional sizes of extensions may be available for non - standard mounting needs . the first tool bit 110 and / or the second tool bit 111 may be provided for severing , severing and double beveling , severing and beveling on the side of the cut on which the cutting apparatus 10 may be mounted ( right hand ), severing and beveling on the opposite side of the cut ( left hand ), counter boring , socket weld removal , etc . referring now to an embodiment of the first tool bit 110 shown in fig5 - 9 , the first tool bit 110 may be configured as a sever bit and / or a bevel bit . in a machining operation , the first tool bit 110 may act as a parting bit to remove material from the pipe 50 . thus , the first tool bit 110 may sever the pipe 50 . in addition , the first tool bit 110 may form a compound bevel 360 in the pipe 50 as shown in fig1 . referring specifically to fig1 , the bevel 360 may have a first angle 365 and / or a second angle 370 . in an embodiment , the first angle 365 may be approximately 37 degrees , and the second angle 370 may be approximately 10 degrees . however , the invention is not limited to any particular size of angles . the first angle 365 and the second angle 370 may be selected for a particular application and / or bevel desired . such a configuration profile may be conducive for weld preparation . for example , each of two pipes 50 may have their respective ends 375 machined with the profile shown in fig1 . the two pipe ends 375 may be butted together for welding the pipes 50 together in a butt weld . when butted together , for example , the bevel profile on the pipe ends 375 may form a channel 380 between the pipe ends 375 to allow for field welding of the pipes 50 . the pipe 50 may also have an inner wall 385 and an outer wall 390 . the bevel 360 may be formed at the end 375 of the pipe 50 . the outer wall of the pipe 50 may have a surface 395 . the surface 395 may be impinged upon by the first tool bit 110 and / or the second tool bit 111 during a cutting operation and / or a machining operation . to machine such a profile on the pipe end 375 , for example , the first tool bit 110 may have a particular configuration . referring again to fig5 - 9 , the first tool bit 110 may have a body 400 . the body 400 may be made from tool steel or other suitable material known to one having ordinary skill in the art . the body 400 may be generally rectangular in shape . the body 400 may have a first end 405 and a second end 410 that may be located opposite to the first end 405 . further , the body 400 of the first tool bit 110 may have a top side 415 and a bottom side 420 that may be located opposite to the top side 415 . the body 400 may also have a flank 425 at the first end 405 and a shank 430 at the second end 410 . the flank 425 may have a face 435 on the top side 415 and a nose 440 at the first end 405 . moreover , the first tool bit 110 may have serrations 444 formed in the flank 425 extending from the nose 440 to the shank 430 . the serrations 444 may increase in size from the first end 405 toward the second end 410 . during a cutting and / or machining operation , the serrations 444 may impinge upon the pipe 50 to remove material from the pipe 50 . each of the serrations 444 may engage the pipe 50 to remove material from the pipe 50 . in particular , the serrations 444 may engage the surface 395 of the pipe 50 to remove material from the pipe 50 . thus , each of the serrations 444 may act like a single tool bit . during the machining process , the first tool bit 110 may experience a tool pressure . also , each of the serrations 444 may experience a tool pressure . however , the individual tool pressures experienced by each of the serrations 444 may be less individually than the tool pressure experienced by a tool bit without serrations . in certain machining processes and / or when machining pipes of certain materials , the tool pressures may be substantial and potentially damaging to the cutting apparatus 10 and / or the first tool bit 110 . thus , the reduced individual tool pressures on each of the serrations 444 may reduce the overall tool pressures experienced by the first tool bit 110 . also , the aggregated machining by each of the serrations 444 may effectively accumulate so that the first tool bit 110 may remove more material from the pipe 50 with less tool pressure in accordance with the advantages of the invention . also , a groove 445 may be formed between each of the serrations 444 . the groove 445 may allow for material may be cut from the pipe 50 to be removed from the cutting area . such cuttings 450 are illustrated in fig2 and 3 . the cuttings 450 may spiral from the cutting area to provide a cleaner cutting operation . the serrations 444 may also have different shapes , configurations , frequencies and / or sizes . in the illustrated embodiment shown in fig7 , the flank 425 may have a first portion 451 and / or a second portion 452 . the first portion 451 of the flank 425 may subtend a first angle 455 from the nose 440 at the first end 405 of the first tool bit 110 . the first angle 455 of the first tool bit 110 may be substantially the same as the first angle 365 of the bevel 360 shown in fig1 . for example , the first angle 455 of the first tool bit 110 and the first angle 365 of the bevel 360 may be approximately 37 degrees . similarly , the second portion 452 of the flank 425 may subtend a second angle 460 . the second angle 460 of the first tool bit 110 may be substantially the same as the second angle 370 of the bevel 360 shown in fig1 . for example , the second angle 455 of the first tool bit 110 and the second angle 370 of the bevel 360 may be approximately ten degrees . in the embodiment shown , the serrations 444 formed in the first portion 451 of the flank 425 may extend substantially within the first angle 455 . further , the serrations 444 formed in the second portion 452 of the flank 425 may extend substantially within the second angle 460 . referring now to fig8 , the first end 405 of the first tool bit 110 is illustrated . the body 400 of the first tool bit 110 may have a first side 470 and a second side 475 that may be opposite to the first side 470 . the first side 470 and the second side 475 may be substantially parallel to each other . the first side 470 may be the cutting side of the first tool bit 110 that may primarily contact the pipe 50 during a cutting and / or machining operation . in particular , a cutting point 480 on the first side 470 of the body 400 of the first tool bit 110 may primarily contact the pipe 50 during a cutting operation and / or a machining operation . in an embodiment , metal processing , heat treatments , coatings and / or metal hardening processes known to one having ordinary skill in the art may be used on the first tool bit 110 and / or the second tool bit 111 to harden the cutting point 480 and / or each of the serrations 444 . the face 435 on the top 415 of the first tool bit 110 subtends an angle 485 having a vertex at the cutting point 480 . the angle 485 on the face 435 may act as a relief for the cuttings 450 to peel away from the cutting point 480 of the first tool bit 110 during the cutting operation and / or the machining operation . also , the serrations 444 may also subtend an angle 490 from the first side 470 of the body 400 to the second side 475 of the body 400 of the first tool bit 110 . the angle 490 may act as a relief for the cuttings 450 to peel away from the serrations 444 of the first tool bit 110 during a cutting and / or machining operation . referring now to an embodiment of the second tool bit 111 shown in fig1 - 13 , the second tool bit 111 may be configured as a sever bit and / or a bevel bit . in a machining operation , the second tool bit 111 may act as a parting bit to remove material from the pipe 50 . thus , the second tool bit 111 may sever the pipe 50 . in an embodiment , the second tool bit 500 may follow the first tool bit 400 during a cutting and / or machining operation . thus , the second tool bit 111 may smooth the edges previously created by the serrations 444 of the first tool bit 110 during a cutting and / or machining operation during a rotation of the cutting apparatus 10 around the pipe 50 . in addition , the second tool bit 111 may form the compound bevel 360 in the pipe 50 as shown in fig1 . the bevel 360 may have the first angle 365 and / or the second angle 370 . in an embodiment , the first angle 365 may be approximately 37 degrees , and the second angle 370 may be approximately ten degrees . however , the invention is not limited to any particular size of angles . the first angle 365 and the second angle 370 may be selected for a particular application and / or bevel desired . such a configuration profile may be conducive for weld preparation . to machine such a profile on the pipe end 375 , for example , the second tool bit 111 may have a particular configuration . the second tool bit 111 may have a body 500 . the body 500 may be made from tool steel or other suitable material known to one having ordinary skill in the art . the body 500 may be generally rectangular in shape . the body 500 may have a first end 505 and a second end 510 that may be located opposite to the first end 505 . further , the body 500 of the second tool bit 111 may have a top side 515 and a bottom side 520 that may be located opposite to the top side 515 . the body 500 may also have a flank 525 at the first end 505 and a shank 530 at the second end 510 . the flank 525 may have a face 535 on the top side 515 and a nose 540 at the first end 505 . during a cutting and / or machining operation , the second tool bit 111 may impinge upon the pipe 50 to remove material from the pipe 50 . the second tool bit 111 may also have different shapes , configurations , and / or sizes . in the illustrated embodiment , the flank 525 may have a first portion 551 and / or a second portion 552 . the first portion 551 of the flank 525 may subtend a first angle 555 from the nose 540 at the first end 505 of the second tool bit 111 . the first angle 555 of the second tool bit 111 may be substantially the same as the first angle 365 of the bevel 360 shown in fig1 . for example , the first angle 555 of the second tool bit 111 and the first angle 365 of the bevel 360 may be approximately 37 degrees . similarly , the second portion 552 of the flank 525 may subtend a second angle 560 . the second angle 560 of the second tool bit 111 may be substantially the same as the second angle 370 of the bevel 360 shown in fig1 . for example , the second angle 555 of the second tool bit 111 and the second angle 370 of the bevel 360 may be approximately ten degrees . in the embodiment shown , a groove 545 may be formed in the flank 525 . the groove 545 may be formed in the first portion 551 and / or the second portion 552 of the flank 525 . further , the groove 545 may allow for material cut from the pipe 50 to be removed from the cutting area . such cuttings 450 are illustrated in fig2 and 3 . the cuttings 450 may spiral from the cutting area to provide a cleaner cutting operation . referring now to fig1 , the first end 505 of the second tool bit 111 is illustrated . the body 500 of the second tool bit 111 may have a first side 570 and a second side 575 that may be opposite to the first side 570 . the first side 570 and the second side 575 may be substantially parallel to each other . the first side 570 may be the cutting side of the second tool bit 111 that may primarily contact the pipe 50 during a cutting operation and / or a machining operation . in particular , a cutting point 580 on the first side 570 of the body 500 of the second tool bit 111 may primarily contact the pipe 50 during a cutting operation and / or a machining operation . the face 535 on the top 515 of the second tool bit 111 subtends an angle 585 having a vertex at the cutting point 580 . the angle 585 on the face 535 may act as a relief for the cuttings 450 to peel away from the cutting point 580 of the second tool bit 111 during a cutting operation and / or a machining operation . also , the flank 525 may also subtend an angle 590 from the first side 570 of the body 500 to the second side 575 of the body 500 of the second tool bit 111 . the angle 590 may act as a relief for the cuttings 450 to peel away from the second tool bit 111 during a cutting and / or machining operation . referring now to fig1 , the top 515 of the second tool bit 111 is illustrated . the body 500 of the second tool bit 111 may have a relief groove 595 on the face 535 of the top 515 of the second tool bit 111 . the relief groove 595 may act as a relief for the cuttings 450 to peel away from the cutting point 580 and / or the second tool bit 111 during a cutting operation and / or a machining operation . of course , different shapes and / or sizes of the tool bit 110 and / or the second tool bit 111 are possible , and the present invention is not limited to the specific shapes and / or sizes disclosed . one skilled in the art may determine that another size may be used without departing from the scope of the present invention . cutting capacity of the cutting apparatus 10 may be determined by the maximum depth of cut of the first tool bit 110 and / or the second tool bit 111 . for example , standard size tooling for an operation having a sever machining operation and / or a bevel machining operation may enable an operator to cut a pipe having a 2 . 15 ″ wall . for heavier wall piping , larger tooling may be required to machine the desired wall size . in an embodiment , a method for cutting and / or machining the pipe 50 and / or other round object using the cutting apparatus 10 of the invention may be provided . the method may encircle the pipe 50 with the cutting apparatus 10 as shown in fig2 and 3 . as previously described , the cutting apparatus 10 may separate to encircle the pipe 50 . the cutting apparatus 10 may then be closed around the pipe 50 , secured together and adjusted for proper operation . further , the pipe 50 may have the inner wall 385 and the outer wall 390 . further , the outer wall of the pipe 50 may have the surface 395 . also , the method may attach the first tool bit 110 to the cutting apparatus 10 . the first tool bit may have the serrations 444 . the method may rotate the cutting apparatus 10 around the pipe 50 . the cutting apparatus 10 may rotate in a clockwise direction as indicated by arrow r shown in fig1 . finally , the method may engage the serrations 444 of the first tool bit 110 with the surface 395 of the pipe 50 . the method may advance the first tool bit 110 in a direction from the outer wall 390 to the inner wall 385 of the pipe 50 . the method may attach the second tool bit 111 to the cutting apparatus 10 . the second tool bit 111 may follow the first tool bit 110 during a cutting operation and / or a machining operation . the second tool bit 111 may form a smooth bevel on the pipe 50 . thus , the cutting and / or machining process in an embodiment may have the steps of : ( 1 ) encircling the pipe 50 with the cutting apparatus 10 ; ( 2 ) attaching the first tool bit 110 to the cutting apparatus 10 ; ( 3 ) rotating the cutting apparatus 10 around the pipe 50 ; and ( 4 ) engaging the plurality of serrations 444 of the first tool bit 110 with the surface 395 of the pipe 50 . moreover , operation of the cutting apparatus 10 may be controlled remotely in an embodiment . operation of the cutting apparatus 10 may be controlled remotely , such as , for example , by a rov interface as known to one having ordinary skill in the art . for example , the cutting apparatus 10 may be located on a job site to cut and / or machine the pipe 50 , and the cutting apparatus 10 may be controlled from a remote location relative to the job site or at a different location on the job site . other variations and / or geometric configurations which are known to one having ordinary skill in the art are possible and are deemed to be within the scope of this disclosure . the materials used for the components of the cutting apparatus 10 may be selected from any suitable material to perform the desired function for operation of the cutting apparatus 10 . the materials must also be capable of withstanding environmental conditions that may be encountered . considerations of performance and / or reliability are also important in the selection of the material . other materials which are known to one having ordinary skill in the art may be selected and are deemed to be within the scope of this disclosure . further , known cutting techniques that are suitable for the type of material selected are considered to be within the scope of this disclosure . as disclosed above , the cutting apparatus 10 may also be manufactured in numerous embodiments . the various embodiments of the cutting apparatus 10 may have additional components which may provide enhanced functionality of the cutting apparatus 10 . moreover , the present invention is not limited to the specific arrangement of the components of the cutting apparatus 10 illustrated in the figures . it should be understood that various changes and modifications to the presently preferred embodiments described herein will be apparent to those having ordinary skill in the art . such changes and modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention and without diminishing its attendant advantages . it is , therefore , intended that such changes and modifications be covered by the appended claims .	8
fig1 schematically illustrates an inverter for controlling an electrical load , in particular an electrical machine , which inverter is generally denoted by 10 . the inverter 10 is connected to a dc voltage source 12 and is used to energize the electrical load 14 , which in this case is designed as an electrical machine 14 , in a three - phase fashion . the inverter has three half - bridges which are connected in parallel with the dc voltage source 12 and have in each case two controllable switches s . between the switches s , a half - bridge tap 16 is formed in each case , which half - bridge taps are each connected to a phase conductor of the phases u , v , w of the electrical machine 14 . in each case , a freewheeling diode d which enables a flow of current in the opposite direction is connected in parallel with the switches s . in fig1 , the switches s are denoted by sha , sla , shb , slb , shc , slc corresponding to the phase u , v , w which they provide and corresponding to the assignment to a high potential of the dc voltage source 12 or to a low potential of the dc voltage source 12 . correspondingly , the freewheeling diodes are denoted by dha , dla , dhb , dlb , dhc , dlc . by alternating opening and closing of the switches s , in each case a control voltage is applied between the phase conductors u , v , w , with the result that in each case a phase current iu , iv , iw which drives the electrical machine 14 is correspondingly set . the inverter 10 is preferably designed using semiconductor switches . the switches of the inverter are alternately opened and closed by means of a schematically illustrated control unit 18 in order to provide the phase voltages with a particular profile and to provide a voltage space vector and to correspondingly energize the electrical machine 14 with the phase currents iu , iv , iw . in this case , the voltage phasor is provided by the inverter 10 , whereupon the current space vector is correspondingly set as a function of the controlled load . fig2 illustrates a complex phasor diagram to explain the space vector modulation for controlling the three - phase current load 14 or the electrical machine 14 , which complex phasor diagram is generally denoted by 20 . the phasor diagram 20 illustrates a voltage phasor v * with a control angle alpha of the electrical machine 14 . the phasor diagram 20 also illustrates six basic voltage phasors v 1 , v 2 , v 3 , v 4 , v 5 , v 6 which arise when one or two of the switches s of the inverter 10 are closed and the electrical machine is correspondingly controlled . in order to set the voltage phasor v * with maximum length , which has the control angle alpha between the basic voltage phasors v 1 and v 2 in this example , said voltage phasor v * is realized by alternate control of the inverter 10 corresponding to the basic voltage phasor v 1 and the basic voltage phasor v 2 . the two basic voltage phasors v 1 , v 2 are alternately set with a predefined switching frequency , with the result that the voltage phasor v * with a phase angle of 30 ° arises in the case of even switch - on times of the basic voltage phasors v 1 , v 2 . if a voltage phasor v * with a larger control angle alpha must be set , the switch - on time of the basic voltage phasor v 2 is correspondingly increased and the switch - on time of the basic voltage phasor v 1 is reduced . thus , by clocked control of the switches s of the inverter 10 , the voltage space vector v * can be realized with any control angle alpha . if the voltage phasor v , as in the case illustrated in fig2 , is to be set with a lower magnitude ( smaller length ) than the basic voltage space vectors v 1 , v 2 , a zero voltage phasor v 0 , v 7 is correspondingly set , in the case of which the switches sha , shb , shc on the upper side or sla , slb , slc on the lower side of the inverter 10 are opened . the respective other ones of the switches s are correspondingly closed . correspondingly , the voltage phasor v can be realized by a combination of the basic voltage space vectors v 1 and v 2 and one of the zero voltage phasors v 0 , v 7 . a current space vector i * is set as a function of the voltage space vector v . the current space vector i has an amplitude and a phase angle which are set as a function of the controlled electrical load 14 . the phase angle of the current space vector i * can be in phase with the phase angle α of the voltage space vector v * or can have a phase shift . in order to energize the electrical load 14 or the electrical machine 14 , the voltage space vector v * is provided by the different basic voltage space vectors v 1 - v 6 and the zero voltage space vectors v 0 , v 7 being set consecutively in quick succession . as a result , the different switches s and the different freewheeling diodes d of the inverter 10 are evenly loaded , in particular evenly loaded in phase , in the case of a voltage space vector v * which rotates in a correspondingly rapid manner . if the rotation frequency of the voltage space vector v * is very low or zero , for example in the case of low speeds of the electrical machine 14 , the corresponding switches s and the freewheeling diodes d of the inverter 10 of a phase u , v , w are loaded over a long period of time , with the result that the corresponding switches s and the freewheeling diodes d can be overloaded and the switches s and the freewheeling diodes d of the inverter 10 are generally loaded unevenly , in particular out of phase . in order to prevent overloading of individual ones of the switches s and the freewheeling diodes d , measures must be taken to distribute the loading to different ones of the switches s and the freewheeling diodes d . fig3 illustrates profiles of the phase voltages of the three phases u , v , w within a pulse - width - modulation period t , in order to set the basic voltage space vectors v 0 , v 1 , v 2 , v 7 consecutively . within the pulse - width - modulation period t , a switch - on time t 0 , t 1 , t 2 , t 7 of the individual basic voltage space vectors v 0 , v 1 , v 2 , v 7 can be varied in order to be able to precisely set the voltage space vector v . fig4 illustrates in principle the determination of a nominal loading value m , which is generally denoted by 30 . by means of the nominal loading value m , the basic goal is to load the switches sha , shb , shc , which are assigned to a high voltage potential of the voltage source 12 , and the switches sla , slb , slc , which are assigned to a low voltage potential of the voltage source 12 , evenly or as evenly as possible . in this case , the switches sha , shb , shc , which are assigned to the high voltage potential of the voltage source 12 , are denoted as upper switches sh below and the switches sla , slb , slc , which are assigned to the low voltage potential of the voltage source 12 , are denoted as lower switches sl below . the magnitude v of the voltage space vector v , the phase angle alpha_v of the voltage space vector v , the magnitude i of the current space vector i and the phase angle alpha_i of the current space vector i * are used as input variables . firstly , one of the upper switches sh or one of the upper freewheeling diodes dh is selected , which switch or freewheeling diode has the maximum losses of the upper side for the voltage space vector v * to be set . for this switch sh or this freewheeling diode dh , the maximum possible losses p_hmax are theoretically determined for the voltage space vector v * to be set for the case in which only v 7 is used as zero voltage phasor . furthermore , the minimum possible losses p_hmin of said switch sh or said freewheeling diode dh are theoretically determined for the voltage space vector v * to be set for the case in which only v 0 is used as zero voltage phasor , as is shown at 32 . at 34 , the lower switch sl or the lower freewheeling diode dl is correspondingly selected , which has the maximum losses of the lower switch sl or the lower freewheeling diodes dl for the voltage space vector v * to be set . for this switch sl or this freewheeling diode dl , the maximum possible losses p_lmax and the minimum possible losses p_lmin are determined for the voltage space vector v * to be set for the case in which only v 0 or v 7 is used as zero voltage phasor . from said loss values , a new loading value m is calculated at 36 and , what is more , using the formula : the loading value m determined in this way distributes the thermal loading of the inverter 10 on the upper and lower side such that the losses on the upper side are identical to the losses on the lower side . at 38 , the switch - on times t 0 - t 7 are calculated in order to set the selected loading value m and to correspondingly load the switches s and the freewheeling diodes d more evenly . since the freewheeling diodes d and the switches s have different loading limits , the losses p d , p s of the freewheeling diodes d and the switches s must be adapted to one another or factorized in order to be able to be compared with one another . therefore , a comparison power loss p dv is determined for the freewheeling diodes d , and , what is more , using the formula : wherein p dv is the comparison power loss of the freewheeling diodes p d is the freewheeling diode losses and the factor c is a constant . in a particular embodiment , the factor c can also be a function of the power loss p d of the freewheeling diodes d . furthermore , it also becomes clear that the losses p d , p s of the switches s and the freewheeling diodes d are exclusively a function of the magnitude v of the voltage space vector v , the phase angle alpha_v , the magnitude i of the current space vector i and the phase angle alpha_i . in an alternative embodiment of the method 30 , instead of the power losses p , the electric current i in the respective component s , d and / or the square of the electric current i 2 in the respective component s , d is used in order to determine the nominal loading value m . fig5 illustrates a method in order to determine the loading value m on the basis of an estimated or measured temperature t d , t s of the switches s and / or of the freewheeling diodes d and to calculate a new nominal loading value m . in fig5 , the method is generally denoted by 40 . in the case of the method 40 , the nominal loading value m is determined during operation as a function of the temperatures of the switches s or the freewheeling diodes d . in general , the temperatures t d , t s of the switches s and the freewheeling diodes d are used as input variables . at 42 , the most heavily loaded upper switch sh , the most heavily loaded upper freewheeling diode dh , the most heavily loaded lower switch sl and the most heavily loaded lower freewheeling diode dl are calculated by means of the temperatures t d , t s . in other words , the respective component which has the highest temperature is calculated . from said temperatures , at 44 and 46 , the maximum temperature t_h of the upper switches and / or the upper freewheeling diodes is calculated or the maximum temperature t_l of the lower side is calculated from the losses of the lower side . in this case , the temperature t d of the freewheeling diodes d is factorized in order to be able to compare the temperatures of the switches and the freewheeling diodes d , as is shown at 48 . in order to be able to compare the temperatures of the switches s and the freewheeling diodes d , a comparison temperature of the freewheeling diodes is determined , using the formula : wherein t dv is the comparison temperature , t d is the temperature of the freewheeling diodes d and the factor c is a constant . in a particular embodiment , the factor c can also be a function of the power loss p d of the freewheeling diodes d . at a summing point 50 , the difference dt between the maximum temperature t_h of the upper side and the maximum temperature t_l of the lower side is calculated . at 52 , an amended nominal loading value m is determined as a function of the temperature difference dt in order to correspondingly compensate the temperature difference dt . if the temperature difference dt & gt ; 0 , the nominal loading value m , ism is reduced and if the temperature difference dt & lt ; 0 , the nominal loading value m , ism is increased . as a function of the nominal loading value m , ism determined in this way , new switch - on times t 0 - t 7 are determined at 54 for the following pulse - width - modulation period t . as a function of the new pulse - width - modulation period t , amended temperatures t d , t s of the switches s and the freewheeling diodes d are calculated , as is shown at 56 , and are provided as new input variables for the method 40 , as is indicated by the feedback 58 . as a result of this , on the basis of the measured or estimated temperature of the switches s and / or the freewheeling diodes d , a new nominal loading value m can be determined for each pulse - width - modulation period t in order to more evenly load the corresponding switches s and freewheeling diodes d according to the new nominal loading value m , ism . owing to the comparison of the temperature of the components of the upper side and of the lower side , and owing to the adaptation of the loading value m , the components of the upper side can be more evenly loaded relative to the components of the lower side . in an alternative embodiment of the method 40 , instead of the temperatures of the components s , d , power losses are used to determine the nominal loading value m , ism , which power losses are calculated or determined by integration of the power loss of the respective component s , d or by integration of the electric current i in the respective component s , d and / or by integration of the square of the electric current i 2 in the respective component s , d over a predefined period of time . in another embodiment of the method 40 , instead of the temperatures of the components s , d , the electrical losses p or the electric current i in the respective component s , d and / or the square of the electric current i 2 in the respective component s , d are used to determine the nominal loading value m , ism , which electrical losses or electric currents are in each case filtered by means of a low - pass filter . fig6 schematically illustrates a complex phasor diagram of the current space vector i 1 . the current space vector i 1 has a magnitude i 1 and a phase angle alpha 1 . if the inverter 10 , which sets the current space vector i 1 , is used to control the electrical machine 14 , the electrical machine 14 generates a torque m . in the complex phasor diagram in fig6 , the individual phases u , v , w are illustrated at an angle of 120 degrees with respect to one another . a projection of the current space vector i 1 onto the corresponding phases u , v , w corresponds in this case to the current which is set in the associated switch s . by means of said projection , which is indicated by the dashed lines , the loading of the individual switches s or freewheeling diodes d can thus be directly read off . in the illustrated example from fig6 , the switch sha is thus loaded most heavily by the phase u , the switch shc being loaded less by the phase w , while the switch sha and the switch shb are loaded very lightly by the phase v . fig6 illustrates the provided torque m of the connected electrical machine 14 as a curve , which at the same time represents a curve of constant torque m . the torque m output by the electrical machine 14 is a function of an angle theta by which the current phasor i * runs ahead of the electrical rotor angle of the electrical machine 14 and the amplitude i of the current space vector i 1 : m = f ( theta , i ). it can be seen from this that the torque m which is output by the electrical machine 14 is constant , provided the current space vector i 1 follows the line of constant torque m illustrated in fig6 . the current space vector i 1 * is set such that it runs ahead of an electrical rotor angle of the electrical machine 14 in order to provide the torque m by means of the electrical machine 14 . the current space vector i 1 * runs ahead of the electrical rotor position of the electrical machine 14 by an angle theta . this becomes clear through the formula : wherein alpha_i is the phase angle of the current space vector i 1 , alpha_r is the electrical angle of the rotor of the electrical machine 14 and theta is the difference angle . the difference angle theta is usually between 90 degrees and 180 degrees during operation of the motor . the current space vector i 1 is set such that the inverter 10 and the electrical machine 14 have an optimum efficiency for the electrical rotor angle alpha_r . a variation of the phase angle alpha_i of the current space vector is schematically illustrated in a complex phasor diagram in fig7 . in the complex phasor diagram illustrated in fig7 , the nominal current space vector i 1 * with the phase angle alpha 1 and the magnitude i 1 is illustrated and the current space vector i 2 * with the phase angle alpha 2 and the magnitude i 2 . the nominal current space vector i 1 * is in this case the current space vector at which the inverter 10 and the electrical machine 14 have an optimum efficiency . both current space vectors i 1 , i 2 output the same torque m since they run on the line of even torque m . the nominal current space vector i 1 * is identical to the current phasor i 1 * from fig6 . the current space vector i 2 * has a phase angle alpha 2 which is greater than the phase angle alpha 1 of the nominal current space vector i 1 . the difference between the phase angles alpha 1 and alpha 2 is denoted as delta_beta in fig7 . delta_beta can have different values as a function of the phase angle alpha 1 and fluctuate at most between + 30 ° and − 30 °. by means of the projection , illustrated in fig7 , of the current space vector i 2 onto the corresponding phase axes of the phases u , v , w , it becomes clear that the current in the phase u , that is to say in the switch sha , is reduced with respect to i 1 * and the current in the phase w , that is to say in the switch shc and the freewheeling diode dlc , is increased . in total , owing to the larger magnitude of the current space vector i 2 , the current loading is greater than in the case of the nominal current space vector i 1 ; however , by virtue of this measure , as can be seen in fig7 , the loading of the most heavily loaded switch sha and the freewheeling diode dla can be reduced . as a result , peak loading of the most heavily loaded switches s and also the most heavily loaded freewheeling diodes d can be reduced and the loading can be distributed to other switches s or freewheeling diodes d . as a result , the inverter 10 can be loaded more evenly in phase . since the current phasor i 2 * follows the line of even torque m , an identical torque m is provided by the electrical machine 14 , with the result that this measure does not represent a restriction for the user of the electrical machine 14 and , for example , no stuttering or drop occurs in the torque m . by virtue of the setting of the current space vector i 2 , which deviates from the nominal current space vector i 1 , the losses in the individual phases u , v , w can be distributed and thus overloading of individual components of individual phases can be avoided . in other words , a more even loading of the phases u , v , w can thus be achieved . as a result , by providing an alternative current space vector i 2 * with a phase angle alpha 2 deviating from the nominal phase angle alpha 1 , a reduction of the most often loaded switch sha and the freewheeling diode dla or the most heavily loaded phase u can thus be achieved and thus the inverter 10 can be generally more evenly loaded . if the freewheeling diodes d can be heavily loaded , delta_beta can also be set with a negative value in order to relieve individual ones of the switches s . in the control situation illustrated in fig7 , the switch sha is firstly relieved by selection of the zero voltage phasor v 0 and thus the freewheeling diode dla is more heavily loaded . as a result , the switches slb , slc are also more heavily loaded . for the phase angle alpha_ 1 , the freewheeling diode dla is then loaded most heavily , the switch slc is loaded least heavily and the switch slb is loaded very lightly . in this situation , by means of a phase angle alpha_ 2 which is smaller than alpha_ 1 , that is to say with a negative deviation angle delta_beta , the freewheeling diode dla can be loaded more heavily , as a result of which the switch slc is relieved , however , and the switch slb is more heavily loaded . thus , the loading of the switches slb and slc can be more evenly distributed . however , this takes place at the cost of a heavier loading of the freewheeling diode dla . in other words , the loading is firstly displaced from an upper switch sh to a lower freewheeling diode dl and , what is more , by selection of a suitable temporal distribution of the zero voltage phasors v 0 , v 7 and then the loading is distributed to the phases u , v , w in the case of the zero voltage phasor v 0 , v 7 by setting the deviation angle delta_beta . thus , in general , the loading of the switches s and the freewheeling diodes d can be set more evenly . preferably , the method 40 from fig5 is combined with the setting of the alternative current space vector i 2 * from fig7 . in this case , for example before controlling the inverter 10 , that is to say in the control device 18 , for example , an optimized nominal loading value m and , at the same time , on the basis of the nominal current space vector i 1 * an optimized current space vector i 2 * are determined according to the method 30 also . these values are stored in a characteristic map and the electrical machine 14 is controlled on the basis of the values of the characteristic map . in other words , the nominal loading value m and the current space vector i 2 * are determined offline and the electrical machine is correspondingly controlled . as an alternative to this , the optimized current space vector i 2 * can be removed from the characteristic map and the nominal loading value m can be determined during operation of the electrical machine 14 according to the method 30 or 40 on the basis of measured values or estimated values and can be correspondingly optimized in a continual manner . in other words , the nominal loading value m is determined online and adapted . fig8 schematically illustrates a complex phasor diagram according to fig6 and 7 for a nominal current space vector i 1 * of zero degrees . fig8 also illustrates the line of even torque m . the line of even torque m has a curvature such that it is not possible to relieve the phase u or to relieve the corresponding switch sha by providing a current space vector i 2 * with a deviating phase angle . by contrast , by means of a greater or smaller phase angle alpha 2 , the loading of the switch sha would remain the same or even increase and , furthermore , a further switch of the phase w or the phase v would additionally be loaded . corresponding profiles of the line of even torque arise for phase angles according to the axes of the phases u , v , w , that is to say for the angles 0 degrees , 60 degrees , 120 degrees , 180 degrees , 240 degrees , 300 degrees , etc . control by means of a deviating phase angle alpha 2 does not make sense for these phase angles alpha 1 . control by means of the deviating phase angle alpha 2 for phase angles alpha 1 in the region of 30 degrees , 90 degrees , 150 degrees , etc . is particularly sensible . in order to reduce the expenditure in terms of control technology , it is possible , at particular nominal phase angles alpha 1 , to store data relating to the current space vectors i 2 * in a characteristic map . the characteristic map can also take into account that the phase angles of the current space vector i 1 * and the phase angles of the voltage space vector v 1 * can deviate from one another at particular frequencies . fig9 schematically illustrates the phase angle deviation delta_beta of the current space vector i 2 * from the nominal current space vector i 1 * as a function of the nominal phase angle alpha 1 . the deviation delta_beta is set differently as a function of the nominal phase angle alpha 1 and fluctuates between − 15 ° and + 15 °. as has already been mentioned above , a phase angle alpha 2 which deviates from the nominal phase angle alpha 1 does not make sense for particular nominal phase angles alpha 1 since relief of a switch s or a freewheeling diode d is not the aim here ; however , another switch s or another freewheeling diode is loaded more heavily . for this reason , the deviation delta_beta for this nominal phase angle alpha 1 according to fig9 is equal to 0 , whereas , for other nominal phase angles alpha 1 , such as − 150 °, − 90 °, − 60 °, + 60 °, + 90 °, + 150 °, a deviation delta_beta makes sense in order to relieve the most heavily loaded controllable switch s . for this reason , the deviation delta_beta has a zigzag profile as a function of the nominal phase angle alpha 1 , as is illustrated in fig9 . according to the invention , the deviation delta_beta is restricted , as indicated by the dashed lines at + 6 ° and − 6 °, which form the deviation limits delta_beta_max and delta_beta_min . if it were possible for a deviation delta_beta for the corresponding nominal phase angles alpha 1 to be greater than the thus defined deviation limit delta_beta_max and delta_beta_min , the deviation delta_beta is set according to the deviation limit delta_beta_max , delta_beta_min . as a result , the total loading of the inverter 10 and the power loss of the inverter 10 and of the electrical machine 14 can be reduced and the efficiency of the inverter 10 and of the electrical machine 14 can be increased . fig1 schematically illustrates the maximum deviation delta_beta_max as a function of a rotation frequency f of the nominal current space vector i 1 . in this case , the maximum deviation delta_beta_max is constant for low frequencies which are smaller than a first predefined rotation frequency f 1 . if the rotation frequency f of the nominal current space vector i 1 exceeds the first predefined rotation frequency f 1 , the maximum deviation delta_beta_max is reduced as a function of or with increasing rotation frequency f . in the case of a second predefined rotation frequency f 2 of the nominal current space vector i 1 *, the maximum deviation delta_beta is reduced to almost 0 . from the second predefined rotation frequency f 2 , the rotation frequency f is so high that the controllable switches s are loaded over such a short period of time that the thermal loading of the switches s of the inverter 10 is evenly distributed and a deviation delta_beta of the phase angle alpha 2 from the nominal phase angle alpha 1 would not effect any relief of one of the switches s , rather the total loading of the inverter 10 would increase . therefore , for rotation frequencies f which are greater than the second predefined rotation frequency f 2 , 0 is set . between the first predefined rotation frequency f 1 and the second predefined rotation frequency f 2 , the maximum deviation delta_beta is linearly reduced as a function of the rotation frequency f . as a result , it is possible for a transition between the control with deviating phase angle and without deviating phase angle , that is to say between the frequency range for f is less than f 1 and the frequency range for f is greater than f 2 , to be simpler in terms of control technology . furthermore , as a result of this , it is possible for dynamic effects to be reduced in the case of increasing rotation frequency f , which dynamic effects are avoided by abrupt switchover between the control with deviation delta_beta and without deviation delta_beta . it goes without saying that the maximum deviation delta_beta_max , which is illustrated in fig1 , is to be considered as a magnitude and applies both to the upper limit delta_beta_max and the lower limit delta_beta_min . the present method is preferably used for controlling electrical machines , wherein the maximum possible deviation delta_beta_max is dependent on the type of the electrical machine . the maximum deviation can be up to 30 °.	7
fig1 a first embodiment of the present invention , is a cleaning machine 10 having a mounting member 12 . the mounting member 12 may be any size or shape depending upon the application , including either cylindrical or disk - shaped . mounting member 12 supports a plurality of cleaning elements 14 and wear measuring elements 16 . mounting member 12 is surrounded by vacuum shoe 18 to assist suction of dirt and other debris dislodged from a surface by cleaning elements 14 during rotation of mounting member 12 about its central axis . suction through vacuum hose 20 carries the dislodged dirt and other debris to a collection reservoir in housing 22 . housing 22 may also contain a reservoir for a liquid cleaning agent which may be applied to the surface in wet cleaning applications to assist the removal of dirt and other debris by cleaning elements 14 . the length and diameter of mounting member 12 depends upon the particular application for the cleaning machine 10 . the length of mounting member 12 ranges from about 1 to about 6 feet . the diameter of mounting member 12 ranges from about 1 to about 14 inches . cleaning elements 14 are desirably brushes with each brush being composed of a plurality of bristles . the bristles may be composed of a number of different types of materials including synthetic fibers , such as polyethylene ( for cleaning hard surfaces ) and nylon ( for cleaning soft surfaces ), and natural fibers . the length of cleaning elements 14 depends on the application and configuration of mounting member 12 . for a cylindrical mounting member 12 of the type shown in fig2 - 5 that is used for wet cleaning applications , the length of cleaning elements 14 is at least about 3 / 4 inches . for a cylindrical mounting member 12 of the type shown in fig2 - 5 that is used for dry cleaning applications , the length of cleaning elements 14 is at least about two and three - quarter inches . for a disk - shaped mounting member 12 of the type shown in fig7 and 8 that is used for wet cleaning applications , the length of cleaning elements 14 is at least about one and three - quarter inches . for a disk - shaped mounting member 12 of the type shown in fig7 and 8 that is used for dry cleaning applications , the length of cleaning elements 14 is at least about 5 inches . the number and concentration of cleaning elements 14 on mounting member 12 is also application - specific . desirably , each mounting member 12 supports from about 30 to about 1000 cleaning elements . the placement of cleaning elements 14 on mounting member 12 depends upon the cleaning element pattern on mounting member 12 desired for a particular application . in one configuration of the first invention , fig2 and 3 depict a first cleaning element pattern on mounting member 12 for use in wet and dry cleaning of hard and soft surfaces . in the first cleaning element pattern , cleaning elements 14 are located in a plurality of rows located substantially uniformly over the face of mounting member 12 . in another configuration , fig5 and 6 depict a second cleaning element pattern for use in wet and dry cleaning of hard and soft surfaces . in the second cleaning element pattern , known as a herring - bone pattern , cleaning elements 14 are located in discrete ribbons in a herring - bone pattern on the face of mounting member 12 . as will be appreciated , other cleaning element patterns may be used , including discrete ribbons of cleaning elements 14 in a spiral pattern on the face of mounting member 12 . wear measuring elements 16 have a length corresponding to a predetermined wear length for cleaning elements 14 . the difference between the length of cleaning elements 14 and wear measuring elements 16 at any point in time is directly related to the amount of remaining wear associated with ( and remaining useful life for ) cleaning elements 14 . when the lengths of cleaning elements 14 decrease through wear to a length approximating the length of wear measuring element 16 , it is desirable to replace cleaning elements 14 and / or mounting member 12 , as appropriate . the wear measuring elements 16 have a longitudinal extent substantially less than the longitudinal extent of the mounting member 12 . in one embodiment of the present invention , the minimum desired length for cleaning elements 14 is roughly equal to the lengths of wear measuring elements 16 . the minimum desired length for cleaning elements 14 depends upon the minimum desired cleaning efficiency for the cleaning - elements 14 on mounting member 12 . the cleaning efficiency for cleaning elements 14 depends upon the relationship between the stiffness and length of cleaning elements 14 . as will be appreciated , a cleaning element &# 39 ; s stiffness generally increases as its length decreases . the increased stiffness will in turn adversely influence the ability of a cleaning element 14 to remove dirt and other debris from the desired surface . the minimum desired cleaning efficiency of cleaning elements 14 is related to the application for and configuration of mounting member 12 . for a cylindrical mounting member 12 of the type shown in fig2 - 6 that is used for wet cleaning applications , the length of wear measuring elements 16 is at least about 3 / 8 inches , or about 50 % of the original ( unworn ) length of cleaning elements 14 . for a cylindrical mounting member 12 that is used for dry cleaning applications , the length of wear measuring elements 16 is at least about 3 / 4 inch , or about 25 % of the original print ( unworn ) length of cleaning elements 14 . for a disk - shaped mounting member 12 of the type shown in fig7 - 8 that is used for wet cleaning applications , the length of wear measuring elements 16 is at least about 1 / 2 inch , or about 25 % of the original print ( unworn ) length of cleaning elements 14 . for a disk - shaped mounting member 12 that is used for dry cleaning applications , the length of wear measuring elements 16 is at least about 3 / 4 inch , or about 10 to 15 % of the original print ( unworn ) length of cleaning elements 14 . in another embodiment of the present invention , wear measuring elements 16 have the same composition as cleaning elements 14 . by way of example , cleaning elements 14 and wear measuring elements 16 are both preferably brushes whose bristles have the same composition . in this manner , when the lengths of cleaning elements 14 are worn to the length of wear measuring elements 16 , mounting member 12 may continue to be operated without damage to the surface being cleaned from wear measuring elements 16 or adverse impact by wear measuring elements 16 on the cleaning efficiency of cleaning elements 14 . in this manner , the replacement of cleaning elements 14 may be done at the time of the next periodic inspection of cleaning elements 14 . the number of wear measuring elements 16 on mounting member 12 depends upon the number and desired cleaning efficiency of cleaning elements 14 , the size and shape of mounting member 12 , and the visibility to the user of wear measuring elements 16 on mounting member 12 . as shown in fig2 cleaning elements 14 are located along adjacent first and second paths extending along the longitudinal extent of the mounting member 12 . the wear measuring elements 16 are located within an area bounded by the first and second paths and the number of wear measuring elements in this area is less than 25 % of the number of cleaning elements located along the first and second paths . as will be appreciated , wear measuring elements 16 , being shorter than cleaning elements 14 , do not normally contribute to the cleaning efficiency of mounting member 12 . accordingly , it is desired that as few as possible wear measuring elements 16 be utilized . preferably , cleaning elements 14 outnumber wear measuring elements 16 on mounting member 12 . the placement of wear measuring elements 16 on mounting member 12 is a function of factors including the visibility of wear measuring elements 16 on mounting member 12 , the location of other wear measuring elements 16 on mounting member 12 , the shape of mounting member 12 , the wear patterns of cleaning elements 14 on mounting member 12 , and the locations of cleaning elements 14 on mounting member 12 . wear measuring elements 16 are desirably placed only in those portions of mounting member 12 that are conveniently viewable by the user , since in most applications the wear pattern of cleaning elements 14 is substantially uniform along the face of the mounting member 12 . concerning the visibility of wear measuring elements 16 , there are three primary techniques in cleaning machines to view mounting member 12 . first , in some cleaning machines vacuum shoe 18 tilts or lifts up or out to reveal mounting member 12 . in this case , the entire length of mounting member 12 is typically visible . second , in some cleaning machines vacuum shoe 18 has an access door to reveal a portion of mounting member 12 . in this case , a portion of mounting member 12 is typically not easily viewable . finally , cleaning machine 10 may be tilted to rest on the handles to reveal mounting member 12 . in this case , the entire length of mounting member 12 is typically visible . various aspects of the present invention exist based upon the visibility of wear measuring elements 16 . in a first aspect of the present invention shown in fig5 and 6 , mounting member 12 is substantially cylindrical and preferably has at least three wear measuring elements 16 substantially uniformly distributed around the circumference of mounting member 12 . in one configuration , each end of mounting member 12 has at least three wear measuring elements 16 substantially uniformly distributed around the circumference of mounting member 12 . in a second configuration , wear measuring elements 16 are in a middle portion of mounting member 12 between first and second outer portions with the first and second outer portions being substantially free of wear measuring elements 16 . the middle portion is about one - third to two - thirds the length of mounting member 12 . the first aspect is preferably employed where mounting member 12 is to be used to wet or dry clean a surface . in a second aspect of the present invention , mounting member 12 is substantially cylindrical and preferably has at least one wear measuring element in each quadrant of the substantially circular cross - section of mounting member 12 . wear measuring elements 16 may be placed anywhere along the length of mounting member 12 , depending upon visibility of the wear measuring elements to the user . the second aspect is preferably employed where cleaning elements are substantially uniformly distributed around the circumference of mounting member 12 and only one portion of mounting member 12 is conveniently viewable by the user . in a third aspect of the present invention shown in fig1 and 2 , mounting member 12 is substantially cylindrical and has a first and second outer portion at each end of mounting member 12 and a middle portion between the first and second outer portions with the middle portion having a length that is between about one - third and one - fourth of the length of mounting member 12 . preferably , the first and second outer portions contain wear measuring elements 16 with the middle portion being substantially free of wear measuring elements 16 . more preferably , each of the first and second outer portions of mounting member 12 have more wear measuring elements 16 than the middle portion . most preferably , the first and second outer portions each have at least one wear measuring element in each quadrant of the substantially circular cross - section of mounting member 12 . the third aspect is preferably employed where cleaning elements 14 are substantially uniformly distributed around the circumference of mounting member 12 and the first and second outer portions , but not the middle portion , of mounting member 12 is conveniently viewable by the user . in a fourth aspect of the present invention illustrated in fig1 and 12 , mounting member 12 is substantially cylindrical and has a first and second outer portion at each end of mounting member 12 and a middle portion between the first and second outer portions with the middle portion having a length that is between about one - third and one - fourth of the length of mounting member 12 . preferably , the first and second outer portions and middle portion each contain wear measuring elements 16 . more preferably , the first and second outer portions and middle portion together have at least one wear measuring element 16 in each quadrant of the substantially circular cross - section of mounting member 12 . most preferably , each portion has at least one wear measuring element in each quadrant of the substantially circular cross - section of mounting member 12 . the fourth aspect is preferably employed where cleaning elements 14 are substantially uniformly distributed around the circumference of mounting member 12 and when the first and second outer portions and middle portion of mounting member 12 are each conveniently viewable by the user . in a fifth aspect of the present invention illustrated in fig1 and 14 , mounting member 12 is substantially cylindrical and has first and second outer portions and a middle portion therebetween having a length that is between about one - third and one - fourth of the length of mounting member 12 . preferably , the middle portion contains wear measuring elements 16 and the first and second outer portions are substantially free of wear measuring elements 16 . more preferably , the middle portion of mounting member 12 has more wear measuring elements 16 than each of the first and second outer portions . most preferably , the middle portion has at least one wear measuring element 16 per quadrant of the substantially circular cross - section of mounting member 12 . the fifth aspect is preferred when cleaning elements 14 are substantially uniformly distributed around the circumference of mounting member 12 and only the middle portion is conveniently viewable by the user . as will be appreciated , other configurations of wear measuring elements 16 on mounting member 12 are possible depending upon the parts of mounting member 12 that are conveniently viewable by the user . by way of example , if multiple parts of mounting member 12 are conveniently viewable , wear measuring elements 16 may be placed in different quadrants of the substantially circular cross - section of mounting member 12 along the length of mounting member 12 . accordingly , if the first and second outer portions and middle portion of mounting member 12 are conveniently viewable , wear measuring elements 16 could be placed in different quadrants of the cross - section in each portion , such that no more than one wear measuring element 16 is located in any quadrant along the entire length of mounting member 12 . also by way of example , wear elements 16 may be placed in either the first or second outer portions of mounting member 12 if the first and second outer portions are the only part of mounting member 12 that is conveniently viewable to the user . in that event , the other portions would preferably be substantially free of wear measuring elements 16 , or , more preferably , have fewer wear measuring elements 16 than the conveniently viewable portion of mounting member 12 . to facilitate the visibility of wear measuring elements 16 , one embodiment of the present invention uses wear measuring elements 16 having a different color than cleaning elements 14 . advantageously , the color difference may be highlighted by choosing contrasting colors . for example , cleaning elements 14 may be a dark color and wear measuring elements 16 may be a bright color or vice versa . notwithstanding the visibility of wear measuring elements 16 , certain relationships regarding wear measuring element 16 placement are preferred . preferably , a majority of wear measuring elements 16 is located adjacent to at least one cleaning element 14 . more preferably a majority of wear measuring elements 16 are separated by at least one cleaning element 14 . most preferably , at least a majority of wear measuring elements 16 are not adjacent to another wear measuring element 16 . fig7 and 8 depict another embodiment of the present invention . the primary distinction between the embodiment in fig2 - 6 and this embodiment is that the former embodiment has a mounting member 12 that is substantially cylindrical and this embodiment has a mounting member 12 that is substantially circular or disk - shaped . more particularly , mounting member 12 in this embodiment has a substantially circular face that supports cleaning elements 14 and wear measuring elements 16 , the cleaning elements 14 simultaneously contacting a surface to be cleaned during cleaning . cleaning elements 14 are located along adjacent first and second curved closed paths on an outer peripheral portion of the disk - shaped mounting member as shown in fig8 . this embodiment is primarily used for wet and dry cleaning applications . wear measuring elements 16 are located in a peripheral portion of mounting member 12 with each quadrant of the substantially circular face of mounting member 12 having at least one wear measuring element 16 . the number of wear measuring elements 16 is less than 25 % of the number of cleaning elements 14 along the first and second curved paths . the inner portion of mounting member 12 is substantially free of wear measuring elements 16 . more preferably , a majority of wear measuring elements 16 are located in the peripheral portion and most preferably at a majority of wear measuring elements 16 are located in the peripheral portion . in another embodiment of the present invention , wear measuring elements 16 have different lengths corresponding to different degrees of wear for cleaning elements 14 . the number of different lengths of the wear measuring elements and the magnitudes of the lengths depend upon the magnitude of the difference between the original ( unworn ) length of cleaning elements 14 and the predetermined wear length for cleaning elements 14 . in one configuration shown in fig9 mounting member 12 has wear measuring elements 16a , 16b , 16c , and 16d , with wear measuring element 16a being longer than wear measuring element 16b , wear measuring element 16b being longer than wear measuring element 16c , and wear measuring element 16c being longer than wear measuring element 16d . preferably , for cleaning elements having an original ( unworn ) length of at least about 3 inches and a predetermined wear length of no more than about 1 inch , wear measuring element 16a has a length corresponding to about 75 % of the difference between the original length of cleaning element 14 and the predetermined wear length , 16b to about 50 % of the difference and 16c to about 25 % of the difference . wear measuring element 16d preferably has a length corresponding to the predetermined wear length . in another configuration , for cleaning elements having an original ( unworn ) length between about 1 . 25 inches and 3 inches and a predetermined wear length of no more than about 3 / 4 inches , some wear measuring elements have lengths corresponding to about 50 % of the difference between the original length of cleaning elements 14 and the predetermined wear length and other wear measuring elements have lengths corresponding to the predetermined wear length . in another configuration which may be used with either of the above configurations , the wear measuring elements 16 have a different color for each of the different wear measuring element lengths . for example , wear measuring elements 16a , 16b , 16c , and 16d in fig9 are each of a different color . as will be appreciated , other configurations of the present invention that incorporate the teachings of this embodiment are possible . in one such configuration shown in fig1 , portions of each wear measuring element are of different lengths and / or colors with each length and / or color corresponding to a different degree of cleaning element wear . wear measuring element 16 has , for example , three portions , 17a , 17b , and 17c . wear measuring element portion 17c corresponds to a first degree of cleaning element wear and is longer than wear measuring element portion 17b , wear measuring element portion 17b corresponds to a second degree of cleaning element wear and is longer than wear measuring element portion 17a , and wear measuring element portion 17a corresponds to a third degree of cleaning element wear . such wear measuring elements 16 may accurately indicate the approximate degree of cleaning element wear at various points during the life of the cleaning element 14 . in operation , mounting member 12 is periodically viewed by the user during operation to ascertain the relative lengths of cleaning elements 14 and wear measuring elements 16 . as mounting member 12 is operated , the lengths of cleaning elements 14 will become progressively shorter . when the relative lengths are approximately equal , mounting member 12 and / or cleaning elements 14 are replaced . while various embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail , it is apparent that modifications and adaptations of those embodiments will occur to those skilled in the art . however , it is to be expressly understood that such modifications and adaptations are within the scope of the present invention , as set forth in the following claims .	0
a standard tennis court 10 has playing surface 18 that is bordered by base lines 11 on two of the four sides . base lines 11 intersect at right angles with each of singles side lines 12 and doubles side lines 13 . service lines 14 are between lines 12 and are connected by center service line 15 that is a perpendicular bisector of each of lines 14 and extends under net 16 between each of service lines 14 . each of lines 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , and 15 are boundary lines and are similarly treated . in one preferred embodiment , the court is treated as follows : to the outside of baselines 11 , apply the receiving composition approximately 6 inches outward from the line ( see fig1 enlargement , region b ), baseline 11 is 4 inches wide ( see fig1 enlargement , region a ), receiving composition is applied over baselines 11 ; and inside baseline 11 , apply the receiving composition approximately 4 inches inward ( see fig1 enlargement , region c ). fig1 is not drawn to scale . the above measurements describing application of the receiving composition are given by way of example . additionally , the application of the receiving composition may be to any desired distance in relation to the boundary lines . next to service lines 14 , apply the receiving composition approximately 6 inches outward from the line ( i . e . from the service line 14 in the direction of base line 11 ), service lines 14 are 2 inches wide , receiving composition is applied over service lines 14 ; and inside service lines 14 , receiving composition is applied approximately 4 inches inward . next to center service line 15 — apply the receiving composition on either side of the center line 15 approximately 4 inches and over center line 15 which is typically 2 inches wide . singles side lines 12 and doubles side lines 13 are each treated identically . apply the receiving composition approximately 6 inches outward from the lines 12 and 13 , lines 12 and 13 are 2 inches wide , receiving composition is applied over lines 12 and 13 ; and inside lines 12 and 13 , receiving composition is applied approximately 4 inches inward . the ball compression itself would be approximately 2 inches when striking the court and therefore the distances given for application of the receiving composition is contemplated as being acceptable to many tennis officials . these distances were contemplated based on the range of measurement currently utilized by the cyclops ® system . currently , the cyclops ® system measures 45 cm outside the line service line and 10 cm inside the service line . as seen in the expansion of fig1 , base line 11 has a width a . the invention encompasses treating the surface of court 10 with a receiving composition . each of lines 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , and 15 are similarly treated ( although only one such expansion is shown in the figures ). a receiving composition 24 is applied a distance b outside said base line 11 , over said line 11 , and a distant c inside boundary line 11 . the total treated distance of a plus b plus c is distance d , which includes the width of the line 11 and the aforementioned applications of b and c . a conventional tennis ball 30 comprises visible seems and fibers . ball 30 is treated with striking composition 20 . felt ball fibers 25 have fiber dye 26 disposed thereon and further have dye on nodes 27 where fibers 25 typically intersect . ball 30 may have any part thereof containing striking composition 20 . preferably , a majority of the ball is coated with composition 20 . when ball 30 treated with striking composition contacts a surface treated with a receiving composition , a chemical reaction occurs due to the interaction of the chemical components in each of striking composition and receiving composition , creating a colored impression on the tennis court . fig2 - 5 demonstrate various impressions left when the present invention is used . as depicted in fig2 , impression 31 indicates the spot where ball 30 has contacted surface 18 that has been treated according to the present invention . fig2 depicts an impression 31 indicating ball 30 landed on the inside of the boundary line contacting both line 11 and surface 18 creating impression 31 . fig3 depicts impression 32 whereby ball 30 contacted surface 18 outside end line 11 . fig4 depicts impression 33 indicating ball 30 contacted end line 11 on end line 11 and impression 33 extended to the outer part portion of end line 11 . fig5 depicts impression 34 of ball 30 indicating ball 30 landed within the boundary of end line 11 . court surface 18 is typically painted with conventional tennis court paint and coatings as are commonly used and known in the art . tennis courts are typically marked with boundary lines 23 standard to the game of tennis . receiving composition 24 is subsequently disposed on and next to each of lines 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , and 15 on surface 18 . referring to fig6 , surface 18 has been prepared with court paint 22 , line 23 , and receiving composition 24 . examples are given as demonstrative and are not intended to be limiting the scope of the invention . most of the examples used a combination of court coating and ball treatment . objectives were to obtain clear , colorless , non - glossy coatings over conventional tennis court surfaces , distinctive color changes upon impact from tennis balls on the special coating , fast removal of markings on the special coating , and no color change on the tennis balls ( or easily reversible color changes ). schenectady ® resin hrj 40234 ( si group , schenectady , n . y .) 8 ml was combined with schenectady ® 14894 microcapsules 32 ml , and a commercial acrylic latex , minwax ® 1265k 16 ml ( approximately 30 % solids by weight ). this material was brushed onto a dark green tennis court coating , world class athletics ® # tcp065 ( world class athletic surfaces , leland , miss .) on a hardboard , target tennis balls were hit to impact the target and markings were inspected and photographed . bluish - purplish marks were evident , with oval shapes , indicating that the single - paper system of carbonless carbon paper could provide a marking . however scuffs from tennis shoes also marked the coating the same color , indicating that these commercial materials would not be satisfactory for use as a ball impact marking system . we perceive that a stronger shell might be able to respond differently to ball impacts and shoe impacts and may be workable in a single coating system . an alkaline latex court coating was made with cornstarch , 5 gm stirred into water , 20 ml . this was added to sodium hydroxide , 2 gm , dissolved in water , 20 ml . the resultant mixture was added to minwax clear acrylic latex , 15 ml giving a smooth white mixture , easy to brush , but difficult to spray . tennis balls were treated with alum mordant and then were contacted with a solution of phenol red dye , 0 . 5 gm dissolved in denatured alcohol , 10 ml , plus ethoxyethane , 10 ml . the balls turned an orange color , and they were rinsed five times with denatured alcohol to remove superficial dye . tennis ball impacts of these balls on a target with the c - 2 coating gave discernible , but not distinct marks . a court coating was made 0 . 5 grams of crystal violet lactone dye dispersed in kwal ® ( kwal paint , denver , colo .) brand of satin acrylic latex , 15 ml . a tennis ball was treated with a solution of salicylic acid , 32 grams in denatured alcohol , 400 ml ( overnight contact , water rinse , dried ). the ball was pressed onto the ccp - 6 coating and rotated a quarter turn . it made no mark on the coating . a drop of this salicylic acid solution on the coating caused color change to blue , but it was difficult to discern the color difference between the blue and the green background . a court coating was made with schenectady 14508 developer , 996 ml , exsilon ® 9 acidic clay pigment ( engelhard corporation , iselin , n . j .) 80 gm , dispersed in 25 ml of water , mixed with minwax ® acrylic latex ( minwax company , upper saddle river , n . j .) 12 ml . this off - white coating was applied over tcp065 dark green . tennis balls were treated with alum mordant ( 15 grams / gallon of water , heat at 150 ° f . for 1 hour , cool , rinse with water , dry ) and they were then dyed with a solution of crystal violet lactone ( cvl ), 5 grams in toluene , 100 ml and ethylene glycol methyl ether , 10 ml . solution contact was about 15 seconds , followed by baking at 150 ° f . the tennis balls had very little color change . where contacted with a drop of salicylic acid solution , the color changed to blue , and microscopic examination showed that the dye was absorbed by the wool fibers of the tennis ball . the tennis balls with the crystal violet dye were hit at the target with the coating of example 4 , and showed readily discernible marks on the coating ( good ) and on the tennis balls ( undesired , but reversible by exposure to vapors of ammonium hydroxide ). a tan coating was prepared for better discrimination of color change using schenectady microcapsule dispersion # 18894 , 64 ml , added to kwal ® brand of satin latex , color # 8264d , 12 ml . tennis balls were prepared using 32 grams of salicylic acid dissolved in 400 ml of denatured alcohol ( overnight contact , water rinse , dried ). ball impacts on this coating gave chalky markings on the target with little color change from the dye . schenectady ® 4508 developer , 96 ml , was added to minwax clear acrylic latex , 12 ml , and was applied as a relatively clear , colorless coating over dark green world class athletics tcp065 on a panel . ball treatment was with cvl dye as noted above . ball impacts gave dark bluish coloration on both the coating and on the balls . ball drops from 6 - foot height did not give a mark . dark marks on the ball could be removed by exposure to vapors of ammonium hydroxide . schenectady ® 4508 developer , 96 ml , was added to minwax ® clear acrylic latex , 12 ml and was applied over dark green tcp065 panel . b - 14 ball treatment was made with 5 grams of malachite green lactone dye dissolved in 100 ml of toluene . this solution was sprayed onto a rotating ball held with spiders on a slowly rotating lathe . spraying was accomplished with an airbrush about 4 inches away from the ball and air pressure about 35 psi . the ball was dried at room temperature and then baked 1 hour at 150 ° f . a drop of salicylic acid on the ball gave indication of good dye absorption into the felt fibers . ball hits on white striping paint were distinct , those on the dark green court were not distinct , and there was little impact marking on the balls . balls with b - 2 treatment were very distinct on white striping paint and fairly distinct on the dark green . schenectady ® dry resin # hrj2053 , 20 grams , was added to gemini 160 sanding sealer ( a nitrocellulose - based lacquer ), 50 ml , diluted with methyl ethyl ketone , 10 ml and diethylhexylphthalate plasticizer 1 ml . this coating had little color or cloudiness and less gloss than ccp - 7 . impact of balls with b - 2 treatment gave good color change on this coating . salicylic acid , 10 grams , diethylhexylphthalate plasticizer , 1 ml , and schenectady ® solid phenolic resin # 2053 , 1 gm , were added to 50 ml of denatured alcohol . this gave a hard , non - glossy coating with slightly milky appearance and sparkles from crystals on the surface . balls b - 2t were made by pre - dyeing tennis ball felt with a solution of crystal violet lactone ( cvl ), 2 grams , in toluene , 100 ml . the felt had been pre - treated with an alum mordant solution , 15 grams in 1 gallon of water , 1 hour at 150 ° f ., rinsed with water and dried . tennis balls were then made from this felt by wilson sporting goods , inc . following their normal fabrication process . balls b - 18 were made with a spray of dye solution made from noveon specialty yellow # 37 ( noveon inc ., cleveland , ohio ), 2 grams , toluene , 100 ml and propylene carbonate , 2 ml . after spraying , the balls were placed in a ball tube for 1 hour , then they were washed with water to remove the propylene carbonate and they were dried . impacts with both ball treatments gave distinctive markings on white striping , and the yellow markings were better on green than the blue markings . the b - 18 balls did not have any color change from impact with the ccp - 54 coating . oxalic acid , 10 gm , mantrose - haeuser refined , decolorized shellac # r - 49 ( mantrose - haeuser company , westport , conn . ), 1 gm , denatured alcohol , 50 ml . this coating had no gloss , no color , and better initial appearance than above examples . sprayed onto panel for testing using airbrush . treatment on ball was noveon specialty orange # 14 , 2 grams , xylene , 98 ml , propylene carbonate , sprayed , placed in ball can for 1 hour , washed with water , dried . fair color distinction with impact of balls with the b - 24 orange and the b - 2 blue dyes . colors faded significantly over 24 - hour period . oxalic acid , 10 gm , polyvinylpyrollidone k - 30 , 1 gm , water , 50 ml gave non - glossy , colorless coating , slow dry . b - 28 ball treatment used noveon magenta # 16 dye , 2 gm , xylene , 100 ml , propylene carbonate 2 ml , sprayed onto tennis ball , held in ball can 1 hour , then washed with water and dried . system gave good color distinction when swatch of b - 28 magenta was pressed and turned against the coating , fair color with b - 18 yellow and b - 24 orange dye treatments . the above examples all used solvent dyes . because wool fibers are proteinaceous , they are often dyed commercially with acidic dyes . the following examples use acidified solvents that dye the felt of a tennis ball with the converted color . this provides a means of quickly confirming that a good dye penetration has been accomplished . the dyed felts are then converted back to their intended color by using ammonia vapor or other neutralizing chemicals . alkaline chemical added to acrylic court coating , e . g . sodium silicate , sodium tetraborate , either while wet or impregnated after dry , with a phenolphthalein - type color change going from neutral to alkaline . because ball marks needed to be removed frequently and quickly ( about 90 seconds are available during court direction changes after sets 1 , 3 , 5 . . . ) examples of color removal systems are shown . treatment with alkali is one means of converting the dye back to its original colorless chemistry , but residual , nonvolatile alkali neutralizes the acidity of the ccp coating and makes it inactive in the case of a second hit by the ball in the area that has been treated . most of the leuco dyes are soluble in aromatic solvents and other solvents having a relatively low hildebrand solubility parameter . dissolution of the dye and wiping to remove it is a means of decolorizing the ball mark , if the solvent does not also dissolve and remove the acid in the special coating . ammonium bicarbonate , 10 grams dissolved in 50 ml water + 50 ml methanol was sprayed onto ball impact marks and was dried with a heat gun without wiping . yellow and orange marks disappeared quickly , but blue and magenta colors did not go colorless . salicylic acid 10 grams dissolved in denatured alcohol , 50 ml with schenectady ® phenolic resin 2053 1 gm and diethylhexyl phthalate 1 ml was sprayed onto ball impact marks . the marks immediately became more intense by virtue of the additional acidity and dissolution of the dye . the marks were blotted with a soft cloth or paper towel to remove the dissolved dye . the residual coating remained active for marking subsequent ball hits . a commercial solution of xylene , methanol , acetone and heptane was sprayed onto ball impact marks and it was promptly blotted with a paper towel , removing the marks , but leaving the surface de - activated for subsequent ball hits . glacial acetic acid was sprayed onto a ball mark and was blotted dry . within 20 seconds , the color of the mark disappeared . the preferred remover / activator is formula r - 19 , a solution of salicylic acid , 10 grams and pvp k - 30 1 gram , in methanol 30 ml and toluene 30 ml with 1 ml of lactic acid . these test were repeated to confirm surface activity after the removing steps . while the invention has been described in its preferred form or embodiment with some degree of particularity , it is understood that this description has been given only by way of example and that numerous changes in the details of construction , fabrication , and use , including the combination and arrangement of parts , may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention .	0
referring to the drawings wherein identical reference numerals denote the same elements throughout the various views , an aircraft passenger seat set according to the present invention is illustrated in fig1 and shown generally at reference numeral 10 . in the particular embodiment shown in fig1 , the seat set 10 is composed of three adjacent seats , an aisle seat 11 , a center seat 12 , and a window seat 13 . the seat set 10 is supported on a pair of leg modules 14 and 15 , and includes a baggage guard rail 16 . the seats 11 , 12 , and 13 are provided with arm rests 18 , 19 , 20 , and 21 . the seats 11 , 12 , and 13 include seat bottoms 22 , 23 , and 24 , respectively , and seat backs 25 , 26 , and 27 , respectively . the internal structure of the seat set 10 is shown in fig2 , with various parts eliminated for clarity . as is shown , the seat set 10 is supported on and thus shares the two leg modules 14 and 15 . the leg modules 14 and 15 carry a pair of laterally - extending beam elements 35 and 36 on which are mounted four section assembly modules 40 , 41 , 42 , and 43 . the leg modules 14 , 15 ; beam elements 35 and 36 , and the section assembly modules 40 , 41 , 42 , and 43 tie together the components in a manner necessary to from a seat set 10 having significant structural integrity within passenger comfort , fuselage size and government regulation requirements . the underlying structure defined by leg modules 14 , 15 ; beam elements 35 and 36 , and the section assembly modules 40 , 41 , 42 , and 43 is referred to as a “ ladder frame assembly ” and is indicated at reference numeral 50 . of course , the seats according to the present invention can be integrated together to form seat sets of different lengths , spacings , and numbers of seats . whether one , two , three or more seats , each seat set 10 will include at least two leg modules , such as leg modules 14 and 15 . thus , when a seat is referred to as having a pair or a plurality of leg modules , it is understood that at least two leg modules are required , but that the two leg modules may not necessarily be on opposing sides of any particular seat . for example , in fig1 , three seats 11 , 12 , and 13 are each supported on two leg modules 14 , 15 . thus , seat 11 is supported on two leg modules 14 , 15 , just as are seats 12 and 13 , and whether the seat set 10 is considered a “ seat ” or the three seats 11 , 12 and 13 are considered “ seats ”, in either case they are supported by a plurality of legs . referring again to fig2 , the seat set incorporates a cable raceway assembly 60 , which includes a laterally - extending raceway 62 and one or more covers 64 , described in more detail below . the raceway assembly 60 is mounted to the ladder frame assembly 50 in a location out of the way of the seats 11 , 12 , and 13 and high enough to avoid damage from articles of carry - on luggage or the like . in the illustrated example , the raceway 62 is mounted against the underside of the section assembly modules 40 , 41 , and 42 . the mounting may be done in any convenient manner . fig3 – 7 show an example of a suitable mounting arrangement in more detail . the raceway 62 includes several mounting tabs 66 that extend upwardly from the raceway 62 . the mounting tabs 66 are generally l - shaped structures which are attached to the raceway 62 in a known manner , such as spot welding , or with fasteners 68 as shown in fig6 and 7 . the mounting tabs 66 may include one or more bends so that they may conform to the contours of the section assembly modules , as shown in fig3 . the mounting tabs 66 each carry a laterally - extending mounting pin 70 which is received in a complementary mounting hole 72 in the corresponding section assembly module ( e . g ., item 40 in fig6 and 7 ). the raceway 62 is attached to the section assembly modules by placing it in position underneath the section assembly modules . the mounting tabs 66 are then put into position so the mounting pins 70 engage the mounting holes 72 in the section assembly modules . finally , the mounting tabs 66 are attached to the raceway 62 , for example with fasteners 68 ( see fig6 and 7 ). alternatively , the mounting tabs 66 may be attached to the raceway 62 before the raceway 62 is installed . in this case , the raceway 62 is installed by placing it in position under the section assembly modules and then shifting it laterally so that the mounting pins 70 engage the mounting holes 72 in the section assembly modules . fig5 , 6 , and 7 illustrate this arrangement in more detail . in particular , fig7 shows how the mounting pin 70 engages the mounting hole 72 . fig6 is a view from the opposite side of the section assembly module 40 relative to fig7 and shows the relationship of the raceway 62 , the mounting tab 66 , and the mounting pin 70 . as shown in fig4 , one or more of the mounting tabs 66 may be reversed relative to the other mounting tabs 66 . the mounting pin 70 carried by this mounting tab 66 thus extends opposite to the other mounting pins 70 . this arrangement of the mounting tabs 66 ensures that the raceway 62 will remain attached to the ladder frame assembly 50 and prevents it from shifting laterally relative to the ladder frame assembly 50 without the use of additional fasteners . fig8 and 9 illustrate the raceway 62 in more detail . the raceway 62 may be made of any suitable material such as plastic or sheet metal . the raceway 62 is formed into a shape which defines one or more laterally - extending troughs 74 . in the illustrated example there is a pair of troughs 74 disposed on opposite sides of a raised central portion 76 . the troughs 74 accept wires or cables ( not shown ) that are to be run under the passenger seats . the raceway 62 also includes a pair of side rails 78 which engage a cover , described below . each of the side rails 78 is positioned in spaced - apart relationship to the adjacent trough 74 by an arcuate cross - section side flange 80 . the central portion 76 , troughs 74 , side flanges 80 and side rails 78 may all be formed as part of a single unitary component . the raceway 62 may also include on or more stiffeners 82 to prevent the raceway 62 from sagging or deflecting when installed . the illustrated stiffeners 82 have an arcuate cross - section , but simple flanges could also be used . the stiffeners 82 may be formed integrally with the raceway 62 or made separately and attached to the raceway 62 , for example by welding . the raceway assembly 60 includes one or more covers 64 . referring to fig1 , the covers 64 are generally flat , laterally extending structures which span the raceway 62 . the lengths of the covers 64 are selected so that they will fit between the spaced - apart section assembly modules . the lengths of the covers 64 may be selected to leave gaps 84 between adjacent ones of the covers 64 if needed , for example in locations where cables must pass out of the raceway up into the seat unit 10 ( see fig2 ). the covers 64 may be made of any suitable liquid - resistant material such as sheet metal or plastic . the cover 64 includes a flat central portion 86 , a pair of downwardly - extending flanges 88 , and a pair of locking ribs 90 which extend inward from the lower ends of the flanges 88 . the locking ribs 90 extend around and under the side rails 78 of the raceway 62 in the installed position . in use , the raceway 62 is mounted to the ladder frame assembly 50 as described above . the position of the raceway 62 and its overall length may be varied to suit a particular application . next , the required cables or wire bundles ( not shown ) are routed and laid into the troughs 74 . then , the covers 64 are attached to the raceway 62 . this may be done by spreading the locking ribs 90 apart and pressing the cover 64 down over the raceway 62 until the locking ribs 90 snap into place around the side rails 78 of the raceway 62 . alternatively , the covers 64 may be installed before the raceway 62 is attached to the ladder frame assembly 50 and then the cables may be threaded into the troughs 74 . gaps 84 may be left between the covers 64 which allow individual cables or sections of bundles to pass upward where needed . after the covers 64 are installed , the seats 11 , 12 , and 13 may then been mounted to the ladder frame assembly 50 in a known manner . the cables are then protected from physical damage or foreign objects that may be dropped onto them by the raceway 62 and the covers 64 . furthermore , any food or liquids that might be spilled by a passenger will be caught by the cover 64 . the cover 64 with its downwardly - extending flanges 88 forms a flow path which directs any fluid to the sides of and off the raceway 62 safely away from the cables in the troughs 74 . the foregoing has described a cable raceway assembly including an elongated raceway adapted for being mounted to a supporting structure , and a fluid - resistant cover attached to the raceway . while specific embodiments of the present invention have been described , it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications thereto can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention . accordingly , the foregoing description of the preferred embodiment of the invention and the best mode for practicing the invention are provided for the purpose of illustration only and not for the purpose of limitation -- the invention being defined by the appended claims .	1
fig2 a - 2g shows a fabrication process for a first embodiment according to the present invention . fig2 a shows a transparent top cover such as a glass 23 is prepared . a bottom circuitry 24 is configured on a bottom surface of the top glass 23 . fig2 b shows a light chip 21 electrically coupled to the bottom circuitry 24 ; wherein the light chip 21 has a plurality of top electrodes 211 electrically coupled to the bottom circuitry 24 of the top glass 23 through solder ball 212 ; and a sensor chip electrically coupled to the bottom circuitry 24 ; wherein the sensor chip 22 has a plurality of top electrodes 221 electrically coupled to the bottom circuitry 24 of the top glass 23 through solder ball 222 . the light chip 21 used in the present invention can be one of light emitting diode , laser diode , vertical cavity surface emitting laser ( vcsel ) or the like . different underfill material can be chosen for a specific light chip 21 . for example , an infrared ( ir ) light transparent underfill material such as silicone or benzocyclobutene ( bcb ) can be used to fill in the gap between the light chip 21 and the top glass 23 for a module where an ir light chip is used . fig2 c shows a molding compound 26 is applied to enclose the light chip 21 and the sensor chip 22 . fig2 d shows a plurality of holes 26 h are made through the molding compound 26 to expose predetermined areas of the bottom circuitry 24 . fig2 e shows metal plated or filled in each hole 26 h so that a plurality of via metals 261 are formed passing through the molding compound 26 . a top of the via metal 261 electrically couples to the bottom circuitry 24 of the top glass 23 . a bottom circuitry 262 is formed on a bottom surface of the molding compound 26 . the bottom circuitry 262 is electrically coupled to a bottom of the via metal 261 . fig2 f shows a redistribution layer 27 formed on bottom of the bottom circuitry 262 of the molding compound 26 . the redistribution layer 27 includes redistribution circuitry 271 , dielectric layer 273 and a plurality of bottom pads 272 . the redistribution circuit 271 is embedded in the dielectric layer 273 , and a plurality of bottom pads 272 are formed on a bottom of the dielectric layer 273 . each bottom pad 272 is electrically coupled to the redistribution circuity 271 . fig2 g shows a plurality of solder balls 281 , each solder ball 281 is configured on one corresponding bottom pad 272 . the light chip 21 is able to emit a plurality of light beams upwards passing through the top glass 23 to an object ( not shown ) on top . the sensor chip 22 detects reflective light beams downwards passing through the top glass 23 for a further processing . fig3 a - 3g shows a fabrication process for a second embodiment according to the present invention . fig3 a shows a top glass 23 is prepared ; and a bottom circuitry 24 is configured on a bottom surface of the top glass 23 . fig3 b shows a light chip 21 electrically coupled to the bottom circuitry 24 ; wherein the light chip 21 has a plurality of top electrodes 211 electrically coupled to the bottom circuitry 24 of the top glass 23 through solder ball 212 ; and a sensor chip electrically coupled to the bottom circuitry 24 ; wherein the sensor chip 22 has a plurality of top electrodes 221 electrically coupled to the bottom circuitry 24 of the top glass 23 through solder ball 222 . fig3 c shows a molding compound 26 is applied to enclose the light chip 21 and the sensor chip 22 . fig3 d shows a thinning process is applied from bottom to expose a bottom surface of the light chip 21 and the sensor chip 22 . a flat bottom 265 is formed where the bottom surface of the molding compound 26 , the bottom surface of the light chip 21 , and the bottom surface of the sensor chip 22 are made coplanar . fig3 e shows a plurality of holes 26 h are made through the molding compound 26 to expose predetermined areas of the bottom circuitry 24 . fig3 f shows metal filled or plated in each hole 26 h so that a plurality of via metals 261 are formed passing through the molding compound 26 . a top end of the via metal 261 is electrically couple to the bottom circuitry 24 of the top glass 23 . a bottom circuitry or bottom pad 362 is formed on a bottom surface of the molding compound 26 . the bottom pad 362 is electrically coupled to a bottom end of the via metals 261 . fig3 g shows a plurality of solder balls 381 , each solder ball 381 is configured on one corresponding bottom pad 362 . the light chip 21 is able to emit a plurality of light beams upwards passing through the top glass 23 to an object ( not shown ) on top . the sensor chip 22 detects reflective light beams downwards passing through the top glass 23 for a further processing . fig4 shows a modified version of the embodiments according to the present invention . fig4 shows a modified version 400 of the reflective sensing module . a first fresnel lens 351 is configured on top of the light chip 21 ; and a second fresnel lens 352 is configured on top of the sensor chip 22 . the first fresnel lens 351 focuses the plurality of light beams l 1 from the light chip 21 into a detecting area 38 where an object ( not shown ) to be detected is configured . a plurality of reflective light beams l 2 reflected from the object ( not shown ) is detected by the sensor chip 22 for a further process . fig5 shows a wristband embedding the reflective sensing module according to the present invention . fig5 shows a wristband 500 embedding the reflective sensing module 400 according to the present invention . a flexible circuit board 43 is prepared and electrically coupled to the reflective sensing module 400 . a control chip 41 is configured and electrically coupled to the flexible circuit board 43 , and a flexible molding compound 44 encloses the reflective sensing module 400 and the control chip 41 . a transceiver ( not shown ) can be integrated in the control chip 41 for an information exchange . a battery 42 can also be prepared and embedded in the molding compound 44 to provide the power needed for the control chip 41 . fig6 shows a wristband wearing on a wrist according to the present invention . fig6 shows a flexible wristband 500 worn on a wrist . the plurality of light beams l 1 emitted from the light chip 21 detects health information such as pulse rate of blood vessels . the health information detected by the sensor chip 22 is transmitted to a mobile phone 48 through the transducer in the control chip 41 . the mobile phone 48 is then connected to interne for transmitting the health information to a predetermined host computer , for example , located in a hospital where the information can be retrieved for a reference , or transmitted to a mobile phone of a doctor for the doctor &# 39 ; s reference . while several embodiments have been described by way of example , it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications may be configured without departs from the spirit of the present invention . such modifications are all within the scope of the present invention , as defined by the appended claims .	0
in the remainder of the description , elements that have an identical structure or analogous functions will be denoted by the same reference numerals . the following orientations will be adopted nonlimitingly in the remainder of the description : longitudinal indicated by the arrow “ l ” and directed from the rear forwards ; vertical indicated by the arrow “ v ” and directed from the bottom upwards ; transverse indicated by the arrow “ t ” and directed from left to right . in addition , the terms “ axial ” and “ radial ” will be used with reference to the axis “ a ”. fig1 depicts a device 10 for manufacturing containers by blow - moulding or by stretch - blow - moulding . this device 10 comprises a mould 12 formed by the union of two substantially symmetric half - moulds 14 , 16 made of a metallic material , for example of steel or of an aluminium alloy . the mould 12 thus assembled has the overall shape of a hollow cylinder of revolution of vertical main axis “ a ”. as depicted in fig2 , the mould 12 comprises an internal face which delimits a moulding cavity 18 which opens axially towards the top so that the neck of a preform ( not depicted ) can pass through it . the mould 12 is radially delimited by an external face 20 which surrounds the moulding cavity 18 . each half - mould 14 , 16 is carried by an associated support 22 , 24 . the half - moulds 14 , 16 are articulated along a hinge ( not depicted ) of vertical axis so as to allow the mould 12 to be opened so that a preform can be introduced into it . a mould bottom 25 , depicted in fig1 , is interposed between the two half - moulds 14 , 16 to form the bottom of the container . the overall structure of such a mould 12 , referred to as a hinged mould , is described in french patent application fr - a1 - 2 . 856 . 333 and in the corresponding international application wo - a1 - 05 / 002 . 820 , both in the name of the applicant company and to which a person skilled in the art may refer . since the two half - moulds 14 , 16 and their support 22 are substantially identical , only the half - mould 14 and its support 22 will be described hereinafter with reference to fig2 to 6 , the description being symmetrically applicable to the other half - mould 16 and to its support 24 . the half - mould 14 has a semi - cylindrical shape . it thus has a planar front union face 26 in which half of the moulding cavity 18 is formed , and an opposite semi - cylindrical external face 28 that forms half of the external face 20 of the mould 12 , as illustrated in fig3 . if reference is made once again to fig3 , the half - mould 14 also has an upper face 30 in the form of half a disc . the straight edge of the upper face 30 has a cut - out 32 intended to form an orifice through which the neck of the preform inside the cavity 18 can pass . a mounting plate 34 of complementary shape is fixed to the upper face 30 of the half - mould 14 . the upper face of the mounting plate 34 forms a support face for a nozzle ( not depicted ) carrying pressurized air by virtue of which the container is blow - moulded . the half - mould 14 comprises controlled means for heating the mould to a determined temperature . more specifically , the heating means here are formed by heating electric resistances 35 which are interposed within the thickness of the half - mould 14 between the moulding cavity 18 and the external face 28 . for this , the half - mould 14 comprises a plurality of vertical orifices 36 which open at the top into the upper face 30 of the mould , as can be seen in fig3 and 4 . the resistances are thus introduced into the orifices 36 . the mounting plate 34 covers the orifices 36 to enclose the resistances therein . the electrical resistances are supplied with electricity by electric wires ( not depicted ) which are sandwiched between the mounting plate 34 and the upper face 30 of the half - mould 14 . each wire is connected to a connector 38 which in this instance is borne by the mounting plate 34 so that the heating resistances can receive a controlled supply of electricity . the half - mould 14 is housed in a housing 40 which is made in a front face of the associated support 22 , as depicted in fig3 . the housing 40 has a bottom 42 which faces forwards and which has a shape that complements the shape of the external face 28 of the half - mould 14 . the half - mould 14 is intended to be fixed removably into the housing 40 of the support 22 so that changes of mould 12 , notably when the manufacturer wishes to change the format or shape of the end container , can be made . the removable attachment is achieved using means that are already well known . one exemplary embodiment of such attachment means is described and depicted in document ep - b1 - 0 . 821 . 641 . the half - mould 14 needs to be kept hot . to avoid heat loss , as depicted in fig4 , it is known practice to leave an empty space 44 between the bottom 42 of the housing and the external face 28 of the half - mould 14 by interposing spacer pieces 46 between the half - mould 14 and the bottom 42 of the housing 40 . the spacer pieces 46 here are attached to the bottom 42 of the housing 40 . this space 44 is usually filled with stationary air forming a thermally insulating layer . advantageously , the spacer pieces 46 offer a more reliable possible area of contact with the external face 28 of the half - mould 14 for minimizing heat loss by conduction . for the same reasons , the spacer pieces 46 are advantageously made of a thermally insulating material . the empty space 44 is made as one piece , i . e . the spacer pieces 46 do not divide it into several separate parts . the empty space 44 is not fluidtight , thus it can communicate with the outside , notably via the front gaps 48 formed between the vertical edges of the union face 26 of the half - mould 14 and the vertical edges of the housing 40 as depicted in fig5 . when the heating means are activated they heat the half - mould 14 to a temperature that is too high for an operator to be able to handle it bare handed . the temperature of the half - mould 14 is , for example , in excess of 100 ° c . when the half - moulds 14 , 16 need to be handled , it is therefore preferable to deactivate the heating means . nonetheless , this operation is not enough because the passive cooling of the half - mould 14 is a very slow process . the invention therefore proposes a method for actively cooling the half - mould 14 . this method is implemented after the heating means have been deactivated . according to this method , the half - moulding 14 is cooled by circulating a cold heat - transfer fluid directly in contact with the external face 28 thereof . the heat - transfer fluid in this instance circulates in the empty space 44 . to do this , at least one controlled heat - transfer fluid feed duct 50 opens directly into the empty space 44 to allow the heat - transfer fluid to be circulated between the external face 28 of the half - mould 14 and the bottom 42 of the housing 40 . in the example depicted in fig5 , the support 22 comprises two parallel feed ducts 50 . each feed duct 50 here extends vertically within the thickness of the support 22 , parallel to the bottom 42 of the housing 40 . each feed duct 50 is positioned near to a vertical lateral edge of the housing 40 . each feed duct 50 comprises at least one orifice 52 opening into the bottom 42 of the housing 40 . each feed duct 50 here comprises three orifices 52 opening out as depicted in fig6 . the orifices 52 are evenly distributed over the said bottom 42 along the vertical axis “ a ”. each orifice 52 is here arranged vertically between two spacer pieces 46 so as to allow an even distribution of the stream of heat - transfer fluid despite the presence of the spacer pieces 46 . each feed duct 50 is connected to a source or heat - transfer fluid via connecting means 54 which are arranged at a lower end of the support 22 . the heat - transfer fluid here is formed by a pressurized gas which is discharged into the atmosphere by passing through the gaps 48 . the pressurized gas in this instance is compressed air , for example at between 8 bar and 40 bar . the gaps 48 have a passage cross section that is large enough that the pressurized gas is made to expand as it circulates against the external face 28 of the half - mould 14 . this expansion causes a drop in the temperature of the gas thereby encouraging rapid cooling of the half - mould 14 by conducting heat from its external face 28 to the gas . this allows the heat of the half - mould 14 to be removed into the atmosphere very rapidly . the method is advantageously implemented with the two half - moulds 14 , 16 parted from one another to allow the heat - transfer fluid to be discharged at maximum flow rate . the device and the method for implementing it can thus effectively cool hot moulds 12 . for example , by using compressed air at 8 . 5 bar as the heat - transfer fluid , it is possible to cool several moulds 12 in under 15 minutes at a very low cost because of the relatively low pressure of the heat - transfer fluid . by increasing the pressure of the heat - transfer fluid it is of course possible to shorten the time taken to cool the moulds 12 even further . this is because the flow rate of heat - transfer fluid can be increased and it is possible to obtain a heat - transfer fluid that is very cold because of the great amount of expansion it has undergone . furthermore , the external face 28 of the half - mould 14 has a larger surface area than the internal face of the cavity 18 . thus , by circulating the heat - transfer fluid against the external face 28 of the half - mould 14 , it is possible to benefit from a larger area of contact between the heat - transfer fluid and the half - mould 14 . the removal of heat by conduction is thus greater than it would be if the heat - transfer fluid was circulated inside the moulding cavity 18 .	1
mailbox folders are a natural way for users to classify important information . accordingly , as disclosed herein , an “ organizational ” folder may be the way in which messages are grouped for policy enforcement . the creation of grouping mechanisms for messages may include : 1 ) the collections to which policies are applied ; 2 ) policies that can be applied to that grouping ; and 3 ) mechanisms to prove adherence to the policies . an organizational folder , may have several special properties . first , policies may be associated with organizational folders ( similar to the way in which properties are applied to folders in a general file system , or by storing the information in a corporate metadata repository such as ldap , or active directory ). second , only an administrator can change the policy settings on these folders . third , users may be prevented from renaming , moving , or ( in most cases ) deleting this folder type . fourth , an administrator can enter a url or text describing the policy . the e - mail lifecycle service ( elc ) will then stamp this information on the folders in the user &# 39 ; s mailbox and the messaging client can display this text to the user . this enables administrators to inform users about general corporate e - mail lifecycle policies as well as information about policies that apply to “ organizational ” folders in a natural and intuitive manner . fifth , a scheduled service may scan the metadata repository settings and compare to the settings in the user &# 39 ; s mailbox . the service may install new folders into the user &# 39 ; s mailbox as dictated in the metadata repository , change policy settings in the mailbox if the setting in the metadata repository have changed , and rename the mailbox folder if the folder name has changed . by creating this simple model , companies can enforce standard records management policies on the folders uniformly across the company , deploy certain policy folders administratively to users , and prevent these folders from being modified or deleted by the user . in some businesses , however , a records administrator cannot handle the work load to determine the folders needed by each user . as a result , users may also be given a mechanism whereby they can allocate an “ organizational ” folder to their mailbox . while the user has this folder , the company &# 39 ; s policies are enforced upon it . since the user requested the folder , he / she may be allowed to delete it whenever the user deems it necessary . however , the user may not be allowed to rename or move the folder . the following are examples of policies that can be defined on content grouped via an “ organizational ” folder . an “ autocopy ” policy may be provided whereby messages may be copied on a per - folder basis to an alternate message repository , which may support smtp . this enables certain messages to be retained for a specific period of time regardless of user action , or action to that user . a “ review before deletion ” or “ cascading expiration ” policy may be provided for creating a compliant records - management policy that demonstrates due diligence in retaining information . accordingly , it may be desirable to provide a mechanism by which items that will be removed in the near future are highlighted in some way , allowing the user to review and take action to keep any needed items . for example , users may be given the ability to review messages that will be deleted in the near future before the disposal occurs by moving message to be delete into a “ cleanup review ” folder ( the folder name is configurable ) from its original location in the mailbox . the message may remain in this folder for a specific period of time during which the user may review and save any needed items before they are automatically deleted . optionally , the e - mail lifecycle service can send warning e - mails to users giving them information about the items that will expire in the near future . administrators can customize these warning e - mails by customizing the subject and report text . an “ expiration ” policy may be provided whereby messages that are no longer needed for business or regulatory reasons are automatically disposed of on a per - folder basis once they reach a certain age . this prevents them from taking up space and increasing message management costs or surviving past their designated expiration time . a “ preservation ” policy may be provided whereby messages may be retained in the user &# 39 ; s mailbox on a per - folder basis . the user cannot delete these messages until they reach the end of its retention period . a “ per - folder quota ” policy may be provided to limit the amount of data that may be placed in a folder and its subfolders . this enables much more fine - grained storage quota support to allow administrators to controls how users utilize their mailbox storage in the presence of e - mail lifecycle folders . to establish a baseline set of policies for “ everything else ,” a policy can be created that applies to all folders for which a policy has not already been defined . any or all of the above - described policies may be applied , by default , to any message in the associated folder . however , different message types often require different policies . for example , an e - mail related to a certain subject may need to be retained for three years , whereas a voicemail attachment may be considered useful only for 90 days . it may be desirable , therefore , that multiple policy entries can be created for the same folder if they each specify different message classes . hence there can be a policy for e - mail and another for voice mails . another policy would be restricting deletion of messages from a “ dumpster .” it is common in messaging systems to support a “ dumpster ,” into which deleted items are placed temporarily . this allows users to quickly recover these items from accidental deletion errors . it is also used as an alternate mechanism to retain messages for a longer period of time by ensuring that messages remain in the system long enough to be captured by a backup process . a “ dumpster ” is also useful for companies that wish to recover messages during investigations of corporate policy violations . today a user can delete an item from their mailbox and then delete it from their “ dumpster ,” negating the aforementioned benefits . preventing users from deleting items from the dumpster protects these benefits . to track compliance , one may record when an item was filed into an “ organizational ” folder . providing the information as to when an item was categorized helps to demonstrate that a company &# 39 ; s recordkeeping practices are accurate and compliant . fig1 is a flowchart of an example method 200 for management and administration of message life - cycle management policies and administration . at 202 , a new elc mailbox folder may be created . fig2 depicts a user interface for creating a new elc folder . an email lifecycle folder is a folder in a mailbox with settings that control the content the folder contains . as shown in fig2 , a user , such as a system administrator , can choose a default mailbox folder ( e . g ., inbox ) to apply e - mail lifecycle settings to , or the administrator can create a custom organizational folder . the administrator can supply a name for the folder , and a storage limit for the folder and its subfolders . the administrator can also supply a name for the e - mail lifecycle folder to be displayed . the administrator can also supply the text of a comment that can be displayed when the folder is viewed in the document viewer or e - mail client . the administrator can indicate ( such as by checking or unchecking a box , for example ) whether end - users should be allowed to minimize the comment when the folder is viewed in outlook . after the administrator supplies the information , the administrator can cause the system to create the folder by clicking the “ create ” button . the user interface may also include a “ cancel ” button that enables the administrator to cancel the creation of an elc folder , and a “ help ” button that causes the system to provide explanatory information to the administrator . at 204 , elc content settings are created for the folder . elc content settings may provide a way to control the lifespan of items within a specified message type . for example , a content setting may be created to cause items to expire based on age and to be automatically copied to another location for storage . content settings may also provide a manner to copy in item to an archive , as discussed below . it should be understood that the concept of content settings may be generalized to the enforcement of some type of policy upon items tied together by some sort of grouping mechanism ( e . g ., a folder ). fig3 and 4 depict user interfaces for creating new e - mail lifecycle content settings . as shown in fig3 , the administrator may supply a message type ( e . g ., voicemail ). the administrator may also supply an expiration period ( i . e ., a period after which the message is deemed “ expired ”). the period may be specified in days , for example , or any other unit of time . the administrator may define when the expiration period starts ( e . g ., when the item is moved to the folder ), and may specify an action to be taken when the message expires ( e . g ., permanently delete the item ). the administrator may also specify the name of an organizational folder to which the messages should be moved upon expiration . the administrator may supply a name for the elc content settings to be displayed in the microsoft exchange system manager . the user interface may also include a “ cancel ” button that enables the administrator to cancel the creation of content settings , a “ help ” button that causes the system to provide explanatory information to the administrator , and a “ next ” button that enables the administrator to move onto a next screen . as shown in fig4 , the administrator may select whether to automatically forward a copy of items of the specified message type to another location ( e . g ., by checking / unchecking a box , for example ). the administrator may supply a name associated with the location ( e . g ., a name of a folder to which the items are to be autocopied ). the administrator can assign a label to the copy of the message , and specify a message format associated with the message . the user interface may also include a “ cancel ” button that enables the administrator to cancel the creation of content settings , a “ help ” button that causes the system to provide explanatory information to the administrator , a “ next ” button that enables the administrator to move onto a next screen , and a “ back ” button that enables the administrator to move back to a previous screen . at 205 , the folder may be linked to a policy , which is effectively a grouping mechanism for folders . this policy is then applied to a mailbox , at 206 , by linking the settings for the folder to the settings for the mailbox . as shown in fig5 , settings associated with a mailbox 300 may be defined at 302 . a new mailbox policy , which is used to group folders , may be created at 304 . the new folders may then be linked to the mailbox policy at 306 . the mailbox policy may then be applied to the mailbox 300 at 308 . thus , a link may be formed from the folder and content settings , via the policy , to the mailbox settings . as shown , the mailbox 300 may include a default folder ( e . g ., inbox ) 310 and an organizational folder ( e . g ., legal docs ) 320 . a first set of content settings 312 may be defined for the default folder 310 ( e . g ., delete all e - mails after 365 days ). a second set of content settings 322 may be defined for the organization folder 320 ( e . g ., copy all voicemails to archive ). the administrator may “ push ” the folders to the mailbox , or the end - user may pull one or more organizational folders into his or her mailbox . to pull folders , the end - user may navigate to a user - interface , such as an opt - in web page , for example , that enables the user to select from a number of available organizational folders . an example of such a user interface is depicted in fig6 . as shown , the end - user may be presented with a list of available organizational folders . each such folder may have an associated name . the user interface may also provide a respective description of each of the available folders . the description may be provided in any language , such as latin , for example , and the language in which the description is given need not be the same as the language in which the name is given . the end - user can select one or more folders to be added to the end - user &# 39 ; s mailbox by checking respective boxes associated with the folders to be added . the user interface may include a button that the end - user can select to cause the system to add the selected folders to the end - user &# 39 ; s mailbox . the elc service may then be instructed to act upon these settings by creating , at 208 , the appropriate folders in the mailbox and enforcing , at 210 , the life - cycle management policies associated with those folders . the elc service may launch an “ elc assistant ,” according to a schedule , to enforce the life - cycle management policies . fig7 depicts a user interface for displaying and defining such a schedule . the system administrator can define any desired schedule accordingly to which the elc assistant is to run . if the end - user selected one or more organizational folders to be added to the mailbox , the selected folders may be added immediately upon the end - user &# 39 ; s selection of the “ add to outlook ” button . if the system administrator arranged for the folders to be pushed to the end - user &# 39 ; s mailbox , the next time the elc assistant runs , the elc assistant will create the necessary folders in the mailbox . fig8 depicts an end - user &# 39 ; s mailbox folder display after a number of organizational folders have been added to the end - user &# 39 ; s mailbox . as shown , for example , one or more organizational folders ( e . g ., business critical long t , business value , client contracts , and pilot plans ) may exist under a collective folder named “ my organizational folders .” fig9 depicts a user interface that enables a user to classify content . as described above , organizational folders may be provisioned in mailboxes . preferably , these folders cannot be moved , renamed , or deleted . lifecycle management policies may be enforced on a per - folder basis . a user may classify items by dragging them into folders . as described above , outlook can display a description of the policy , as shown in fig9 . each time the elc assistant is run , it determines which emails are no longer needed ( i . e ., have expired ) and which need to be kept . e - mails that have expired can be deleted . expiration policies may be configurable per message type ( e . g ., e - mail , appointment , voicemail , etc .) within a folder and may be based on message age / size . policy actions may include deleting a message ( which may include permanently deleting an item , or moving a “ deleted ” item to a location from which it may be recovered ), moving a message to another folder , marking a message as expired , and logging only . optionally , an e - mail listing soon - to - be - deleted items can be sent out to all end - users of the mailbox system , or to those end - users whose mailboxes have items that are soon to be deleted . a log listing each expired item may be maintained . e - mails that need to be kept can be autocopied to a repository ( i . e ., exchange , sharepoint , or kvs , for example ). an item sent to the repository may be stamped with a label to note how it was classified . a log listing each autocopied item may be maintained . logs can be maintained , and summary reports can be provided , to show the extent of ( non ) compliance with the lifecycle management policies . logs may be kept locally , or in a microsoft office manager or system center for data consolidation and viewing . reports can include statistics to show the number of items and amount of data in different e - mail filing folders . users who are not following a policy can also be listed . fig1 depicts a user interface for a discovery tool that enables a system administrator to search through items across multiple mailboxes . the discovery tool may scan all messages and attachments . as shown , the system may enable the administrator to search on any number of message document properties . for example , the system may enable the administrator to perform full - text , keyword searches , and to restrict a search by mailbox / dl and / or date range . the system enables the administrator to name the search , and to designate an “ output mailbox ” to which the results are to be exported . it should be understood that search results may be gathered in any number of ways , and that exporting search results to a mailbox is merely an example . search results may be “ triaged ” with outlook / owa , for example . owa ( outlook web access ) allows a client with a compatible browser to access exchange server folders . “ triage ,” as that term is used herein , refers to a records management discovery process that sifts through matched items to determine which items are , in fact , items of interest . as the items are contained in a separate mailbox , a special review tool need not be provided . that is , a standard email client such as outlook or owa may be employed . the user interface may also enable the administrator to request ( by checking a box , for example ) a detailed audit log associated with the search . fig1 and the following discussion are intended to provide a brief general description of a suitable computing environment in which an example embodiment of the invention may be implemented . it should be understood , however , that handheld , portable , and other computing devices of all kinds are contemplated for use in connection with the present invention . while a general purpose computer is described below , this is but one example . the present invention also may be operable on a thin client having network server interoperability and interaction . thus , an example embodiment of the invention may be implemented in an environment of networked hosted services in which very little or minimal client resources are implicated , e . g ., a networked environment in which the client device serves merely as a browser or interface to the world wide web . although not required , the invention can be implemented via an application programming interface ( api ), for use by a developer or tester , and / or included within the network browsing software which will be described in the general context of computer - executable instructions , such as program modules , being executed by one or more computers ( e . g ., client workstations , servers , or other devices ). generally , program modules include routines , programs , objects , components , data structures and the like that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types . typically , the functionality of the program modules may be combined or distributed as desired in various embodiments . moreover , those skilled in the art will appreciate that the invention may be practiced with other computer system configurations . other 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 ( pcs ), automated teller machines , server computers , hand - held or laptop devices , multi - processor systems , microprocessor - based systems , programmable consumer electronics , network pcs , minicomputers , mainframe computers , and the like . an embodiment of 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 or other data transmission medium . in a distributed computing environment , program modules may be located in both local and remote computer storage media including memory storage devices . fig1 thus illustrates an example of a suitable computing system environment 100 in which the invention may be implemented , although as made clear above , the computing system environment 100 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 100 be interpreted as having any dependency or requirement relating to any one or combination of components illustrated in the exemplary operating environment 100 . with reference to fig1 , an example system for implementing the invention includes a general purpose computing device in the form of a computer 110 . components of computer 110 may include , but are not limited to , a processing unit 120 , a system memory 130 , and a system bus 121 that couples various system components including the system memory to the processing unit 120 . the system bus 121 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 electronics standards association ( vesa ) local bus , and peripheral component interconnect ( pci ) bus ( also known as mezzanine bus ). computer 110 typically includes a variety of computer readable media . computer readable media can be any available media that can be accessed by computer 110 and includes both volatile and nonvolatile , removable and non - removable 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 non - removable 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 , random access memory ( ram ), read - only memory ( rom ), electrically - erasable programmable read - only memory ( eeprom ), flash memory or other memory technology , compact disc read - only memory ( cdrom ), 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 computer 110 . 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 , radio frequency ( rf ), infrared , and other wireless media . combinations of any of the above should also be included within the scope of computer readable media . the system memory 130 includes computer storage media in the form of volatile and / or nonvolatile memory such as rom 131 and ram 132 . a basic input / output system 133 ( bios ), containing the basic routines that help to transfer information between elements within computer 110 , such as during start - up , is typically stored in rom 131 . ram 132 typically contains data and / or program modules that are immediately accessible to and / or presently being operated on by processing unit 120 . by way of example , and not limitation , fig1 illustrates operating system 134 , application programs 135 , other program modules 136 , and program data 137 . ram 132 may contain other data and / or program modules . the computer 110 may also include other removable / non - removable , volatile / nonvolatile computer storage media . by way of example only , fig1 illustrates a hard disk drive 141 that reads from or writes to non - removable , nonvolatile magnetic media , a magnetic disk drive 151 that reads from or writes to a removable , nonvolatile magnetic disk 152 , and an optical disk drive 155 that reads from or writes to a removable , nonvolatile optical disk 156 , such as a cd rom or other optical media . other removable / non - removable , volatile / nonvolatile computer storage media that can be used in the example operating environment include , but are not limited to , magnetic tape cassettes , flash memory cards , digital versatile disks , digital video tape , solid state ram , solid state rom , and the like . the hard disk drive 141 is typically connected to the system bus 121 through a non - removable memory interface such as interface 140 , and magnetic disk drive 151 and optical disk drive 155 are typically connected to the system bus 121 by a removable memory interface , such as interface 150 . the drives and their associated computer storage media discussed above and illustrated in fig1 provide storage of computer readable instructions , data structures , program modules and other data for the computer 110 . in fig1 , for example , hard disk drive 141 is illustrated as storing operating system 144 , application programs 145 , other program modules 146 , and program data 147 . note that these components can either be the same as or different from operating system 134 , application programs 135 , other program modules 136 , and program data 137 . operating system 144 , application programs 145 , other program modules 146 , and program data 147 are given different numbers here to illustrate that , at a minimum , they are different copies . a user may enter commands and information into the computer 110 through input devices such as a keyboard 162 and pointing device 161 , commonly referred to as a mouse , trackball or touch pad . other input devices ( not shown ) may include a microphone , joystick , game pad , satellite dish , scanner , or the like . these and other input devices are often connected to the processing unit 120 a - f through a user input interface 160 that is coupled to the system bus 121 , but may be connected by other interface and bus structures , such as a parallel port , game port or a universal serial bus ( usb ). a monitor 191 or other type of display device is also connected to the system bus 121 via an interface , such as a video interface 190 . in addition to monitor 191 , computers may also include other peripheral output devices such as speakers 197 and printer 196 , which may be connected through an output peripheral interface 195 . the computer 110 may operate in a networked environment using logical connections to one or more remote computers , such as a remote computer 180 . the remote computer 180 may be a personal computer , a server , a router , a network pc , a peer device or other common network node , and typically includes many or all of the elements described above relative to the computer 110 , although only a memory storage device 181 has been illustrated in fig1 . the logical connections depicted in fig1 include a local area network ( lan ) 171 and a wide area network ( wan ) 173 , but may also include other networks . such networking environments are commonplace in offices , enterprise - wide computer networks , intranets and the internet . when used in a lan networking environment , the computer 110 is connected to the lan 171 through a network interface or adapter 170 . when used in a wan networking environment , the computer 110 typically includes a modem 172 or other means for establishing communications over the wan 173 , such as the internet . the modem 172 , which may be internal or external , may be connected to the system bus 121 via the user input interface 160 , or other appropriate mechanism . in a networked environment , program modules depicted relative to the computer 110 , or portions thereof , may be stored in the remote memory storage device . by way of example , and not limitation , fig1 illustrates remote application programs 185 as residing on memory device 181 . 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 . one of ordinary skill in the art can appreciate that a computer 110 or other client devices can be deployed as part of a computer network . in this regard , the present invention pertains to any computer system having any number of memory or storage units , and any number of applications and processes occurring across any number of storage units or volumes . an embodiment of the present invention may apply to an environment with server computers and client computers deployed in a network environment , having remote or local storage . the present invention may also apply to a standalone computing device , having programming language functionality , interpretation and execution capabilities .	6
referring to fig1 a typical cpb circuit is indicated generally by reference numeral 10 . the patient is shown by numeral 12 . a venous cannula 13 inserted into the patient is connected into a fluid inlet tube 14 that directs blood from the patient to a venous reservoir 18 . another cannula 15 inserted in the patient is connected to another fluid inlet 16 that also leads from the patient to venous reservoir 18 . reservoir 18 may be a pole mounted unit or may be located on the heart - lung machine table , but in either case normally is the first fixed point in the circuit , lines 14 and 16 normally being flexible and long enough to allow surgeon and surgical assistants room to maneuver around the surgical table . the purpose of venous reservoir 18 is to accumulate the admitted blood for feeding the balance of the cpb circuit . the accumulator eliminates pump starvation and cessation of pump prime by providing a buffer from ebb and flow of blood from the patient . from the venous reservoir , plastic tubing 20 leads to the inlet side of a roller pump 22 . roller pump 22 has a hub 24 from which protrude two arms 26 . these arms impinge on the tubing 20 collapsing it . rotation of the pump hub 24 in the direction indicated by reference numeral 28 provides the desired flow direction and flow rate . the blood leaves the roller pump 22 through tubing 30 to the inlet of the oxygenator 32 . the blood can be thermally adjusted by passing it from the oxygenator 32 through tubing 34 into a heat exchanger 36 for heating or cooling before returning to the oxygenator 32 by tubing 38 . upon oxygenation , the blood exits the oxygenator in two ways . the first way is through tubing 40 to another roller pump 42 , from there pumped through tubing 44 to a cardioplegia system 46 , then to the patient 12 through outlet tubing 47 and a cannula 48 . the other mechanism with which the blood leaves the oxygenator 32 is through tubing 50 . a filter 52 is located on a side branch of this portion of the circuit . when it is desired to use the filter 52 , tubing 50 is clamped in the area noted by numeral 54 and the blood travels through the filter 52 before returning to the patient through outlet tubing 57 and a cannula 56 . the venous return reservoir 18 is the juncture of all blood removed from the patient . it is at this location where the improvement according to this invention suitably may be added to the cpb circuit , prior to the pump 22 and the blood treatment oxygenator 32 . fig2 depicts an extracorporeal blood treatment circuit in general , designated by reference numeral 11 , and in which reference numerals are the same for the like elements found in the specific cpb circuit shown in fig1 . reference numeral 41 represents a blood treatment component . in the case of a cpb apparatus as in fig1 blood treatment component 41 comprises at least oxygenator 32 and optionally also heat exchanger 36 with connecting tubing 34 , 38 and either or both of ( 1 ) the cardioplegia system 46 with associated second pump 42 and connecting tubing 40 , 44 , 47 and ( 2 ) the filter 52 with associated tubing 50 . numeral 17 indicates a blood fluid inlet generally and numeral 49 indicates a fluid outlet for blood return generally to the patient in fig2 . in accordance with this invention , blood treatment component 41 of the fluid circuit of the apparatus 11 , instead of being an oxygenation system as in fig1 suitably may be a heat exchange system 36 , a renal dialysis component for exchange of urea and other blood chemicals with a dialysate solution across an exchange membrane , or an organ perfusion component such as an ex vivo liver and perfusion support system tying into circuit interconnects 30 and 49 . in accordance with this invention , one of more feeds of nitric oxide are employed , as necessary in the particular circuit , to maintain the concentration of nitric oxide in the circulating extracorporeal blood at a dosage effective to produce the desired inhibition of platelet activation over a period of time sufficient for the journey through the extracorporeal circulation apparatus yet insufficient to sustain the inhibition after the blood is returned to the patient and desired dosages . fig3 depicts one such feed at the initial ( venous inlet ) portion of the circuit illustrated in fig1 . in this preferred embodiment of the invention , a gas permeable membrane 60 is located within a conduit 62 of the blood circuit located immediately downstream from the reservoir 18 . the gas permeable membrane 60 is elongated and tubular in form and is disposed longitudinally within conduit 62 adapted to come into contact with blood flowing through conduit 62 . a gaseous source , a mixture of nitric oxide and a carrier gas such as nitrogen , is housed in container 68 under high pressure . regulator 66 controls the output gas pressure to periodic driver 69 . the purpose of the periodic driver 69 is to induce a sinusoidal shaped pressure curve to the gas much like a &# 34 ; pulse &# 34 ;. the gas leaves the driver through tubing 64 and flows into the interior of gas permeable membrane 60 . due to the permeability of this membrane 60 to nitric oxide gas , the gas will diffluse through the membrane and dissolve in the blood plasma where it will come into contact with platelets . the membrane is selected to be impermeable to nitrogen and the nitrogen carrier gas will not diffuse through the membrane . coupled to the outlet of the membrane 60 is outlet tubing 61 , which is connected to valve 63 . valve 63 adjusts the back pressure of the system . from the valve 63 the carrier gas and any residual nitric oxide gas is carried through tube 65 into container 67 , which is filled with a scavenger liquid such as methylene blue . the gas mixture is allowed to bubble up through the container containing the scavenger liquid . the scavenger liquid absorbs any residual nitric oxide so that the only gas that escapes into the atmosphere is the carrier gas . blood guarded by dissolved nitric oxide exits conduit 62 and into tubing 20 where is passes by a conventional blood flow measuring device 90 . signals from blood flow measuring device 90 are transferred by line 92 to controller feedback logic component 94 which outputs a signal through line 96 to controller driver component 98 for controlling pressure and flow from regulator 66 . the controller system comprising units 90 , 94 and 98 with connecting lines 92 and 96 controls the flow of gas into membrane 60 in relation to the flow of blood through tubing 20 . in this manner , when the flow rate of the blood is low , the nitric oxide introduction is correspondingly and automatically reduced . conversely , in cases of high flow the nitric oxide introduction is correspondingly and automatically raised . the gas permeable membrane 62 has a gas permeable rate k which is dependent on the material of construction and the molecular characteristics of the gas . for nitric oxide , the gaseous release rate from membrane 60 is proportional to k , the exposed surface of the membrane to the blood , the internal gaseous pressure within the membrane and the hydraulic pressure of and gas tension of nitric oxide ( if any ) in the blood flowing by it . delivered molecular concentrations to the blood is calculated knowing the above plus the absorption coefficient of the blood to the nitric oxide . thus the controller controls the gas flow and at a level which , for the characteristics of membrane 60 and the absorption coefficient of nitric oxide gas at the temperature of the blood in the apparatus ( before thermal adjustment , if any ), is sufficient to provide an actual concentration of nitric oxide in solution effective in the presence of venous red blood cell blood hemoglobin to inhibit platelet activation . fig4 illustrates a longitudinal sectional view of the conduit 62 , the gas permeable membrane 60 and the tubing 64 . nitric oxide gas flows into the membrane 60 at location 70 . as the gas pressure inside the gas permeable membrane 60 exceeds the pressure of the blood within conduit 62 , nitric oxide gas will diffuse from the membrane into the blood stream as indicated by arrows 74 . the nitric oxide will be absorbed by the blood cellular components which will mediate the inflammatory response as described earlier . referring to fig5 which illustrates a cross section of fig3 along the line a -- a , the relationship between the geometry &# 39 ; s of the conduit 62 and gas permeable membrane 60 is as follows . the cross sectional area of the inside of conduit 62 minus the sectional area of the gas permeable membrane 60 ( such difference being referenced by numeral 76 ) is approximately equivalent to the cross section of the tubing elsewhere in the cpb circuit , ( i . e . the cross section of tubing element 20 ). with this relationship the blood is not subjected to an adverse pressure gradient in conduit 62 . longitudinally , the shape of the gas permeable membrane 60 follows that of the conduit 62 , again so that adverse pressure gradients are not imparted into the circuit . fig6 illustrates another preferred embodiment of the invention . in this embodiment a carrier gas is not used so that container 68 holds a 100 % concentration of nitric oxide . a pulse drive generator 69 is not shown but may be present . in this embodiment , there is no outlet conduit of membrane 60 . as pressure builds up in conduit 60 , the nitric oxide diffuses into the bloodstream as previously described . because there are no residual carrier gas molecules , there is no need for a return . simply stated , components 61 , 63 , 65 , and 67 of the embodiment depicted in fig2 are absent at the distal end of membrane 60 and the tube 62 in this configuration . as in the embodiment depicted in fig3 a controller comprising components 90 , 94 and 98 with connections 92 and 96 controls the concentration of nitric oxide in solution in the blood . fig8 illustrates a cross sectional view b -- b of fig7 with the same numbers used in the same way as in fig5 . the above embodiments illustrate an optimal configuration of the invention in which the blood flows around the external portion of a gas permeable membrane 60 . while it is within the scope of this invention that the system can be configured so that the gas is on the external portion of the membrane and blood is flowed within the membrane , in low gas pressure conditions some membranes dilate , increasing the cross sectional area of the membrane and lowering blood flow through that portion of the apparatus , and in high gas pressure conditions , some membranes might collapse , reducing blood flow . in the preferred embodiments , if gas flow is zero , the membrane might collapse but it would not occlude or preclude blood flow . fig9 depicts another embodiment of the invention . in this embodiment the nitric oxide feed is to reservoir 18 . the feed comprises a diffuser 100 for diffusing nitric oxide gas into the reservoir , and comprises a regulator 66 for controlling gas pressure and rate of flow into the reservoir and a driver 69 for delivering the nitric oxide gas into reservoir 18 through inlet 64 in a pulsatile manner . suitably diffuser 100 comprises a membrane or filter 80 that is not permeable to blood and is permeable to nitric oxide gas through which nitric oxide gas is introduced into the reservoir . as in the embodiment depicted in fig3 and 6 , a controller comprising components 90 , 94 and 98 with connections 92 and 96 controls the concentration of nitric oxide in solution in the blood . it is important that the location of the nitric oxide feed be close to the patient cannulation point as possible in the extracorporeal circuit to reduce so much as practicable the period of exposure of platelets to non - endothelial surfaces . at least one feed location is described generally as upstream of the pump that is needed to circulate the blood extracorporeally through the system and back to the patient . with reference to the fig2 that point is anywhere in line 15 . in fig3 - 9 , which involve a cpb circuit where blood from two inlets 14 and 16 is pooled in reservoir 18 , either the reservoir or the tubing immediately past the reservoir is selected for initial introduction of the nitric oxide , for the practical reason that these are the closest stationary locations in the system to the patient source of blood and also because control of nitric oxide introduction is most readily accomplished in the reservoir or in the blood filled lines in the immediately downstream tubing under the influence of a pump as opposed to in the blood inlet lines where lines are mobile to allow access to the surgical field , and especially in the case of blood suctioned from the operative field where intermittent blood and air flow occurs . the closest stationary location will vary according to the blood treatment component 41 involved in the use of this invention . because of the very short half life of nitric oxide in the blood , additional feeds may be used further downstream to maintain the desired nitric oxide concentration in the blood without overdosing the blood in but one location . the foregoing embodiments in fig3 - 9 therefore only illustrate examples of the invention as applied to cpb , and are not to be taken as limiting the scope of the invention , which is defined in the appended claims .	0
fig1 illustrates an embodiment of the present invention wherein a pair of eyeglasses 10 is provided with a frame 12 having ear pieces 14 and 16 and a pair of lens 18 and 20 . in this embodiment , lens 18 is color enhanced to pass a minor portion , preferably about 10 % to 30 % of a color of selected wavelength , whereas lens 20 is clear or of a color which preferably passes about 70 % to 100 % of the same color . when used as an aid in highlighting the color red , for example , lens 18 would be blue , cyan or green . as stated , supra , this is particularly adapted for use as an aid to a hunter when following a blood trail left by a wounded animal . fig2 illustrates an embodiment of the invention which permits intermittent viewing of an object . the eyeglass assembly is in the form of goggles and includes a frame 22 having upper sections 24 and lower sections 26 . a color enhancing lens 28 is mounted in a section 30 of the goggle assembly . lens 28 is a movable ( rotatable ) lens which is periodically rotated past one eye of the observer , to provide intermittent viewing of the object . in practice , it was apparent that such intermittent viewing provided a glistening effect to the blood trail thus enabling the hunter to follow the blood trail more readily . the other lens 29 is clear or is of a color to permit the major ( over 50 %) of the color of the object to reach the other eye . an actuating mechanism 32 is mounted in the upper portion 24 of frame 22 and includes a dc electric motor 34 having a rotatable output shaft 36 . lens 28 is shown to be mounted to a rotatable wheel 38 which is secured to a stub shaft 40 secured to a bracket 39 supported in frame 22 . a belt 42 connects wheel 38 to output shaft 36 for rotation therewith . the lens is an elongated flat strip which is rotated past the viewer &# 39 ; s eye . a battery 44 is connected to the dc motor for electrically energizing the motor . a variable resistor 46 for controlling the rate of rotation of the motor may be provided . fig3 and 4 illustrate an embodiment wherein a movable lens 45 is rotated by a dc motor 47 as described above . however , in this embodiment , lens 45 is mounted to an annular member or wheel 48 which is in engagement with a wheel 50 secured to motor output shaft 52 . wheel 48 is secured to a shaft 54 which extends from a support member 56 secured to a bracket 58 which extends across the lower portion 60 of a goggle frame 62 . the lower portion 60 is adjacent the eyes 64 of the wearer . the wheel is open in the middle 66 to permit the wearer to see through lens 45 . a spring 68 has one end connected to the support member 56 and a second end secured to motor 47 . the spring 68 biases the wheel 50 of motor 47 and lens supporting wheel 48 together to maintain wheel 48 and wheel 50 in snug fitting engagement . it is to be understood that while the color red has been specifically discussed herein , the lens has application to different colors . in such application , a color filter is selected for one eye that will block a major portion , preferably about 70 % to 90 % of the color to be highlighted . a clear or colored lens may be provided for the other eye that will pass a major portion , preferably about 70 % to 100 % of the same color , or the eye may be left uncovered . the selective color enhancing device of the present invention provides the following advantages when used by a hunter in following a blood trail . b . it works in sunlight and in shaded conditions , and will work after dark with the light from a standard flashlight . c . it detects blood because of its color , therefore , it works on blood that is partially dissolved or somewhat diluted because of dew or rain . e . it detects blood on damp grass , leaves or soil , since it highlights red and is not hindered by the shine from the moisture . f . it will detect very small droplets of blood against a background of green wheat or dark brown to black soil . this feature is further enhanced by using a blue filter over the non - red limiting eye that will allow the red to enter but will darken or alter the color of the background . g . it makes it easy to spot ( or see ) hunter orange or blaze orange while it is being used . orange is highlighted along with red since it is very near ( next to ) red on the color spectrum . this is a good hunter safety aspect of the invention . h . it may be useful in finding lost hunters in the woods from the ground , or from aircraft , if the hunter is wearing hunter orange . the invention is best practiced in the form of eyeglasses ( spectacles ). the glasses should be of the sporting sun glass type with optical quality lens . there should be clip - ons available also . glasses can be made in prescription and in non - prescription lens . the plastic lens are to be of optical quality and should be dyed to specifications while the plastic is in the molten stage . the dye should be optical quality , aniline type , and give the desired filtering and selective color range transmission properties to the lens . the color and characteristics are determined by the targeted portion of the visible light color spectrum that the observer wishes to select or highlight . the lens over the other eye ( the non - critical lens ) can be customized to subdue , alter or diminish selected colors but it must allow at least 50 % more of the desired target color to pass than does the critical lens . optical quality plastic that is dyed while in the molten stage is preferred for manufacture of the lens ; however , a lens dipping process may be used whereby a clear optical grade plastic lens is dipped into a heated vat of dye . aniline dyes and catalytic molecular dyes may be resorted to in order to provided the proper color filtering . the invention can be practiced in the form of goggles , if desired , with a head band attachment device and color filter plastic lens . the invention can also be practiced in the form of a monocle , with a securing strap . this would limit the advantages of altering background colors with other lens . if desired , the lens concept of the present invention may be combined with or as a part of binoculars generally carried by hunters .	6
therefore , uml is a modeling tool based on an object approach . this type of modeling may also appear inappropriate a priori when it is required to manipulate data , since in this case the functional approach is more intuitive . but in fact one of the main principles of the invention is that it is contrary to this preconception , in that it applies concepts specific to the uml notation to modeling reference data for an is . therefore , the invention is intended to make a uml model of data in an is that is consistent with urbanism of reference data for an is . in this context , any data in an is may be interpreted as the implementation of a specialized concept ( uml class stereotype ). the specialized concepts defined in an is inherit a generic concept ( uml class stereotype ). specialization of a generic concept is then a characteristic of the urbanism of an is . specialization is a concept related to inheritance in the uml notation . more specifically , inheritance is a relation between classes that enables the definition and implementation of a class based on other existing classes . the inheritance relation also enables a class to reuse attributes and methods defined for a more general class . for example , considering the context of a company , a generic concept entitled an order line can be defined . in a first case , this order line may be specialized by segmentation of the clientele market ( company , general public ) or by the technology of products or services in the company &# 39 ; s commercial catalogue ( analogue , digital , etc .). the invention has the objective of advantageously using an uml possibility of making homogenous groups of data . the different concepts defined are thus grouped in categories according to logical criteria . these categories may be represented using the uml packeting concept . one important characteristic of the invention then consists of building a categories diagram in which categories are grouped according to a predefined typing of these categories . this typing of categories of an is according to the invention , and therefore the concepts contained in it or data corresponding to specialized concepts , is defined as follows with relation to fig1 : categories related to flows that group generic concepts and specialized concepts with a life cycle that precisely corresponds to the life cycle of a process ( for example order , invoice type categories ); categories related to stocks , that group generic concepts and specialized concepts that change state following activation of a flow and with a life cycle not limited to the life cycle of a process ( for example the customer , customer fleet , customer account type categories ); code categories that group generic concepts used to reference information related to flows or stocks ( for example a commercial catalogue type category ). with reference to fig2 to 5 , a first embodiment of the invention is described using the uml data modeling in order to describe reference data for an existing is and deposits of these data . in this example , the is corresponds to the is of a company , and a data deposit means any location of data that could constitute a valuable information source , such as company databases , files , etc . this embodiment of the invention is that of an existing is in which the description of reference data and their deposits is necessary , for urbanism reasons . the flow studied in this example is the flow of an order from a supplier , by a customer who already has a fleet from this supplier and therefore has an account with him . like the commercial fleet , the order is referenced through a commercial catalogue . starting from typing of categories proposed by this invention , a first diagram of the manipulated categories is obtained with reference to fig2 : a flow type category f is defined as being the order category , a stock type category s is defined as being the customer , customer commercial fleet and customer account category , and a code type category c is defined as being the commercial catalogue category . the various categories thus defined are related to each other on the diagram by uml dependence relations , each materialized by one or several reference data for an is . uml dependence relations are diagrammatically represented by dashed lines in the figures . once categories have been grouped in this way by typing , one essential characteristic of the invention consists of making groups of generic concepts in a same category consistent with is application data deposits . this operation to create consistency is defined by applying the principle according to which reference data defined by specialized concepts inherited generic concepts in a same category and with exactly the same specialization necessarily belong to the data deposit for one and only one application . in our example , the category related to stocks s contains specialized concepts for which the corresponding reference data belong to different deposits in the is . the reference data related to the customer are in the supplier &# 39 ; s customer management application , data related to the customer commercial fleet are located in order applications specific to the technology , and data related to the customer account are located in an invoicing application . starting from the principle described above , the definition of categories is like that shown in fig3 : three categories related to stocks s 1 , s 2 and s 3 , entitled customer commercial fleet , customer and customer account respectively . thus according to the invention , generic concepts belonging to the same category must define reference data belonging to the same data deposit , in other words the deposit of a single application . another important step for the method according to the invention consists of defining a direction for uml dependence relations relating categories together . the orientation of relations between categories , which in the past depended on relations between data in the is being studied , is firstly related to typing of these categories . thus according to the invention , the orientation of relations starting from typing is defined as follows : a uml dependence relation between a flow type category and a stock type category is in the direction from the flow type category towards the stock type category , and a uml dependence relation between a flow type category or a stock type category and a code type category is in the direction from the flow type category or the stock type category towards the code type category . based on these principles , the oriented categories diagram in fig4 is obtained . thus , the orientations of uml dependence relations ending with the order flow type category f represent this flow type category as the starting point . in dependence relations with the order category taken as the starting point , the stock type category s 1 customer commercial fleet , stock type category s 2 customer and the code type category c commercial catalogue are target categories . similarly , the starting point of the dependence relation between category s 1 customer commercial fleet and category c commercial catalogue is the stock type category , namely the category s 1 customer commercial fleet . finally , the direction or the orientation of a uml dependence relation between categories also depends on the deposit of reference data containing the relation . if two reference data are related to each other , this relation is translated by a uml dependence relation between the categories to which two generic concepts for which the specialized concepts corresponding to the said reference data inherit , belong . according to the invention , the uml dependence relation is then oriented such that its starting point is the category to which the generic concept corresponding to the reference data for which the data deposit comprises the reference data containing the relation between the two reference data , belongs . in other words , if the reference data containing the relation between two reference data d 1 and d 2 is in the same deposit as the reference data d 1 , then the dependence relation between the corresponding generic concepts , cg 1 for d 1 and cg 2 for d 2 is in the direction from cg 1 to cg 2 . thus , the application in which the deposit of reference data d 2 is localized must offer the data , for example through a service , to the application containing the reference data d 1 in its deposit , and not the inverse . the concept of a reference for a relation between data is then translated like a uml dependence relation oriented between generic concepts under the responsibility of the generic concept from which the dependence relation originates . this orientation between generic concepts immediately affects the categories to which they belong in the form of dependence relations oriented in the same direction . the consequence for the urbanism of an existing is is that it is possible to describe which applications should offer their data to other applications in the is , and for an is being modified , it is possible to define which applications should offer their data to other applications in the is . thus , the definition of a direction of dependence relations between categories related to the reference concept according to the principle presented above , provides a means of completing the categories diagram in fig4 modeling is data to obtain the diagram in fig5 . in the is in this example , order applications implement the link between a customer &# 39 ; s commercial fleet , and the customer and his account . the starting points of the dependence relations concerned are category s 1 customer commercial fleet , and their targets are category s 2 customer and category s 3 customer account . therefore , the application for which the deposit contains the reference data describing a customer must supply this data to the application for which the deposit contains the reference data describing a customer commercial fleet . similarly , the application for which the deposit contains the reference data describing a customer account must supply this data to the application for which the deposit contains the reference data describing a customer commercial fleet . this invention also relates to a method of locating reference data deposits , to support uml modeling principles defined in the above description with reference to fig1 to 5 . this second aspect of the invention is described with reference to fig6 illustrating a categories diagram related to a front office type software package that implements the order flow and an invoicing software package that implements the invoicing flow . the localizing process according to this invention uses a category diagram as input , in which all dependence relations are oriented according to the previously defined principles . therefore , the categories diagram in fig6 is produced according to the principles defined by the uml model of the reference data of an is according to this invention . the categories in the categories diagram illustrated in fig6 are defined as follows : two flow type categories f 1 entitled order , and f 2 entitled invoice . three stock type categories s 1 , s 2 and s 3 , entitled customer commercial fleet , customer and customer account respectively . for dependence relations , category f 1 is related to stock type categories s 1 and s 2 and to the code type category c 1 , by dependence relations . according to the principles governing the orientation of dependence relations described above , the starting point for the direction of these relations originates with category f 1 and its targets are categories s 1 , s 2 and c 1 respectively . category f 2 is related to the stock type category s 3 , by a dependence relation . according to principles governing the orientation of dependence relations mentioned above , the starting point for the direction of this relation is category f 2 , and its target is category s 3 . category s 1 is related by two dependence relations to stock type categories s 2 and s 3 . according to the principles governing the orientation of dependence relations mentioned above , the starting point for the direction of these relations is category s 1 and its targets are categories s 2 and s 3 respectively . finally , category s 1 is related by a dependence relation to the code type category c 1 . according to the principles governing the orientation of dependence relations mentioned above , the direction of this relation originates in category s 1 and its target is category c 1 . the method according to the invention proposes to make an ordered path in the categories diagram , starting from flow type categories and working towards code type categories , in order to localize the position of reference data deposits corresponding to specialized concepts that belong to a same category . deposits of reference data are localized making use of an ordered path like that defined above , based on an algorithm that uses the following steps : reiterate the following steps for each flow type category : locate the reference data deposit associated with the said flow type category ; for each stock type category , target of at least one dependence relation starting from the said flow type category , and reiterate the following steps :— locate the reference data deposit associated with the said stock type category and give priority to the choice of the reference data deposit associated with the said flow type category , and ;— for any other stock type category , target of at least one dependence relation originating with the said stock type category , localize the reference data deposit associated with the said other stock type category and give priority to the choice of the reference data deposit associated with the said stock type category ; for each code type category target of at least one dependence relation starting from the said flow type category , reiterate the following steps :— locate the reference data deposit associated with the said code type category and give priority to choosing the reference data deposit associated with the said flow type category ; for each stock type category , reiterate the following steps : for each code type category , target of at least one dependence relation starting from the said stock type category , reiterate the following conditions :— localize the reference data deposit associated with the said code type category and give priority to the choice of the reference data deposit associated with the said stock type category , and ;— for every other code type category , target of at least one dependence relation starting from the said code type category , localize the reference data deposit associated with the said other code type category and give priority to the choice of the reference data deposit associated with the said code type category . steps in the localizing algorithm consisting of localizing the reference data deposit associated with a category actually consist of identifying the application responsible for the reference data related to this category . thus , reconsidering the example in fig6 , a path for the categories diagram could be ordered as follows : one localization of reference data deposits , made to support the above path and the algorithm as defined above , could be as follows : for the two studied flow categories f 1 and f 2 , the functional parameter of the two software packages is used to immediately associate , the reference data deposit related to category f 1 order with the front office software package , and the reference data deposit related to category f 2 invoice with the invoicing software package ; since the reference data deposit related to category f 1 order is the front office software package , due to directions of dependence relations like those shown in fig6 , the reference data deposit related to category s 1 customer commercial fleet and the reference data deposit related to category s 2 customer are necessarily the deposit related to the front office software package ; for the same reason as mentioned above , the reference data deposit related to category s 3 customer account is the invoicing software package deposit . for urbanism of this is being created , it is thus interesting to note that the invoicing software package must supply the customer account to the front office software package , rather than the front office software package having to supply the customer commercial fleet to the invoicing software package ; since the reference data deposit related to category f 1 order is the front office software package , due to the directions of the dependence relations like those shown in fig6 , the reference data deposit related to category c 1 commercial catalogue is the deposit for the front office software package . the uml modeling method for reference data for an is according to the invention , built using the principles defined above based on is reference data , are used to create or modify the urbanism of an is . this modeling can advantageously be used to determine which application must offer the reference data contained in its data deposit , and also relations between this reference data item and reference data in other deposits . it can also be used to localize reference data deposits for new data in an is . this localizing of reference data deposits helps to determine which data deposits contain specific reference data , in other words which application is responsible for this deposit . thus , when creating an is , the localization proposed by the invention can advantageously be used to determined which applications have data deposits that will contain one or more reference data , during the functional urbanism phase .	8
referring now to the drawings in detail , wherein like numbered elements correspond to like elements throughout , fig1 shows that portion of an mri imaging system 100 comprising an rf coil 130 , gradient coil 114 , magnet 116 and patient bore surface of the prior art . also shown in fig1 is a dual layer of an epoxy - like material 123 , 125 , used to separate the conductive layers . fig2 shows that portion of an mri imaging system 200 comprising a magnet 216 , gradient coil 214 , patient bore surface 240 and rf magnet coil 230 for the mr imaging system of the present invention . referring more specifically to the drawings , fig2 shows a mri assembly 200 for an mr imaging system ( not shown ), comprising an mr magnet 216 , cylindrical gradient coil windings 214 , and an rf coil 230 respectively , disposed in concentric arrangement with respect to common access a . generally , continuous cooling tubes are wound in a helix through the gradient coil winding 214 . the gradient coil windings 214 are held in radially spaced apart coaxial relationship , relative to each other and to the magnet 116 and the rf coil by an epoxy used for layers 223 and 225 , said epoxy containing an alumina particulate material to increase its thermal conductivity . also shown in fig2 is the patient bore enclosure 240 and the rf coil 230 inside of and concentric with the gradient coils 214 . the rf coils 230 create the b 1 field which rotates the net magnetization in a pulse sequence . they also detect the transverse magnetization as it precesses in the xy plane . the magnetization of the rf coil 230 is achieved by passing a current through the coil , just as in the gradient coils 214 . obviously , this also causes resistive heating of the coils . the proximity of the rf coil 230 to the patient creates a high likelihood of patient discomfort , especially for large patients . therefore , the first embodiment of the rf coil of the present invention , as shown in fig6 and 7 provides for a cooling channel between the rf coil 130 and the patient bore surface 140 . this first embodiment provides an inner cylinder 131 , a concentric outer cylinder 132 , and a plurality of longitudinal spacers 133 . the longitudinal spacers 133 connect the inner cylinder 131 to the outer cylinder 132 . the apertures between the longitudinal spacers between the two concentric cylinders are used for coolant passageways 134 . also provided for by the present invention is a continuous helical spacer ( not shown ), that also connects the inner cylinder 131 to the outer cylinder 132 and provides for a passage of coolant through a helical passageway ( not shown ). the spacers , as well as the inner and outer cylinders , are typically manufactured from a composite material . the helical orientation of the spacers 135 as discussed above may increase the strength and rigidity of the patient bore tube 140 . the gaps created by this arrangement are then used to pass a cooling fluid such as air , or some fluid that does not create an mr signal through them . the fluid would normally be directed into the cooling channels by a first manifold at one end and collected by a second manifold at the other end . any type of manifold that distributes fluid in a generally even manner and collects the heated fluid could be used to perform this task and the type of manifold employed is not a limitation of the invention . obviously , if air is used to cool the rf coil 130 , no secondary manifold is required . while not shown in particular , after the cooling fluid has circulated through the rf coil , it is collected in a manifold . once in the manifold , generally a pump is used to first pump fluid through a heat exchanger to remove the heat due to resistive heating and to circulate fluid through the cooling channels . the second embodiment of the present invention , as shown in fig2 provides for a plurality of tubes bonded to the patient bore enclosure 240 between the patient bore enclosure 240 and the rf coil 230 . as before , the cooling tubes 232 can be arranged in a helical or longitudinal relationship with the rf coil 230 . obviously , in this embodiment , no manifold is required to collect the coolant after it has passed through the cooling tubes 232 , it is simply piped to a pump and through a heat exchanger and back through the cooling tubes 232 . the third embodiment of the present invention 300 , as shown in fig3 again provides for an rf coil 330 , a gradient coil 314 , and a layer of epoxy 325 between the gradient coil 314 and the magnet 316 . the third embodiment further provides for a plurality of cooling tubes 332 forming an integral part of the patient bore enclosure 340 . the cooling tubes of this embodiment could also be arranged in either helical or longitudinal relationship with the rf coil . this third embodiment is the most space efficient embodiment of the present invention . obviously , in any of the embodiments , the tubing can be designed such that coolant flow can be directed to areas in which heating is more intense . fig5 is exemplary of the first embodiment of the present invention and shows the longitudinal arrangement of cooling tubes 232 . for comparison purposes , the helical arrangement of cooling tubes 232 as discussed regarding the second embodiment is depicted in fig4 . the gradient coil 114 , when generating a magnetic field , generates several kilowatts of heat due to the resistance of the copper coils . this heat must be dissipated for proper operation of the mri machine and for comfort of the patient . as discussed above , a coolant , such as water , air , perflourocarbon , ethylene glycol , propylene glycol , or mixtures of any of the above , is circulated through the gradient coils . the coolant then carries the heat away from the rf coil . although only a single inlet and a single outlet port is shown for coolant in fig4 and 5 , in other embodiments there may be a plurality of inlet and outlet ports either because the cooling tubes / channels 134 , 232 , 332 are circular around the imaging volume , or because greater heat carrying capacity is required to remove the heat load caused by extended mri studies . there are many possibilities available that could be used to circulate coolant through the rf coil and it is intended that no particular method or apparatus should be a limitation of the invention . however , one possible way in which to provide a coolant circulation system is to provide a coolant pump to circulate coolant at a temperature dependent on system needs and , in accordance with the present invention . coolant entering the rf coil 130 , 230 , 330 travels through cooling tubes / channels 134 , 232 , 332 and while doing so absorbs heat from the coils . the coolant carrying the heat load is then drained away from the rf coil and exits to a heat exchanger . the heat exchanger is designed to dissipate heat absorbed from the coolant and lower the coolant temperature to a desired temperature dictated by the computer control ( not shown ). the computer controller would take information from temperature sensors used to regulate the temperature of the patient bore . if the temperature sensors read a temperature that is above the desired level , the computer would send a signal to the pump to increase coolant flow . if the temperature falls below a specified value , the computer can decrease or halt the coolant flow , such as when the mri is not operating . accordingly , an improved device for cooling the rf coil in an mri magnet has been disclosed . the cooling system of the present invention provides a coolant pump for circulating coolant through around an rf coil 130 . the coolant flow is regulated by a computer which receives information from a plurality of temperature sensors positioned within the patient bore 140 . if the computer reads a temperature that is too high or lower than necessary , it sends a signal to the coolant pump to increase or decrease coolant flow . it is to be further understood that the above - described invention for cooling the rf coil could be applied to open architecture mri imaging systems . while not pictured open architecture mri imaging systems include a patient bore surface , an rf coil and could further include cooling tubes attached to the patient bore enclosure or actually embedded within the rf coil . although we have very specifically described the preferred embodiments of the invention herein , it is to be understood that changes can be made to the improvements disclosed without departing from the scope of the invention . therefore , it is to be understood that the scope of the invention is not to be overly limited by the specification and the drawings , but is to be determined by the broadest possible interpretation of the claims .	7
in the preparation of food materials , such as , but not limited to , potato , corn and tortilla chips , cooking the foodstuff sometimes consumes large quantities of energy . conventional industrial ovens lose a significant amount of heat and energy due to poor design and / or a lack of insulation . systems and methods that could improve on the efficiency of ovens would greatly reduce the overall energy required to manufacture foodstuff . accordingly , the present disclosure discloses systems and methods that may be implemented to reduce energy consumption in the process of cooking foodstuff . typical ovens comprise large enclosures having multiple conveyors within the enclosures . sometimes the multiple conveyors work together to form a path along which foodstuff successively travels from one conveyor to the next . however , the typical ovens require that the entire enclosure be heated in order to cook foodstuff on the conveyors , thereby unnecessarily heating the contents of space that is not in close proximity or adjacent to the foodstuff . the unnecessary heating of the contents of a large volume of space accounts for a large amount of energy consumption and waste , rendering the cooking process unnecessarily energy inefficient . the present disclosure provides for substantially enclosing each conveyor within substantially adjacent insulative barriers that generally serve to envelope the conveyors individually within zones . the present disclosure further discloses providing insulated ducts for connecting the various zones that relate to the conveyors so that heat is efficiently transferred between the various zones . the present disclosure provides a cooking zone that comprises the zones that are individually related to the conveyors and further comprises the insulated ducts that join the various zones . generally , the insulative barriers serve to retain heat within the cooking zone , thereby allowing more efficient cooking of foodstuff within the cooking zone . the present disclosure further provides gas - fueled infrared burners positioned to emit and direct heat toward one or more conveyors from both above the conveyors and from below the conveyors . still further , the present disclosure provides enclosing the cooking zone within an oven zone that substantially envelops the entirety of the cooking zone so that heat loss from the cooking zone is reduced . while every combination is not discussed , the present disclosure expressly contemplates combining the disclosed features in many combinations . for example , an oven according to the disclosure may comprise one or more conveyors that are enclosed by insulative barriers and one or more of those conveyors may have infrared burners associated with the conveyor to emit and direct heat on the conveyor from both above and below the conveyors . referring now to fig1 - 4 , an oven 100 is disclosed . oven 100 comprises a supportive frame 102 having a plurality of structural components , only some of which are described in greater detail below . the frame 102 is supported by feet 104 attached to the bottom of the frame 102 . the oven has a left side shown generally leftward in fig2 and a right side shown generally rightward in fig2 . further , the oven 100 has a front side that is displayed generally between the left and right sides in fig2 . accordingly , the oven 100 comprises a top side opposite the bottom side and a rear side opposite the front side . it will be appreciated that the above directional conventions apply throughout the description of oven 100 . most generally , the oven 100 comprises an upper conveyor system 106 , a middle conveyer system 108 , and a lower conveyor system 110 . each of the conveyor systems 106 , 108 , 110 comprise the necessary equipment for operation of each conveyor system 106 , 108 , 110 independent of the others . in the preferred embodiment , each conveyor system 106 , 108 , 110 comprises its own motor 112 , gearbox 114 , drive shaft 116 , and belt tensioners 118 . it will be appreciated that in other embodiments , a single motor may be used to power one or more conveyors . each conveyor system 106 , 108 , 110 further comprises the necessary drive drums 120 , tensioner drums 122 , and free drums 124 to carry conveyor belts . the conveyor systems 106 , 108 , 110 , together , generally define a cooking path along which foodstuff is carried and cooked while present on the cooking path . at an entrance 126 formed by the frame 102 ( most clearly shown in fig3 ), foodstuff may be introduced to an upper surface of an upper belt 128 . the upper conveyor system 106 operates to rotate upper belt 128 in a generally counterclockwise direction as viewed in fig2 so that the upper surface of upper belt 128 moves from right to left . middle conveyor system 108 is located generally below upper conveyor system 106 so that as foodstuff reaches the left end of the upper belt 128 , the foodstuff falls from the upper belt 128 to an upper surface of a middle belt 130 of middle conveyor system 108 . the middle conveyor system 108 operates to rotate middle belt 130 in a generally clockwise direction as viewed in fig2 so that the upper surface of middle belt 130 moves from left to right . lower conveyor system 110 is located generally below middle conveyor system 108 so that as foodstuff reaches the right end of the middle belt 130 , the foodstuff falls from the middle belt 130 to an upper surface of a lower belt 132 of lower conveyor system 110 . the lower conveyor system 110 operates to rotate lower belt 132 in a counterclockwise direction as viewed in fig2 so that the upper surface of lower belt 132 moves from right to left . as foodstuff reaches the left end of the lower belt 132 the foodstuff is free to fall from lower belt 132 down through an exit 134 formed generally by the frame 102 ( most clearly shown in fig4 ). in some embodiments the oven 100 may be associated with other foodstuff preparation and / or packaging equipment so that once foodstuff passes through exit 134 the foodstuff is collected and further processed and / or packaged . it will be appreciated that , in this embodiment , the cooking path of foodstuff is defined as the path along which foodstuff travels within the oven 100 ( i . e . along the conveyor belts 128 , 130 , 132 as described above ). the cooking path is more than a path along which foodstuff is moved . the cooking path is a path along which foodstuff is cooked by exposure to high temperatures through various forms of heat transfer as discussed below . in this embodiment , each conveyor system 106 , 108 , 110 has a plurality of gas fueled infrared burners 136 ( see fig5 and 12 ) ( hereinafter referred to as “ ir burners ”) associated therewith . the ir burners 136 are fed a mixture of air and fuel gas through mixers 138 that are described in greater detail below ( see fig1 ). while ir burners 136 are not shown in fig1 - 4 , it will be appreciated that one ir burner 136 is associated with each mixer 138 . as described in more detail below , each ir burner 136 is capable of directing radiant heat in a directional manner . referring now to fig5 , the upper , middle , and lower belts 128 , 130 , and 132 are shown along with the ir burners 136 , but without the remainder of the components of the oven 100 . in this embodiment , the upper belt 128 is associated with six ir burners 136 that are located slightly above the upper belt 128 and that are oriented to emit radiant heat downward onto upper belt 128 . the upper belt 128 is further associated with six ir burners 136 that are located slightly below the upper belt 128 and that are oriented to emit radiant heat upward onto upper belt 128 . similarly , middle belt 130 is associated with six ir burners 136 that are located slightly below the middle belt 130 and that are oriented to emit radiant heat upward onto middle belt 130 . finally , lower belt 132 is associated with eight ir burners 136 that are located slightly below the lower belt 132 and that are oriented to emit radiant heat upward onto the lower belt 132 . of course , in alternative embodiments , an upper belt may comprise ir burners only above or below the upper belt , a middle belt may comprise ir burners both above and below the middle belt or may comprise ir burners only above the middle belt , and a lower belt may comprise ir burners both above and below the middle belt or may comprise ir burners only above the lower belt . also , burners other than ir burners may be used or used in combination with ir burners . a feature of the oven 100 is that heat generated by ir burners 136 is not merely cast upon the belts 128 , 130 , 132 and easily allowed to pass into the general interior space of the oven 100 ( where the interior space is generally defined by the left , right , bottom , top , front , and rear of the oven 100 ), but rather , the heat is retained near the foodstuff . specifically , the oven 100 is constructed in a manner that substantially encloses the cooking path in a minimal envelope of space , thereby retaining the heat generated by the ir burners 136 in space near the foodstuff that is carried along the cooking path . most generally , the heat is retained by constructing insulative barriers to prevent the escape of heat so that the cooking path ( i . e . each conveyor belt 128 , 130 , 132 ) is substantially enclosed within an insulated cooking zone . referring now to fig6 - 9 , the insulated cooking zone is defined generally as a substantially contiguous space that is substantially bounded by insulation in close proximity to the cooking path . in this embodiment , an upper zone substantially surrounds the upper belt 128 and is defined generally by the space bounded by upper insulators 140 , lower insulators 142 , left insulators 144 , right insulators 146 , front insulators 148 , and rear insulators 150 . the various insulators 140 , 142 , 144 , 146 , 148 , 150 are generally plate - like in shape and serve to closely bound the belts 128 , 130 , 132 while being sized and / or otherwise shaped to accommodate protrusions of other portions of the oven 100 as necessary . in keeping with the goal of substantially enclosing the cooking path within a cooking zone , the insulators 140 , 142 , 144 , 146 , 148 , 150 generally form substantially continuous walls around the belts 128 , 130 , 132 . however , upper burner openings 152 and lower burner openings 154 are present to allow a passage for radiant heat to enter the cooking zone from ir burners 136 . the insulators 140 , 142 , 144 , 146 , 148 , 150 also form a middle zone that substantially surrounds the middle belt 130 and a lower zone that substantially surrounds the lower belt 132 . it will further be appreciated that the upper , middle , and lower zones are connected to generally form the single cooking zone . specifically , the insulators 140 , 142 , 144 , 146 , 148 , 150 form a right duct 156 that generally connects the right side of the lower zone to the right side of the middle zone . the insulators 140 , 142 , 144 , 146 , 148 , 150 also generally form a left duct 158 that generally connects the left side of the middle zone to the left side of the upper zone . the joint nature of the lower , middle , and upper zones allow heat and hot air to travel in a directed manner from left to right in the lower zone , up through the right duct 156 , from right to left in the middle zone , up through the left duct 158 , and finally from left to right in the upper zone . the heat and hot air in the cooking zone generally travels along a path opposite in direction to the direction the foodstuff is carried along the cooking path . by directing the heat and hot air in the manner described above , the heat generated by ir burners 136 associated with the lower belt 132 that is not absorbed by foodstuff on the lower belt 132 is not lost . instead , the unabsorbed heat encounters foodstuff along the entire length of the cooking path until the heat is ultimately fully absorbed by foodstuff along the cooking path or the heat exits the cooking zone near the right side of the upper zone . it will be appreciated that front insulators 148 that aid in forming the right duct 156 and left duct 158 are omitted from view in fig8 and 9 to allow a view inside the right duct 156 and the left duct 158 . referring again to fig1 - 4 , the oven 100 further comprises an insulated oven zone that is generally defined by outer insulators 160 that bound the oven zone . the oven zone substantially envelopes the cooking zone so that any heat escaping the cooking zone within the oven 100 is retained within the oven zone . it will be appreciated that while outer insulators 160 are mostly shown as being associated with the top and bottom sides of the oven 100 , outer insulators 160 associated with the right , left , front , and rear sides of the oven 100 are expressly contemplated by this disclosure . some outer insulators 160 associated with the right , left , front , and rear sides of the oven 100 are not shown in order to provide clarity in view the other components of the oven 100 . the effect of providing an insulated oven zone is that temperature gradients at the interface of the cooking zone and the oven zone are less than what the temperature gradients would be between the cooking zone and an otherwise existing adjacent ambient zone . since the temperature gradient between the cooking zone and the next adjacent zone is lessened , a lower amount of heat transfer will occur between the cooking zone and the next adjacent zone . in other words , with the provision of the oven zone , heat will tend to transfer away from the cooking zone at a reduced rate . further , an exhaust heat duct 160 is provided that is shown as a substantially rectangular structure and that connects the oven zone to another space . in some embodiments , the exhaust heat duct 162 may direct exhaust heat to the exterior of a building that houses the oven 100 . in other embodiments , the exhaust heat duct 162 may direct heat to another device or zone to allow recapture and / or reuse of the exhausted heat . referring now to fig1 , a simplified view of the frame 102 is shown to illustrate that the frame 102 serves not only as a structural support system , but also as an air delivery system . specifically , frame 102 comprises an air input manifold 164 that supplies air to top burner upper manifolds 166 that supply air to ir burners 136 that direct heat downward onto upper belt 128 . similarly , frame 102 comprises supply air to bottom burner upper manifolds 168 that supply air to ir burners 136 that direct heat upward onto upper belt 128 . further , frame 102 comprises middle manifolds 170 that supply air to the ir burners 136 that direct heat upward onto middle belt 130 . finally , frame 102 comprises lower manifolds 172 that supply air to the ir burners 136 that direct heat upward onto lower belt 132 . each manifold 166 , 168 , 170 , 172 has a plurality of mixers 138 attached thereto and the mixers 138 serve as outlets for air supplied through the manifolds 166 , 168 , 170 , 172 . referring now to fig1 , a mixer 138 is shown . the mixer 138 comprises a latch 174 for securing mixer 138 to one of the previously described manifolds 166 , 168 , 170 , 172 . the mixer 138 further comprises a gas inlet 176 for attachment to a gas supply line . the mixer 138 also comprises a gas adjustment 178 that functions to alter the flow rate of fuel gas into the mixer 138 through the gas inlet 176 , thereby providing a convenient way to adjust a gas - air mixture that exits a mixer insert 180 . mixer insert 180 is shaped to provide improved mixing of the air and gas as compared to the mixing of the air and gas that would otherwise occur in the tubing - shaped body 182 of the mixer 138 . the mixer 138 further comprises a mounting plate 184 for attachment to a burner manifold . referring now to fig1 , an ir burner 136 is shown in greater detail . the ir burner 136 comprises a plurality of mixture inputs 186 that distribute the gas - air mixture along the length of a burner tube 188 . the ir burner 136 further comprises forms 190 that serve to hold ceramic reflector - emitters 192 . the reflector - emitters 192 serve the dual role of reflecting radiant heat in a concentrated manner in a direction generally away from the forms 190 while also becoming heated to emit infrared radiation . the emitted infrared radiation serves to heat foodstuff and the components that carry foodstuff along the cooking path . referring now to fig1 , a belt guide 194 is shown . a plurality of belt guides 194 are used in oven 100 to maintain a front - to - back alignment of the belts 128 , 130 , 132 . to keep the belts 128 , 130 , 132 aligned from front to back , the belts 128 , 130 , 132 are guided between side pulleys 196 that oppose the front and rear sides of the belts 128 , 130 , 132 . to keep the belts 128 , 130 , 132 generally flat where appropriate , a support shaft 198 is provided with support gears 200 and support bearings 202 . the support shaft turns freely due to the support bearings 202 while the support gears 200 actually engage and vertically support the belts 128 , 130 , 132 . the support gears 200 have a larger diameter than the support bearings 202 . the components of the belt guide 194 are all commonly carried by a support bar 204 that is in turn supported by other structures of the oven 100 . referring now to fig1 , belt tensioners 118 are shown that serve to provide a convenient adjustment to the tension of belts 128 , 130 , 132 . the belt tensioner 118 comprises an adjustable shaft mount 206 that allows upward or downward movement of tensioner drum 122 . as tensioner drum 122 is moved up , the tension of the belt is decreased . as the tensioner drum 122 is moved down , the tension of the belt is increased . referring now to fig1 , an enlarged view of a motor 112 , gearbox 114 , and drive shaft 116 are shown in association with a drive drum 120 and a belt . motor 112 is an electric motor , however , in alternative embodiments , the motor may be a pneumatic motor , hydraulic motor , or any other suitable motor . the motor 112 is connected to a gearbox 114 which is in turn connected to a drive shaft 116 that drives the drive drum 120 . when the drive drum 120 is rotated , the belt is moved . referring now to fig1 , an alternative embodiment of an oven 400 is shown in simplified form . oven 400 is substantially similar to oven 100 but for the choice of heat generators . specifically , oven 400 comprises an upper belt 402 , a middle belt 404 , and a lower belt 406 that are connected and insulated to have a cooking zone substantially similar to the cooking zone of oven 100 . oven 400 comprises a combination of slit - tube gas burners 408 , ir burners 410 , and microwave emitters 412 . further , it will be appreciated that the slit - tube gas burners 408 and ir burners 410 associated with the middle belt 404 are oriented lengthwise with the middle belt 404 . however , the slit - tube gas burners 408 and ir burners 410 associated with the upper belt 402 are oriented generally across the upper belt 402 from front to back . further , an oven zone 414 comprises a slit - tube gas burner 408 , an ir burner 410 , and a microwave emitter 412 within the oven zone 414 but outside the cooking zone . the oven zone 414 further comprises a forced air fan 416 for circulating air in the oven zone 414 . of course , in alternative embodiments , the types of heat generators , the placement of the heat generators 408 , 410 , 412 and fans 416 may be different than shown and the various combinations of components and component placements may be used in combination with other embodiments disclosed herein . referring now to fig1 , an alternative embodiment of an oven 500 is shown in simplified form . oven 500 is substantially similar to oven 100 but for the placement of heat generators . specifically , oven 500 comprises an upper belt 502 , a middle belt 504 , and a lower belt 506 that are connected and insulated to have a cooking zone substantially similar to the cooking zone of oven 100 . oven 500 comprises ir burners 510 . ir burners 510 are placed continuously along both the top and bottom side of upper belt 502 . ir burners 510 are alternatingly placed along the middle belt 504 so that there is no overlap in ir burners 510 but also so that foodstuff is always directly above or directly below an ir burner 510 while on middle belt 504 . ir burners 510 are also placed substantially adjacent one another to form a series of adjacent ir burners 510 on the upper left side of the lower belt 506 . however , another series of adjacent ir burners 510 is located just to the right of the upper left series of ir burners 510 on the bottom side of the lower belt 506 . another ir burner 510 is located near the right end of the lower belt 506 on the upper side of the lower belt 506 and is offset to the right from any ir burners 506 on the lower belt 506 . finally , ir burners 510 are placed facing the left end of the upper belt 502 , the right end of the middle belt 504 , and the left end of the lower belt 506 . further , it will be appreciated that while ir burners 510 are discussed in the particular layouts described above , in alternative embodiments , ir burners may be positioned along conveyor belts and positioned relative to each other in any other suitable manner . it will be appreciated that any of the insulators 140 , 142 , 144 , 146 , 148 , 150 , 160 may be constructed of stainless steel , stainless steel 253 ma ™, high nickel steel , rockwool ™ materials , or any other suitable material . the insulators may be placed in relative close proximity to conveyor belts in such a way to maximize heat retention in the cooking zone ( i . e . near the belts ). it will further be appreciated that one advantage of the of using the ir burners 136 is that the effective cooking area of the ir burners 136 is essentially the footprint of the reflector - emitters 192 as compared to the effective cooking area of a gas flame being only the area of the gas flame . it will further be appreciated that while ovens 100 , 400 , and 500 are disclosed as having three conveyor belts ( i . e . a three - pass system ), the principles disclosed herein can be equally applied to any oven having one , two , three , or more such conveyor systems . specifically , for example , an oven may comprise a single conveyor within an insulated cooking zone where the cooking zone is further substantially enveloped within an insulated oven zone . further , in alternative embodiments , an oven may comprise multiple conveyor belts at or near the same vertical level so that foodstuff is not dropped from one belt to another . still further , in alternative embodiments , the cooking path may not comprise substantially level conveyor belts . instead , an alternative embodiment may comprise a cooking path that spirals up or down , slopes up or down , or follows a meandering course . all of the above - described alternative embodiments may employ the method of reducing a required amount of energy to cook foodstuff by enclosing the cooking path using insulators located in close proximity to the cooking path ( i . e . close to the conveyor belts ). further , all of the above - described alternative embodiments may employ the method of conserving heat and energy by ducting hot air and heat between various conveyors that are located at different vertical levels . still further , all of the above - described alternative embodiments may employ the method of conserving heat and energy by further substantially enclosing a cooking zone within an oven zone using outer insulators . finally , all of the above - described alternative embodiments may employ the use of ir burners to increase an effective cooking area as compared to using conventional slit - tube gas burner systems . at least one embodiment is disclosed and variations , combinations , and / or modifications of the embodiment ( s ) and / or features of the embodiment ( s ) made by a person having ordinary skill in the art are within the scope of the disclosure . alternative embodiments that result from combining , integrating , and / or omitting features of the embodiment ( s ) are also within the scope of the disclosure . where numerical ranges or limitations are expressly stated , such express ranges or limitations should be understood to include iterative ranges or limitations of like magnitude falling within the expressly stated ranges or limitations ( e . g ., from about 1 to about 10 includes , 2 , 3 , 4 , etc . ; greater than 0 . 10 includes 0 . 11 , 0 . 12 , 0 . 13 , etc .). for example , whenever a numerical range with a lower limit , r l , and an upper limit , r u , is disclosed , any number falling within the range is specifically disclosed . in particular , the following numbers within the range are specifically disclosed : r = r l + k *( r u − r l ), wherein k is a variable ranging from 1 percent to 100 percent with a 1 percent increment , i . e ., k is 1 percent , 2 percent , 3 percent , 4 percent , 5 percent , . . . , 50 percent , 51 percent , 52 percent , . . . , 95 percent , 96 percent , 97 percent , 98 percent , 99 percent , or 100 percent . moreover , any numerical range defined by two r numbers as defined in the above is also specifically disclosed . use of the term “ optionally ” with respect to any element of a claim means that the element is required , or alternatively , the element is not required , both alternatives being within the scope of the claim . use of broader terms such as comprises , includes , and having should be understood to provide support for narrower terms such as consisting of , consisting essentially of , and comprised substantially of . accordingly , the scope of protection is not limited by the description set out above but is defined by the claims that follow , that scope including all equivalents of the subject matter of the claims . each and every claim is incorporated as further disclosure into the specification and the claims are embodiment ( s ) of the present invention . the discussion of a reference in the disclosure is not an admission that it is prior art , especially any reference that has a publication date after the priority date of this application .	0
reference will now be made to the drawings wherein like numerals referred like parts through out . fig1 illustrates the components of an opened folding chair 100 with a sign holder 112 of one embodiment of the invention attached . fig2 illustrates the components of the folding chair 100 , with the sign holder 112 attached , in a closed position . the folding chair 100 is comprised of two pivotally connected u - shaped sections 102 , 104 that are coupled to a seat rest 114 in a manner described below . the first u - shaped section 102 contains a left side section 130 l , a lateral section 132 that extends orthogonally from the left section 130 l , and a right side section 130 r that extends orthogonally from the lateral section 132 to complete the u - shape of the section 102 . in this description , the left side section 130 l is on the left side of the folding chair 100 as defined by an observer looking at the front of the folding chair 100 . the lower parts of the sections 130 l , 130 r serve as a pair of front legs 136 l , 136 r with front bottom edges 154 l , 154 r . the bottom edges are covered with a pair of protective front shoes 174 l , 174 r that are adapted to provide non - slip contact with the floor so as to maintain the folding chair 100 in place . the first u - shaped section 102 further contains a back rest 116 . the back rest 116 is adapted to attach to the first u - shaped section 102 adjacent to the lateral section 132 in a manner that allows the back rest 116 to be supported by sections 130 l , 132 and 130 r in a manner that is known in the art . the purpose of the back rest 116 is to allow the user to obtain a comfortable sitting position and to prevent the user from falling out of the folding chair 100 in a backward direction . the sign holder 112 is attached to the back rest 116 in a manner described below . the back rest 116 is situated substantially higher than the rest of the folding chair 100 so as to allow the sign holder 112 to be substantially visible . the first u - shaped section 102 further contains a front brace 106 that connects the left and right sections 130 l , 130 r together at locations adjacent to the legs 136 l , 136 r . the purpose of the front brace 106 as to provide lateral support to the first u - shaped section 102 so as to maintain the front legs 136 l and 136 r a first distance from each other that is selected to provide stability for the folding chair 100 . the second u - shaped section 104 contains a left section 142 l , a lateral section 144 ( see fig2 ) that extends orthogonally from the left section 142 l , and a right section 142 r that extends orthogonally from the lateral section 144 to form the u - shape of the section 104 . the left and right sections 142 l , 142 r contain a plurality of slight bends that enable the folding chair 100 to fold up in a compact manner as described below . the lateral section 144 is situated under the seat rest 114 as shown in fig2 in a manner which is further described below . the lower parts of sections 142 l , 142 r serve as a pair of rear legs 152 l , 152 r with rear bottom edges 158 l , 158 r . the bottom edges are covered with a pair of protective rear shoes 156 l , 156 r that are adapted to provide non - slip contact with the floor so as to maintain the folding chair 100 in place . the second u - shaped section 104 further contains a rear brace 110 that connects to the left and right rear legs 152 l , 152 r together . the purpose of the rear brace 110 is to provide lateral support to the second u - shaped section 104 so that the rear legs 152 l and 152 r are maintained a first distance part from each other that is selected so as to provide stability for the folding chair 100 . the two u - shaped sections 102 , 104 are pivotally attached at a pair of central pivot points 124 l , 124 r that coincide with the side sections 130 l , 130 r and 142 l , 142 r of the u - shaped sections 102 , 104 respectively . the u - shaped sections 102 , 104 are attached to each other in a manner that allows the sections 102 , 104 to be aligned in a common plane when the chair 100 is in a folded or closed position . in addition , the u - shaped sections 102 , 104 are attached to each other in a manner that allows the sections 102 , 104 to be tilted with respect to each other such that the lateral section 144 of the second u - shaped section 104 supports the front of the folding chair 100 and the lateral section 132 of the first u - section 102 supports the backrest 116 of the chair 100 when the chair is in an unfolded or open position . the seat rest 114 is pivotally attached at a pair of rear corners 134 l , 134 r to a pair of pivot points 126 l , 126 r located on the first u - shaped section 102 . the seat rest 114 is adapted to support the weight of the user when the user is seated in the chair 100 . as shown in fig2 a guideplate 117 is attached to a bottom surface 115 of the seat rest 114 to ensure that the seat rest is supported at the front edge 160 when the folding chair 100 is in an open position . in particular , the lateral section 144 of the second u - section 104 is interposed between the guideplate 117 and the seat rest 114 so that the lateral section 144 is captured within a slot 118 that is formed between the bottom surface 115 and the guideplate 117 . the lateral section 144 is movable within the slot 118 so that , when the user unfolds the folding chair 100 by placing the seat rest 114 into a horizontal position in a manner described below , the guideplate 117 directs the lateral section 144 of the second u - section 104 to be positioned adjacent the front edge 160 of the seat rest 114 . in a fully open position , the u - shaped sections 102 , 104 are extended to a maximum angular displacement that is limited by the contact between the front edge 160 of the seat rest 114 and the lateral section 144 of the second u - section 104 as shown in fig1 . in a corresponding manner , the front legs 136 l , 136 r and rear legs 152 l , 152 r are simultaneously extended from each other to form a solid base of support for the folding chair 100 . with the folding chair 100 unfolded in the foregoing manner and placed on a level solid surface with all four legs 136 l , 136 r and 152 l , 152 r touching the surface , the seat rest 114 of the folding chair 100 provides a horizontal sitting surface that is capable of supporting the weight of the user . [ 0048 ] fig1 and 2 illustrate the sign holder 112 attached to the back rest 116 of the folding chair 100 in its folded and unfolded positions . the back rest 116 comprises a top edge 133 a and a bottom edge 133 b to facilitate attachment of the sign holder 112 in a manner described below . the sign holder 112 has a main body 180 whose dimensions conform to the dimensions of the back rest 116 . the main body 180 has a front surface 182 , a rear surface 194 ( illustrated in fig4 ), and an aperture 184 that extends through the front surface 182 and the rear surface 194 . the aperture 184 allows a message inscribed on a sign card 202 to be visible from the front of the folding chair in a manner described below . the sign card 202 is attached to the sign holder 112 in a manner described below . the sign holder 112 has a plurality of retainers to allow the sign holder 112 to be attached to the back rest 116 . fig3 illustrates one embodiment of the present invention . a left top retainer 186 l extends from the left top corner of the main body 180 , and a right top retainer 186 r extends from the right top corner of the main body 180 . in this description , the left top retainer 186 l is on the left top corner of the main body 180 such that when attached to the back rest 116 , the left top corner of the main body 180 coincides with the left top corner of the back rest 116 as defined by an observer looking at the front of the folding chair 100 . a left bottom retainer 192 l and a right bottom retainer 192 r extend from the bottom left and right corners of the main body 180 . the retainers 186 l , 186 r , 192 l , 192 r are preferably shaped like a hook and are biased toward the rear surface 194 of the main body 180 as shown in fig3 and 5 . in one embodiment of the invention , the main body 180 and the retainers 186 l , 186 r , 192 l , 192 r are fabricated from plastic such that the retainers 186 l , 186 r , 192 l , 192 r form contiguous extensions from the main body 180 . furthermore , the main body 180 and the retainers 186 l , 186 r , 192 l , 192 r are flexible so as to allow the user to urge the retainers 186 l , 186 r , 192 l , 192 r into engagement with the top edge 133 a and the bottom edge 133 b of the back rest 116 . conversely , the sign holder 112 can be removed from the back rest 116 by urging the retainers 186 l , 186 r , 192 l , 192 r out of engagement with the top edge 133 a and the bottom edge 133 b of the back rest 112 . [ 0051 ] fig4 shows the rear surface 194 of the sign holder 112 . on the rear surface 194 is at least one sign card retainer . in one embodiment of the invention , shown in fig4 sign card retainers 196 l , 196 r are located near the left and right edges of the aperture 184 . a sign card retainer 197 is located near the center of the bottom edge of the aperture 184 . the sign card retainers 196 l , 196 r and 197 allow the sign card 202 to be secured on the rear surface 194 of the sign holder 112 such that the message printed on the sign card 202 is visible from the front of the folding chair 100 through the aperture 184 . [ 0052 ] fig5 shows a side view of the sign holder 112 and further illustrates the sign card 202 secured onto the rear surface 194 by the card retainers 196 l ( 196 r not shown ) and 197 . it will be appreciated that the drawing is not to scale , and the sizes of the sign card 202 and the card retainers 196 l , 197 have been exaggerated for illustrative purpose . in one embodiment of the invention , the card retainers 196 l , 196 r , and 197 are sized so as to make the sign holder 112 substantially conform to the back rest 116 in a manner described below . in use , the user takes the sign card 202 inscribed with a customized message , and inserts the sign card 202 into the sign card retainers 196 l , 196 r , 197 on the rear surface 194 of the sign holder 112 . the sign card 202 is secured on the rear surface 194 by the sign by the card retainers 196 l , 196 r , 197 such that the inscribed message on the sign card 202 is adjacent to the aperture 184 so as to make the message visible through the aperture 184 when viewed from the front of the folding chair 100 . the sign card retainers 196 l , 196 r prevent the sign card 202 from moving sideways when the sign card 202 is attached to the rear surface 194 . the sign card retainer 197 prevents the sign card 202 from moving down when the sign card 202 is attached to the rear surface 194 . the sign holder 112 , with the sign card 202 secured , is attached to the back rest 116 of the folding chair 100 by the retainers 186 l , 186 r , 192 l , 192 r . one method of attachment is to first hook the top retainers 186 l and 186 r to the top edge 133 a of the back rest . then , the main body 180 and the bottom retainers 192 l and 192 r can be flexed to allow the bottom retainers 192 l and 192 r to hook onto the bottom edge 133 b of the back rest 116 . the main body 180 and the retainers 186 l , 186 r , 192 l , 192 r then contours to the shape of the back rest 116 such that the sign holder 112 does not significantly alter the original profile or the function of the back rest 116 . the folding chair 100 with the sign holder 112 attached can be folded as shown in fig2 and be stacked for storage . or , the folding chair 100 with the sign holder 112 attached can be unfolded as shown in fig1 for use , where the user can sit on the folding chair 100 and have the user &# 39 ; s back supported by the back rest 116 with the sign holder 112 attached . furthermore , when the user is not sitting on the folding chair 100 , the message inscribed on the sign card 202 is visible through the aperture 184 on the sign holder 112 . the operation described above may be repeated on a plurality of folding chairs 100 as needed . in one embodiment of the invention , the sign holder 112 can be removed from the folding chair 100 by unhooking the retainers 186 l , 186 r , 192 l , 192 r from the top edge 133 a and the bottom edge 133 b of the back rest 116 . the sign card 202 can be removed from the sign holder 112 by pulling out the sign card 202 out of the sign card retainer 196 l , 196 r , 197 . a new customized message can be inscribed on a new sign card 202 for use as described above . another embodiment of the invention illustrated in fig6 comprises a folding chair 300 wherein a padded sign 312 is attached to a back rest 316 . the padded sign 312 comprises a main body 380 to which a padding 381 is attached to . the padded sign 312 is attached to the back rest 316 in a manner described above , wherein a plurality of hook shaped retainers hook onto top edge 333 a and bottom edge 333 b . preferably , the main body 380 is fabricated from ¼ inch thick plastic , and the padding 381 is covered with vinyl on which a message can be inscribed . the padding 381 is preferably wrapped around the main body 380 and secured at the back of the main body by staples . the padded sign 312 can be attached and removed from the folding chair 300 in a manner described above . furthermore , the folding chair 300 can be folded and stacked in a manner described above . the folding chair 300 further comprises a front frame member 400 pivotally attached to a rear frame member 412 , with both the front and rear frame members 400 , 412 supporting a seat 424 in a manner described below . the front frame member 400 comprises first and second sections 402 and 404 that are interconnected near the top by the back rest 316 , by a middle brace 406 near the middle , and by a bottom brace 410 near the bottom . the first and second sections 402 and 404 are substantially parallel to each other , and include pivots 426 that pivotally attach the first and second sections 402 , 404 to side edges of the seat 424 . when the folding chair 300 is in an open configuration , as in fig6 the seat 424 is further supported by the top of the middle brace 406 . the rear frame member 412 comprises first and second sections 414 and 416 that are interconnected by a top brace 420 and a bottom brace 422 . the rear frame member 412 is pivotally attached to the front frame member 400 by frame pivots 430 that attach top portions of the first and second sections 414 , 416 of the rear frame member 412 to approximately middle portions of the first and second sections 402 , 404 of the front frame member 400 . when the folding chair 300 is in the open configuration , a grooved ( not shown ) rear edge of the seat 424 engages the bottom of the top brace 420 of the rear frame member 412 . thus , the engagement of the seat 424 with the middle brace 406 of the front frame member 400 and the top brace 420 of the rear frame member 420 inhibits further pivotal movement of the seat 424 , front frame member 400 , and the rear frame member 412 , so as to permit a person to sit on the folding chair 300 . in one embodiment , the front and rear frame members 400 and 412 are made from molded plastic such that each frame member forms a contiguous piece . the first and second sections 402 , 404 of the front frame member 400 , and the first and second sections 414 , 416 of the rear frame member 412 have cross sectional shapes that form right angles so as to provide the sections with strength to resist buckling . the top brace 420 of the rear frame member 412 defines a cutout 434 at the bottom edge so as to form a carrying handle 436 . fig6 illustrates a person using a hand 440 to grasp the chair 300 by the handle 436 so as to be able to pick up the chair 300 and move it . it will be appreciated that the cutout 434 is sized to receive the hand 440 of the user such that the hand 440 does not get caught between the top brace 420 and the rear edge of the seat 424 . when the user wishes to move a traditional folding chair in an opened configuration , the chair is typically grasped near the top portion of the chair , either at the back rest ( 316 in fig6 ), or the top portions of the first and second sections ( 402 , 404 in fig6 ). grasping the chair 300 by the handle 436 makes it easier for the user to hold and control the chair 300 in either folded or unfolded configurations , due to the fact that the handle 436 is located close to the center of mass of the chair . furthermore , the vertical location of the handle 436 is substantially similar to that of the seat 424 such that when an average sized user picks up and holds the unfolded chair 300 with an extended arm , the clearance between the bottom of the chair and the floor is sufficient for improved maneuvering of the chair . if the same chair 300 is picked up by the back rest 316 , the carrying arm may need to be bent to raise the chair 300 sufficiently to prevent the bottom of the chair 300 from dragging on the floor . carrying a load with a bent arm is typically more physically demanding than carrying a load with an extended arm . thus , the vertical location of the handle 436 improves the carrying characteristics of the chair 300 . being able to hold and move the chair 300 in a controlled manner may be an important safety issue , especially for a user with a limited physical strength . thus , the carrying handle 436 affords the user at least two safety features when using the chair 300 . first is that the cutout 434 reduces the likelihood of the user &# 39 ; s hand 440 being pinched between the top brace 420 and the seat 424 . second is that the handle &# 39 ; s close proximity to the chair &# 39 ; s center of mass permits the grasped chair to be handled in a easier manner . [ 0065 ] fig7 illustrates the orientation of the carrying handle 436 when the folding chair 300 is in its closed configuration . the carrying handle 436 is situated on the rear side of the folded chair 300 , between the first and second sections 414 , 416 of the rear frame member 412 . as illustrated in fig8 a , the carrying handle 436 permits the folded chair 300 to be carried by a person . the person orients the chair 300 such that the seat 424 is interposed between the person &# 39 ; s leg and a carrying hand 440 . the chair 300 is picked up by the hand grasping the carrying handle 436 such that the fingers wrap around the carrying handle through the cutout 434 on the top brace 420 . the reduced width of the carrying handle 436 permits easier grasping by the hand 440 . the cutout 434 further acts as a safety device when the chair 300 is unfolded to its open configuration , as illustrated in fig8 b . as the chair 300 is opened , the rear edge of the seat 424 swings towards the bottom edge of the top brace 420 of the rear frame member 412 . as shown in fig8 b , the cutout 434 permits the hand 440 to retain its grasp of the carrying handle 436 without the fingers being pinched between the seat 424 and the top brace 420 . maintaining the grasp of the carrying handle 436 permits the person to unfold the folding chair 300 from the carrying position in a substantially continuous manner without having to change a hold on the chair 300 . fig8 b is also an enlarged view of the hand 440 grasping the chair 300 in an unfolded configuration , similar to the chair holding described above in reference to fig6 . in one embodiment , as illustrated in fig8 a and 8b , the carrying handle 436 is formed on the top brace 420 by the cutout 434 . in another embodiment , as shown in fig9 folding chair 500 comprises a top brace 502 ( of the rear frame member ) that is similar to the top brace 420 of the chair 300 described above . the top brace 502 defines an aperture 504 positioned such that a carrying handle 506 is formed . the aperture 504 permits the fingers of the hand 440 to grasp the handle 506 and carry the folded chair 500 . furthermore , the aperture 504 also permits the folded chair 500 to be unfolded while maintaining the grasp of the carrying handle 506 without the fingers being pinched between the top brace 502 and the seat , thus offering similar advantages as that associated with the carrying handle 436 with the cutout 434 described above . another aspect of the invention is illustrated in fig1 a and 10b , wherein the folding chair 100 described above in reference to fig1 and 2 further comprises a cutout 604 defined at the bottom edge 133 b of the back rest 116 . the cutout 604 is sized to receive a gripping hand 600 , allowing sufficient clearance such that when the chair 100 is folded with the gripping hand 600 gripping the cutout 604 , the front edge 160 of the seat 114 does not pinch the hand 600 when the chair 100 is folded . the chair 100 can be folded by using one hand 600 and a foot 602 securing the rear brace 110 in a manner described below . the structure and function of the chair is described above in reference to fig1 and 2 . the sign holder 112 may be adapted to expose the cutout 604 such that the hand 600 can grip the cutout 604 comfortably . [ 0070 ] fig1 b illustrates the user in the process of folding the chair 100 using one hand 600 and one foot 602 . the user grips the back rest 116 at the cutout 604 with the hand 600 , and places the foot 602 on top of the rear brace 110 . while the foot 602 pushes down on the rear brace 110 to inhibit the chair 100 from being lifted off the ground , the gripping hand 600 pulls the back rest 116 upward . such a motion causes the chair 100 to be folded , with the front edge 160 of the seat 114 moving in an arc , as indicated by an arrow 606 , towards the bottom edge 133 b of the back rest 116 . the hand 600 , being within the cutout 604 , is prevented from being pinched between the front edge 160 of the seat 114 and the back rest 116 . in one embodiment , the cutout 604 is shaped like a half moon so as to permit a smooth contour that can be gripped comfortably by the hand 600 . it should be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art that the cutout 604 may be shaped in any number of shapes without departing from the spirit of the invention . it will be appreciated that the cutout 604 on the back rest 116 and the rear brace 110 permit the user to fold the chair 100 in an improved manner . in particular , the chair 100 can be folded in a safer manner by preventing the hand 600 from being possibly injured when pinched between the seat 114 and the back rest 116 . it will be appreciated that the sign displaying devices and the carrying handles described above provide the folding chairs with significant advantages while offering little or no significant drawbacks . in particular , the sign holding devices with messages printed , when attached to the folding chairs in various embodiments , provide a simple and an effective method of displaying customized signs at gatherings . furthermore , the carrying handle that forms an integral part of the chair &# 39 ; s frame permits the folded chair to be carried in a convenient manner , and be unfolded in a safe and efficient manner . although the embodiments of the invention have shown , described and pointed out the fundamental novel features of the invention as applied to these embodiments , it will be understood that various omissions , substitutions and changes in the form of the detail of the device illustrated may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of the invention . consequently , the scope of the invention should not be limited to the foregoing description , but should be defined by the appending claims .	6
as shown in fig1 the present invention consists of a base plate 25 and a fixing plate 20 , both symmetrically shaped in three pronged form and having three fixing holes 26 , 22 , respectively planted thereon for the disposition of rivets . in this manner , the present anti - slip means can be secured to the bottom of the shoe with the sole thereof disposed therebetween . said fixing plate 20 is structured to have a slightly upward bent press member 21 extended between its two symmetrically disposed ends , member 21 has a pin hole 23 placed at the end thereof for permitting the disposition of a pin 30 in association with the base plate 25 . pin 30 has a groove 31 planted at one side thereof for its attachment to a slip - proof member 10 when it is located with the top end thereof going through said pin hole 23 . there are two outside protrusions 24 plated at the two ends of said three pronged shaped fixing plate 20 , which are able to be in engagement with two apertures on said slip - proof member 10 so that the member 10 can be located in place without moving relatively to the right and left in use . said slip - proof member 10 is provided with protruding tooth - like elements 101 , symmetrically along the two edges thereof , and a tongue 12 located at its front for ready turnover operation thereof . member 10 also includes a pair of parallelly - disposed protrusions 13 is fixed at the opposite end thereof with a transverse member 14 disposed therebetween which is engaged in said groove 31 of the pin 30 for effecting the pivotable turnover of the slip - proof member 10 . refer to fig2 a - 2d and fig3 in mounting the present anti - slip device to the bottom of a shoe , the base plate 25 is first receivingly secured at a place between the bottom and the inner of the shoe , with the pin 30 and the rivets ( not shown ), for joining purposes , being attached thereon , and said rivets are extended externally to such an extent that the fixing plate 20 can be fixed at the bottom of a shoe by way of said rivets . as shown in fig3 the slip - proof member 10 is pivotably secured to the pin 30 by putting the transverse member 14 thereof in said groove 31 . the assembled anti - slip device is able to be housed in a recess at the bottom of the shoe with its surface lying flush with the bottom of said shoe and the tooth - like elements 101 received in said concave recess for walking on a non - slippery surface . the tooth - like elements can alternatively be turned to be outwardly exposed for use against a slippery surface so as to increase the ground - grasping capacity of said shoe . the operating procedures of the present anti - slip means are as illustrated from fig2 a - 2d fig2 a shows the present anti - slip device 10 being in a non - use state . the tongue 12 is actuated outwardly to put said member 10 in an erected position as shown in fig2 b . this erected position is effected as a result of the transverse member 14 disposed at one end of said member 10 being mounted in said groove 31 of said pin 30 and serving as a pivot axis . said raised slip - proof member 10 is turned 180 degrees , as shown in fig2 c , so that the tooth - like elements outwardly exposed for use . the erected member 10 is pushed down and disposed in a horizontal manner with the tooth - like elements facing outwardly and the fixing apertures 11 are being engaged with said protrusions 24 of said fixing plate 20 as shown in fig2 d , so that the anti - slip device can be put into use in mounting climbing or walking on a slippery surface as a result of the effective ground - grasping capacity thereof .	0
the polyhydroxylated compounds to be at least partially acylated according to the invention belong to the group constituted by glycerol polycarbonates , specific polyglycerols , [( α - hydroxymethyl ) oxyethylene /( α - hydroxymethyl ) ethylene carbonate ] copolymers , [( α - hydroxyalkyl ) oxyethylene /( α - alkyl ) ethylene carbonate ] copolymers , and [( α - alkyl ) oxyethylene /( α - hydroxyalkyl ) oxyethylene ] copolymers . each of these polyhydroxylated compounds to be at least partially acylated , belonging to the aforementioned selected group , can be obtained by catalytic synthesis , in an isolated manner after extraction or associated with other polyhydroxylated compounds . if the polyhydroxylated compound to be at least partially acylated is associated with at least one other polyhydroxylated compound , it can originate from a synthetic organic composition containing , in a mixture , glycerol polycarbonates , specific polyglycerols , [( α - hydroxymethyl ) oxyethylene /( α - hydroxymethyl ) ethylene carbonate ] copolymers , optionally [( α - hydroxyalkyl ) oxyethylene /( α - alkyl ) ethylene carbonate ] copolymers , and optionally [( α - alkyl ) oxyethylene /( α - hydroxyalkyl ) oxyethylene ] copolymers , wherein said organic composition is produced , for example , according to the french patent application fr 0408796 , by a catalytic polymerisation in a heterogeneous reaction medium comprising an organic liquid phase formed by at least one compound providing hydroxyl functions , which is in particular glycerol and at least one compound providing carbonate functions , which can be urea , glycerol carbonate or an organic carbonate , a solid phase capable of being solubilised or not formed by a catalyst containing active sites in the lewis or bronsted sense and an ambient gas phase formed by gas products in situ . nevertheless , the organic composition resulting from the aforementioned catalytic polymerisation can also contain glycerol carbonate and / or other organic carbonates , and / or other coproducts and / or residual compounds and glycerol when said glycerol provides hydroxyl functions in particular when the initial amount of the compound providing hydroxyl functions in the reaction medium is unbalanced with respect to the initial amount of the compound providing carbonate functions . all of these compounds including glycerol carbonate and / or other organic carbonates , and / or other coproducts and / or residual compounds and glycerol are optionally eliminated prior to the at least partial acylation of at least one of the polyhydroxylated compounds belonging to the aforementioned group . more specifically , the organic composition resulting from the aforementioned catalytic polymerisation , once it has been removed from the glycerol carbonate and / or other organic carbonates , glycerol and coproducts of the polymerisation reaction , is distinguished by the fact that it may contain organic polyhydroxylated compounds to be at least partially acylated in an amount of : 0 % to 50 % by weight of [( α - hydroxyalkyl ) oxyethylene /( α - alkyl ) ethylene carbonate ] copolymers ; and at least partial acylation of at least one of the polyhydroxylated compounds belonging to the selected group : the at least partial acylation , according to the invention , of at least one of the polyhydroxylated compounds belonging to the group consisting of glycerol polycarbonates , specific polyglycerols , [( α - hydroxymethyl ) oxyethylene /( α - hydroxymethyl ) ethylene carbonate ] copolymers , [( α - hydroxyalkyl ) oxyethylene /( α - alkyl ) ethylene carbonate ] copolymers , and [( α - alkyl ) oxyethylene /( α - hydroxyalkyl ) oxyethylene ] copolymers , can thus be performed , on a single one of the polyhydroxylated compounds belonging to the aforementioned selected group , obtained by direct synthesis or by a selective extraction of an organic composition containing , in a mixture with other compounds , the desired polyhydroxylated compound , on the selected polyhydroxylated compounds belonging to said group , in a mixture in an organic composition resulting from a catalytic polymerisation . when the at least partial acylation according to the invention concerns only one polyhydroxylated compound , from the aforementioned selected group , obtained in isolation by synthesis , the acylation is performed on this single desired polyhydroxylated compound according to the specific conditions of the at least partial catalytic acylation . when the at least partial acylation according to the invention concerns only one desired polyhydroxylated compound belonging to the selected group , and the polyhydroxylated compound is contained in a mixture in an organic composition resulting from a catalytic polymerisation , a selective extraction of said desired compound is performed by a separation method known from the prior art , prior to the at least partial acylation of said desired compound . thus , by one of these known methods , it is possible to isolate , then extract , the polyhydroxylated polymers and copolymers to be at least partially acylated , which are present in the organic composition according to the invention , i . e . : [( α - hydroxymethyl ) oxyethylene /( α - hydroxymethyl ) ethylene carbonate ] copolymers , [( α - hydroxyalkyl ) oxyethylene /( α - alkyl ) ethylene carbonate ] copolymers , and [( α - alkyl ) oxyethylene /( α - hydroxyalkyl ) oxyethylene ] copolymers . the polyhydroxylated polymers and copolymers to be at least partially acylated , according to the invention , have primarily linear structures . nevertheless , it is possible to find in said composition polymers and copolymers which are branched , or even cyclic when oligomers are present , or of which the endings of the polymer chains are cyclic . when the at least partial acylation according to the invention is performed on at least one polyhydroxylated compound belonging to the aforementioned selected group , this at least partial acylation can be performed on an organic composition formed by the mixture of desired polyhydroxylated compounds belonging to the aforementioned group or on an organic composition containing , in a mixture , not only the selected polyhydroxylated compounds including glycerol polycarbonates , specific polyglycerols , [( α - hydroxymethyl ) oxyethylene /( α - hydroxymethyl ) ethylene carbonate ] copolymers , [( α - hydroxyalkyl ) oxyethylene /( α - alkyl ) ethylene carbonate ] copolymers , and [( α - alkyl ) oxyethylene /( α - hydroxyalkyl ) oxyethylene ] copolymers , but also other compounds which are glycerol carbonate and / or other organic carbonates , glycerol and / or other coproducts and / or residual compounds , wherein the at least partial acylation occurs in the presence or after the elimination of glycerol carbonate and / or other organic carbonates , glycerol and / or other coproducts and / or residual compounds . thus , according to the invention , the at least partial acylation of at least one of the polyhydroxylated compounds belonging to the aforementioned selected group by creating the corresponding polyesters can be performed on : at least one of the polyhydroxylated compounds belonging to the aforementioned selected group , by producing the desired polyester , on an organic composition containing , in a mixture , not only the polyhydroxylated compounds belonging to the aforementioned selected group , but also other compounds including glycerol carbonate and / or other organic carbonates , glycerol and / or other coproducts and / or residual compounds , on an organic composition containing , in a mixture , the only polyhydroxylated compounds , which are polymers and copolymers after having removed this composition from the other compounds , on an organic composition containing , in a mixture , the only polyhydroxylated compounds , which are glycerol polycarbonates and specific polyglycerols after having removed this composition from the other compounds , on an organic composition containing , in a mixture , the only glycerol polycarbonates and the associated copolymers after having removed this composition from the other compounds , on an organic composition containing , in a mixture , glycerol polycarbonates or specific polyglycerols or associated copolymers after having removed this composition from the other compounds . according to the invention , the at least partial acylation , i . e . partial or total acylation , of at least one of the polyhydroxylated compounds belonging to the group constituted by glycerol polycarbonates , specific polyglycerols , [( α - hydroxymethyl ) oxyethylene /( α - hydroxymethyl ) ethylene carbonate ] copolymers , [( α - hydroxyalkyl ) oxyethylene /( α - alkyl ) ethylene carbonate ] copolymers , and [( α - alkyl ) oxyethylene /( α - hydroxyalkyl ) oxyethylene ] copolymers , which creates the corresponding polyesters , can be : a simple , partial or total acylation , and involves the reaction of a single acylation compound , which is a carboxylic monoacid with the formula r — cooh or an acid chloride with the formula r — co — cl in at least a sub - stoichiometric amount comprising a saturated or unsaturated c 1 to c 43 hydrocarbon chain , optionally functionalised by hydroxyl and / or epoxy functions , with at least one polyhydroxylated compound belonging to the aforementioned selected group , a simple - mixed , partial or total acylation , and involves the reaction of at least two acylation compounds , which are different monocarboxylic acids r — cooh or different acid chlorides r — co — cl , in a cumulative amount that is at least sub - stoichiometric , comprising a saturated or unsaturated c 1 to c 43 hydrocarbon chain , optionally functionalised by hydroxyl and / or epoxy functions , in a sub - stoichiometric amount , with at least one polyhydroxylated compound belonging to the aforementioned selected group , a simple - complex , partial or total acylation , and involves the reaction of a single acylation compounds , which is an aliphatic or aromatic carboxylic diacid ho — co — r — co — oh or a carboxylic triacid , for example a maleated or fumarated resin acid , or a carboxylic acid anhydride r — co — o — co — r ′, comprising saturated or unsaturated r and r ′ c 1 to c 43 hydrocarbon chain , optionally functionalised by hydroxyl and / or epoxy functions , in at least a sub - stoichiometric amount , with at least one polyhydroxylated compound belonging to the aforementioned selected group , capable of resulting in : a partial or total intermolecular acylation by a site - to - site reaction , between each acid site of the dicarboxylic or tricarboxylic acylation compound and a hydroxylated site belonging to distinct chains of polyhydroxylated compounds , which are polyhydroxylated polymers and / or copolymers of the selected group , by first creating a bridge between at least two molecules of at least one of the polyhydroxylated polymers and / or copolymers and at least one acylation compound molecule , then cumulatively a mesh network by other intermolecular reactions , a partial or total intramolecular acylation by a site - to - site reaction , between the two acid sites of the dicarboxylic or tricarboxylic acylation compound and hydroxylated sites of a chain of polyhydroxylated polymers and / or copolymers of the selected group . the case of the triacid is also comparable to the above , where inter and intramolecular bonds can occur , with the following types of acylation : a complex - mixed , partial or total acylation , involving the reaction of at least two acylation compounds , which are different at least dicarboxylic acids h o — co — r — co — oh or different carboxylic acid anhydrides r — co — o — co — r ′, comprising saturated or unsaturated r and r ′ c 1 to c 43 hydrocarbon chain , optionally functionalised by hydroxyl and / or epoxy functions , in at least a sub - stoichiometric amount , with at least one polyhydroxylated compound belonging to the aforementioned selected group , capable of resulting in : a partial or total intermolecular acylation by a site - to - site reaction , between each acid site of each dicarboxylic or tricarboxylic acylation compound and a hydroxylated site belonging to distinct chains of polyhydroxylated compounds , which are polyhydroxylated polymers and / or copolymers of the selected group , by first creating a bridge between at least two molecules of at least one of the polyhydroxylated polymers and / or copolymers and at least one molecule of each dicarboxylic acylation compound , then cumulatively a mesh network by other intermolecular reactions , a partial or total intramolecular acylation by a site - to - site reaction , between the two acid sites of the dicarboxylic or tricarboxylic acylation compound and hydroxylated sites of the same chain of one of the polyhydroxylated polymers and / or copolymers and between the two acid sites of another of the dicarboxylic acylation compounds and two hydroxylated sites of the same chain or of another chain of one or more of the polyhydroxylated polymers and / or copolymers , a simple , partial or total acylation by transesterification that results from the reaction of an acylation compound , which is a monoester r — co — o — r ′ in at least a sub - stoichiometric amount , in which r and r ′ are saturated or unsaturated c 1 to c 43 hydrocarbon chains , optionally functionalised by hydroxyl and / or epoxy functions , and r and r ′ can be identical or different , with at least one polyhydroxylated compound belonging to the aforementioned selected group , a simple - mixed , partial or total acylation by transesterification that results from the reaction of at least two acylation compounds , which are monoesters r — co — o — r ′ and r ″— co — o — r ′″ in at least sub - stoichiometric cumulative amounts , in which r , r ′, r ″ and r ′″ are saturated or unsaturated c 1 to c 43 hydrocarbon chains , optionally functionalised by hydroxyl and / or epoxy functions , and r , r ′, r ″ and r ′″ can be identical on the condition that r or r ′ is different from r ″ and r ′″, or different , with at least one polyhydroxylated compound belonging to the aforementioned selected group , a complex - simple , complex - mixed , partial or total acylation by transesterification that involves the reaction of at least one acylation compound , which is at least one polyester with the formula r ′ o — co — r — co — o — r ″, or a monoester of a carboxylic polyacid with the formula r ′— o — co — r — co — oh in which r , r ′ and r ″ are saturated or unsaturated c 1 to c 43 hydrocarbon chains , in at least sub - stoichiometric amounts , optionally functionalised by hydroxyl and / or epoxy functions , with at least one polyhydroxylated compound belonging to the aforementioned selected group . in these two types of acylation , the acyl groups are preferably provided by dimer fatty acids , dimer fatty acid partial esters , dimer fatty acid diesters having 2 to 36 carbon atoms , or by trimer fatty acids , trimer fatty acid partial esters , trimer fatty acid triesters from resin acids from pine wood and by any other polyunsaturated fatty acid of plant origin or oxo synthesis . in this case of complex transesterification , it is possible for the bonds to be intra or intermolecular . thus , according to the invention , the at least partial acylation , i . e . the partial or total acylation of at least one of the polyhydroxylated compounds belonging to the selected group , results in at least partially acylated polyesters of the following types : simple , simple - mixed , intermolecular or intramolecular complex - simple , intermolecular or intramolecular complex - mixed or intra or intermolecular simple or simple - mixed transesterified . each of the polyesters of the polyhydroxylated compounds belonging to the aforementioned selected at least partially acylated group can be characterised by the detection of its various physicochemical properties . the same is true when the polyesters of polyhydroxylated compounds belonging to the aforementioned selected group are , for at least one of them , at least partially acylated in a mixture in an organic composition resulting from a catalytic polymerisation . nevertheless , it is possible to characterise the polyesters of polyhydroxylated compounds , of which at least one is at least partially acylated , by known methods for analysing or measuring specific properties , such as , for example : by measuring the hydroxyl concentrations in the polyhydroxylated compounds , of the reaction medium before and after the at least partial acylation , which makes it possible to measure the acylation rate , and which also makes it possible to specify the importance of the at least partial acylation ( standard nf t 60 / 213 ), by means of the — oh bonds still available , by measuring the viscosity expressed in centistokes ( cst ), which is performed before and after the at least partial acylation using a canon - fenske viscosimeter at 40 ° c . ( standard nf t 60 / 200 , nf t 60 / 136 and astm d 445 - 96 ), by infrared spectroscopic analysis . the at least partial acylation , according to the invention , of at least one of the polyhydroxylated compounds belonging to the aforementioned selected group can transform each of these polyhydroxylated compounds , which are initially totally water - soluble , into polyesters that are simple , complex , mixed , partial , total , intermolecular and intramolecular , lipophilic and lipid - soluble in fats , according to the acylation rate “ k ” applied to each of them , wherein k is in the range 0 . 01 ≦ k ≦ 1 , inclusive . more specifically , the acylation , according to the invention , of the polyhydroxylated compounds of the aforementioned selected group progressively transforms , according to the acylation rate applied , these initially water - soluble polyhydroxylated compounds into fully lipid - soluble and hydrophobic polyesters , after going through intermediate properties of simultaneous water - solubility and lipid - solubility , wherein the intermediate state of water - solubility and lipid - solubility possible reflects the degree of substitution of the hydroxyl groups with acylated groups , which will depend on the polyhydroxylated compound group and the length of the substituent acylation chains . each of the polyesters of the at least partially acylated polyhydroxylated compounds can be implemented alone or in the form of a mixture of polyhydroxylated compounds belonging to the aforementioned selected group of which at least one of the polyhydroxylated compounds is at least partially acylated . the polyesters , according to the invention , of glycerol polycarbonate , specific polyglycerols and their copolymers are constituted by particularly beneficial reactive sites , which can be used as synthesis intermediates : a glyceryl skeleton constituted by two oxyethylene / ethylene carbonate units substituted by free hydroxymethyl or acylated hydroxymethyl functions . these acylated hydroxymethyl groups in ester form and the carbonate functions — o ( c ═ o ) o represent functionalisable reaction centres . in the presence of lawesson &# 39 ; s reagent , the carbonate — o ( c ═ o ) o and carboxyester ( c ═ o ) o — groupings are modified into thionocarbonate — o ( c ═ s ) o and thionester ( c ═ s ) o — groupings . thus , glycerol polythionocarbonate polythionesters are formed , and are capable of providing the anti - wear properties and extreme pressure owing to the presence of organic sulphur for lubrication ; the free hydroxymethyl groups are the site of alkylation reactions for obtaining o - alkyl ( poly ) ester of glycerol polycarbonate polyesters . the c — o - alkyl bond reinforces the thermal , chemical and physical stability of the molecular structure as well as the hydrophobic character ; condensation reactions , because the mobile hydrogen of hydroxymethyl reacts with isocyanato , isothiocyanato functions of ( mono -, di -) isocyanates or isothiocyanates to transform the reaction centres into urethane functions . in particular , in the case of partial esterifications , this condensation provides the means to produce glycerol polycarbonate polyester polyurethanes , which can be used in the material , clothing , painting and lubricant industries , etc . ; hydroxy alkylation reactions by implementing the epoxy sites in particular in those provided by epoxidised vegetal oils ( epoxidised rapeseed , epoxidised soy , etc .) to transform the reaction centres involved into hydroxy and o - alkyl functions . polyhydroxylated polycarbonate polyesters and polyethers are expected to result . their benefit lies in the presence of hydroxyl functions on the hydrocarbon skeleton of short , medium and long chains , from plant material . the high degree of hydroxyl creates oleochemical neopolyols ; the double bonds of oleic and linoleic chains of the ester chains that can be functionalised into epoxides , in the presence , for example , of formic acid and hydrogen peroxide , then transformed into amide with amines and in the presence , for example , of sodium monochloroacetate , can be transformed into quaternary ammonium , a very desirable function owing to its cationicity ; hydroxylation reactions on the ethylenic double bonds of the acyl groups provided by the fatty acids of oleic , erucic , linoleic , linolenic oils to obtain oleochemical polyols with high - hydroxy density . catalytic method for at least partial acylation of at least one of the polyhydroxylated compounds belonging to the group of aforementioned selected compounds : the invention also relates to a catalytic method for at least partial acylation of at least one of the polyhydroxylated compounds belonging to the group constituted by glycerol polycarbonates , specific polyglycerols , [( α - hydroxymethyl ) oxyethylene /( α - hydroxymethyl ) ethylene carbonate ] copolymers , [( α - hydroxyalkyl ) oxyethylene /( α - alkyl ) ethylene carbonate ] copolymers , and [( α - alkyl ) oxyethylene /( α - hydroxyalkyl ) oxyethylene ] copolymers . i ) alone and after selective separation when said compounds are initially in a mixture , ii ) in a homogeneous mixture with glycerol carbonate and / or other organic carbonates , glycerol and / or other coproducts and / or residual compounds . the catalytic method , according to the invention , for at least partial acylation of at least one of the polyhydroxylated compounds belonging to the group constituted by glycerol polycarbonates , specific polyglycerols , [( α - hydroxymethyl ) oxyethylene /( α - hydroxymethyl ) ethylene carbonate ] copolymers , [( α - hydroxyalkyl ) oxyethylene /( α - alkyl ) ethylene carbonate ] copolymers , and [( α - alkyl ) oxyethylene /( α - hydroxyalkyl ) oxyethylene ] copolymers is characterised in that the catalytic reaction for at least partial acylation occurs in a biphasic heterogeneous reaction medium , of the liquid / liquid type formed by at least one of the polyhydroxylated compounds to be acylated , belonging to the aforementioned group , and at least one acylation compound of formula y — r — co — x , in which x can be — oh ( acid ), — o — co — r ′ ( anhydride ), cl ( chloride ) or — o — r ′ ( esters ) and y is h when the acylated compound is monofunctional , and is — cooh ( acid ), — co — o — r ″ ( esters ) when the acylated compound is at least bifunctional , the biphasic heterogeneous reaction medium : ( i ) in which the catalyst is dispersed , when it is not formed in situ on initiation of the reaction ; ( ii ) which is brought to a temperature no higher than 220 ° c . ; ( iii ) which is subjected to a pressure between 10 5 pa and 1 . 5 × 10 2 pa , during the reaction ; according to the method of the invention , the amounts of polyhydroxylated compounds belonging to the aforementioned selected group providing hydroxyl functions , and of acylation compounds added to the reaction medium are dependent on the desired acylation rate “ k ” and the hydroxyl concentration of the polyhydroxylated compound to be acylated . in general , the amount of acylation compound added to the reaction medium is chosen to be between 0 . 45 times and 6 times the stoichiometric amount for acylation , with the understanding that , in the partial acylation , the acylation reaction is stopped when the desired chemical structure is obtained . the acylation compounds y — r — co — x involved in the method according to the invention are chosen : a ) in the case of a simple , partial or total acylation , which comprises the reaction of a single acylation compound with at least one of the polyhydroxylated compounds , in the group constituted by monocarboxylic acids with the formula r — cooh , and / or carboxylic acid chlorides with the formula r — co — cl in which r is a saturated or unsaturated c 1 to c 43 hydrocarbon chains optionally functionalised by hydroxyl and / or epoxy functions . b ) in the case of a simple - mixed , partial or total acylation , which comprises the reaction of at least two different acylation compounds with at least one of the polyhydroxylated compounds of the selected group , in the group constituted by monocarboxylic acids with the formula r — cooh , and / or carboxylic acid chlorides with the formula r — co — cl in which r is a saturated or unsaturated c 1 to c 43 hydrocarbon chains optionally functionalised by hydroxyl and / or epoxy functions . the monocarboxylic acids are preferably chosen from the group constituted by the fatty acids , in particular those of plant or animal origin with a linear or branched c 1 to c 43 hydrocarbon chain : saturated : for example , lauric , palmitic or isopalmitic , stearic , arachidic acid , or others , with a single unsaturation , such as , for example , oleic acid , erucic acid or others , with a double unsaturation , such as , for example , linoleic acid , or others . the acid chlorides are preferably those chosen from the group constituted by the aforementioned monocarboxylic acids transformed into acid chloride . c ) in the case of a complex - simple , partial or total acylation , which comprises the reaction of a single acylation compound with at least one of the polyhydroxylated compounds of the selected group , in the group constituted by aliphatic or aromatic carboxylic diacids ho — oc — r — co — oh or carboxylic , aliphatic or aromatic triacids , such as , for example , a maleated or fumarated resin acid , and / or carboxylic acid anhydrides r — co — o — co — r ′, comprising saturated or unsaturated r and r ′ c 1 to c 43 hydrocarbon chains , optionally functionalised by hydroxyl and / or epoxy functions , wherein the carboxylic diacids can preferably be chosen from the group of c 6 to c 21 dimer acids and the anhydrides from the group constituted by the c 2 to c 18 fatty acids : c1 ) in the case of a partial or total intermolecular acylation , the reaction proceeds by a site - to - site reaction , between each acid site of the dicarboxylic acylation compound and a hydroxylated site belonging to two mutually distinct chains of polyhydroxylated compounds , which are polyhydroxylated polymers and / or copolymers of the selected group , by first creating a bridge by means of the acid functions and the hydroxyl functions between at least two molecules of at least one of the polyhydroxylated polymers and / or copolymers of the selected group , then cumulatively a mesh network by other intermolecular reactions ; c2 ) in the case of a partial or total intramolecular acylation , the reaction proceeds by a site - to - site reaction , between the two acid sites of the dicarboxylic acylation compound and two hydroxylated sites of a chain of polyhydroxylated polymers and / or copolymers of the selected group . in these intermolecular and intramolecular acylations , the dicarboxylic acids are preferably chosen from the group constituted by fatty acids such as glutaric , adipic , pimelic , suberic , azelaic , sebacic or tridecanoic acid . d ) in the case of a complex - mixed , partial or total acylation , which comprises the reaction of at least two acylation compounds with at least one of the polyhydroxylated compounds , in the group constituted by different dicarboxylic acids ho — co — r — co — oh or carboxylic acid anhydrides r — co — o — co — r ′ different from one another , comprising saturated or unsaturated r and r ′ c 1 to c 43 hydrocarbon chains , optionally functionalised by hydroxyl and / or epoxy functions , wherein the carboxylic diacids can preferably be chosen from the group of c 6 to c 21 dimer acids and the anhydrides from the group constituted by fatty acids comprising saturated or unsaturated r and r ′ c 1 to c 43 hydrocarbon chains , optionally functionalised by hydroxyl and / or epoxy functions , wherein the carboxylic acid anhydrides can preferably be chosen from the group of c 2 to c 18 fatty acids . this type of complex - mixed , partial or total acylation can also result in : d1 ) a complex - mixed , partial or total intermolecular acylation by a site - to - site reaction , between each acid site of each dicarboxylic acylation compound and a hydroxylated site belonging to two mutually distinct chains of polyhydroxylated polymers and / or copolymers , by first creating a bridge between at least two polyhydroxylated polymer and / or copolymer molecules , then cumulatively a mesh network by other intermolecular reactions , d2 ) a complex - mixed , partial or total intramolecular acylation by a site - to - site reaction , between the two acid sites of one of the dicarboxylic acylation compounds and two hydroxylated sites of the same chain of one of the polyhydroxylated polymers and / or copolymers and between the two acid sites of another of the dicarboxylic acylation compounds and two hydroxylated sites of the same chain or of another chain of one of the polyhydroxylated polymers and / or copolymers . in the case of a complex , simple or mixed , partial or total acylation , capable of resulting in intermolecular and / or intramolecular acylations , said acylation is performed : by at least dicarboxylic acids with the general formula ho — co — r — co — oh or in which r and r ′ are saturated or unsaturated c 1 to c 43 hydrocarbon chains , optionally functionalised by hydroxyl and / or epoxy functions , and r and r ′ can be identical or different , with at least one polyhydroxylated compound belonging to the aforementioned selected group , wherein said at least dicarboxylic acids are preferably chosen from the group constituted by glutaric acid , adipic acid , pimelic acid , suberic acid , azelaic acid , sebacic acid and dodecanedioic acid , and the carboxylic acid anhydrides are preferably chosen from the group constituted by acetic anhydride , hexanoic anhydride and oleic anhydride . e ) in the case of a simple , mixed , partial or total transesterification - type acylation , which comprises the reaction of at least one acylation compound with at least one of the polyhydroxylated compounds : e1 ) when the acylation by transesterification is simple , partial or total , which involves the reaction of a single acylation compound with at least one of the polyhydroxylated compounds , in the group constituted by monoesters with the formula r — co — o — r ′, in which r and r ′ are saturated or unsaturated c 1 to c 43 hydrocarbon chains , optionally functionalised by hydroxyl and / or epoxy functions , and r and r ′ can be different from one another . e2 ) when the acylation by transesterification is simple - mixed , partial or total , which involves the reaction of at least two acylation compounds with at least one of the polyhydroxylated compounds in the group constituted by monoesters with the formula r — co — o — r ′ and r — co — o — r ″ in which r , r ′ and r ″ are saturated or unsaturated c 1 to c 43 hydrocarbon chains , optionally functionalised by hydroxyl and / or epoxy functions , and r ′ and r ″ must be different from one another . in the case of a simple , simple - mixed , partial or total transesterification - type acylation , the monoesters are preferably chosen from the group constituted by the coconut oil , palm oil , rapeseed oil , sunflower oil and castor oil methyl esters . f ) in the case of a complex - simple or complex - mixed , partial or total transesterification - type acylation , which involves the reaction of at least one acylation compound with at least one of the polyhydroxylated compounds capable of resulting in inter and / or intramolecular acylations , in the group constituted by at least dicarboxylic acid esters with the formula r — co — o — r — co — o — r ″, or by an acid ester of at least dicarboxylic acids with the formula r — co — o — r — co — oh , wherein r , r ′ and r ″ are saturated or unsaturated c 1 to c 43 hydrocarbon chains , optionally functionalised by hydroxyl and / or epoxy functions , and r , r ′ and r ″ are identical or different . in the case of a complex - simple or complex - mixed partial or total transesterification - type acylation , the at least dicarboxylic acid esters and the acid esters of at least dicarboxylic acids are preferably chosen from the group constituted by dimer fatty acids , c 6 to c 21 dimer fatty acid diesters , trimer fatty acid esters and trimer acid triesters . the catalyst involved in the catalytic reaction for at least partial acylation , according to the invention , of at least one of the polyhydroxylated compounds belonging to the aforementioned selected group , is chosen according to the nature of the partial or total acylation reaction . two catalyst groups can be distinguished for the activation of the acylation : the group of homogenous or heterogeneous monofunctional or bifunctional acid catalysts chosen to activate the acylation of polyhydroxylated compounds with fatty acid chlorides , fatty acid anhydrides , monomer fatty acids , dimer fatty acids and trimer fatty acids . the acylation catalyst can be chosen from the acids providing protons in the family of homogeneous catalysts such as , for example , sulphuric acid , phosphoric acid , sulphonic paratoluene acid , sulphonic dodecyl acid or from the metal catalysts carrying lewis and bronsted acid sites such as , for example , in the family of metal sulphates such as zinc sulphate , magnesium sulphate , sodium sulphate or from the cation - exchange resins at strong sulphonic acid sites , nafions or weak carboxylic or phosphonic acid sites , or from zeolites , in particular molecular sieves , pulgites , clays or from superacids such as , for example fso 3 h — sbf 5 or from polyacids . the group of homogeneous or heterogeneous monofunctional or bifunctional basic catalysts selected to activate the acylation of polyhydroxylated compounds with fatty acid alkyl monoesters , fatty acid alkyl diesters , fatty acid alkyl triesters , triglycerides , dimer fatty acid diesters and trimer fatty acid triesters . the acylation catalyst is chosen from inorganic solid bases such as alkaline hydroxides , in particular sodium hydroxide and potassium hydroxide , alkaline - earth hydroxides , in particular calcium and barium , alkaline carbonates such as sodium carbonate and potassium carbonate , or from organic solid bases such as metal alcoholates , in particular sodium or potassium methylates , sodium or potassium ethylates , or from the group of alkaline and metal salts , organic carboxylic acids , the group of metal oxides carrying basic lewis sites such as tio2 , mgo , zno and others , the group of anion - exchange resins functionalised in the form of chloride , hydroxide , bicarbonate or in the form of a free base , and the group of organic bases or hydrogen bond acceptor supported bases , and free amines such as , for example , triethylamine , pyridine , guanidine and others . the catalyst according to the invention is added to the reaction medium in an amount of 0 . 01 % by weight to 5 % by weight with respect to the polyhydroxylated compound to be acylated added to the reaction medium . the acylation reactions are carried out in the absence of a third solvent by a biphasic hydrophobic liquid / hydrophilic liquid system , under synthesis conditions in which the ratio between the acylation sites of the hydrophobic acylating agent and the hydrophilic polyhydroxylated compound sites is equal to at least 1 and is generally no more than 3 . the pressure applied to the reaction medium and controlled during the catalytic acylation is no more than 10 5 pa , but it can preferably be below this maximum value so as to move the equilibrium of the reaction between the polyhydroxylated compound and the acylated compound in the direction of the formation of polyesters and in the direction of the elimination of the gas phase that may form in situ . preferably , the pressure applied to the catalytic reaction medium is between 2 . 0 × 10 2 and 10 5 pa . the temperature to which the reaction medium is brought during the reaction is no higher than 220 ° c . and is preferably within the range of 50 ° c . to 200 ° c . the biphasic heterogeneous reaction medium is subjected , throughout the acylation reaction , to adequate mechanical agitation by means of known agitation devices . during such an at least partial acylation , coproducts may appear in the liquid reaction phase , which are an alcohol or an alcohol mixture , or an acid or an acid mixture , optionally to be eliminated as they are produced . the polyesters of polyhydroxylated compounds belonging to the aforementioned selected group , which are at least partially acylated , can be used in numerous applications due to the intrinsic properties of the polyesters resulting from said acylation . the following can be cited as being among the most important intrinsic properties : the intrinsic lipid - solubility , the multifunctionality of said at least partially or totally acylated polyhydroxylated compounds , their lack of toxicity and ecotoxicity , their biodegradability , their thermal stability and their oxidation resistance , their low volatility , their fire resistance , their thickening and rheological properties , their lubricity ( anti - wear , anti - friction , ep additive , extreme pressure ), their adjustable solubility ranging from water - solubility to lipid - solubility with surfactant properties in both environments , among others . therefore , there are many various applications for polyesters resulting from polyhydroxylated compounds of the aforementioned selected group by at least partial acylation according to the invention . the following technical fields can be cited , for illustrative purposes , among the possible applications : the examples below illustrate the subject matter of the invention , so as to make it easier to understand , but without limiting its scope . in all of the following examples , the at least partial acylation of polyhydroxylated compounds from the aforementioned selected group is performed in the same experimental plant . to do this , a 250 - millilitre reactor is implemented . this reactor is equipped with an agitation device rotating at 300 rpm , a dean - stark system series - mounted with internal pressure control means ( vacuum pump ), means for creating a controlled atmosphere by nitrogen flushing and heating means , all of which means are controlled by control systems . in all of the following examples , the term “ glycerol carbonate oligomers ” refers to a reaction medium containing around : 20 to 25 % oligomers containing one or more linear carbonate functions belonging to the glycerol polycarbonate structures , and to the [( α - hydroxymethyl ) oxyethylene /( α - hydroxymethyl ) ethylene carbonate ] copolymers ; 35 to 40 % oligomers not containing carbonated functions , but that are specific polyglycerols ; this example concerns the partial acylation of a glycerol polycarbonate by a lipophilic anhydride , which is maleic anhydride . the acid catalyst is formed in situ upon initiation of the acylation reaction ; the presence of an added catalyst is not necessary . glycerol polycarbonate is first added to the reactor , and brought to a temperature of 70 ° c . then , maleic anhydride , which has been pre - heated so that it is at least partially melted , is added , creating a biphasic mixture . the mixture thus produced is brought to 80 ° c . under strong agitation and at a pressure of 10 5 pa until the maleic anhydride has fully melted . the mixture is then brought to 130 ° c . under sustained agitation and under a pressure of 2 × 10 2 pa for 5 h 30 min . at the end of the reaction , the reaction mixture is composed of two phases . the upper phase of the reaction medium analysed in infrared spectroscopy shows that it contains a large proportion of fatty chains , which are not found in the lower phase of the reaction medium . the presence , in the ftir spectra of the upper phase of the reaction medium , of a frequency band at 1743 cm − 1 , attributable to the ester functions , a frequency band at 1715 cm − 1 , attributable to the carboxylic acid formed in the acid anhydride reaction , and a frequency band at 1801 cm − 1 , attributable to the acid anhydride that did not react , demonstrates that the esterification reaction of the glycerol polycarbonate by the maleic anhydride has clearly taken place . the partial acylation of glycerol carbonate oligomers by a c 4 chain has enabled these compounds to acquire a strongly hydrophobic character , which they did not have at the outset . this example concerns the partial acylation of a glycerol polycarbonate by a lipophilic anhydride , which is oleic anhydride . 25 . 18 g of glycerol carbonate oligomers having 0 . 352 mol of — oh function ; the reaction medium thus produced is brought to a set point temperature of 142 ° c . under strong agitation and at a pressure of 2 . 5 × 10 5 pa for 8 h . the reaction progress is monitored by collecting regular samples from the upper phase of the reaction medium , of which the kinematic viscosity , the hydroxide index and the acid index are measured . over the course of the reaction , a regular increase in the kinematic viscosity of the samples , a reduction in the acid index and a reduction in the hydroxide index are noted . at the end of the reaction , the kinematic viscosity measured at 40 ° c . has increased from 21 . 8 to 62 . 6 cst , and the acid index has decreased from 200 to 83 . 5 . the esterification yield can be calculated and appears to be 58 %. the material recovered in the dean stark and in the baffle is weighed and analysed . this recovered material appears to be composed in a large majority ( 99 %) by water essentially from the esterification reaction with traces of glycerol : thus , 4 . 16 g of water , i . e . 0 . 288 mol , have been collected , which gives an esterification yield of 64 %, comparable to that calculated on the basis of acid indices . thus , a partial acylation of the oh functions of glycerol polycarbonate chains by oleic acid has clearly been achieved . this example concerns the partial acylation of a glycerol polycarbonate by transesterification by means of an oleic sunflower methyl ester . 24 . 94 g of glycerol carbonate oligomers having 0 . 34 g mol of — oh function ; 107 . 79 g of sunflower methyl ester representing 0 . 364 mol of acyl function ; this reaction medium produced in the reactor is brought to a set point temperature of 142 ° c . under strong agitation at 300 rpm and at a pressure of 2 . 5 × 10 5 pa for 8 h . the reaction progress is monitored by collecting regular samples of which the kinematic viscosity and the hydroxide index are measured . the measurements of the acid indices give values that remain near zero over the course of the entire reaction . over the course of the reaction , a regular increase in the kinematic viscosity of the samples is noted , while the hydroxide index follows a bell curve . this can be explained by the progressive transfer into the lipophilic phase of weakly acylated glycerol carbonate oligomer chains , then the progressive increase in their acylation rate . the reaction is stopped after 8 h at the set point temperature : the reaction medium has become almost monophasic . the kinematic viscosity measured at 40 ° c . has increased from 4 . 5 to 45 . 2 cst and the hydroxide concentration is 34 mg koh / g . the material recovered in the dean stark and in the baffle is weighed and analysed , and it is found that this material is primarily methanol ( 91 %) with a small amount of water ( 7 %), and traces of glycerol and glycerol carbonate . the methanol collected is from the transesterification reaction of methyl ester by the glycerol carbonate oligomers . 10 . 2 g of material is collected , i . e . 0 . 291 mol of methanol , which gives an esterification yield of 83 % for the available oh functions . it is thus proven that a partial transesterification of the sunflower methyl ester by the — oh functions of the glycerol carbonate oligomer chains has clearly been achieved . this example concerns the partial acylation of a glycerol polycarbonate by an interesterification reaction by means of a lipophilic oleic sunflower oil . 25 . 06 g of glycerol carbonate oligomers having 0 . 351 g mol of — oh function ; 103 . 5 g of oleic sunflower oil representing 0 . 351 mol of acyl function ; this reaction medium is brought to a temperature of 142 ° c . under strong agitation at 300 rpm and is subjected to a reduced pressure of 2 . 5 × 10 2 bars . the reaction is stopped after 8 h at the set point temperature . the kinematic viscosity measured at 40 ° c . has increased from 41 . 4 to 158 . 7 cst . the small amount of material recovered in the dean stark is analysed , and it is found that this material is composed primarily of glycerol and glycerol carbonate . this example concerns the partial acylation of a glycerol polycarbonate by a consecutive esterification reaction by means of a mixture of two lipophilic acids . 40 . 96 g of glycerol carbonate oligomers having 0 . 573 g mol of — oh function ; 98 . 07 g of a mixture composed of 50 % by weight of oleic acid and 50 % by weight of tridecanedioic acid representing 0 . 576 mol of acyl function ; the reaction medium is brought to a set point temperature of 142 ° c . under strong agitation and is subjected to a reduced pressure of 2 . 5 × 10 2 pa . the reaction is stopped after 8 h at the set point temperature : the reaction medium has become totally monophasic . after cooling , the reaction medium has the consistency of grease . the acid index decreases from 328 to 121 . this decrease in the index gives an esterification yield of 50 %, taking into consideration the fact that there is only one phase . the material recovered in the dean stark and in the baffle is weighed and analysed , and it is found that this material is in a large majority water ( 97 %), with traces of glycerol . this water comes essentially from the esterification reaction . 5 . 64 g of material is collected , i . e . 0 . 304 mol of water , which gives an esterification yield of 53 % for the available oh functions , a result comparable to that calculated on the basis of acid indices . thus , a partial esterification of the oh functions of glycerol carbonate oligomer chains by oleic acid has clearly been achieved . this example concerns the total acylation of glycerol polycarbonate by acetic anhydride . 22 . 5 g of glycerol carbonate oligomers having 0 . 315 g mol of — oh function ; an added catalyst is unnecessary because the reaction catalyst is formed in situ on initiation of the acylation reaction . this reaction medium produced in the reactor is brought to a set point temperature of 50 ° c . under strong agitation at 300 rpm and at a pressure of 2 . 5 × 10 2 pa for 2 h 30 min . at the end of the reaction , the pressure in the reactor is maintained at 2 . 5 × 10 2 pa and the temperature is also maintained at 50 ° c . until distillation of the acetic acid formed during the acylation . the measurement of the hydroxyl concentration of the final acylated reaction medium , after deducting the influence of the residual acetic acid , gives a zero result proving that the acylation of the oh functions of the oligomerised medium is complete . an ir spectrum of the acylated reaction medium shows the appearance of a frequency band 1743 cm − 1 , attributable to the ester functions and a frequency band at 1715 cm − 1 , attributable to the carboxylic acid formed in the acid anhydride reaction . 10 g of the esterified reaction medium are mixed with 50 ml of water and 50 ml of hexane in a separatory funnel , and subjected to vigorous agitation . the aqueous phase and the organic phase are recovered separately and evaporated in the rotatory evaporator . the results of the evaporations each give a respectively hydrophilic and lipophilic fraction . the mass of the lipophilic fraction recovered is much lower than that of the hydrophilic fraction . the ir analysis of the recovered fractions shows that the two fractions are composed of esters , and that the hydrophilic fraction contains cyclic carbonate functions , while the lipophilic fraction does not contain them . the acylation by esterification of the glycerol carbonate polymers by a c 2 chain enables these compounds to acquire a hydrophobic character . this example concerns the total acylation of glycerol polycarbonate by means of caproic anhydride . 20 . 0 g of glycerol carbonate oligomers having 0 . 28 g mol of — oh function ; an added catalyst is unnecessary because the reaction catalyst is formed in situ on initiation of the acylation reaction . the reaction is brought , for 4 h 30 min , under agitation , to a temperature of 110 ° c . the pressure in the reactor during the reaction is reduced to 2 × 10 2 pa so as to move the reaction in the direction of the formation of ester , by distillation of the caproic acid formed during the acylation . an ir spectrum of the esterified reaction medium shows the appearance of a frequency band 1743 cm − 1 , attributable to the ester functions , a frequency band at 1715 cm − 1 , attributable to the carboxylic acid formed as a result of the acid anhydride reaction , and a frequency band at 1810 cm − 1 , attributable to the acid anhydride , which has not reacted . next , 10 g of the acylated reaction medium are mixed with 50 ml of water and 50 ml of hexane in a separatory funnel , and subjected to vigorous agitation . the aqueous phase and the organic phase are recovered separately and evaporated in the rotatory evaporator . the results of the evaporations each give a respectively hydrophilic and lipophilic fraction . the mass of the lipophilic fraction recovered is much higher than that of the hydrophilic fraction . the infrared analysis of the recovered fractions shows that the two fractions are composed of esters . the esterification of the glycerol carbonate polymers by a c 6 chain has enabled these compounds to acquire a strongly hydrophobic character that they did not previously have . this example concerns the partial acylation on a semi - industrial scale of glycerol polycarbonate ( gpc ) by means of sunflower oil with 90 % oleic acid ( pilot production p1 ) or propane trimethylol oleate ( pilot production p2 ). each compound of the reaction medium is used in amounts proportional to those of example 4 . each compound of the reaction medium is used in amounts proportional to those of example 4 . the reactor used contains 50 litres and is equipped with a double wall enabling homogeneous control of the temperature of the reaction medium at 142 ° c .± 1 ° c . the reduced pressure to which the reaction medium is subjected is 3 × 10 2 pa , by a liquid ring pump . the reaction medium is subjected to a double agitation by an anchor / scraper rotating at 40 rpm and a dispersion device , which is a toothed disk rotating at 1500 rpm . this strong , double agitation makes it possible to effectively disperse the droplets of the initial hydrophilic reaction mixture in a lipophilic medium ( sunflower oil ) and with solid catalysts . this explains the faster kinetics , the higher esterification yield and more beneficial lipophilic properties ( solubility , thickening ability , etc . ): the progress of the reaction is evaluated indirectly by the solubilisation of the gpc in the sunflower oil and by the “ stabilisation ” of the viscosity of the reaction medium . at the end of the reaction , i . e . when the stabilisation of the viscosity of the reaction medium has been noted , the final reaction medium is observed , and measurements are taken of the viscosity at 40 ° c . as well as the hydroxyl index , to be compared with the hydroxyl index of the glycerol and the glycerol polycarbonate implemented in the acylation . the observations and results are presented in the table ( 1 ) below : the changes in viscosities and hydroxyl indices clearly prove the at least partial acylation , according to the invention , of the glycerol polycarbonate with an organic acid . application of esters , according to the invention , in lubrication : these esters are in a mixture in high - oleic acid sunflower oil free of any other performance additive . the esters according to the invention from example 8 ( p1 ) are totally soluble in natural or synthetic petroleum lubricant bases . they are tested in dilution in high - oleic acid sunflower oil . in the field of industrial lubricants , the viscosity is a fundamental parameter and determines the thickness of the lubricating film . a range of viscosities is offered to users , with each viscosity corresponding to a specific application : an iso classification based on the viscosity ( iso 3448 ) of industrial lubricants exists and makes it possible to differentiate these lubricants from one another . for example , the indication “ iso 46 ” means that the lubricant thus identified has a kinematic viscosity of 46 cst with a deviation of ± 10 %, measured at 40 ° c . thus , to have a classification of grade iso46 or iso68 , the high - oleic acid sunflower oil is mixed with the reaction medium according to the necessary amount of said reaction medium in order to obtain a viscosity of 46 cst of the mixture at a temperature of 40 ° c . for grade iso46 and to obtain a viscosity of 68 cst of the mixture at the same temperature for grade iso68 . finally , the ester according to the invention is subjected as is to a viscosity measurement at 100 ° c . and at 40 ° c . these properties were measured by a machine called a “ four - ball test machine ”, after standards astm d4172 and d2783 , respectively . after the test , in the presence of lubricants , the wear mark of a ball ( in mm ) under a constant load ( 40 kg ), rotating over 3 balls , or the welding load of the balls ( increasing load ) is determined . the following tests were conducted with steel balls 100c6 in comparison with high - oleic acid sunflower oil . the flow point of glycerol polycarbonate polyesters ( p1 ) of example 8 according to standard astmd97 was determined . all of the experimental results have been presented in table 2 below , and it appears that the results concerning the glycerol polycarbonate polyesters are better than those concerning the control , namely sunflower oil . it is noted that all of the tests conducted with the ester according to the invention provide results at least equal to those obtained with the control , but almost always higher than those of the control . a ) spray test “ heat release of a stabilised flame ” (“ european commission ” 7 th edition report of luxembourg : requirements and tests applicable to flameproof liquids used for mechanical transmissions and controls ( hydrostatic and hydrokinetic ). the principle is as follows : in a combustion chamber with circulating air , a spray composed of liquid ( product to be tested ) and pressurised air is exposed to a flame defined by a gas burner . the temperatures of the smoke and the gases at the outlet and of the air at the inlet with and without the spray are measured , and a flammability index ( ri ) is determined . at the same time , the flame length ( rl ), the optical density of the smoke , and so on , are measured , primarily according to the first two parameters . b ) a flammability danger classification is given in the following table : the higher the ri or the rl is , the more flameproof the hydraulic fluid is and the lower its flame length is . the ester according to the invention was tested in a mixture with high - oleic acid sunflower oil of grades iso46 and iso68 , by comparison with this same high - oleic acid sunflower oil . the results of this table show that the increase in the amount of ester in the high - oleic acid sunflower oil ( from iso46 to iso68 ) improves the flammability of the mixture subjected to the flameproof test , not only by the implementation of polyester according to the invention , but also by the increase in its concentration in the medium , going from iso46 to iso68 . b ) the combustion heat ( kj / g ) was also measured according to standard astm d240 . the combustion heat characterises the heat energy released by a burning compound . the higher this value is , the better fuel this compound is and the more the “ fire ” is maintained by this factor , which is the temperature , because each compound has its flame temperature . these combustion heat measurements were taken not only on the ester according to the invention alone or in a mixture with high - oleic acid sunflower oil , but also on typical products . all of the combustion heat results are provided in table 5 . the glycerol polycarbonate polyester ( gpcp ) of example 8 ( p1 ) is in fact a crude reaction medium resulting from the interesterification reaction between the glycerol polycarbonate ( gpc ) and the high - oleic acid sunflower oil ( hoso ) in a 25 / 75 ratio . as the composition , according to the invention , of example 8 - p1 is made up of glycerol polycarbonate esters , glycerol polycarbonate , high - oleic acid sunflower oil and other compounds resulting from the reaction , a molecular or “ short - path ” distillation is performed , which method consists of separating the constituents present in the composition according to the invention , by their specific boiling points . molecular distillation is distinguished from conventional distillation by the fact that the distance between the heating component that brings each constituent to a boil and the cooling component that condenses and collects each constituent is equal to the mean free path of each constituent in the gas state . the molecular distillation apparatus used is a laboratory - type model , referenced kdt6 with a theoretical flow rate of 2 kg / h as marketed by the u . i . c . company ( gmbh ). the distillation plant was placed under a vacuum ( reduced pressure ) of 10 2 pa , then the temperature , to cause distillation , was brought from 110 ° c . to 200 ° c . in increments of 10 ° c . : distillation began to appear at 200 ° c . the quantitative results and conditions of this distillation are presented in table 6 . the fractions for each temperature level of the distillates and residues in table 6 were characterised by measuring their viscosity at 40 ° c ., and by measuring their hydroxyl index , by comparison with the glycerol polycarbonate ( gpc ) implemented in the esterification of example 8 - p1 and glycerol . all of the characterisation results have been presented in table 7 . that with these hydroxyl index values and associated viscosity values , the distillates are partial esters of gpc with comparable molecular masses ( same viscosity ) but the boiling points of which differ due to different chemical structures . that the residues are fundamentally different from the distillates , closer to total esters having low hydroxyl indices , and a viscosity that increases as a function of the distillation temperature . that each residue is potentially chemically and physically different since the thickening ability of each of them , when implemented in an amount of 5 % by weight , in the bases of the following table 8 , is different .	2
the various features of the invention will now be described with reference to the figures , in which like parts are identified with the same reference characters . the various aspects of the invention will now be described in greater detail in connection with a number of exemplary embodiments . to facilitate an understanding of the invention , many aspects of the invention are described in terms of sequences of actions to be performed by elements of a computer system . it will be recognized that in each of the embodiments , the various actions could be performed by specialized circuits ( e . g ., discrete logic gates interconnected to perform a specialized function , and / or analog circuits such as , but not limited to , analog filters and comparators ), by program instructions being executed by one or more processors , or by a combination of both . moreover , the invention can additionally be considered to be embodied entirely within any form of computer readable carrier , such as solid - state memory , magnetic disk , optical disk or carrier wave ( such as radio frequency , audio frequency or optical frequency carrier waves ) containing an appropriate set of computer instructions that would cause a processor to carry out the techniques described herein . thus , the various aspects of the invention may be embodied in many different forms , and all such forms are contemplated to be within the scope of the invention . for each of the various aspects of the invention , any such form of embodiments may be referred to herein as “ logic configured to ” perform a described action , or alternatively as “ logic that ” performs a described action . in accordance with an aspect of the invention , detecting a process state change involves invoking a plurality of filters with differing time constants . the output from each of the filters is compared with a corresponding one of a plurality of threshold values . if any of these comparisons detects a change in state , then the output of the process state change detection also indicates a change in state ; otherwise , no change in state is indicated . such an arrangement provides both fast detection of severe changes of x , and also reliable detection of small changes of x ( but at a correspondingly slower speed ). these and other aspects will now be described in greater detail with reference to an exemplary embodiment illustrated in fig2 . in the exemplary embodiment , the observed samples of the stochastic process x are supplied to each of a number , n , of filters 201 - 1 . . . 201 - n . each filter 201 - n ( where 1 ≦ n ≦ n ) generates an output , y n , which is a ( typically unbiased ) estimate of x , from the observed samples of the stochastic process x . each of the estimates , y 1 . . . y n , is supplied to a corresponding one of n comparators 203 that compares each value y n to a corresponding threshold value , u n . if y n ( t )& gt ; u n , then the comparator &# 39 ; s output , denoted d n , indicates a decision that x has increased to x 2 , otherwise the comparator &# 39 ; s output , d n , indicates that x remained equal to ( or otherwise associated with ) x 1 . typically , x 1 & lt ; u n & lt ; x 2 for an unbiased estimate y n . each of the decisions , d 1 . . . d n , is supplied to a corresponding one of n inputs of a logical or function 205 , whose output d is asserted if and only if at least one of the inputs d 1 . . . d n is asserted . the output , d , of the logical or function 205 represents the final decision of the exemplary process state change detector . in an aspect of the invention , each of the filters 201 - 1 . . . 201 - n preferably has a different time constant . and , as indicated above , a change of x from x 1 to x 2 & gt ; x 2 — min is decided if any of the comparators 203 - 1 . . . 203 - n detects a change . assume that a first filter 201 - 1 is the filter having the largest averaging window , that an n - th filter 201 - n is the filter having the smallest averaging window , and that the remaining filters 201 - 2 . . . 201 - n − 1 have various averaging windows whose sizes are in between the largest and smallest . for each of the filters 201 - 1 . . . 201 - n , the corresponding threshold values u 1 . . . u n are set to a level that will result in a low and / or otherwise acceptable false alarm probability p fa . for example , the n - th threshold value , u n , should be set to a level that is large enough to cause the resultant false alarm probability p fa to be low even though the variance of y n is large ( due to the small averaging window size ). that is , using a larger threshold value u n ( compared to the other threshold values u 1 . . . u n − 1 ) compensates for the larger variance of y n ( compared to the variance of the other estimates y 1 . . . y n − 1 ), so that the last comparator 203 - n maintains a low false alarm probability p fa . additionally , the relatively large value of u n coupled with the relatively small averaging window of the n - th filter 201 - n means that severe increases of x will be very quickly detected and indicated in the decision d n without sacrificing a low detection failure probability despite the existence of small increases of x . at the other end of the scale , the smallest increase in x ( e . g ., from x 1 to x 2 = x 2 — min ) is reliably detected by the first filter 201 - 1 ( which has the largest averaging window ) in combination with the lowest threshold value u 1 , but this detection requires a correspondingly larger detection delay . the filters 201 - 2 . . . 201 - n − 1 having averaging windows in between these two extremes , in conjunction with corresponding threshold values u 2 . . . u n − 1 , are used to detect moderate increases of x to values x 2 & gt ; x 2min . the detection delays associated with these various filter paths have a corresponding range in between the longest delay ( associated with the first filter 201 - 1 ) and the shortest delay ( associated with the n - th filter 201 - n ). to appreciate the overall performance of such a system , consider an exemplary process state change detector comprising four filters , f 1 . . . f 4 . fig3 is a set of graphs 301 , 303 , 305 , 307 showing , for each of the four filters f 1 . . . f 4 , the filter &# 39 ; s average detection delay as a function of the short time average x 2 of a stochastic process after the increase . because the observed samples of the stochastic process x have values that can be described by a distribution function , detecting a change in the short time average x 2 is equivalent to detecting a shift in the distribution function ( i . e ., detecting that the observed samples are now clustered around a different value ). consequently , for each of the four filters , f 1 . . . f 4 , detection occurs more rapidly for larger changes in x 2 than for small changes ; this characteristic is illustrated by each of the four graphs 301 , 303 , 305 , and 307 . however , the average detection delays of the four filters f 1 . . . f 4 are not equal to one another because of their different averaging window lengths . rather , it can be seen from the four graphs 301 , 303 , 305 , 307 that for sufficiently large values of x 2 , the fourth filter f 4 will exhibit the shortest average detection delay ; that for a range of just lower values , the third filter f 3 will exhibit the shortest average detection delay , and so on until detection of the lowest values of x 2 can be performed most quickly by the first filter f 1 . this overall performance can be accomplished by setting the four threshold values u 1 . . . u 4 to suitable values that will achieve a desired false alarm probabilities , p fa , for the entire detector . these values are therefore based on averaging window size of each of the filters f n . the curve 309 ( illustrated by the dotted line ) illustrates an approximation of the overall performance that can be achieved by settings of this nature . the following guidance is offered with respect to how to select the number of filters , and / or how to decide the sizes of the averaging windows of all of the filters . for a given stochastic process and set of detection performance requirements , do the following : for different filter parameters ( e . g ., averaging window sizes ), determine the optimal threshold value u and the performance of a conventional change detector . the performance results for the investigated filter parameter settings are drawn in a figure , similar to fig3 . the detection performance requirements for the complete detector , like x 2 — min and the maximum detection delay for large x 2 limit the relevant area in the figure , and indicate how many different filters are needed , and which parameters they should have . for example , in fig3 , the curves 301 , 303 , 305 , and 307 of the individual filters are sufficiently different in the sense that they cover sufficiently different regions of the area in the figure . a certain filter can be removed from the combined change detector if its contribution to the overall covered area in a figure ( like fig3 ) is not relevant . similarly , another filter should be added if the given set does not provide sufficient coverage for a desired coverage area . the invention has been described with reference to a particular embodiment . however , it will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art that it is possible to embody the invention in specific forms other than those of the preferred embodiment described above . for example , the exemplary embodiment depicted in fig2 employs a logical or function to determine whether any of the decisions d 1 . . . d n is being asserted . in alternative embodiments , however any equivalent logic could be substituted therefor including , but limited to , the use of negative logic arrangements ( e . g ., including nor or nand arrangements ) or logic that determines whether the number of decisions d 1 . . . d n presently being asserted is greater than or equal to one . furthermore , in many embodiments the observed samples of the process upon which a state change detection is based are measures of quality for a given carrier or set of neighboring carriers in a telecommunications system . in some of these embodiments , the measures of quality for the given carrier may be measures of packet error rate associated with the given carrier and / or set of neighboring carriers . in other ( alternative ) embodiments , the measures of quality for the given carrier are measures of received interference power samples associated with the given carrier and / or set of neighboring carriers . in still other ( alternative ) embodiments the measures of quality for the given carrier are formed from a combination of measures of packet error rate associated with the given carrier and / or set of neighboring carriers and measures of received interference power samples associated with the given carrier or set of neighboring carriers . thus , the preferred embodiments are merely illustrative and should not be considered restrictive in any way . the scope of the invention is given by the appended claims , rather than the preceding description , and all variations and equivalents which fall within the range of the claims are intended to be embraced therein .	7
the gsm messages and abbreviations as well as protocols and procedures used in this document and applied in the current gsm system are described in greater detail in the aforementioned book “ the gsm system for mobile communications ”. in a first preferred embodiment of the invention the data transfer mode is controlled by a base station controller bsc . if the interworking function iwf is located in the base station controller bsc , the base station can simply change the data transfer mode and inform the mobile station ms about the change using the assignment , channel mode modify or handover command or a corresponding message . the situation is more complex if the interworking function iwf is not located in the base station controller bsc , in which case more signalling is needed . in the gsm system , the interworking function iwf is typically located in a mobile services switching centre msc . fig1 shows the signalling diagram for the method according to the invention applied to such an arrangement . according to normal practice , a mobile station ms sends a report 100 of the connection quality measurement result to a base station bts and the base station sends a corresponding rxqual value 102 to a base station controller bsc . when the base station controller bsc decides that the data transfer mode has to be changed 104 , it notifies 106 the interworking function iwf . this is needed in case the interworking function iwf cannot notice the data transfer mode change by monitoring the incoming data flow . the base station controller bsc can use e . g . a suitable extension of the handover required message or other corresponding message to notify 106 the interworking function iwf . if necessary , the interworking function iwf finds out 108 , 110 the data transfer modes available in the bearer service between the mobile station ms and the interworking function iwf . the interworking function iwf can use e . g . the cc modify command 108 or some new message 108 dedicated for this purpose to notify the mobile station ms about the data transfer mode change in order to inquire and change the data transfer mode used by the bearer service between the mobile station and the interworking function . then the interworking function iwf acknowledges 112 to the bsc the data transfer mode used . if the new data transfer mode decided 104 by the base station controller bsc is available in the bearer service between the mobile station and the interworking function iwf , this signalling 108 , 110 between the mobile station and the interworking function is not necessarily needed . the base station controller bsc , for example , may have knowledge of the data transfer modes used by the bearer service , in which case it suffices that the bsc informs the interworking function iwf about the data transfer mode change using e . g . an in - band message 106 . the bsc can have such knowledge , since the bearer service to be used is negotiated during the call setup phase . during the call , bsc may choose one of the negotiated services according to the measurement results . the bearer services can be negotiated between the mobile station ms and the mobile switching centre msc / iwf on the cc level . after the negotiation the base station controller bsc is informed of the various data transfer modes and other parameters belonging to the negotiated service . after receiving the information , the base station controller bsc may , when necessary , choose the desired service . after receiving an acknowledgement 112 the base station controller bsc changes the data transfer mode 114 , 116 used by the base station bts and the data transfer mode 118 , 120 used by the mobile station ms . finally , the base station controller bsc informs the interworking function iwf of the data transfer mode change 122 . in another embodiment of the invention the mobile station ms controls the data transfer mode used . fig2 illustrates the signalling according to such an embodiment . in this case the base station controller bsc sends the upling rxqual measurement results to the mobile station 140 , 142 . in the gsm system this can be done easily as the downlink sacch channel is normally fairly unoccupied and the base station controller bsc can add this information to existing sacch channel messages . it is also possible to define a new sacch message for this purpose . having received the uplink measurement results the mobile station ms makes a decision on the data transfer mode change 104 possibly needed . the mobile station ms can use the modify command or another cc - level command dedicated for this purpose to inform 108 the interworking function iwf about the data transfer mode change required . the interworking function iwf acknowledges 110 the data transfer mode change to the mobile station ms and instructs 106 the base station controller to change the data transfer mode for network services . the base station controller bsc changes the data transfer mode used by the base station bts 114 , 116 and the data transfer mode used by the mobile station ms 118 , 120 . finally , the base station controller bsc informs the interworking function iwf of the data transfer mode change 122 . the gsm system can use discontinuous transmission ( dtx ) in which the mobile station ( or base station ) disconnects the transmission if there is no user data to transmit : e . g . when the speaker is silent . therefore , the gsm recommendations specify a so - called rxqual sub measurement which measures the connection quality only for those time slots that are actually used for transmission by the counter - station . a normal rxqual measurement measures the connection quality for all time slots that belong to the counter - station &# 39 ; s transmission turn . therefore , when using discontinuous transmission , a normal rxqual measurement gives too poor a picture of the connection quality . in the method according to the invention , the problems caused by the dtx mode can be avoided by always using only the rxqual sub measurement results for the data transfer mode control , whereby complexity of the method is also avoided . otherwise , the base station controller bsc has to inform the mobile station about the downlink dtx status for each measurement period . fig3 illustrates signalling in the method according to the invention in a situation where the bearer service in use supports the new data transfer mode selected by the mobile station . then the notice 108 from the mobile station to the interworking function iwf and the bearer service data transfer mode control by the interworking function are not necessarily needed . the mobile station ms can send 118 the data transfer mode change notice to the base station controller bsc using the rr channel mode modify command or another command dedicated for this purpose . the base station controller bsc changes 114 , 116 the data transfer mode used by the base station and informs 120 the mobile station ms about the change . if necessary , the base station controller bsc can inform 122 the interworking function iwf about the change . as cellular telecommunication systems keep developing , there may arise a situation wherein not all cells of a system support new channel coding and data transfer modes . in such a case there occur handovers in the system between cells and base station controllers bsc where the participating cells and base station controllers bsc use different selections of data transfer modes . during a handover a mobile station does not know what data transfer modes are available in the new cell . when performing a handover between cells of different base station controllers bsc , the mobile services switching centre msc uses the handover signalling to change the data transfer mode to one that is included in the selection of data transfer modes in the new base station controller bsc . if the target - bsc supporting new data transfer modes also includes cells ( target - bts ) that only support old transfer modes , the target - bsc makes the decision on the data transfer mode change if the handover involves such a cell . in a handover within a base station controller bsc , the bsc makes the decision on the change to the old data transfer mode if the target cell does not support the transfer mode in use . the handover command , for example , can be used to inform the mobile station of the new data transfer mode . if the mobile station returns to a cell that supports said newer data transfer mode , the data transfer mode control based on the rxqual value , described above , can be used for selecting the optimum data transfer mode . in this case it is advantageous if the network has knowledge of the properties of the mobile station e . g . on the basis of the mobile station class definition used in the hscsd system . in this situation , the information that is primarily needed is a list of data transfer modes supported by the mobile station . for example , in the old cell the mobile station may be using the new 14 . 4 - kbit / s transparent data transmission with a single time slot . as the mobile station moves into a cell that only supports 9 . 6 - kbit / s transparent transmission the network can instruct the mobile station according to the hscsd system to use two 9 . 6 - kbit / s time slots . if the mobile station later moves into a cell that supports the newer 14 . 4 - kbit / s transmission with a single time slot the network can instruct the mobile station to use this newer data transfer mode to release one time slot . fig4 depicts signalling in an inter - cell handover wherein the target - bsc does not support the new data transfer mode in use . the base station controller bsc makes a decision on a handover 146 after receiving from the mobile station a connection quality measurement report 100 , 102 . the base station controller bsc informs 148 the mobile switching centre msc about the handover required . the mobile switching centre msc has the knowledge on the data transfer modes supported by the target - bsc . if necessary , the mobile switching centre msc finds out 108 , 110 the data transfer modes of the bearer service in use and makes a decision 104 on the data transfer mode change . the mobile switching centre sends a handover command 150 to the target cell and changes to one of the older data transfer modes supported by the target - bsc . the base station controller and base station in the target cell carry out handover initialization procedures 152 whereafter the base station controller target - bsc in the target cell indicates 154 to the mobile switching centre that it is ready for handover . at the same time a handover command 156 is sent to the mobile station ms defining an older data transfer mode supported by the target cell as the data transfer mode used . this handover command is conveyed as such via the base station controller bsc of the source cell to the mobile station . thereafter , the system performs the normal procedures 158 related to an inter - cell handover . when these are done , the target cell base station and base station controller indicate 160 , 162 that the handover is complete whereafter the mobile switching centre instructs 164 the previous cell to release the channels used . finally , the previous cell performs 166 , 168 the channel release . if the rlp protocol of the new data transfer mode used in the previous cell is different from the rlp protocol of the older data transfer mode used in the target cell , the rlp protocol of the previous cell has to be reset and the rlp protocol of the target cell has to be initialized . frames sent but not yet acknowledged have to be re - sent according to the rlp protocol of the target cell . if the rlp protocols of said new and older data transfer modes are the same , link reset or link initialization are not needed . in some cases it might be necessary to use a service - specific selective handover . if the connection can be handed over to more than one target cell , the target cell can be selected according to the data transfer modes supported by these cells . this kind of selection may differ from a target cell selection made with the normal criteria . for example , if the previous cell was using a 14 . 4 - kbit / s transmission rate , the connection could be handed over to another cell supporting 14 . 4 kbit / s even though there were in the proximity a cell with a better measured connection level rxlev value but supporting only the older 9 . 6 - kbit / s transmission rate . this kind of service - specific inter - cell handover requires that a new handover algorithm be added to the base station systems bss complying with the current recommendations . in the above description the invention was applied in the gsm system , but the invention is not , however , restricted to be applied solely in the gsm system . the abbreviations , messages and terms used above are examples according to the gsm system and corresponding concepts and elements are to be found in many other cellular telecommunication systems in which this invention can be applied , such as gsm - hscsd , cdma ( is - 95 ), us - tdma , pdc and umts systems . above it was described in an exemplary manner how the data transfer mode can be controlled using the rxqual value . in addition to the rxqual value , the method according to the invention can control the data transfer mode using the rxlev value representing the strength of the received signal , or another characteristic of a cellular telecommunication system representing the connection quality , or a combination of these . the method according to the invention provides fast data transfer mode optimization as the optimization is based on connection quality measurements performed frequently by the mobile station and the base station system . the method is also simple to implement as it uses already existing measurement procedures and results . automatic data transfer mode control is also easy to the user because he need not know the structure of the gsm system nor the momentary connection quality required for transmission optimization .	7
fig1 is a section view of a fluid damper 100 embodiment , typically for a motor vehicle . the main parts for the damper include a fluid chamber 105 and a rod 110 with a piston 115 disposed at the end thereof for extending into the fluid chamber 105 , thereby dividing the chamber into compression and rebound portions respectively on opposite sides of the piston 115 . in fig1 , the rod and piston are shown in their fully extended position as they would appear at the beginning of a compression stroke ( e . g . an uncompressed damper ). the damper also includes a remote reservoir 125 or compensation chamber , constructed and arranged to receive damping fluid via a communication , or fluid flow , path 130 . the remote reservoir is divided into a damping fluid 135 and a compressed gas portion 150 with the two portions separated by a floating piston 155 which , as described herein , is sealed with an o - ring 230 and moves against the volume of compressed gas in the gas portion 150 as fluid displaced from the fluid chamber 105 during a compression stroke of the damper moves into the fluid portion 135 of the remote reservoir 125 . in one embodiment the damper of fig1 is often installed as part of a vehicle suspension system and a mounting lug or “ eyelet ” 160 formed at an end of the fluid chamber is connected to the vehicle frame while another mounting lug 162 disposed at an end of the rod is attached to the vehicle wheel ( not shown ). as the damper operates , the piston 115 and rod 110 move into and out of the fluid chamber 105 , metering fluid through communication paths 170 and shims in the piston . an annular bumper 175 is disposed at an end of the piston rod 110 to prevent the assembly 100 from reaching a bottom - out condition . in addition to the components of the damper described , the damper of fig1 includes a pre - charge assembly 200 disposed at an end of the remote reservoir 125 ( note that if the reservoir were in line with the damper so to would be such a pre - charge assembly ). the pre - charge assembly includes a pre - charge gas portion 210 which is separated from the compressed gas portion 150 of the remote reservoir 125 by a partition 215 . the assembly 200 also includes a fill / communication valve 220 constructed and arranged to permit initial charging of the pre - charge gas portion and to allow a user to permit fluid communication between the pre - charge portion 210 and the compressed gas portion 150 . fig2 is a section view of the pre - charge assembly 200 of fig1 . in the embodiments of fig1 and 2 , the assembly 200 is located at one end of the remote reservoir 125 of the damper 100 and the pre - charge portion 210 houses a volume of pressurized gas which is retained between an end cap 225 and partition 215 . both the end cap and the partition are sealed with o - rings 230 or other suitable seals and each is retained axially by structural rings 235 acting against shoulders 240 formed in the cap 225 and partition 215 to maintain structural integrity against the highly pressurized gas ( e . g . 600 - 800 psi in one embodiment ) that will be housed in the pre - charge portion 210 . in one embodiment , the compressed gas portion 150 is isolated from the pre - charge portion and gas pressure in portion 150 is limited to atmospheric pressure . the gas pressure in portion 150 may be any suitable low pressure , preferably such that the net extension force acting on rod 110 due to the pressure may be overcome manually . disposed in the pre - charge assembly is a fill / communication valve 220 intended to facilitate initial filling of the pre - charge portion 210 and to provide selective communication between the pre - charge portion 210 and the compressed gas portion 150 of the remote reservoir . thereafter , the valve 220 provides a way to further fill or adjust the combined gas portion of the reservoir with pressurized gas . the valve is shown with a protective cap 245 threaded onto an end thereof . the fill / communication valve 220 includes a central member 250 having external threads 255 which interact with internal threads 260 formed in the end cap 225 , whereby rotation of the central member 250 provides axial movement ( corresponding to the thread pitch ) of the communication valve 220 relative to the end cap 225 . the central member 250 includes a seal 230 at each end of the threaded portions 255 , 260 . in one embodiment the cap gland interior seal 230 engages a relatively smooth outer diameter of the central member 250 and seals initial pressure of the pre - charge portion 210 prior to movement of the central member 250 and corresponding gas commingling between the pre - charge portion 210 and the compressed gas portion 150 . an interior portion 265 of the central member is hollow and a first communication path including apertures 270 is formed between the hollow portion of the central member 250 and the pre - charge portion 210 therearound . for example , in fig2 , gas communication exists only between the pre - charge portion and the central member ( permitting the pre - charge portion to be initially charged without introducing gas pressure elsewhere ). a second communication path apertures 275 extending from the interior portion 265 of the central member is blocked in the position shown in fig2 . the result is that in the position of fig2 , there is no fluid communication from the pre - charge portion to any other operative portion of the damper 100 ( i . e . the pre - charge is isolated by the central member 250 and the partition 215 . fig3 is another section view of the pre - charge assembly 200 of fig2 showing the central member 250 in a shifted position , whereby fluid communication , illustrated by arrows 280 , is permitted between the pre - charge portion 210 and the compressed gas portion 150 of the reservoir 125 ( via apertures 270 , bore 265 and apertures 275 ). the pre - charge assembly 200 has been shifted by rotation of the central member 250 to provide axial movement of the fill / communication valve relative to the end cap 225 and relative to the partition 215 . in the position shown in fig3 , compressed gas flows through the first communication path , through the interior portion 265 of the central member and exiting the second communication path 275 which has been placed into fluid communication with the compressed gas portion 150 . once communication is complete , portions 210 and 125 are combined to effectively form a single larger - volume gas portion at a pressure corresponding to a volume weighted combination of the pressures of the pre - charge and the compressed gas portions . in one embodiment , partition 215 comprises a rupture disk or frangible membrane . the membrane contains the pre - charge pressure under initial circumstances with the central member in its initial position . in such an embodiment an end of the central member is proximate the partition but does not necessarily penetrate it . the central member includes a relatively sharp end ( end near apertures 275 ) that is capable of piercing the partition upon axial movement of the central member . the central member is axially moved toward the membrane as described herein for in other suitable fashion ) and the sharp end of the central member pierces the partition thereby communicating the pre - charge portion gas with the compressed gas portion gas . that results in gas commingling as described herein . because the operational reservoir pressure ( e . g . the combined pressure of the pre - charge and the compressed gas portions ) is initially isolated from the active portions of the damper , the rod and piston length can be easily adjusted ( for example manually ) for installation . once the damper is installed between mounting points in a vehicle , the central member of the fill / communication valve is threaded inwards , placing the second communication path apertures 275 in communication with the compressed gas portion of the damper , thereby permitting gas communication between the portions . in one aspect , the pre - charge assembly 200 is utilized whereby an end user receives a damper with effectively no gas pressure acting upon the floating piston in the remote reservoir and hence no pressure acting on an end area of the piston rod 110 . in fact , the gas pressure ( a higher pressure designed to be commingled at a lower equilibrium pressure ) is all stored in the pre - charge portion 210 of the reservoir . with this arrangement , the piston and rod are easily manipulated back and forth in the fluid chamber which facilitates mounting of the damper relative to mounting locations on the vehicle . thereafter , the pre - charge assembly is shifted and the damper operates normally utilizing the combined gas portions 210 , 125 as a single gas volume . in one example , the fluid damper is intended to operate with 200 psi in the compressed gas portion of the remote reservoir 125 . in one embodiment , 800 psi of pressure is placed into the pre - charge portion . once the damper is installed and the pre - charge portion shifted , the volume of pre - charge gas at 800 psi commingles with the volume of the compressed gas reservoir at atmospheric pressure resulting in 200 psi is available throughout the reservoir for normal operation in the damper . while the central member 250 is no longer needed to permit or restrict communication between the portions , the fill / communication valve 220 ( e . g . schader type ) operates as a fill valve to check and maintain required gas pressure in the remote reservoir 125 throughout the life of the damper . fig4 is a section view of a compressed gas portion 150 of a remote reservoir 125 having a gas pressure indicator assembly 300 . as described with reference to the other embodiments of the invention , the compressed gas portion 150 shown in fig4 is part of a remote reservoir that operates with a floating piston ( not shown ) acting against a source of pressurized gas to provide increasing and decreasing volume for fluid displaced from a main fluid - filled dampening chamber . shown in fig4 is an end of the reservoir housing 305 , an end cap 225 that is sealed with o - rings 315 and retained with structural rings 235 , a fill valve 310 with a cap 311 for communicating pressurized gas into the compressed gas portion 150 and the gas pressure indicator assembly 300 . the purpose of the assembly 300 is to provide a visual indicator of the gas pressure in the gas portion . gas pressure indicator assembly 300 includes a shaft 315 with a piston surface 320 formed at a first end and exposed to the interior of the gas portion 150 , whereby pressurized gas in the gas portion acts upon piston surface 320 . the shaft 315 is sealed in an aperture 330 formed in end cap 225 and sealed with o - ring 230 . the shaft and piston surface are biased towards the interior of the housing by a spring 325 . opposite the piston surface is an indicator 340 constructed and arranged to be visible only when the shaft / piston surface are depressed against the spring 325 hence allowing 340 to extend beyond a surface of cap 225 . in use , the assembly 300 is designed whereby the spring 325 is overcome and the piston 320 is depressed when a predetermined pressure exists in the gas portion 150 of the reservoir . such a position is shown in fig4 with the shaft 315 urged in direction of arrow 316 and the indictor 340 in an extended position where it would be visible to a user . instead of checking the pressure with a gauge and depleting the gas portion of pressure in doing so ( because a pressure gauge requires a volume of the gas being testing and consumes that volume for each test instance ), the indicator provides visual assurance of the presence of a certain minimum amount of gas pressure . fig5 is a section view of the remote reservoir 125 of fig3 with pressure indicator assembly 300 incorporated therein . the pre - charge assembly 200 with its pre - charge portion 210 operates as described with reference to fig1 - 3 wherein the pre - charge portion retains the working gas pressure until an end user manipulates a fill / communication valve 220 to permit fluid communication between the pre - charge portion 210 and the compressed gas portion 150 ( as described herein ). thereafter , the reservoir functions normally with a predetermined gas pressure available in both portions and both portions combined and functioning as one , larger volume compressed gas portion . also included is the gas pressure indicator assembly 300 . in the embodiment shown in fig5 , a portion of the shaft 315 including the piston surface 320 is extended to communicate with the compressed gas portion 150 of the reservoir . the pre - charge portion 210 does not act axially on the shaft 315 because the shaft 315 runs entirely though the portion 210 and protrudes through each end with a diameter equal at each end ( i . e . no net piston area on shaft 315 vis a vis volume of portion 210 ). in one embodiment the arrangement shown in fig5 operates as described herein regarding selective commingling of a pre - charge 210 and a gas compression chamber 150 . in the embodiment of fig5 the indicator shaft is moved when compressed gas of portion 150 acting on piston area 320 overcomes spring 325 force . as such the indicator provides a visual indication that commingling has been successful following movement of the central member . in this manner , the indicator 340 not only provides a visual indicator of working gas pressure in the reservoir , but is useful in confirming that initial communication has taken place between the portions 210 , 150 after manipulation of the central member . in fig5 , the pressure indicator 340 is shown in its extended position indicating the presence of at least a minimum amount of pressure in the compressed gas portion 150 . while the foregoing is directed to embodiments of the present invention , other and further embodiments of the invention may be devised without departing from the basic scope thereof , and the scope thereof is determined by the claims that follow .	5
this then generally describes the present invention , however to provide a clearer understanding of the scope of the invention reference will now be made to the accompanying illustrations which show various embodiments of the invention but it is to be realised that as discussed above other arrangement of frames may be used to support the various gate portions to provide an irrigation channel gate having desirable features . fig1 shows the irrigation gate of the invention in a position ready to be opened to allow water flow . fig4 shows a stylized view of the frames of this embodiment of the invention with the gates in the open position . fig5 shows one preferred embodiment of a control arrangement mounted to the central frame for holding the respective gates open and closed as required . fig6 shows an alternative embodiment of an irrigation gate according to this invention with the gate in the open position . fig7 and fig8 show a preferred method of operating the upstream gate . fig9 shows a cross section of the gate controlling mechanism of the embodiment of fig6 . fig1 shows the gate of fig6 with both gates closed . fig1 shows an alternative embodiment of irrigation channel gate using panels and flexible sheet material between the panels . now looking at a preferred embodiment of the invention with reference to the fig1 to 5 it will be seen that the irrigation gate according to this invention comprises a central frame 1 having an upper cross bar 2 . an upstream gate member generally shown 3 and a downstream gate member generally shown 4 . now first looking at fig4 and the framework for the upstream and downstream gate members , it will be seen that in each case the series of frameworks comprise a base frame 5 and side frames 6 and 7 . the base frame 5 is hinged on a horizontal axis on pivots 8 so that it may fold upwards and the side frames are hinged on a vertical axis on pivots 9 so that these may pivot sideways to fold in . between the side frame 7 and the base frame 5 are link arms 10 and these are restrained by means not shown to be retained near the vertices of the side frames and the base frame . it will be noted that as the side frame 7 is folded in , the link arm 10 will cause the base frame to lift so that the frame can be completely shut to close the gate . fig1 , and 3 show various stages of opening and closing of the irrigation channel gate and in these figures an impervious flexible membrane is stretched over the series of frames . a membrane 11 is placed over the base frame for the downstream gate and then stretched up to the top of the side frames and clamped to the central frame by means of plate 12 . similarly an impervious flexible membrane 13 is stretched over the base frame for the upstream gate and stretched up the side frames and clamped to the central frame . lacing 14 is provided around each impervious sheet material to lace it to the side frame , link arm and base frame so that it will lift and fold with the frame members . now looking at the means for controlling the gates , it will be noted that on the base frame 5 of the downstream gate member 4 a plate 15 extends outwards and it will be seen in fig1 that when the downstream gate is in the closed position the plate 15 is received behind a catch member 16 pivoted on pivot axis 17 mounted on the upper bar 2 . the catch member 16 is held in the position as shown in fig5 by means not shown and when it is desired to open the gate , the means not shown is released so that the catch member 16 can swing away and the plate 15 can be released which enables the base frame 5 to swing out and the side gates to swing open to allow water flow . the means for holding the upstream gates open to allow flow , comprise two link bars 18 and 19 which extend from the top of the side frames 7 to a gate controller generally shown 20 . the gate controller 20 comprises a horizontal transverse axis 21 in a bush 22 welded to the upper plate 2 and having on one end thereto a catch plate 23 and at the other end a crank arm 24 . with the crank arm in the position shown in fig5 and catch means not showing holding the catch plate 23 in the position shown in fig5 the side frames and hence the upstream gate is held open but if the catch means not shown is released then the catch plate 23 may pivot upwards and hence the crank arm 24 rotates clockwise and viewed in fig5 which will draw in the link arms 18 and 19 which will pull in the side frames and hence by means of the link arms 10 lift up the base frame 5 of the upstream gate . in fact the process is slightly in the reverse because water pressure on the surface 25 of the side frame 7 of the upstream gate maintains a steady pressure on crank arm 24 through the link arms 18 and 19 and when the catch plate 23 is released then this water pressure on the flexible sheet membrane 25 will cause the gate to close . once the water pressure comes underneath the membrane 13 of the upstream gate then water pressure thereof will assist with closing of the gate . now looking at the embodiment shown in fig6 to 10 , it will be seen that the upstream gate generally shown as 30 is of a similar construction to that shown in fig1 to 4 but the downstream gate generally shown 31 is of a different style of construction . the downstream gate comprises a flexible membrane 32 , clamped by means of clamp bar 33 to the central frame 34 and extending out from the base of the central frame 35 and up each side of the central frame 36 and a bar 37 being fastened along the base portion of the membrane 32 by means of lacing 38 . along the bar 37 are loops 39 which engage with hooks 40 on an axle 41 , pivoted to the upper part of the central frame 34 . a spring 42 is positioned between the upper outer corners of the flexible sheet material 32 , to pull the top corners slightly together to assist with folding . the plate 43 is mounted onto the bar 41 and as shown in fig9 when the downstream gate generally 31 is closed , the hook 40 engages the loop 39 and the plate 43 is retained against electromagnet 44 mounted on a bracket 45 on the upper part of the central frame 46 . when it is desired to release the downstream gate , electic current is passed through the electromagnet 47 in opposite polarity to the permanent magnet 44 which releases the plate 43 and hence allows the bar 41 to pivot under the weight of the downstream gate acting on the hook 40 which releases the eye 39 from the hook 40 and enables the bar 37 to fall down and allow flow through the gate . it will be noted that the upstream gate is held out by means of segmented arms 50 comprising an inner segment 51 and an outer segment 52 . the inner segment 51 is pivoted to the outer segment 52 on pivot axis 53 and a stop 54 is placed on the arms so that they may stretch out to be directly in line but no further . the outer end of the outer segment 52 is connected to the top of the side frame 55 on each side on a pivoting axis 56 . the inner end of the inner segment 51 is mounted respectively on pivot axes 57 and pivoting therewith are gear cogs 58 and 59 . these cogs 58 and 59 are engaged with each other so that one must rotate with the other . one of the pivot axes 57 extends through the upper bar of the frame 34 and has mounted thereon a plate 60 which can rotate with the cogs 58 and 59 . as can be particularly seen in fig9 a permanent magnet 61 is mounted by means of a bracket 62 to the plate 46 and with the upstream gates in the open position the plate 60 is held against the permanent magnet 61 . an electromagnet 63 is activated when it is desired to close the gates and this enables the plate 60 to be released from the permanent magnet 61 in the same manner as for the downstream gate which in turn enables the cogs 58 and 59 to be able to rotate and hence the inner and outer segmented arms 51 and 52 to attain the position as shown in fig8 . as for the earlier embodiment the pressure for closing is caused by fluid flow pressing against the surface 64 of the flexible sheet material forming the side walls of the upstream gate . for clarity purposes the electomagnet 63 and 47 and their associated brackets are not shown in fig6 but fig1 shows these but it will be noted of course that the plate 60 is not engaged against the electromagnet 63 as the gate 30 is in the closed position . fig1 shows an alternative embodiment of the gate according to this invention but it will be noted in this drawing that the various controlled mechanisms are not included in this illustration but merely the configuration of the gate members . a central frame 70 of substantially rectangular construction has attached to it , upper gate 71 and lower gate 72 . the upper gate 71 comprises a base plate 73 and triangular side plates 74 and 75 . each side plate is joined to its neighbour by means of flexible material 76 fastened by means of a plate 77 to each of the plates . sufficient width of flexible material is provided at each of the joins so that the gate may shut even if sticks or small stones are jammed in the mechanism . similarly on the downstream gate 72 there is provided a base plate 78 and triangular side plates 79 and 80 . as pointed out above the control mechanism for such a gate as shown in fig1 is not illustrated but the control mechanism may be of the type shown in fig1 to 5 or as shown in fig6 to 10 . with the embodiment shown in fig1 folding is achieved by the triangular side plates 79 and 80 in the case of the downstream gate folding inwards and together , while at the same time lifting the base plate 78 . it will be noted that the irrigation channel gates of the present invention are easily adaptable for radio control of the gate system and such control may be by means of fixed time for each of the gates to be opened or may be by means of some form of liquid level sensor , which sensors when sufficient liquid has reached the far end of an irrigation bay . the invention is not restricted however to radio control systems and electronic control systems as mechanical trip arrangements may be provided when , for instance , a fixed quantity of water has passed through the gate . as discussed earlier it will be realised that if a system is desired where only closing of an irrigation channel is required when perhaps opening being performed then only the upstream portion of the irrigation gate for this invention may be necessary . there are irrigation systems too , in which water is allowed to flow along a channel and to be held up successively by gates and as irrigation in each section is completed then successive gates are opened and in such situations only the downstream portion of the irrigation gate of this invention would be necessary .	4
various embodiments of the invention will now be described by way of illustration only with reference to the following non - limiting examples . to a stirred round bottled flask with toluene ( 100 ml ) ethyl benzoyl acetate ( 18 . 7 g , 97 mmol ) and m - anisidine ( 12 g , 97 mmol ) was added . 4 m hcl in dioxane ( 0 . 5 ml ) was added and the reaction mixture was refluxed for 6 h ( 140 ° c .). the mixture was co - evaporated with toluene . to the crude mixture diphenyl ether ( 50 ml ) was added and the mixture was heated to 280 ° c . for 2 h . when the theoretical amount ethanol ( 6 ml ) was collected in a dean stark trap the heating was stopped and the mixture was cooled to rt . the crude mixture was dissolved in ch 2 cl 2 ( 100 ml ) and stirred for 30 min . the formed precipitate was filtered off and dried which gave 1 ( 4 . 12 g , 16 . 4 mmol , 17 %): pale yellow powder . 1 h ( 300 mhz , dmso - d 6 ): δ 3 . 8 ( s , 3h ), 6 . 24 ( s , 1h ), 6 . 88 - 6 . 96 ( dd , 1h , j = 9 . 07 hz , j = 2 . 47 hz ), 7 . 19 ( d , 1h , j = 2 . 19 hz ), 7 . 56 ( t , 3h , j = 2 . 19 hz ), 7 . 8 ( dd , 2h , j = 7 . 14 hz , j = 2 . 19 hz ), 8 . 0 ( d , 1h , j = 9 . 06 hz ); 13 c ( 75 . 5 mhz , dmso - d 6 ): δ 55 . 3 , 99 . 6 , 106 . 9 , 113 . 1 , 119 . 1 , 126 . 4 , 127 . 5 , 128 . 8 , 130 . 2 , 134 . 1 , 142 . 2 , 149 . 4 , 161 . 8 , 176 . 4 . ( 1r , 2s )- 4 - oxo - cyclopentane - 1 , 2 - dicarboxylic acid dimethyl ester ( 4 . 8 g , 23 . 8 mmol ) and cubr 2 ( 11 . 9 g , 53 . 2 mmol ) were dissolved in dry thf ( 70 ml ) and the mixture was refluxed for two hours at 90 ° c . the formed cubr was filtrated off and the organic phase was concentrated . caco 3 ( 2 . 7 g , 27 . 2 mmol ) and dmf ( 70 ml ) were added and the mixture was held at 100 ° c . for one hour . the dark brown mixture was poured over ice ( 35 g ) and the formed precipitate was filtrated off . the aqueous layer was extracted with ethyl acetate ( 1 × 300 ml + 3 × 150 ml ). the organic phases were dried , filtrated and concentrated . purification by flash chromatography ( toluene / etoac 9 : 1 ) gave 2 ( 2 . 1 g , 45 %) as yellow crystals to a cold solution (− 30 ° c .) of 2 ( 3 . 18 g , 16 . 1 mmol ) dissolved in meoh ( 23 ml ), nabh 4 ( 0 . 66 g , 17 . 5 mmol ) was added . after nine minutes the excess of nabh 4 was destroyed by adding brine ( 80 ml ). the mixture was concentrated and extracted with ethyl acetate ( 4 × 80 ml ). the organic phases were dried , filtrated and concentrated and gave 3 ( 3 . 0 g , 92 %) as a yellow oil . to an ice - cold solution of 3 ( 3 . 4 g , 22 mmol ) dissolved in dioxane and water ( 1 : 1 , 110 ml ), lioh ( 0 . 52 g , 22 mmol ) was added . after two and a half hours the mixture was co - evaporated with toluene and methanol . purification by flash chromatography ( toluene / ethyl acetate 3 : 1 + 1 % hoac ) gave the title compound ( 1 . 0 g , 27 %) as yellow - white crystals . 1 h - nmr ( 300 mhz , cd 3 od ): δ 1 . 78 - 1 . 89 ( m , 1h ), 2 . 70 - 2 . 84 ( m , 1h ), 3 . 56 - 3 . 71 ( m , 1h ), 3 . 76 ( s , 3h ), 4 . 81 - 4 . 90 ( m , 1h ), 6 . 76 - 6 . 81 ( m , 1h ); 13 c - nmr ( 75 . 5 mhz , cdcl 3 ): δ 38 . 0 , 48 . 0 , 52 . 4 , 75 . 7 , 137 . 0 , 146 . 2 , 165 . 0 178 . 4 . to an ice cooled solution of 4 ( 0 . 20 g , 1 . 1 mmol ) and 2 - amino - pentanoic acid tert . butyl ester ( 0 . 24 g , 1 . 4 mmol ) in dmf ( 7 ml ), dipea ( 0 . 18 g , 1 . 4 mmol ) and hatu ( 0 . 53 g , 1 . 4 mmol ) were added . after two hours the solution was concentrated and purified using column chromatography ( toluene / ethyl acetate 3 : 1 ). this gave the title compound as a yellow oil ( 0 . 22 g , 63 %). 1 h - nmr ( 300 mhz , cdcl 3 ): δ 0 . 84 - 0 . 96 ( m , 3h ), 1 . 14 - 1 . 39 ( m , 2h ), [( 1 . 44 & amp ; 1 . 49 ) s , 9h ], 1 . 50 - 1 . 60 ( m , 1h ), 1 . 61 - 1 . 85 ( m , 1h ), 1 . 97 - 2 . 10 ( m , 1h ), 2 . 11 - 2 . 28 ( m , 1h ), 3 . 57 - 3 . 68 ( m , 1h ), [( 3 . 73 & amp ; 3 . 76 ) s , 3h ], 4 . 30 - 4 . 50 ( m , 1h ), 4 . 63 - 4 . 73 ( m , 1h ), 6 . 80 - 6 . 95 ( m , 1h ), 6 . 95 - 7 . 00 ( m , 1h ). reaction of 4 ( 141 mg , 76 mmol ) according to the method described for the preparation of 5 using l - 2 - amino - n - butyric acid tert . butyl ester instead of 2 - amino - pentanoic acid tert . butyl ester gave the title compound as a slightly yellow oil ( 171 mg , 69 %). 1 h - nmr ( 300 mhz , cdcl 3 ): δ 0 . 89 - 0 . 98 ( m , 3h ), [( 1 . 42 & amp ; 1 . 44 ) s , 9h ], 1 . 60 - 1 . 78 ( m , 1h ), 1 . 79 - 1 . 95 ( m , 1h ), 1 . 99 - 2 . 11 ( m , 1h ), 2 . 18 - 2 . 30 ( m , 1h ), 3 . 58 - 3 . 65 ( m , 1h ), [ 3 . 75 & amp ; 3 . 78 ) s , 3h ], 4 . 22 - 4 . 39 ( m , 1h ), 4 . 61 - 4 . 66 ( m , 1h ), 6 . 77 - 6 . 90 ( m , 1h ), 6 . 91 - 6 . 92 ( m , 1h ). reaction of 4 ( 50 mg , 37 mmol ) according to the method described for the preparation of 5 using ( 1r , 2s )- 1 - amino - 2 - vinyl - cyclopropane carboxylic acid tert . butyl ester instead of 2 - amino - pentanoic acid tert . butyl ester provided the title compound as a slightly yellow oil ( 50 mg , 38 %). 1 h - nmr ( 300 mhz , cdcl 3 ): δ [( 1 . 38 & amp ; 1 . 42 ) s , 9h ], 1 . 75 - 1 . 83 ( m , 1h ), 2 . 00 - 2 . 21 ( m , 3h ), 3 . 55 - 3 . 63 ( m , 1h ), [( 3 . 77 & amp ; 3 . 82 ) s , 3h ], 4 . 20 - 4 . 38 ( m , 1h ), 4 . 65 - 4 . 80 ( m , 1h ), 5 . 13 - 5 . 20 ( m , 1h ), 5 . 22 - 5 . 38 ( m , 1h ), 5 . 60 - 5 . 82 ( m , 1h ), 6 . 95 - 6 . 96 ( m , 2h ). to an ice cooled solution of 5 ( 0 . 23 g , 0 . 67 mmol ) in dry thf , 7 - methoxy - 2 - phenyl - quinolin - 4 - ol ( 0 . 22 g , 0 . 88 mmol ) and triphenylphosphine ( 0 . 23 g , 0 . 88 mmol ) were added . then diad ( 0 . 19 g , 0 . 92 mmol ) was dissolved in thf ( 2 ml ) and added dropwise to the solution . after one hour the mixture was concentrated and purified using flash chromatography ( toluene / ethyl acetate 3 : 1 ). this gave the title compound as a white powder ( 0 . 30 g , 77 %). 1 h - nmr ( 300 mhz , cdcl 3 ): δ 0 . 88 - 1 . 00 ( m , 3h ), 1 . 18 - 1 . 43 ( m , 2h ), [( 1 . 45 & amp ; 1 . 50 ) s , 9h ], 1 . 53 - 1 . 65 ( m , 1h ), 1 . 66 - 1 . 85 ( m , 1h ), 2 . 29 - 2 . 43 ( m , 1h ), 3 . 10 - 3 . 25 ( m , 1h ), [( 3 . 79 & amp ; 3 . 83 ) s , 3h ], 3 . 97 ( s , 3h ), 4 . 05 - 4 . 20 ( m , 1h ), 4 . 38 - 4 . 50 ( m , 1h ), 6 . 03 - 6 . 13 ( m , 1h ), 6 . 65 - 6 . 90 ( m , 1h ), 7 . 04 - 7 . 18 ( m , 3h ), 7 . 40 - 7 . 56 ( m , 4h ), 8 . 00 - 8 . 12 ( m , 3h ). reaction of 6 ( 132 mg , 40 mmol ) according to the method described for the preparation of 8 gave the title compound as a yellow oil ( 137 mg , 61 %). 1 h - nmr ( 300 mhz , cdcl 3 ): δ 0 . 83 - 0 . 98 ( m , 3h ), [( 1 . 42 & amp ; 1 . 44 ) s , 9h ], 1 . 65 - 1 . 78 ( m , 1h ), 1 . 80 - 1 . 97 ( m , 1h ), 2 . 30 - 2 . 40 ( m , 1h ), 3 . 05 - 3 . 20 ( m , 1h ), [( 3 . 78 & amp ; 3 . 80 ) s , 3h ], 3 . 94 ( s , 3h ), 3 . 95 - 4 . 01 ( m , 1h ), 4 . 38 - 4 . 44 ( s , 1h ), 6 . 05 - 6 . 15 ( m , 1h ), 6 . 80 - 6 . 94 ( m , 1h ), 7 . 02 - 7 . 15 ( m , 3h ), 7 . 38 - 7 . 55 ( m , 4h ), 7 . 97 - 8 . 18 ( m , 3h ). reaction of 7 ( 41 mg , 116 mmol ) according to the method described for the preparation of 8 provided the title compound as a yellow oil . 1 h - nmr ( 300 mhz , cdcl 3 ): δ 1 . 52 - 1 . 57 ( m , 1h ), 1 . 58 ( m , 9h ), 1 . 80 - 1 . 83 ( m , 1h ), 2 . 00 - 2 . 17 ( m , 1h ), 2 . 20 - 2 . 38 ( m , 1h ), 3 . 20 - 3 . 37 ( m , 1h ), 3 . 80 ( s , 3h ), 3 . 81 - 3 - 3 . 98 ( m , 1h ), 3 . 99 ( s , 3h ), 5 . 12 - 5 . 20 ( m , 1h ), 5 . 22 - 5 . 40 ( m , 1h ), 5 . 63 - 5 . 80 ( m , 4h ), 6 . 05 - 6 - 20 ( m , 1h ), 7 . 00 - 7 . 21 ( m , 4h ), 7 . 40 - 7 . 58 ( m , 4h ), 8 . 02 - 8 . 18 ( m , 3h ). the methyl ester 8 ( 0 . 35 g , 0 . 61 mmol ) was dissolved in dioxane / water ( 1 : 1 , 7 ml ) and lioh ( 0 . 031 g , 1 . 3 mmol ) was added . the reaction was stirred over night and then co - concentrated . this gave the lithium salt of 11 ( 0 . 32 g , 90 %) as a brown powder . reaction of 9 ( 225 mg , 40 mmol ) according to the method described for the preparation of 11 provided the title compound as a yellow salt ( 157 mg , 72 %). reaction of 10 ( 35 mg , 59 mmol ) according to the method described for the preparation of 11 ( 33 mg , 97 %) provided the title compound as a yellow salt . the acid 12 ( 38 . 4 mg , 0 . 070 mmol ) and ( 2 - amino - 3 - methyl - butyrylamino )- cyclohexyl acetic acid methyl ester ( 26 . 6 mg , 0 . 098 mmol ) were dissolved in dmf ( 1 . 5 ml ) and cooled in an ice - bath . dipea ( 17 . 1 μl , 0 . 098 mmol ) and hatu ( 37 . 4 mg , 0 . 098 mmol ) were added . after ninety minutes the mixture was co - concentrated with toluene and methanol and then purified by flash column chromatography ( toluene / ethyl acetate 6 : 1 ). further purification was performed on hplc ( 90 % meoh + 0 . 2 % tea ). the diastereomeric mixture 14 was concentrated and gave a slightly yellow oil ( 20 . 6 mg , 37 %). after lyophilisation 14 was collected as a white powder . 1 h - nmr ( 300 mhz , cdcl 3 ): δ 0 . 93 - 1 . 02 ( m , 9h ), 1 . 03 - 1 . 25 ( m , 4h ), 1 . 44 ( s , 9h ), 1 . 65 - 1 . 86 ( m , 9h ), 2 . 05 - 2 . 10 ( m , 1h ), 2 . 22 - 2 . 40 ( m , 1h ), 3 . 05 - 3 . 20 ( m , 1h ), 3 . 77 ( s , 3h ), 3 . 98 ( s , 3h ), 4 . 18 - 4 . 22 ( m , 1h ), 4 . 38 - 4 . 60 ( m , 3h ), 6 . 01 - 6 . 10 ( m , 1h ), 6 . 61 - 6 . 70 ( m , 2h ), 6 . 80 - 6 . 85 ( m , 1h ), 7 . 05 - 7 . 18 ( m , 2h ), 7 . 40 - 7 . 58 ( m , 5h ), 8 . 00 - 8 . 13 ( m , 3h ). 13 c - nmr ( 75 . 5 mhz , cdcl 3 ): δ 9 . 7 , 18 . 4 , 19 . 2 , [ 25 . 9 & amp ; 26 . 1 ], [ 28 . 2 & amp ; 28 . 5 ], 29 . 6 , 32 . 0 , 37 . 3 , 41 . 0 , 46 . 2 , 50 . 7 , 52 . 4 , 54 . 4 , 55 . 8 , 57 . 2 , 58 . 5 , 82 . 0 , 82 . 8 , 98 . 4 , 110 . 2 , 118 . 4 , 120 . 1 , 123 . 2 , 127 . 9 , 128 . 2 , 128 . 9 , 129 . 5 , 131 . 2 , 135 . 1 , 135 . 2 , 142 . 7 , 144 . 2 , 161 . 6 , 164 . 3 , 164 . 7 , 170 . 9 , 171 . 4 , 172 . 4 . maldi - tof m / z 821 . 56 [( m + na ) + calcd for c 45 h 58 n 4 naog + 821 . 41 ]. reaction of 12 ( 20 mg , 37 mmol ) according to the method described for the preparation of 14 using ( 2 - amino - 3 - methyl - butyrylamino )-( r )- cyclohexyl acetic acid methyl ester instead of ( 2 - amino - 3 - methyl - butyrylamino )-( s )- cyclohexyl acetic acid methyl ester , gave the title compound ( 19 mg , 66 %) as a white powder . 1 h - nmr ( 300 mhz , cdcl 3 ): δ 0 . 91 - 0 . 98 ( m , 3h ), 0 . 99 - 1 . 10 ( m , 6h ), 1 . 11 - 1 . 38 ( m , 4h ), [( 1 . 43 & amp ; 1 . 45 ) s , 9h ], 1 - 45 - 1 . 94 ( m , 9h ), 2 . 05 - 2 . 18 ( m , 1h ), 2 . 22 - 2 . 40 ( m , 1h ), 3 . 16 - 3 . 24 ( m , 1h ), 3 . 77 ( s , 3h ), 3 . 98 ( s , 3h ), 4 . 04 - 4 . 18 ( m , 1h ), 4 . 36 - 4 . 57 ( m , 3h ), 6 . 00 - 6 . 08 ( m , 1h ), 6 . 13 - 6 . 21 ( m , 1h ), 6 . 62 - 6 . 70 ( m , 1h ), 6 . 81 - 6 . 85 ( m , 1h ), 7 . 05 - 7 . 18 ( m , 3h ), 7 . 41 - 7 . 57 ( m , 4h ), 8 . 02 - 8 . 13 ( m , 3h ). 13 c - nmr ( 75 . 5 mhz , cdcl 3 ): δ 9 . 3 , 18 . 2 , 19 . 0 , [ 25 . 5 & amp ; 25 . 9 ], [ 28 . 0 & amp ; 28 . 3 ], 29 . 4 , 31 . 4 , 32 . 1 , 35 . 7 , 40 . 7 , 50 . 4 , 52 . 2 , 54 . 2 , 55 . 5 , 57 . 0 , 58 . 2 , 81 . 8 , 82 . 4 , 98 . 2 , 107 . 5 , 115 . 0 , 118 . 1 , 122 . 9 , 127 . 6 , 128 . 7 , 128 . 8 , 128 . 9 , 129 . 2 , 135 . 1 , 140 . 4 , 142 . 2 , 151 . 4 , 161 . 3 , 163 . 9 , 170 . 4 , 170 . 9 , 171 . 2 , 172 . 0 . maldi - tof m / z 821 . 60 [( m + na ) + calcd for c 45 h 58 n 4 nao 9 + 821 . 41 ]. reaction of 12 ( 24 mg , 44 mmol ) according to the method described for the preparation of 14 using d - valine methyl ester instead of ( 2 - amino - 3 - methyl - butyrylamino ) cyclohexyl acetic acid methyl ester , gave the title compound ( 27 mg , 97 %) as a white powder . 1 h - nmr ( 300 mhz , cdcl 3 ): δ 0 . 82 - 0 . 99 ( m , 9h ), [( 1 . 42 & amp ; 1 . 44 ) s , 9h ] 1 . 65 - 1 . 95 ( m , 2h ), 2 . 18 - 2 . 25 ( m , 1h ), 2 . 26 - 2 . 40 ( m , 1h ), 3 . 20 - 3 . 25 ( m , 1h ), 3 . 75 ( s , 3h ), 3 . 97 ( s , 3h ), 4 . 15 - 4 . 19 ( m , 1h ), 4 . 36 - 4 . 43 ( m , 1h ), 4 . 64 - 4 . 75 ( m , 1h ), 6 . 03 - 6 . 15 ( m , 1h ), 6 . 80 - 6 . 85 ( m , 2h ), 7 . 10 - 7 . 20 ( m , 3h ), 7 . 42 - 7 . 58 ( m , 4h ), 8 . 0 - 8 . 10 ( m , 3h ). 13 c - nmr ( 75 . 5 mhz , cdcl 3 ): δ 9 . 7 , [ 18 . 2 & amp ; 19 . 1 ], 25 . 7 , [ 28 . 1 & amp ; 28 . 2 ], 32 . 0 , 35 . 6 , 50 . 4 , 52 . 4 , 54 . 5 , 55 . 7 , 57 . 6 , 81 . 7 , 82 . 7 , 98 . 4 , 107 . 7 , 115 . 2 , 118 . 4 , 123 . 2 , 127 . 8 , 129 . 0 , 129 . 2 , 129 . 5 , 134 . 8 , 135 . 0 , 140 . 4 , 142 . 5 , 151 . 6 , 159 . 6 , [ 161 . 1 & amp ; 161 . 5 ], 164 . 6 , 171 . 1 , 172 . 2 . maldi - tof m / z 682 . 51 [( m + na ) + calcd for c 37 h 45 n 3 nao 8 + 682 . 31 ]. compound 17 ( 28 . 6 mg , 59 %) was prepared from 12 ( 33 mg , 60 mmol ) according to the method for the preparation of 14 using 2 - amino - n -( 2 , 5 - dimethoxy - phenyl )- n - ethyl - 3 - methyl butyramide instead of ( 2 - amino - 3 - methyl - butyrylamino )- cyclohexyl acetic acid methyl ester . this gave the title compound as a white powder . 1 h - nmr ( 300 mhz , cdcl 3 ): δ 0 . 75 - 0 . 95 ( m , 9h ) 1 . 05 - 1 . 18 ( m , 3h ), [( 1 . 42 & amp ; 1 . 44 ) s , 9h ], 1 . 60 - 1 . 95 ( m , 3h ), 2 . 20 - 2 . 40 ( m , 1h ), 3 . 20 - 3 . 34 ( m , 1h ), 3 . 60 - 3 . 80 ( m , 2h ), [ 3 . 62 - 3 . 65 ( m , 3h )], [ 3 . 79 - 3 . 82 ( m , 3h )], 3 . 98 ( s , 3h ), 4 . 02 - 4 - 18 ( m , 1h ), 4 . 30 - 4 . 44 ( m , 2h ), 6 . 05 - 6 . 18 ( m , 1h ), 6 . 60 - 6 . 63 ( m , 1h ), 6 . 77 - 6 . 80 ( m , 2h ), 6 . 85 - 6 . 93 ( m , 2h ), 7 . 12 - 7 . 20 ( m , 2h ), 7 . 35 - 7 . 60 ( m , 5h ), 8 . 02 - 8 . 20 ( m , 3h ). 13 c - nmr ( 75 . 5 mhz , cdcl 3 ): δ [ 9 . 6 & amp ; 9 . 7 ], [ 12 . 5 & amp ; 12 . 8 ], [ 17 . 1 & amp ; 17 . 5 ], [ 19 . 4 & amp ; 19 . 5 ], 25 . 6 , [ 28 . 0 & amp ; 28 . 1 ], 32 . 4 , 35 . 8 , 43 . 0 , 44 . 3 , [ 50 . 2 & amp ; 50 . 3 ], 54 . 3 , [ 54 . 8 & amp ; 55 . 0 & amp ; 55 . 2 & amp ; 55 . 5 ], [ 55 . 6 & amp ; 55 . 7 & amp ; 55 . 9 & amp ; 56 . 0 ], 81 . 7 , 82 . 8 , 98 . 4 , 106 . 9 , [ 112 . 4 & amp ; 112 . 5 ], 113 . 7 , 115 . 0 , 115 . 2 , 115 . 9 , 116 . 3 , 118 . 4 , [ 123 . 0 & amp ; 123 . 1 ], [ 127 . 7 & amp ; 127 . 8 ], 128 . 8 , 128 . 9 , 129 . 5 , 130 . 1 , [ 134 . 1 & amp ; 134 . 2 ], 142 . 6 , 149 . 1 , 149 . 4 , 153 . 4 , 158 . 9 , [ 161 . 4 & amp ; 161 . 6 ], [ 163 . 2 & amp ; 163 . 5 ], 170 . 9 , [ 171 . 3 & amp ; 171 . 5 ], 172 . 3 . maldi - tof m / z 831 . 62 [( m + na ) + calcd for c 46 h 56 n 4 nao 9 + 831 . 39 ]. compound 18 ( 16 . 1 mg , 26 %) was prepared from 12 ( 43 . 2 mg , 0 . 077 mmol ) according to the method for the preparation of 14 using ( 2 - amino - 3 , 3 - dimethyl - butyrylamino )- cyclohexyl - acetic acid methyl ester instead of ( 2 - amino - 3 - methyl - butyrylamino )- cyclohexyl acetic acid methyl ester . flash column chromatography was performed in toluene / ethyl acetate 3 : 1 instead of 6 : 1 : this gave the title compound as a white powder . 1 h - nmr ( 300 mhz , cdcl 3 ): δ 0 . 77 - 0 . 83 ( m , 3h ), [( 0 . 92 & amp ; 0 . 93 ) s , 9h ] 0 . 94 - 1 . 20 ( m , 4h ), [( 1 . 36 & amp ; 1 . 38 ) s , 9h ], 1 . 42 - 1 . 76 ( m , 8h ), 2 . 20 - 2 . 38 ( m , 1h ), 2 . 81 - 2 . 96 ( m , 1h ), 3 . 20 - 3 . 22 ( m , 1h ), 2 . 78 ( s , 3h ), [( 3 . 83 & amp ; 3 . 85 ) s , 3h ], 3 . 97 - 4 . 02 ( m , 1h ), 4 . 17 - 4 . 21 ( m , 1h ), 4 . 22 - 4 . 37 ( m , 2h ), 5 . 85 - 5 . 97 ( m , 1h ), [ 6 . 76 - 6 . 78 ( m , 0 . 5h )], [ 6 . 80 - 6 . 82 ( m , 0 . 5h )], 6 . 98 - 7 . 05 ( m , 3h ), 7 . 23 - 7 . 41 ( m , 6h ), 7 . 82 - 7 . 99 ( m , 3h ). 13 c - nmr ( 75 . 5 mhz , cdcl 3 ): δ [ 9 . 4 & amp ; 9 . 5 ], [ 25 . 4 & amp ; 25 . 5 ], 25 . 8 , [ 26 . 5 & amp ; 26 . 6 ], [ 27 . 9 & amp ; 28 . 0 ], [ 28 . 4 & amp ; 28 . 5 ], 29 . 3 , [ 35 . 4 & amp ; 35 . 7 ], [ 36 . 0 & amp ; 36 . 4 ], [ 40 . 5 & amp ; 40 . 7 ], [ 50 . 2 & amp ; 50 . 5 ], [ 52 . 1 & amp ; 52 . 2 ], [ 54 . 1 & amp ; 54 . 3 ], 55 . 5 , [ 57 . 0 & amp ; 57 . 3 ], [ 60 . 4 & amp ; 60 . 7 ], [ 81 . 8 & amp ; 82 . 0 ], [ 82 . 4 & amp ; 82 . 5 ] 98 . 1 , 107 . 5 , 115 . 0 , 118 . 1 , 123 . 0 , 127 . 5 , 128 . 7 , 128 . 8 , 129 . 2 , 134 . 9 , 135 . 8 , 141 . 9 , 142 . 5 , 151 . 3 , 159 . 4 , [ 160 . 9 & amp ; 161 . 3 ], [ 163 . 7 & amp ; 163 . 9 ], [ 169 . 9 & amp ; 170 . 0 ][ 170 . 0 & amp ; 171 . 3 ], [ 172 . 5 & amp ; 172 . 4 ]. maldi - tof m / z 835 . 68 [( m + na ) + calcd for c 46 h 60 n 4 nao 9 + 835 . 43 ]. the acid 11 ( 0 . 051 g , 0 . 087 mmol ) and ( 2 - amino - 3 - methyl - butyrylamino )- cyclohexyl - acetic acid methyl ester ( 0 . 054 g , 0 . 21 mmol ) were dissolved in dmf ( 1 . 5 ml ) and cooled in an ice - bath . dipea ( 16 mg , 0 . 12 mmol ) and hatu ( 47 mg , 0 . 13 mmol ) were added . after two and a half hours the mixture was co - concentrated with toluene and methanol and then purified by flash column chromatography ( toluene / ethyl acetate 3 : 1 ). further purification was performed on hplc ( 90 % meoh + 0 . 2 % tea ). this gave after co - concentration the two diastereomers 19a ( 9 . 4 mg , 13 %) and 19b ( 5 . 3 mg , 7 %) as slightly yellow syrups . after lyophilisation 19a and 19b were collected as white powders : 1 h - nmr ( 300 mhz , cdcl 3 ): δ 0 . 86 - 0 . 93 ( m , 3h ), 0 . 94 - 1 . 00 ( m , 6h ), 1 . 00 - 1 . 41 ( m , 7h ), 1 . 46 ( s , 9h ), 1 . 50 - 1 . 88 ( m , 8h ), 2 . 05 - 2 . 20 ( m , 1h ), 2 . 20 - 2 . 37 ( m , 1h ), 3 . 12 - 3 . 25 ( m , 1h ), 3 . 73 ( s , 3h ), 3 . 97 ( s , 3h ), 4 . 05 - 4 . 20 ( m , 1h ), 4 . 40 - 4 . 55 ( m , 3h ), 6 . 02 - 6 . 18 ( m , 1h ), 6 . 30 ( d , j = 8 . 52 hz , 1h ), 6 . 63 ( s , 1h ), 6 . 76 ( d , j = 8 . 51 hz , 1h ), 7 . 06 - 7 . 16 ( m , 2h ), 7 . 42 - 7 . 56 ( m , 5h ), 8 . 00 - 8 . 12 ( m , 3h ); 13 c - nmr ( 75 . 5 mhz , cd 3 od ): δ 14 . 0 , 18 . 4 , 19 . 3 , 26 . 1 , 28 . 3 , 28 . 5 , 29 . 7 , 31 . 9 , 34 . 9 , 36 . 0 , 41 . 0 , 50 . 7 , 52 . 4 , 53 . 3 , 55 . 7 , 57 . 2 , 58 . 6 , 82 . 0 , 82 . 7 , 98 . 4 , 105 . 7 , 107 . 7 , 115 . 2 , 118 . 4 , 123 . 2 , 125 . 3 , 127 . 9 , 129 . 0 , 129 . 1 , 135 . 1 , 138 . 0 , 142 . 4 , 151 . 6 , 159 . 4 , 161 . 6 , 164 . 3 , 170 . 7 , 171 . 2 , 172 . 3 . 19b : 1 h - nmr ( 300 mhz , cdcl 3 ): δ 0 . 90 - 1 . 04 ( m , 9h ), 1 . 04 - 1 . 43 ( m , 7h ), 1 . 47 ( s , 9h ), 1 . 50 - 1 . 87 ( m , 8h ), 2 . 10 - 2 . 27 ( m , 1h ), 2 . 33 - 2 . 45 ( m , 1h ), 3 . 10 - 3 . 20 ( m , 1h ), 3 . 73 ( s , 3h ), 3 . 96 ( s , 3h ), 4 . 02 - 4 . 10 ( m , 1h ), 4 . 36 - 4 . 53 ( m , 3h ), 6 . 00 - 6 . 16 ( m , 1h ), 6 . 30 ( d , j = 8 . 52 hz , 1h ), 6 . 73 ( s , 1h ), 6 . 86 ( d , j = 7 . 96 hz , 1h ), 7 . 08 - 7 . 16 ( m , 2h ), 7 . 36 - 7 . 56 ( m , 5h ), 8 . 03 - 8 . 11 ( m , 3h ). 13 c - nmr ( 75 . 5 mhz , cd 3 od ): δ 14 . 0 , 18 . 6 , 19 . 2 , 26 . 1 , 28 . 2 , 28 . 7 , 29 . 7 , 34 . 5 , 36 . 1 , 36 . 6 , 40 . 8 , 50 . 5 , 52 . 4 , 53 . 4 , 55 . 7 , 57 . 3 , 59 . 1 , 64 . 8 , 82 . 3 , 98 . 4 , 105 . 8 , 107 . 8 , 115 . 3 , 118 . 4 , 123 . 2 , 127 . 8 , 129 . 0 , 129 . 4 , 135 . 2 , 142 . 2 , 144 . 9 , 151 . 0 , 151 . 6 , 159 . 2 , 164 . 3 , 164 . 3 , 170 . 2 , 171 . 6 , 171 . 9 method a : the carboxylic acid 11 ( 57 mg , 0 . 10 mmol ) was dissolved in warm ( 50 ° c .) dry thf ( 2 ml ). ( 2 - amino - 3 , 3 - dimethyl - butyrylamino )- cyclohexyl - acetic acid methyl ester ( 50 mg , 0 . 12 mmol ), dipea ( 30 mg , 0 . 23 mmol ), dcc ( 25 mg , 0 . 12 mmol ) and hobt ( 17 mg , 13 mmol ) were added . after two hours the mixture was concentrated and added to a short column ( toluene / ethyl acetate 1 : 3 + 3 % acoh ). then it was further purified on hplc using 90 % meoh + 0 . 2 % tea . the diastereomeric products were not separated . after hplc the solution was co - concentrated with toluene and methanol to give 20 ( 28 mg , 34 %). method b : to an ice - cold solution of 11 ( 60 mg , 0 . 10 mmol ) and ( 2 - amino - 3 , 3 - dimethyl - butyrylamino )- cyclohexyl - acetic acid methyl ester ( 42 mg , 0 . 15 mmol ) dipea ( 19 mg , 0 . 15 mmol ) and hatu ( 62 mg , 0 . 16 mmol ) were added . after two and a half hours the mixture was concentrated and purified using column chromatography . ( toluene / ethyl acetate 3 : 1 ). the diastereomeric mixture was separated using hplc ( 90 % meoh + 0 . 2 % tea ). this gave 20a ( 6 mg , 6 %) and 20b ( 9 mg , 10 %). 20a : 1 h - nmr ( 300 mhz , cdcl 3 ): δ 0 . 82 - 0 . 90 ( m , 3h ), 1 . 01 ( s , 9h ), 1 . 05 - 1 . 40 ( m , 7h ), 1 . 46 ( s , 9h ), 1 . 50 - 1 . 80 ( m , 8h ), 2 . 20 - 2 . 35 ( m , 1h ), 3 . 07 - 3 . 25 ( m , 1h ), 3 . 73 ( s , 3h ), 3 . 97 ( s , 3h ), 4 . 11 ( d , j = 7 . 96 hz , 1h ), 4 . 38 - 4 . 52 ( m , 3h ), 6 . 03 - 6 . 12 ( m , 1h ), 6 . 24 ( d , j = 8 . 79 hz , 1h ), 6 . 63 ( s , 1h ), 6 . 82 ( d , j = 9 . 06 hz , 1h ), 7 . 07 - 7 . 27 ( m , 2h ), 7 . 36 ( d , j = 7 . 96 hz , 1h ), 7 . 41 - 7 . 55 ( m , 4h ), 8 . 01 - 8 . 10 ( m , 3h ); 13 c - nmr ( 75 . 5 mhz , cd 3 od ): δ14 . 0 , 18 . 8 , 26 . 1 , 26 . 8 , 28 . 2 , 28 . 6 , 29 . 6 , 34 . 9 , 35 . 6 , 36 . 2 , 40 . 9 , 50 . 7 , 52 . 4 , 53 . 3 , 55 . 7 , 57 . 3 , 60 . 8 , 82 . 0 , 82 . 7 , 98 . 4 , 105 . 2 , 107 . 7 , 115 . 2 , 118 . 4 , 123 . 2 , 127 . 9 , 129 . 0 , 129 . 4 , 131 . 1 , 135 . 1 , 138 . 4 , 142 . 4 , 153 . 3 , 159 . 6 , 161 . 6 , 164 . 2 , 170 . 1 , 171 . 3 , 172 . 2 . 20b : 1 h - nmr ( 300 mhz , cdcl 3 ): δ 0 . 90 - 0 . 98 ( m , 3h ), 1 . 04 ( s , 9h ), 1 . 08 - 1 . 40 ( m , 7h ), 1 . 44 ( s , 9h ), 1 . 55 - 1 . 90 ( m , 8h ), 2 . 20 - 2 . 38 ( m , 1h ), 3 . 10 - 3 . 22 ( m , 1h ); 3 . 73 ( s , 3h ), 3 . 97 ( s , 3h ), 4 . 02 - 4 . 15 ( m , 1h ), 4 . 35 - 4 . 48 ( m , 3h ), 6 . 00 - 6 . 08 ( m , 1h ), 6 . 72 ( s , 1h ), 6 . 90 ( d , j = 9 . 06 hz , 1h ), 7 . 09 - 7 . 20 ( m , 3h ), 7 . 44 - 7 . 55 ( m , 5h ), 8 . 03 - 8 . 11 ( m , 3h ). the acid 13 ( 35 mg , 0 . 060 mmol ) and ( 2 - amino - 3 , 3 - dimethyl - butyrylamino )- cyclohexyl - acetic acid methyl ester ( 22 mg , 0 . 080 mmol ) were dissolved in dry thf ( 1 . 5 ml ) and warmed to 50 ° c . hobt ( 11 mg , 0 . 080 mmol ) and dcc ( 31 mg , 0 . 15 mmol ) were added . after one hour the mixture was co - concentrated with toluene and methanol and then purified by flash column chromatography ( toluene / ethyl acetate 1 : 1 ). further purification was performed on hplc ( 80 % meoh + 0 . 2 % tea . the diastereomeric mixture 21 was concentrated and gave a slightly yellow oil ( 26 . 4 mg , 53 %). after lyophilisation 21 was collected as a white powder . 1 h - nmr ( 300 mhz , cdcl 3 ): δ [( 0 . 98 & amp ; 1 . 00 ), s , 9h ], 1 . 01 - 1 . 38 ( m , 5h ), [( 1 . 39 & amp ; 1 . 40 ) s , 9h ], 1 . 52 - 1 . 63 ( m , 4h ), 1 . 65 - 1 . 80 ( m , 4h ), 1 . 90 - 2 . 05 ( m , 1h ), 2 . 20 - 2 . 40 ( m , 1h ), 3 . 02 - 3 . 20 ( m , 1h ), [( 3 . 66 & amp ; 3 . 67 ) s , 3h ), 3 . 98 ( s , 3h ), 3 . 99 - 4 . 02 ( m , 1h ), 4 . 30 - 4 . 45 ( m , 2h ), 5 . 05 - 5 . 11 ( m , 1h ), 5 . 20 - 5 . 30 ( m , 1h ), 5 . 60 - 5 . 81 ( m , 1h ), 6 . 03 - 6 . 17 ( m , 1h ), 6 . 77 - 6 . 82 ( m , 1h ), 6 . 95 - 7 . 22 ( m , 5h ), 7 . 40 - 7 . 50 ( m , 4h ), 8 . 01 - 8 . 10 ( m , 3h ). 13 c - nmr ( 75 . 5 mhz , cdcl 3 ): δ 22 . 3 , [ 25 . 7 & amp ; 25 . 8 ], [ 26 . 4 & amp ; 26 . 5 ], [ 28 . 0 & amp ; 28 . 4 ] 29 . 2 , 32 . 7 , 33 . 3 , [ 35 . 3 & amp ; 35 . 4 ], 36 . 0 , [ 40 . 2 & amp ; 40 . 3 ], 40 . 7 , 52 . 0 , 55 . 4 , [ 57 . 2 & amp ; 57 . 4 ] [ 60 . 4 & amp ; 60 . 5 ], [ 87 . 6 & amp ; 87 . 7 ], [ 82 . 3 & amp ; 82 . 5 ], 98 . 4 , 107 . 0 , 114 . 9 , [ 117 . 4 & amp ; 117 . 5 ], 118 . 1 , 122 . 9 , 127 . 6 , 128 . 6 , 128 . 9 , 129 . 2 , [ 133 . 6 & amp ; 133 . 8 ], 135 . 9 , 136 . 9 , 140 . 1 , [ 141 . 4 & amp ; 141 . 6 ], 151 . 1 , 159 . 6 , [ 160 . 9 & amp ; 161 . 3 ], [ 164 . 2 & amp ; 164 . 6 ], 168 . 9 , 170 . 3 , [ 172 . 1 & amp ; 172 . 6 ]. maldi - tof m / z 859 . 77 [( m + na ) + calcd for c 48 h 60 n 4 nao 9 + 859 . 43 ]. the tert . butyl ester 20 ( 28 mg , 0 . 034 mmol ), tes ( 8 . 7 mg , 0 . 075 mmol ), dcm ( 1 ml ) and tfa ( 1 ml ) were mixed in a round bottomed flask . two hours later the mixture was concentrated and the diastereomers were separated on hplc using 65 % meoh + 0 . 2 % tea as mobile phase . this gave 22a ( 15 mg , 55 %) and 22b ( 12 mg , 45 %) as slightly yellow syrups . after lyophilisation the title compounds were collected as white powders . 22a : [ α ] 22 d + 155 . 8 ; 1 h - nmr ( 300 mhz , cd 3 od ): δ 0 . 90 - 0 . 97 ( m , 3h ), 1 . 03 ( s , 9h ), 1 . 05 - 1 . 50 ( m , 7h ), 1 . 50 - 1 . 80 ( m , 8h ), 2 . 43 - 2 . 55 ( m , 1h ), 2 . 77 - 2 . 90 ( m , 1h ), 3 . 68 ( s , 3h ), 3 . 96 ( s , 3h ), 4 . 20 - 4 . 30 ( m , 2h ), 4 . 31 - 4 . 40 ( m , 1h ), 4 . 45 - 4 . 50 ( m , 1h ), 6 . 03 - 6 . 11 ( m , 1h ), 6 . 98 ( s , 1h ), 7 . 12 - 7 . 19 ( m , 1h ), 7 . 36 ( s , 1h ), 7 . 41 ( d , j = 2 . 2 hz , 1h ), 7 . 50 - 7 . 60 ( m , 3h ), 8 . 03 - 8 . 10 ( m , 3h ): 13 c - nmr ( 75 . 5 mhz , cd 3 od ): δ 13 . 1 , 19 . 1 , 26 . 1 , 28 . 7 , 28 . 9 , 29 . 5 , 34 . 3 , 34 . 8 , 35 . 9 , 40 . 1 , 50 . 8 , 51 . 2 , 54 . 8 , 55 . 0 , 57 . 9 , 60 . 7 , 83 . 5 , 99 . 1 , 106 . 0 , 115 . 2 , 118 . 2 , 123 . 3 , 127 . 8 , 128 . 0 , 128 . 7 , 128 . 8 , 129 . 7 , 135 . 2 , 139 . 8 , 143 . 7 , 150 . 6 , 160 . 1 , 162 . 2 , 165 . 2 , 171 . 7 , 172 . 2 , 173 . 4 . 22b : [ α ] 22 d - 72 . 3 ; 1 h - nmr ( 300 mhz , cd 3 od ): δ 0 . 90 - 0 . 97 ( m , 3h ), 1 . 02 ( s , 9h ), 1 . 07 - 1 . 35 ( m , 7h ), 1 . 53 - 1 . 90 ( m , 8h ), 2 . 46 - 2 . 61 ( m , 1h ), 2 . 76 - 2 . 88 ( m , 1h ), 3 . 69 ( s , 3h ), 3 . 96 ( s , 3h ), 4 . 15 - 4 . 35 ( m , 2h ), 4 . 37 - 4 . 41 ( m , 1h ), 4 . 42 - 4 . 47 ( m , 1h ), 6 . 02 - 6 . 12 ( m , 1h ), 7 . 02 ( s , 1h ), 7 . 16 ( dd , j = 2 . 47 , 9 . 34 hz , 1h ), 7 . 32 ( s , 1h ), 7 . 40 ( d , j = 2 . 47 hz , 1h ), 7 . 48 - 7 . 58 ( m , 3h ), 8 . 03 - 8 . 12 ( m , 3h ); 13 c - nmr ( 75 . 5 mhz , cd 3 od ): δ 13 . 0 , 18 . 8 , 25 . 9 , 26 . 0 , 28 . 8 , 29 . 4 , 34 . 2 , 34 . 8 , 36 . 3 , 39 . 9 , 48 . 8 , 50 . 5 , 51 . 1 , 54 . 8 , 57 . 9 , 60 . 5 , 82 . 8 , 99 . 0 , 106 . 0 , 115 . 1 , 118 . 2 , 123 . 1 , 127 . 8 , 127 . 9 , 128 . 7 , 129 . 0 , 129 . 5 , 136 . 7 , 139 . 8 , 142 . 8 , 150 . 6 , 160 . 1 , 162 . 0 , 162 . 2 , 164 . 7 , 172 . 1 , 173 . 5 . compound 23a ( 6 . 6 mg , 50 %) and compound 23b ( 1 . 3 mg , 10 %) were prepared from 15 ( 14 mg , 0 . 018 mmol ) according to the method for the preparation of 22a and 22b . this gave the title compounds as white powders . 23a : 1 h - nmr ( 300 mhz , cd 3 od ): 0 . 88 - 1 . 02 ( m , 9h ), 1 . 02 - 1 . 40 ( m , 7h ), 1 . 55 - 1 . 97 ( m , 6h ), 2 . 01 - 2 . 10 ( m , 1h ), 2 . 38 - 2 . 52 ( m , 1h ), 2 . 88 - 3 . 00 ( m , 1h ), 3 . 77 ( s , 3h ), 3 . 98 ( s , 3h ), 4 . 08 - 4 . 20 ( m , 1h ), 4 . 22 - 4 . 40 ( m , 3h ). 6 . 03 - 6 . 18 ( m , 1h ), 6 . 86 - 6 . 99 ( m , 1h ), 7 . 08 - 7 . 20 ( m , 1h ), 7 . 23 ( s , 1h ), 7 . 40 - 7 . 43 ( m , 1h ), 7 . 45 - 7 . 70 ( m , 3h ), 8 . 02 - 8 . 20 ( m , 3h ). 13 c - nmr ( 75 . 5 mhz , cd 3 od ): δ 9 . 0 , 17 . 6 , 18 . 2 , 24 . 5 , 25 . 3 , 28 . 1 , 28 . 8 , 30 . 9 , 35 . 4 , 39 . 4 , 49 . 6 , 51 . 1 , 54 . 7 , 57 . 2 , 58 . 0 , 82 . 4 , 98 . 5 , 105 . 5 , 114 . 5 , 117 . 7 , 122 . 7 , 127 . 2 , 127 . 3 , 128 . 2 , 129 . 0 , 135 . 6 , 136 . 4 , 141 . 7 , 149 . 9 , 159 . 5 , 161 . 2 , 161 . 4 , 164 . 0 , 171 . 0 , 171 . 7 , 172 . 4 . 23b : 1 h - nmr ( 300 mhz , cd 3 od ): δ 0 . 9 - 1 . 20 ( m , 9h ), 1 . 21 - 1 . 53 ( m , 7h ), 1 . 55 - 1 . 93 ( m , 6h ), 2 . 05 - 2 . 20 ( m , 1h ), 2 . 41 - 2 . 50 ( m , 1h ), 2 . 96 - 3 - 05 ( m , 1h ), 3 . 77 ( s , 3h ), 4 . 00 ( s , 3h ), 4 . 05 - 4 . 40 ( m , 4h ), 6 . 05 - 6 . 18 ( m , 1h ), 6 . 90 - 6 . 95 ( m , 1h ), 7 . 05 - 7 . 22 ( m , 2h ), 7 . 50 - 7 . 65 ( m , 4h ), 8 . 01 - 8 . 16 ( m , 3h ). the tert . butyl ester 14 ( 13 . 4 mg , 0 . 017 mmol ), tes ( 4 . 83 mg , 0 . 042 mmol ), dcm ( 2 ml ) and tfa ( 2 ml ) were mixed in a round bottomed flask . one hour later the mixture was concentrated and purified by hplc using 65 % meoh + 0 . 2 % tea as mobile phase . this gave 24 ( 4 . 3 mg , 34 %) as a slightly yellow syrup . after lyophilisation 24 was collected as a white powder . 1 h - nmr ( 300 mhz , cd 3 od ): δ 0 . 91 - 0 . 99 ( m , 9h ), 1 . 00 - 1 . 28 ( m , 4h ), 1 . 55 - 1 . 78 ( m , 9h ), 1 . 92 - 1 . 95 ( m , 1h ), 2 . 00 - 2 . 05 ( m , 1h ), 2 . 93 - 3 . 01 ( m , 1h ), 3 . 75 ( s , 3h ), 3 . 97 ( s , 3h ), 4 . 10 - 4 . 40 ( m , 4h ), 6 . 05 - 6 . 15 ( m , 1h ), 6 . 88 - 6 . 94 ( m , 1h ), 7 . 05 - 7 . 10 ( m , 2h ), 7 . 41 - 7 . 43 ( m , 1h ), 7 . 44 - 7 . 55 ( m , 2h ), 8 . 62 - 8 . 68 ( m , 1h ), 8 . 69 - 8 . 79 ( m , 1h ), 7 . 97 - 8 . 05 ( m , 2h ). 13 c - nmr ( 75 . 5 mhz , cd 3 od ): δ 9 . 2 , 18 . 5 , 25 . 5 , [ 29 . 0 & amp ; 29 . 2 ], [ 30 . 0 & amp ; 30 . 5 ], 35 . 3 , 37 . 7 , 39 . 7 , 46 . 2 , 50 . 0 , [ 51 . 4 & amp ; 51 . 5 ], 53 . 6 , 55 . 1 , 57 . 1 , 58 . 4 , 83 . 1 , 98 . 9 , 104 . 9 , 114 . 6 , 118 . 3 , 123 . 0 , 123 . 4 , 127 . 5 , 128 . 4 , 128 . 5 , 129 . 7 , 135 . 0 , 142 . 1 , 145 . 7 , 146 . 2 , 159 . 2 , 161 . 9 , 164 . 3 , 171 . 5 , 171 . 9 , 172 . 2 . maldi - tof m / z 791 . 27 [( m + k ) + calcd for c 42 h 48 kn 4 o 9 + 791 . 31 ]. compound 25 ( 8 . 0 mg , 60 %) was prepared from 16 ( 13 . 8 mg , 0 . 022 mmol ) according to the method for the preparation of 24 which gave the title compound as a white powder . 1 h - nmr ( 300 mhz , cd 3 od ): δ 0 . 83 - 1 . 02 ( m , 9h ), 1 . 68 - 1 . 80 ( m , 1h ), 1 . 82 - 2 . 02 ( m , 1h ), 2 . 10 - 2 . 22 ( m , 1h ), 2 . 40 - 2 . 60 ( m , 1h ), 2 . 81 - 2 . 95 ( m , 1h ), 3 . 75 ( s , 3h ), 4 . 00 ( s , 3h ), 4 . 18 - 4 . 22 ( m , 1h ), 4 . 27 - 4 . 40 ( m , 2h ), 6 . 05 - 6 . 12 ( m , 1h ), 6 . 99 - 7 . 02 ( m , 1h ), 7 . 16 - 7 . 21 ( m , 1h ), 7 . 38 ( s , 1h ), 7 . 40 - 7 . 43 ( m , 1h ), 7 . 48 - 7 . 61 ( m , 3h ), 7 . 98 - 8 . 12 ( m , 3h ). compound 26 ( 5 . 7 mg , 36 %) was prepared from 17 ( 16 . 7 mg , 0 . 021 mmol ) according to the method for the preparation of 24 which gave the title compound as a white powder . 1 h - nmr ( 300 mhz , cd 3 od ): δ 0 . 75 - 0 . 81 ( m , 6h ), 0 . 82 - 0 . 98 ( m , 3h ), 1 . 00 - 1 . 10 ( m , 3h ), 1 . 60 - 2 . 00 ( m , 3h ), 2 . 40 - 2 . 56 ( m , 1h ), 2 . 80 - 2 . 88 ( m , 1h ), 3 . 18 - 3 . 24 ( m , 1h ), 3 . 40 - 3 . 46 ( m , 1h ), [ 3 . 67 - 3 . 80 ( m , 6h )], 3 . 97 ( s , 3h ), 4 . 10 - 4 . 20 ( m , 1h ), 4 . 21 - 4 . 40 ( m , 2h ), 6 . 02 - 6 . 17 ( m , 1h ), 6 . 75 - 6 . 82 ( m , 1h ), 6 . 84 - 7 . 01 ( m , 3h ), 7 . 10 - 7 . 20 ( m , 1h ), 7 . 30 - 7 . 37 ( m , 1h ), 7 . 40 - 7 . 43 ( m , 1h ), 7 . 50 - 7 . 60 ( m , 3h ), 8 . 00 - 8 . 17 ( m , 3h ). 13 c - nmr ( 75 . 5 mhz , cd 3 od ): δ 9 . 6 , [ 11 . 8 & amp ; 12 . 0 ], [ 17 . 2 & amp ; 17 . 4 ], 18 . 9 , 25 . 0 , 32 . 3 , 35 . 7 , 43 . 3 , 44 . 2 , [ 50 . 3 & amp ; 50 . 5 ], [ 54 . 5 & amp ; 54 . 8 & amp ; 54 . 9 & amp ; 55 . 0 ], [ 55 . 1 & amp ; 55 . 2 & amp ; 55 . 3 & amp ; 56 . 0 ], 58 . 7 , 83 . 6 , 99 . 3 , 105 . 5 , [ 112 . 5 & amp ; 112 . 7 ], 114 . 3 , [ 15 . 1 & amp ; 115 . 2 ], 115 . 7 , 116 . 1 , 118 . 4 , [ 123 . 3 & amp ; 123 . 4 ], 125 . 2 , [ 128 . 0 & amp ; 128 . 1 , 128 . 8 , 129 . 1 , 129 . 8 , [ 135 . 1 & amp ; 135 . 3 ], 139 . 2 , [ 143 . 3 & amp ; 144 . 4 ], 149 . 2 , [ 149 . 6 & amp ; 149 . 9 ], 153 . 8 , 159 . 9 , 162 . 4 , [ 163 . 9 & amp ; 164 . 5 ], 172 . 1 , 172 . 8 , [ 173 . 6 & amp ; 173 . 7 ]. maldi - tof m / z 775 . 30 [( m + na ) + calcd for c 42 h 48 n 4 nao 9 + 775 . 33 ]. compound 27 ( 6 . 0 mg , 72 %) was prepared from 18 ( 8 . 6 mg , 0 . 011 mmol ) according to the method for the preparation of 24 . purification by hplc ( 60 % methanol + 0 . 2 % tea ) gave the title compound as a white powder . 1 h - nmr ( 300 mhz , cd 3 od ): δ 0 . 88 - 0 . 95 ( m , 3h ), 0 . 96 ( s , 9h ), 0 . 97 - 1 . 24 ( m , 4h ), 1 . 57 - 1 . 62 ( m , 3h ), 1 . 58 - 1 . 78 ( m , 4h ), 1 . 79 - 1 . 99 ( m , 1h ), 2 . 35 - 2 . 44 ( m , 2h ), 2 . 85 - 2 . 98 ( m , 1h ), [( 3 . 67 & amp ; 3 . 69 ) s , 3h ], 3 . 94 ( s , 3h ), 4 . 10 - 4 . 20 ( m , 1h ), 4 . 30 - 4 . 40 ( m , 3h ), 6 . 00 - 6 . 09 ( m , 1h ), [ 6 . 80 - 6 . 82 ( m , 0 . 5h )][ 6 . 85 - 6 . 87 ( m , 0 . 5h )], 7 . 05 - 7 . 19 ( m , 2h ), 7 . 38 - 7 . 55 ( m , 4h ), 7 . 95 - 8 . 07 ( m , 3h ). 13 c - nmr ( 75 . 5 mhz , cd 3 od ): δ [ 9 . 1 & amp ; 9 . 2 ], [ 24 . 7 & amp ; 24 . 9 ], [ 25 . 4 & amp ; 25 . 5 ], [ 25 . 9 & amp ; 26 . 0 ], [ 28 . 3 & amp ; 28 . 4 ], 28 . 9 , [ 34 . 8 & amp ; 34 . 9 ], [ 35 . 6 & amp ; 35 . 9 ], [ 39 . 6 & amp ; 39 . 7 ], [ 49 . 9 & amp ; 50 . 1 ], [ 51 . 4 & amp ; 51 . 2 ], [ 53 . 9 & amp ; 54 . 0 ] 55 . 0 , [ 57 . 2 & amp ; 57 . 4 ], 60 . 0 , [ 82 . 1 & amp ; 82 . 5 ], 98 . 6 , 106 . 2 , 114 . 7 , 117 . 8 , 122 . 7 , 127 . 5 , 127 . 7 , [ 128 . 4 & amp ; 128 . 5 ], 129 . 1 , 135 . 3 , 136 . 3 , 141 . 6 , 142 . 0 , 150 . 5 , 159 . 8 , [ 161 . 0 & amp ; 161 . 3 ][ 164 . 0 & amp ; 164 . 1 ], [ 171 . 6 & amp ; 171 . 9 ], [ 172 . 2 & amp ; 172 . 3 ], [ 173 . 0 & amp ; 173 . 2 ]. maldi - tof m / z 779 . 43 [( m + na ) + calcd for c 42 h 52 n 4 nao 9 + 779 . 36 ]. the tert . butyl ester 19a ( 7 . 6 mg , 0 . 0094 mmol ) and tes ( 2 . 4 mg , 0 . 021 mmol ) were dissolved in dcm ( 1 ml ) and the mixture was cooled in an ice - bath . tfa ( 1 ml ) was added . after two hours the mixture was concentrated and purified on hplc using 60 % meoh + 0 . 2 % tea as mobile phase . this gave 28 ( 6 . 1 mg , 86 %) as a slightly yellow syrup . after lyophilisation the title compound was collected as white powder . 1 h - nmr ( 300 mhz , cd 3 od + cdcl3 ( 1 : 1 )): δ 0 . 90 - 1 . 00 ( m , 9h ), 1 . 00 - 1 . 30 ( m , 7h ), 1 . 50 - 1 . 90 ( m , 8h ), 2 . 00 - 2 . 10 ( m , 1h ), 2 . 40 - 2 . 50 ( m , 1h ), 2 . 85 - 2 . 98 ( m , 1h ), 3 . 65 - 3 . 72 ( s , 3h ), 3 . 99 ( s , 3h ), 4 . 15 - 4 . 22 ( m , 1h ), 4 . 24 - 4 . 35 ( m , 2h ), 4 . 38 - 4 . 44 ( m , 1h ), 6 . 10 - 6 . 20 ( m , 1h ), 6 . 95 - 6 . 96 ( m , 1h ), 7 . 16 - 7 . 23 ( m , 1h ), 7 . 31 ( s , 1h ), 7 . 42 ( d , j = 2 . 47 hz , 1h ), 7 . 53 - 7 . 72 ( m , 3h ), 7 . 97 - 8 . 16 ( m , 3h ); 13 c - nmr ( 75 . 5 mhz , cd 3 od + cdcl 3 1 : 1 ): δ 13 . 5 , 18 . 3 , 19 . 0 , 26 . 0 , 29 . 0 , 29 . 7 , 31 . 0 , 34 . 1 , 35 . 8 , 40 . 2 , 51 . 9 , 55 . 9 , 57 . 7 , 58 . 9 , 63 . 5 , 68 . 4 , 84 . 0 , 99 . 6 , 104 . 8 , 105 . 7 , 115 . 1 , 119 . 0 , 123 . 7 , 128 . 1 , 128 . 9 , 129 . 1 , 130 . 4 , 131 . 3 , 135 . 3 , 138 . 0 , 142 . 9 , 159 . 5 , 162 . 8 , 164 . 8 , 172 . 2 , 172 . 2 , 172 . 4 compound 29 ( 1 . 3 mg , 26 %) was prepared from 19b ( 5 . 3 mg , 0 . 065 mmol ) according to the method for the preparation of 28 . this gave the title compound as a white powder . 1 h - nmr ( 300 mhz , cd 3 od ): δ 0 . 85 - 1 . 00 ( m , 9h ), 1 . 00 - 1 . 23 ( m , 7h ), 1 . 50 - 1 . 78 ( m , 8h ), 2 . 05 - 2 . 23 ( m , 1h ), 2 . 50 - 2 . 66 ( m , 1h ), 2 . 70 - 2 . 85 ( m , 1h ), 3 . 69 ( s , 3h ), 3 . 92 ( s , 3h ), 4 . 02 - 4 . 16 ( m , 1h ), 4 . 20 - 4 . 25 ( m , 1h ), 4 . 35 - 4 . 40 ( m , 2h ), 6 . 09 ( m , 1h ), 7 . 00 ( s , 1h ), 7 . 12 - 7 . 18 ( dd , j = 2 . 47 , 2 . 19 hz , 1h ), 7 . 30 ( s , 1h ), 7 . 40 ( d , j = 2 . 42 hz , 1h ), 7 . 48 - 7 . 74 ( m , 3h ), 8 . 03 - 8 . 10 ( m , 3h ); 13 c - nmr ( 75 . 5 mhz , cdcl 3 ): δ 11 . 7 , 16 . 5 , 17 . 0 , 24 . 4 , 27 . 2 , 27 . 9 , 29 . 0 , 29 . 1 37 . 5 , 41 . 8 , 49 . 7 , 50 . 5 , 53 . 3 , 56 . 3 , 63 . 5 , 66 . 5 , 81 . 0 , 100 . 3 , 101 . 0 , 105 . 7 , 113 . 6 , 121 . 6 , 126 . 3 , 127 . 1 , 127 . 9 , 130 . 1 , 131 . 4 , 135 . 6 , 138 . 7 , 141 . 1 , 150 . 4 , 160 . 2 , 160 . 5 , 165 . 3 , 173 . 0 , 173 . 6 , 173 . 7 compound 30a ( 6 . 3 mg , 49 %) and compound 30b ( 5 . 6 mg , 43 %) were synthesized from 21 ( 13 . 8 mg , 0 . 0016 mmol ) according to the method of the preparation of 22a and 22b . 30a and 30b : white powder . 30a : 1 h - nmr ( 300 mhz , cd 3 od ): δ 1 . 02 ( s , 9h ), 1 . 03 - 1 . 43 ( m , 5h ), 1 . 61 - 1 . 95 ( m , 8h ), 2 . 11 - 2 . 21 ( m , 1h ), 2 . 43 - 2 . 58 ( m , 1h ), 2 . 97 - 3 . 04 ( m , 1h ), 3 . 78 ( s , 3h ), 4 . 01 ( s , 3h ), 4 . 02 - 4 . 17 ( m , 1h ), 4 . 25 - 4 . 40 ( m , 2h ), 5 . 10 - 5 - 20 ( m , 1h ), 5 . 27 - 5 . 40 ( m , 1h ), 6 . 77 - 6 . 94 ( m , 1h ), 6 . 10 - 6 . 20 ( m , 1h ), 6 . 97 ( s , 1h ), 7 . 18 ( dd , j = 2 . 5 , 9 . 2 hz , 1h ), 7 . 22 ( s , 1h ), 7 . 46 ( d , j = 2 . 5 hz , 1h ), 7 . 52 - 7 . 65 ( m , 3h ), 8 . 00 - 8 . 18 ( m , 3h ). 13 c - nmr ( 75 . 5 mhz , cd 3 od ): δ 13 . 5 , 25 . 3 , 25 . 7 , 28 . 3 , 28 . 7 , 29 . 0 , 32 . 8 , 34 . 6 , 35 . 3 , 39 . 3 , 49 . 7 , 51 . 1 , 54 . 6 , 57 . 2 , 59 . 8 , 82 . 1 , 98 . 4 , 105 . 8 , 114 . 5 , 116 . 3 , 117 . 6 , 122 . 6 , 127 . 2 , 128 . 1 , 128 . 2 , 128 . 8 , 130 . 2 , 133 . 7 , 136 . 0 , 139 . 5 , 141 . 5 , 150 . 3 , 159 . 7 , 161 . 0 , 161 . 2 , 163 . 4 , 171 . 6 , 172 . 5 . maldi - tof m / z 803 . 56 [( m + na ) + calcd for c 44 h 52 n 4 nao 9 + 803 . 36 ]. 30b : 1 h - nmr ( 300 mhz , cd 3 od ): δ 1 . 03 ( s , 9h ), 1 . 04 - 1 . 42 ( m , 5h ), 2 . 60 - 2 . 90 ( m , 8h ), 2 . 17 - 2 . 22 ( m , 1h ), 2 . 40 - 2 . 55 ( m , 1h ), 2 . 96 - 3 . 10 ( m , 1h ), 3 . 77 ( s , 3h ), 4 . 01 ( s , 3h ), 4 . 05 - 4 . 16 ( m , 1h ), 4 . 30 - 4 . 40 ( m , 2h ), 5 . 15 - 5 . 20 ( m , 1h ), 5 . 25 - 5 . 40 ( m , 1h ), 5 . 78 - 5 . 95 ( m , 1h ), 6 . 10 - 6 . 20 ( m , 1h ), 6 . 98 ( s , 1h ), 7 . 17 ( dd , j = 2 . 5 , 9 . 1 hz , 1h ), 7 . 26 ( s , 1h ), 7 . 46 ( d , j = 2 . 5 hz , 1h ), 7 . 50 - 7 . 65 ( m , 3h ), 8 . 03 - 8 . 28 ( m , 3h ). 13 c - nmr ( 75 . 5 mhz , cd 3 od ): δ 13 . 7 , 26 . 0 , 26 . 3 , 28 . 8 , 29 . 4 , 29 . 6 , 34 . 0 , 35 . 2 , 35 . 8 , 40 . 1 , 50 . 6 , 51 . 7 , 55 . 3 , 57 . 8 , 60 . 6 , 83 . 0 , 99 . 1 , 106 . 3 , 115 . 2 , 117 . 0 , 118 . 3 , 123 . 2 , 127 . 9 , 128 . 0 , 128 . 8 , 129 . 6 , 130 . 6 , 134 . 4 , 136 . 1 , 140 . 0 , 142 . 5 , 150 . 8 , 160 . 3 , 161 . 8 , 162 . 0 , 165 . 7 , 172 . 3 , 173 . 0 sodium borohydride ( 1 . 11 g , 0 . 029 mol ) was added to a stirred solution of ( 1r , 2s )- 4 - oxo - cyclopentane1 , 2 - dicarboxylic acid dimethyl ester ( 4 . 88 g , 0 . 0244 mol ) in methanol ( 300 ml ) at 0 ° c . after 1 h the reaction was quenched with 90 ml brine , concentrated and extracted with ethyl acetate . the organic phases were pooled , dried , filtered and concentrated . the crude product was purified by flash column chromatography ( toluene / ethyl acetate 1 : 1 ) to give 31 ( 3 . 73 g , 76 %) as a yellow oil . sodium hydroxide ( 1m , 74 ml , 0 . 074 mol ) was added to a stirred solution of 31 ( 3 . 73 g , 0 . 018 mol ) in methanol ( 105 ml ) at room temperature . after 4 h , the reaction mixture was neutralized with 3m hcl , evaporated and co - evaporated with toluene several times . pyridine ( 75 ml ) and ac 2 o ( 53 ml ) were added and the reaction mixture was allowed to shake overnight at room temperature . the mixture was then co - evaporated with toluene and purified by flash column chromatography ( ethyl acetate + 1 % acetic acid ) to give 32 ( 2 . 51 g , 88 %) as a yellow oil . dmap ( 14 mg , 0 . 115 mmol ) and boc 2 o ( 252 mg , 1 . 44 mmol ) was added to a stirred solution of 32 ( 180 mg , 1 . 15 mmol ) in 2 ml ch 2 cl 2 under inert argon atmosphere at 0 ° c . the reaction was allowed to warm to room temperature and was stirred overnight . the reaction mixture was concentrated and the crude product was purified by flash column chromatography ( toluene / ethyl acetate gradient 15 : 1 , 9 : 1 , 6 : 1 , 4 : 1 , 2 : 1 ) to give 33 ( 124 mg , 51 %) as white crystals . 1 h - nmr ( 300 mhz , cd 3 od ) δ1 . 45 ( s , 9h ), 1 . 90 ( d , j = 11 . 0 hz , 1h ), 2 . 10 - 2 . 19 ( m , 3h ), 2 . 76 - 2 . 83 ( m , 1h ), 3 . 10 ( s , 1h ), 4 . 99 ( s , 1h ); 13 c - nmr ( 75 . 5 mhz , cd 3 od ) δ 27 . 1 , 33 . 0 , 37 . 7 , 40 . 8 , 46 . 1 , 81 . 1 , 81 . 6 , 172 . 0 , 177 . 7 . compound 33 ( 56 mg , 0 . 264 mmol ) was dissolved in dioxane / water 1 : 1 ( 5 ml ) and the mixture was cooled to 0 ° c . 1 m lithium hydroxide ( 0 . 52 ml , 0 . 520 mmol ) was added and the mixture was stirred at 0 ° c . for 45 minutes , after which the mixture was neutralized with 1m hydrochloric acid and evaporated and coevaporated with toluene . the residue was dissolved in dmf ( 5 ml ) and ( 1r , 2s )- 1 - amino - 2 - vinylcyclopropane carboxylic acid ethyl ester hydrochloride ( 60 mg , 0 . 313 mmol ) and diisopropylethylamine ( diea ) ( 138 □ l , 0 . 792 mmol ) were added and the solution was cooled to 0 ° c . hatu ( 120 mg , 0 . 316 mmol ) was added and the mixture was stirred for 0 . 5 h at 0 ° c . and for an additional 2 h at room temperature . the mixture was then evaporated and extracted with etoac , washed with brine , dried , filtered and concentrated . purification by flash column chromatography ( toluene / etoac 1 : 1 ) provided compound 34 ( 86 mg , 89 %) as a colorless oil . compound 34 ( 73 mg , 0 . 199 mmol ) was dissolved in dry thf ( 4 ml ) and 2 - phenyl - 7 - methoxy - 4 - quinolinol ( 86 mg , 0 . 342 mmol ) and triphenylphosphine ( 141 mg , 0 . 538 mmol ) were added . the mixture was cooled to 0 ° c . and diad ( 0 . 567 mmol ) dissolved in 1 ml thf was added dropwise . the mixture was stirred for 48 h at room temperature . the solvent was evaporated and the crude product was purified by flash column chromatography gradient elution ( toluene / etoac 9 : 1 , 6 : 1 , 4 : 1 ) to give compound 35 ( 81 mg , 68 %). triethylamine ( 890 ul , 6 . 40 mmol ) was added dropwise to a stirred solution of l - tert - leucine ( 300 mg , 2 . 29 mmol ) and di - tert - butyl dicarbonate ( 599 mg , 2 . 74 mmol ) in dioxane / water 1 : 1 ( 8 ml ) and the solution was stirred overnight . the mixture was extracted with petroleum ether ( 2 ×) and the aqueous phase was cooled to 0 ° c . and carefully acidified to ph 3 by slow addition of 4m nahso 4 . h 2 o . the acidified water phase was extracted with etoac ( 3 ×) and the combined organic phases were washed with brine ( 2 ×) and was then dried , filtered and concentrated to give compound 36 ( 522 mg , 99 %) as a colorless powder . no further purification was needed . 1 h - nmr ( 300 mhz , cd 3 od ) δ 0 . 99 ( s , 9h ), 1 . 44 ( s , 9h ), 3 . 96 ( s , 1h ); 13 c - nmr ( 75 . 5 mhz , cd 3 od ) δ 27 . 1 , 28 . 7 , 34 . 9 , 68 . 0 , 80 . 5 , 157 . 8 , 174 . 7 . boc - chg - oh ( 387 mg , 1 . 50 mmol ) was coupled to methylamine hydrochloride ( 111 mg , 1 . 65 mmol ) using the same hatu coupling conditions as in the synthesis of compound 34 . the crude product was extracted with etoac , washed with brine and concentrated . purification by flash column chromatography ( etoac ) provided compound 37 ( 307 mg , 76 %) as a colorless solid . 1 h - nmr ( 300 mhz , cdcl 3 ) δ 0 . 91 - 1 . 13 ( m , 2h ), 1 . 14 - 1 . 31 ( m , 3h ), 1 . 44 ( s , 9h ), 1 . 61 - 1 . 80 ( m , 6h ), 2 . 80 ( d , j = 4 . 7 hz , 3h ), 3 . 91 ( dd , j = 7 . 1 , 9 . 1 hz , 1h ), 5 . 23 ( b , 1h ), 6 . 52 ( bs , 1h ); 13 c - nmr ( 75 . 5 mhz , cdcl 3 ) δ 25 . 9 , 26 . 0 , 26 . 1 , 28 . 3 , 28 . 5 , 29 . 6 , 40 . 5 , 59 . 5 , 79 . 7 , 155 . 9 , 172 . 4 . to a solution of compound 37 ( 98 mg , 0 . 362 mmol ) in methylene chloride ( 3 ml ) were added triethylsilane ( 115 ml , 0 . 742 mmol ) and tfa ( 3 ml ). the mixture was stirred for 2 h at room temperature and was then evaporated and coevaporated with toluene . the deprotected amine was dissolved in dmf ( 5 ml ) and coupled to compound 36 ( 84 mg , 0 . 363 mmol ) using the same hatu coupling conditions as in the synthesis of 34 . the crude product was extracted with etoac , washed with brine , dried , filtered and concentrated . purification by flash column chromatography ( toluene / etoac 1 : 1 ) provided compound 38 ( 128 mg , 92 %) as a colorless solid . 1 h - nmr ( 300 mhz , cdcl 3 ) δ 0 . 99 ( s , 9h ), 1 . 02 - 1 . 30 ( m , 5h ), 1 . 44 ( s , 9h ), 1 . 58 - 1 . 77 ( m , 4h ), 1 . 78 - 1 . 89 ( m , 2h ), 2 . 79 ( d , j = 4 . 7 hz , 3h ), 4 . 11 ( d , j = 9 . 3 hz , 1h ), 4 . 33 ( app . t , j = 8 . 5 hz , 1h ), 5 . 65 ( b , 1h ), 7 . 25 ( b , 1h ), 7 . 39 ( b , 1h ); 13 c - nmr ( 75 . 5 mhz , cdcl 3 ) δ 25 . 9 , 25 . 9 , 26 . 0 , 26 . 2 , 26 . 8 , 28 . 4 , 29 . 0 , 29 . 7 , 34 . 5 , 39 . 7 , 58 . 4 , 62 . 4 , 79 . 4 , 156 . 0 , 171 . 4 , 171 . 8 . to a solution of compound 35 ( 30 mg , 0 . 050 mmol ) in methylene chloride ( 1 . 5 ml ) were added triethylsilane ( 210l , 0 . 132 mmol ) and tfa ( 1 . 5 ml ). the mixture was stirred for 2 h at room temperature and was then evaporated and coevaporated with toluene . the amine 38 ( 1 . 3 eq ) was deprotected in the same manner as compound 35 and was then coupled to deprotected compound 35 using the same hatu coupling conditions as in the synthesis of 34 . the crude product was extracted with etoac , washed with brine , dried , filtered and concentrated . purification using hplc ( meoh / water 9 : 1 + 0 . 2 % triethylamine ) provided compound 39 ( 30 mg , 74 %) as a colorless solid . 1 h - nmr ( 300 mhz , cd 3 od ) δ 0 . 81 - 1 . 14 ( m , 4h ), 0 . 99 ( s , overlapped , 9h ), 1 . 21 ( t , j = 7 . 1 hz , 3h ), 1 . 35 - 1 . 51 ( m , 4h ), 1 . 52 - 1 . 65 ( m , 3h ), 1 . 66 - 1 . 72 ( m , 2h ), 2 . 03 - 2 . 20 ( m , 2h ), 2 . 24 - 2 . 39 ( m , 1h ), 2 . 46 - 2 . 56 ( m , 1h ), 2 . 66 ( s , 3h ), 2 . 72 - 2 . 85 ( m , 1h ), 3 . 39 - 3 . 48 ( m , 2h ), 3 . 90 ( s , 3h ), 4 . 03 - 4 . 15 ( m , 3h ), 4 . 44 ( s , 1h ), 5 . 09 ( dd , j = 1 . 9 , 10 . 3 hz , 1h ), 5 . 19 - 5 . 27 ( m , 1h ), 5 . 25 ( dd , overlapped , 1h ), 5 . 79 ( ddd , j = 8 . 8 , 10 . 3 , 17 . 2 hz , 1h ), 6 . 99 ( s , 1h ), 7 . 07 ( dd , j = 2 . 5 , 9 . 1 , hz , 1h ), 7 . 29 ( d , j = 2 . 5 hz , 1h ), 7 . 43 - 7 . 52 ( m , 3h ), 7 . 86 - 7 . 98 ( m , 2h ), 8 . 05 ( d , j = 9 . 3 hz , 1h ); 13 c - nmr ( 75 . 5 mhz , cd 3 od ) δ 14 . 7 , 23 . 4 , 26 . 0 , 26 . 9 , 27 . 1 , 27 . 3 , 30 . 1 , 30 . 7 , 35 . 0 , 35 . 4 , 38 . 3 , 38 . 8 , 40 . 9 , 41 . 0 , 47 . 9 , 55 . 9 , 59 . 6 , 62 . 0 , 62 . 4 , 79 . 8 , 99 . 9 , 107 . 3 , 116 . 4 , 118 . 0 , 119 . 1 , 124 . 4 , 128 . 9 , 129 . 8 , 130 . 5 , 135 . 3 , 141 . 3 , 152 . 1 , 161 . 1 , 162 . 4 , 163 . 0 , 171 . 6 , 172 . 5 , 173 . 7 , 175 . 2 , 176 . 8 . maldi - tof - spectrum : ( m + h ) + calcd : 810 . 4 , found : 810 . 5 ; ( m + na ) + calcd : 832 . 4 , found : 832 . 4 ; ( m + k ) + calcd : 848 . 5 , found : 848 . 4 . to a solution of compound 39 ( 20 mg , 0 . 025 mmol ) in thf / meoh / water 2 : 1 : 1 ( 2 ml ) at 0 ° c . was added 1m lioh ( 175 ul , 0 . 175 mmol ) and the solution was allowed to attain room temperature and was stirred for 48 h . the solution was acidified to ph 3 with 1m hcl and was then evaporated and coevaporated with toluene . the crude product was purified by hplc ( meoh / water 6 : 4 + 0 . 5 % tfa followed by meoh / water 4 : 1 + 0 . 2 % tfa ) to give compound 40 ( 13 mg , 67 %) as a colorless solid . 1 h - nmr ( 300 mhz , cd 3 od ) δ 0 . 82 - 0 . 98 ( m , 1h ), 1 . 01 ( s , 9h ), 1 . 05 - 1 . 26 ( m , 3h ), 1 . 34 - 1 . 43 ( m , 1h ), 1 . 49 - 1 . 77 ( m , 8h ), 2 . 10 - 2 . 21 ( m , 1h ), 2 . 28 - 2 . 42 ( m , 2h ), 2 . 50 - 2 . 61 ( m , 1h ), 2 . 64 ( s , 3h ), 2 . 68 - 2 . 81 ( m , 1h ), 3 . 36 - 3 . 45 ( m , 2h ), 4 . 04 - 4 . 11 ( m , 1h ), 4 . 06 ( s , overlapped , 3h ), 4 . 27 ( d , j = 8 . 8 hz , 1h ), 5 . 10 ( dd , j = 1 . 8 , 10 . 3 hz , 1h ), 5 . 28 ( dd , j = 1 . 8 , 17 . 2 hz , 1h ), 5 . 59 - 5 . 68 ( m , 1h ), 5 . 82 ( ddd , j = 9 . 1 , 10 . 3 , 17 . 2 hz , 1h ), 7 . 44 ( dd , j = 2 . 5 , 11 . 8 hz , 1h ), 7 . 50 ( s , 1h ), 7 . 53 ( d , j = 2 . 5 hz , 1h ), 7 . 69 - 7 . 78 ( m , 3h ), 8 . 02 - 8 . 07 ( m , 2h ), 8 . 39 ( d , j = 9 . 3 hz , 1h ); 13 c - nmr ( 75 . 5 mhz , cd 3 od ) δ 23 . 5 , 26 . 0 , 26 . 9 , 27 . 2 , 27 . 3 , 30 . 0 , 30 . 7 , 34 . 7 , 35 . 3 , 37 . 0 , 38 . 7 , 41 . 0 , 41 . 3 , 47 . 4 , 56 . 9 , 59 . 4 , 62 . 7 , 83 . 9 , 100 . 4 , 102 . 2 , 116 . 2 , 117 . 7 , 121 . 7 , 126 . 7 , 129 . 8 , 130 . 8 , 133 . 4 , 133 . 9 , 135 . 6 , 143 . 5 , 158 . 0 , 166 . 6 , 168 . 6 , 172 . 5 , 173 . 4 , 173 . 6 , 175 . 4 , 176 . 4 . maldi - tof - spectrum : ( m + h ) + calcd : 782 . 4 , found : 782 . 2 ; ( m + na ) + calcd : 804 . 4 , found : 804 . 2 ; ( m + k ) + calcd : 820 . 5 , found : 820 . 2 . compound 32 ( 1 . 014 g , 6 . 50 mmol ) was dissolved in acetone ( 35 ml ) before methyl iodide ( 13 . 68 g , 96 . 4 mmol ) and silver ( i ) oxide ( 1 . 61 g , 6 . 95 mmol ) were added . after stirring for 3 h the mixture was filtered through celite and the filtrate was evaporated before purification by flash column chromatography ( toluene / ethyl acetate 4 : 1 ) was performed yielding the methyl ester 41 ( 702 mg , 64 %) as white crystals . 1 h - nmr ( 300 mhz , cdcl 3 ): δ 1 . 96 ( d , j = 10 . 7 hz , 1h ), 2 . 21 - 2 . 25 ( m , 3h ), 2 . 91 - 2 . 95 ( m , 1h ), 3 . 16 ( s , 1h ), 3 . 75 ( s , 3h ), 4 . 98 ( app . s , 1h ). compound 41 ( 263 mg , 1 . 55 mmol ) and h - nva - otbu ( 420 mg , 2 . 42 mmol ) were dissolved in dry thf ( 20 ml ). diea ( 530 ul , 3 . 04 mmol ) and 2 - hydroxypyridine ( 260 mg , 2 . 73 mmol ) were added and the mixture was refluxed for five days . the solvent was evaporated and the crude product was purified by flash column chromatography ( toluene / etoac 1 : 2 ) to give 42 ( 510 mg , 96 %). compound 42 ( 249 mg , 0 . 725 mmol ), 2 - phenyl - 7 - methoxy - 4 - quinolinol ( 310 mg , 1 . 23 mmol ) and pph 3 ( 580 mg , 2 . 21 mmol ) were dissolved in dry thf and the temperature was lowered to 0 ° c . diad ( 435 ul . 2 . 21 mmol ) dissolved in 2 ml dry thf , was added to the mixture during five minutes . after two hours the temperature was raised to room temperature and the solution was stirred overnight . evaporation and purification by flash column chromatography ( toluene / etoac gradient 6 : 1 to 4 : 1 ) gave 43 ( 324 mg , 78 %). compound 43 ( 38 mg , 0 . 066 mmol ) was dissolved in dioxane / water 1 : 1 ( 4 ml ) and the solution was cooled to 0 ° c . and 1 m lioh ( 132 ul , 0 . 132 mmol ) was added . the temperature was raised to room temperature and the solution was stirred for 2 hours after which it was neutralized by addition of 1m hcl and evaporated and coevaporated with toluene . the residue and deprotected amine 38 ( 1 . 1 eq ) was dissolved in dmf and coupled using the standard hatu coupling conditions as in the synthesis of compound 34 . the crude product was extracted with etoac , washed with brine , dried , filtered and concentrated . purification with hplc ( meoh / water 9 : 1 + 0 . 2 % tea ) provided compound 44 ( 44 mg , 81 %) as a colorless solid . 1 h - nmr ( cdcl 3 , 300 mhz ) rotamers ( 5 : 1 ) δ 0 . 79 ( t , j = 7 . 3 hz , 3h ), 0 . 85 - 1 . 19 ( m , 3h ), 0 . 93 ( s , overlapped , 9h ), 1 . 20 - 1 . 35 ( m , 2h ), 1 . 39 ( s , 1 . 5h ), 1 . 43 ( s , 7 . 5h ), 1 . 54 - 1 . 79 ( m , 6h ), 2 . 06 - 2 . 28 ( m , 3h ), 2 . 39 - 2 . 51 ( m , 2h ), 2 . 66 - 2 . 78 ( m , 1h ), 2 . 74 ( d , overlapped , j = 4 . 7 hz , 3h ), 3 . 42 - 3 . 68 ( m , 2h ), 3 . 84 ( s , 2 . 5h ), 3 . 88 ( s , 0 . 5h ), 4 . 19 ( t , j = 8 . 9 hz , 1h ), 4 . 39 - 4 . 59 ( m , 1h ), 4 . 68 ( d , j = 9 . 6 hz , 1h ), 5 . 04 - 5 . 14 ( m , 1h ), 6 . 77 ( s , 1h ), 6 . 88 - 7 . 06 ( m , 2h ), 7 . 26 - 7 . 47 ( m , 6h ), 7 . 53 ( b , 1h ), 7 . 85 - 7 . 97 ( m , 3h ); 13 c_nmr ( 75 . 5 mhz , cdcl 3 ) δ 13 . 7 , 18 . 7 , 25 . 6 , 25 . 7 , 26 . 0 , 26 . 7 , 28 . 0 , 28 . 9 , 29 . 7 , 34 . 5 , 34 . 7 , 37 . 7 , 38 . 0 , 39 . 2 , 46 . 6 , 47 . 7 , 52 . 7 , 55 . 3 , 58 . 5 , 60 . 3 , 77 . 9 , 81 . 7 , 98 . 0 , 107 . 4 , 115 . 0 , 117 . 9 , 122 . 8 , 127 . 4 , 128 . 6 , 129 . 0 , 140 . 2 , 151 . 2 , 158 . 9 , 160 . 6 , 161 . 1 , 170 . 9 , 171 . 6 , 171 . 8 , 172 . 7 , 173 . 3 . maldi - tof - spectrum : ( m + h ) + calcd : 828 . 5 , found : 828 . 6 ; ( m + na ) + calcd : 850 . 5 , found : 850 . 6 ; ( m + k ) + calcd : 866 . 6 , found : 866 . 6 . compound 44 ( 21 mg , 0 . 025 mmol ) was dissolved in ch 2 cl 2 ( 1 . 5 ml ) and triethylsilane ( 10 ul , 0 . 063 mmol ) and tfa ( 1 . 5 ml ) were added . the solution was stirred for 2 hours at room temperature after which the solvents were evaporated and co - evaporated with toluene to provide compound 45 ( 20 mg , 100 %) as a colorless solid . 1 h - nmr ( 300 mhz , cd 3 od ) δ 0 . 93 ( t , overlapped , 3h ), 0 . 98 ( s , 9h ), 0 . 99 - 1 . 25 ( m , 4h ), 1 . 30 - 1 . 49 ( m , 3h ), 1 . 50 - 1 . 90 ( m , 8h ), 2 . 25 - 2 . 39 ( m , 2h ), 2 . 54 - 2 . 62 ( m , 1h ), 2 . 64 ( s , 3h ), 2 . 72 - 2 . 87 ( m , 1h ), 3 . 34 - 3 . 57 ( m , 3h ), 4 . 02 - 4 . 13 ( m , 1h ), 4 . 06 ( s , overlapped , 3h ), 4 . 27 - 4 . 36 ( m , 1h ), 4 . 37 - 4 . 47 ( m , 1h ), 5 . 57 - 5 . 66 ( m , 1h ), 7 . 45 ( dd , j = 2 . 3 , 9 . 2 hz , 1h ), 7 . 48 ( s , 1h ), 7 . 54 ( d , j = 2 . 2 hz , 1h ), 7 . 69 - 7 . 79 ( m , 3h ), 8 . 01 - 8 . 07 ( m , 2h ), 8 . 42 ( d , j = 9 . 3 hz , 1h ); 13 c - nmr ( 75 . 5 mhz , cd 3 od ) δ 14 . 0 , 20 . 2 , 26 . 0 , 26 . 9 , 27 . 2 , 30 . 1 , 30 . 7 , 34 . 6 , 35 . 3 , 37 . 2 , 39 . 1 , 41 . 2 , 47 . 7 , 53 . 7 , 56 . 9 , 59 . 4 , 59 . 5 , 62 . 5 , 83 . 7 , 100 . 4 , 101 . 3 , 102 . 2 , 116 . 2 , 121 . 7 , 126 . 7 , 129 . 8 , 130 . 8 , 133 . 3 , 133 . 9 , 143 . 5 , 157 . 9 , 166 . 6 , 168 . 5 , 172 . 5 , 173 . 6 , 175 . 3 , 175 . 4 , 175 . 5 . maldi - tof - spectrum : ( m + h ) + calcd : 772 . 4 , found : 772 . 6 ; ( m + na ) + calcd : 794 . 4 , found : 794 . 6 ; ( m + k ) + calcd : 810 . 5 , found : 810 . 6 . to a solution of hept - 6 - en - 1 - ol ( 1 ml , 7 . 44 mmol ) and n - methylmorpholine n - oxide ( 1 . 308 g , 11 . 17 mmol ) in dcm ( 17 ml ) was added ground molecular sieves ( 3 . 5 g , 4 å ). the mixture was stirred for 10 min at room temperature under nitrogen atmosphere before tetrapropylammonium perruthenate ( tpap ) ( 131 mg , 0 . 37 mmol ) was added . after stirring for additional 2 . 5 h the solution was filtered through celite . the solvent was then carefully evaporated and the remaining liquid was purified by flash column chromatography ( dcm ) to give the volatile aldehyde 46 ( 620 mg , 74 %) as an oil . to a solution of 46 ( 68 mg , 0 . 610 mmol ) and tert - butyl carbazate ( 81 mg , 0 . 613 mmol ) in meoh ( 5 ml ) was added ground molecular sieves ( 115 mg , 3a ). the mixture was stirred for 3 h after which it was filtered through celite and evaporated . the residue was dissolved in dry thf ( 3 ml ) and acoh ( 3 ml ). nabh 3 cn ( 95 mg , 1 . 51 mmol ) was added and the solution was stirred over night . the reaction mixture was diluted with saturated nahco 3 solution ( 6 ml ) and etoac ( 6 ml ). the organic phase washed with brine , saturated nahco 3 , brine , dried over mgso 4 and evaporated . the cyanoborane adduct was hydrolyzed by treatment with meoh ( 3 ml ) and 2 m naoh ( 1 . 9 ml ). the mixture was stirred for 2 h and the meoh was evaporated . h 2 o ( 5 ml ) and dcm ( 5 ml ) were added and the water phase was extracted three times with dcm . the combined organic phases were dried and evaporated . purification by flash column chromatography ( toluene / ethyl acetate 9 : 1 with 1 % triethylamine and toluene / ethyl acetate 6 : 1 with 1 % triethylamine ) provided 47 ( 85 mg , 61 %) as an oil . scaffold molecule 35 ( 135 mg , 0 . 225 mmol ) and triethylsilane ( 71 μl , 0 . 447 mmol ) was dissolved in dcm ( 2 ml ) after which trifluoroacetic acid ( tfa ) ( 2 ml ) was added . the mixture was stirred for 2 h and thereafter co - evaporated with toluene in order to remove the tfa . the residue was dissolved in dmf ( 3 ml ) and 47 ( 60 mg , 0 . 263 mmol ) and diea ( 118 μl , 0 . 677 mmol ) were added . the temperature was lowered to 0 ° c . and the coupling reagent o -( 7 - azabenzotriazol - 1 - yl )- nnn ′, n ′- tetramethyluronium hexafluorophosphate ( hatu ) ( 94 mg , 0 . 247 mmol ) was added . the cold solution was allowed to stir for half an hour and then for additional 16 h in room temperature . the solvent was removed by heating the reaction flask in a water bath under diminished pressure . the residue was thereafter dissolved in ethyl acetate and the organic phase washed three times with brine , dried , filtered and evaporated . purification by hplc ( meoh / h 2 o 90 : 10 with 0 . 2 % triethylamine ) gave 48 ( 140 mg , 82 %) as an oil . 1 h - nmr ( 300 mhz , cdcl 3 , 40 ° c . ): δ 1 . 22 ( t , j = 7 . 1 hz , 3h ), 1 . 28 - 1 . 42 ( m , 6h ), 1 . 46 ( s , 9h ), 1 . 52 - 1 . 62 ( m , 2h ), 1 . 82 - 1 . 91 ( m , 1h ), 1 . 96 - 2 . 16 ( m , 3h ), 2 . 18 - 2 . 34 ( m , 2h ), 2 . 42 - 2 . 56 ( m , 1h ), 2 . 58 - 2 . 72 ( m , 1h ), 3 . 42 ( app . bs , 3h ), 3 . 66 - 3 . 84 ( m , 1h ), 3 . 92 ( s , 3h ), 4 . 15 ( q , j = 7 . 1 hz , 2h ), 4 . 88 - 5 . 02 ( m , 2h ), 5 . 07 - 5 . 18 ( m , 2h ), 5 . 20 - 5 . 32 ( m , 1h ), 5 . 63 - 5 . 84 ( m , 2h ), 6 . 62 ( bs , 1h ), 6 . 94 ( s , 1h ), 7 . 09 ( dd , j = 2 . 6 , 9 . 2 hz , 1h ), 7 . 36 - 7 . 51 ( m , 4h ), 7 . 99 - 8 . 10 ( m , 3h ); 13 c - nmr ( 75 . 5 mhz , cdcl 3 ): δ 14 . 3 , 23 . 0 , 26 . 4 , 26 . 6 , 28 . 3 , 28 . 6 , 33 . 2 , 33 . 5 , 35 . 6 , 37 . 6 , 40 . 6 , 44 . 7 , 47 . 1 , 48 . 6 , 55 . 5 , 61 . 5 , 81 . 9 , 98 . 4 , 107 . 9 , 114 . 5 , 115 . 6 , 118 . 1 , 123 . 2 , 127 . 6 , 128 . 3 , 128 . 7 , 129 . 1 , 133 . 5 , 138 . 7 , 140 . 7 , 151 . 5 , 154 . 5 , 159 . 2 , 160 . 9 , 161 . 5 , 170 . 5 , 174 . 2 , 176 . 3 . a solution of 48 ( 158 mg , 0 . 209 mmol ) in dry dcm ( 25 ml ) was bubbled with argon for 5 min . to the stirred solution under argon atmosphere was then added a solution of hoveyda - grubbs catalyst 2 nd generation ( 11 mg , 0 . 018 mmol ) in dry dcm ( 5 ml ). the mixture was stirred at reflux under argon atmosphere for 16 h . the solvent was evaporated and purification by hplc ( meoh / h 2 o 90 : 10 with 0 . 2 % triethylamine ) yielded 49 ( 107 mg , 70 %) as a colorless solid . 1 h - nmr ( 300 mhz , cd 3 od ): δ 1 . 03 - 1 . 22 ( m , 1h ), 1 . 28 ( t , j = 7 . 1 hz , 3h ), 1 . 32 - 1 . 44 ( m , 4h ), 1 . 49 ( s , 9h ), 1 . 55 - 1 . 73 ( m , 2h ), 1 . 81 - 1 . 91 ( m , 1h ), 2 . 04 - 2 . 28 ( m , 3h ), 2 . 30 - 2 . 52 ( m , 3h ), 2 . 53 - 2 . 70 ( m , 1h ), 2 . 86 - 3 . 00 ( m , 1h ), 3 . 34 - 3 . 44 ( m , 1h ), 3 . 46 - 3 . 62 ( m , 1h ), 3 . 95 ( s , 3h ), 4 . 19 ( q , j = 7 . 1 hz , 2h ), 4 . 32 - 4 . 48 ( m , 1h ), 5 . 20 - 5 . 33 ( m , 1h ), 5 . 34 ( bs , 1h ), 5 . 58 - 5 . 70 ( m , 1h ), 7 . 10 ( s , 1h ), 7 . 14 ( dd , j = 2 . 5 , 9 . 1 hz , 1h ), 7 . 39 ( d , j = 2 . 5 hz , 1h ), 7 . 45 - 7 . 55 ( m , 3h ), 8 . 00 ( d ; j = 8 . 0 hz , 2h ), 8 . 17 ( d , j = 9 . 3 hz , 1h ); 13 c - nmr ( 75 . 5 mhz , cd 3 od ): δ 14 . 6 , 23 . 4 , 27 . 5 , 27 . 7 , 28 . 0 , 28 . 5 , 30 . 7 , 36 . 1 , 38 . 1 , 42 . 5 , 45 . 6 , 56 . 0 , 62 . 7 , 79 . 9 , 82 . 8 , 100 . 2 , 107 . 4 , 116 . 6 , 119 . 1 , 124 . 5 , 126 . 5 , 128 . 9 , 129 . 8 , 130 . 5 , 135 . 8 , 141 . 5 , 152 . 2 , 156 . 4 , 161 . 3 , 162 . 5 , 163 . 1 , 171 . 9 , 175 . 8 , 179 . 0 . maldi - tof - spectrum : ( m + h ) + calcd : 727 . 4 , found : 727 . 5 . to a solution of 49 ( 27 mg , 0 . 037 mmol ) in thf / meoh / h 2 o 2 : 1 : 1 ( 5 ml ) was added 1 m lioh ( 300 μl , 0 . 300 mmol ). the solution was stirred for 24 h at room temperature and finally for one hour at reflux . after acidification to ph 3 - 4 with 1 m hcl and evaporation the residue was purified by hplc ( meoh / h 2 o 80 : 20 and meoh / h 2 o 90 : 10 ) providing 50 ( 12 mg , 46 %) as a colorless solid . 1 h - nmr ( 300 mhz , cd 3 od ): δ 1 . 06 - 1 . 24 ( m , 1h ), 1 . 26 - 1 . 42 ( m , 3h ), 1 . 48 ( s , 9h ), 1 . 52 - 1 . 73 ( m , 3h ), 1 . 80 - 1 . 90 ( m , 1h ), 2 . 02 - 2 . 15 ( m , 1h ), 2 . 15 - 2 . 40 ( m , 4h ), 2 . 43 - 2 . 54 ( m , 1h ), 2 . 54 - 2 . 68 ( m , 1h ), 2 . 88 - 3 . 00 ( m , 1h ), 3 . 35 - 3 . 48 ( m , 1h ), 3 . 49 - 3 . 66 ( m , 1h ), 3 . 96 ( s , 3h ), 4 . 32 - 4 . 48 ( m , 1h ), 5 . 25 - 5 . 42 ( m , 2h ), 5 . 56 - 5 . 68 ( m , 1h ), 7 . 14 ( s , 1h ), 7 . 17 ( dd , j = 2 . 5 , 9 . 1 hz , 1h ), 7 . 40 ( d , j = 2 . 2 hz , 1h ), 7 . 46 - 7 . 58 ( m , 3h ), 8 . 00 ( d , j = 8 . 0 hz , 2h ), 8 . 19 ( d , j = 9 . 1 hz , 1h ); 13 c - nmr ( 75 . 5 mhz , cd 3 od ): δ 23 . 6 , 26 . 8 , 27 . 8 , 28 . 3 , 28 . 5 , 30 . 5 , 35 . 8 , 38 . 1 , 43 . 0 , 45 . 5 , 56 . 0 , 80 . 2 , 82 . 7 , 100 . 4 , 106 . 9 , 116 . 6 , 119 . 2 , 124 . 7 , 127 . 4 , 129 . 0 , 129 . 8 , 130 . 7 , 134 . 8 , 140 . 9 , 151 . 6 , 156 . 5 , 161 . 1 , 163 . 0 , 163 . 4 , 173 . 8 , 175 . 7 , 179 . 3 . to a cold solution of 36 ( 133 mg , 0 . 575 mmol ), cyclopentylamine ( 64 μl , 0 . 648 mmol ) and diea ( 301 μl , 1 . 73 mmol ) in dmf ( 3 ml ) was added the coupling reagent hatu ( 240 mg , 0 . 631 mmol ). the mixture was stirred for half an hour and for additional two hours at room temperature . the solvent was removed by heating the reaction flask in a water bath under diminished pressure and the residue was dissolved in ethyl acetate , after which the organic phase washed three times with brine , dried , filtered and evaporated . purification by flash column chromatography ( toluene / ethyl acetate 4 : 1 ) provided 51 ( 140 mg , 82 %) as colorless crystals . 1 h - nmr ( 300 mhz , cdcl 3 ): δ 0 . 95 ( s , 9h ), 1 . 28 - 1 . 48 ( m , overlapped , 2h ), 1 . 40 ( s , 9h ), 1 . 49 - 1 . 71 ( m , 4h ), 1 . 86 - 2 . 01 ( m , 2h ), 3 . 76 ( b , 1h ), 4 . 09 - 4 . 23 ( m , 1h ), 5 . 32 ( b , 1h ), 5 . 91 ( b , 1h ); 13 c - nmr ( 75 . 5 mhz , cdcl 3 ): δ 23 . 6 , 23 . 7 , 26 . 5 , 28 . 3 , 32 . 6 , 33 . 1 , 34 . 5 , 51 . 0 , 62 . 2 , 79 . 4 , 155 . 9 , 170 . 3 . compound 51 ( 298 mg , 0 . 048 mmol ) and 35 ( 16 mg , 0 . 054 mmol ) was deprotected and coupled according to the method for the preparation of 39 . purification by hplc ( meoh / h 2 o 90 : 10 with 0 . 2 % triethylamine ) gave 52 ( 22 mg , 63 %) as a colorless solid . 1 h - nmr ( cdcl 3 , 300 mhz ): δ0 . 97 ( s , 9h ), 1 . 21 ( t , j = 7 . 1 hz , 3h ), 1 . 26 - 1 . 37 ( m , 1h ), 1 . 38 - 1 . 46 ( m , 2h ), 1 . 48 - 1 . 58 ( m , 4h ), 1 . 78 - 1 . 85 ( m , 1h ), 1 . 86 - 2 . 02 ( m , 3h ), 2 . 03 - 2 . 19 ( m , 1h ), 2 . 28 - 2 . 40 ( m , 2h ), 2 . 41 - 2 . 54 ( m , 1h ), 2 . 64 - 2 . 78 ( m , 1h ), 3 . 10 - 3 . 24 ( m , 1h ), 3 . 30 - 3 . 44 ( m , 1h ), 3 . 95 ( s , 3h ), 4 . 04 - 4 . 21 ( m , 3h ), 5 . 12 ( dd , j = 1 . 7 , 10 . 3 hz , 1h ), 5 . 14 - 5 . 22 ( m , 1h ), 5 . 28 ( dd , j = 1 . 7 , 17 . 0 hz , 1h ), 5 . 59 ( b , 1h ), 5 . 75 ( ddd , j = 8 . 8 , 10 . 3 , 17 . 0 hz , 1h ), 6 . 66 - 6 . 82 ( m , 2h ), 6 . 99 ( s , 1h ), 7 . 09 ( dd , j = 2 . 5 , 9 . 1 hz , 1h ), 7 . 41 - 7 . 55 ( m , 4h ), 7 . 99 - 8 . 09 ( m , 3h ); 13 c - nmr ( 75 . 5 mhz , cdcl 3 ): δ 14 . 3 , 22 . 9 , 23 . 6 , 23 . 6 , 26 . 7 , 32 . 7 , 33 . 2 , 33 . 7 , 34 . 8 , 35 . 9 , 36 . 6 , 40 . 2 , 46 . 4 , 47 . 5 , 51 . 3 , 55 . 5 , 61 . 1 , 61 . 4 , 78 . 0 , 98 . 4 , 107 . 1 , 115 . 2 , 117 . 9 , 118 . 2 , 123 . 1 , 127 . 6 , 128 . 8 , 129 . 3 , 133 . 5 , 159 . 1 , 161 . 4 , 169 . 4 , 169 . 9 , 173 . 1 , 174 . 0 . maldi - tof - spectrum : ( m + h ) + calcd : 725 . 4 , found : 725 . 6 ; ( m + na ) + calcd : 747 . 4 , found : 747 . 6 ; ( m + k ) + calcd : 763 . 3 , found : 763 . 5 . to a solution of 52 ( 14 mg , 0 . 019 mmol ) in dioxane / h 2 o 1 : 1 : ( 4 ml ) was added 1 m lioh ( 115 μl , 0 . 115 mmol ). the solution was stirred for 24 h at room temperature . thereafter an additional portion of lioh ( 75 μl , 0 . 075 mmol ) was added and the solution was stirred for another 24 h . after acidification to approximately ph 3 with 1 m hcl and co - evaporation with toluene the residue was purified by hplc ( meoh / h 2 o 70 : 30 with 0 . 2 % tfa ) yielding 53 ( 8 mg , 60 %) as a colorless solid . 1 h - nmr ( 300 mhz , cd 3 od ): δ 0 . 98 ( s , 9h ), 1 . 28 - 1 . 48 ( m , 3h ), 1 . 49 - 1 . 76 ( m , 5h ), 1 . 78 - 1 . 94 ( m , 2h ), 2 . 10 - 2 . 24 ( m , 1h ), 2 . 26 - 2 . 45 ( m , 2h ), 2 . 50 - 2 . 62 ( m , 1h ), 2 . 66 - 2 . 79 ( m , 1h ), 3 . 35 - 3 . 48 ( m , 2h ), 3 . 94 - 4 . 03 ( m , 1h ), 4 . 06 ( s , 3h ), 4 . 16 - 4 . 24 ( m , 1h ), 5 . 10 ( dd , j = 1 . 8 , 10 . 3 hz , 1h ), 5 . 29 ( dd , j = 1 . 8 , 17 . 2 hz , 1h ), 5 . 62 ( b , 1h ), 5 . 82 ( ddd , j = 9 . 1 , 10 . 3 , 17 . 2 hz , 1h ), 7 . 43 ( dd , j = 2 . 5 , 9 . 3 hz , 1h ), 7 . 50 ( s , 1h ), 7 . 50 - 7 . 69 ( dd , overlapped , 1h ), 7 . 67 - 7 . 80 ( m , 3h ), 8 . 01 - 8 . 11 ( m , 2h ), 8 . 39 ( d , j = 9 . 3 hz , 1h ); 13 c - nmr ( 75 . 5 mhz , cd 3 od ): δ 24 . 7 , 24 . 7 , 27 . 3 , 33 . 1 , 33 . 6 , 34 . 7 , 35 . 4 , 36 . 9 , 38 . 7 , 41 . 0 , 47 . 4 , 52 . 3 , 56 . 9 , 62 . 3 , 83 . 9 , 100 . 4 , 102 . 3 , 116 . 2 , 117 . 7 , 121 . 6 , 126 . 7 , 129 . 8 , 130 . 8 , 133 . 4 , 133 . 8 , 135 . 6 , 143 . 5 , 158 . 0 , 166 . 5 , 168 . 6 , 171 . 9 , 173 . 4 , 175 . 2 , 176 . 4 . maldi - tof - spectrum : ( m + h ) + calcd : 697 . 4 , found : 697 . 3 ; ( m + na ) + calcd : 718 . 7 , found : 719 . 3 ; ( m + k ) + calcd : 735 . 3 , found : 735 . 3 . to a solution of boc - chg - oh ( 53 mg , 0 . 206 mmol ) in acetone ( 3 ml ) were added methyl iodide ( 195 μl , 3 . 1 mmol ) and silver ( i ) oxide ( 53 mg , 0 . 229 mmol ). the mixture was allowed to stir over night in a reaction flask that was covered with aluminium foil . thereafter the solution was filtered through celite and evaporated . purification by flash column chromatography ( toluene / ethyl acetate 15 : 1 ) provided methyl ester 54 ( 56 mg , 100 %) as a colorless oil . 1 h - nmr ( 300 mhz , cdcl 3 ): δ1 . 00 - 1 . 34 ( m , 5h ), 1 . 44 ( s , 9h ), 1 . 54 - 1 . 82 ( m , 6h ), 3 . 73 ( s , 3h ), 4 . 20 ( dd , j = 2 . 8 , 5 . 0 hz , 1h ), 5 . 05 ( bs , 1h ); 13 c - nmr ( 75 . 5 mhz , cdcl 3 ): δ 26 . 0 , 28 . 2 , 28 . 3 , 29 . 5 , 41 . 1 , 52 . 0 , 58 . 3 , 79 . 7 , 155 . 6 , 172 . 9 . compound 54 ( 93 mg , 0 . 343 mmol ) was deprotected and coupled to z - val - oh ( 95 mg , 0 . 378 mmol ) according to the method for the preparation of 39 . flash column chromatography ( toluene / ethyl acetate 4 : 1 ) gave 55 ( 131 mg , 94 %) as a colorless solid . 1 h - nmr ( 300 mhz , cdcl 3 ): δ 0 . 92 - 1 . 30 ( m , 11h ), 1 . 54 - 1 . 88 ( m , 6h ), 2 . 02 - 2 . 18 ( m , 1h ), 3 . 72 ( s , 3h ), 4 . 05 - 4 . 18 ( m , 1h ), 4 . 52 ( dd , j = 3 . 0 , 5 . 5 hz , 1h ), 5 . 12 ( s , 2h ), 5 . 49 ( bs , 1h ), 6 . 52 ( bs , 1h ), 7 . 34 ( s , 5h ); 13 c - nmr ( 75 . 5 mhz , cdcl 3 ): δ 17 . 8 , 19 . 0 , 25 . 8 , 28 . 2 , 29 . 3 , 31 . 2 , 40 . 5 , 51 . 9 , 56 . 8 , 60 . 0 , 66 . 8 , 127 . 7 , 127 . 9 , 128 . 1 , 128 . 3 , 136 . 2 , 156 . 3 , 171 . 3 , 172 . 2 . to a solution of 55 ( 40 mg , 0 . 099 mmol ) in ethanol ( 95 %) ( 7 . 5 ml ) was added palladium on active carbon ( 10 %, 40 mg ) and the mixture was hydrogenated under pressure at room temperature for 2 h . the mixture was filtered through celite and evaporated . compound 43 ( 38 mg , 0 . 083 mmol ) was dissolved in dioxane / h 2 o 1 : 1 ( 3 ml ) and the mixture was cooled to 0 ° c . before 1 m lioh ( 140 μl , 0 . 140 mmol ) was added to the stirred solution . after 1 h the mixture was neutralized with 1 m hydrochloric acid and the solvent was evaporated and co - evaporated with toluene . the residue was coupled to deprotected 55 using the same hatu coupling conditions as in the synthesis of compound 48 . purification by hplc ( meoh / h 2 o 90 : 10 with 0 . 2 % triethylamine ) gave 56 ( 56 mg , 88 %) as a colorless solid . 1 h - nmr ( 300 mhz , cdcl 3 ): δ 0 . 82 - 0 . 96 ( m , 9h ), 0 . 82 - 1 . 22 ( m , overlapped , 6h ), 1 . 23 - 1 . 40 ( m , 2h ), 1 . 44 ( s , 9h ), 1 . 50 - 1 . 69 ( m , 4h ), 1 . 71 - 1 . 87 ( m , 2h ), 1 . 95 - 2 . 06 ( m , 1h ), 2 . 07 - 2 . 22 ( m , 1h ), 2 . 28 - 2 . 54 ( m , 3h ), 2 . 60 - 2 . 75 ( m , 1h ), 3 . 08 - 3 . 28 ( m , 1h ), 3 . 30 - 3 . 49 ( m , 1h ), 3 . 70 ( s , 3h ), 3 . 94 ( s , 3h ), 4 . 28 - 4 . 38 ( m , 1h ), 4 . 41 - 4 . 57 ( m , 2h ), 5 . 17 ( b , 1h ), 6 . 54 - 6 . 70 ( m , 2h ), 6 . 74 ( b , 1h ), 6 . 95 ( s , 1h ), 7 . 09 ( dd , j = 2 . 5 , 9 . 1 hz , 1h ), 7 . 39 - 7 . 55 ( m , 5h ), 7 . 98 - 8 . 10 ( m , 3h ); 13 c - nmr ( 75 . 5 mhz , cdcl 3 ): δ 13 . 7 , 18 . 1 , 18 . 6 , 19 . 2 , 25 . 9 , 28 . 0 , 28 . 2 , 29 . 6 , 30 . 7 , 34 . 6 , 36 . 5 , 37 . 6 , 40 . 8 , 47 . 4 , 47 . 5 , 52 . 1 , 52 . 8 , 55 . 5 , 56 . 8 , 58 . 9 , 77 . 8 , 82 . 0 , 98 . 3 , 107 . 5 , 115 . 3 , 118 . 1 , 123 . 1 , 127 . 5 , 128 . 7 , 129 . 1 , 140 . 5 , 151 . 4 , 159 . 2 , 160 . 7 , 161 . 3 , 171 . 0 , 171 . 5 , 172 . 3 , 172 . 8 , 173 . 0 . maldi - tof - spectrum : ( m + h ) + calcd : 815 . 5 , found : 815 . 7 ; ( m + na ) + calcd : 837 . 4 , found : 837 . 6 ; ( m + k ) + calcd : 853 . 4 , found : 853 . 6 . tert . butyl ester 56 ( 28 mg , 0 . 034 mmol ) and triethylsilane ( 14 μl , 0 . 088 mmol ) was dissolved in dcm ( 2 ml ) after which trifluoroacetic acid ( 2 ml ) was added and the mixture was stirred for 2 h . co - evaporation with toluene gave 57 ( 26 mg , 100 %) as a colorless solid . 1 h - nmr ( 300 mhz , cd 3 od ): δ 0 . 86 - 1 . 00 ( m , 9h ), 1 . 01 - 1 . 24 ( m , 4h ), 1 . 36 - 1 . 46 ( m , 2h ), 1 . 48 - 1 . 75 ( m , 8h ), 1 . 70 - 1 . 89 ( m , overlapped , 1h ), 1 . 96 - 2 . 12 ( m , 1h ), 2 . 22 - 2 . 40 ( m , overlapped , 2h ), 2 . 49 - 2 . 64 ( m , 1h ), 2 . 72 - 2 . 91 ( m , 1h ), 3 . 26 - 3 . 40 ( m , overlapped , 1h ), 3 . 50 - 3 . 68 ( m , overlapped , 1h ), 3 . 62 ( s , 3h ), 4 . 05 ( s , 3h ), 4 . 09 - 4 . 17 ( m , 1h ), 4 . 17 - 4 . 25 ( m , 1h ), 4 . 35 - 4 . 45 ( m , 1h ), 5 . 62 ( b , 1h ), 7 . 44 ( dd , j = 2 . 2 , 9 . 3 hz , 1h ), 7 . 49 ( s , 1h ), 7 . 53 ( d , j = 2 . 2 hz , 1h ), 7 . 65 - 7 . 78 ( m , 3h ), 7 . 98 - 8 . 06 ( m , 2h ), 8 . 41 ( dd , j = 2 . 8 , 9 . 3 hz , 1h ); 13 c - nmr ( cd 3 od , 75 . 5 mhz ): δ 13 . 9 , 18 . 8 , 19 . 7 , 20 . 2 , 27 . 0 , 29 . 7 , 30 . 5 , 31 . 8 , 34 . 6 , 37 . 7 , 38 . 9 , 41 . 1 , 47 . 8 , 52 . 3 , 53 . 6 , 56 . 9 , 58 . 8 , 58 . 9 , 60 . 3 , 83 . 8 , 100 . 4 , 102 . 2 , 116 . 2 , 121 . 6 , 126 . 7 , 129 . 8 , 130 . 8 , 133 . 3 , 133 . 8 , 143 . 5 , 157 . 9 , 166 . 5 , 168 . 5 , 173 . 3 , 173 . 9 , 175 . 5 , 175 . 5 , 175 . 6 . maldi - tof - spectrum : ( m + h ) + calcd : 759 . 4 , found : 759 . 7 ; ( m + na ) + calcd : 781 . 4 , found : 781 . 7 ; ( m + k ) + calcd : 797 . 4 , found : 797 . 7 . the procedure described in example 42 was followed but with the use of l - 2 - amino - n - butyric acid tert . butyl ester instead of h - nva - otbu . the afforded compound was then reacted as described in example 43 which gave ( 1r , 2r , 4r )- 2 -(( s )- 1 - tert - butoxycarbonyl - propylcarbamoyl )- 4 -( 7 - methoxy - 2 - phenyl - quinolin - 4 - yloxy )- cyclopentanecarboxylic acid methyl ester . coupling of this compound with 55 as described in example 56 followed by esterhydrolysis as described in example 57 gave 58 as a colourless solid . 1 h - nmr ( 300 mhz , cd 3 od ): δ 0 . 82 - 0 . 99 ( m , 9h ), 0 . 82 - 1 . 40 ( m , overlapped , 6h ), 1 . 48 - 1 . 78 ( m , 6h ), 1 . 80 - 1 . 95 ( m , 1h ), 1 . 97 - 2 . 12 ( m , 1h ), 2 . 22 - 2 . 40 ( m , overlapped , 2h ), 2 . 51 - 2 . 64 ( m , 1h ), 2 . 71 - 2 . 90 ( m , 1h ), 3 . 16 - 3 . 39 ( m , overlapped , 1h ), 3 . 49 - 3 . 59 ( m , 1h ), 3 . 63 ( s , 3h ), 3 . 95 ( s , 3h ), 4 . 12 - 4 . 23 ( m , 2h ), 4 . 28 - 4 . 38 ( m , 1h ), 5 . 31 ( b , 1h ), 7 . 43 ( dd , j = 2 . 2 , 9 . 3 hz , 1h ), 7 . 47 ( s , 1h ), 7 . 51 ( s , 1h ), 7 . 66 - 7 . 89 ( m , 3h ), 7 . 99 - 8 . 07 ( m , 2h ), 8 . 42 ( d , j = 9 . 1 hz , 1h ); 13 c - nmr ( 75 . 5 mhz , cd 3 od ): δ 10 . 7 , 18 . 8 , 19 . 7 , 25 . 8 , 27 . 0 , 27 . 0 , 29 . 7 , 30 . 5 , 31 . 8 , 37 . 7 , 38 . 9 , 41 . 2 , 47 . 9 , 52 . 3 , 55 . 3 , 56 . 9 , 58 . 8 , 60 . 6 , 83 . 6 , 100 . 7 , 102 . 2 , 116 . 3 , 121 . 5 , 126 . 7 , 129 . 8 , 130 . 8 , 133 . 7 , 133 . 8 , 143 . 9 , 158 . 2 , 166 . 4 , 168 . 3 , 173 . 3 , 173 . 8 , 175 . 2 , 175 . 5 , 175 . 6 . maldi - tof - spectrum : ( m + h ) + calcd : 745 . 4 , found : 744 . 9 ; ( m + na ) + calcd : 767 . 4 , found : 766 . 9 ; ( m + k ) + calcd : 783 . 5 , found : 782 . 9 . the procedure described in example 54 was followed but with the use of boc - d - cyclohexylglycine instead of boc - l - cyclohexylglycine . the afforded compound was then reacted as described in example 55 followed by coupling with ( 1r , 2r , 4r )- 2 -(( s )- 1 - tert - butoxycarbonyl - pentylcarbamoyl )- 4 -( 7 - methoxy - 2 - phenyl - quinolin - 4 - yloxy )- cyclopentanecarboxylic acid methyl ester as described in example 56 . removal of the ester group as described in example 57 gave compound 59 as a colourless solid . 1 h - nmr ( cd 3 od , 300 mhz ): δ 0 . 82 - 1 . 02 ( m , 9h ), 1 . 04 - 1 . 42 ( m , 6h ), 1 . 52 - 1 . 80 ( m , 6h ), 1 . 80 - 1 . 96 ( m , overlapped , 1h ), 2 . 00 - 2 . 14 ( m , 1h ), 2 . 29 - 2 . 46 ( m , 2h ), 2 . 51 - 2 . 65 ( m , 1h ), 2 . 68 - 2 . 84 ( m , 1h ), 3 . 24 - 3 . 39 ( m , overlapped , 1h ), 3 . 47 - 3 . 60 ( m , 1h ), 3 . 67 ( s , 3h ), 4 . 07 ( s , 3h ), 4 . 18 - 4 . 27 ( m , 2h ), 4 . 28 - 4 . 38 ( m , 1h ), 5 . 64 ( app . bs , 1h ), 7 . 44 ( d , j = 2 . 3 , 6 . 9 hz , 1h ), 7 . 42 ( s , 2h ), 7 . 67 - 7 . 81 ( m , 3h ), 8 . 04 ( d , j = 7 . 8 hz , 2h ), 8 . 41 ( d , j = 9 . 1 hz , 1h ); 13 c - nmr ( cd 3 od , 75 . 5 mhz ): δ 10 . 8 , 18 . 5 , 19 . 6 , 25 . 7 , 27 . 1 , 27 . 1 , 30 . 1 , 30 . 6 , 31 . 9 , 37 . 3 , 38 . 2 , 41 . 1 , 47 . 8 , 52 . 3 , 55 . 4 , 56 . 9 , 59 . 0 , 59 . 1 , 60 . 2 , 83 . 8 , 100 . 5 , 102 . 2 , 116 . 3 , 121 . 6 , 126 . 8 , 129 . 8 , 130 . 8 , 133 . 6 , 133 . 8 , 143 . 7 , 158 . 1 , 166 . 5 , 168 . 5 , 173 . 4 , 173 . 8 , 175 . 4 , 175 . 7 , 175 . 7 . maldi - tof - spectrum : ( m + h ) + calcd : 745 . 4 , found : 745 . 4 ; ( m + na ) + calcd : 767 . 4 , found : 767 . 4 ; ( m + k ) + calcd : 783 . 5 , found : 783 . 3 . to argonaut resin ps - tfp ( 1 . 38 mmol / g , 10 g ) and 2 - tert - butoxycarbonylamino - 3 , 3 - dimethyl - butyric acid ( 4 . 5 g , 20 . 7 mmol ) was added dichloromethane ( 40 ml ) and dmf ( 10 ml ). to this mixture was added dmap ( 1 g , 8 . 28 mmol ) and then dic ( 9 . 5 ml , 60 . 7 mmol ). after 3 hrs of agitation at rt the resin was filtered and washed successively with dmf , thf , dcm , thf , dcm and ether and then dried in a vacuum . to a portion of 60 ( 200 mg ) in dcm aminoindanol ( 0 . 14 mmol ) was added . the mixture was agitated for 2 hrs . the liquid was filtered of and the resin washed with 2 × dcm . the combined liquids were combined and concentrated to dryness to afford the title compound ( 20 . 5 mg , 0 . 055 mmol ) purity & gt ; 95 % by hplc . m + h + 363 . 15 . 13 c nmr δ c ( 100 mhz ; cdcl 3 ; me 4 si ) 27 . 0 , 28 . 5 , 34 . 2 , 39 . 8 , 50 . 8 , 57 . 9 , 68 . 2 , 73 . 7 , 124 . 8 , 125 . 6 , 127 . 4 , 128 . 5 , 140 . 4 , 171 . 6 . 1 h nmr δ h ( 400 mhz ; cdcl 3 ; me 4 si ) 1 . 07 ( 9h , s , cch 3 ), 1 . 44 ( 9h , s , occh 3 ), 2 . 93 ( 1h , dd , j gem 16 . 4 hz , j 3 , 2 2 . 3 hz , ch 2 ), 3 . 15 ( 1h , dd , j gem 16 . 4 hz , j 3 , 2 5 . 2 hz , ch 2 ), compound 61 was kept in dcm - tfa 2 : 1 ( 2 ml ) for 60 min at rt . the solution was co - evaporated with toluene to dryness . to a solution of 2 - tert . butoxycarbonylamino - 3 , 3 - dimethyl butyric acid ( 500 mg , 2 . 16 mmol ), amino - cyclohexyl - acetic acid methyl ester ( 444 mg , 2 . 59 mmol ) and hatu ( 2 g , 5 . 40 mmol ) in dmf ( 20 ml ) was added diisopropylethylamine ( 1 . 88 ml , 10 . 8 mmol ). the solution was stirred for 1 hrs at r . t . and diluted with dichloromethane ( 40 ml ). this solution washed with aqueous . nahco 3 ( sat .) and water (× 2 ), dried and concentrated . the product was & gt ; 95 % pure . m + h + 385 . 4 . to compound 63 in etoh - thf 1 : 2 was added a large excess of methylamine ( 30 % in water ) and left at rt . for 2 weeks . the solution was concentrated to dryness and the residue subjected to a short silica gel column eluted with 2 % meoh in dichloromethane to give a pure (& gt ; 95 %) product m + h + 384 . 5 . compound 64 was kept in dichloromethane - trifluoroacetic acid 2 : 1 for 1 h at rt and concentrated to dryness . the residue was dried in a vacuum for 16 hrs . reversed phase c18 hplc showed & gt ; 95 % purity m + h + 283 . 1 . m - anisidine ( 10 . 0 g , 82 mmol ) was dissolved in ch 2 cl 2 ( 50 ml ), and the solution was cooled to − 50 ° c . bcl 3 ( 1 m in ch 2 cl 2 , 82 ml , 82 mmol ) was added slowly during 20 min , after which the mixture was stirred at − 50 ° c . for 30 min , followed by sequential addition of acci ( 6 . 0 ml , 84 mmol ) and alcl 3 ( 11 g , 82 mmol ). the mixture was stirred at − 50 ° c . for 1 h and was then allowed to assume rt . after stirring at rt overnight , the solution was heated at 40 ° c . for 4 h , after which the mixture was poured over ice . the aqueous mixture was made alkaline with 10 % naoh ( w / v ) and extracted with etoac ( 4 × 200 ml ). the combined organic phases were washed with brine , dried ( mgso 4 ), and evaporated to give a black solid , which was purified by flash column chromatography ( ether / ch 2 cl 2 20 : 80 ). the resulting solid was recrystallized from ether / hexane to give compound 93 as shiny tan leaflets ( 5 . 6 g , 42 %). to a solution of tert - butylisothiocyanate ( 5 . 0 ml , 39 mmol ) in ch 2 cl 2 ( 200 ml ) were added isopropylamine ( 4 . 0 ml , 47 mmol ) and diisopropylethylamine ( diea ) ( 6 . 8 ml , 39 mmol ), and the mixture was stirred at rt for 2 h . the reaction mixture was diluted with etoac , washed with 10 % citric acid ( 2 ×), saturated nahco 3 ( 2 ×), h 2 o ( 2 ×), and brine ( 1 ×). the organic layer was dried ( mgso 4 ) and evaporated to yield the title compound ( 3 . 3 g , 52 %) as a white solid which was used without further purification . compound 67 ( 3 . 3 g , 20 mmol ) was dissolved in conc . hcl ( 45 ml ) and the solution was refluxed for 40 min . the mixture was allowed to cool to rt and then cooled in an ice bath and basified to ph 9 . 5 with solid and saturated nahco 3 , after which the product was extracted into etoac ( 3 ×). the combined organic phases were washed with h 2 o ( 2 ×) and brine ( 1 ×), dried ( mgso 4 ), and evaporated to yield the crude title compound ( 2 . 1 g , 90 %) which was used without further purification . a suspension of compound 68 ( 2 . 1 g , 18 mmol ) and 3 - bromopyruvic acid ( 3 . 0 g , 18 mmol ) in dioxane ( 180 ml ) was heated to 80 ° c . upon reaching 80 ° c . the mixture became clear , and soon thereafter the product started to precipitate as a white solid . after 2 h of heating , the reaction mixture was cooled to rt and the precipitate was filtered off and collected . this yielded pure title product ( 4 . 4 g , 94 %). a mixture of compound 69 ( 4 . 4 g , 16 . 5 mmol ) and the aniline derivative 66 ( 2 . 75 g , 16 . 5 mmol ) in pyridine ( 140 ml ) was cooled to − 30 ° c . ( upon cooling , the clear solution became partially a suspension ). pocl 3 ( 3 . 3 ml , 35 mmol ) was added slowly over a 5 min period . the mixture was stirred at − 30 ° c . for 1 h , and was then allowed to assume rt . after stirring at rt for 1 . 5 h the reaction mixture was poured over ice , and the ph was adjusted to about 9 - 10 using solid and saturated nahco 3 . the crude product was extracted into ch 2 cl 2 ( 3 ×) and the combined organic phases were dried ( mgso 4 ) and evaporated . the crude dark - beige solid was purified by flash column chromatography ( hexane / etoac 55 : 45 ) to give compound 70 ( 5 . 6 g , 76 %) as a pale yellow solid . a solution of t . buok ( 2 . 42 g , 21 mmol ) in anhydrous t . buoh ( 40 ml ) was heated to reflux . compound 70 ( 1 . 8 g , 5 . 4 mmol ) was added portion - wise over a 5 min period , and the dark red solution formed was stirred at reflux for an additional 20 min . the mixture was cooled to rt , and hcl ( 4 m in dioxane , 8 . 0 ml , 32 mmol ) was added , after which the reaction mixture was concentrated under vacuum . in order to assure that all of the hcl and dioxane were removed , the crude product was re - dissolved in ch 2 cl 2 twice and thoroughly evaporated to obtain the slightly impure hcl salt of compound 71 ( 1 . 62 g ) as a brown solid . the product was dissolved in ch 2 cl 2 and washed with saturated nahco 3 , after which the aqueous phase was extracted several times with ch 2 cl 2 . the combined organic phases were dried ( mgso 4 ) and evaporated to give compound 71 ( 1 . 38 g , 81 %) as a light brown solid (& gt ; 95 % pure according to hplc tests ). 1 h - nmr ( meoh - d 4 , 400 mhz ): δ 1 . 30 ( d , j = 6 . 0 hz , 6h ), 3 . 93 ( s , 3h ), 3 . 95 - 4 . 07 ( m , 1h ), 6 . 73 ( s , 1h ), 6 . 99 ( dd , j = 2 . 4 , 9 . 2 hz , 1h ), 7 . 26 ( d , j = 2 . 4 hz , 1h ), 7 . 37 ( s , 1h ), 8 . 10 ( d , j = 9 . 2 hz , 1h ). to a solution of compound 32 ( 53 mg , 0 . 34 mmol ) in dmf ( 9 ml ) was added compound 65 ( 80 mg , 0 . 28 mmol ) and diea ( 2900l , 1 . 66 mmol ). the solution was cooled to 0 ° c . and hatu ( 127 mg , 0 . 33 mmol ) was added . after stirring at 0 ° c . for 1 h and at rt for 1 h the solvent was evaporated , and the crude product was purified by flash column chromatography ( etoac / toluene 2 : 1 ) to give compound 72 ( 110 mg , 92 %) as a white solid . compound 72 ( 60 mg , 0 . 14 mmol ) was dissolved in dioxane ( 3 . 5 ml ) and h 2 o ( 2 . 5 ml ) and the solution was cooled to 0 ° c . lioh ( 1 m , 2800l , 0 . 28 mmol ) was added dropwise during 5 min , after which the reaction mixture was stirred at 0 ° c . for 40 min . the ph was adjusted to 7 using 1 m hcl , and the solvents were evaporated . the residue was suspended in dmf ( 5 ml ) and 1 - amino - 2 - vinyl - cyclopropanecarboxylic acid ethyl ester ( 32 mg , 0 . 17 mmol ), and diea ( 146 □ l , 0 . 84 mmol ) were added . after cooling to 0 ° c . hatu ( 64 mg , 0 . 17 mmol ) was added and the mixture was stirred at 0 ° c . for 1 h and at rt for 1 h . the solvent was evaporated and the product was purified using flash column chromatography ( etoac / meoh 9 : 1 ) to give compound 73 ( 67 mg , 82 %) as a white solid . the title compound was prepared according to the procedure described in example 76 method a but with the use of compound 34 instead of compound 73 . ( note : 4 equivalents of ph 3 p and diad were used . chromatography eluent : toluene / etoac 1 : 1 .) to a solution of compound 74 ( 20 mg , 30 umol ) in ch 2 cl 2 ( 2 ml ) was added tfa ( 2 ml ) and et 3 sih ( 10 ul , 63 umol ). after 2 h the volatiles were evaporated and the product was used without any purification step . compound 75 : 18 mg , quant . as a white solid . method a : to a solution of compound 73 ( 59 mg , 0 . 10 mmol ) in dry thf ( 4 ml ) was added the quinoline 71 ( 49 mg , 0 . 16 mmol ) and ph 3 p ( 65 mg , 0 . 25 mmol ). after cooling to 0 ° c . diad ( 50 ul , 0 . 25 mmol ) was added dropwise during 5 min . the solution was stirred at 0 ° c . for 1 h and at rt for 48 h . the solvent was evaporated and the remainder was purified using flash column chromatography ( chcl 3 / 2 m n 3 in meoh 95 : 5 ) to give compound 76 ( 9 mg , 10 %) as a white solid . method b : compound 75 was coupled to compound 65 according to the procedure in example 72 which gave the title compound ( 82 %). compound 76 ( 8 mg , 9 μmol ) was dissolved in a mixture of meoh ( 150 μl ) and thf ( 100 ul ). a solution of lioh ( 1 mg , 42 μmol ) in h 2 o ( 25 □ l ) was added and the mixture was stirred at 50 ° c . overnight . the solution was neutralized with hoac and evaporated . the residue was suspended in ch 2 cl 2 and washed with h 2 o . the organic phase was evaporated to give the title compound ( 8 mg , quant .) as a white solid . 1 h - nmr ( meoh - d 4 , 400 mhz ) ( mixture of rotamers ): δ 0 . 60 - 1 . 33 ( m , 21h ), 1 . 35 - 1 . 73 ( m , 12h ), 1 . 90 - 2 . 42 ( m , 2h ), 2 . 51 - 2 . 75 ( m , 6h ), 3 . 20 - 3 . 38 ( m , 1h ), 3 . 85 ( s , 3h ), 3 . 95 - 4 . 28 ( m , 1h ), 4 . 91 - 5 . 02 ( m , 1h ), 5 . 12 - 5 . 23 ( m , 1h ), 5 . 64 - 5 . 83 ( m , 1h ), 7 . 01 - 7 . 11 ( m , 1h ), 7 . 25 - 7 . 40 ( m , 1h ), 7 . 42 - 7 . 57 ( m , 1h ), 7 . 85 - 8 . 08 ( m , 1h ). the title compound was prepared as described in example 61 but with the use of thiophene - 2 - methylamine instead of aminoindanole followed by removal of the boc group as described in example 62 . the title compound was prepared as described in example 61 but with the use of 2 - amino - 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 - tetrahydro - benzo [ b ] thiophen - 5 - ol instead of aminoindanole followed by removal of the boc group as described in example 62 . the title compound was prepared as described in example 61 but with the use of n , n - diethylethylenediamine instead of aminoindanole followed by removal of the boc group as described in example 62 . the title compound was prepared as described in example 61 but with the use of 2 - methoxyphenoxyethylamine instead of aminoindanole followed by removal of the boc group as described in example 62 . the title compound was prepared as described in example 61 but with the use of ( r )- 3 - pyrrolidinone instead of aminoindanole followed by removal of the boc group as described in example 62 . the title compound was prepared as described in example 61 but with the use of 2 - methoxyphenoxyethylamine instead of aminoindanole followed by removal of the boc group as described in example 62 . to a stirred solution of z - nva - oh ( 150 mg , 0 . 59 mmol ) in thf ( 6 ml ), cdi ( 400 mg , 2 . 4 mmol ) was added . the slurry was agitated for 30 min at rt followed by the addition of dbu ( 200 ul , 1 . 3 mmol ) and a solution of benzenesulfonamide ( 250 mg , 1 . 59 mmol ) in thf ( 2 ml ). the mixture was stirred at 60 ° c . for 48 hrs followed by concentration to dryness . the residue was dissolved in meoh and subjected to hplc purification to give the title compound ( 118 . 5 mg , 0 . 304 mmol ). purity & gt ; 95 % by hplc . m − h + 389 . 0 , + na 412 . 96 . compound 84 was dissolved in meoh ( 5 ml ) followed by the addition of pd / c and subjected to hydrogenation for 2 hrs . the slurry was filtered through celite , washed with meoh and concentrated to dryness to give the title compound . yield 100 %. m + h + 257 . 3 . n -( tert - butoxycarbonyl )- l - valine was attached to argonaut resin ps - tfp as described in example 60 followed by reaction with cyclohexanemethylamine as described in example 61 and removal of the boc group as described in example 62 . the afforded amine was used in a coupling reaction with compound 35 as described in example 39 followed by hydrolysis of the ethyl ester as described in example 40 which gave 1 -{[ 2 -[ 1 -( cyclohexylmethyl - carbamoyl )- 2 - methyl - propylcarbamoyl ]- 4 -( 7 - methoxy - 2 - phenyl - quinolin - 4 - yloxy )- cyclopentanecarbonyl ]- amino }- 2 - vinyl - cyclopropanecarboxylic acid . the afforded acid was then treated as described in example 94 but using toluenesulphonamide instead of cyclopropylsulphonamide which gave the title compound . yield 6 %. purity & gt ; 95 % by hplc . m + h + 864 . 32 . a solution of compound 61 ( 4 g ) was kept in pyridine - acetic anhydride 2 : 1 for 30 min . dcm was added and the solution washed with citric acid ( aq ) and nahco 3 ( aq ). the organic layer was concentrated to dryness which gave the acetylated product & gt ; 90 % pure by hplc . the afforded compound was then kept in a solution of 30 % tfa in dcm for 1 . 5 hrs and then concentrated to dryness . co - evaporation twice from toluene gave the title product & gt ; 90 % pure by hplc . to a solution of (( 1s )- 1 - hydroxymethyl - 3 - methyl - butyl )- carbamic acid tert - butyl ester ( 25 g , 115 mmol ) in dichloromethane ( 500 ml ) cooled by an ice - water bath was successively added diisopropylethylamine ( 35 . 7 g , 276 mmol ) and methanesulphonyl chloride ( 15 . 81 g , 138 mmol ). the resulting solution was stirred over night during which time the mixture was allowed to gradually warm up to ambient temperature . the mixture washed successively with water , 10 % citric acid ( aq ), water and saturated nahco 3 ( aq ), then dried with na 2 so 4 and concentrated to a brown solid ( 32 . 6 g , 96 %) which was used in the next reaction without further purification . the mesylate from example 88 ( 32 . 6 g , 110 mmol ) was treated with sodium azide ( 21 . 45 g , 330 mmol ) in dmf at 80 ° c . for 24 hrs . the solvent was evaporated , the residue was taken up in dcm , filtered and washed with saturated nahco 3 ( aq ). the solution was dried with na 2 so 4 and concentrated to a brown oil which was purified by flash chromatography using a gradient of ethyl acetate and hexane to afford the title compound as a white solid ( 19 . 55 g , 73 %). (( 1s )- 1 - azidomethyl - 3 - methyl - butyl )- carbamic acid tert - butyl ester ( 9 . 64 g , 39 . 78 mmol ) was treated with tfa ( 30 ml ) in dcm ( 150 ml ) for 3 hrs , the mixture was evaporated under reduced pressure and the residue was dissolved in ethyl acetate and washed with aqueous 1 m k 2 co 3 , dried with na 2 so 4 and concentrated to a yellow liquid ( 4 . 55 g , 80 %). the tert . butyl ester of compound 35 was removed by treatment with triethylsilane as described in example 39 . the afforded acid ( 724 mg , 1 . 33 mmol ), hex - 5 - enylamine hydrochloride ( 271 mg , 2 mmol ) and diisopropylethylamine ( 1 . 85 ml , 10 . 65 mmol ) was dissolved in dmf ( 20 ml ) and cooled to 0 ° c . after 30 min . hatu ( 608 mg , 1 . 6 mmol ) was added and the flask was removed from the ice - bath . the reaction was followed with lc - ms . after 3 h the reaction mixture was extracted between etoac ( 100 ml ) and aqueous sodium hydrogencarbonate ( 15 ml ). the etoac - phase was dried over magnesium sulphate , evaporated and purified by chromatography on silica gel ( 25 % etoac in hexane 50 % etoac in hexane ) to give the pure title product ( 726 mg , 87 %). ms ( m + h + ): 525 . 8 compound 91 ( 363 mg , 0 . 58 mmol ) was dissolved in degassed dichloromethane ( 100 ml ). hoveyda - grubbs catalyst 2nd generation ( 26 mg , 0 . 041 mmol ) was added and the mixture was refluxed under argon atmosphere overnight . the reaction mixture was evaporated on silica and purified by silica gel chromatography ( 50 % etoac in hexane → 70 % etoac in hexane ) to give the pure title product ( 111 mg , 32 %). ms ( m + h + ): 597 . 7 compound 92 ( 95 mg , 0 . 159 mmol ) was dissolved in tetrahydrofuran ( 10 ml ), methanol ( 5 ml ) and water ( 4 ml ) lithium hydroxide ( 40 mg , 1 . 67 mmol ) was dissolved in water ( 1 ml ) and added . the reaction mixture was heated to 65 ° c . after 3 h the reaction mixture was cooled , acidified with aqueous hcl ( ph = 5 ), evaporated on silica and purified by silica gel chromatography ( 10 % meoh in dichloromethane 15 % meoh in dichloromethane ) to give the pure title product ( 65 mg , 72 %). ms ( m + h + ): 569 . 8 compound 93 ( 65 mg , 0 . 12 mmol ), dmap ( 21 mg , 0 . 17 mmol ) and edac ( 44 mg , 0 . 23 mmol ) was dissolved in dmf ( 0 . 2 ml ). the reaction mixture was stirred for 5 h at r . t . whereafter cyclopropylsulfonamide ( 69 mg , 0 . 57 mmol ) and dbu ( 80 μl , 0 . 57 mmol ) was added . after stirring at r . t overnight the reaction mixture was extracted between etoac ( 80 ml ) and aqueous citric acid ( 10 %, 2 × 15 ml ). the organic phase was dried over mgso 4 , evaporated on silica and purified twice by chromatography on silica gel ( 5 % meoh in dichloromethane 15 % meoh in dichloromethane ) which gave a syrup . this syrup was dissolved in a small volume acetonitrile and precipitated with ethyl ether to give the pure title product ( 19 mg , 23 %). ms ( m + h + ): 673 . 2 the tert . butyl ester of compound 35 was removed according to the procedure described in example 39 . the afforded acid ( 850 mg , 1 . 56 mmol ), n - methyl hex - 5 - phenylamine hydrochloride ( 380 mg , 2 , 5 mmol ) and diisopropylethylamine ( 2 , 3 ml , 13 , 4 mmol ) was dissolved in dmf ( 60 ml ) and cooled to 0 ° c . after 30 min . hatu ( 0 , 76 mg , 2 , 0 mmol ) was added and the flask was removed from the ice - bath . the reaction was followed with tlc . after 2 h the reaction mixture was added to 5 % citric acid and extracted three times with ethyl acetate . the organic phase was dried over sodium sulphate and evaporated under reduced pressure . the crude product was purified by silica gel chromatography which gave the title product ( 820 mg , 82 %. compound 95 ( 648 mg , 1 . 01 mmol ) was dissolved in degassed dichloroethane ( 500 ml ). hoveyda - grubbs catalyst 2 : nd generation ( 35 mg , 0 . 055 mmol ) was added and the mixture was refluxed under argon atmosphere overnight . the reaction mixture was evaporated on silica and purified by chromatography on silica gel ( 30 % etoac in toluene 50 % etoac in toluene ) to give the pure title product ( 230 mg , 37 %). ms ( m + h + ): 612 . 8 compound 96 ( 260 mg , 0 . 42 mmol ) was dissolved in 1 , 4 - dioxan ( 20 ml ), 1 . 0 m lithium hydroxide ( 6 . 0 ml ) was added and the mixture was stirred at room temperature overnight and then for six hours at 60 ° c . the mixture was added to 5 % citric acid and extracted 3 times with ethyl acetate . the organic phase was dried over sodium sulphate and evaporated under reduced pressure . the crude product was purified by silica gel chromatography with dcm and 5 % meoh which gave the title product ( 130 mg , 53 %). ms ( m + h ): 584 . 7 compound 97 ( 58 . 3 mg , 0 . 1 mmol ), dmap ( 18 . 3 mg , 0 . 15 mmol ) and edac ( 38 . 7 mg , 0 . 2 mmol ) was dissolved in dmf ( 1 , 0 ml ). the reaction mixture was stirred overnight at r . t . whereafter cyclopropylsulphonamide ( 60 . 5 mg , 0 . 5 mmol ) and dbu ( 76 μg , 0 . 5 mmol ) was added . after stirring at r . t overnight the reaction mixture was added to 5 % citric acid and extracted three times with ethyl acetate . the organic phase was dried over sodium sulphate and evaporated . the afforded residue was purified two times by silica gel chromatography which gave the title product ( 20 mg ). ms ( m + h ) 687 . 8 . n ′- hex - 5 - en -( e )- ylidene - hydrazinecarboxylic acid tert . butyl ester was prepared according to the procedure described in example 46 and 47 but starting from hex - 5 - en - ol instead of hept - 6en - ol . compound 35 was treated as described in example 48 but using the above described n ′- hex - 5 - en -( e )- ylidene - hydrazinecarboxylic acid tert . butyl ester instead of the corresponding hept - 6 - en derivative followed by macrocyclisation as described in example 49 and hydrolysis of the ethyl ester as described in example 50 gave the acid . the afforded acid ( 58 mg , 0 . 0846 mmol ) was dissolved in dry dmf ( 7 ml ) and diea was added drop wise during one minute . the solution was stirred at room temperature for 1 h prior to the addition of a solution containing cyclopropylsulfonamide ( 41 mg , 0 . 338 mmol ), dmap ( 41 . 3 mg , 0 . 338 mmol ) and dbu ( 50 μl , 0 . 338 mmol ) in dry dmf ( 1 . 5 ml ). the solution was stirred at room temperature for 5 days . the solution was diluted with etoac ( 50 ml ) and washed with sat . nahco 3 . the aqueous phase was extracted with dcm . the combined organic layers were dried , concentrated and subjected to purification by hplc , which gave the title compound as a white solid ( 14 . 3 mg , 0 . 018 mmol ), purity by hplc & gt ; 95 %, m + h + 788 . 3 . compound 99 ( 2 . 4 mg , 0 . 00304 mmol ) was kept in tfa - dcm 1 : 2 ( 3 ml ) at room temperature for 60 min . toluene ( 3 ml ) was added . the sample was co - evaporated to dryness to afford the title compound ( 2 . 1 mg , 0 . 0026 mmol ) purity by hplc & gt ; 95 %. m + h + 688 . 3 . to hatu ( 2 . 17 g , 5 . 7 mmol ) and n - methyl hex - 5 - enylamine hydrochloride ( 6 . 47 mmol ) in 5 ml dmf , under argon in an ice bath , were added 1r , 4r , 5r - 3 - oxo - 2 - oxa - bicyclo [ 2 . 2 . 1 ] heptane - 5 - carboxylic acid ( 835 . 6 mg , 5 . 35 mmol ) in 11 ml dmf followed by diea ( 2 . 80 ml , 16 mmol ). after stirring for 40 min , the mixture was stirred at rt for 5 h . the solvent was evaporated , the residue dissolved in etoac ( 70 ml ) and washed with saturated nahco 3 ( 10 ml ). the aqueous phase was extracted with etoac ( 2 × 25 ml ). the organic phases were combined , washed with saturated nacl ( 20 ml ), dried over na 2 so 4 , and evaporated . flash column chromatography ( 150 g silica gel , 2 / 1 etoac - petroleum ether ( pe ), tlc detection by aqueous kmno4 , rf 0 . 55 in 4 / 1 etoac — pe ) gave the compound as a yellow oil ( 1 . 01 g , 75 %). lioh solution ( 0 . 15m , 53 ml , 8 mmol ) was added to the lactone amide 101 ( 996 mg , 3 . 96 mmol ) in an ice bath and stirred for 1 h . the mixture was acidified to ph 2 - 3 with 1n hcl and evaporated , co - evaporated with toluene several times , and dried under vacuum overnight . ( 1r , 2s )- cyclopropanesulfonic acid ( 1 - amino - 2 - vinyl - cyclopropanecarbonyl ) amide hydrochloride ( 4 . 21 mmol ) and hatu ( 1 . 78 g , 4 . 68 mmol ) were added . the mixture was cooled in an ice bath under argon , dmf ( 25 ml ) and then diea ( 2 . 0 ml , 11 . 5 mmol ) were added . after stirring for 30 min , the mixture was stirred at rt for 3 h . after evaporation of solvent , the residue was dissolved in etoac ( 120 ml ), washed successively with 0 . 5 n hcl ( 20 ml ) and saturated nacl ( 2 × 20 ml ), and dried over na 2 so 4 . flash column chromatography ( 200 g ymc silica gel , 2 - 4 % meoh in ch 2 cl 2 gave white solids ( 1 . 25 g , 66 %). the cyclopentanol 102 ( 52 . 0 mg , 0 . 108 mmol ) was dissolved in 19 ml 1 , 2 - dichloroethane ( bubbled with argon prior to use ). the hoveyda - grubbs 2 nd generation catalyst ( 6 . 62 mg , 10 mole %) was dissolved in dce ( 2 × 0 . 5 ml ) and added . the green solution was bubbled with ar for 1 min . aliquots ( 4 ml each ) were transferred into five 2 to 5 - ml microwave tubes . to the last tube was added 0 . 8 ml rinsing with solvent . each tube was heated by microwave ( rt to 160 ° c . in 5 min ). all aliquots were combined and the solvent evaporated . flash column chromatography ( silica gel , 3 - 7 % meoh in ch 2 cl 2 ) gave 24 . 39 mg solids ( rf 0 . 28 in 10 % meoh — ch 2 cl 2 with two spots ). the solids were combined with a 9 . 66 - mg sample and subjected to a second chromatography ( 2 - 8 % meoh in etoac ) to give cream solids ( 23 mg ) with 80 % of the desired compound ( 26 % yield ). diad ( 22 ul , 0 . 11 mmol ) was added to a mixture of the metathesis product 103 ( 23 mg ), 2 -( 4 - isopropyl - 1 , 3 - thiazol - 2 - yl )- 7 - methoxyquinolin - 4 - ol ( 24 mg , 0 . 08 mmol ), and pph 3 ( 30 mg , 0 . 11 mmol ) in 1 ml dry thf , in an ice bath . the mixture was stirred at rt overnight and then evaporated . the residue ( 1 . 2 ml of a 1 . 5 - ml mecn solution ) was purified by prep - hplc ( hypercarb 7 ul 100 × 21 . 2 mm , 40 % to 99 % aqueous mecn in 10 min ) to give 3 . 18 mg mv062308 as cream solids ( 13 % yield ). 1 h nmr ( dmso - d6 ) δ ppm : major rotamer 0 . 99 ( m , 2h ), 1 . 11 ( m , 2h ), 1 . 20 - 1 . 30 ( m , 2h ), 1 . 37 and 1 . 38 ( 2d , j = 7 . 0 hz , 6h ), 1 . 46 - 1 . 58 ( m , 2h ), 1 . 70 ( m , 1h ), 1 . 85 ( m , 1h ), 1 . 90 ( dd , j = 8 . 5 , 6 . 0 hz , 1h ), 2 . 06 ( br , 1h ), 2 . 26 ( m , 1h ), 2 . 38 ( m , 1h ), 2 . 52 - 2 . 62 ( m , 3h ), 2 . 90 - 2 . 97 ( m , 2h ), 3 . 06 ( s , 3h ), 3 . 21 ( m , 1h ), 3 . 40 - 3 . 56 ( m , 2h ) 3 . 97 ( s , 3h ), 4 . 60 ( m , 1h ), 5 . 04 ( m , 1h ), 5 . 41 ( br , 1h ), 5 . 66 ( m , 1h ), 7 . 16 ( m ), 7 . 58 ( br ), 8 . 02 ( m ), 10 . 92 ( s , 1h ) treatment of compound 103 with 4 - hydroxy - 7 - methoxy - 2 -[ 2 -( 2 , 2 - dimethylbutanoyl ) aminothiazol - 4 - yl ] quinoline as described in example 104 gave the title compound . lcms : retention time 2 . 30 min gradient 30 %- 80 % b in 3 min ( flow : 0 . 8 ml / min , uv 220 nm , ace c8 3 × 50 mm ; mobile phase a 10 mm nh 4 ac in 90 % h 2 o , b 10 mm nh 4 ac in 90 % acn ), ( m + 1 ) + = 807 . reaction of compound 101 as described in example 102 but using 1 - amino - 2 - vinylcycloprpanecarboxylic acid ethyl ester instead of ( 1r , 2s )- cyclopropanesulfonic acid ( 1 - amino - 2 - vinyl - cyclopropanecarbonyl ) amide hydrochloride gave the title compound . compound 106 ( 115 mg , 0 . 286 mmol ) was dissolved in toluene 5 ml and dichloromethane 1 ml . dabco ( 2 . 2 . 2 - diazobicyclooctane ) ( 96 mg , 0 . 857 mmol , 3 eq .) was added to the solution , followed by addition of bscl ( 109 mg , 0 . 428 mmol , 1 . 5 eq ). the reaction was stirred at room temperature overnight , diluted with toluene (+ 10 % ethyl acetate ), washed with saturated sodium bicarbonate , brine , dried over sodium sulphate and evaporated . the desired product was obtained by column chromatography ( eluent etoac ) r f 0 . 25 ). conversion 80 %. yield 106 mg . compound 107 ( 106 mg , 0 . 169 mmol ) was dissolved in dichloromethane ( 40 ml ) and degassed by bubbling nitrogen through the solution for 20 min . hoveyda - grubbs catalyst 1st generation ( 10 mg , 0 . 017 mmol , 10 mol %) was then added and the mixture was refluxed under nitrogen atmosphere overnight . the reaction mixture was then cooled down to room temperature and mp - tmt palladium scavenger ( approx 100 mg ) was added and stirred for 2 . 5 h . the scavenger was removed by filtration and washed with 50 ml of dichloromethane . the solution obtained was concentrated by rotary evaporation . the crude was purified by column chromatography ( etoac ) to give 61 mg of product . yield 60 %. 2 -( isopropylamino - thiazol - 4 - yl )- 7 - methoxy - quinolin - 4 - ol ( 220 mg , 0 . 7 mmol ) ( prepared as described in wo 00 / 59929 ) was dissolved in 7 ml of nmp ( n - methyl pyrrolidinone ), one spoon of cs 2 co 3 was added , stirred at 60 ° c . for 1 . 5 h . then compound 108 ( 150 mg , 0 . 24 mmol ) was added . the reaction mixture was stirred at 80 ° c . overnight . was diluted with chloroform and washed with sodium bicarbonate , brine . water phases were back - extracted with chloroform . the combined organic layers were dried over sodium sulphate and evaporated . the crude product was purified by preparative hplc ( gilson ) ( meoh — h 2 o , 65 %) to give 21 mg of product ( yield 13 %) as well as 12 mg of isomer . to the solution of the ester 109 ( 21 mg , 0 . 031 mmol ) in a mixture of thf ( 0 . 2 ml ) and methanol ( 0 . 3 ml ) was added solution of lioh ( 4 mg , 0 . 17 mmol ) in 0 . 15 ml water . the resulting mixture was stirred at 60 ° c . for 3 . 5 h . after cooling to room temperature , acetic acid was added ( 30 eq ). the mixture was co - evaporated with toluene . the residue was distributed between chloroform and water , the water phase was extracted with chloroform 3 times , the organic phases were combined , dried over sodium sulphate and evaporated which gave 20 mg of pure product ( yield 99 %). the acid 110 ( 20 mg , 0 . 15 mmol ), dmap ( 28 mg , 0 . 225 mmol ) and edac ( 58 mg , 0 . 3 mmol ) was dissolved in dmf ( 1 . 5 ml ). the reaction mixture was stirred overnight at r . t . whereafter cyclopropylsulphonamide ( 91 mg , 1 . 125 mmol ) and dbu ( 114 μl , 0 . 75 mmol ) was added . after stirring at rt overnight the reaction mixture was added to 5 % citric acid and extracted three times with chloroform . the organic phase was dried over sodium sulphate and evaporated . the afforded residue was purified by preparative hplc to give the title product ( 5 . 6 mg ) ( yield 24 %). the compounds of the invention are conveniently assayed for activity against the ns3 protease of flavivirus such as hcv using conventional in vitro ( enzyme ) assays or cell culture assays . a useful assay is the bartenshlager replicon assay disclosed in ep 1043399 . an alternative replicon assay is described in wo 03064416 . a convenient enzyme assay involving the inhibition of full - length hepatitis c ns3 is essentially as described in poliakov , 2002 prot expression & amp ; purification 25 363 371 . briefly , the hydrolysis of a depsipeptide substrate , ac - ded ( edans ) eeabuψ [ coo ] ask ( dabcyl )- nh 2 ( anaspec , san josé , usa ), is measured spectrofluorometrically in the presence of a peptide cofactor , kkgsvvivgrivlsgk , as described by landro , 1997 biochem 36 9340 - 9348 . the enzyme ( 1 nm ) is incubated in a buffer such as 50 mm hepes , ph 7 . 5 , 10 mm dtt , 40 % glycerol , 0 . 1 % n - octyl - β - d - glucoside , with 25 μm cofactor and inhibitor at say 30 ° c . for 10 min , whereupon the reaction is initiated by addition of substrate , typically 0 . 5 μm substrate . inhibitors are typically dissolved in dmso , sonicated for 30 s and vortexed . the solutions are generally stored at − 20 ° c . between measurements . an alternative enzyme assay is described in wo 0399316 and employs an hcv ns3 / 4a protease complex fret peptide assay . the purpose of this in vitro assay is to measure the inhibition of hcv ns3 protease complexes , derived from the bms , h77c or j416s strains , as described below , by compounds of the present invention . this assay provides an indication of how effective compounds of the present invention would be in inhibiting hcv proteolytic activity . serum is taken from an hcv - infected patient . an engineered full - length cdna template of the hcv genome ( bms strain ) was constructed from dna fragments obtained by reverse transcription - pcr ( rt - pcr ) of serum rna and using primers selected on the basis of homology between other genotype ia strains . from the determination of the entire genome sequence , a genotype i a was assigned to the hcv isolate according to the classification of simmonds et al . ( see p simmonds , k a rose , s graham , s w chan , f mcomish , bc dow , e a follett , p l yap and h marsden , j . clin . microbiol ., 31 ( 6 ), 1493 - 1503 ( 1993 )). the amino acid sequence of the nonstructural region , ns2 - 5b , was shown to be & gt ; 97 % identical to hcv genotype ia ( h77c ) and 87 % identical to genotype ib ( j4l6s ). the infectious clones , h77c ( i a genotype ) and j4l6s ( i b genotype ) can be obtained from r . purcell ( nih ) and the sequences are published in genbank ( aab67036 , see yanagi , m ., purcell , r . h ., emerson , s . u . and bukh . proc . natl . acad . sci . u . s . a . 94 ( 16 ) 8738 - 8743 ( 1997 ); af054247 , see yanagi , m ., st claire , m ., shapiro , m ., emerson , s . u ., purcell , r . h . and bukhj , virology 244 ( 1 ), 161 ( 1998 )). the bms , h77c and j4l6s strains are conventional for production of recombinant ns3 / 4a protease complexes . dna encoding the recombinant hcv ns3 / 4a protease complex ( amino acids 1027 to 1711 ) for these strains were manipulated as described by p . gallinari et al . ( see gallinari p , paolini c , brennan d , nardi c , steinkuhler c , de francesco r . biochemistry . 38 ( 17 ): 562032 , ( 1999 )). briefly , a three - lysine solubilizing tail was added at the 3 ′- end of the 3 0 ns4a coding region . the cysteine in the p1 position of the ns4a - ns4b cleavage site ( amino acid 1711 ) was changed to a glycine to avoid the proteolytic cleavage of the lysine tag . furthermore , a cysteine to serine mutation can be introduced by pcr at amino acid position 1454 to prevent the autolytic cleavage in the ns3 helicase domain . the variant dna fragment can be cloned in the pet21b bacterial expression vector ( novagen ) and the ns3 / 4a complex can be expressed in escherichia coli strain bl21 ( de3 ) ( invitrogen ) following the protocol described by p . gallinari et al . ( see gallinari p , brennan d , nardi c , brunetti m , tomei l , steinkuhler c , de francesco r ., j . virol . 72 ( 8 ): 6758 - 69 ( 1998 )) with modifications . briefly , ns3 / 4a expression can be induced with 0 . 5 mm isopropyl beta - d thiogalactopyranoside ( iptg ) for 22 hr at 20 ° c . a typical fermentation ( i0 l ) yields approximately 80 g of wet cell paste . the cells are resuspended in lysis buffer ( 10 ml / g ) consisting of 25 mm n -( 2hydroxyethyl ) piperazine - n ′-( 2 - ethane sulfonic acid ) ( hepes ), ph7 . 5 , 20 % glycerol , 500 mm sodium chloride ( nacl ), 0 . 5 % triton - x100 , i ug / ml lysozyme , 5 mm magnesium chloride ( mgcl2 ), i ug / ml dnasel , 5 mm beta - mercaptoethanol ( bme ), protease inhibitor — ethylenediamine tetraacetic acid ( edta ) free ( roche ), homogenized and incubated for 20 mins at vc . the homogenate is sonicated and clarified by ultra - centrifugation at 235000 g for 1 hr at 4 ° c . imidazole is added to the supernatant to a final concentration of 15 mm and the ph adjusted to 8 . the crude protein extract is loaded on a nickel nitrilotriacetic acid ( ni - nta ) column pre - equilibrated with buffer b ( 25n - tm 2 0 hepes , ph8 20 % glycerol , 5oo mm nacl , 0 . 5 % triton - xioo , 15 mm imidazole , 5 mm bme ). the sample is loaded at a flow rate of 1 ml / min . the column is washed with 15 column volumes of buffer c ( same as buffer b except with 0 . 2 % triton - x100 ). the protein is eluted with 5 column volumes of buffer d ( same as buffer c except with 200 mm imidazole ). ns3 / 4a protease complex - containing fractions are pooled and loaded on a desalting column superdex - s200 pre - equilibrated with buffer d ( 25 mm hepes , ph7 . 5 , 20 % glycerol , 300 mm nacl , 0 . 2 % triton - xioo , io mm bme ). sample is loaded at a flow rate of 1 ml / min . ns3 / 4a protease complex3 0 containing fractions are pooled and concentrated to approximately 0 . 5 mg / ml . the purity of the ns3 / 4a protease complexes , derived from the bms , h77c and j4l6s strains , are typically judged to be greater than 90 % by sds - page and mass spectrometry analyses . the enzyme is generally stored at − 80 ° c ., thawed on ice and diluted prior to use in assay buffer . the substrate used for the ns3 / 4a protease assay , is conveniently ret s 1 ( resonance energy transfer depsipeptide substrate ; anaspec , inc . cat # 22991 )( fret peptide ), described by taliani et al . in anal . biochem . 240 ( 2 ): 6067 ( 1996 ). the sequence of this peptide is loosely based on the ns4a / ns4b natural cleavage site except there is an ester linkage rather than an amide bond at the cleavage site . the peptide substrate is incubated with one of the three recombinant ns3 / 4a complexes , in the absence or presence of a compound of the present invention , and the formation of fluorescent reaction product was followed in real time using a cytofluor series 4000 . useful reagents are as follow : hepes and glycerol ( ultrapure ) can be obtained from gibco - brl . dimethyl sulfoxide ( dmso ) is obtained from sigma . beta - mercaptoethanol is obtained from bio rad . assay buffer : 50 m . m hepes , ph7 . 5 ; 0 . 15m nacl ; 0 . 1 % triton ; 15 % glycerol ; 10 mm bme . substrate : 2 um final concentration ( from a 2 mm stock 2 0 solution in dmso stored at − 20 ° c .). hcv ns3 / 4a type ia ( ib ), 2 - 3 nm final concentration ( from a 5 um stock solution in 25 mm hepes , ph7 . 5 , 20 % glycerol , 300 m . m nacl , 0 . 2 % triton - x100 , 10 mm bme ). for compounds with potencies approaching the assay limit , the assay can be made more sensitive by adding 50 ug / ml bsa to the assay buffer and / or reducing the end protease concentration to 300 pm . the assay is conveniently performed in a 96 - well polystyrene black plate from falcon . each well contains 25 ul ns3 / 4a protease complex in assay buffer , 50 ul of a compound of the present invention in 10 % dmso / assay buffer and 25 ul substrate in assay buffer . a control ( no compound ) is also prepared on the same assay plate . the enzyme complex is mixed with compound or control solution , typically for 1 min before initiating the enzymatic reaction by the addition of substrate . the assay plate is generally read immediately using a spectrophotometer such as a cytofluor series 4000 ( perspective biosysterns ). the instrument is conveniently set to read an emission of 340 nm and excitation of 490 nm at 25 ° c . reactions are generally followed for approximately 15 minutes . where df is the change in fluorescence over the linear range of the curve . a nonlinear curve fit is applied to the inhibition - concentration data , and the 50 % effective concentration ( ic 50 ) is calculated by the use software such as excel xi - fit software using the equation : enzyme assays conveniently utilize a fluorescence resonance energy transfer ( fret ) principle to generate a spectroscopic response to an hcv ns3 serine protease catalyzed ns4a / 4b cleavage event . the activity is typically measured in a continuous fluorometric assay using an excitation wavelength of 355 nm and emission wavelength of 500 nm . the initial velocity may be determined from 10 minutes continuous reading of increased fluorescence intensities as a result of the ns3 protease catalyzed cleavage event . recombinant hcv ns3 full length enzyme can be prepared as shown in poliakov et al protein expression & amp ; purification 25 ( 2002 ) 363 - 371 . the ns4a cofactor conveniently has an amino acid sequence of kkgsvvivgrivlsgk ( commercially available ), generally prepared as a 10 mm stock solution in dmso . the fret - substrate ( ac - asp - glu - asp ( edans )- glu - glu - abu - ψ -[ coo ) ala - ser - lys ( dabcyl )- nh2 , mw1548 . 60 can be purchased from anaspec ret s1 , ca . usa ) and is typically prepared as a 1 . 61 mm stock solution in dmso . aliquots ( 50 μl / tube ) should be wrapped with aluminum foil to protect from direct light and stored in − 20 ° c . reference compound - 1 , n - 1725 with a sequence of acasp - d - gla - leu - ile - cha - cys , mw 830 . 95 may be purchased from bachem , switzerland and is generally prepare as a 2 mm stock solution in dmso and stored in aliquots in − 20 ° c . 1m hepes buffer may be purchased from invitrogen corporation , storage at 20 ° c . glycerol may be purchased from sigma , 99 % purity . chaps , 3 -[( 3 - cholamidopropyl ) dimethylammonio ]- 1 - propanesulfonate : may be purchased from research organics , cleveland , ohio 44125 , usa . mw614 . 90 dtt , dl - dithiothreitol ( cleland reagent : dl - dtt ) 99 % purity , mw . 154 . 2 storage : + 4 ° c . dmso may be purchased from sds , 13124 peypin , france . 99 . 5 % purity . tris , ultra pure ( tris -( hydroxymethylaminomethane ), may be purchased from icn biomedicals inc . n - dodecyl - β - d - maltoside , minimum 98 %, may be purchased from sigma , storage − 20 ° c . 10 mm stock solutions of the compounds are made in dmso . the stock solutions are stored in room temperature while testing and placed in − 20 ° c . at long - time storage . 10 mm dtt ( stored in aliquots at − 20 ° c . and added fresh at each experiment ) 25 mm tris ph7 . 5 , 0 . 15 m nacl , 10 % glycerol , 0 . 05 % n - dodecyl - β - d - maltoside 5 mm dtt ( stored in aliquots at − 20 ° c . and added fresh at each experiment ) 1 . prepare 9500 μl assay buffer ( hepes , ph = 7 . 5 , 40 % glycerol and 0 . 1 % chaps in de ionized water . add dtt giving a final concentration of 10 mm ( freshly prepared for every run ). 3 . add 13 . 6 μl ns3 protease and 13 . 6 μl ns4a peptide and mix properly . leave the mixture for 15 minutes in room temperature . 4 . place the enzyme stock solution back into liquid nitrogen or − 80 ° c . as soon as possible . 5 . prepare 9500 μl assay buffer ( tris , ph = 7 . 5 , 0 . 15 m nacl , 0 . 5 mm edta , 10 % glycerol and 0 . 05 % n - dodecyl β - d - maltoside in de ionized water . add dtt giving a final concentration of 5 mm ( freshly prepared for every run ). 7 . add 27 . 2 μl ns3 protease and 13 . 6 μl ns4a peptide and mix properly . leave the mixture for 15 minutes in room temperature . 8 . place the enzyme stock solution back into liquid nitrogen or − 80 ° c . as soon as possible . make a dilution series of the inhibitors in dmso to 100 × the final concentrations 10 , 1 , 0 . 1 , 0 . 01 and 0 . 001 μm . the final dmso concentration in 100 μl total reaction volume is 1 %. make a dilution series of the reference compound , n - 1725 in dmso to 100 × the final concentrations 120 , 60 , 30 , 15 , 7 . 5 and 3 . 75 nm . blank wells contain 95 μl buffer ( without ns3 pr ), 1 μl dmso and 5 μl substrate . dilute the substrate stock solution ( 1 . 61 mm ) with assay buffer to 40 μm working solution . avoid exposure to light . use 96 - well cliniplate , the total assay volume per well is 100 μl . 4 . start the reaction by adding 5 μl 40 μm substrate solution ( final concentration 2 μm ) 5 . read continuously for 20 minutes at ex = 355 nm and em = 500 nm , monitoring the increased fluorescence per minute . 6 . plot the progression curve ( within linear range , 8 - 10 time points ) and determine the slope as an initial velocity with respect to each individual inhibitor concentration . the result is expressed as % inhibition at a certain concentration ( screen ) or as a ki value in nm or μm . calculation of % inhibition : the initial velocity is determined from 10 minutes continuous reading of increased fluorescence intensities as a result of the ns3 protease catalyzed cleavage event . the change in slope for the inhibitor compared to the enzyme control gives the % inhibition at a certain concentration . calculation of ki : all inhibitors are treated as if they follow the rules of competitive inhibition . the ic 50 value is calculated from the inhibition values of a series of inhibitor concentrations . the calculated value is used in the following equation : plotting of the graph is done by help of two calculation programs : grafit and graphpad various compounds of the invention exemplified above displayed ic 50 s in the range 1 nm to 6 . 9 micromolar and ed 50 s in the sub - micromolar to micromolar range in the above assays . replicon cultures in microtitre plates can be used to determine resistance development rates and to select out drug escape mutants . the compounds being tested are added at concentrations around their ed 50 using , say , 8 duplicates per concentration . after the appropriate replicon incubation period the protease activity in the supernatant or lysed cells is measured . the following procedure is followed at subsequent passages of the cultures . virus produced at the concentration of test compound showing & gt ; 50 % of the protease activity of untreated infected cells ( sic , starting inhibitory concentration ) are passaged to fresh replicon cultures . an aliquot , say , 15 μl supernatent from each of the eight duplicates are transferred to replicon cells without the test compound ( control ) and to cells with test compound at the same concentration , and additionally two respectively fivefold higher concentrations . ( see the table below ) when the viral component of replicon propagation ( for example as measured by hcv protease activity ) is permitted at the highest non - toxic concentration ( 5 - 40 μm ), 24 parallel wells are collected and expanded to give material for sequence analysis and cross - wise resistance . virus production inhibited 125 × sic 125 × sic 25 × sic → 25 × sic 5 × sic 25 × sic 5 × s / c → no compound 25 × sic 5 × s / c → no compound 5 × sic sic sic → no compound sic → no compound pass 1 pass 2 pass 3 pass 4 pass 5 alternative methods for assessing activity on drug escape mutants include the preparation of mutant enzyme bearing the distinctive mutation for use in standard ki determinations as shown above . for example wo 04 / 039970 describes constructions allowing access to hcv proteases bearing the 155 , 156 and / or 168 drug escape mutants arising from the selective pressure of biln - 2061 and vx - 950 . such constructs can then be engineered into replicon vectors in place of the wild type protease , thereby allowing ready assessment in a cellular assay , of whether a given compound is active against a give drug escape mutant . the metabolism of compounds of the invention through the main isoforms of the human cytochrome system p450 are conveniently determined in baculovirus infected insect cells transfected with human cytochrome p450 cdna ( supersomes ) gentest corp . woburn usa . the test compounds at concentrations 0 . 5 , 5 and 50 μm are incubated in duplicate in the presence of supersomes overexpressing various cytochrome p450 isoforms , including cypia2 + p450 reductase , cyp2a6 + p450 reductase , cyp2c9 - arg 144 + p450 reductase , cyp2c19 + p450 reductase , cyp2d6 - val 374 + p450 reductase and cyp3a4 + p 450 reductase . incubates contain a fixed concentration of cytochrome p450 ( eg 50 pmoles ) and are conducted over 1 hour . the involvement of a given isoform in the metabolism of the test compound is determined by uv hplc chromatographically measuring the disappearance of parent compound .	2
referring to fig1 to 4 of the drawings , there is shown a jig for supporting parts of a flanged plain bearing which are to be welded together using a laser . the jig comprises a main base block 10 secured to the working surface 11 . the block 10 has an arcuate recess 12 in its upper surface which recess extends across the width of the block 10 and receives the seat for the bearing . a central portion of the block 10 ( as viewed in fig1 ) reduces in width to provide a narrow web 13 as seen in fig2 . a seating 14 for the bearing comprises a further block having a lower arcuate surface 15 , complementary to the surface 12 of the recess in the block and an upper arcuate seating surface 16 for receiving an arcuate bearing blank to which end flanges are to be joined . the surface 15 of the seating is provided with a projecting key 17 which engages in a corresponding keyway 18 in the surface 12 of the block 10 to laterally locate the seating 14 with respect to the block . the seating 14 has planar side surfaces adjoining , and perpendicular to the axis of , the seating surface 16 for the bearing blank . the end flanges to be joined to the blank are held against these side surfaces 19 by clamping members described below , so that the inner arcuate edges of the flanges are held in contact with the arcuate edges of a bearing blank with the abutting edges exposed for welding together using a laser . the above mentioned device for clamping the end flanges against the side surfaces 19 of the seating , comprises two clamping plates 20 one on either side of the block 10 . along the lower edge of each plate 20 there is provided a beading 21 which has a rounded profile . each beading 21 engages in a respective channel 22 formed in the side surfaces of the block 10 . the channels 21 have inclined side surfaces against which the rounded beadings 21 engage to provide a hinge or pivotal connections between the plates 20 and the block 10 . arcuate clamping members 23 are detachably connected to the inner surfaces of the plates 20 adjacent the upper edges thereof . each clamping member 23 comprises an arcuate part having a relatively large base part having a planar surface 24 in contact with the inner surface of a respective plate 20 . the member 23 tapers in the upward direction to provide a projecting finger 25 which terminates adjacent the side surfaces 19 of the seating 14 . each finger 25 is provided with a flat surface 26 at its upper end for engaging a side surface of a flange to press it and thereby clamp it against the adjacent side surface 19 of the seating 14 . each clamping member 23 is located with respect to a clamping plate 20 by an arcuate key 27 projecting from its flat surface 24 into a corresponding key - way 28 provided in the corresponding side surface of the associated plate 20 . the clamping plates 20 are moved into and out of the clamping position by a contractable operating device 29 which is best illustrated in fig4 . the device 29 comprises a compact hydraulic ram device 30 which comprises a main body part providing an internal cylinder in which a piston is slidably mounted . hydraulic fluid can be fed into such cylinder to axially displace the piston thereby expanding the device . such a device is a standard part which is sold under the registered trade mark powrlock . a headed piston rod 31 passes through the piston of the ram 30 and extends through the plates 20 and through a bore 32 in the block 10 . opposite ends of the bore 32 are enlarged to receive disc springs 33 which act between the block and the plates 20 to normally maintain the clamping members 23 in a free position in which end bearing flanges can be inserted between the fingers and the opposed side surfaces 19 of the seating 14 . it will be appreciated that hydraulic fluid can be introduced into the device 29 to effect expansion of the device permitting the plates 20 to be moved against the disc springs 33 to the closed position . when the hydraulic pressure is applied to the device 29 it then operates to expand the device thereby drawing a portion of the piston rod 32 further into the body part of the ram 30 which causes plates 20 to pivot towards one another thereby bringing clamping elements 23 into firm engagement with end flanges inserted between those members and the side surfaces of the seating 19 . the lower edges of such end flanges abut location pads 34 fixed to the side surfaces 19 of seat 14 as seen in fig3 . the pads 34 have a stem 35 slidably received in mountings 36 fixed to the seat 14 . the pads 34 have apertures 37 therethrough which are elongate in a direction along radii of the arcuate seating surface 16 of the seat 14 . screws 38 passing through the apertures 37 clamp the pads in the desired positions , the apertures 37 being made elongate as aforesaid to allow a limited sliding movement of the pads 34 to permit adjustment thereof . a mechanism 40 is provided to eject a completed flanged bearing from the jig . a housing 41 is provided in and extends downwardly from the working surface 11 to which the jig is connected . a ` u - shaped ` or yoke member 42 is slidably mounted in the housing 41 and has a pair of arms which embrace the web portion 13 of the block 10 . pneumatic ram 43 is located below the housing 41 and has a piston rod 44 which extends through a bottom wall of the housing 41 and is connected to the member 42 to effect a sliding movement of that member when the ram is acuated . elongate ejector fingers 45 rest on the upper surface of the member 42 and project upwardly therefrom to a position adjacent the lower edge of a flange clamped by clamping members 23 against side surfaces 19 of the seat 14 . the fingers are guided for longitudinal movement by brackets 46 which are fixed to the seat 14 and have offset projecting portions which engage over the laterial edges of the fingers 45 . upward movement of the member 42 causes the fingers to move upwardly to engage the lower ends of a flange of a finished bearing in the seat 14 to eject such a bearing therefrom after the clamping force of clamping members 23 has been removed . opposite upper edges of the arms of the member 42 are removed to form steps 47 as shown in fig3 and elongate beadings are provided along the upper edges of the vertical portions of the steps 47 . the fingers 45 are formed at their lower end with a pair of clips 49 which resiliently engage over the beadings 48 so that downward movement of the member 42 pulls the fingers downwardly with it . a clamping head 50 is pivotally mounted on the block 10 . a pressure bar 51 is secured in a recess in the underside of the head 50 . as seen in fig2 the head 50 and pressure bar 51 are relatively narrow so that a laser beam can be directed at the abutting edges of an arcuate blank and end flanges located in the jig in order to weld together such edges . the head 50 is biassed by a spring 52 , connected to a lug 53 on the head 50 , to its raised position . the head is moveable against the bias of the spring 52 to its lowered position and is held in such position by a latch member 54 pivotally mounted in hinge plates 56 on the block 10 . the latch member 54 is in the form of a bell - crank lever with one part of such lever providing the latching device and the other part of such lever being connected to a further hydraulic ram device 55 operable to move such arm thereby moving member 54 into and out of its latching position . in use with the head 50 in its raised position and the clamping plates 20 in their free positions an arcuate bearing blank is located in the seating surface 16 and a pair of arcuate end flanges are located against respective side surfaces 19 of the seat 14 with their lower edges abutting the location pads 34 . the ram 30 is actuated to bring clamping members 23 into their clamping positions so that the end flanges are gripped against surfaces 19 with their upper arcuate edges in contact with the arcuate edges of the bearing blank , such abutting edges being exposed for welding using a laser . the head 50 is then moved into its lowered position and the latch 54 engaged therewith to hold the head in such position whereby the arcuate blank is firmly seated in surface 16 . the abutting edges of the arcuate blank and its end flanges are then welded together using a laser . the latch 54 is then released so that the head 50 moves to its raised position and the ram 30 is contracted so that the clamping force exerted by member 23 is released . the finished bearing is then ejected from the jig by actuating ram 43 which causes fingers 45 to be moved sharply upwardly to engage the lower edges of the flanges to eject the bearing . it will be appreciated that the above jig can be used to accommodate flanged bearings of different diameters and widths simply by replacing the seat 14 with another seat of another width and different diameter seating surface 16 , and also by replacing clamping members 23 by other such members which can accommodate a bearing seating 14 of a different width . fig3 shows two different seatings in the jig on either side of the vertical centre line of this figure . as the fingers 45 are connected to the seating 14 by brackets 46 such fingers are also removed when seating 14 is removed and further fingers are provided with the new seating . as can be seen from fig3 the fingers used with a seat having a larger diameter seating surface 17 , have an enlarged head compared with such fingers used with a seat having a smaller diameter seating surface 16 . when a seat 14 is removed or inserted from block 10 the clips 49 of the fingers 45 resiliently disengage or engage with beadings 48 on yoke member 42 to allow the fingers to remain associated with the seat 14 . the jig shown in fig5 and 6 is similar to that shown in fig1 to 4 except that the two pivotally mounted clamping plates 20 are replaced by a pair of parallel clamping plates 60 . all similar parts of the jigs of fig1 to 4 and fig5 and 6 , respectively , are given like reference numerals . the clamping members 60 , which are free of the block 10 , are held in a parallel relationship to one another by the pair of clamping devices 29 and a further pair of similar devices 61 , which each , likewise , comprise an hydraulic ram 62 having a headed piston which extends through the plates 60 and an aligned bore through the block 10 . the plates 60 are moved to a clamping position by actuating the devices 29 and 61 by supplying hydraulic fluid thereto , thereby drawing the plates 60 towards one another , such movement being , in this embodiment , linear rather than the pivotal movement of plates 20 in the first embodiment . when the supply of hydraulic fluid to the devices 29 and 61 is released the plates 20 are moved by springs , similar to springs 33 in the first embodiment , to a free position in which a finished bearing can be ejected from the support by plates 45 .	1
although the following description of the present invention teaches a hand tool powered by a removable battery it is to be understood that the hand tool may also be powered by a corded ac electric motor in place of the battery powered dc motor described herein . [ 0032 ] fig1 illustrates a hand held nailing machine 10 generally comprising a main body 12 including and a gripping handle 14 . attached to the end of handle 14 is removable , rechargeable battery 19 for providing the necessary electrical energy to operate the nailing machine power drive mechanism . also included in handle 14 is trigger 16 for operating nailing machine 10 . a fastener supplying magazine assembly 18 is typically attached to main body 12 and handle 14 , as illustrated , for supplying a strip of fasteners to nose assembly 20 . [ 0033 ] fig2 , 4 , and 5 illustrate top , left side , bottom and rear views of fastener drive assembly 40 as positioned within housing 12 of nailing machine 10 illustrated in fig1 . fig2 , and 5 have electrical control module 25 removed for clarity . the structural details and operation of control module 25 is completely described within the two copending patent applications identified in the “ related patent applications ” section above and are incorporated herein by reference . as illustrated in fig6 the primary operational elements of fastener drive assembly 40 comprise a flywheel 45 for providing kinetic energy , for driving a fastener into a work piece , energized by an electric motor 42 . flywheel 45 is free wheeling upon fixed shaft 32 . upon achieving the required revolutions per minute ( rpm ), drive clutch assembly 30 ( see fig7 and 9 ) causes engagement of clutch 35 and flywheel 45 thereby transferring a portion of the kinetic energy of flywheel 45 to a linearly moving driver 106 for driving a fastener into a work piece . referring now to fig2 , through 9 , the elements and operation of the flywheel drive assembly 40 will be discussed . the flywheel drive assembly comprises clutch drive assembly 30 and flywheel 45 gear driven by electric motor 42 . although a gear drive between motor 42 and flywheel 45 is primarily illustrated herein , it is understood that a belt drive may also be used between motor 42 and flywheel 45 or any other suitable drive mechanism . as an alternative to having the motor axis of rotation parallel to the axis of rotation of flywheel 45 , as illustrated herein , it may be preferable to position motor 42 such that its axis of rotation is perpendicular to the axis of rotation of flywheel 45 and shaft 32 , thereby employing a bevel gear drive between the motor output shaft and the flywheel periphery . referring particularly to fig9 and additionally to fig6 through 8 the mechanical structure of flywheel 45 and clutch drive assembly 30 will be operationally described . clutch drive assembly 30 and flywheel 45 are axially aligned upon central shaft 32 as best illustrated in fig9 . central shaft 32 is threadingly affixed to end plate 52 which in turn is rigidly attached to frame 48 by an integral boss 51 extending axially from endplate 52 and received within slotted groove 47 such that end plate 52 and central shaft 32 are non - rotatable . the opposite end of central shaft 32 is received within supporting groove 49 in frame 48 . flywheel 45 is rotatingly positioned at the end of central shaft 32 , as best illustrated in fig9 upon deep groove ball bearing 46 , whereby flywheel 45 freely rotates about central shaft 32 when energized by motor 42 . flywheel 45 includes a conical cavity 44 for receiving therein conical friction surface 36 of conical clutch plate 35 . clutch plate 35 and activation plate 58 , although they are separable members , are geared to drum 34 by interlocking projections 28 and 26 respectively , whereby clutch plate 35 , activation plate 58 and drum 34 rotate freely about shaft 32 as a single unitary assembly . roller bearings 38 a and 38 b , positioned on the inside diameter of drum 34 , are provided to assure the free rotational characteristic of activation plate 58 , drum 34 and clutch plate 35 as a unitary assembly . adjacent activation plate 58 is fixed plate 56 . fixed plate 56 and activation plate 58 are connected to one another by three equally spaced axially expandable ball ramps 66 a , 66 b , 66 c , 66 a ′, 66 b ′ and 66 c ′ as illustrated in fig1 . the operation of the ball ramps 66 between fixed plate 56 and activation plate 58 is described in greater detail below . fixed plate 56 is fixed to housing 48 such that fixed plate 56 is free to move axially upon central shaft 32 , but not free to rotate about shaft 32 by anti - rotation tang 53 slidably received within axially aligned slot 43 within frame 48 . see fig1 . fixed plate 56 includes circular projection 61 receiving thereon freely rotatable thrust bearing 62 positioned between fixed plate 56 and retarder plate 64 . a pair of nested , parallel acting , bellville springs 72 are positioned , as illustrated in fig9 between retarder plate 64 and solenoid plate 54 the function of which is described in greater detail below . axially expandable ball ramps 68 a , 68 b , 68 c , 68 a ′, 68 b ′ and 68 c ′, see fig1 , connect end plate 52 and solenoid plate 54 the function of which is also described in greater detail below . positioned upon central shaft 32 , between clutch 35 and flywheel 45 is compression spring assembly 37 comprising washers 73 and 74 having coil spring 75 therebetween the function of which is described in further detail below . upon start of the fastener work , or driving , cycle , control microprocessor 25 causes motor 42 to “ spin up ” flywheel 45 , in the counter clockwise direction as indicated by arrow a in fig7 to a predetermined rpm . upon flywheel 45 achieving its desired rpm , or kinetic energy state , the control microprocessor 25 activates solenoid 80 which , through a flexible wire cable 84 extending from the solenoid plunger 82 and affixed to the periphery of solenoid plate 54 causes solenoid plate 54 to rotate clockwise , as indicated by arrow b in fig7 . as solenoid plate 54 rotates clockwise , solenoid plate 54 is caused to move axially away from end plate 52 by action of the corresponding ball ramps 68 in end plate 52 and solenoid plate 54 . see fig1 . as end plate 52 and solenoid plate 54 axially separate , the remaining elements of clutch drive assembly 30 are thereby caused to move axially toward flywheel 45 compressing coil spring 75 whereby clutch surface 36 preliminarily engages flywheel cavity 44 . engagement of clutch 35 with flywheel 45 causes counter clockwise rotation of clutch 35 , drum 34 and activation plate 58 , as an assembly . by action of corresponding ball ramps 66 , between fixed plate 56 and activation plate 58 , see fig1 , rotation of activation plate 58 causes axial separation of plates 53 and 58 . bellville springs 72 are thus compressed against solenoid plate 54 thereby providing an opposite axial force , forcing clutch 35 into tighter engagement with flywheel 45 . upon sensing an rpm drop of flywheel 45 , the control microprocessor 25 shuts off solenoid 80 , whereby solenoid plate 54 begins to return to its reset position by action of the axial force applied by the compressed belleville springs 72 . as solenoid plate 54 is urged to its start position the combined inertia of solenoid plate 54 , belleville springs 72 , compressed between solenoid plate 54 and retarder plate 64 , and retarder plate 64 prevent solenoid plate 54 from bouncing as it returns to its start position and engages the end of ball tracks 68 a , 68 b , and 68 c . by the presence and action of retarder plate 64 the system is prevented from oscillating and possibly re - engaging the clutch accidentally . as drum 34 rotates counter clockwise , cables 102 a and 102 b wrap about peripheral grooves 57 and 60 in drum 34 and clutch 35 respectively , thereby drawing piston assembly 111 downward , within cylinder 100 , in a power , or working , stroke whereby the attached fastener driver 106 is likewise driven downward , through guide block 108 , opening 41 within housing 48 , and into nose piece 20 thereby driving a selected fastener into a targeted workpiece . as piston assembly 111 is drawn downward through cylinder 100 a vacuum is created above piston assembly 111 which serves to draw piston assembly back to its start position upon completion of the work cycle thereby resetting the tool drive mechanism to its start position . [ 0045 ] fig1 a through 13c sequentially illustrate the action between fixed plate 56 and activation plate 58 as plate 58 rotates during the power stroke of clutch drive assembly 30 . although ball ramps 66 of fixed plate 56 and activation plate 58 are helical as illustrated in fig1 , ramps 66 are illustrated as being linear in fig1 a through 13c for simplicity of explanation . [ 0046 ] fig1 a illustrates fixed plate 56 and activation plate 58 at the beginning of the tool &# 39 ; s work cycle . as flywheel 45 drives activation plate 58 counter clockwise ( to the left in fig1 a ) balls 63 , following ramp profile 66 , cause a fast and sudden separation x , between activation plate 58 and fixed plate 56 as illustrated in fig1 b . separation x is maintained throughout the power stroke of driver 106 , as illustrated in fig1 b , thereby affecting the impartion of the kinetic energy , stored within flywheel 45 , to driver 106 as described above . at the end of the power stroke , as illustrated in fig1 c , plates 56 and 58 suddenly close together thereby causing the rapid disengagement of clutch 35 from flywheel 45 . with the solenoid plate 54 returned to its starting position and clutch 35 disengaged from flywheel 45 , activation plate 58 , drum 34 and clutch 35 , as an assembly , may be returned to their start position as described below . [ 0047 ] fig1 presents a representative graphical plot of the separation x between activation plate 58 and fixed plate 56 as a function of the angle of rotation of activation plate 58 . a combination driver guide and resilient stop block 108 is preferably positioned at the bottom of cylinder 110 to stop piston assembly 111 , within cylinder 110 , at the end of the power stroke . upon disengagement of clutch 35 from flywheel 45 , coil spring 75 urges all elements of clutch drive assembly 30 back toward end plate 52 whereby the vacuum formed above piston assembly 111 draws piston assembly back to its start position and thereby rotating activation plate 58 , drum 35 and clutch 35 , as an assembly to its start position . by constructing the clutch drive assembly 30 , as taught hereinabove , clutch 35 disengages from flywheel 45 thereby allowing flywheel 45 to continue spinning after drive assembly 30 has reached the end of its power stroke . thus in the event it is desired to successively drive additional fasteners , the remaining kinetic energy is available for the subsequent operation thereby economizing battery power and saving the drive assembly elements and / or the frame 48 from having to absorb the impact that would otherwise occur by bringing flywheel 45 to a full stop immediately after the power stroke . this feature also permits “ dry firing ” of the tool . the clutch drive system as taught herein also provides for automatic compensation for clutch wear in that the expansion between end plate 52 and solenoid plate 54 will continue until clutch 35 engages flywheel 45 thereby allowing solenoid plate 54 to take up the difference at the start of every power drive . referring now to fig1 . vacuum return piston assembly 111 comprises piston 112 slidably received within cylinder 110 . spaced from the top of piston 112 is circumscribing groove 113 having positioned therein sealing o - ring 114 . positioned toward the bottom of piston 112 are two axial stabilizing bands 115 and 116 . the inside diameter d , of cylinder 110 , is flared outward to diameter d ′ at the top of cylinder 110 as illustrated in fig1 . diameter d ′ is slightly greater than the outside diameter of o - ring 114 thus creating an annular gap 117 between o - ring 114 and inside diameter d ′. as piston assembly 111 is drawn axially into cylinder 110 , during the power stroke of driver 106 , o - ring 114 slidingly engages the inside wall diameter d of cylinder 110 thereby forming a pneumatic seal between inside wall 118 of cylinder 110 and piston assembly 111 . as piston assembly 111 progresses into cylinder 110 , a vacuum is created , within the top portion of cylinder 110 , between advancing piston assembly 111 and the sealed end cap 119 . upon disengagement of friction clutch 35 from flywheel 45 , the vacuum created within the top portion of cylinder 110 draws piston assembly 111 back toward end cap 119 thereby resetting activation plate 58 , drum 34 , and clutch 35 , as an assembly , to their restart position . as o - ring 114 passes from inside diameter d to diameter d ′, on its return stroke , any air that may have by passed o - ring 114 , during the power stroke , is compressed and permitted to flow past o - ring 114 through annular gap 117 and to the atmosphere through cylinder 110 , thereby preventing an accumulation of entrapped air above piston assembly 111 . a resilient end stop 120 is preferably positioned within end cap to absorb any impact that may occur as piston assembly 111 returns to its start position at the top of cylinder 110 . as drum 34 returns to its start position tang 33 radially extending from drum 34 engages abutment block 31 affixed to housing 48 , see fig1 , thereby preventing over travel of drum 34 as it returns to its start position . [ 0058 ] fig1 a illustrates an alternate embodiment for preventing an accumulation of trapped air above piston assembly 111 . as illustrated in fig1 a piston 112 includes circumferential groove 132 receiving therein a generally rectangular shaped seal 134 having a v shaped groove 136 in one laterally positioned side thereof . one leg 133 of v groove 136 extends laterally outward beyond the outside diameter of piston 112 as illustrated in fig1 a . thus seal 134 acts as a check valve such that as piston 112 moves downward , during a power stroke , leg 133 sealing engages the inside wall 118 of cylinder 110 preventing the passage of air past piston 112 thereby creating the desired vacuum above piston 112 . in the event a small accumulation of air does accumulate above piston 112 , compression of that air accumulation upon return of piston 112 to its start position at the top of cylinder 110 will cause the air accumulation to flow past seal 134 thereby preventing a compressive air lock above piston 112 . although the two embodiments described immediately above are preferred embodiments to prevent the accumulation of entrapped air above piston assembly 111 , any other known suitable check valve mechanism may be used whereby entrapped air is permitted to escape to the atmosphere upon return of piston assembly 111 to its start position and wherein a vacuum is created during the power stroke of piston assembly 111 . for example see fig1 b wherein the check valve type of annular seal 134 , of fig1 a , has been replaced by a typical sealing o - ring 138 and a simple flap type check valve 130 which will permit entrapped air to be exhausted from orifice 131 during return of piston 112 to its start position . since the power stroke is relatively fast acting with a rapid return of piston assembly 111 to its start position , it is possible to eliminate check valve flap 130 and size orifice 131 such that the small amount of air that enters the cylinder during the power stroke does not sufficiently affect the resulting vacuum whereby sufficient vacuum remains to return piston assembly 111 to its start position and the air that has accumulated between piston assembly 111 and end cap 119 is exhausted through orifice 131 as piston assembly 111 returns to its start position . having shown and described the preferred embodiments of the present invention , further adaptation of the method and structure taught herein may be accomplished by appropriate modifications by one of ordinary skill in the art without departing from the scope of the present invention . accordingly , the scope of the present invention should be considered in terms of the following claims and is understood not to be limited to the specific structures and methods described in the specification and / or shown in the attached drawings .	1
fig1 shows the top view of the crevice tool where it can be seen that there is a tapered male end 1 at one end , transitioning into the flat air chamber or of the crevice tool 2 , through which debris laden air will pass from the suction slots 4 and 6 , through the tapered male end 1 of the tool , and into the vacuum cleaner to which it is attached . fig2 illustrates the nubs 5 protruding from the top and bottom surfaces of the crevice tool 2 , which , when raked over a debris ridden surface , will dislodge said debris and , using the air movement caused by the vacuum cleaner through suction transferred to the suction slots 4 and 6 , will become air born in the immediate vicinity from where the debris particles were dislodged , causing said particles to move into the air chambers and consequently be removed from the areas being vacuumed . fig3 illustrates the air slit 6 at the end of the invention and an end view of a support rib 7 extending lengthwise inside the air chamber . not previously mentioned , the supports ribs assist in keeping the airway open for free - flowing , debris laden air , and create the individual air chambers 8 for each set of slots . fig4 shows a top cutaway view of the invention where it can be seen that there are individual air channels 8 leading from the air slots 4 and 6 to the body of the crevice tool 2 , created by the support ribs 7 . these individual air channels work to equalize the suction provided to the suction slots . as previously stated , the concept of this invention is to provide a tool for use in vacuuming , where the tool can be applied within tight and confined areas , such as a crevice , or even under a refrigerator , or the like , and not only can roughen up the area , so as to loosen any accumulated dirt or dust , but then function to vacuum up the loosened debris , during the vacuuming process . this particular aspect of the crevice tool can be seen in fig5 and 6 , which includes an adaptor 9 which has a widened configuration at its upper end 10 and which is capable of attachment to the standard vacuum cleaning accessory , usually the length of tube that extends down towards the end where other accessories are applied . the adaptor then continues into a transitional area , and it &# 39 ; s angulated , as at 11 , and then reasonably flattens , as at 12 , into the configuration as noted . the adaptor , at its flattened end 12 , is then capable of cooperating with an extension 13 , the crevice tool 2 or the “ paw ” 19 , as noted in fig7 . the extension is designed to provide for insertion of the crevice tool deeply between and into confined spaces , as can be understood . the flattened end 12 of the adaptor accepts the insertion of the other three components into a corresponding end , as can be seen . the extension 13 may include reinforcement , as at 15 , internally along its length , either by formed ridges , or a length of integrally molded reinforcement means , to maintain the separation of the flattened extensions 13 , as can be noted . obviously , the extension 13 has at least one channel , internally , as at 16 and 17 , for the vacuumed debris to enter therein and pass therethrough , during usage of the vacuuming device . the opposite end of the extension , as at 18 , is of a reduced dimension , as can be noted . the reduced dimension provides for its insertion or interconnection with the terminal end of the crevice tool , as to be subsequently described . as can be seen in fig9 , the reinforcement means , as at 15 , can be seen at the reduced end 18 for the extension 13 . obviously , the reinforcement may be a midpoint wall that extends the length of the extension , or it may be a series of post , molded along its length , that simply provides a reinforcement to maintain the spacing between the upper and lower walls for the extension , during its usage , and to minimize the chance that the extension can be crushed , or pulled by vacuum force into closure , which would be undesirable for the operations of the crevice tool during usage for a vacuuming operation . fig1 shows a terminal end 19 for the invention . as noted , it does have a paw like configuration , and has a reduced end , as at 20 , which can slide into the female end 18 of the extension , when the entire tool is assembled for usage . then , the end 19 is widened , and affords a series of openings , as at 21 , into its interior , that allows for the sucking up of any debris into the terminal end , through the extension , and its adaptor , and into the vacuuming device for disposal . there may be a series of projections , some as shown at 22 , that may be provided upon the upper surface , or the lower surface , or both , of the terminal end 19 . these projections can also be provided over the entire surfaces of the end , for the purpose of abrasively rubbing against any debris , dust , or other accumulated dirt , that needs to be loosened , and to keep a separation of the openings from flat surfaces to give room for air flow so that the vacuuming device can absorb the loosened dirt into this terminal end 19 , through its apertures or ports 21 , when vacuuming dirt during usage of the vacuuming device . fig1 shows a backend view of the terminal end 19 , and shows the reduced end 20 , and how it leads into the hollow interior of the end 19 , so as to provide for a vacuuming thereat , to draw debris into the end 19 , during operations of the vacuuming means . in addition , there may be reinforcement within the end 19 , that may provide for maintenance of the spacing between the upper surface 23 and the lower surface 24 , of the end , to assure that it is maintained opened , and can attract and draw the removable debris from the area being vacuumed , through the terminal end , the extension of the tool , its adaptor , and into the vacuuming device . therefore , it will be understood that the present invention should be interpreted in a broad manner , its breadth being determined only by the terms of the claims . obviously , variations or modifications to the subject matter of this invention may occur to those skilled in the art upon review of the summary as provided herein , and upon undertaken a study of the description of its preferred embodiment . such variations , if within the spirit of this invention , are intended to be encompassed within the scope of any claims to patent protection issuing hereon . the description of the preferred embodiment , in view of the drawings , is set forth for illustrative purposes only .	0
referring first to fig1 , a conventional rfid tag 10 is shown to include a substrate 12 supporting an ic ( integrated circuit ) package 13 having edge contact arrays 16 , 18 . a pair of rigid metallic conductive coiled antenna arms 20 , 22 are electrically coupled to respective contact arrays 16 , 18 of the ic package 14 . the ic package includes an ic chip ( not shown ) of conventional construction for performing data memory and data transmitting functions . the contacts 16 , 18 are generally of serpentine configuration extending from the ic chip and bending downward to remote ends supported by the substrate 12 . it is to those ends that the coil antenna arms 20 , 22 are coupled by soldering or other known techniques . the dipole antenna constituted by the coils 20 , 22 communicate data from the ic package 14 to an external reader . the tag 10 may be incorporated into sundry articles or products by embedding the tag 10 within the article or affixing the tag to the article by adhesive or other known techniques . coupling the tag 10 with an article or product allows information such as product identification data stored within the ic package to be accessed throughout the life cycle of the product . in some end use applications , the product is subjected to rigorous stresses and strains during normal use . such forces may cause the antenna arms 20 , 22 to separate from the ci contacts 16 , 18 and cause a malfunction . moreover , the material composition of the metallic coil antenna arms 20 , 22 , the substrate 12 , and the ic package 14 may be dissimilar to the material composition of the host article into which the tag is incorporated . in such an event , the tag is considered “ non - transparent ” and bonding the tag to a portion of the article or product may become problematic . failure of the bond may cause the entire tag to become separated from the article or product during use . fig2 shows one ic package 24 configured pursuant to the invention . the package includes an outer casing 26 enclosing an ic chip ( not shown ) from which arrays of contact arms 28 , 30 extend in coplanar linear form . the arrays of contacts 28 , 30 extend through opposite sides of the casing 26 as shown . each of the contact arms 28 , 30 are elongate and are preferably , although not necessarily , of a straight , non - serpentine configuration , unlike the contacts 16 , 18 of the device 14 shown in fig1 . as used herein , “ electronic device ” is used interchangeably with “ ic package ” and refers to the ic circuitry and contacts used in the performance of tag functions such as identification data storage and transmission . the electronic device may include an outer casing 26 as shown in fig2 or may be configured without a casing as shown in fig4 as will be explained . with reference to fig3 a , the subject tag 32 is shown . ic package or device 24 is positioned in line with a pair of antenna arms 34 , 36 . the antenna arms 34 . 36 are composed of a conductive rubber compound or matrix from commercially available solid or liquid conductive rubber products such as , but not limited to , zoflex ( manufactured and sold by xilor inc ., and located in knoxville , tenn . the antenna arms 34 , 36 are connected to the rfid electronics at respective arrays of contacts . 28 , 30 . connection is established by encasing the contacts 28 , 30 within inward ends 38 , 40 of the arms 34 , 36 , respectively . the arms 34 , 36 are of flexible conductive rubber construction having a thickness or width d at inward ends 38 , 40 sufficient to encase the contacts 28 , 30 and to overlap respective opposite ends of the electronic device or ic package 24 . that is , the depth , width d , is wider than the ic package 24 whereby allowing the antenna arm inward ends 38 , 40 to extend over opposite sides and edges of the ic package 24 as seen from fig3 a . fig3 b shows the placement of a separator component 42 about the ic package 24 . the component 42 encases the ic package 24 and is composed of non - conductive material such as a non - conductive rubber . the component 42 thus electrically separates the antenna arms 34 , 36 and further serves to protect the ic package 24 . preferably , although not necessarily , ends 44 , 46 of the separator component 42 will overlap the ends 38 , 40 of the arms 34 , 36 , thus creating a complete rubber - based casing of the entire tag assembly . that is , the entire tag 32 is sheathed in a rubber base that will be transparent when embedded into an article or product such as a tire that is composed primarily of rubber . the rfid tag 32 thereby lends itself to a low cost method of production such as an extrusion process in which the conductive arm 34 , ic device 24 , non - conductive separator component 42 , and conductive arm 36 are sequentially extruded into a finished tag . the resultant tag will be flexible and bond better and more easily into a rubber product such as a tire . moreover , because the components are of rubber materials , the tag is more non - obtrusive within a tire portion such as a wall , making the bonding of the tag to the tire stronger and less prone to failure . the risk of tag separation from the tire is thereby minimized . fig3 a and 3b show a tag embodiment in which the electronics is encased . fig4 and 5 show an alternative tag embodiment 48 that eliminates the encasement package of the electronics and affixes flexible conductive rubber - based antenna arms 56 , 58 directly to edge contacts 52 , 54 of an integrated circuit 50 . the ic 50 has arrays of contacts 52 , 54 along opposite edges . the antenna arms 56 , 58 composed as described above from flexible conductive rubber . inward ends 60 , 62 of the arms 56 , 58 affix over the edges of the ic and thereby establish electrical contact . the diameter or thickness of the arms 56 , 58 is greater than the thickness of the ic 50 . a separator 64 , as shown by fig5 , encases the ic 50 and is dimensioned to overlap the inward ends 60 , 62 of the arms 56 , 58 . the separator component 64 is formed of non - conductive material such as rubber . the resulting tag shown in fig5 is thus completely encased by a material ( rubber ) compatible with and transparent to the material of a host rubber article such as a tire . the ic 50 is further protected by the flexible external sheath created by the arms 56 , 58 and the separator component 64 . the tag 48 can be inserted in its entirety within a wall of an article or product such as a tire sidewall . the rfid tag becomes transparent when embedded into the tires because tires are likewise composed primarily of rubber having generally the same mechanical and material properties as the tag antenna arms 56 , 58 . as a result , performance of the tire is not degraded by the presence of the tag 48 and a bonding of the tag within a tire sidewall is less likely to fail over time from tire use . compatibility is used herein to mean materials having like mechanical and material properties . compatibility between the tag 48 composition and that of the host tire product portion into which the tag is embedded thus creates a desired transparency between the tag and the tire . the tag 48 may be completely embedded within a wall of the tire ; partially embedded ; or externally affixed by adhesive or other means . when completely embedded , the flexibility of the tag will complement the flexibility the surrounding tire wall ( i . e . become transparent ). if partially embedded , a portion of the tag 48 will remain exposed . if affixed by adhesive , the tag 48 will be exposed to the ambient air cavity . it is commonplace to internally mount an rfid to either a tire sidewall defining the tire cavity or to an underside of the tire tread tire portion defining the cavity . so positioned , the tag 48 is proximate to the tire cavity that becomes pressurized when the tire is mounted to a wheel . it is contemplated that the tag , whether in the configuration 32 or 48 , when mounted to tire , will function to transmit product identification data , when subjected to an interrogation signal , to a remote reader by means of the dipole antenna arms 34 , 36 ( fig3 a , 3 b ) or 56 , 68 ( fig4 , 5 ). the use of the rfid tag may be extended if desired for deployment as a low cost , durable and passive ( requiring no internal power source ) pressure sensor for detecting air pressure within an adjacent pressurized ambient air mass . in a tire , the tag can serve as a pressure sensor for measuring the air pressure within a tire cavity . for use as a pressure sensor in a tire , the tag antenna arms are composed of a flexible , electrically conductive , and pressure sensitive material such as conductive polymers or a pressure sensitive polymer . such a material is commercially available from xilor , inc . the signal strength returned from the rfid tag when it is interrogated will vary based on the surrounding pressure brought to bear on the tag antenna arms because the impedance of the rubber changes with pressure . if the rfid tag and its antenna arms are completely embedded within a rubber composed wall of an article or product , the rfid tag by varying signal strength will indicated changes of pressure within that wall bearing upon the tag . in the case of measuring tire cavity air pressure , the tag may be embedded within a wall of the tire defining the tire cavity . changes in air pressure within the cavity will change compression forces within the tire walls defining the tire and will thereby vary the compressive forces bearing on the antenna arms . the change in compression forces on the tag antenna arms will be reflected in a variance in signal strength , whereby serving to communicate tire cavity air pressure . the rfid tag may also be partially embedded within the tire wall such that a portion or the entirety of the antenna arms remain exposed to the ambient air mass within the tire cavity . in this system , changes in tire cavity air pressure will directly impact against the tag antenna arms and change impedance of the rubber therein . the change in signal strength can be detected by an external reader and calculations made to determine the air pressure within the cavity that correlates with the impedance values within the antenna arm rubber . likewise , the tag may be mounted against the tire sidewall by adhesive agents or the like , and a similar procedure used to measure the signal variation resulting from pressure changes against the tag antenna arms . in the aforementioned pressure sensor applications , as seen from the block diagram of fig6 , it is necessary to first study and calculate the conductive rubber within the antenna arms and how the impedance will vary according to pressure on the arms . once such a study and calculations are completed , pressure sensor application of the tag within a product and article can be made . an interrogation of the tag from an external signal will result in data transmission from the tag to a reader . the transmission signal can then be analyzed and , from its strength , the impedance of the antenna arms deduced . from the impedance value thus calculated , the pressure against the antenna arms may be determined and a conclusion of air pressure within the tire cavity necessary to produce such a pressure on the arms can be calculated . with specific reference to fig6 , the procedure for implementing a pressure sensor tag application is as follows calculate impedance of tag rubber antenna arms ; calculate changes in antenna arm impedance resulting from changes in pressure exerted on antenna arms ; determine changes in tag transmission signal strength from changes in antenna arm impedance ; incorporate tag into rubber - based tire wall defining pressurized tire cavity ; interrogate tag to initiate return data signal ; measure strength of return data signal ; calculate impedance of antenna arms required to result in measured data signal strength ; determine pressure exerted on antenna arms required to result in calculated antenna arm impedance ; calculate air pressure within the tire cavity required to generate pressure exerted on antenna arms . variations in the present invention are possible in light of the description of it provided herein . while certain representative embodiments and details have been shown for the purpose of illustrating the subject invention , it will be apparent to those skilled in this art that various changes and modifications can be made therein without departing from the scope of the subject invention . it is , therefore , to be understood that changes can be made in the particular embodiments described which will be within the full intended scope of the invention as defined by the following appended claims .	6
referring now to fig1 the present invention is shown generally at 10 as applied to a turbofan engine 11 which includes a fan rotor 12 and a core engine rotor 13 . the fan rotor 11 includes on its forward end a plurality of fan blades 14 , and on its aft end a low pressure or fan turbine 16 which drives the fan blades through a turbine shaft 17 in a well - known manner . the core engine rotor 13 includes on its forward end a compressor 18 and on is aft end a power or high pressure turbine 19 which drives the compressor through the compressor shaft 21 . between the compressor and the turbine , there is provided a combustor 22 which combines the fuel with the air flow and ignites the mixture to inject thermal energy into the system . in operation , air enters the gas turbine engine 11 through an air inlet 23 provided by means of a suitable cowling or nacelle 24 which surrounds the fan rotor 12 . air entering the inlet 23 is compressed by means of the rotation of the fan blades 14 and thereafter is split between an annular passageway 26 defined by the fan duct casing 24 and the core engine casing 27 , and a core engine passageway 28 having its external boundary defined by the core engine casing 27 . pressurized air which enters the core engine passageway 28 is further pressurized by means of the compressor 18 and is thereafter ignited along with high energy fuel in the combustor 22 . this highly energized gas stream then flows through the high pressure turbine 19 to drive the compressor 18 and thereafter through the fan turbine 16 to drive the fan blades 14 . the gas is then passed out the main nozzle 29 to provide propulsion forces to the engine in a manner well known in the art . additional propulsive force is gained by the exhaust of pressurized air from the annular passage 26 . a fuel control system 32 is provided to regulate the fuel flow through the combustor 22 so as to govern engine speed , control acceleration and deceleration rates , and compensate for altitude , compressor inlet temperature and compressor discharge pressure variations . the fuel control functions in response to compressor inlet temperature ( t25 ), core engine speed ( xnh ), compressor discharge pressure ( cdp ) and power demand input , the signals being transmitted along lines 33 , 34 , 35 and 36 , respectively . it will , of course , be understood that additional input signals may be provided to the fuel control system , or alternate signals can be used . for example , it is common to provide to the fuel control system a signal representative of the turbine gas temperature so as to limit the fuel flow to prevent excessive temperatures in the turbine . as another example , instead of sensing the core engine speed as described , the fan speed may instead be sensed and the representative signal applied to the fuel control system . in any case , the fuel control system 32 functions to regulate the flow of fuel to the combustor 22 by way of signals transmitted along line 37 . the present invention is concerned with the modification of the acceleration fuel flow schedule to obtain improved performance characteristics during certain periods of operation . the improvement includes a biasing apparatus 38 which receives signals representative of certain engine operating parameters , and delivers a resultant signal along line 39 to the fuel control system 32 to modify the fuel schedule accordingly . in order to accomplish the object of the present invention it is desirable that the bias apparatus 38 operates in response to the amount of air which is bled off from the compressor . this amount can be represented by the ratio of the compressor discharge static pressure ( cdp ) to the static pressure in the bleed pipe ( cbp ). these signals are , therefore , sensed in the engine and the representative signals are transmitted along lines 41 and 42 , respectively . operation of the biasing apparatus 38 will be more fully explained hereinafter . referring now to fig2 a compressor map of a typical gas turbine engine is shown for both steady - state and accelerating periods of operation , and either with a certain amount of compressor bleed or without any bleed . the line a represents the steady - state operating line when no air is being bled off of the compressor . line b represents operation of the engine during periods of acceleration without any compressor bleed , wherein rotor acceleration torque is increased and compressor stall margin is decreased . to ensure that the engine is always operating within the range of its capabilities , it is designed such that there always remains a given amount of compressor stall margin during an acceleration period with zero compressor bleed . this necessary stall margin is maintained by way of an acceleration schedule as shown in fig3 . here the fuel flow during steady - state operation with zero bleed is shown by the line e , and the fuel flow schedule during acceleration with zero bleed is shown by the line f . referring back to fig2 a second pair of graphs c and d represent the engine operation during steady - state and accelerating periods of operation , respectively , with a certain amount of air being bled off from the compressor . it will be noted that for a given amount of compressor bleed , the stall margin is increased for either stedy - state or accelerating periods of operation . it is this gain in stall margin which is occasioned by the bleeding of compressor air , that the present invention contemplates for use in obtaining increased performance capabilities . this is accomplished by enriching the fuel flow schedule as a function of the amount of air that is bled off , thereby consuming the stall margin that is gained but is not needed for safe and proper operation . it will be understood that if the fuel schedule is increased in such a manner as to consume the entire stall margin gain , then the engine will be made to follow the same acceleration trajectory on a compressor map regardless of whether there is bleed or not . thi increased fuel schedules for steady - state and accelerating periods of operation are shown by the graphs g and h , respectively , in fig3 . fig4 is a schematic illustration which shows the biasing apparatus 38 as it is connected within the engine control system to modify the acceleration schedule in the manner desired . the fuel control apparatus 32 receives signals representative of engine operation parameters including the compressor speed ( xnh ), compressor inlet temperature ( t25 ) and compressor discharge pressure ( cdp ) to obtain a typical wfm / cdp acceleration fuel schedule . concurrently , the compressor discharge static pressure ( cdp ), and the static pressure in the compressor bleed pipe ( cbp ) are sensed and a ratio of the two is obtained by applying the signals to a conventional divider 43 . the resultant cdp / cbp signal is then representative of the amount of air that is bled off the compressor . in particular , this ratio has been found to correspond very closely to the percent of compressor bleed flow ( wb / w25 wherein wb equals the amount of air bled off and w25 represents the core air flow ). the cdp / cbp signal is then received by the biasing apparatus 38 which applies an appropriate modification thereto to obtain a bias multiplier m for appropriately modifying the acceleration schedule . it has been found that an acceleration schedule multiplier which is equal to one plus the quantity of a constant times the compressor bleed ratio wb / w25 , will maintain essentially a constant acceleration trajectory on the compressor map . an acceleration schedule multiplier calculated in this manner results in an increase in the acceleration schedule which is larger than the increase in the steady - state wfm / cdp due to the compressor bleed . thus , it is possible to have a higher power extraction capability with bleed than without . accordingly , the biasing multiplier is modified appropriately so as to maintain the desired margin between the steady - state fuel flow and the biased acceleration schedule for a given amount of compressor bleed . it should be noted that although the above description is made in terms of an aircraft gas turbine engine , the present invention may be applicable to any gas turbine engine power plant such as that used for marine and industrial applications . the above description of the engine is thus merely illustrative of the type of engine to which the present invention is applicable . while a preferred embodiment of the present invention has been depicted and described , it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that many modifications , substitutions , and changes may be made thereto without departing from the true spirit and scope of the invention . for example , although the invention has been described in terms of use with a turbofan engine , it will be understood that it may just as well be used with a turbojet engine . also , the invention may be applied to engines having a control mode other than that of a core speed schedule , as for example an engine controlled to a fan speed schedule . therefore , having described a preferred embodiment of the engine , what is desired to be secured by letters patent of the united states is as follows :	5
referring more specifically to the drawings , for illustrative purposes the present invention is embodied in the systems , apparatuses , and methods generally described with reference to fig1 through fig1 . it will be appreciated that the systems , apparatuses , and methods may vary as to the specific structures , steps and sequence , without departing from the basic concepts as disclosed herein . in one exemplary embodiment , the present invention comprises a rate control method having the following two primary objectives : ( 1 ) to control the average bit rate to achieve a target average bit rate provided by a user , and ( 2 ) to control the relative fluctuation of psnr of the pictures within a group of pictures ( gop ). the first objective of this embodiment is to control the average bit rate of a compressed bitstream toward maintaining a target average bit rate . in order to understand what is meant by “ controlling the average bit rate to achieve a target average bit rate ”, it is important to understand certain basic operations of the avc hypothetical reference decoder ( hrd ). fig1 illustrates a model 10 for an encoder - decoder relationship for constant bit rate control regulation having an encoder 12 whose output is received through connection 14 by a coded picture buffer ( cpb ) buffer 16 . in response to transmission over a constant bit rate channel 18 , data from an encoder cpb 16 is received in a decoder cpb 20 and passed through connection 22 to a decoder 24 . for fixed picture rate and constant bit rate encoding , the hrd specification infers that the encoder cpb 16 fullness is initially empty . then on receiving picture 0 , encoder 12 encodes the picture and immediately generates a compressed representation of the picture . the compressed bits are immediately inserted into encoder cpb 16 . after a time delay from the encoding time of picture 0 , as specified by the initial_cpb_removal_delay offset , the encoder cpb starts transmitting the bitstream at a constant bit rate over channel 18 to decoder cpb 20 . after the encoding of picture 0 , encoder 12 encodes the other pictures at a fixed picture rate . at each picture , the compressed bits are immediately encoded and inserted in encoder cpb 16 and the bitstreams are continuously transmitted to decoder cpb 20 at a fixed bit rate . after a delay time , such as specified by the initial_cpb_removal_delay , after the first bit of the bitstream arrives at decoder cpb 20 , wherein decoder 24 immediately decodes the bitstream and generates decompressed picture 0 . after decoding of picture 0 , decoder 24 decodes the other pictures at a fixed picture rate . at each picture , the compressed bits are immediately removed from decoder cpb 20 and decoded by decoder 24 to generate the decoded pictures . a condition for meeting the hrd requirements for constant bit rate and constant frame rate encoding is that the decoder cpb fullness should not be allowed to overflow or underflow at any time . the objective of a rate control mechanism for achieving a constant bit rate is to control encoder operation so that it generates a bitstream at a rate at which proper filling of the receiving cpb buffer is maintained , preventing cpb overflows and underflows , in response to transmitting the bitstream through a constant bit rate channel as shown in fig1 . theoretically , controlling the quantization parameter ( qp ) alone generally is not sufficient to avoid buffer overflow and underflow , and other means should be incorporated within the encoder to eliminate the possibility of cpb overflow and underflow . in general , cpb overflow can be eliminated by bit stuffing , and cpb underflow can be eliminated by scaling down the amplitude of the dct coefficients or by selectively throwing away dct coefficients of a macroblock in the encoder . an embodiment of an approach taken herein to avoid cpb overflow and underflow is to control the estimated number of bits generated in a group of pictures ( gop ). let n i , n p , n b , be the number of i , p , b pictures in a gop , and let r i , r p , r b be the number of bits to be generated for the i , p , b pictures and let r gop be the number of bits for the current gop . in order to control the number of bits in a gop , it is desirable to have the following relation hold : fig2 is a graph 30 of relative distortion wherein the reference psnr s r 38 is shown together with the relative psnr δ i 32 , δ b 34 , δ p 36 showing the cyclic variations of psnr of the i , p , b frames in a gop . in this aspect of the invention , the psnr is controlled in response to difference with respect to a floating reference psnr , the differences being shown as δ i , δ b , δ p . the second objective of the rate control method is to control the ( psnr ) variation of the frames . as shown in the representative figure , the reference psnr s r 38 in conjunction with the relative psnr δ i , δ b and δ p ( 32 , 34 , 36 ), respectively , between the i , b , and p frames is a means to control the psnr fluctuation of the frames in a gop to a specified level . in particular , it is desired to control the psnr given by s i , s p , s b , of the i , p , and b pictures so that : the relative psnr δ i , δ b and δ p can be received as user - supplied configuration parameters , or set by alternative means . for example , if it is desirable to have the psnr of the i picture to be 1 db higher than the p pictures and the psnr of the b pictures to be 1 db lower than the p pictures , then one may select δ i = 1 . 0 db , δ p = 0 . 0 db and δ b =− 1 . 0 db . with this particular selection , the reference psnr s r is the same as the target psnr of the p pictures . fig3 is a generalized synopsis of a frame level rate control system , apparatus or method 50 according to an implementation of the present invention . it will be appreciated that the method can be implemented within a system or apparatus , such as an encoding apparatus containing a computer processing element and memory , wherein programming from the memory is executable on said computer processor for carrying out the operations described below . in addition , the invention can be implemented as programming retained on a computer readable media configured for execution on a computer processing element within any compatible encoder . for the sake of simplicity , the invention is generally described in terms of method steps . again , however , the method can and would be typically carried out in a system or apparatus ( e . g ., hardware with executable software ). the exemplary method shown in fig3 determines a quantization parameter ( qp ) for encoding a frame to maintain a stable relative psnr while achieving a given target bit rate . in particular , before the encoding of a frame , the rate control method determines a qp for the pictures in a frame based on the rate - distortion characteristics of the video sequence and the coded picture buffer ( cpb ) fullness of the avc encoder . then after the encoding of the pictures in a frame , the rate control programming updates the rate - distortion models of the video sequence and the cpb fullness . it will be appreciated that this rate control method is distinct and differs markedly from conventional mechanisms which determine the picture qp based on the number of bits allocated to a picture . instead , this algorithm determines the picture qp based on psnr allocated to the picture , such as in the following manner . as shown in fig3 , before the encoding of a frame , the rate control programming first allocates a number of bits to the current group of pictures ( gop ), as represented in block 52 , in a sliding window based on cpb fullness . if the cpb fullness is higher than expected , additional bits are allocated to decrease the cpb fullness . if the cpb fullness is lower than expected , fewer bits are allocated to increase cpb fullness . target gop bit allocation is then translated to a reference psnr s r of the frames in a gop based on the rate - distortion characteristics of the previously encoded frames , as per block 54 . after the reference psnr s r is determined , it is translated to the target psnr of the current frame as per block 56 . if the current frame has the picture type xε { i , p , b } wherein δx ε { δi , δp , δb }, then the target psnr of the current picture is given by : the target psnr is mapped into the quantization parameter ( qp ), thus modulating qp for encoding the current picture as shown in block 58 . experimentally , for the present invention it has been determined that for qp ≧ 10 , the points of ( qp , ŝ x ) of the current picture lies approximately on a straight line with negative slope . by tracking the location of the straight line , qp is determined which corresponds to the target psnr ŝ x , and this qp is used to encode every macroblock in the pictures within the current frame as per block 60 . the programming then updates the rate distortion models based on distortion as shown in block 62 to modulate the operation of blocks 54 , 58 ; and updates the cpb fullness value as per block 64 based on rate information , which in turn modulates gop bit allocations represented by block 52 . fig4 illustrates that the psnr and qp relationship of the current picture lies approximately on a straight line through the actual psnr and quantization step size of the previously encoded frame for a given picture type . a simple and effective algorithm for tracking the straight line of the current frame is to assume that the current straight line has a pre - determined slope with the point ( qp n - 1 , ŝ x , n - 1 ), where qp n - 1 is the quantization step size and ŝ x , n - 1 is the measured psnr of the previously encoded frame of the same type x ε { i , p , b }. another more effective method for tracking the straight line of the current frame is to assume that the current straight line has a pre - determined fixed point , ( qp xf , s xf ) and the point ( qp x , n - 1 , ŝ x , n - 1 ), where qp x , n - 1 is the quantization step size and ŝ x , n - 1 is the measured psnr of the previously encoded frame of the same type x ε { i , p , b }. experimentally , the fixed point is found to be located at qp if = qp pf = qp bf = 0 , and s if = 57 db , s pf = s bf = 54 db . after encoding of the pictures in the current frame , the bit count and the psnr of the current frame is measured . the bit count and psnr are used to keep track of the rate - distortion model and psnr - qp model of the current frame . the bit count is also used to keep track of the coded picture buffer ( cpb ) fullness of the decoder . fig5 through fig1 illustrate an exemplary implementation of the invention and depict further exemplary features and aspects . fig5 depicts a flowchart of an implementation 70 of a rate control method according to the invention . rate control is initialized as represented in block 72 , after which the gop bits are allocated in block 74 and the frame qp is determined in block 76 . a picture is encoded as per block 78 and statistics , such as rate and distortion of the pictures in the current frame , is accumulated at block 80 . a check is made at block 82 , wherein if not all pictures in a frame have been encoded , then execution returns to block 78 . however , if all pictures in a frame are encoded , then the rate control model is updated as shown in block 84 , whereafter a check is performed on the frames in the video sequence . if all frames in the video sequence have been encoded , then execution is completed as per block 88 , otherwise execution returns to block 74 to advance the encoding to a subsequent frame . the operations performed by a number of these blocks is outlined below . the process of initializing rate control ( init_rate_control ) as represented by block 72 is preferably performed according to the following steps . assume a bit ratio between i , p , b frames , as given by : where for this invention , an i frame is defined as a frame structured intra - coded picture or a field structured field pair containing one intra - coded field picture and one forwardly predicted field picture . given r gop the rate r x , x ε { i , p , b }, is based on allocating target bits to the first i , p , b frames . determine first qp x based on the following equation , wherein b i = b p = b b = 4 . 7 , and a i = 24 , a p = a b = 19 . fig6 illustrates aspects of allocating gop bits ( alloc_gop_bits ), as represented by block 74 of fig5 , by adjusting gop bits at each frame interval based on cpb fullness . it can be seen from the graph that fewer bits are allocated when the cpb is empty and more bits when cpb is full . the slope of the relation is equal to a value referred to cpb_feedback_gain . the determination of frame qp , as shown in block 76 of fig5 , is determined by target distortion of the current picture based on ( a ) target gop bits ; ( b ) rate - distortion models ; and ( c ) relative distortion between i , p , b frames . the target distortion is then converted to qp , and each picture in a frame is encoded as was shown by block 78 of fig5 . fig7 depicts a rate distortion model showing log ( r x ) as a function of log ( d x ) which is approximated as a straight line with slope equal to − λ x . fig8 depicts a rate distortion model in response to a plurality of video sequences based on the rate method of the present invention . the graph illustrates that the straight line approximation of the relationship of log ( r x ) and log ( d x ) in fig7 is a reasonable one but not a highly accurate one . the accuracy or the approximation improves when the range of the rate value under consideration is made smaller . the graph also demonstrates that using a rate - distortion relationship to perform bit allocation is probably not a robust approach . fig9 illustrates a distortion qp model of log ( d x ) with respect to qp x approximated by a straight line . an initial point ( qp 0 , log ( d x0 )) is shown on the distortion qp model line . fig1 depicts examples of the distortion qp model for the i , p , b picture from four ( 4 ) video sequences , the data points being substantially overlapping . the graph illustrates that the straight line approximation of the relationship of log ( d x ) and qp for qp ≧ 10 is very accurate , and implies that rate control based on the distortion - qp relationship is robust . fig1 is a rate qp model of log ( r x ) with respect to qp x approximated by a straight line . an initial point ( qp x0 , log ( r x0 )) is shown on the rate qp model line . fig1 depicts examples of the rate - qp model executed for the i , p , b picture from four ( 4 ) different example video sequences . the graph illustrates that the straight line approximation of the relationship of log ( r x ) and qp in fig1 is a reasonable one but not a highly accurate one . the accuracy or the approximation improves when the range of rate in consideration is made smaller . the graph also demonstrates that using rate - qp relationship to perform bit rate may not be robust . the process of converting gop bits to distortion is preferably performed according to the following equations , in which d is the reference distortion , α x is the relative distortion and the slope λ x , of the log ( r x )− log ( d x ) relationship depicted in fig7 , is assumed the same for i , p and b so that λ i = λ p = λ b = λ it should be noted that the above gop equation was already given as eq . 1 . the conversion of distortion to qp can be described according to the present invention by the following equations , with m pixels per frame , the slope s , of the log ( d x )− qp x relationship depicted in fig4 , and a pre - determined constant parameter t to reduce the fluctuation of qp x . the slope s x is a picture dependent value which is assumed constant or estimated from the slope of the line between the point ( qp x0 , s x0 ) and the corresponding pre - determined fixed point ( qp sf , s xf ), so that : the process of setting the picture final result ( get_picture_statistics ), as represented by block 80 of fig5 , is performed by ( a ) summing rate and distortion of all pictures in a frame ; ( b ) updating the cpb fullness at t − and t + . fig1 illustrates an example of the cpb fullness in the decoder over time for encoding constant frame rate video . it should be noted that at location ( a ) within fig1 , cpb ( t − )= cpb ( 0 − )+ total_bits_transmitted ( t + )− total_bits_encoded (( t − 1 ) + ), while at location ( b ) cpb ( t + )= cpb ( t − )− pic_bits ( t ). the cpb ( t − ) is the cpb fullness as shown in fig6 for determining the target bits for gop . rate control models are updated ( update_rate_control models ) as shown in block 84 of fig5 , comprising the following steps . based on the measured rate and distortion , the rate distortion models are updated for the i , p and b frames . making the assumption that λ i = λ p = λ b = λ , the partial terms for allocation of picture bits ( alloc_pic_bits ) is determined and saved as : qp x , r x , ( d x α x ) λ x , n x r x ( d x α x ) λ x the cpb fullness is then corrected in response to a desired time period or rate , for example every 1001 seconds according to cpb ( t − )= cpb ( 0 − )+( bits_transmitted ( t + )− 1001 * bit_rate )−( bits_encoded (( t − 1 ) + )− 1001 * bit 13 rate ) to avoid drifting caused by finite precision arithmetic . the cpb fullness is corrected periodically ( e . g ., based on predetermined periods , variable periods , events , and so forth ), for example as implemented in this case to correct cpb fullness every 1001 seconds . an assumption can be made that the scaled_frame_rate = 1001 * frame_rate is an integer quantity and that bit_rate is an integer . then every 1001 seconds , update cpb (( t + 1 ) − )= bit_rate * 1001 − bits_encoded + cpb ( 0 − ), and then reset bits_encoded = bits_encoded − bit_rate * 1001 and bits_transmitted = 0 . 0 . although the description above contains many details , these should not be construed as limiting the scope of the invention but as merely providing illustrations of some of the presently preferred embodiments of this invention . therefore , it will be appreciated that the scope of the present invention fully encompasses other embodiments which may become obvious to those skilled in the art , and that the scope of the present invention is accordingly to be limited by nothing other than the appended claims , in which reference to an element in the singular is not intended to mean “ one and only one ” unless explicitly so stated , but rather “ one or more .” all structural and functional equivalents to the elements of the above - described preferred embodiment that are known to those of ordinary skill in the art are expressly incorporated herein by reference and are intended to be encompassed by the present claims . moreover , it is not necessary for a device or method to address each and every problem sought to be solved by the present invention , for it to be encompassed by the present claims . furthermore , no element , component , or method step in the present disclosure is intended to be dedicated to the public regardless of whether the element , component , or method step is explicitly recited in the claims . no claim element herein is to be construed under the provisions of 35 u . s . c . 112 , sixth paragraph , unless the element is expressly recited using the phrase “ means for .”	7
fig1 shows a transducer , or sensor , 10 which is mounted on the wall of a pipe , tank or vessel 12 , hereafter called a vessel . the vessel has a wall 14 of a given thickness d and an internal diameter d . the wall thickness d is of not great consequence since the system of the invention works with wall thicknesses up to about 1 / 2 inch thick and sometimes even greater , for various types of materials , e . g . steel . in addition , the internal diameter d of the vessel is of no great consequence since the system has successfully operated on containers as large as 55 gallon oil drums . generally , it can be said that the limiting factor for the invention is a combination of the following factors : ( 3 ) the material of the wall , with plastics and composites absorbing more energy ; ( 5 ) the particular type of medium within the pipe or vessel , this being important since sonic energy is transmitted or dissipated to greater or lesser degrees depending upon the type of liquid through which the energy is transmitted . for example , a highly aerated liquid , that is one containing bubbles , will not be as good a transmissive medium as an uncompressible medium , e . g . water or oil . further , a highly viscous medium is usually not as good a transmitter as a less viscous medium . the container 12 may be of any shape , e . g . square , rectangular , cylindrical , etc . in general , in systems using only a single transducer such as shown in fig1 the main criteria is that the energy can be reflected from a wall opposite the transducer , i . e . from the other side of the pipe or vessel , and returned to the original point of transmission . in a two transducer system , described below , is only necessary that the energy from one transducer be beamed across the vessel and through the portion where the liquid is to be present to the other transducer . additionally , with respect to a single transducer system , it should be understood that if there is an internal pipe or other object located within the vessel , e . g . a central rod , energy also can be reflected from that central rod back toward the transducer . the details of the transducer 10 are shown in fig1 and 2 . the transducer body 18 is made from epoxy or pvc material preferably by molding . epoxy is preferred since it can be molded very easily into a desired shape . the transducer 10 is shown as being generally rectangular in shape in the preferred embodiment although any other shape can be used , e . g . square , circular , etc . the transducer has therein a wafer of piezoelectric material 16 , i . e . material which converts electrical energy into mechanical ( ultrasonic ) energy and vice versa . suitable materials are pzt and barium titanate as is well known in the art . the piezoelectric wafer 16 is embedded in the body 18 by the body material and there is a thin front window 19 of the body material in front of the piezoelectric material . a pair of leads 20a , 20b are attached to electrodes , e . g . a film of metal ( not shown ) on the front and rear faces of the piezoelectric wafer . the leads are preferably the two conductors of a coaxial cable which extends to the electronic circuitry to be described with respect to fig3 . a slot 21 is molded in the body so that a clamping strap can be inserted therethrough , for example , the type of a clamp which is ordinarily used with automobile hoses or similar . the body includes a back plate member 23 and the strap is placed between the body 18 and the plate 23 and presses against the body 18 . in mounting the transducer 10 on the wall of the vessel 12 usually some coupling compound 24 is placed between the front window 19 and the vessel wall . this can be , for example , silicone grease , as is conventional in the art , or petroleum jelly . it should be understood that the strap extending through the slot 21 permits the transducer to be moved up and down along and around the vessel . this makes the transducer easy to mount and available to sense liquid at any point since the sensing point can be easily changed . if desired , permanent mounting of the transducer can be made by any suitable adhesive , such as epoxy . referring to fig3 the circuitry of the system includes a clock pulse generator 40 which produces bursts of ultrasonic energy in the form of rectangular clock pulses at a desired frequency . typical frequencies which have been found to work successfully are in the range of from about 3 mhz to about 5 mhz . while these frequencies may also be considered to be in the low radio frequency range , they are also considered to be ultrasonic in the sense that they are of higher frequency than sound waves and it is the mechanical properties of the energy which is relied upon rather than the electromagnetic properties . the wafer 16 of piezoelectric material is cut to be resonant at or near the frequency of the pulses from the pulse generator 40 . as indicated previously , the ultrasonic energy is damped if there is no liquid in the interior of the vessel 12 and it is transmitted through to the other wall of the vessel if there is a liquid present . assuming that there is no liquid within the vessel , the energy will be reflected from the inner face of the wall at the interior of the vessel back to the transducer as shown in the left - hand sectioned wall of fig1 . the time t for this to occur is equal to : v w = the velocity of the propogation of the ultrasonic energy in the wall . when liquid is present in the vessel , the ultrasonic energy will be transmitted through the wall , then into and through the liquid across the vessel diameter d to the opposite wall from which it is reflected back through the liquid toward the originating point and through the wall back to the transducer . in the presence of the liquid the energy is received from the opposite side of the container wall in a round trip time t = 2 ( d / v l + d / v w ), where : v l is the velocity of the energy in the liquid medium ; and upon receipt of the reflected energy , the transducer 10 converts it into an analog electrical signal at the original frequency which can be amplified . referring again to fig3 the clock pulse generator 40 is gated on for a predetermined time period by a monostable , self - triggering , one - shot multivibrator circuit 42 which produces a transmit window . the on time period for the clock pulse generator is from t 0 to t 2 as shown on line a of fig4 during which the clock pulses are provided to the transducer 10 for transmission through the vessel wall . the clock pulses are shown on line b . it should be understood that many more pulses than those shown are produced during this period . the one - shot multivibrator 42 is set to have an off period , as shown on line a of fig4 from t 2 back to t 0 of the next cycle during which no clock pulses are supplied to the transducer , but instead , the transducer is available to listen for received energy from either the wall of the vessel through which it is being transmitted or the reflected energy from the opposite wall when there is a liquid present . also , durng this off period , processing of the received signals is taking place . at the end of the transmit window , when the one - shot 42 changes state , the signal from its output is applied to the input of a triggered delay multivibrator 44 . the delay multivibrator 44 produces a predetermined delay inhibit period from t 2 to t 3 ( see line c of fig4 ). the inhibit period t 3 - t 2 corresponds to the time when pipe noise would normally be heard . this inhibit period can be eliminated to perform the self test , as described below . the output of the delay flip - flop , when it changes state , turns on a one - shot 46 at t 3 to produce a receive window enable signal on line 47 from t 3 to t 4 ( see line d of fig4 ). that is , when one shot 46 is in the first state a disable ( no receive ) signal is produced on its output line 47 and when in a second state an enable receive signal is produced on the same output line 47 . during the receive window period t 3 to t 4 , any reflected signals received from the opposite wall by transducer 10 are converted from acoustic energy into an analog rf signal are applied to the input of an amplifier 53 which can be any conventional analog amplifier . line e of fig4 shows the received signal which occurs during the receive window period t 3 to t 4 . this is of higher amplitude than the signal which is reflected back to the transducer from the vessel wall during the time starting from 2t d to some later time which is equal to or somewhat less than the duration of the burst of clock pulses . the output of the amplifier 53 is applied to a digitizer 55 . this is a conventional circuit which has a threshold detector and a pulse shaping , or squaring , circuit . the threshold detector is set above the level of noise in the system so that noise will not trigger the system . a squaring circuit squares received signal into pulses which can be counted . the output of the digitizer is applied to a gate , or and type , circuit 56 whose other input is from line 47 so that the gate is opened during the receive window period t 3 to t 4 . the receive window 60 from time t 3 to t 4 can be of any suitable selected duration . preferably , it is made somewhat less than the transmit window time t 0 to t 2 . it is also made to begin at a time t 3 which is sufficiently great to accommodate of energy transmit times for a variety of vessel diameters d . the circuit performs signal processing to discriminate against false alarms , i . e . providing a signal when liquid is present when it is not . this is done by a signal averaging technique which produces an output signal indicating the presence of a liquid only after the reflection of engergy back to the transducer has been confirmed for a predetermined number of times . as noted previously , if there is no liquid in the vessel , then during the receive window time , the amplitude of the signal received at the transducer will not be sufficient to exceed the threshold level of the digitizer 55 . therefore , there will be no pulses produced at the digitizer output . this is shown on line g of fig4 . assuming that there is liquid in the vessel and a signal is received by the transducer and converted to pulses during the receive window time , these pulses are provided to a divider - counter 60 . the divider - counter produces an output pulse for a predetermined arbitrary number of input pulses from the digitizer . the division ratio is selected as a function of the frequency of the transient signal and the time duration of signal averaging desired . for example , the divider - counter 60 can be structured to produce one output pulse for every four input pulses . the output of divider - counter 60 is applied to an overflow counter 62 . this counter is set to produce an output signal after receiving a predetermined number of pulses at its input from divider - dounter 62 . this output signal will be retained for all subsequent input signals until the counter is reset to zero . for example , the overflow count can be that which is equal to the pulses received from the divider - counter 60 after there has been a large number , say 100 , of bursts of energy transmitted into the vessel . thus , it takes 100 confirmations of the liquid being present before the overflow counter 62 produces an output signal . the output signal from counter 62 is applied to the set input of a flip - flop 64 . when the flip - flop is set , it produces an output signal which is used to energize some type of an indicator , such as a relay 66 . if necessary , power amplifiers can be located between the flip - flop output and the relay . when the relay is energized , it has been determined with a reasonable degree of certainty that liquid is present in the vessel . relay 66 can be used to perform any desired control . the relay is deenergized , if once energized and then the liquid is removed from the vessel to a point below the transducer , or is kept deenergized in the absence of a liquid in the vessel , by a control counter 68 , which is also of the overflow type . counter 68 increments its count by one each time there is a burst of transmitted energy , in respone to the triggering of the multivibrator 46 which sets the receive window . the control counter 68 has a reset input which is connected to the output of counter - divider 60 . the output of control counter 68 is applied to the reset input of the flip - flop 64 . if a return signal is being received by the transducer 10 , indicating that there is liquid in the vessel , then counter 68 is reset each time divider - counter 60 produces an output signal and the control counter produces no output signal . thus , the state of the flip - flop 64 is left set and the relay 66 is kept energized . if there is no liquid , or the liquid has dropped below the transducer level , then the counter - divider 60 will not produce a reset signal for control counter 68 . the count of control counter 68 will now be incremented by one each time there is a burst of energy transmitted and the counter will increment until its overflow level is reached at which time it will produce an output signal which will reset the flip - flop 64 and deenergize relay 66 . at the same time , its output signal is used to reset counter 62 so that it can start to increment from a zero level once the digitizer 55 produces output pulses in response to the occurrence of a liquid . the overflow count of counter 68 can be any suitable number . it should be noted that if the vessel was originally dry the digitizer 55 produces no output pulses , counter 62 does not overflow and the flip - flop 64 is never set . in this case , control counter 68 is not reset and is kept in the overflow state by the signal from multivibrator 46 at each transmit cycle . this keeps flip - flop 64 reset and relay 66 deenergized . if a dry vessel is filled with liquid to the level of the transducer , then the digitizer 55 produces pulses which reset control counter 68 and keep it from incrementing . the flip - flop 64 will temporarily stay in the reset condition , but after a time the counter 62 will be overflowed so that it produces a signal to set the flip - flop 64 and thereby energize the relay . the circuit has a self test capability which can be used to check the system . this is provided by disabling the delay multivibrator 44 as shown illustratively by bypassing it when switch 70 is closed . when this is done , the receive window is moved toward t 0 to occur at about the time 2t d when the reflected signal from the vessel wall is received ( see lines d , g and h of fig4 ). however , now the reflected signals from the vessel wall are digitized and divided by counter divider 62 which produces output pulses to increment counter 62 and energize relay 66 . this provides a self test of all of the electronic circuitry and the transducer . if the relay is not energized during the self test , then there is a defect in either the transducer or the electronic circuitry . even if a liquid is present in the vessel during self test , no reflected signals are processed since these signals cannot be passed from the digitizer to the signal processing circuitry since the receive window occurs earlier . if the vessel is dry , then there are no reflected signals to be processed . in some instances , e . g . a thick walled vessel , highly areated or highly viscous liquid , or large diameter vessels , the gain of the system must be increased in order to provide accurate operation . this can be accomplished in a variety of ways . for example , the power supplied to the transducer can be increased . sometimes , this is not feasible . another alternative , as shown in fig3 is to use a second transducer so that transducer 10 acts as a transmitter and transducer 10 &# 39 ; as a receiver . this can be accomplished by mounting the transducers in line with each other across the vessel so that the signals transmitted by the first transducer , transducer 10 is received by a second transducer 10 &# 39 ;. the circuit of fig3 can be used for the two tranducer arrangement by the addition of a switch 80 , although the circuit can be hardwired for two transducers . here the transducer 10 &# 39 ; directly feeds the analog amplifier 53 . in this case , the delay period t 2 - t 3 can be made less since only one - way travel of the energy is needed . in all other respects the system operates the same as previously described . the gain of the system is increased since the signal has to travel only one way through the liquid .	6
the apparatus of the preferred embodiment will be described in accordance with an electrophotographic recording medium . the invention , however , is not limited to methods and apparatus for creating images on such a medium , as other media may also be used to advantage within the spirit of the invention . because electrophotographic reproduction apparatus are well known , the present description will be directed in particular to elements forming part of , or cooperating more directly with , the present invention . apparatus not specifically shown or described herein are selectable from those known in the art . while the present invention is susceptible to embodiments of many different forms , there is shown in the drawings and hereinafter described , in detail , a preferred embodiment of the invention . it should be understood , however , that the present disclosure is to be considered an exemplification of the principles of the invention and is not intended to limit the invention to the embodiments illustrated and / or described . for ease of description , all apparatus will be described in their normal operational position , and terms such as upper , lower , horizontal , etc ., will be used with reference to normal operating positions . all apparatus , however , may be manufactured , stored , transported and sold in an orientation other than the normal operational positions described . all references cited in this specification and their references are incorporated by reference herein where appropriate , for appropriate teaching of additional or alternative details , features and / or technical background . throughout the following description , similar reference characters refer to similar elements or members in all of the figures of the drawings . referring now to the drawings , and to fig1 in particular , there is shown a vacuum belt conveyor system 10 that may be used with the present invention . conveyor or transport system 10 has belts 17 which are disposed over and around drive sheaves s1 and idler sheaves s2 for driving and directing belts 17 over a vacuum plenum 18 ( see fig8 and 9 ) that bridges two process stations of a copier . in this embodiment , transport system 10 is positioned between transfer station 12 and fixing or fusing station 14 . transfer station 12 includes a biased transfer roller 38 , which rotates in a direction to move a receiver 16 , such as a copy sheet , toward transport system 10 while toner on a photosensitive web 30 of an electrophotographic reproduction apparatus is transferred to sheet 16 . sheet 16 , with toned images on one surface , is delivered to transport system 10 with its surface , opposite to the surface containing the toned images , in contact with vacuum belts 17 , for transport of sheet 16 to fusing station 14 . the function of transport system 10 is to convey sheets 16 from one process station to another process station without disruption of the toned image or adverse affect to copy sheet 16 . as shown in fig2 vacuum belts 17 ride on an electrically conductive vacuum plenum 18 which has a series of vacuum openings or ports 19 in one wall thereof that allow vacuum from vacuum plenum 18 to be effective through perforations 20 ( see fig1 ) of vacuum belts 17 . plenum 18 also has vacuum ports 19 ( a ), between belts 17 for initially attracting and directing the leading edge of sheet 16 to transport system 10 as sheet 16 initially exits transfer station 12 . the need for pods 19 ( a ) is especially clear , if as shown in fig9 sheet 16 is delivered below transport system 10 where the weight of sheet 16 would cause the force of gravity to move sheet 16 away from transport system 10 if it were not for the effective vacuum force exerted on sheet 16 through vacuum ports 19 ( a ). a shield 24 ( see fig3 and 5 ) is positioned , in the present invention , between belts 17 and plenum 18 and , depending upon application , as to be later explained , said shield is either constructed of an insulating or a semi - conductive material . shield 24 may be placed upon or replace the top transport support section of vacuum plenum 18 of transport system 10 . between belts 17 riding on shield 24 , are gaps 25 &# 39 ; between the respective belts 17 . as shown in fig2 ribs 23 having a height equivalent to the thickness of belts 17 are located in gaps 25 &# 39 ;. ribs 23 provide additional support to sheet 16 in the area of gap 25 &# 39 ; and thereby prevent sheet 16 from being drawn into such area by the effective vacuum force through vacuum ports 19 ( a ) either as sheet 16 is initially drawn toward transport system 10 or as it is continually conveyed across transport system 10 . in this manner wrinkles are prevented in sheet 16 during transport over transport system 10 and are not permanently imparted to sheets 16 by the pressure and force of fuser station 14 ( typically comprised of a fusing roller 15 and a pressure roller , not shown , but known in the art , which rollers , in cooperation , apply heat and force to the toned image on sheet 16 ). as shown by a comparison of fig2 and 3 , shield 24 has the same or substantially the same slots , openings and spacing of plenum 18 . while it is not necessary that the slots , openings and spacing be identical , the slots and openings of shield 24 should not interfere with the transfer of vacuum from vacuum plenum 18 to the perforations of belts 17 , which vacuum , to said perforations is needed to maintain sheet 16 in contact with belts 17 as sheet 16 is transported across shield 24 . as previously stated , shield 24 may be made of either a semi - conductive material , such as an antistat material or of an insulating material , such as valox , manufactured by general electric corporation , depending upon the need to discharge triboelectric build - up on sheet 16 caused by the rubbing or frictional contact of sheet 16 and belts 17 with the surface of shield 24 upon which belts 17 travel . this triboelectric build - up may be controlled in one of two ways . the first is to condition the surface of insulating shield 24 , such as by applying a silicone coating , so as to limit the friction of sheet 16 and belts 17 with shield 24 as they move across shield 24 and thereby substantially eliminating any triboelectric build - up . the second is to use a semi - conductive shield 24 so that any triboelectric charge that may build up is slowly discharged , thereby preventing any significant triboelectric build - up that would attract dust and loose toner to shield 24 and cause rub off of the toner or dust to sheet 16 . therefore , if triboelectric build - up can be substantially reduced by the conditioning of the surface of insulating shield 24 , in contact with sheet 16 , an insulating shield 24 may be used without concern for the small amount of triboelectric build - up . if , however , a substantial build - up of triboelectric charge is caused by movement of sheet 16 and belts 17 over shield 24 , a semi - conductive shield 24 may be used to slowly dissipate the triboelectric charge build - up and thereby avoid any adverse effects of the triboelectric charging . in addition to ribs 23 on shield 24 , shield 24 also has tabs 21 &# 39 ; and 22 &# 39 ; which match or replace tabs 21 and 22 of conductive plenum 18 of transport system 10 , see fig2 and 3 . the function of tabs 21 &# 39 ; and 22 &# 39 ; being the same as the function of tabs 21 and 22 , namely tabs 21 &# 39 ; are tapered away from belts 17 so that they provide a bridge between transfer station 12 and transport system 10 , but due to their tapering will not interfere with the positioning of sheet 16 on transport system 10 . tabs 22 &# 39 ; are in the same plane as belts 17 to bridge the transfer of sheet 16 from the transport system 10 to fusing station 14 , but due to this positioning of tabs 22 &# 39 ;, sheets 16 have a tendency to rub against or across tabs 22 &# 39 ; and generate a triboelectric charge build - up on tabs 22 &# 39 ;. in addition tabs 22 &# 39 ; provide point elements for the induced or image charges of plenum 18 to attract the charged unfused toner on sheet 16 and potentially cause image disruption on sheet 16 ( see fig6 ). however , since tabs 21 &# 39 ; and 22 &# 39 ; are of either a treated insulating material or a non - treated semi - conductive material , the triboelectric charge build - up is either not a factor , if a treated insulator material is used for shield 24 , or is dissipated by the use of a semi - conductive shield 24 so as not to be a factor . in addition , since the induced charges on plenum 18 and the charge of the unfused toner on sheet 16 are separated by the thickness of shield 24 , this substantially reduces the effect of any image disturbing electrical fields between plenum 18 and the toner on sheet 16 and thereby minimizing toner image disruption on sheet 16 ( see fig7 ). shield 24 also has edge members 58 , as shown in fig4 which are at right angles to shield 24 for mounting shield 24 to the sides of transport system 10 . edge members 58 make it easy to securely fasten shield 24 to the side of transport system 10 whether or not shield 24 replaces or covers the top surface of plenum 18 of transport system 10 . in operation , as sheets 16 , containing charged toned images , leave transfer station 12 , sheets 16 are drawn by vacuum effective through ports 19 ( a ) toward transport system 10 . the vacuum through vacuum ports 19 ( a ) cause sheets 16 to make contact with ribs 23 , of insulating or semi - conductive shield 24 , as well as belts 17 of transport system 10 . while ribs 23 only support sheets 16 , belts 17 both support and transport sheet 16 in a substantially flat condition across transport system 10 to fuser station 14 . shield 24 maintains sheets 16 far enough removed from conductive vacuum plenum 18 to substantially reduce the image disrupting effect of any electrical fields set up between plenum 18 and the charged toner on sheet 16 such that any significant toner image disruption is eliminated ( see fig7 ). any triboelectric charging of shield 24 and the dust and toner problem said triboelectric charging causes is rendered insignificant by the use of either a smooth treated surface insulator material or a semi - conductive material for shield 24 . therefore by using the transport system of the invention , sheet 16 , carrying unfused toner images , may be conveyed from transfer station 12 to fuser 14 without disruption of the toner images on said sheet or wrinkling of said sheet . it is emphasized that numerous changes may be made in the above - described system without departing from the teachings of the invention . it is intended that all of the matter contained in the foregoing description , or shown in the accompanying drawings , shall be interpreted as illustrative rather than limiting .	1
the following embodiments illustrate the use of non - persistent storage of attributes in printing systems . however , the use of the invention in printing systems is only an exemplary illustration . the separate storage of non - persistent attributes may be applied to any object - oriented system . fig3 is a diagram of a server system 200 showing interaction between the server 110 , the object database system 120 and the virtual memory 330 . the object database system 120 includes any known memory devices , data processors , database management programs ( such as oracle , etc . ), etc . the object database system 120 reads and writes attributes to or from disk when required by the server 110 . the object database system 120 performs this function for both persistent and non - persistent attributes . however , non - persistent attributes are stored in virtual memory 330 . while the object database system 120 and virtual memory 330 are shown as a separate units from the server 110 , the object database system 120 and the virtual memory 330 may be included as internal or external memories of the server 110 . when external , the object database system 120 and the virtual memory 330 may be centralized even if the server system 200 is distributed . however , for ease of discussion , whether the object database system 120 and the virtual memory 330 are internal or external to the server , or distributed or centralized , they may be referred herein after as the object database system 120 and the virtual memory 330 . if a request is made for an attribute , the object database system 120 searches for the requested attribute in the virtual memory 330 . if the attribute is found in the virtual memory 330 , the object database system 120 calls the particular callback function . as shown in fig4 the virtual memory 330 may include two types of non - persistent attributes , reset attributes 410 and calculated attributes 420 . reset attributes 410 are attributes that are reset during system restart . for example , a “ state ” attribute is an attribute that changes regularly during the course of system operation , yet during system restart , the value is reset to an initial value . a calculated attribute can be calculated or derived from other attributes during system restart and / or at runtime . an example of a calculated attribute 420 is the position of a print job in the print queue . calculated attributes 420 may also be of the type that is not stored in virtual memory 320 but may be calculated using the appropriate callback function . for example , the value of the print job position in the print queue is an attribute that changes frequently as jobs higher in the queue are processed and jobs lower in the queue are promoted or change priority . in a queue which contains a large number of jobs , 1 , 000 for example , it would be difficult for the object database 120 to transactionally update the queue position attribute of each job every time a job was removed from the queue for processing or every time a job changed positions in a queue due to a promotion or priority modification . for example , when a print job is completes , the print job currently in position 10 would move to position 9 , etc . if another person creates a print job with a higher priority that places the job above position 9 in the print queue , the print job at position 9 would be repositioned at position 10 . thus , the print job positions may change several times a minute . however , because a job &# 39 ; s position in the queue at system restart can be calculated from its priority and submission time , there is no need to maintain the print queue position attribute persistently . these non - persistent attributes may be stored in a virtual memory 330 . the object database system 120 can then access the virtual memory 330 so that the print job position attribute may be easily calculated from its priority and submission time . thus , the print queue position may be provided to a requester without the need to maintain the attribute persistently and over - burdening the object database system 120 . in order to provide this non - persistent attribute capability to the object implementations , the object database system 120 must allow the registration of an attribute as non - persistent . the object implementation that registers an attribute as non - persistent provides a set of callback functions to be used by the object database system 120 . these callback functions are a setfunction , getfunction , rollbackfunction , ispresentfunction and deletefunction . the setfunction is called when the attribute value is set . the implementation of this function should store the value in virtual memory . the virtual memory must maintain the value of the attribute according to the object instance . the previous value of the attribute must also be maintained , in case there is a problem when a transaction is committed . if the attribute is of the sort that should never be set , but rather always calculated , as in the case with the queue position attribute , this function implementation can be simply omitted . since the print queue position value is never set , it is calculated when requested using the getfunction . the getfunction is called when the attribute value is retrieved . the implementation of this function either accesses the value stored in virtual memory for the particular object instance or it calculates the value on the fly , as appropriate . the rollbackfunction is called if the transaction commit encounters a problem after the setfunction has already been called for the attribute . the implementation of this function restores the previous value as the current value , thereby nullifying the preceding setfunction call . the ispresentfunction is called to determine if the attribute has a value for the specified object instance . the print management system allows object attributes to have no values . this function simply returns “ true ” if the attribute has a value in virtual memory for the specified object instance , or “ false ” if the object does not have a value . the deletefunction is called to remove the attribute value for an object instance from virtual memory . the object database system 120 gives the illusion that all attributes are stored persistently , because all attributes are stored and retrieved using the same methods . however , the implementation of the object database system 120 provides the differentiation between persistent and non - persistent attributes based on the registration of the object implementations . the five simple functions above are all that is required to alleviate a tremendous amount of unnecessary disk input and output . fig5 is a flowchart of the object database system 120 implementation . beginning at step s 510 , control continues to step s 520 , where the object database system 120 receives a request to get or set an attribute . next , at step s 530 , the object database system 120 determines whether the requested attribute is registered as non - persistent . if the requested attribute is non - persistent , control continues to step s 550 . otherwise , control goes to step s 540 . at step s 550 , the object database system 120 invokes the get or set callback function . then , control then goes to step s 560 and ends . if the object database system 120 determines that the requested attribute is not registered as non - persistent in step s 530 , the input and output ( i / o ) functions are performed in step s 540 . then , control then goes to step s 560 and ends . as shown in fig5 as well as in the example outlined above , the implementation of non - persistent attributes from a separate virtual memory is preferably performed on a programmed general purpose computer . however , the implementation of non - persistent attributes can also be performed on a special purpose computer , a program microprocessor or microcontroller and peripheral integrated circuit elements , and asic or other integrated circuit , a hardwired electronic or logic circuit such as a discrete element circuit , a programmable logic device such as a pld , pla , fgpa or pal or the like . in general , any device in which a finite state machine capable of implementing the flowchart shown in fig5 in the example illustrated above can be used to perform the implementation of non - persistent attributes . while this invention has been described with specific embodiments thereof , it is evident that many alternatives , modifications and variations will be apparent to those skilled in the art . accordingly , the preferred embodiments of the invention as set forth herein arc intended to be illustrative , not limiting . various changes may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the following claims .	8
in accordance with the present invention , there is provided a tool configured to be a container opener for providing multiple elements for opening various containers . the container opener , generally designated as 10 as illustrated in fig1 - 6 , is preferably used by a worker for opening a plurality of containers of materials required to perform activities on a construction site . an example of a material container , offered by way of example only , is a container holding paint for application to walls and ceilings of newly constructed sheetrock or wallboard . the opener with its plurality of opening elements may also be utilized to open others types of containers , such as five - gallon plastic containers having a cylindrical shape that hold joint compound . the joint compound is applied to sheetrock or wallboard and joint tape by a wallboard hanger . once the wallboard or sheetrock is installed to form walls and ceilings , the wallboard or sheetrock is typically covered with a layer of paint obtained from a container that can also be opened by an opening element of container opener 10 . one embodiment of the container opener 10 includes an assembly having a handle 12 for gripping by the user . the elongated container opener 10 includes a distal end 14 and a midportion 16 , both of which are longitudinally displaced in the same plane as handle 12 . the assembly including handle 12 , distal end 14 , and midportion 16 is preferably generally rectangular in shape and sized to fit the hand of a user . container opener 10 is typically made from one of the following lightweight materials , with no intention of being limitative : steel , stainless steel , aluminum , or rigid plastic , polypropylene , such as a thermoplastic polymer , polypropylene , and engineering plastics . it may be produced with a hollow or solid core . with reference to fig1 - 6 , container opener 10 has first 18 , second 20 , third 22 , and fourth 24 sidewalls positioned in a generally elongated rectangular configuration . the container opener 10 also includes top 26 at distal end 14 , and bottom 28 adjacent handle 12 . a first opening element 30 is shown in fig1 - 3 and 5 . opening element 30 comprises a curvilinear configuration 32 in the first 18 , second 20 , and third 22 sidewalls . the opening element 30 is formed or sectioned from the aforementioned sidewalls at midportion 16 and includes a first edge 34 placed near the handle 12 at the proximal end 15 of the opener . opposed to first edge 34 is second edge 36 positioned near the top 26 at distal end 14 . shoulder 38 is placed between the opposed edges 34 and 36 and may serve as a fulcrum for removing lids from containers . pockets 34 a and 36 a extend upwardly and in an inverted “ c ” shape and meet at shoulder 38 . the open spaces 34 b and 36 b allow for the top edge of a lid to fit therein , so the bottom edge of the lid may be engaged by either first 34 or second 36 edge . once engagement of one of the edges , for example edge 34 , is made with the lower edge of the container , handle 12 is lifted upwardly with the shoulder 38 contacting the top of the lid acting as a fulcrum or pivot to aid in the removal of the lid . the first container is typically a large plastic cylindrically - shaped container for holding various materials to be used at a construction worksite , for example , paint , joint compound , etc . the container may also be of the type for storing food items , metal articles , etc . the operation can also be utilized when second edge 36 is placed on the lower edge or flange of a container lid so that shoulder 38 and handle 12 are positioned over the lid . the handle 12 is lifted upwardly or pushed downwardly so that edge 36 lifts the flange or lower edge of the lid away from and off the container . top 26 of container opener 10 includes container a second element 40 for opening a second container , for example , a paint can . second element 40 includes a can opener 42 for opening paint cans and the like , which have lids that do not have flanges substantially overhanging the container edge . conventionally , a tool must be fitted between the flange and raised outside ridge on the container to open the lid . in this regard , opener 42 has a general base 44 connected to each sidewall or integrally formed into the sidewall . bases 46 and 48 are opposed to each other . bases 50 and 52 are likewise opposed . each base has a neck portion 54 leading to an operating edge 56 , which has a straight edge 58 in order to engage the lid of a container . the edge 56 may also be curved or have a concave shape 58 can easily fit within the area between the lid and the container . once fitted , handle 12 is pressed downwardly so that edge 56 lifts the lid from the container . fourth sidewall 24 , generally at midportion 16 includes a third opening element 58 , an elongated aperture 60 that is generally shaped as an opener 62 . the opener 62 on one side has a curved bottom edge 64 for engaging the underside of a cap on a bottle and an opposed elongated top edge 65 . edge 64 may also be straight . one side of the cap fits within the aperture 60 so the lower edge of the cap engages curved edge 64 . once engaged onto the lower edge of a cap , the handle 12 is lifted to pry the cap from the bottle . after a lid is removed from a container , the container can be resealed by aligning and fitting the lid on the container and striking the lid with bottom 28 of opener 10 . tap 66 is solidly constructed for applying pressure to a lid for closing the container . the container opener 10 of the present invention provides a plurality of openers or elements for opening containers for facile use by an individual working with materials that are commonly used together at a construction site . of course , other materials can be stored in containers which lids can be removed by the container opener , for example , food , metal articles , nails , screws , etc . from the foregoing description , additional advantages over the prior devices are recognized by those skilled in the art for the container opener of the present invention . while a preferred embodiment is shown and described , it is understood that it is not intended to limit the disclosure of the invention , but rather , it is intended to cover all modifications and alternate devices and methods of operation falling within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims .	1
a particularly preferred method and apparatus for in - line , continuous tritium - in - water monitoring is now discussed below with reference to fig1 comprising a schematic diagram of a particularly preferred apparatus 10 according to the present invention . apparatus 10 is connected to a conduit 12 through which a stream of water 14 is flowing in the direction of arrow a . apparatus 10 has an inlet 16 in communication with conduit 12 , the inlet 16 being adapted to receive a portion of the stream of water 14 from conduit 12 . from the inlet 16 , water flows through inlet pipe 18 to a centrifuge 20 . the water is centrifuged to separate particulate matter from the water to be analyzed by causing particulate matter in the water to move outwardly from the center of the liquid being centrifuged . at the center of the centrifuging liquid is an aspirator 22 which creates a mist of finely divided water droplets which then flow into a heated pipe 24 . it will be appreciated that the amount of water taken into pipe 24 through aspirator 22 is a small fraction of the amount of water which enters centrifuge 20 . therefore , a water return pipe 23 is preferably provided through which excess water is returned from centrifuge 20 to conduit 12 . it will also be appreciated that the flow of water to and from centrifuge 20 is continuous . the heated pipe 24 is preferably provided with baffles 25 on its interior surface . the heated pipe 24 has first and second ends 26 and 28 , respectively , the first end being joined to the aspirator 22 to receive the water mist therefrom . pipe 24 is heated to a sufficient temperature , and is of sufficient length , such that the water mist entering first end 26 of pipe 24 is substantially completely vaporized to dry water vapor by the time it reaches the second end 28 of pipe 24 . preferably , the temperature of heated pipe 24 is greater than about 170 ° c ., and is even more preferably at least about 250 ° c . most preferably , the temperature of heated pipe 24 is 250 ° c . in order to ensure that the water vapor contains substantially no liquid water , the second end 28 of heated pipe 24 is preferably connected to a gas vortex 30 which spins out any water droplets remaining in the water vapor , thereby producing dry water vapor . it will be appreciated that gas vortex 30 is not an essential component of the apparatus of the invention . in some embodiments , the heated pipe 24 may be of sufficient length and temperature such that substantially no liquid water is present in the vapor as it exits the second end 28 of pipe 24 . the water droplets removed from the water vapor by the gas vortex 30 is preferably collected in a trap 31 for eventual return to conduit 12 . from the gas vortex 30 , the dry water vapor is then passed to an in - line volume detection device 32 adapted to detect β - decay of tritium atoms in the water vapor and to generate a signal which is representative of the tritium content in the water vapor , and consequently in the stream of water flowing through the conduit 12 . the volume detection device may be one of several types presently known , including ionization chamber detectors , an example of which is disclosed by the robinson patent ; gas scintillation counting detectors such as that described in u . s . pat . no . 5 , 783 , 828 , issued on jul 21 , 1998 to pacenti et al . ; and proportional detectors . any of these detectors may additionally comprise a gas electron multiplier , in which gas ionizations are multiplied by the placement of strategic electrodes creating high electric fields , thus lowering the detection limit . gas electron multipliers are discussed by f . sauli in &# 34 ; gem : a new concept for electron amplification in gas detectors &# 34 ;, nuclear instruments and methods in physics research a386 ( 1997 ) 531 - 534 ; by bouclier et al . in &# 34 ; new observations with the gas electron multiplier ( gem )&# 34 ;, nuclear instruments and methods in physics research a396 ( 1997 ) 50 - 66 ; and by buttner et al . in &# 34 ; progress with gas electron multiplier &# 34 ;, nuclear instruments and methods in physics research a409 ( 1998 ) 79 - 83 . it may be preferred in some embodiments of the invention to increase the pressure of the dry water vapor entering the chamber of the volume detection device 32 . as discussed below , raising the pressure of the water vapor lowers the detection limit . more preferably , the pressure is increased to the range of from about 1 to about 3 atmospheres by a compressor 34 as schematically shown in fig1 . it will be appreciated that increasing the pressure of the water vapor may necessitate raising the temperature in order to avoid condensation of water vapor inside the chamber . the chamber of the detection device 32 is maintained at a temperature at which there is substantially no condensation of the water vapor inside the chamber . it may be preferred that the temperature inside the chamber is maintained at about the same temperature as the heated pipe 24 , however this is not necessarily the case . the inventor has found that , as long as the water vapor entering the chamber contains substantially no water vapor , there will be no appreciable amount of condensation inside the chamber so long as the chamber is maintained at a temperature substantially greater than the boiling point of water , i . e . 100 ° c ., and preferably greater than 170 ° c . where the volume detection device 32 comprises a gas ionization detector , β particles released from tritium atoms inside the chamber traverse the chamber , having a range of about 6 mm , causing the production of electron ion pairs in the chamber . the electron ion pairs produced by the β particles are separated by the electric field between two electrodes , one of which is a collector located in the center of the chamber , and the other of which is typically provided by the walls of the chamber , thus giving rise to a measurable electric current . where the volume detection device comprises a gas scintillation counting detector , a feed line 36 is provided which adds a scintillating gas , such as nitrogen , argon or helium to the sample being analyzed . the scintillating gas is preferably preheated before being added to the dry water vapor immediately before it enters the chamber of the volume detection device 32 . however , it will be appreciated that the scintillating gas may instead be added prior to this point , for example it may be added to the water mist before it enters the heated pipe 24 . the chamber of the gas scintillation counting detector contains a number of uv sensitive photomultiplier tubes . the β particles emitted by tritium inside the chamber excite the scintillating gas atoms , which then emit photons which are detected by the photomultiplier tubes via viewports on the chamber . after passing through the detection chamber of the volume detection device 32 , the water vapor is passed through a condenser 38 which cools the water vapor to a temperature at which it is condensed to liquid water . preferably , the condensed water is collected in a trap for eventual return to the stream of water 14 in conduit 12 , for example through outlet 42 which , as shown in fig1 also returns to conduit 12 the liquid water removed from the vapor by gas vortex 30 . having now described a preferred method and apparatus according to the invention , the following is a description of the theory behind the gas phase monitoring of tritium content in a sample of water vapor according to the invention . the following description makes reference to gas ionization as the volume detection method . however , it will be appreciated that any of the volume detection devices described above could be used . according to the principle of gas ionization , the saturated current i s resulting due to the presence of a tritium concentration of c g in a detection volume v can be expressed as ## equ1 ## where λ is the tritium decay rate constant , e m is the mean tritium decay beta energy , w h2o , which is usually referred to as the w value , is the mean energy expended by the emitted beta radiation to form an ion pair in water vapor , and e is the electronic charge . using the definition ## equ2 ## where n hto represents the number of vaporized hto molecules present in the detection volume v , equation 1 can be expressed as follows : ## equ3 ## tacit in the above relation is the presence of dry water vapor in volume v at a pressure p which exceeds the threshold pressure above which the saturated current is unaffected by variations in pressure and less than an upper pressure limit beyond which charge recombination effects become significant . the above relationship represents a correspondence between the saturated current , which is approximated by the net measured current , and the number or activity of vaporized hto molecules in the ionization chamber detection volume . defining the quotient of the saturated current and the number of vaporized hto molecules as the specific saturated current , we obtain the following : ## equ4 ## the specific saturated current , i hto / h2o , is a constant determined by the decay rate and mean beta energy of tritium and the ionization property of water vapor . the measurable signal current , i , which approximates the saturated current , can now be simply expressed as in order to establish a correspondence between the current signal from the ionization chamber and the tritium activity in the pre - vaporized liquid water , let c w be the concentration of hto in liquid water . the mass of water vapor at pressure p and temperature t in a detection volume v can be expressed simply as ## equ5 ## where r is the ideal gas law constant and a h2o is the molecular weight of water . using the preceding equations we obtain the relationship for the tritium concentration in water c w in terms of the measured current i : ## equ6 ## the preceding relationship assumes that the vapor / liquid partition of tritium in tritiated water is negligible . assume that the detection limit for a bakeable ionization chamber is a current signal of 1 fa ( 1 femtoampere = 10 - 15 amperes ). for a detection volume of 1 l ( 10 - 3 m 3 ), water vapor pressure of 1 atm , monitor and vapor temperature of 250 ° c ., and a w h2o ( v ) value of 29 . 6 ev per ion pair , one obtains a corresponding detection limit of tritium in water of 2 . 1 μci / l . from observation of equation 7 it is evident that the detection limit for tritium in water can be improved by increasing the detection volume and water vapor pressure and by lowering the measurable current signal . for example , a ten - fold increase in the detection volume will result in a tritium in water detection limit of 0 . 2 μci / l while a doubling of the water vapor pressure would result in a further improvement to 0 . 1 μci / l . recently advances in current measurement circuitry suggest that a detection limit of 0 . 5 fa is achievable which would imply an ultimate tritium in water detection limit of 0 . 05 μci / l . one might conservatively presume that such a detection system in reality might not do better than a factor of 5 , which then suggests a practical detection limit of 0 . 25 μci / l . it should be noted that one other change which could also improve the detection limit is an increase in the specific saturation current or alternatively introducing an electron multiplying gas in the water vapor , such as methane , which will effectively reduce the w value and thus improve the sensitivity of the detector . fig2 is a schematic diagram of a simple experimental system designed to demonstrate the viability of using an ionization chamber for tritium - in - water detection . the system consists of a bakeable ionization chamber tritium monitor , a water boiler to vaporize liquid water , a septum on the boiler to permit injection of hto . sub . ( l ) with a needle and syringe , a water cooled condenser to condense the dry water vapor , and a weigh scale to measure the rate of flow of water . the ionization chamber tritium monitor and the flow lines between it and the boiler and condenser are heated to ˜ 250 ° c ., thus ensuring the presence of dry water vapor and avoiding any condensation of water within the ionization chamber . the current signal from the ionization chamber is measured with a keithley 617 electrometer wherein the collector is held at a bias of - 100 v dc ; the current - time data is collected by a data acquisition system . the peak - to - peak noise in the current signal is ˜ 10 fa , implying a current detection limit of ˜ 10 fa . each experiment involved pre - heating of the ionization chamber and the flow lines to and from it to a temperature of ˜ 250 ° c . followed by heating of tritium - free deionized water in the boiler to a steady boil . upon achieving a steady - state condition , the background current signal is noted and the corresponding condensate is analyzed for background tritium activity using a liquid scintillation counter . subsequently , a small volume of tritiated water is injected via the septum into the boiling water and the ensuing response of the ionization chamber is observed . once again , upon achieving a steady - state condition , the current signal is noted and the corresponding condensate is analyzed for tritium activity . this procedure is repeated for each additional injection of tritiated water . during the course of each experiment the rate of mass increase on the weigh scale is noted to obtain the rate of flow of water . experimental results for three experiments with progressively lower concentrations of tritium in water are shown in fig3 to 7 and in tables 1 to 3 . the figures show the ionization chamber current - time plots while the tables summarize the steady state data for each test . the respective flow rates of water in examples 1 , 2 and 3 are as follows : 3 . 5 ml h 2 o ( l )/ min ( 4 . 4 l h 2 o ( g )/ min ), 3 . 1 ml h 2 o ( l )/ min ( 3 . 9 l h 2 o ( g )/ min ), and 4 . 1 ml h 2 o ( l )/ min ( 5 . 1 l h 2 o ( g )/ min ). a total of 5 separate tritium injections were carried out . the first three injections resulted in tritium - in - water concentrations of the order of a few tens of μci / l , while the last two injections had concentrations of the order of tens of mci / l . the current signals due to the first two injections ( fig3 and 4 ) are largely mired in the noise of the instrument while the current signal following the third injection is becoming discernible . the current signals due to injections four and five are observed very clearly . the large spikes in the current - time plots corresponding to the injection of tritiated water are due to physical disturbances of the current signal conductor . the steady state data in table 1 shows that following injections 3 , 4 and 5 , the tritium - in - water concentration as predicted by the ionization monitor signal is in good agreement with tritium activity in the condensate as measured by lsc . this was essentially a repetition of the first experiment , but carried out more carefully in order to observe the current response of the ionization chamber during the various stages of the test . also , the temperature of the flow line between the ionization chamber and the condenser was elevated to 250 ° c . as opposed to 170 ° c . in example 1 ; the temperatures of the ionization chamber and the flow line between the boiler and the ionization chamber remained unchanged at 250 ° c . the current - time plot in fig5 shows that as the water in the boiler comes to a boil the current signal begins to drop , followed by a sharp drop in the current to a minimum as the water begins to boil , and then the current signal begins to rise until it reaches a steady state value which corresponds to the steady state current signal prior to the heating of the water . this result indicates the occurrence of a leakage current at the electrical feedthrough in the ionization chamber as the system comes to a steady state operating condition . in particular , it is believed that while the monitor is at a temperature of 250 ° c ., the high purity , glazed alumina ceramic feedthrough is at a lower temperature and therefore a site for the condensation of the vaporized water and thus the observed leakage current . however , as the water vapor continues to flow through the monitor , the feedthrough is convectively heated and in due course any condensed water on the surface of the feedthrough evaporates and hence the disappearance of the leakage current . the current - time plot of fig5 also shows that with the exception of injection 1 ( due to physical disturbance of the current signal conductor ), there are no large current spikes as observed in example 1 . upon introduction of tritium into the boiling water a monotonic increase in the current signal is observed for each of the injections . the current - time plot along with the corresponding data in table 2 show that tritium concentrations of less than 70 μci / l are clearly measurable . the current - time plot for example 3 ( fig6 ) shows similar results to that observed in example 2 with the exception that the incremental concentrations of tritium - in - water are smaller . it is also interesting to note that in this example the boiler water at the start of the experiment was found not to be free of tritium as evidenced by the non - zero net current signal from the ionization chamber . in fact , lsc analysis of the condensate confirmed this result ; that is , a predicted background tritium - in - water concentration of 44 μci / l compared to the condensate activity of 37μci / l ( see table 3 ). as with examples 1 and 2 , example 3 shows good agreement between the ionization chamber predicted concentrations and the condensate concentrations . also , in this experiment it is evident that a tritium - in - water concentration of less than ˜ 30 μci / l is measurable . furthermore , in fig6 the instrument time response is observed to be of the order of less than 10 s (˜ 20 s to realize a change of & gt ; 90 % of the steady state signal ). the ratio of the tritium activities as predicted by the tritium monitor to that measured in the condensate is of the order of unity ±˜ 15 %. vapor / liquid partition of tritium in tritiated water will only account for a variation of a few (˜ 3 ) percent . however , closer observation of the ratios shows that the ratio is usually less than unity , implying that the ionization chamber is underestimating the actual concentration of tritium as measured by lsc . it is believed that this attenuation in current signal is likely due to the presence of some liquid water droplets in the water vapor stream flowing through the detector . it is expected that application of the preferred apparatus will reduce or eliminate this effect . in conclusion , the above proof - of - principle experimental results demonstrate the viability of the method and apparatus of the invention for detection of tritium - in - water to concentrations as low as ˜ 20 μci / l and time constants of less than 10 seconds . however , with present day improvements in current measuring circuitry , detection limits of less than 250 nci / l can be achieved . table 1______________________________________example 1 : tritium - in - water monitoring using water vapor in aheated , in - line , ionization chamber tritium monitor ( monitor background - 95fa ). net ionization activity ratio of activity in chamber in water activities : condensate as tritium as per tritium tritium per lsc monitor signal monitor monitorinjection ( μci / l ) ( fa ) ( μci / l ) to lsc______________________________________1 5 . 5 10 21 3 . 82 14 35 73 5 . 23 50 35 73 1 . 54 22420 11745 24550 1 . 15 27120 14055 29380 1 . 1______________________________________ table 2______________________________________example 2 : tritium - in - water monitoring using water vaporin a heated , in - line , ionization chamber tritium monitor ( monitor background - 25fa ). net ionization activity ratio of activity in chamber in water activities : condensate as tritium as per tritium tritium per lsc monitor signal monitor monitorinjection ( μci / l ) ( fa ) ( μci / l ) to lsc______________________________________1 241 83 177 0 . 742 358 134 286 0 . 803 584 231 491 0 . 844 692 263 560 0 . 815 1554 557 1187 0 . 76______________________________________ table 3______________________________________example 3 : tritium - in - water monitoring using water vaporin a heated , in - line , ionization chamber tritium monitor ( monitor background - 3fa ). net ionization activity ratio of activity in chamber in water activities : condensate as tritium as per tritium tritium per lsc monitor signal monitor monitorinjection ( μci / l ) ( fa ) ( μci / l ) to lsc______________________________________none 37 20 44 1 . 171 130 52 111 0 . 862 192 76 161 0 . 843 250 106 226 0 . 904 300 121 257 0 . 865 333 138 293 0 . 86______________________________________ the invention has been described throughout this application as being applicable to measurement of tritium levels in water . however , it will be appreciated that the principles of the present invention are readily applicable to the measurement of tritium levels in aqueous liquids other than water , for example in urine as disclosed by robinson , and may also be applicable to the measurement of tritium levels in non - aqueous liquids . furthermore , although the preferred embodiments of the invention have been described in relation to the monitoring of tritium in water in nuclear reactor systems , it is to be appreciated that the method and apparatus of the present invention could also be used to monitor tritium levels in water discharged from other sources into sewers and natural waterways , for example water discharged from plumbing pipes of nuclear power stations . the method and apparatus of the invention may also permit monitoring of tritium levels in natural bodies of waters such as lakes , rivers and streams . although the invention has been described in relation to certain preferred embodiments , it is to be appreciated that it is not limited thereto . rather , the present invention includes all embodiments as may fall within the scope of the following claims .	6
in the following detailed description of the embodiments , numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention . however , it will be recognized by one skilled in the art that the present invention may be practiced without some specific details or with equivalents thereof . in other instances , well - known methods , procedures , components , and circuits have not been described in detail as not to unnecessarily obscure aspects of the embodiments . in accordance with the embodiments , a usb device enumeration architecture is designed using a chargeable power source for augmenting usb bus current for enumerating a usb device . the usb device enumeration architecture includes a chargeable power source that may be charged from the usb bus current during a first time interval and , subsequently , discharged to augment the usb bus current during a second time interval while the usb device is being enumerated . this allows high speed usb devices to be enumerated without exceeding the design specifications for usb busses that specify the current draw from the usb bus during enumeration remain at or below a low limit ( e . g ., 100 ma ). fig1 a is a flow diagram 100 a of an overview of a timeline for the steps in enumerating a usb device according to one aspect of the embodiments . in block 110 , a usb device is plugged into a usb port , e . g ., of a hub or host computing device , like a laptop computer . the usb device may be a low speed , full speed or high speed device . it may be any of a variety of devices configured to attach to a host computing device ( e . g ., a computer ) by means of a usb port . block 115 of diagram 100 a represents a first time interval , t 1 , during which a chargeable power source , such as a capacitor or a battery , is charging from current supplied by a v - bus within the usb bus in accordance with an aspect of the embodiments . time , t 1 , may vary depending on design parameters , but might be expected to be of a duration of approximately 100 milliseconds ( ms ). during time t 1 , the usb device is not logically attached to the usb bus . according to one embodiment , the charge built up at the chargeable power source may be determined at the end of a predetermined time period ( e . g ., 100 ms ) and if not sufficient for the device to be enumerated , an extension period to time t 1 ( e . g ., 100 ms ) may be granted . this may be repeated . the chargeable power source may then continue to charge until a sufficient charge is accumulated for enumerating the device . still referring to fig1 a , block 120 illustrates the usb device logically attaching to the usb bus according to one embodiment . at this point , the chargeable power source is sufficiently charged and the enumeration architecture is set to discharge the power source . at block 120 the usb device pulls up a d + data line from the usb bus , initializing the enumeration process . block 125 of fig1 a represents a second time interval , t 2 , according to one embodiment . during time interval , t 2 , the initial phase of the enumeration process occurs , and the chargeable power source is being discharged to supplement the specified low current limit from the usb bus when needed . therefore , during t 2 , the usb device consumes only the specified amount ( e . g ., 100 ma ) from the usb bus with any extra coming from the chargeable power source . once the host device has sufficient information from the enumeration to recognize the usb device and its current and bandwidth requirements , etc ., the host may issue a command that grants the usb device up to a specified high current limit ( e . g ., 500 ma ) from the usb bus . at this point , the chargeable power source is no longer needed and the usb device may finish any portion of enumeration not completed and operate with the 500 ma for an indeterminate time period as illustrated by period t 3 of block 135 . it should be understood that the values of 100 ma and 500 ma are representative of limits in usb specifications at the time of the present application and may be any limit values within reasonable range of 100 ma and 500 ma as might be specified in any usb specification . fig1 b is a block diagram 100 b of the specified current limits for a usb bus integrated with the block diagram of fig1 a , according to an embodiment of the present invention . block 140 represents the duration of the specified 100 ma current from the usb bus . according to one embodiment , the 100 ma current limit ( from the usb bus ) is in force throughout time intervals t 1 and t 2 of fig1 a . that is , the 100 ma is in force until the host device grants permission for the usb device to use up to 500 ma of current as illustrated , according to one aspect of the embodiments , by block 150 of fig1 b . fig1 c is a charging diagram 100 c for supplementing usb current integrated with the diagrams of fig1 a and 1b , according to an embodiment of the present invention . block 160 illustrates the charging of a chargeable power source ( e . g ., a battery or capacitor ) during time interval t 1 . it should be appreciated that if insufficient charge is accumulated over a first interval t 1 , that t 1 may repeat over and over until such time as sufficient charge has accumulated at the chargeable power source . still referring to fig1 c , block 170 illustrates the discharging of power from the chargeable power source to supplement the 100 ma usb current for enumeration during time interval t 2 , according to one embodiment . at the beginning of interval t 2 , control logic ( e . g ., control logic 225 of fig2 ) activates a pull - up resistor ( e . g . 230 of fig2 ) and switches ( e . g ., switches 240 and 235 of fig2 ) are set to discharge ( discharge = 1 ) the power source for supplementing the 100 ma current . thus , the usb device may be enumerated within the usb specifications . fig2 is a block diagram of usb device enumeration architecture 200 in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention . usb bus 210 is also shown . device 200 includes current regulator 215 , chargeable power source 220 , control logic and attach timer 225 and attach pull - up resistor 230 , according to one embodiment of the present invention . also included in architecture 200 , according to an embodiment of the present invention , are switches 235 and 240 ( controlled by circuit 225 ), current mixer 245 and usb device 250 . architecture 200 may , in one embodiment , reside within usb device 250 or , according to another embodiment , architecture 200 may be made available as a separate power monitor or power maintenance chip coupled to the usb bus 210 . still referring to fig2 , usb bus 210 may be a standard usb ( universal serial bus ) bus that is well known to those skilled in the art . usb bus 210 is designed to connect a variety of peripheral devices to a host device . bus 210 has four lines , a voltage v - bus line , two data lines ( d + and d −) and a ground line . the specification for usb bus 210 limits the current draw of a usb device ( e . g ., usb device 250 ) to a low limit ( e . g ., 100 ma ) until such time as a host device ( to which the usb device is attaching via usb bus 210 ) grants permission to increase the current draw to a maximum limit ( e . g ., 500 ma ). usb device 250 will identify itself to the host device to receive an address , a driver and configuration with the host . this process of a device identifying itself to the host and becoming configured for the host is known as enumeration . high speed usb devices frequently need in excess of the specified low limit in order to be enumerated . current regulator 215 of fig2 is a circuit designed to regulate the current from the v - bus line of usb 210 so as not to exceed the low limit ( e . g ., 100 ma ) during the enumeration of device 250 until such time as a host ( not shown ) grants permission to increase the current to a high limit ( e . g ., 500 ma ). current regulator 215 then regulates the current to remain at or below the specified high limit . regulator 215 receives a control signal 217 and during enumeration this signal limits regulator 215 to supply only 100 ma and , otherwise , it may supply 500 ma . still referring to fig2 , during the first time interval ( t 1 of fig1 a ) when the usb device has first been plugged into the usb bus 210 , control logic circuit 225 causes switch 240 to be set to discharge = 0 , attaching chargeable power source 220 to current regulator 215 and v - bus of usb 210 . signal 217 is low and 100 ma is regulated . switch 235 remains open and the data lines of usb bus 210 are not pulled up so that usb device 250 is not attached to the circuit or the host during time interval t 1 . control logic circuit 225 generates the charge / discharge signal 219 controlling the switched chargeable power source . during this time , as measured by circuit 225 , chargeable power source 220 is drawing current from usb 210 , as regulated by current regulator 215 . only 100 ma maximum may be drawn at this phase . control logic and attach timer 225 of fig2 determine the end of time intervals t 1 and t 2 , according to one embodiment . when t 1 has ended , control logic and attach timer 225 sends a signal to attach pull - up resistor 230 that pulls up data line d - plus and causes switch 240 to change to the discharge = 1 position . switch 235 closes , thus , along with the d - plus line , attaching usb device 250 to the usb bus and to the host device . signal 217 is still low . at this time , chargeable power source 220 is available to discharge current into current mixer 245 where the usb bus current can be supplemented and mixed with the discharged current from chargeable power source 220 for enumerating usb device 250 . in summary , during time interval t 2 enumeration is occurring and the usb device may draw more power than 100 ma with the excess deriving from the chargeable power supply 220 and the 100 ma deriving from the usb bus 210 . at the end of time interval t 2 , when the host device has granted permission to usb device 250 to come aboard , control logic and attach timer 225 signals current regulator 215 to allow the v - bus of usb bus 210 to output up to the maximum high limit ( e . g ., 500 ma ) current . at this time , in accordance with one embodiment , the usb device enumeration architecture has completed its task . at this time , signal 217 goes high , allowing 500 ma to be regulated by regulator 215 . the current regulator 215 , current mixer 245 , switches 235 and 240 , chargeable power source 220 and control logic and attach timer 225 can be integrated within usb device 250 or they may be integrated within a separate power maintenance device or chip for connecting to the usb device . control logic 225 may be implemented by a state machine . fig3 is flow diagram 300 of a process for augmenting current for enumerating a high speed usb device in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention . although specific steps are disclosed in flow diagram 300 , such steps are exemplary . that is , the present invention is well suited to performing various other steps or variations of the steps recited in fig3 . at step 310 of fig3 . a usb device ( e . g ., usb device 250 of fig2 ) is plugged into a usb bus ( e . g ., usb bus 210 of fig2 ). during a first time interval t 1 after the usb device has been plugged into the usb bus , usb device 250 is not attached to the circuit or the host . at step 320 of fig3 , a chargeable power source ( e . g ., chargeable power source 220 of fig2 ) is drawing current from usb bus 210 , over a time interval t 1 . at the end of time interval t 1 , step 330 is entered and usb device 250 is attached to the host device through usb bus 210 and enumeration architecture 200 and enumeration is begun in accordance with one aspect of the embodiments , provided there is sufficient current available . if there is insufficient current at any point during step 330 , step 340 of process is entered and the process returns to step 320 for further charging of the chargeable power source . this step may be repeated as often as necessary until step 350 may be entered . at step 350 , according to one embodiment , the host device has completed the initial enumeration process and allocates the usb device permission for the higher usb current limit so that it may be fully attached . at this point the chargeable power source and the usb enumeration architecture are no longer needed and the process exits flow diagram 300 . the foregoing descriptions of specific embodiments have been presented for purposes of illustration and description . they are not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise forms disclosed , and many modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teaching . the embodiments were chosen and described in order to best explain the principles of the invention and its practical application , to thereby enable others skilled in the art to best utilize the invention and various embodiments with various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated . it is intended that the scope of the invention be defined by the claims appended hereto and their equivalents .	6
referring now to fig1 of the drawings , there is illustrated thereby the process for removal of magnetic coatings from computer memory discs . the process is carried out by providing a coated magnetic disc ( fig1 step 1 ) from which the magnetic coating , generally comprising an iron oxide plus organic or plastic or resin binder , is to be removed . in step two of the process the disc is immersed in a sulphuric acid - glycerine bath . the glycerine acts as a wetting agent . an electric potential is applied in this bath ( step 3 ). the equipment for providing the sulphuric acid - glycerine bath and generating the electric potential therein is illustrated in fig2 of the drawings . the equipment includes a tank 10 made of a material , such as plastic , whichwill resist any reaction with the contents of the bath . the tank 10 is filled with a solution 12 of sulphuric acid and glycerine . preferably the sulphuric acid is on the order of 95 to 100 percent pure sulphuric acid . although other percentages may be used as long as the percentage does not decrease to the point that the excessive water will cause a reaction to attack the aluminum disc . glycerine is added to the solution at a ratio typically of 0 . 4 milliliters of glycerine per gallon of acid . although sulphuric acid is the preferred acid for use in this process , other acids may be substituted which do not attack the aluminum disc such as nitric acid . a plurality of the magnetic discs 14 are immersed in the sulphuric acid - glycerine solution 12 in accordance with step 2 . in order to apply the electric potential per step 3 a number of electrodes 16 are positioned in the bath . these electrodes , which are preferably madeof stainless steel , are attached to a negative bus 18 . members 20 are provided to maintain the disc 14 within the bath 12 and to supply a positive potential thereto from a positive bus 22 . members 20 are only schmatically illustrated in fig2 and illustrated in greater detail in fig3 . as shown in fig3 the actual configuration of the members 20 aresuch that they fit within the center hole of the disc and are held therein by a spring action of the member 20 with the top of the member 20 configured so as to hook onto the positive bus 22 . member 20 is preferablymade of aluminum . the electrical potential is provided by applying a voltage between the positive and negative buses 22 and 18 . typically 15 volts dc has been used . the discs 14 are permitted to remain in the bath 12 for an amount of time sufficient to cause destruction of the binder from the disc . it has been found that this destruction occurs with discs of certain manufacturers in about 10 to 20 minutes while discs of other manufacturers may require immersion for up to typically thirty minutes . the immersion time varies from manufacturer to manufacturer due to the different types of coatings used . most of the iron oxide is not removed from the disc during this timeand only a small portion thereof accumulates in the sulphuric acid - glycerine solution . to enhance removal of the coating , ultrasonic energy may be applied to the acid - glycerine solution . after the required immersion period the disc is removed from the acid - glycerine bath ( step 4 ) and immersed in alcohol ( step 5 ). while alcohol is the preferred solution other non - aqueous solutions may be used instead . water cannot be used , of course , because it will react with the sulphuric acid such as to attack the aluminum substrate . alcohol , on the other hand , reacts with the acid to neutralize it so it will not attack the aluminum and leaches the sulfonated binder . during this step additional portions of the coating will be removed from the disc . ultrasonic energy may also be applied during this step of the process . in step 6 the discs are removed from the alcohol and immersed in water ( step 7 ). this step removes the alcohol reaction product . at this time most of the coating will be removed from the discs . ultrasonic energy may also be applied during this step of the process . in step 8 the disc is removed from the water , and using a soft brush or a water spray the remaining coating is removed from the disc ( step 9 ). in step 10 the disc is immersed in a high purity water such as distilled ordeionized water to remove any salts in the water which will contaminate thealuminum surface of the water ( step 11 ) and dried ( step 12 ). while preferably all the steps of the process which have been described arecarried out , it has been found that certain of them can be eliminated and yet still occasion removal of the coating from the disc . for example , if the electric potential is not applied the sulphuric acid - glycerine bath will still destroy the binder on the the disc . however , it will generally take much longer than when an electrical potential is used . there is , however , a greater risk of corroding , etching or pitting the aluminum substrate . in an alternate embodiment of the invention a two - step process is employed for destroying the binder on the aluminum disc . in this embodiment prior to immersing the discs in the sulphuric acid - glycerine mixture , the discs are first immersed in a solution of stabilized hydrogen peroxide ( 50 %) which is added and premixed with concentrated sulfuric acid and which is used as a digestive media . the hydrogen peroxide - acid mixture contains from 5 to 200 milliliters of hydrogen peroxide per gallon of acid . hydrogen peroxide may also be added to the electrolytic bath . thus , it is to be understood that the embodiments shown are to be regarded as illustrative only and that many variations and modifications can be made without the departing from the principles of the invention herein disclosed and defined by the appended claims .	2
fig1 through 3 , discussed below , and the various embodiments used to describe the principles of the present invention in this patent document are by way of illustration only and should not be construed in any way to limit the scope of the invention . those skilled in the art will understand that the principles of the present invention may be implemented in any suitably arranged data processing system . fig1 illustrates selected portions of processing system 10 , which may comprise a system - on - a - chip ( soc ) device according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention . processing system 10 is shown in a general level of detail because it is intended to represent any one of a wide variety of electronic products , particularly network devices and consumer appliances . according to the exemplary embodiment , processing system 100 may be a single integrated circuit comprising output stage circuitry 100 and data processing circuitry 101 . output stage circuitry 100 comprises differential line driver 105 , short circuit detector 110 , and reset latch 115 . data processing circuitry 101 provides user data as input to differential line driver 105 . fig3 depicts flow diagram 300 , which illustrates the operation of processing system 10 according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention . initially , the reset generated by reset latch 115 is disabled and the data + and data − output signal lines are enabled ( or active ) ( process step 305 ). during routine operation , short circuit detector 110 detects a short - circuit condition on the data + and data − output lines . the short may be on the data + line , the data − line , or between the data + and data − lines ( process step 310 ). in response , short circuit detector 110 enables the short signal to indicate a short - circuit condition is present ( process step 315 ). reset latch 115 detects the rising ( or falling ) edge on the short signal when the short signal changes state and enables the reset signal , which puts the data + and data − output lines in a high impedance ( hi - z ) state ( process step 320 ). after a delay period triggered by the rising ( or falling ) edge of the short signal , reset latch 115 disables the reset signal , which puts the data + and data − output lines in the active state ( process step 325 ). short circuit detector 110 then determines whether or not the short - circuit condition is gone ( process step 330 ). if the short circuit is still present , the process repeats ( loop back to process step 315 ). otherwise , if the short - circuit condition is gone , differential line driver 105 resumes normal operations . the duration of the time period during which the reset signal disables differential line driver 105 is determined by the internal circuitry of reset latch 115 . fig2 illustrates exemplary reset latch 115 according to one embodiment of the present invention . reset latch 115 comprises p - channel transistor 205 , n - channel transistor 210 , p - channel transistor 215 , inverters 221 - 226 , delay buffer 230 , and capacitor 240 . the short signal is the input to reset latch 115 and the reset signal is the output . as will be explained below in greater detail , the chain of inverters 221 , 223 , 224 and 225 essentially comprise a state transition detection circuit that generates control signals for transistors 205 and 210 and that generates the reset signal . delay buffer 230 , inverter 226 , and transistor 215 form a feedback loop that self - clears the reset signal . transistors 205 and 210 comprise an input transfer gate . initially , transistors 205 and 210 are on ( a stable state , as seen below ) and the short signal is low ( logic 0 ), so that node a is also logic 0 . since node a is logic 0 , the output of inverter 221 is logic 1 and node b , the output of inverter 223 is logic 0 . inverter 222 is a relatively weak inverter that reinforces the state of inverter 221 . the logic 0 at node b is applied to the gate of p - channel transistor 205 , thereby maintaining transistor 205 in the on state . since node b is logic 0 , node c , the output of inverter 224 , is logic 1 and the reset signal , the output of inverter 225 is logic 0 . the logic 1 at node c is applied to the gate of n - channel transistor 210 , thereby maintaining transistor 210 in the on state . the logic 0 on the reset signal is delayed by buffer 230 and inverted by inverter 226 to a logic 1 , which is applied to the gate of transistor 215 , thereby maintaining transistor 205 in the off state . so long as the short signal is maintained a logic 0 , no change occurs and reset latch 115 is in a stable state . eventually , however , a short - circuit condition may be detected and the short signal is set to logic 1 . when short goes high , capacitor 240 charges up and node a goes to logic 1 . inverter 222 is a weak device that can easily be over - driven by transistors 205 and 210 . when node a goes to logic 1 , the output of inverter 221 goes to logic 0 and the output of inverter 222 now assists in maintaining node a at logic 1 . since the output of inverter 221 is logic 0 , the output of inverter 223 , node b , is logic 1 . when node b is logic 1 , p - channel transistor 205 is turned off . since the output of inverter 223 is logic 1 , the output of inverter 224 , node c , is logic 0 . when node c is logic 0 , n - channel transistor 210 is turned off . at this point , transistors 205 and 210 are both off , so that the input transfer gate formed by transistors 205 and 210 is off . thus , the short signal is effectively cut off from node a . however , this is not a stable state . since node c , the output of inverter 224 is logic 0 , the output of inverter 225 , the reset signal is logic 1 . when the reset signal goes to logic 1 , the output lines of differential line driver 105 temporarily go into high impedance states , thereby providing protection from the short - circuit condition . however , when the reset line goes to logic 1 , after a brief delay the output of delay buffer 230 also goes to logic 1 and the output of inverter 226 then goes to logic 0 . the logic 0 on the output of inverter 226 is applied to the gate of p - channel transistor 215 , thereby turning transistor 215 on . transistor 215 can also over - drive relatively weak inverter 222 . thus , when transistor 215 is on , capacitor 240 discharges through transistor 215 and node a is pulled down to logic 0 . the logic 0 at node a then ripples through inverters 221 - 226 and delay buffer 230 . as a result , node b goes to logic 0 , node c goes to logic 1 , and transistors 205 and 210 are turned on . also , the reset signal goes back to logic 0 , which turns off transistor 215 and removes the output lines of differential line driver 105 from the high impedance state . thus , the transition of the short signal from logic 0 to logic 1 initially sets the reset signal to logic 1 . however , this is a self - clearing condition because of the feedback from delay buffer 230 , inverter 226 and p - channel transistor 215 . thus , the reset signal cannot remain at logic 1 . since transistors 205 and 210 are now turned back on , the short signal may again flow through the input transfer gate formed by transistors 205 and 210 . if the short - circuit condition has been removed , the short signal goes back to logic 0 and node a remains at logic 0 . as noted above , this is a stable state . however , if the short - circuit condition has not been removed , the short signal remains at logic 1 and node a again changes state from logic 0 to logic 1 . this transition then repeats the cycle described above in which the reset signal is driven to a logic 1 and then is self - cleared back to a logic 0 . the cycle continues to repeat until the short - circuit condition is removed . the time duration when the reset signal is at logic 1 is determined by the gate delays of inverters 221 - 226 , delay buffer 230 , and the rc time constant of capacitor 240 and transistor 215 . this duration may be extended in a number of ways , including by increasing the delay of delay buffer 230 or adding a chain of inverters to replace inverter 226 in the feedback loop . those skilled in the art will readily understand that the present invention may easily be modified to trigger on a change in the short signal from a logic 1 to a logic 0 ( i . e ., a negative - going edge ), rather than on a transition from a logic 0 to a logic 1 , as described above . for example , the circuit in fig2 may be modified to include an inverter before the input of the input transfer gate formed by transistors 205 and 210 . although the present invention has been described in detail , those skilled in the art should understand that they can make various changes , substitutions and alterations herein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention in its broadest form .	7
the first embodiment includes number of clients 100 a to 100 z that are connected to a server system 101 via the internet . the clients 100 a to 100 z may for example be personal computers with may the microsoft windows operating system and a browser connected to the internet via dial - up , dsl or cable modems . while only five such client systems 100 a to 100 z are specifically shown in fig1 it should be understood that there may be hundreds or even thousands of such client machines accessing a particular server 101 through the internet at a particular time . only five are shown in fig1 for convenience of illustration . the figures is intended to illustrate that there are a large number of client machines sending requests to a server system 101 . the server system 101 includes a web application server 110 ( which in fact may consist of multiple servers ) that respond to the requests from clients 100 a to 100 z . the web application server can be any of type of web server such as those that are accessible from the internet . for example the web application server 110 can be a network interface to a to a set of programs that generate web pages based on content from a variety of sources . often in such systems a database is involved . a specific example is the type of web server typically used by brokerage companies . such servers typically have web pages constructed by running a program which uses information from a database which includes account information together with pictures and logos , etc . a conventional net interface 122 receives requests for clients 100 a to 100 z and passes them to other programs in the system for further processing . the requests that come from clients 100 can for example be a request such as the example shown in fig3 . ( note the request is shown in a fig . since according to patent office rules , such material can not be included in the specifications ). the example shown in fig3 includes the command get , the protocol identification , in this case “ http ”, a www server address , in this case “ yahoo . com ”, followed by the item name index . com . as is well known , various other information can be also be included in such a request . each request received by the system is first classified by program 121 , the request is then prioritized by program 1122 and finally it is scheduled by program 124 . a data base 123 specifies how different types of requests are to be classified . data base 123 is set up and controlled by the system operator . the data 123 also specifies the cost of each type of request . the cost assigned to each type of request can be a fixed cost specified by the system operator for that type of request or it can be a dynamic type of cost function that takes into account the cost of processing the previous similar request . the classification of each request is done by program 121 according to the specifications and information set out in data base 123 . the system owner can change the information in data base 123 from time to time as desired in order to make the system operate in a specific manner . the information in data base can be changed in a conventional manner such as via one of the clients 100 a to 100 z which has system administrator privileges . the classification could for example specify the benefit and cost of each request as follows : a request to order a product might be given a benefit rating of 20 , whereas , a request to view a news article might be assigned a benefit rating of 10 . requests from the company ceo for personnel information may be given a higher benefit rating than requests which come from the accounting department for historical accounting information . each request is also classified according to cost : a request to order a product might be assigned a cost of 50 whereas a request to view a news article might be assigned a cost of 20 . the costs assigned to a request would take into account such factors as the amount of buffer memory required by the task , the amount of cpu time , the bandwidth requirements . given four different requests , they may be classified with cost and benefit parameters by after requests are classified , the are prioritized by program 122 . program 122 implements rules that the system operator stores in data base 123 . that is , information in data base 123 , specifies how requests are to be prioritized . the rules can be simple or complex . for example , the system owner might simply specify a rule that says : subtract the cost from the benefit and the resulting number is the priority . on the other hand the prioritization can in this case , users wait an average of only 122 . 5 milliseconds instead of 242 . 5 , obtained using first - come , first served scheduling . more benefit is delivered sooner , and only less valuable and more costly jobs are delayed . additionally , a pre - emptive scheduler has the ability , continuously , to insert higher priority jobs in front of lower priority ones . so , with the above scheduling and pre - emptive scheduling , the final , 200 - millisecond job may run later than fourth , but it will not run sooner . the invention can employs well - known techniques for optimization and job scheduling . with the present invention known optimization and job scheduling techniques can be used to provide efficient web and internet servers , independent of the particular optimization or scheduling technique used . classification can be done as a mathematical function of known and estimated parameters . the above - mentioned benefit value may be a function of many parameters such as : requested url , client ip address , cookie , login , connection quality and other distinguishing attributes . the cost may be more than just the time required to send or process the request , including , such factors as the required bandwidth , cpu , latency , data generation requirements , and total server load . in general , the benefit and cost are functions of known and estimated parameters can be described as follows : cost = b ( p1 , p2 , p3 . . . ), where pn are known and estimated parameters . the functions may be tabular , or an actual mathematical function of the parameters or a combination of tabular and arithmetic functions . for example , a system can award points for a desirable url request , one that is know to encourage commerce , compared to a reference or general information section of the site , which is read by both customers and non - customers . points also go to requests that correspond to requesters who are , for example , good customers , as determined by the cookie , login , or , possibly , the ip source address . the connection quality determines how critical a connection is and how noticeable delays will be . this allows re - sequencing non - critical requests behind critical ones . in some cases , a modem user may not notice a slight delay but the dsl user will . the cost function is usually an estimate of the cpu required to generate the reply , the total time including latency required to generate the reply and the bandwidth required to send the reply back to the client . other considerations include things such as the need for slots on application and database servers . for example , a typical response may cost 2 ms cpu , 20 ms latency , and 25 k bytes of data transfer . in general the optimal scheduler is one that delivers the maximum benefit , subject to the constraints that the total costs are less than the system limits in all cases . server connection and load management : a special case of a managed resource is a secondary server , usually an application server or database server . the server may suffer performance problems if its load is too high or if there are too many connections to the server from remote clients . here we see that , initially , efficiency increases due to increased concurrency and overlapping of requests that have both a latency ( delay ) and a processing ( cpu ) component . after a certain point , the server becomes less efficient due to overhead of maintaining many pending requests . many application and database servers use operating system threads or processes to handle simultaneous tasks . this results in diminishing returns as threads corresponding to pending requests compete for synchronization primitives and as the operating system is forced to switch back and forth among the outstanding tasks . in the above example , the server runs most efficiently at a load of around 10 pending requests , 20 ms average response time , for a total of around 500 “ hits ” per second . if the load is 100 , with an average response time of 400 ms , then the throughput is about 250 hits per second . intelligent load management would maintain the load on the server at 10 , while queuing the remaining requests . as described in example 1 , this queuing has the added benefit of being able to order or prioritize the requests within the queue , with additional gains in throughput and reduction of average response time . with the present invention requests can be handled by an intermediate server / optimizer , which queues the connection and transfers the data back and forth between the requesting client and the origin and application servers . net result due to intelligent load management , with 100 pending requests : 500 hits / sec , with an average response time of 20 +( 2 ms )* 90 = 200 ms , compared with 250 hits / sec and 400 ms average response time with the standard application server . often , simply connecting to application and database servers slows the progress of tasks executing on the server . in this case , it is helpful to off - load idle connections to an intermediate server , which handles connection with an efficient queuing and i / o system . a program flow diagram illustrating the operation of the system is given in fig2 . first as indicated by block 201 , the owner establishes a set of classifications priorities . these are stored in data base 123 . if such a set are not as yet established the system utilizes a default set of priorities and classifications . the system receives requests from clients 100 a to 100 z as indicated by block 203 . as indicated by block 295 , the requests are classified in accordance with the classifications established by the system owner and stored in data base 123 . next as indicated by block 207 , each request is prioritized in accordance with its classifications . finally as indicated by block 208 , the requests are scheduled in accordance with their priorities . naturally higher priority requests are scheduled to be processes before lower priority requests . finally as indicated by block 209 the requests are sent to the web application server 110 and any outgoing traffic is sent to the network interface 120 for dispatch to the client machines 100 ato 100 z . program 124 schedules the requests according to their priority and then prioritizes the requests in buffer 125 . the requests are sent to the web application server 110 in accordance with their priority . a low priority requests which arrived first may reach web application server 112 after a high priority request which the system received at a later time . in summary , the system includes programs that classify and priorities requests according to parameters established by the system operator . different types of requests are provided with different priorities such that high priority requests are acted upon by the web application server 110 before low priority requests . this gives the system operator a great deal of flexibility in arranging the system provide a desired type of performance . while in the embodiment described above , the classification , prioritization , and scheduling are done by three separate program routines , it should be understand , that the present invention relates to a program and system that performs this combination of functions . those skilled in the art will realize that these functions can be performed using a wide variety of programming arrangements other than three separate programs . in one embodiment of the present information , the classification , prioritization and scheduling is done based upon the tcp payload data that is received at the system 101 . it is however noted that ip packets generally have the following form : ip header gives source and destination information for routing . tcp header : tells how may bytes in the payload , tcp options , etc . tcp payload : data bytes that contain a command such as that shown in fig3 . while one embodiment of the present invention operates by classifying , prioritizing and scheduling requests based upon the payload data , alternate embodiments take into account the information in the ip header and tcp header when the system does the classification , prioritization and scheduling . the above described embodiment of the invention merely improves performance by scheduling the order in which tasks are operated upon by the server . in an alternate embodiment , in addition to scheduling when the tasks will be provided to the server , the amount of resources applied to each task is controlled in accordance with the classification and priority of the task . for example , the amount of memory that the server devotes to each class is controlled in accordance with the classification and priority of the particular task . in such an embodiment , when each request is passed to the server , a control parameter is also passed to the server . the control parameter instructs the server concerning the amount of resources ( for example memory ) that should be applied to the particular request . the present invention optimizes cpu usage and network bandwidth while reducing latency and providing feedback to server administrators . this is accomplished by generating a cost - benefit model and optimizing it through request and task prioritization . the invention can be implemented as a custom kernel with a lean thread model further reduces requirements over a standard operating system &# 39 ; s general - purpose thread model . essentially , the custom scheduler and resource allocator take control away from the generic os , returning it to the server owner . the custom kernel is fully event - driven , responding quickly to common conditions such as data ready or disk i / o complete , as well as to exception conditions like “ connection reset by peer ” or “ address now unreachable ”. the kernel layer is designed to conserve system resources , especially ram , so that the server will function optimally and degrade gracefully . most systems exhibit non - linear delay vs . load characteristics , with a sharp knee in the curve at a critical load , indicating non - graceful degradation . the present invention will extend the curve by deferring lower priority and “ housekeeping ” tasks and by using system resources more efficiently . the cost - benefit model enables prioritization of requests by content ( url ) or requester ( ip address , login , cookie ), as well as according to more automatic criteria such as content length , resource requirements , or end - to - end connection quality . for example , if the server has one large request and ten small requests it may wish to service the ten small requests first , satisfying ten users , while adding an acceptable delay to the large request . furthermore , shaving 100 milliseconds off a 200 millisecond rtt ( round trip time ) task would result in noticeable increase in interactivity . however , shaving 100 milliseconds off a 600 - millisecond modem connection would not even be appreciated . this targeted , fine - grain optimization is enabled by characterizing the requests , estimating their resource requirements , then queuing up the required tasks in the correct sequence to optimize the model . a server in accordance with the present invention improves efficiency by performing resource allocation and scheduling according to a cost - benefit model that is established both automatically and by the server &# 39 ; s administrator . requests to the server may be classified according to url , url parameters , requester , connection quality , content size and generation requirements , server required , time of day , or any other identifying characteristic . each class of request may have its own priority level , benefit , maximum or weighted proportional share of total bandwidth , maximum or weighted proportional share of an assigned cpu , or priority of access to any system resource , server , or storage device . each class may have deadlines or constraints on delivery , with variable penalties for lateness and dropping . external , user objectives and constraints are translatable to internal constraints , which determine cpu and bandwidth scheduling and proportional share at the segment ( packet ) granularity . with the present invention , a custom stack can schedules packet ( segment ) departure based on deadlines and lateness penalties that have been established by the scheduler and allocator . the invention utilizes an event - driven framework . a custom os layer which manages the classification , prioritization and scheduling reduces the overhead of the general - purpose os in the server , and it provides better communication between multiple , simultaneous tasks that are in progress . the custom os layer maps multiple request / reply tasks to fewer threads or a single thread of the host os . the custom os layer uses knowledge of continuations and non - blocking activities , cooperative multi - tasking based on a trust relationship between tasks is enabled . this is similar to the technique that is often used in the design of simulators . such techniques reduce the overhead of multiprogramming a large number of independent tasks . monitoring or a “ pulse function ” detects blocked or deadlocked processes to transfer workload to other , functioning processes , of which , new server os instances may be added as needed . a customized protocol stack can reduce the cost of open connections that have no assigned or discernible pending tasks . such connections store only a source address and port without the usual socket resources . this stack may run in parallel with the existing tcp / ip stack by intercepting relevant ports , protocols , and url requests at the kernel level , affording them special treatment . the present invention eliminates network layer overhead . the custom stack also provides feedback to the scheduler and allocator regarding connection quality and available tcp and ip resources . similarly , the custom stack greatly reduces the cost of servicing in - memory “ cached ” replies by forgoing the need for creating “ socket ” resources to grant access of kernel data to user spaces . the custom stack may multiplex multiple connections and data transfers “ on the wire ” and at the network layer into a single user - level connection at the os - user / application layer . with the present invention , customized applications replace the layered network interface with interprocess communication ( i . e . ipc ) and remote procedure calls ( i . e . rpc ) to communicate directly with the system more efficiently . one valuable by - product of peeking into the tcp layer to glean connection information is the ability to provide the server owner with more detailed traffic statistics . the server statistics and quality of achieving the user - defined and automatic criteria is fed - back to a monitoring and reporting application , which then displays said information to the administrator . in conclusion : the present invention provides an event - driven custom kernel for a server . the custom kernel provides scheduling and resource allocation . the custom kernel operates in accordance with a cost - benefit model which is optimized by request and task prioritization . the cost - benefit model prioritizes requests by content ( url or requester ( ip address , login , or cookies ) as well as according to criteria such as content length , resource requirements , or end - to - end connection quality . tasks are classified and prioritized before being run on the cpu . bandwidth is regulated and data departure is scheduled according to task and server specific criteria that can be established by a user . fine - grain optimization is achieved by characterizing the requests , estimating their resource requirements , then queuing up the required tasks in the correct sequence to optimize the model . several types of interprocess communication ( i . e . ipc ) and remote procedure calls ( i . e . rpc ) are used to efficiently communicate directly with the system . these include providing feedback information between layers , and sending data directly from an internal layer to a receiver that is not an adjacent layer via inter - process communication . since the kernel in the server obtains information from the tcp and ip layers , detailed traffic statistics can be provided to the server owner . while the invention has been shown and descried with respect to preferred embodiments thereof , it will be understood by those skilled in the art , the various changes in form and detail can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention . the invention is limited only by the appended claims .	7
the following description is merely exemplary in nature and is not intended to limit the present disclosure , application , or uses . with reference now to fig1 and 2 , a portion of a rear axle of a motor vehicle drive line is illustrated and designated by the reference number 10 . the rear axle assembly 10 includes an elongate housing 12 including a pair of oppositely extending , co - axial axle housings 14 which receive and support a like pair of rear axles or half shafts 16 . the rear axle assembly 10 also includes a bulbous center housing 18 containing a rear differential assembly 20 . it will be appreciated that while described herein as a rear differential , as this will be the more common application , the present invention is equally suited , adaptable and usable in a front axle or differential of a motor vehicle . the rear differential assembly 20 includes a hypoid gear set 22 having a worm or drive gear 24 which rotates about a longitudinal axis of the vehicle . although described herein in association with a hypoid gear set 22 , it should be appreciated that the present invention is equally suitable and usable with a bevel gear set . the worm or drive gear 24 is coupled to a stub shaft 26 which extends out of the center housing 18 and terminates at a coupling , flange or portion of a universal joint 28 . the worm or drive gear 24 is in constant mesh with and drives a hypoid ring gear 30 which rotates about a transverse axis of the vehicle . the hypoid ring gear 30 is coupled to and drives a differential cage 32 which supports and positions four bevel gears . a first opposed pair of the bevel gears 34 a which rotate on the axis of the hypoid ring gear 30 are secured to and drive a respective one of the rear axles or half shafts 16 . a second opposed pair of the bevel gears 34 b are idler gears and both mesh with both of the first pair of bevel gears 34 a . the differential cage 32 and the first and second pairs of bevel gears 34 a and 34 b operate in conventional fashion to allow differential rotation of the rear axles or half shafts 16 ( and associated tire and wheel assemblies which are not illustrated ) as the motor vehicle turns or corners . the center housing 18 which receives the just - described components acts as a sump and is filled , typically about half way , with gear lubricating fluid 36 . referring now to fig2 , also disposed within the center housing 18 is a lubricating fluid temperature controlling or stabilizing assembly 40 . the lubricant temperature controlling or stabilizing assembly 40 includes a curved bi - metal or bi - metallic element such as a strip or plate 42 . the element 42 may also be referred to as bi - thermal since it includes materials having two distinct thermal coefficients of expansion . the bi - metal strip or plate 42 comprises two relatively thin strips of distinct materials , preferably metals , having different thermal coefficients of expansion . typically , steel and copper are utilized although other metals , alloys and materials are suitable . the two strips of metal are intimately bonded together by , for example , brazing or welding or an adhesive . the metal or material having the higher coefficient of thermal expansion forms or constitutes the concave side or inner component 42 a of the strip or plate 42 and the metal or material having the lower coefficient of thermal expansion forms or constitutes the convex side or outer component 42 b of the strip or plate 42 . thus , the inner component 42 a is preferably copper and the outer component 42 b is preferably steel . the bi - metal strip or plate 42 is secured to the inside surface 44 of the center housing 18 or a suitable boss or projection on the inside surface 44 by a fastener 46 such as a rivet , threaded fastener or stake . preferably , the fastener 46 and the secured end of the bi - metal strip or plate 42 are disposed approximately at the upper level of the lubricating fluid 36 . in a quiescent , ambient temperature condition , for example , 68 degrees fahrenheit ( 20 degrees celsius ), the bi - metal strip or plate will be shaped and configured to conform closely to the periphery of the ring gear 30 . depending upon the characteristics of the lubricating fluid 36 such its viscosity and the variation of viscosity with temperature , the thermal coefficients of expansion of the materials utilized to form the bi - metal strip or plate 42 and other design and performance parameters , this temperature at which the bi - metal strip 42 conforms to the periphery of the ring gear 30 may vary over a significant range , for example , from 32 degrees fahrenheit ( 0 degrees celsius ) or lower to 100 degrees fahrenheit ( 38 degrees celsius ) or higher . from its point of attachment by the fastener 46 , the bi - metal strip 42 curves around the ring gear 30 in the direction of its rotation when the vehicle is moving forward . therefore , as illustrated in fig2 , the axles 16 and the ring gear 30 rotate clockwise as viewed from the left side when the vehicle is moving forward as indicated by the arrows . thus the bi - metal strip or plate 42 curves around the ring gear 30 from the side opposite the worm or drive gear 24 toward the front of the center housing 18 . the bi - metal strip or plate 42 includes a stop or bumper 48 that engages a flange or projection 52 extending from the inner surface 44 of the center housing 18 . contact between the stop or bumper 48 and the projection 52 limits inward translation or the bi - metal strip or plate 42 , i . e ., travel toward the ring gear 30 , to prevent contact between the strip or plate 42 and the ring gear 30 . the stop or bumper 48 affects and contributes to the operation of the bi - metal strip 42 since it establishes a minimum , low temperature position below which no additional motion toward the ring gear 30 will occur . viewed from the opposite operational perspective , contact between the stop or bumper 48 and the projection 52 may be adjusted to ensure that no motion of the bi - metal strip or plate 42 away from the ring gear 30 occurs until the temperature of the lubricating fluid 36 has increased to a particular temperature . the bi - metal strip or plate 42 has a width at least as wide as , and preferably wider than , the nominal width of the ring gear 30 . if desired , the bi - metal strip or plate 42 may include thin , inwardly directed sidewalls ( not illustrated ) which extend toward the ring gear 30 and define a shallow channel or groove which receives the ring gear 30 . such a channel or groove enhances the ability of the ring gear 30 to collect and carry lubricating fluid 36 as it rotates . in operation , the lubricant temperature stabilizing or controlling assembly 40 , if beginning from a cold or ambient temperature start , will be in the position illustrated in fig2 , that is , closely conforming to the periphery of the ring gear 30 . in this position and temperature state , the stop or bumper 48 may be engaging the flange or projection 52 to prevent the bi - metal strip or plate 42 from translating into contact with the ring gear 30 due to the low temperature . so disposed , as the ring gear 30 begins to rotate as the vehicle moves , lubricating fluid 36 that is carried by and between the gear teeth of the ring gear 30 will be directed back to the sump in the center housing 18 and , to the extent possible , be warmed by the mechanical motion , friction and meshing of the worm gear 26 and the ring gear 30 . referring now to fig3 , after the differential assembly 20 has operated for a period of time , and the temperature of the lubricating fluid 36 has risen , the bi - metal strip or plate 42 will begin to straighten and move away from the ring gear 30 . as it does so , as the speed of the ring gear 30 increases and as the viscosity of the lubricating fluid 36 reduces , an increasing flow of the lubricating fluid 36 is directed toward the inner surface 44 of the center housing 18 . this redirected flow of lubricating fluid 36 transfers heat from the lubricating fluid 36 to the center housing 18 and thence to the ambient . from the foregoing , it will be appreciated that if the temperature of the lubricating fluid 36 begins to fall due , for example , to changed weather or vehicle activity , the bi - metal strip or plate 42 will begin to curve back toward the ring gear 30 thus lessening the flow of lubricating fluid 36 directed to the inner surface 44 of the center housing 18 and reducing the heat transfer to the center housing 18 and the ambient . in this manner , the temperature of the lubricating fluid 36 is stabilized , i . e ., rendered more constant , by linking the rate of heat dissipation to the temperature of the lubricating fluid 36 . when the vehicle has been inactive for a period of time and the lubricating fluid 36 in the center housing 18 has cooled , the bi - metal strip or plate 42 returns to the position illustrated in fig2 . referring now to fig4 , another embodiment of the lubricating fluid temperature controlling or stabilizing assembly according to the present invention is illustrated and designated by the reference number 60 . it will be appreciated that the assembly 60 is also utilized with a housing 18 of a differential assembly such as a rear differential assembly 20 having a hypoid gear set 22 including a worm or drive gear 24 mounted on a stub shaft 26 which terminates in a flange or universal joint 28 . a ring gear 30 is in constant mesh with the worm gear 24 and drives , through a conventional caged bevel gear set ( not illustrated ), a pair of axles or half shafts 16 ( one of which is illustrated ). the housing 18 includes a rear cover or plate 58 which is secured thereto by a plurality of threaded fasteners such as bolts ( not illustrated ). the lubricating fluid temperature controlling or stabilizing assembly 60 includes a curved strip or baffle 62 which is disposed between the ring gear 30 and the rear cover 58 of the differential assembly 20 and which preferably conforms to the curvature of the ring gear 30 . the baffle 62 is fabricated of a bi - thermal material , preferably two metals having distinct thermal coefficients of expansion and typically , copper and steel . referring now to fig5 , the curved strip or baffle 62 includes a first or outer layer 62 a of a material , typically a metal , having a higher thermal coefficient of expansion and a second or inner layer 62 b of a material , typically a metal , having a lower thermal coefficient of expansion . the two layers 62 a and 62 b are intimately bonded by welding , brazing or other securement method . the outer layer 62 a is preferably copper and the inner layer 62 b is preferably steel although many other metals and alloys having the necessary thermal characteristics may be utilized . the curved strip or baffle 62 defines a plurality of louvers or flaps 64 . the louvers or flaps are small panels defined by three sided or u - shaped cutouts which free a bottom and two side of the louvers or flaps 64 which are secured to the baffle 62 along one edge 66 . opposite the edge 66 , the louvers or flaps 64 may include a beveled or chamfered edge 68 which streamlines fluid flow thereover . in fig5 , the louvers or flaps 64 are shown in a cold or low temperature condition . as such , the louvers or flaps 64 conform generally to the overall curve of the strip or baffle 62 and prevent flow of the lubricating fluid 36 through the baffle 62 . the “ r ” and arrow indicate the direction of rotation of the ring gear 30 both here and in fig6 . in fig6 , the louvers or flaps 64 are shown in a hot or operating temperature condition . here , the louvers or flaps 64 have curved inwardly and opened a plurality of apertures or windows 72 through which the lubricating fluid 36 may flow so that it will contact the rear cover 58 of the housing 18 and transfer heat to the ambient . it will be appreciated that the particular temperature to louver or flap movement relationship may be established by experimental and empirical study to best match the goals of performance , lubrication and energy efficiency . fig7 generally illustrates the alignment of the strip or baffle 62 with the ring gear 30 as well as their relative widths . it will be noted that the strip or baffle 62 is generally centered upon and is significantly wider than the ring 30 gear and that the louvers or flaps 64 are somewhat wider than the ring gear 30 . the description of the invention is merely exemplary in nature and variations that do not depart from the gist of the invention are intended to be within the scope of the invention . such variations are not to be regarded as a departure from the spirit and scope of the invention .	5
embodiments of the present invention can be used for all types of satellites ( e . g ., leo , geo , etc .). before addressing the specifics of the instant passive thermal system , a satellite in which such a system can be used is described . satellite . fig1 depicts satellite 100 in accordance with the present teachings . fig2 depicts an “ exploded ” view of some of the salient features of satellite 100 . referring now to both fig1 and 2 , satellite 100 includes unified payload module 102 , propulsion module 114 , payload antenna module 122 , bus component module 132 , and solar - array system 140 , arranged as shown . it is to be noted that the orientation of satellite 100 in fig1 and 2 is “ upside down ” in the sense that in use , antennas 124 , which are facing “ up ” in the figures , would be facing “ down ” toward earth . unified payload module 102 comprises panels 104 , 106 , and 108 . in some embodiments , the panels are joined together using various connectors , etc ., in known fashion . brace 109 provides structural reinforcement for the connected panels . panels 104 , 106 , and 108 serve , among any other functionality , as radiators to radiate heat from satellite 102 . in some embodiments , the panels include adaptations to facilitate heat removal . in some embodiments , the panels comprise plural materials , such as a core that is sandwiched by face sheets . materials suitable for use for the panels include those typically used in the aerospace industry . for example , in some embodiments , the core comprises a lightweight aluminum honeycomb and the face sheets comprise 6061 - t6 aluminum . propulsion module 114 is disposed on panel 112 , which , in some embodiments , is constructed in like manner as panels 104 , 106 , and 108 ( e . g ., aluminum honeycomb core and aluminum facesheets , etc .). panel 112 , which is obscured in fig1 , abuts panels 104 and 106 of unified payload module 102 . propulsion module 114 includes fuel tank 116 and propulsion control system 118 . the propulsion control system controls , using one or more valves ( not depicted ), release of propulsion gas through the propulsion nozzle ( not depicted ) that is disposed on the outward - facing surface of panel 114 . propulsion control system is appropriately instrumented ( i . e ., software and hardware ) to respond to ground - based commands or commands generated on - board from the control processor . payload antenna module 122 comprises a plurality of antennas 124 . in the illustrative embodiments , sixteen antennas 124 are arranged in a 4 × 4 array . in some other embodiments , antennas 124 can be organized in a different arrangement and / or a different number of antennas can be used . antennas 124 are supported by support web 120 . in some embodiments , the support web is a curved panel comprising carbon fiber , with a suitable number of openings ( i . e ., sixteen in the illustrative embodiment ) for receiving and supporting antennas 124 . in some embodiments , antennas 124 transmit in the k u , band , which is the 12 to 18 ghz portion of the electromagnetic spectrum . in the illustrative embodiment , antennas 124 are configured as exponential horns , which are often used for communications satellites . well known in the art , the horn antenna transmits radio waves from ( or collects them into ) a waveguide , typically implemented as a short rectangular or cylindrical metal tube , which is closed at one end and flares into an open - ended horn ( conical shaped in the illustrative embodiment ) at the other end . the waveguide portion of each antenna 124 is obscured in fig1 . the closed end of each antenna 124 couples to amplifier ( s ) ( not depicted in fig1 and 2 ; they are located on the interior surface of panel 104 or 108 ). bus component module 132 is disposed on panel 130 , which attaches to the bottom ( from the perspective of fig1 and 2 ) of the unified payload module 102 . panel 130 can be constructed in like manner as panels 104 , 106 , and 108 ( e . g ., aluminum honeycomb core and aluminum facesheets , etc .). in some embodiments , panel 130 does not include any specific adaptations for heat removal . module 132 includes main solar - array motor 134 , four reaction wheels 136 , and main control processor 164 . the reaction wheels enable satellite 100 to rotate in space without using propellant , via conservation of angular momentum . each reaction wheel 136 , which includes a centrifugal mass ( not depicted ), is driven by an associated drive motor ( and control electronics ) 138 . as will be appreciated by those skilled in the art , only three reaction wheels 136 are required to rotate satellite 100 in the x , y , and z directions . the fourth reaction wheel serves as a spare . such reaction wheels are typically used for this purpose in satellites . main control processor 164 processes commands received from the ground and performs , autonomously , many of the functions of satellite 100 , including without limitation , attitude pointing control , propulsion control , and power system control . solar - array system 140 includes solar panels 142 a and 142 b and respective y - bars 148 a and 148 b . each solar panel comprises a plurality of solar cells ( not depicted ; they are disposed on the obscured side of solar panels 142 a and 142 b ) that convert sunlight into electrical energy in known fashion . each of the solar panels includes motor 144 and passive rotary bearing 146 ; one of the y - bar attaches to each solar panel at motor 144 and bearing 146 . motors 144 enable each of the solar panels to at least partially rotate about axis a - a . this facilitates deploying solar panel 142 a from its stowed position parallel to and against panel 104 and deploying solar panel 142 b from its stowed position parallel to and against panel 106 . the motors 144 also function to appropriately angle panels 142 a and 142 b for optimal sun exposure via the aforementioned rotation about axis a - a . member 150 of each y - bar 148 a and 148 b extends through opening 152 in respective panels 104 and 106 . within unified payload module 102 , members 150 connect to main solar - array motor 134 , previously referenced in conjunction with bus component module 132 . the main solar - array motor is capable of at least partially rotating each member 150 about its axis , as shown . this is for the purpose of angling solar panels 142 a and 142 b for optimal sun exposure . in some embodiments , the members 150 can be rotated independently of one another ; in some other embodiments , members 150 rotate together . lock - and - release member 154 is used to couple and release solar panel 142 a to side panel 104 and solar panel 142 b to side panel 106 . the lock - and - release member couples to opening 156 in side panels 104 and 106 . satellite 100 also includes panel 126 , which fits “ below ” ( from the perspective of fig1 and 2 ) panel 108 of unified payload module 102 . in some embodiments , panel 108 is a sheet of aerospace grade material ( e . g ., 6061 - t6 aluminum , etc .) battery module 128 is disposed on the interior - facing surface of panel 126 . the battery module supplies power for various energy consumers onboard satellite 100 . battery module 128 is recharged from electricity that is generated via solar panels 142 a and 142 b ; the panels and module 128 are electrically coupled for this purpose ( the electrical path between solar panels 142 a / b and battery module 128 is not depicted in fig1 and 2 ). satellite 100 further includes omni - directional antenna 158 for telemetry and ground - based command and control . disposed on panel 108 are two “ gateway ” antennas 160 . the gateway antennas send and receive user data to gateway stations on earth . the gateway stations are in communication with the internet . antennas 160 are coupled to panel 108 by movable mounts 162 , which enable the antennas to be moved along two axes for optimum positioning with ground - based antennas . antennas 160 typically transmit and receive in the k a band , which covers frequencies in the range of 26 . 5 to 40 ghz . convertor modules 110 , which are disposed on interior - facing surface of panel 106 , convert between k a radio frequencies and k u radio frequencies . for example , convertor modules 110 convert the k a band uplink signals from gateway antennas 160 to k u band signals for downlink via antennas 124 . convertor modules 110 also convert in the reverse direction ; that is , k u to k a . in operation of satellite 100 , data flows as follows for a data request : ( obtain data ): requested data is obtained from the internet at a gateway station ; ( uplink ): a data signal is transmitted ( k a band ) via large , ground - based antennas to the satellite &# 39 ; s gateway antennas 160 ; ( payload ): the data signal is amplified , routed to convertor modules 110 for conversion to downlink ( k u ) band , and then amplified again ; the payload signal is routed to payload antennas 124 ; ( downlink ): antennas 124 transmit the amplified , frequency - converted signal to the user &# 39 ; s terminal . when a user transmits ( rather than requests ) data , such as an e - mail , the signal follows the same path but in the reverse direction . passive thermal system . fig3 depicts a cross - sectional view of passive thermal system 370 . passive thermal system 370 comprises housing 372 , which , in the illustrative embodiment , includes wall 374 and wall 376 . wall 374 is dimensioned and shaped to couple to heat sink / source 396 . in the illustrative embodiment , heat sink / source 396 is a radiator panel , such as radiator panels 104 , 106 , 108 , 112 , etc . as a consequence , heat sink / source 396 is functioning as a heat sink . also , since radiator panels are relatively flat , wall 374 is flat as well . internal wall 380 extends from wall 374 towards wall 376 . wall 380 has a curved shape that generally mirrors the shape of wall 376 . outer chamber 390 is defined between wall 376 , wall 390 , and portions of wall 374 . inner chamber 386 is defined within wall 380 . heat pipe fluid 388 is contained in inner chamber 386 . typical heat pipe fluids include ammonia , ethane , propylene , etc . the phrase “ heat pipe fluid ” is defined for use in this disclosure and the appended claims to mean a fluid that , under the conditions of its use , is intended to change phase between a liquid and a vapor . as is well known to those skilled in the art , heat pipes include a wick structure , the purpose of which is move , via capillary action , the heat pipe fluid ( when in liquid form ) through the length of the heat pipe . wick structure 384 , which is disposed in inner chamber 386 , is used for the same purpose . in the illustrative embodiment , wick structure 384 comprises a plurality of projections 385 extending inwardly from wall 380 . the projections extend the length of inner chamber 386 . a variety of wick designs are known in the art and any of such designs may suitably be used in conjunction with the present invention . pcm or phase change material 392 is contained in outer chamber 390 . the term “ pcm ” is defined for use in this disclosure and the appended claims to mean a fluid that , under the conditions of its use , is intended to change phase between a solid and a liquid . any of a variety of materials can be used as pcm 392 , as is appropriate for the heat load and materials of construction . typical materials suitable for use as pcm 392 include paraffin or salt hydrate . fins 382 , which extend outwardly from wall 380 , project into outer chamber 390 and into pcm 392 . the purpose of fins 382 is to increase the heat transfer surface of wall 380 to maximize , to the extent possible , the surface area of the interface between wall 380 / fins 382 and pcm 392 . because pcm 392 is a ( very ) high viscosity fluid , the heat it receives ( from wall 380 / fins 382 ) will not transfer well therein . as a consequence , there will be a smaller temperature gradient over the length of the fin and between the fin and immediately surrounding pcm 392 . it will therefore be important to taper fins 382 such that they are thicker at their base ( nearest wall 380 ) than at their tip . this will help to maintain a temperature gradient across fins 382 ( because with relatively less mass at the tip than at the base , the tip will cool more quickly than a relatively thicker one ). in light of the present disclosure , those skilled in the art will be able to design and build fins 382 suitable for their intended purpose , as discussed above . it is desirable to minimize the temperature gradient in pcm 392 between the exterior surface of wall 380 and the interior surface of wall 376 . for the reasons previously discussed , fins 382 should therefore extend well into outer chamber 392 . based on various considerations , in some embodiments , fins 382 extend 40 % or more of the distance between exterior surface of wall 380 and interior surface of wall 376 . in some other embodiments , fins 382 extend 45 % or more of the distance between exterior surface of wall 380 and interior surface of wall 376 . and in some yet further embodiments , fins 382 extend 50 % or more of the distance between exterior surface of wall 380 and interior surface of wall 376 . housing 372 is coupled to the heat source / heat sink 396 via interface material 394 . the primary function of interface material 394 is to minimize , to the extent possible , the thermal resistance between housing 372 and heat source / heat sink 396 . as a consequence , the interface material should be characterized by a high thermal conductivity , an ability to form a thin bond line , and little or no tendency to form voids over the operating life . with respect to “ high ” thermal conductivity , a heat transfer coefficient greater than about 500 w /( m 2 k ) is desirable . although the coupling between housing 372 and heat source / heat sink 396 can be supplemented by mechanical fasteners , it is important for interface material 394 to adhere well ( e . g ., even contact , no voiding , etc .) to both coupled surfaces to keep thermal resistance as low as practical . in some embodiments , interface material 394 is room temperature vulcanized silicone ( rtv ). other suitable materials for use as interface material 394 include , without limitation , pressure - sensitive adhesives , film adhesives , gaskets , and epoxy . of course , interface material 394 must be compatible with the material of construction of heat source / heat sink 396 and housing 372 . in the illustrative embodiment , heat source / heat sink 396 is a radiator panel , which is typically formed of aluminum , and housing 372 comprises aluminum , which is typically compatible with the candidate interface materials mentioned above . fig4 a depicts , via a side view , arrangement 400 wherein passive thermal system 370 is configured to transfer heat from satellite electronics 401 to satellite radiator panel 402 . fig4 b depicts a cross - sectional view of the arrangement of fig4 a through the line a - a and fig4 c depicts a cross - sectional view of the arrangement of fig4 a through the line b - b . satellite electronics 401 is representative of any of a number of different electronics systems that are onboard satellite 100 for various purposes . all such electronics typically generate heat that needs to be expelled from the satellite . satellite radiator panel 402 is representative of radiator panels 104 , 106 , 108 , 112 , etc ., of satellite 100 , as shown in fig1 and 2 , which can be used to expel the heat generated by satellite electronics 401 . as depicted in fig4 a , satellite electronics 401 is disposed near a first end of passive thermal system 370 and radiator panel 402 is disposed near a second end thereof . passive thermal system 370 is coupled to satellite electronics 401 and radiator panel 402 via interface material 394 , previously discussed ( see fig3 and also fig4 b , and 4c ). satellite electronics 401 generates heat , q , which is collected and transported by passive thermal system 370 to radiator 402 , where heat q is rejected to space . passive thermal system 370 operates as follows . heat pipe fluid 388 collects the heat generated from satellite electronics 401 . fluid 388 is selected such that it evaporates at a very low temperature . for example , saturated ammonia , which is a typical heat pipe material , evaporates at − 33 ° c . pcm 392 typically undergoes phase change ( liquid / solid ) at a considerably higher temperature , usually in the range of about 20 to 60 ° c . as a function of the material . as a consequence , most of the heat , q , collected by passive thermal system 370 transfers to heat pipe fluid 388 in inner chamber 386 . heat pipe fluid immediately begins to evaporate , transferring heat across inner chamber 386 at near sonic speed . in practice , inner chamber 386 can be considered an isothermal environment because heat transfer is so effective and fast in this temperature range . the effect of this rapid heat transfer is to increase the surface area term , a , in the thermal conductance expression [ 1 ] between heat pipe fluid 388 in inner chamber 386 and pcm 392 in outer chamber 390 : g is the thermal conductance ; h is the heat transfer coefficient ; and a is the contact area . when thermal conductance , g , is large , heat transfers more readily into pcm 392 , such that the pcm is more effective and permitting a larger quantity pcm to be available for use . it is notable that some heat transfers directly into the pcm from the heat source . however , the typical pcm ( e . g ., hydrated salt , etc .) is a very poor heat conductor such that there will not be much heat transfer along the length of pcm 392 , especially in a prior art arrangement wherein heat pipe fluid 388 is not present . as pcm 392 absorbs heat from heat pipe fluid 388 , it liquefies . as pcm 392 melts , the temperature of heat pipe fluid 388 will plateau . if and when all of pcm 392 melts , the temperature of heat pipe fluid 388 will begin rising again . in preferred embodiments , a sufficient amount of pcm 392 is present in outer chamber 390 so that the pcm never completely melts . if the temperature of heat pipe fluid 388 never reaches the phase change temperature of pcm 392 , then no heat storage will occur in the pcm . in such a case , passive thermal system 370 behaves like a conventional heat pipe . once satellite electronics 401 stops generating significant quantities of heat , and to the extent that pcm 392 has stored ( via the latent heat of fusion ), the pcm slowly releases the stored heat back into heat pipe fluid 388 in chamber 386 . the heat pipe fluid then exchanges heat with radiator 402 , where it is radiated to space . thus , pcm 392 is analogous to a large capacitor , storing energy until it can be released to ground . and it provides a safety net , ready to damp any temperature rise of heat pipe fluid 388 , preventing the fluid from exceeding temperature limitations . it is to be understood that the disclosure describes a few embodiments and that many variations of the invention can easily be devised by those skilled in the art after reading this disclosure and that the scope of the present invention is to be determined by the following claims .	1
detailed embodiments of the present invention are disclosed herein . however , it is to be understood that the disclosed embodiments are merely exemplary of the invention that may be embodied in various and alternative forms . the figures are not necessarily to scale , some features may be exaggerated or minimized to show details of particular components . therefore , specific structural and functional details disclosed herein are not to be interpreted as limiting , but merely as a representative basis for the claims and / or as a representative basis for teaching one skilled in the art to variously employ the present invention . one or more embodiments of the present invention generally provide for a plurality of computers in electrical communication with each other to generate dynamic software documentation so that one or more authorized users may edit , add , or delete information contained in the software documentation via at least one of the computers . the software documentation generally includes “ help ” information related to one or more aspects of a software product . such help information may be steps or procedures describing the manner in which various operations within the software product may be performed . the computers may each include hardware , software and or any combination thereof for executing instructions , but not limited to , allowing the authorized user to edit , add , delete and save information to / from the software documentation . the computers may include hardware , software or any combination thereof for executing instructions to allow a plurality of authorized users the ability to access the software documentation simultaneously and to allow the editing , addition , and deletion of such information from the software documentation to be performed simultaneously . it is generally contemplated that at least one system and method as disclosed herein includes hardware , software , and or combination thereof for performing one or more of the operations described with respect to the generation of , access to , addition to , and / or deletion from the software documentation . referring now to fig1 , a system 10 for generating and / or modifying dynamic software documentation 12 in accordance to one embodiment of the present invention is shown . the system 10 comprises a plurality of clients 14 a - 14 n and a server 16 . the clients 14 a - 14 n and the server 16 may each comprise a computer which include processors for executing instructions to facilitate access and modification to the software documentation 12 . a communication link 18 facilitates bi - directional electrical communication between the clients 14 a - 14 n and the server 16 . the communication link 18 may be implemented as a transmission control protocol / internet protocol ( tcp / ip ) to facilitate data communication therebetween . a database 20 is operably coupled to the server 16 . each of the clients 14 a - 14 n are capable of accessing contents within the database 20 . the database 20 includes the dynamic software documentation 12 . it is generally contemplated that the database 20 may include one or more software documents 12 which each correspond to a software package . a software package is generally defined as the entire set of software which may include , but not limited to , software code , binary files , help files , test scenarios , install / uninstall instructions and configuration files . each software package may be divided into different units or sections . the dynamic software documentation 12 is generally defined as a help document that includes help related information that is specific for a software package . a user may access the software documentation 12 via the clients 14 a - 14 n to locate information related to various attributes about the software package . the software documentation 12 may include , but not limited to , various definitions / terms used in connection with the software package , instructions with respect to the manner in which various operations may be performed in connection with the software package , a search engine for locating particular definitions / terms ( or help articles ) and / or various user interaction attributes such as forums and / or links to web logs which are directed to the software package . such search engines may be in the form of dialogs , wizards or web pages . in general , one or more users with authorized rights may access the software documentation 12 to review information , add information directly to the software documentation 12 , and / or delete information from the software documentation 12 . for example , an authorized user may access the software documentation 12 to obtain help information with respect to a particular application or attribute contained within the software package . while within the software documentation 12 , the authorized user may add information to the software documentation 12 in the event the software documentation 12 fails to include pertinent information that may be relevant for other users of the software documentation . for example , if by chance the authorized user determines that a description of an operation requires additional information than that already contained in the software documentation , the user may add such information to bolster the contents of the software documentation 12 . such an example may include the situation whereby a new software release has occurred and the user has identified a particular manner in performing an operation related to a new aspect of the software package . in such a case , the user may add text to serve as help information to identify the manner in which the operation can be performed for the new feature contained in the software package . in yet another example , the authorized user may correct information within the software documentation 12 that is not correct or needs to be updated . in another example , the user may simply delete outdated or incorrect data from the software documentation 12 via the client 14 a - 14 n . any information added to the software documentation may be added in any language . it is generally contemplated that the authorized user make any such changes to the software documentation 12 as needed to ensure that the help information contained in the software documentation 12 is correct or recent for any foreseeable set of conditions . for example , the authorized user may simply edit information within the software documentation 12 that is not correct irrespective of the state or version of the software package . meaning , it is not necessary for a new software version to be released in order for the authorized user to add , edit , or delete content to / from the software documentation 12 . existing software packages that have been consumed by users for a number of years may have any such information within the software documentation 12 edited or modified in the manner described in accordance to one or more embodiments of the present invention . the users of the clients may be defined as persons who are not employed by the software provider or persons not acting as agents on behalf of the software provider . conventionally , software providers employ or contract persons to add , delete , or edit contents within the software documentation 12 . the system 10 encourages the user community to moderate the contents of the software documentation 12 . such a setting generally ensures that the latest and most accurate information is stored within the software documentation 12 and that such information is provided by the authorized users who found issues or can add information to clarify points of interest within the software documentation . the system 10 encourages the user community to participate in order to build a precise and inexpensive documentation system . users may add content to the software documentation 12 based on what is unclear with respect to the software package . it is generally recognized that conventional methods for providing help documents may lag behind the current version of software packages and that the software providers may cease to update the help documents particularly after a software package has evolved or matured after a period of time . the term “ user ” may apply to either the person operating the client 14 a - 14 n or directly to the client 14 a - 14 n itself . further , the term “ authorized user ” may apply to a person having clearance to create , access , and / or modify the software documentation 12 or to the client 14 a - 14 n having clearance to create , access , and / or modify the software documentation 12 . the authorized user may access the software documentation 12 via the communication bus 18 and utilize any number of mechanisms to add , edit , or delete help information on the software documentation 12 . in one example , the documentation editing model may be close to or similar to the tool used by wikipedia . org or other suitable open source tools . it is also contemplated that the software provider may also provide a proprietary editing model to enable changes to the software documentation 12 . in such an example , the proprietary editing model may be provided along with the software package . the server 16 interfaces with the open source software via the communication link 18 and enables changes to the software documentation 20 in response to the changes performed at the clients 14 a - 14 n . it is generally contemplated that the authorized user may be capable of generating the software documentation 20 in the event such documentation does not exist . the generation of the software documentation 12 and the modification of the software documentation 12 will be discussed in more detail in connection with fig2 . in general , the clients 14 a - 14 n may transmit requests related to the software documentation 12 to the server 16 . for example , the clients 14 a - 14 n may transmit a plurality of requests over the communication link 18 and to the server 16 simultaneously or serially so that the users situated at the corresponding clients 14 a - 14 n are capable of accessing and modifying the software documentation 12 simultaneously or serially . in one example , the user may be presented with the software documentation 12 over a web portal ( or web page ) and change the software documentation 12 while in the web portal . each request transmitted by a corresponding client 14 a - 14 n to the server 16 may correspond to a search for pages or help information in the software documentation 12 , an edit that is to be made to a particular section of the software documentation 12 , a new page ( or new text ) that is to be within the software documentation 12 , and / or the generation of a software documentation 12 ( that previously did not exist ). the server 16 will send a confirmation response to the request that is presentable in a web page format ( or other suitable format ) in the event the request corresponds to an edit that is to be made , a new page that is to be added or an entire new set of software documentation is needed to be created . referring now to fig2 , a first flow diagram 50 for performing various operations with respect to the dynamic software documentation with the system 10 of fig1 is shown . the clients 14 a - 14 n and / or the server 16 may include hardware , software of a combination thereof for executing instructions related to at least one of the operations disclosed in the diagram 50 . in operation 52 , the user launches the software package at the client 14 a - 14 n . it is generally contemplated that such a software package include , but are not limited to , microsoft ® products such a ms - word ®, excel ®, powerpoint ®, or sun microsystems ™ products such as netbeans ™, solaris ™, and staroffice ™ to name a few . the system 10 may be adapted for use with any software package does not include initial help information so that such help information can be developed in accordance to one or more embodiments disclosed herein . further , the system 10 may be adapted for use with any software package that includes help information or any software package that is capable of requiring help information for the dissemination of help information to the various users of such software products . in operation 54 , the user determines whether help is needed with respect to a particular attribute associated with the software package . if the user determines that no help is needed , the diagram 50 moves to operation 56 and allows the user to continue work within the software package . if the user determines that help is needed , the diagram 50 moves to operation 58 . in operation 58 , the user presses a help key on the keyboard of the client 14 a - 14 n . the help system may be accessed via a special functionality key , a pre - designated key or a combination of keys on the keyboard , or by selecting the “ help ” button or other suitable arrangement . in another example , the user may select the help option via voice commands . in operation 60 , a determination is made as to whether the software package includes a corresponding software document that includes help information . for example , the server 16 communicates with the clients 14 a - 14 n over the communication link 18 to provide status as to the existence of the software documentation . in the event the server 16 determines that no such software documentation for the software package that is currently being operated by the user is not available , the diagram 50 moves to operation 62 . in the event the server 16 determines that the software documentation 12 for the software package that is currently being operated by the user is available , the diagram moves to operation 70 . in operation 62 , the server 16 communicates that no such software documentation 12 is available to the client 14 a - 14 n . the client 14 a - 14 n may prompt the user to login into the server 16 to create or generate the software documentation 12 . the server 16 confirms the identity of the client 14 a - 14 n or the user of the client 14 a - 14 n to determine whether the identity of the client 14 a - 14 n or the user of the client 14 a - 14 n is an authorized user . in operation 64 , the user creates the software documentation through the client 14 a - 14 n . it is appreciated that the clients 14 a - 14 n act as an interface and that the server 16 generates the software documentation 12 in response to data transmitted by the client 14 a - 14 n over the communication link 18 . as noted above , at least one of the client 14 a - 14 n , the communication link 18 , and the server 16 interface an open source for facilitating communication with respect to creating the software documentation 12 . in one example , a wiki engine may be used to allow the user to update the software documentation 12 . the software documentation 12 may be presented to the user via the clients 14 a - 14 n in a web browser type format . the user may use the wiki engine to view , add , delete , or edit help information within the software documentation . it is contemplated that the help engine provide synchronous access to the information among authorized users . in addition , the user may use the wiki engine to view , and / or store updates / history and sync access among authorized users . the server 16 may upload such information on the software documentation 12 and save on the database 20 . in operation 66 , the user may generate the software documentation 12 and leave an inquiry for another user with respect to the reason the user needed help for a particular attribute noted in connection with operation 54 . the user may also contribute help information with respect to other attributes that the user may have knowledge with respect to the software package to assist other users who later intend to access the software documentation 12 to obtain such help information . in operation 68 , the user saves the information generated in the software documentation 12 and exits therefrom . the server 16 stores a copy of the software documentation 12 on the database 20 for later retrieval by other users . in operation 56 , the user continues to work in the software package . in operation 70 , the client 14 a - 14 n opens a corresponding page within the software documentation that corresponds to the particular subject that the user requires assistance on . such an operation occurs in response to the server 16 transmitting data to the client 14 a - 14 n to indicate that the software documentation 12 exists . it is contemplated that the help information from the software documentation 12 corresponds to the subject matter in which the user requires assistance on so that additional searching may be minimized while the user is in the software documentation 12 . this condition will be discussed in more detail in connection with fig3 . in operation 72 , the user determines whether the help information being presented in the corresponding page of the software documentation 12 is correct . for example , the user may perform the operation as indicated in the software documentation 12 to achieve the desired purpose . in the event the user is able to perform the operation in the manner outlined in the software documentation 12 , the diagram 50 moves to operation 56 . in the event the user is unable to perform the operation as indicated in the software documentation 12 to achieve the desired purpose , the diagram 50 moves to operation 74 . in operation 74 , the user logs into the server 16 to modify the help information in the software documentation 12 . such a login is generally needed to ensure the user is an authorized user for making various changes to the software documentation 12 . the server 16 confirms the identity of the client 14 a - 14 n or the user of the client 14 a - 14 n to determine whether the identity of the client 14 a - 14 n or the user of the client 14 a - 14 n is an authorized user . in operation 76 , the user may add help content or leave an inquiry within the software documentation 12 . for example , the user may provide a comment within the software documentation 12 indicating that the help information corresponding to the particular operation that the user required assistance on was not correct . the user may leave an inquiry within the software documentation 12 for another user to provide the appropriate the help information within the software documentation 12 . in the event the user is able to perform the desired operation within the software package even if the help information identified in the software documentation 12 is incorrect , the user may delete the incorrect help information and add new help information with respect to the feature the user required assistance on so that such information is available to other users in the future . referring now to fig3 , a second flow diagram 100 for indexing portions of the software package to web pages displaying relevant sections of the software documentation 12 is shown . in operation 104 , the software provider indexes the software package to generate a plurality of sections . as noted above , the entire software package may include , but not limited to , software code , binary files , help files , test scenarios , install / uninstall instructions , etc . the sections of the software package may include , but not limited to , a wizard , menu or dialog prompt . each section of the software package may have corresponding help information for inclusion within the software documentation 12 . in operation 106 , the server 16 maps corresponding sections of the software documentation 12 to the indexed plurality of sections . for example , unique ids may be used to link the indexed plurality of sections to the corresponding sections of the software documentation 12 . in such a case , the server 16 may associate web pages corresponding to the indexed plurality of sections so that applicable web pages are presented to the user in response to the user selecting the help key / function when the corresponding indexed section of the software package is being utilized by the user . in such a case , the section of the software documentation 12 that corresponds to the particular indexed section may be presented to the user to minimize the amount of time and effort needed to find the applicable section of the software documentation 12 . for example , in the event a user wants to save a file while a dialog box is open related to allowing a user to save the file and the user needs help and selects the help key , the client 14 a - 14 n searches for the unique id that corresponds to the dialog box and transmits the unique id to the server 16 . the server 16 locates the applicable section of the software documentation 12 in response to the unique id and transmits the applicable section of the software documentation 12 to the client 14 a - 14 n . an example of such a mapping operation may be accomplished via java . for example , each software section can be associated with an appropriate compilation unit with a concrete name stated within its source code ( e . g ., fully qualified name ). such a qualified name may be used as a unique id for the corresponding help information . restricted symbols may be substituted in accordance with a special replacement agreement . referring now to fig4 a - 4 d , various screen displays 200 , 202 , 208 and 212 depicting various capabilities of the system 10 in accordance to one embodiment of the present invention are shown . the screen displays 200 , 202 , 208 and 212 as depicted in fig4 a - 4 d are shown for exemplary purposes . it is generally contemplated that the screen displays 200 , 202 , 208 and 212 may be presented in any number of configurations and is not intended to be limited to that as shown in fig4 a - 4 d . the screen display 200 corresponds to a greeting page a user may expect to encounter in running the netbeans ™ software package . in the screen display 200 the user may intend to create a new database connection . the user may first select the service tab and then select a database tab in an attempt to create the new database connection . the screen display 202 ( as shown in fig4 b ) depicts a prompt ( or dialog box ) 204 that is presented to the user for creating a new database connection . assuming that the user does not know how to create the new database connection , the user may select the “ help ” button 206 of the dialog box 204 as shown in the screen display 202 . the screen display 208 opens in response to the user selecting the help button 206 of the screen display 202 . as shown the screen display 208 is shown as a web page and the web page shown provides information related to establishing a new database connection dialog box . the web page and the corresponding help information is mapped to the dialog box 204 . the mapping of the dialog boxes in the software package and to the corresponding help information in the software documentation 12 is discussed above in connection with fig3 . the web page opened in response to the user clicking the help button 206 provides help information that is relevant with the item or operation needing instruction or guidance . such a condition may eliminate the need for the user to perform additional searching in the software documentation 12 . in the case were the requested help information does not exist , the user may select “ edit ” field 210 to add help information to describe the manner in which a new database connection can be made with the netbeans software . further , the user may select the edit field 210 to edit information displayed on the web page , or to leave an inquiry requesting for guidance from other users to provide instruction or guidance in adding a new database connection . the screen display 212 opens in response to the user selecting the “ edit ” field of 210 of the screen display 208 . the screen display 212 allows the user to enter help information ( or comments / inquiries ), edit existing help information , or delete help information as needed a contribution to the help information in the software documentation 12 . the user may select then save page field 214 so that the changes made to the software documentation 12 are saved and stored in the database 20 . the screen display 212 may include “ search ” field 216 to allow the user to search the software documentation 12 to find a particular item of interest in the event such an item did not come up in response to the user selecting the help button 216 as noted in connection with the screen display 202 . while embodiments of the invention have been illustrated and described , it is not intended that these embodiments illustrate and describe all possible forms of the invention . rather , the words used in the specification are words of description rather than limitation , and it is understood that various changes may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention .	6
referring to fig3 of the drawings , a bootstrap circuit embodying the present invention is illustrated . though not shown in the drawings , the bootstrap circuit is coupled to a word line , and a plurality of memory cells are coupled to the word line . upon access to a data bit stored in one of the memory cells , the bootstrap circuit drives the word line over a power voltage level , and the data bits stored in the memory cells are concurrently read out to associated bit lines . the bootstrap circuit shown in fig3 largely comprises a bootstrap unit 31 , a clamping unit 32 , a charge pump unit 30 , a constant voltage level producing circuit 33 , and a switching unit 34 . the bootstrap unit 31 comprises an n - channel type field effect transistor qn31 , a series combination of three inverting circuits in31 , in32 and in33 coupled between an input node n30 and the n - channel type field effect transistor qn31 , a delay circuit dl31 coupled between an intermediate node n31 and the switching unit 34 , a bootstrap capacitor c31 coupled between the switching unit 34 and an output node n32 , and a lead capacitor c32 . an input signal sin of an active low voltage level is supplied to the input node n30 , and is inverted twice through the inverting circuits in31 and in32 . the inverting circuit in32 supplies the input signal sin to the inverting circuit in33 as well as the delay circuit dl31 , and the delay circuit dl31 introduces a time delay into propagation of the input signal sin , thereby producing a timing signal stm . the inverting circuit in33 supplies a complementary input signal csin of the input signal sin through the n - channel type field effect transistor qn31 to one of the electrodes of the bootstrap capacitor c31 . although the complementary input signal csin is as high as the power voltage level vcc to the n - channel type field effect transistor qn31 , the n - channel type field effect transistor qn31 lowers the voltage level of the complementary input signal csin by the threshold voltage level vthn thereof . for this reason , the complementary input signal csin thus lowered is supplied to one of the electrodes of the bootstrap capacitor c31 , and accumulates the bootstrap capacitor c31 . when a booting signal sbt is supplied from the switching unit 34 to the other electrode of the bootstrap capacitor c31 , the bootstrap capacitor c31 boosts an output voltage level at the output node n32 in cooperation with the load capacitor c32 . in this instance , the ratio of the capacitance of the bootstrap capacitor c31 to the capacitance of the load capacitor c32 is adjusted to 3 : 1 , and the output voltage level is boosted to a first predetermined voltage level higher than the power voltage level by a certain value twice as large as the threshold level vthn of the component n - channel type field effect transistor such as qn31 as described hereinbelow . the bootstrap unit 31 is arranged to saturate the output voltage level at the first predetermined voltage level without any aid of the clamping unit 32 , and the output voltage smoothly reaches the first predetermined voltage level at early stage of the driving operation of the associated word line . the clamping unit 32 comprises two n - channel type field effect transistors qn32 and qn33 coupled in series between a source of power voltage level vcc and the output node n32 , and each of the n - channel type field effect transistors qn32 and qn33 has a gate electrode coupled to the drain node thereof . the clamping unit 32 thus arranged discharges current from the output node n32 to the source of positive voltage level vcc while the output voltage level at the output node n32 exceeds the first predetermined voltage level . if the output voltage level is decayed from the first predetermined voltage level due to , for example , leakage current from the associated word line , the charge pump unit 30 supplements current and , accordingly , keeps the output voltage level at the first predetermined level . the bootstrap circuit according to the present invention saturates the output voltage level around the first predetermined voltage level through the bootstrapping phenomenon , and the clamping circuit 32 is provided for canceling excess electric charges supplied from the charge pump unit 30 only . if no leakage current takes place , not only the charge pump unit 30 but also the clamping unit 32 may be deleted from the bootstrap circuit according to the present invention . the clamping unit 32 only cancels the excess electric charges , and , for this reason , the n - channel type field effect transistors qn32 and qn33 are extremely small in size . moreover , since the clamping unit 32 merely discharges the excess electric charges , the current consumption of the bootstrap circuit is drastically improved rather than that of the prior art bootstrap circuit shown in fig1 . the constant voltage level producing unit 33 comprises a voltage divider 33a coupled between the source of power voltage level vcc and a ground node , and a voltage level adjusting circuit 33b coupled between the source of power voltage level vcc and the ground node for producing a second predetermined voltage level at a node n33 . the voltage divider 33a comprises a series combination of n - channel type field effect transistors qn34 , qn35 , qn36 and qn37 , a p - channel type field effect transistor qp38 and a resister r31 , and each of the field effect transistors qn34 to qn37 and qn38 has a gate electrode coupled to the source node thereof . a first output node n34 is provided between the n - channel type field effect transistors qn36 and qn37 , and a second output node n35 is between the p - channel type field effect transistor qp38 and the resister r31 . between the common drain node n36 of the field effect transistors qn37 and qp38 and the ground node a resistor r32 is coupled , and first and second controlling signals take place at the nodes n34 and n35 with a predetermined difference voltage . the voltage level adjusting circuit 33b is implemented by a series combination of an n - channel type field effect transistor qn39 and a p - channel type field effect transistor qp40 coupled between the source of power voltage level vcc and the ground node , and the field effect transistors qn39 and qp40 are gated by the first and second controlling signals , respectively . the first controlling signal is regulated by the three n - channel type field effect transistors qn34 to qn36 , and the voltage level of the first controlling signal is as high as ( vcc - 3vthn ). similarly , the voltage node at the common drain node n36 is given as ( vcc - 4vthn ), and the second controlling signal hardly exceeds a certain voltage level given as ( vcc - 4vthn - vthp ) where vthp is the threshold level of the p - channel type field effect transistor qp38 . the n - channel type field effect transistor qn39 lowers the power voltage level vcc by 4vthn , because the first controlling signal ( vcc - 3vth ) is supplied to the gate electrode of the n - channel type field effect transistor qn39 . if the power voltage level vcc is linearly increased as indicated by plots a of fig4 the second predetermined voltage level at the node n33 starts on increasing from 4vthn as indicated by plots n33 , and the voltage difference as large as 4vthn is kept between the power voltage level vcc and the second predetermined voltage level . the switching unit 34 is implemented by a series combination of a p - channel type field effect transistor qp41 and an n - channel type field effect transistor qn42 coupled between the source of positive voltage level and the node n33 , and the timing signal stm is supplied to the gate electrodes of the p - channel type field effect transistor qp41 and the n - channel type field effect transistor qn42 . the common drain node 37 is coupled to the other electrode of the bootstrap capacitor c31 , and selectively supplies the booting signal sbt as high as the power voltage level or the second predetermined voltage level to the other electrode of the bootstrap capacitor c31 . description is hereinbelow made on the circuit behavior of the bootstrap circuit thus arranged with reference to fig5 of the drawings . while the input signal sin remains in an inactive high voltage level , the node n31 of the power voltage level allows the delay unit dl31 to supply the timing signal stm of the power voltage level to the switching unit 34 , and the p - channel type field effect transistor qp41 is turned off . however , the n - channel type field effect transistor qn42 is turned on to relay the second predetermined voltage level ( vcc - 4vthn ) to the node n37 , and the other electrode of the bootstrap capacitor c31 is supplied with the second predetermined voltage level . if the input signal sin goes down to the active low voltage level , the voltage level at the node n31 follows the input signal sin and starts on decay at time t11 . the inverting circuit in33 causes the complementary input signal csin to start on rising at time t12 , and the output node n32 follows the complementary input signal csin . the output node reaches the voltage level ( vcc - vthn ) at time t13 . the delay circuit dl31 allows the timing signal stm to go down to the low level at time t14 , and the n - channel type field effect transistor qn42 turns off to block the node n37 from the second predetermined voltage level . however , the p - channel type field effect transistor qp41 complementarily turns on to supply the booting signal sbt of the power voltage level vcc to the node n37 . then , the other electrode of the bootstrap capacitor c31 increases the voltage level from the second predetermined voltage level ( vcc - 4vthn ) to the power voltage level vcc , and the capacitors c31 and c32 adjusted to the aforesaid ratio allows the output node n32 to go up to the first predetermined voltage level ( vcc + 2vthn ) without any assistance of the clamping unit 32 . thus , the output voltage level keeps the voltage difference twice as large as the threshold level vthn as indicated by plots n32 of fig4 turning to fig6 of the drawings , another bootstrap circuit embodying the present invention largely comprises a bootstrap unit 61 , a clamping unit 62 , a charge pump unit 63 , a constant voltage producing unit 64 , a switching unit 65 , and a controlling unit 66 . the bootstrap unit 61 , the clamping unit 62 , the charge pump unit 63 , the constant voltage producing unit 64 and the switching unit 65 are similar in arrangement to the corresponding units 31 , 32 , 30 , 33 and 34 with the exception that a voltage level adjusting circuit 64b is coupled between the source of power voltage level vcc and the controlling unit 66 , and , for this reason , the component elements of those units 61 to 65 are labeled with the same references used in fig3 without any detailed description . the voltage level adjusting circuit 33b is coupled between the source of positive voltage level vcc and an n - channel type field effect transistor qn61 incorporated in the controlling unit 66 . the controlling unit 66 further comprises three nor gates nr61 , nr62 and nr63 and an inverting circuit in60 , and the nor gate nr61 and nr62 are coupled to the two input nodes of the nor gate nr63 . the nor gate nr61 is associated with an inverting circuit in61 and a delay circuit dl61 , and the timing signal stm is supplied to the inverting circuit in61 and the delay circuit dl61 . similarly , the nor gate nr62 is associated with inverting circuits in62 and in63 and a delay circuit dl62 , and the voltage level at the node n31 is supplied to the inverting circuit in62 . the power voltage level and the ground voltage level are assumed to be logic &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; level and logic &# 34 ; 0 &# 34 ; level , respectively , and both of the nor gates nr61 and nr62 usually produce respective output signals of logic &# 34 ; 0 &# 34 ; level , because logic &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; level and logic &# 34 ; 0 &# 34 ; level are supplied to the input nodes of each nor gate nr61 or nr62 . in this situation , the nor gate nr63 yields an output signal of logic &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; level , and the inverting circuit in60 supplies a third controlling signal cnt3 of the ground voltage level to the gate electrode of the n - channel type field effect transistor qn61 . the n - channel type field effect transistor qn61 remains off in so far as the voltage level at the node n31 is constant in either power or ground voltage level , and no current passes through the voltage level adjusting circuit 33b . this further improves the current consumption of the bootstrap circuit . however , if the node n31 is decayed from the power voltage level to the ground voltage level , nor gate nr62 shifts the output signal from logic &# 34 ; 0 &# 34 ; level to logic &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; level , because the delay circuit dl62 retards the voltage rising at the output node of the inverting circuit in62 and keeps one of the output nodes in logic &# 34 ; 0 &# 34 ; level . on the other hand , the delay circuit dl31 allows the timing signal stm to remaining at the power voltage level , and the nor gate nr61 still produces the output signal of logic &# 34 ; 0 ∞ level . with the output signal of logic &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; level and the output signal of logic &# 34 ; 0 &# 34 ; level , the nor gate nr63 shifts the output signal from logic &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; level to logic &# 34 ; 0 &# 34 ; level , and the third controlling signal cnt3 goes up to the power voltage level vcc . this results in that the n - channel type field effect transistor qn61 to turn on , and current flows through the voltage level adjusting circuit 33b so that the second predetermined voltage level takes place at the node n33 . the delay circuit dl62 keeps one of the input nodes of the nor gate nr62 in logic &# 34 ; 0 &# 34 ; level for a while , and , thereafter , shifts to logic &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; level . even if the timing signal stm is shifted from the power voltage level to the ground voltage level , the nor gate nr61 keeps the output signal in logic &# 34 ; 0 &# 34 ; level , and , accordingly , the nor gate nr63 recovers the output signal from logic &# 34 ; 0 &# 34 ; level to logic &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ;. accordingly , the inverting circuit in60 recovers the third controlling signal cnt3 from the power voltage level to the ground level as indicated by plots cnt3 of fig5 and the n - channel type field effect transistor qn61 turns off again . when the voltage level at the node n31 goes up to the power voltage level again , the nor gate nr62 keeps the output signal in logic &# 34 ; 0 &# 34 ; level . however , when the delay circuit dl31 shifts the timing signal stm from the ground voltage level to the power voltage level vcc , the delay circuit dl61 keeps the associated input node of the nor gate nr61 in logic &# 34 ; 0 &# 34 ; for a while , and the inverting circuit in61 immediately shifts the associated input node to logic &# 34 ; 0 &# 34 ; level . then , the nor gate nr61 shifts the output signal from logic &# 34 ; 0 &# 34 ; to logic &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ;, and the nor gate nr63 shifts the output signal from the logic &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; to logic &# 34 ; 0 &# 34 ;. with the output signal of logic &# 34 ; 0 &# 34 ;, the inverting circuit in60 shifts the third controlling signal cnt3 from the ground voltage level to the power voltage level vcc , and the n - channel type field effect transistor qn61 allows current to pass through the voltage level adjusting circuit 33b . this results in that the node n37 with the power voltage level vcc discharges electric charges through the p - channel type field effect transistor qp40 and the n - channel type field effect transistor qn61 to the ground node , and the other electrode of the bootstrap capacitor c31 is decayed to the second predetermined voltage level . since the delay circuit dl61 shifts the associated input node of the nor gate nr61 to logic &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; level , the nor gate nr61 shifts the output signal from logic &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; level to logic &# 34 ; 0 &# 34 ; level again , and the nor gate allows the inverting circuit in60 to shift the third controlling signal cnt3 to the ground voltage level again . this as a result , the n - channel type field effect transistor qn61 is turned off , and the voltage level adjusting circuit 33b is activated for a predetermined time period approximately equal to the delay time introduced by the delay circuit dl61 . the other circuit behavior of the second embodiment is similar to that of the first embodiment , and , for this reason , is not described for the sake of simplicity . turning to fig7 of the drawings , still another bootstrap circuit embodying the present invention largely comprises a bootstrap unit 71 , a clamping unit 72 , a charge pump unit 73 , a constant voltage producing unit 74 , a switching unit 75 , and a controlling unit 76 . the bootstrap unit 71 , the clamping unit 72 , the charge pump unit 73 and the switching unit 75 are similar in arrangement to the corresponding units 31 , 32 , 30 and 34 , and , for this reason , the component elements of those units 61 to 73 and 75 are labeled with the same references used in fig3 without any detailed description . the constant voltage producing unit 74 is implemented by the voltage divider 33a , and the second predetermined voltage level ( vcc - 4vthn ) is supplied from the common drain node n36 to the switching unit 75 through the controlling unit 76 . the series combination of the p - channel type field effect transistor qp41 and the n - channel type field effect transistor qn42 is coupled between the source of positive voltage level vcc and a discharging node n71 which in turns is coupled through n - channel type field effect transistors qn71 and qn72 to the ground node . the n - channel type field effect transistor qn71 is gated by a first discharging controller 76a implemented by a series combination of a nand gate na71 and an inverting circuit in71 , and the voltage level at the node n30 and the timing signal stm are supplied to the two input nodes of the nand gate na71 . the controlling unit 76 further comprises a one - shot pulse generator 76b , a second discharging controller 76c , and a voltage controller 76d . the one - shot pulse generator 76b comprises inverting circuits in72 and in73 , a delay circuit dl71 and a nor gate nr71 , and the second discharging controller 76c comprises two inverting circuits in74 and in75 and a nor gate nr72 . the voltage comparator 76d comprises a comparing circuit cm , a p - channel type field effect transistor qp73 , an n - channel type field effect transistor qn74 , and an inverting circuit in76 . description is made on the circuit behavior of the third embodiment with reference to fig8 . in the following description , logic &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; level and logic &# 34 ; 0 &# 34 ; level are assumed to be tantamount to the power voltage level vcc and the ground voltage level . if the input signal sin is decayed to the active low voltage level , the nand gate na71 starts on decay at time t21 , because the delay circuit dl31 keeps the timing signal stm in the power voltage level vcc . the inverting circuit in71 shifts a discharging signal cnt4 to the ground voltage level , and the n - channel type field effect transistor qn71 turns off to block the switching unit 75 from the ground node . although the timing signal of the power voltage level vcc allows the n - channel type field effect transistor qn42 to turn on , the nodes n71 and n37 enter a floating state . the node n31 goes down to the ground voltage level at time t22 , and the inverting circuit in33 gradually accumulates one of the electrodes of the bootstrap capacitor c31 through the n - channel type field effect transistor qn31 . then , the voltage level at the output node n32 starts on rising at time t23 , and reaches ( vcc - vthn ) at time t24 . the bootstrap capacitor c31 thus gradually accumulated allows the node n37 and the node n71 to go up through capacitive coupling . when the node n31 goes down , the inverting circuit in72 shifts the output signal to logic &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; level , and the inverting circuit in73 shifts the output signal to logic &# 34 ; 0 &# 34 ; level . however , the delay circuit dl71 keeps the associated input node of the nor gate nr71 in logic &# 34 ; 0 &# 34 ; level for a while , and the nor gate nr71 shifts the one - shot pulse signal to logic &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; level , and the inverting circuit in74 shifts the output signal to logic &# 34 ; 0 &# 34 ; level . the one - shot pulse signal and the complementary signal thereof produced by the inverting circuit in76 allow the field effect transistors qp73 and qn74 to turn on to couple the comparing circuit cm to the source of power voltage level vcc and the ground node . then , the comparing circuit cm is activated , and compares the voltage level at the node n71 with the second predetermined voltage level . while the voltage level at the node n71 is lower than the second predetermined voltage level , the comparing circuit cm shifts the output signal thereof to logic &# 34 ; 0 &# 34 ; level , and the inverting circuit in75 shifts the output signal thereof to logic &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; level . however , if the voltage level at the node n71 reaches the second predetermined voltage level , the comparing circuit shifts the output signal thereof to logic &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; level , and , accordingly , the inverting circuit in75 shifts the output signal thereof to logic &# 34 ; 0 &# 34 ; level . then , the nor gate nor 72 shifts the output signal thereof to the power voltage level , and the n - channel type field effect transistor qn72 turns on the couple the node n71 to the ground node . this results in that the node n71 does not go up anymore . at time t25 , the delay circuit dl31 decays the timing signal stm , and the p - channel type field effect transistor qp41 to turn on . however , the n - channel type field effect transistor qn42 turns off . the booting signal sbt is supplies to the other electrode of the bootstrap capacitor c31 , and the output node n32 starts on rising again at time t26 . if the input signal sin goes up again , the node n31 also goes up , and the inverting circuit in33 decays the output voltage level at the output node n32 at time t27 . however , the timing signal stm of the ground voltage level causes the nand gate na71 to keep the output signal thereof in logic &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; level , and the inverting circuit in71 causes the n - channel type field effect transistor qn71 to turn off . at time t28 , the timing signal stm goes down to the ground voltage level , and the nand gate na71 shifts the output signal thereof to logic &# 34 ; 0 &# 34 ; level , and the inverting circuit in71 allows the output signal thereof to go up the power voltage level . then , the n - channel type field effect transistor qn71 to turn on to pull down the node n71 and n37 . in this instance , since the voltage level of the n - channel type field effect transistor qn72 is large enough to discharge the node n71 and n37 , and the transistor size is decreased to minimize the occupation area . although particular embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described , it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention . for example , the channel conductivity of the component field effect transistors may be altered to one another .	7
hereinafter , exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings . first of all , we should note that in giving reference numerals to elements of each drawing , like reference numerals refer to like elements even though like elements are shown in different drawings . further , in describing the present invention , well - known functions or constructions will not be described in detail since they may unnecessarily obscure the understanding of the present invention . hereinafter , the exemplary embodiment of the present invention will be described , but it will be understood to those skilled in the art that the spirit and scope of the present invention are not limited thereto and various modifications and changes can be made . fig1 is a block diagram schematically showing a software supporting system according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention . fig2 is a block diagram showing a detailed configuration of each component configuring the software supporting system . as shown in fig1 , a software supporting system 100 is configured to include a software execution unit 110 , a graphic information extractor 120 , a software execution controller 130 , and a main controller 140 . the exemplary embodiment considers a system load when providing a software supporting service to process a general data - intensive work by setting a virtual environment using server resources and then providing a software supporting service in the virtual environment and process a service requiring high performance such as a graphic work using client resources ( for example , a graphic processing unit of a client ). the software execution unit 110 executes required software in independent virtual environments for each user . in the exemplary embodiment , the software execution unit 110 is configured to include a setting information storage determination unit 111 , a virtual environment information processor 112 , and a required software execution unit 113 , as shown in fig2 a . the setting information storage determination unit 111 determines whether or not the setting information of required software is stored for each user using user information . the virtual environment information processor 112 extracts virtual environment information of the required software from the setting information if the setting information is stored , and extracts the virtual environment information based on basic setting of the required software if the setting information is not stored . the requested software execution unit 113 executes the requested software in independent virtual environments for each user in consideration of the extracted virtual environment information . when considering the case of obtaining the virtual environment independent on resources of a software supporting server providing the software supporting service , the required software executing unit 113 may include an input / output signal processor 113 a . when processing input / output signals for resources which the software required to be executed generates , the input / output signal processor 113 a processes the input / output signals not to generate a side effect on other software sharing the resources , thereby executing the required software . meanwhile , the exemplary embodiment may further include a setting information storage unit 114 in consideration of the above configuration of the requested software execution unit 110 . the setting information storage unit 114 stores setting information of the software including the virtual environment information for executing the software . the graphic information extractor 120 extracts graphic information associated with graphic processing from the executed software . the software execution controller 130 controls a second device to process the extracted graphic information and controls a first device to process information except the extracted graphic information . in the exemplary embodiment , the software execution unit 110 , the graphic information extractor 120 , and the software execution controller 130 may be provided in the software supporting server supporting the software service . at this time , the first device means the software supporting server , and the second device means a client terminal connected to the server . the software execution controller 130 may include a graphic information transmitter 131 , as shown in fig2 b . the graphic information transmitter 131 transmits the extracted graphic information to the second device . a process processed by the software supporting server is , for example , a data - intensive work , and a process processed by the client terminal is , for example , a graphic - intensive work such as 3d rendering . in this case , the client terminal processes the received graphic information through an embedded graphic information processor . the software supporting system 100 may further include a virtual environment generator 150 generating a virtual environment used when executing the software . the virtual environment generator 150 , which is provided in the software supporting server providing the software supporting service , generates the virtual environments independent on the resource of the software supporting server for each user . next , a software supporting system according an exemplary embodiment of the present invention will be described in consideration of actual implementation . a software supporting system according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention , which is a system supporting a plurality of users in an online sw service environment , supports virtualization in application program process unit for providing a plurality of sw services to a plurality of client user in providing desktop sw as a service from a server in the online network environment . hereinafter , a method of providing a server serving a plurality of sw by a plurality of users using a sw virtual execution environment supporting sw - level virtualization in providing a server - based online sw service will be described . in addition , a method of reducing a load concentrated on a server and providing security for user data processed and managed in a client through a sw separation execution method of executing graphic - intensive works such as 3d rendering in the client and processing data - intensive works in the server will be described . a method of providing a plurality of separation execution sws to a plurality of users in a sever - based online sw service may be summarized as follows . first , in a first step , the client requests the server to execute the separation execution sw . then , in a second step , the server recovers previously stored setting information of the sw required to be executed through a user management module , and executes the separation execution sw in virtual execution environments independent on the corresponding server resources using the recovered setting information . the function is performed by the software execution unit 110 of fig1 . in this case , an example of the corresponding server resources may include files , registries , other resources , or the like . thereafter , in a third step , the server extracts the graphic - intensive work such as the graphic user interface of the executed separation execution sw or the 3d rendering in order transmit it to the corresponding user client . the function is performed by the graphic information extractor 120 of fig1 . then , in a fourth step , the server compresses and encrypts the graphic work and transmits it to the client . the function is performed by the graphic information transmitter 131 of fig2 . thereafter , in a fifth step , the client releases the compressed and encrypted graphic work transmitted from the server and executes and displays it using client &# 39 ; s gpu . fig3 is a conceptual diagram of a separation execution device of a server - based sw service supporting a plurality of client users . the sw service by the separation execution is classified into a separation execution sw server 300 and a separation execution sw client 350 . the separation execution sw server 300 includes a separation execution sw management unit 320 , a first device management unit 330 , a first connection management unit 340 , etc . the separation execution sw management unit 320 receives a request of a client to manage the execution and ending of the separation execution sw . in fig1 , the function is performed by the software execution unit 110 . the separation execution sw management unit 320 includes a user management module 321 , a process management module 322 , an sw setting storage unit 323 , etc . the user management module 321 is to manage a plurality of users . the process management module 322 tracks and manages the driven separation execution sw process . the sw setting storage unit 323 stores the final setting information of the sw used for each user . the first device management unit 330 includes a graphic work extractor 332 and a client input processor 331 . the graphic work extractor 332 extracts the graphic work of the separation execution sw to be transmitted to the client . the function is performed by the graphic information extractor 120 of fig1 . the client input processor 331 processes an input transmitted from the client . the first connection management unit 340 includes a graphic work transmitter 342 and a client input receiver 341 . the graphic work transmitter 342 transmits the graphic work of the separation execution sw to the client . the function is performed by the graphic information transmitter 131 of fig2 . the client input receiver 341 receives the input information transmitted by the client . the separation execution sw server 350 includes a separation execution sw management unit 360 , a second device management unit 370 , a second connection management unit 380 , etc . the separation execution sw management unit 360 requests the execution of the separation execution sw of the server . the second device management unit 370 includes a client input extractor 371 and a graphic work display unit 372 . the client input extractor 371 extracts the input information such as a keyboard , a mouse , etc . generated from a client . the graphic work display unit 372 processes the graphic work received from the server using client &# 39 ; s gpu and displays it on the screen . the second connection management unit 380 includes a client input transmitter 381 and a graphic work receiver 382 . the client input transmitter 381 transmits the user input to the server . the graphic work receiver 382 receives the graphic work transmitted from the server . meanwhile , the separation execution sw 311 is executed in the server 310 , but the execution result and the user interface are displayed to the client 350 by the separation execution sw management unit 360 . therefore , in the execution of the separation execution sw , the graphics processing unit ( gpu ) of the server is not used and only the graphics processing unit ( gpu ) of the client is used . in order for the separation execution server to service the separation execution sw requested by the plurality of users , there is a need to drive the separation execution sw 311 in the virtual execution environment 310 independent from the system resource , not the sw installed in the separation execution server system . the exemplary embodiment can independently apply and execute the sw setting information changing specifications of the user by using the sw setting storage unit 323 and the process management module 322 of the sw management unit 320 . the function is performed by the virtual environment information processor 112 of fig2 . further , the graphic work extractor 332 of the first device management unit 330 uses the information of the user management module 321 and the process management module 322 of the separation execution management unit 320 to extract the graphic work information of the separation execution sw 311 execution - requested by the user of the specific separation execution client 350 and transmit it to the corresponding client . similarly , the user input transmitted from the separation execution client 350 may be appropriately transmitted to the separation execution sw 311 driven in the virtual execution environment 310 . as a result , the exemplary embodiment provides the environment in which the plurality of users can use the same sw . fig4 is an architectural diagram of separation execution sw driven using a virtual execution environment independent on server resources . the virtual execution environment 420 uses a portion of the system resource 430 of the separation execution server to provide the virtual environment in which the separation execution sw 410 is driven independent from the system resource 430 . when the separation execution sw 410 is operated , the i / o for various system resources 430 is generated . the virtual execution environment 420 appropriately processes resources based on the generated resource i / o to drive the sw without generating side effect to various sws sharing the system resource 430 . in fig2 , the function is performed by the input and output signal processor 113 b of the request software execution unit 113 . further , the setting of the separation execution sw used by the user can be consecutively used by using the information of the sw setting storage unit stored for each user . as a result , when the plurality of separation execution client users use the same separation execution sw , they can use the separation execution sw without having an effect on the inherent setting of the client and the sw operational state . fig5 and 6 are flow charts showing in detail the software supporting method according to the exemplary embodiment of the present invention . in detail , fig5 shows a detailed exemplary embodiment of the method by which the separation execution sw is executed in the server . in detail , fig6 shows a detailed exemplary embodiment of the method by which the separation execution sw is executed in the server and displayed to the client . the following description will be described with reference to fig5 and 6 . referring to fig5 , when the separation execution sw server is operated ( s 501 ) and the separation execution sw management unit starts ( s 502 ), the access of the separation execution client is requested ( s 503 ) and may be processed through the appropriate user authentication process . for the separation execution sw execution request ( s 504 ) of the accessed separation execution client 350 , the separation execution sw management unit checks the resources of the separation execution server system and assigns the virtual execution environment ( s 505 ). thereafter , the sw setting information of the corresponding user is recovered from the sw setting storage unit ( s 506 ) and the separation execution sw is executed under the virtual execution environment ( s 507 ). the process information of the executed separation execution sw is stored in the process management unit of the separation execution sw management unit . the executed separation execution sw is not displayed on the server screen and the graphic work information for each separation execution sw execution - requested by the client is extracted by the graphic work extractor ( s 508 ). the extracted information is compressed and encrypted in order to be transmitted to the client ( s 509 ) and is transmitted to the specific separation execution sw client execution - requested by the graphic work transmitter ( s 510 ). in addition , when the separation execution sw ending request is input from the separation execution sw client , the final setting information used by the separation execution sw is stored in the sw setting storage unit , releases the system resources assigned for virtual execution environment , and ends the separation execution sw . referring to fig6 , when the separation execution sw client is operated ( s 601 ) and the separation execution sw execution unit starts ( s 602 ), it brings the usable separation execution sw list by accessing to the separation execution sw management unit of the separation execution sw server ( s 603 ). when the user selects the separation execution sw , the separation execution sw execution request is transmitted to the server ( s 604 ). the process of the server for processing the request will be described with reference to fig5 . when the graphic work transmitted from the server is received in the graphic work receiver ( s 605 ) and the encryption and compression of the corresponding information is released ( s 606 ), the graphic work display unit displays the user interface and the graphic work of the separation execution sw executed in the server to the client ( s 607 ). the present invention can be applied to the plurality of users in the online network environment when supporting the software service . the spirit of the present invention has been just exemplified . it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that various modifications , changes , and substitutions can be made without departing from the essential characteristics of the present invention . accordingly , the embodiments disclosed in the present invention and the accompanying drawings are used not to limit but to describe the spirit of the present invention . the scope of the present invention is not limited only to the embodiments and the accompanying drawings . the protection scope of the present invention must be analyzed by the appended claims and it should be analyzed that all spirits within a scope equivalent thereto are included in the appended claims of the present invention .	6
as depicted in fig1 and 2 , one embodiment of the inventive concept is comprised of : a semi - rigid band or strap ( 1 ) having a buckle or other tensioner for fixedly closing said band or strap about the component ( 4 ) being centrally mounted over a frame ( 5 ) having an aperture , portal , duct , vent , airway or other opening ; an array of three or more mounts ( 2 ), each having a curved face for abutting the surface of said component , a central female opening and a rigid receptacle structure about said opening as shown in fig6 - 8 , ( 7 ) and ( 8 ); and an array of radially extending structural stays shown in fig2 ( 3 ), each having one end for engaging said mount &# 39 ; s receptacle ( 7 ) and abutting said component &# 39 ; s surface , and a second radially extending end for fixedly engaging slot ( 6 ) on frame ( 5 ) having an aperture , portal , duct , vent , airway or other opening with a discrete center . said radially extending end may engage receiving slots ( 6 ) in frame ( 5 ) about said vent or opening , resulting in a fixed assembly with said frame ( 5 ). said tension strap or belt ( 1 ) is to be affixed about said component ( 4 ) and through contiguous slots in said mounts ( 2 ) and stays ( 3 ), held in place by a buckle , clasp , tensioner or other retention means . as depicted in fig9 and 10 , said structural stays ( 2 ) may have teeth , grooves or other structural features ( 9 ) on the end which engages with the surface or casing of the cylindrical central component , and which prohibit movement of the central component . further , when said tension strap ( 1 ) is locked into place though slot ( 10 ) in said stay , and through tunnel ( 8 ), the various elements form a rigid assembly that may be mechanically or otherwise rigidly affixed as desired , for instance over any frame ( 5 ) having an aperture ( 5 ) or opening . the benefits of this configuration over the prior art are manifold . first , because the assembly does not require bolts or other mechanical attachment directly into the component , replacement of the component can be had relatively quickly and with few steps . in this regard , a component such as a motor , bearing or fan that may eventually require replacement due to fatigue is easily replaced . in addition , by substituting stays of longer or shorter length , a new or replacement component with a different radius is quickly and easily accommodated within the rigid assembly . this is inherently beneficial in the context of advanced ventilation systems where new components , such as newer , higher - efficiency motors are regularly foreseeable and essential to optimal ventilation and / or cooling . as depicted in the attached figures , a cylindrical component , such as a fan motor , may be centrally mounted over an aperture by employing an embodiment of the inventive concept . in one embodiment , the inventive concept may include a central cylindrical component , such as a fan motor , to be rigidly affixed . three or more equally spaced mounts abut said cylindrical component . each mount may have a curved face with a substantially similar radius of curvature as that of the cylindrical component , resulting in a flush footing . the mounts may be composed of a semi - flexible or rigid material , depending upon the inner face &# 39 ; s radius of curvature relative to the cylindrical component . in addition , each mount may have a central female opening for receiving and affixing a structural stay . said female opening may allow a complete pass through of a structural stay such that the stays end abuts the cylindrical component . each mount may receive a structural stay having two ends ; one for interfacing with said component and mount and one for rigidly attaching to said aperture frame assembly . each structural stay may have an end associated with the cylindrical component that has grooves , teeth , ridges , or other facial treatment that , when in contact with the cylindrical component , prevents movement of the component along the component &# 39 ; s axis . said mounts and said structural stays may have contiguous slot openings that allow the pass through of a belt or strap parallel to the cylindrical component &# 39 ; s curved surface , and perpendicular to the component &# 39 ; s central axis . in one possible embodiment of the inventive concept , as depicted in the attached figures , said belt or strap may be tightened and held in place by a buckle , clasp or other tension device , rendering the cylindrical component , the mounts , and the structural stays a rigid assembly . the radially extended ends of said stays may then be mechanically or structurally affixed to the aperture assembly in a variety of manners , all equally known to those reasonably skilled in the art . in the depicted embodiment , the stays affix to slots in a frame with a central vent . in applications of inventive concept where a nonmagnetic or neutral electromagnetic field in the local environment surrounding said component is desired , such as applications where high efficiency ( low / no additional electrical resistance ) is required of the central component , such as a fan motor , the mounts , structural stays , strap or belt and fastener ( e . g ., buckle , clasp , etc .) may be comprised of nonferrous materials such as aluminum , synthetics , polymers or other materials known by those reasonably skilled in the art . in this embodiment , the mounting assembly itself creates an electromagnetically neutral local environment surrounding the component , thereby allowing the component ( e . g ., motor , pump or other electrically driven component ) to operate at its highest efficiency .	5
in the form of the invention chosen for illustration and description herein , the pressure control valve consists of a body 10 having a chamber 11 therein and an inlet opening 12 communicating therewith by way of a valve seat 13 . an outlet opening 14 is also provided and the upper portion of the body 10 receives a two part diaphragm housing formed of lower and upper portions 15 and 16 respectively . a diaphragm 17 is positioned across the diaphragm housing formed by the portions 15 and 16 and the diaphragm 17 is centrally apertured and secured in a fitting 18 from which a cylindrical sleeve 19 depends . a valve element 20 is positioned on the lower end of the cylindrical sleeve 19 and is therefor movable vertically responsive to changes in position of the diaphragm 17 . an annular gasket 20a is positioned in the lower surface of the valve element 20 for registry with the valve seat 13 and it will thus be seen that the valve element 20 controls fluid entering the pressure control valve body 10 by way of the inlet opening 12 . still referring to fig1 of the drawings , it will be seen that the cylindrical sleeve 19 is slidably sealed with respect to a central opening in the lower portion 15 of the diaphragm housing and that the interior of the cylindrical sleeve 19 defines an area in which a coil spring 21 is positioned with its upper end engaged against the fitting 18 and its lower end engaged on an annular member 22 which is fastened to the lower end of a valve stem 23 , the middle portion of which is provided with a thread pattern 24 threadably engaging a similar pattern 25 in the center of the upper portion 16 of the diaphragm housing . a bonnet 26 is positioned on the upper portion 16 of the diaphragm housing and around an upwardly continuing portion of the valve stem 23 and a cap 27 is removably engaged on the bonnet 26 as hereinafter described . a static pressure control collar 28 having a plurality of set screws 29 is positioned within the cap 27 on the valve stem 23 and is movable relative thereto when the set screws 29 are loosened . a hand wheel 30 is secured to the uppermost end of the valve stem 23 so that the same can be rotated thereby so as to move the valve element 20 toward the valve seat 13 independently of similar motion imparted thereto by fluid pressure in the diaphragm housing engaging the upper surface of the diaphragm 17 therein . fluid pressure is admitted to the diaphragm housing and that portion thereof beneath the upper portion 16 thereof by openings 31 in the cylindrical sleeve 19 which establish communication between the chamber 11 in the valve body 10 and the interior of the cylindrical sleeve 19 . the fluid pressure communicates between the interior of the cylindrical sleeve 19 and the upper portion of the diaphragm housing by way of the enlarged central opening in the fitting 18 through which the valve stem 23 passes . thus fluid pressure in the chamber 11 which is the same as that in the outlet opening 14 of the pressure control valve is present on the upper side of the diaphragm 17 in the diaphragm housing of the valve . by referring now to fig2 of the drawings it will be seen that the exterior configuration of the pressure control valve heretofore described in connection with fig1 has been illustrated and that the upper portion of the bonnet 26 has been broken away together with the cap 27 to show an adjusted positioning of the static pressure control collar 28 . in operation a plurality of the pressure control valves disclosed herein are affixed to vertical water supply pipes in a multiple storage building , for example one on each of the floors of the building , so that fire hoses may be connected thereto and supplied with suitable working pressure therefrom . normally such vertical water supply pipes are empty and have inlets at street level for connection to a water supply through the pumping equipment carried on fire trucks in case a normal high pressure water supply is not available . in order that there be adequate pressure at the roof of the building , the pressure at ground level may be excessive . for example , a 60 story building may require a ground level pressure in excess of 300 lbs . per square inch in order to maintain a suitable working pressure of 90 lbs . per square inch at roof level . fire hoses however are usually designed for operation at working pressures of approximately 90 lbs . per square inch so that the hose will not rupture or be too stiff to handle . it will therefore be obvious to those skilled in the art that it is necessary to equip the vertical water supply pipes in a multiple story building with pressure control valves such as disclosed herein and in order that the pressure control valves at the various levels of the building will provide a desired static pressure and a like flowing discharge pressure , a valve such as that disclosed herein is highly desirable . in order to adjust the several valves in such a building it is necessary that each of the valves on each of the levels be preset to the particular water pressure to which the valves will be subjected in use , and by referring to fig2 of the drawings it will be seen that in order to do so the pressure control valve of the present invention is attached to a suitable water pressure supply at its inlet opening 12 . the discharge opening 14 is provided with a temporary cap 33 having radially extending lugs 34 and a sealing gasket 35 and to which cap 33 a pressure gauge 36 is attached so as to be in communication with the interior of the cap 33 and the chamber 11 in the valve body 10 . a petcock 37 is also mounted on the cap 33 for communication with the interior thereof and the valve element 20 is closed by manual operation of the hand wheel 30 . in presetting the valve the hand wheel 30 is revolved to open the valve and thereby allow the chamber 11 to fill with water with the petcock 37 open to provide for the venting of air therefrom . when such air is vented the petcock 37 is closed and the hand wheel 30 is revolved to further open the valve until the gauge 36 indicates the desired outlet pressure . the hand wheel 30 is then removed from the stem 23 , the cap 27 is also removed to expose the static pressure control collar 28 and the set screws 29 therein are loosened so that the static pressure control collar 28 can be moved upwardly on the valve stem 23 until it is 7 / 8th of an inch above the top of the bonnet 26 as illustrated in fig2 of the drawings . the set screws 29 are tightened to secure the collar 28 in such position and the cap 27 and the hand wheel 30 are replaced . the collar 28 will then be positioned against the top of the cap 27 and the valve cannot be opened further but it can be closed by rotating the valve stem 23 to move it downwardly . the valve is thus permanently set at the static discharge pressure selected for the position on the vertical water supply pipe in which it is to be installed . the cap 33 is removed after setting . those skilled in the art will observe that when the valve is in communication with a vertical water supply pipe such as hereinbefore described and water pressure is present in the pipe , the valve is opened by turning the hand wheel 30 counter clockwise until the static pressure control collar 28 is stopped by contact with the top of the cap 27 . assuming a fire hose with a shut off nozzle thereon in closed position is attached to the discharge opening 14 of the valve the pressure will build in the hose and the valve to the preset static pressure . when the discharge nozzle is opened allowing the water to flow through the hose , the volume of water being discharged will cause a drop in pressure in the diaphragm housing above the diaphragm 17 which permits the supply pressure plus the urging of the spring 21 to further open the valve element 20 with respect to the valve seat 13 . as more water enters the pressure again rises in the valve and in the diaphragm housing above the diaphragm 17 causing the same to move downwardly and maintain the required positioning of the valve element 20 with respect to the valve seat 13 to provide a flowing pressure equal to the static pressure at which the valve was preset . when the nozzle on the fire hose is shut off the action reverses and the extra pressure in the valve causes increased pressure on the upper surface of the diaphragm 17 thus closing the valve and preventing a built up in the valve and hose which is undesirable . it will thus be seen that a pressure control valve has been disclosed which can be quickly and easily adjusted to a desired set static pressure and that the valve will thereafter automatically adjust to a similar flowing discharge pressure . although but one embodiment of the present invention has been illustrated and described , it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications may be made therein without departing from the spirit of the invention .	6
fig1 is a block diagram of an ew subsystem according to an embodiment of the invention . the subsystem in fig1 comprises polarization agile transmitter 100 and polarization control module 200 . according to an embodiment of the invention , the polarization agile transmitter 100 comprises a beam steering network 110 , amplifying module 120 , and radiating module 130 . as shown in fig1 beam steering network 110 is located prior to amplifying module 120 . in other words , the output of beam steering network 110 is an input to amplifying module 120 . the output of amplifying module 120 is fed as the input to radiating module 130 . generally , the operation of the system of fig1 is as follows . the polarization control module 200 provides a signal base input to the polarization agile transmitter 100 . according to one approach , the signal base represents the received radar signal as modified to reflect an appropriate phase change and any other appropriate modifications ( e . g ., amplitude , duration , frequency , etc .). typically , the signal base is the received radar signal as modified by including a 180 ° phase shift . alternatively , the signal base could be based on a previously stored signal retrieved from a memory . the signal base is input to the polarization agile transmitter 100 from the polarization control module 200 . the beam steering network 110 controls the direction of the beam to so that it is directed in the direction of the threat radar system . the amplifying module 120 amplifies the signal output from the beam steering network 110 . the amplified signal is fed to the radiating module 130 that transmits the signal to the threat radar . this is an open loop implementation of polarization agile transmitter 100 . the beam steering network 110 receives the information regarding the desired direction of the output beam from polarization control module 200 . in this embodiment the direction of the output beam transmitted from the radiating module 130 is not compared with the signal input into the beam steering network 110 . this open loop approach without a feedback comparison of the transmitted signal to the input signal base can be implemented relatively inexpensively and with greater reliability than can be a closed loop approach . fig2 is a block diagram of an ew subsystem according to a further embodiment of the invention . according to fig2 the beam steering network 110 is comprised of a number of beam steering phase shifters 111 . amplifying module 120 is comprised of a number of power amplifier modules 121 . the radiating module 130 is comprised of a number of polarizing radiator elements 131 . ( note : fig2 and 4 illustrate an n = 2 system with two modules of the present invention and two dual polarizing antennas ; however , various numbers of modules could be used , such as for n = 2 , 3 , and so forth .) generally , the signal to be transmitted to the threat radar system is input to the polarization agile transmitter 100 from the polarization control module 200 . the input signal to the beam steering network 110 is passed through the n beam steering phase shifters 111 so that the antenna beam can be focused in a given direction . the signal output from the phase shifters 111 is input to the power amplifiers 121 . the power amplifiers 121 amplify the signal . the amplified signal output from the power amplifiers 121 is fed to dual polarizing radiator elements 131 to be transmitted to the threat radar . the rf input signal to the variable beam steering phase shifters 111 traverses the n phase shifters to delay the output signal of the n - th module by nω , where nω is the phase shift effected by the n - th phase shifter . preferably , the rf signal should be fed in parallel to all phase shifting modules 111 . according to this embodiment , the output signal phase of antenna radiator elements 131 has two components : the set - on phase shifter phase ( nω ) and a phase error ( δφ n ), a phase error of the n - th power amplifier . the composite phase value of this radiator element output is not dependent on the phase shifter &# 39 ; s location in relation to the power amplifier &# 39 ; s location in the circuit feeding to the radiator element . hence , placing the phase shifters 111 before the power amplifier modules 121 does not adversely affect the phase error of the output signal phase . the beam steering phase shifters 111 used in the polarization agile transmitter 100 may comprise loaded line phase shifters , switched line phase shifters , hybrid - coupled phase shifters , or any other suitable device used for phase shifting . generally , phase shifters 111 may comprise variable phase shifters , time delay elements , or fiber optic delays . beam steering phase shifters 111 may comprise any of the various types of phase shifters available such as transistor / diode phase shifters , fet phase shifters , gaas monolithic microwave integrated circuit ( mmic ) phase shifters , or other equivalent phase shifters . in one embodiment of the invention , low power and low cost gaas mmic phase shifters 111 are used . the power amplifier modules 121 are made up of power amplifiers that boost the output power of the signal &# 39 ; s orthogonal polarization components . for example , power amplification modules 121 may comprise a pair of power modules that boost the output power of the signal &# 39 ; s orthogonal polarization components . in one embodiment of the invention , the power amplifiers make use of advanced power amplification technologies that use a gaas , gan , sic , ingan , algan mmic chip , or microwave power modules ( mpm ) technology . selection of suitable power amplifiers for power amplifier modules 121 is well within the skill of the ordinary artisan . the embodiments of the present invention disclosed in fig1 and fig2 use an efficient design approach that provide advantages over the conventional approach in designing of antenna beam steering systems . it is shown that the beam steering function can be as well instrumented with the phase shifters 111 placed at the input to the power amplifiers 121 , as compared to the conventional approach , where the phase shifters are placed at the output of the power amplifier module . thus , beam steering accuracy achieved by implementing this approach as outlined in fig2 is comparable to that achieved by the traditional approach . the phase error performance in the beam steering function is maintained for the invention as compared to the conventional approach . additionally , placing the phase shifters 111 before the power amplifier modules 121 allows the power amplifier modules 121 to compensate for any signal attenuation occurring in phase shifters 111 . in sum , the performance of the beam steering approach is maintained while providing a number of significant advantages . for example , the application of phase delays with phase shifters 111 in the disclosed configuration allows for the use of low power mmic phase shifters . this approach results in increased efficiency derived from the reduction of rf signal power dissipation , greater mean time between failures ( mtbf ) and lower overall cost for the polarization agile transmitter . these are significant benefits . the skilled artisan will readily appreciate that embodiments of the present invention may be fabricated using technologies which include those in which all components described above can be in analog or in digital chip form and which can be integrated into compact modules . for example , due to reduced rf power dissipation required in the phase shifters 111 , one can utilize gaas mmic such as coplanar gaas waveguides . this provides a means for obtaining the advantages of small size and reduced manufacturing costs from these technologies in an ecm system . according to an embodiment of the present invention , magnitude reduction in the range of about 10 : 1 compared to traditional design can be achieved . in addition , the aspect of the present invention which makes it possible to utilize the solid state technology also makes it practical to utilize these technologies to provide phased array applications which were hitherto prohibitively expensive . fig3 is a diagram of a preferred embodiment of the polarization control module 200 . according to fig3 the polarization control module 200 is used to feed a polarization agile transmitter such as polarization agile transmitter 100 of fig2 in order to control the polarization of the transmitted signal . polarization control module 200 can be located almost anywhere on the face of the aperture of the antenna . a radar signal intercepted by a dual polarizing array antenna 201 is fed to the polarization control module 200 . this single polarization control module 200 can establish and maintain polarization parameter values for the entire array . this module may be comprised of ( 1 ) receive polarimeter ( rcvrp ) 202 , ( 2 ) a superhet dual channel receiver 203 , ( 3 ) a null adaptive tracker 204 ( that usually includes a dsp ) and ( 4 ) a transmit polarimeter ( xmtrp ) 205 . the receive polarimeter 202 , with the null adaptive tracker 204 , measures the polarization of the incoming signal from dual polarizing antenna 201 . the signal &# 39 ; s polarization state is defined in terms of the ratio of the amplitudes of its polarized components and the phase difference between them under a null condition . the receive polarimeter 202 phase shifters values are used in the derivation of the control signals for the transmit polarimeter 205 . according to one approach , values for the transmit polarimeter phase shifters are defined in terms of the receive polarimeter settings by the mathematical relationship as shown by where γr = 2atan ( a / b ), a is the amplitude of one component and b the amplitude of the second component , and or is a measure of the phase difference between them . those of skill in the art will recognize that alternative approaches to deriving the polarization components of the signal , and for deriving the control signals that control the transmit polarimeter , could readily be employed without departing from the true spirit and scope of the present invention . the transmit polarimeter 205 then sets the amplitude and phase characteristic for the entire dual polarizing array . further details of an exemplary polarization control module 200 which could be used with the present invention are provided in u . s . pat . no . 4 , 937 , 582 to mohuchy , incorporated herein by reference in its entirety . the output signal from transmit polarimeter 205 is then fed to the n phase shifters at the inputs of the n power modules ( see fig4 phase shifters 111 and pa modules 121 ). fig4 is a block diagram of an ew subsystem according to a further embodiment of the invention . in fig4 a receiver 302 is included to provide a signal base for the transmitter . an omni - directional antenna 301 receives the signal from the threat radar and is connected to the receiver 302 . the signal received by the receiver 302 is processed in the digital signal processor ( dsp ) 303 . a digital rf memory ( drfm ) 304 is typically used to retain the radar signal waveform . the stored waveform is subsequently used as the basis to develop electronic counter measure ( ecm ) signals for countering a specific radar . the stored waveform from the drfm 304 is input to the polarization control module 200 , which operates as described in fig3 to set the amplitude and phase characteristic for the entire dual polarizing array 131 of the polarization agile transmitter 100 . the signal output from the polarization control module 205 is input to the polarization agile transmitter 100 which operates as described previously . as it should be clear to those of ordinary skill in the art , further embodiments of the present invention may be made without departing from its teachings and all such embodiments are considered to be within the spirit of the present invention . for example , although preferred embodiments of the present invention comprises mmic phase shifters , it should be clear to those of ordinary skill in the art that embodiments of the present invention may be comprised of fet phase shifters as well . therefore , it is intended that all matter contained in above description or shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as exemplary and not limiting , and it is contemplated that the appended claims will cover any other such embodiments or modifications as fall within the true scope of the invention .	7
fig1 illustrates a schematic cross - sectional view of a prior art transducer illustrated in fig1 of u . s . pat . no . 4 , 903 , 308 to paddock et al . the prior art transducer 10 includes a rigid frame 12 carrying magnets 14 . a symmetrical two - lobed &# 34 ; figure - eight &# 34 ; shaped diaphragm 16 has two intercoupled circular sections tangentially abutting at a central expanse 18 that carries an electromagnetic coil . in this schematic view , the diaphragm is viewed along its axis of projection to show its cross - sectional profile . the remote ends of each web are connected to opposite ends of the frame 12 . the transducer 10 is bilaterally symmetrical , giving it predictable and balanced acoustic properties . however , any acoustic faults in any one portion of the diaphragm are thus likely to occur in corresponding symmetrical portions , with the undesirable consequences of such faults being magnified multi - fold . it will be appreciated that unless otherwise specified , the actual construction details of the prior art transducer of fig1 and transducer designs described below are identical to what is disclosed in u . s . pat . no . 4 , 903 , 308 . additional information for constructing these transducer designs can be found in u . s . pat . no . 4 , 584 , 439 . fig2 shows an asymmetric transducer 20 having a frame 22 , magnets 24 secured to the frame , and an asymmetrical &# 34 ; figure - eight &# 34 ; shaped diaphragm 26 secured at its remote ends to the frame . one generally circular first lobe 27 of the diaphragm 26 is larger than an adjacent smaller second lobe 28 , with the lobes tangentially abutting at a central expanse 29 between the magnets 24 . the two lobes are interconnected at the central expanse . while the asymmetric diaphragm 26 may be formed of a single uniform material , it is preferred that the two lobes be formed of materials having different thicknesses and flexibility properties . because of spring forces in the diaphragm , it tends to return to a centered position in the absence of external forces . preferably , the lobes have similar spring constants to provide a net balanced spring force , and so that the central expanse naturally follows a straight path during the rolling motion of the diaphragm . this may be achieved by selecting a thicker and stiffer material for the larger first lobe 27 than for the smaller second lobe 28 . alternatively , the entire diaphragm may be formed of a single sheet of material with molded stiffening ridges to provide needed rigidity , as will be discussed below . the diaphragm preferably is provided with damping means such as damping strips adhered to the inner concave surface of the diaphragm ( as shown in the &# 39 ; 308 patent ) or alternative damping means as described below . fig3 shows a monopolar transducer 30 having a frame 32 carrying magnets 34 and having a flexible cylindrical diaphragm 36 attached to the frame . the diaphragm 36 is formed in a &# 34 ; numeral - three &# 34 ; profile with a pair of semi - circular lobes 37a , 37b attached at their distal ends to the frame and tangentially abutting at a central expanse 38 disposed between the magnets 34 . the transducer 30 is a monopolar design and generates sound from only one side , so that it may be attached to a large flat surface , such as a wall or the front of a speaker cabinet ( not shown ), with the convex lobes projecting away from the surface . because of the inherent tendency of the semi - circular lobes of the diaphragm 36 to straighten out , the lobes are securely glued together at the central expanse so that the diaphragm retains its shape while at rest . also , the lobes may be preformed in the curved state so that they remain curved when unstressed . fig4 shows a transducer 40 having a &# 34 ; numeral - three &# 34 ; shaped diaphragm 46 similar to that of diaphragm 36 shown in fig3 but with asymmetrically shaped lobes . consequently , the transducer achieves the advantages of asymmetry in a monopolar design . fig5 shows a transducer 50 having a frame 52 with magnets 54 attached to the frame . a substantially s - shaped diaphragm 56 attached to the frame has two substantially semi - circular lobes , with each lobe being convex outward away from opposite sides of the frame . the lobes are joined at a central expanse 58 between the magnets 54 . because of the inherent tendency of an s - shaped diaphragm to straighten out to a flattened state , the diaphragm 56 is preferably molded to its desired s - shape so that it retains its shape at rest without internal stresses . in contrast to the diaphragms previously described , the diaphragm 56 may be constructed of a continuous single sheet or multi - layer sheet which forms both lobes , rather than two separate and distinct sheets ( multi - layer or otherwise ) which are interconnected at the central expanse to form the two lobes . fig6 - 9 illustrate variations of the s - shaped diaphragm . fig6 shows a transducer 60 having a substantially s - shaped diaphragm 66 with lobes of different sizes analogous to the asymmetrical transducers shown in fig2 and 4 . fig7 shows a transducer 70 having a substantially s - shaped diaphragm 76 in which each lobe forms a quarter circle , as opposed to the semi - circular lobes illustrated in fig5 . the transducer 70 has some similarity to the bipolar transducer disclosed in u . s . pat . no . 4 , 584 , 439 to paddock . fig8 shows a transducer 80 having a generally s - shaped diaphragm 86 with a forward - facing semi - circular lobe 87 having a first radius and a rearward facing quarter - circle lobe 88 having a second radius smaller than the first radius . as discussed above with respect to the asymmetrical transducer of fig2 the different lobes are preferably formed of materials having different stiffness and other mechanical properties to achieve a balanced rolling motion . fig9 shows a transducer 90 having an s - shaped diaphragm 96 similar to that of fig8 except that it has a semi - circular front lobe 97 with a radius smaller than a quarter - circle rear lobe 98 . it is also contemplated that the embodiments of fig8 and 9 may be rotated by 180 degrees so that the quarter - circle lobe of either embodiment faces forward . fig1 shows a modified version of the transducer 10 of fig1 with an etched coil assembly 100 attached to the diaphragm 16 at the central expanse 18 . these modifications may be employed in any of the diaphragm profiles disclosed or suggested above . as shown in fig1 , the coil assembly 100 is formed in a multi - layer laminated design like that used for production of conventional two - sided printed circuit boards . a thin substrate 102 formed of a glass epoxy material or others such as kapton common to printed circuit boards includes a pair of conductive coils 104 etched from copper foil laminated to opposite sides of the substrate 102 . the substrate may range upward from 0 . 0025 inch thick , with 0 , 005 inch being preferred . one ounce copper foil provides adequate current carrying capacity , with trace widths of between 0 , 004 - 0 , 010 inch for the long vertical traces ; the short transverse traces may be somewhat wider . overall impedance of the coil may be varied by adjusting the width of the transverse traces . in the preferred embodiment , each coil is capable of carrying 2 amps of current continuously . because the assembly is commonly fabricated for very stressful manufacturing processor , it is not susceptible to delamination at temperatures that occur in an audio transducer environment . each coil 104 includes a trace end contact 106 suitable for attachment to wiring 108 ( shown in fig1 ) that connects to an amplifier output . a metallized through - hole 110 defined in the substrate 102 permits the connection of the inner terminus of one coil to the inner terminus of the other coil on the opposite side of the substrate . as a result , there is no need for lead wires to provide a crossover for connecting to the interior of the coil . also , the number of turns is effectively doubled , with the current flowing in one orbital direction . the coil assembly 100 is preferably adhered to inner diaphragm edges 112 as shown in fig1 to allow the coils 104 to remain exposed to air for heat dissipation . the etched coil assembly may also be used in conjunction with any of the asymmetrical , s - shaped or monopolar embodiments shown in fig2 through 9 . fig1 shows an electrostatic transducer 120 having a cylindrical diaphragm 122 with a substantially &# 34 ; figure - eight &# 34 ; profile , similar to the prior art transducer 10 shown in fig1 . the electromagnetic drive system of the prior art device is replaced by an electrostatic drive . in the electrostatic transducer 120 of fig1 , a highly charged filament 124 is attached to the diaphragm at the central expanse and runs the full height of the diaphragm without interruption . the filament is electrically connected to a high voltage of about 2 - 10 kv , and remains constantly charged during operation . a set of conductive rods 128 is fixed to the transducer frame 12 and connected to the variable signal outputs of an amplifier 129 . the charged filament 124 is thereby electrostatically attracted to and repulsed by the variably charged rods with a force sufficient to create motion in the diaphragm for generating sound . fig1 shows the electrostatic transducer 120 in cross - section . to achieve a balanced , controlled diaphragm motion , the drive rods 128 are arranged in a rectangular array . each drive rod runs parallel to the projection axis of the diaphragm 16 . a left front drive rod 128a and right front drive rod 128b are positioned adjacent the central expanse 18 on opposite sides thereof and generally forward of the filament 124 . the front drive rods 128a and 128b are electrically connected together and are connected to a first amplifier output line 131 . a left rear drive rod 128c and right rear drive rod 128d are similarly positioned on opposite sides of the central expanse , but to the rear of the filament 124 . the rear drive rods 128c and 128d are electrically connected to each other and to a second amplifier output line 133 , with the amplifier being connected to an input signal and creating a variable potential voltage difference between the front and rear drive rod pairs . the charged filament 124 is preferably sandwiched between the tangentially abutting diaphragm lobes . in embodiments having s - shaped diaphragm profiles , such as those shown in fig5 - 9 , the filament may be attached to one side of the diaphragm or laminated between layers of a multi - layer diaphragm . as shown in fig1 , the filament 124 includes a conductive core 130 surrounded by an insulating cladding layer 132 . the core is preferably formed of graphite - impregnated thread or other electrically conductive material to retain a charge . the cladding layer 132 is preferably formed of a thin tube of glass or other dielectric material that is not susceptible to dielectric breakdown at high voltages in the range of up to 5 - 10 kv . without the cladding layer , the conductive core would be susceptible to arcing at high voltage , leading to ozone generation and other related problems . while a voltage of 2 kv may be adequate to achieve acceptable performance , higher voltages will provide commensurate increases in speaker efficiency , reducing amplifier cost and power requirements . as shown in fig1 , one or more rod retention clips 136 may be used to laterally interconnect rods 128a , 128b , 128c , 128d . the clip 136 is formed of insulating material , such as a resilient plastic , to mechanically align the rods 128 and to eliminate unwanted vibrations thereof . the clip 136 defines a set of rod apertures 138 through which rods 128a - d are received .. the clip defines a central space 144 for receiving the charged filament 124 and to permit a range of motion . because the clip completely encircles the charged filament , the filament must be threaded through each clip prior to lamination with the diaphragm . alternatively , the clip may be u - shaped so that it may be installed after the filament is laminated with the diaphragm and may further include flexible snap connections for receiving the rods without requiring the rods to be threaded through the apertures 138 . to prevent vibration and loosening , the rods are preferably adhesively attached to the clip after assembly . fig1 further shows the clip 136 in a vertically aligned relationship with the diaphragm 16 . the diaphragm defines an oblong or rectangular aperture 146 that is sufficiently large to provide clearance for the clip 136 and so that the diaphragm may vibrate in a sufficiently wide range of motion to generate sound without contacting the clip . fig1 shows a central portion of the diaphragm 16 in which two clips 136 are attached to rods 128a , 182b , 128c , 128d to provide alignment . this approach is useful for very tall transducers , an application to which the electrostatic approach is particularly well suited . many clips are employed in a tall transducer , with the clips being spaced apart by 3 to 6 inches . an electromagnetic coil driven speaker of this type suffers from increasing impedance as the coil length is extended . thus , a transducer several feet tall must be manufactured in several distinct sections . however , the electrostatic transducer has no such limitations . fig1 shows an electrostatic transducer 150 using ganged components for improved efficiency . the transducer 150 has three charged filaments 124a , 124b and 124c mounted on an enlarged central expanse 152 of the diaphragm 16 . drive rods 128a - 128h are arranged in pairs in alternation with the filaments , with the members of each pair being positioned in opposite sides of the central expanse 152 . so that all of the components act in concert to provide efficient , high output sound , the central filament 124b is charged to a high voltage polarity opposite that of filaments 124a and 124c . drive rods 128a , 128b , 128e and 128f are connected to a first output 131 of amplifier 129 ; rods 128c , 128d , 128g and 128h are connected to the opposite amplifier output 133 . the ganged approach illustrated in fig1 is shown as having three filaments , but it is contemplated that this number may be two , four or more . the electrostatic drive construction is illustrated in conjunction with a symmetrical bipolar &# 34 ; figure - eight &# 34 ; profile diaphragm , as shown in fig1 - 13 . however , the electrostatic principle may be applied to any transducer having a cylindrical diaphragm , such as those illustrated in fig2 - 9 . the ganged construction illustrated in fig1 has a similarly wide applicability and need not be limited to the illustrated embodiment . fig1 shows a low range transducer 160 having a three - lobed diaphragm 162 . the transducer 160 includes a frame 164 supporting three sets of magnets 166 . the diaphragm 162 includes two primary peripheral lobes 170 , 172 formed of a flexible material , as used in two - lobed diaphragms of the prior art . a central lobe 174 has a smaller radius than the peripheral lobes 170 , 172 and tangentially abuts each peripheral lobe at a respective central expanse 176 , 178 that carries a coil for production of sound generally in the manner disclosed in the prior art . with the peripheral magnets being oriented in similar polarity and the central magnets oriented oppositely , the coils attached to each central expanse 176 , 178 are connected in opposite polarity so that both coils act in concert to create a synchronized driving motion . the transducer 160 may be configured as a woofer for producing primarily low frequency sounds , or alternatively may serve as a wide bandwidth device with a frequency range extending to substantially lower frequencies than would be possible with a two - lobed diaphragm . for use as a woofer only , the central lobe material may be a relatively heavy and stiff material for maximum efficiency . the central area behaves as a piston and generates low frequency sound in concert with the peripheral lobes 170 , 172 , which operate in a rolling motion , as described in the prior art . because the central lobe 174 functions ideally as a piston , wave motion across the central lobe is undesirable and may be controlled through use of a damping material such as felt , which may be attached to the entire inner surface of the central lobe 174 . for the transducer 160 to function as a wide bandwidth device , the central lobe 174 is formed of a thin , flexible material that may be appreciably thinner than the flexible material forming the peripheral lobes 170 and 172 . such a thin material will be sufficiently rigid at low frequencies due to the tighter radius in which it is bent . at low frequencies , the full range transducer 160 operates essentially as the woofer embodiment discussed above . at high frequencies , the central lobe responds flexibly to wave motion . accordingly , the central lobe 174 must be damped adjacent to one central expanse 176 by a pair of felt strips 182 , 184 attached to the interior of the central lobe 174 . without such damping , each central expanse would function as a separate sound source with the sound generated by each objectionably interfering with that generated by the other . alternatively , to avoid interference , the input to one of the coils may be electronically filtered to eliminate interference - generating high frequencies . fig1 shows a compression omnipole wave generator transducer 190 having opposed semi - cylindrical diaphragms 192 , 194 with opposed , central coil - carrying portions 196a , 196b . distal edge portions of the diaphragms are mounted to a frame 198 . an electromagnetic coil 200 is attached to the diaphragm and forms a series of adjacent loops , each one of which runs up the first diaphragm 192 and down the second diaphragm 194 . accordingly , at any given time , all current flowing through the coil is flowing in a single direction in the wire portions of the coil 200 attached to the first diaphragm 192 , while the current is flowing in the opposite direction through all the wire portions of the coil attached to the second diaphragm 194 . fig2 shows a cross - sectional schematic view of the omnipole transducer 190 , which has magnets 202 , 204 attached to the frame 198 within the respective diaphragms 192 , 194 . the magnets are oriented in similar polarity so that the north pole of the first magnet 202 is directly opposite the north pole of the second magnet 204 , with the south poles being similarly opposed . while the coil 200 is securely adhered to the diaphragms where the vertical wire portions run adjacent the magnet structures , the coil 200 includes slack upper and lower loops 206 , 208 to permit the central coil - carrying portions 196 of the diaphragm freely to move toward and away from each other as a varying current passes through the coil . in fig2 , the diaphragms 192 , 194 ( shown in solid lines ) are shown in the extended position more closely spaced than when in the flexed positions 192 &# 39 ;, 194 &# 39 ; ( shown in dashed lines ). this opposed motion creates compression and rarefaction of air within the space between the diaphragms . consequently , acoustic waves 212 are emitted from the space between the diaphragms in a widely dispersed pattern on each side of the transducer . the combination of the acoustic waves , which constructively interact with each other as they emanate from the front and rear , gives the transducer an omnipolar response . in other words , the sound pressure generated by the transducer in a response to a given signal does not appreciably vary as the listener moves in a horizontal 360 degree circle centered on the transducer . the transducer 190 may be constructed in a vertically elongated configuration to create an effective omnipolar line source , that is , one that emulates a theoretical radially - pulsing cylinder . alternatively , as shown in fig2 , an electrostatic omnipole transducer 220 may be constructed according to the principles of the electrostatic transducer of fig1 . the electrostatic omnipole transducer 220 has similarly charged planar elements 222 , 224 attached respectively to diaphragms 192 , 194 . the planar elements are wired to a high voltage power supply ( not shown ). a central plate 228 occupies the line of symmetry between the diaphragms and is connected to a first amplifier output 230 . a pair of similar outer plates 232 , 234 are positioned symmetrically within the respective diaphragms 192 , 194 and are each electrically connected to a second amplifier output 238 . the central plate 228 experiences balanced forces , making substantial reinforcement unnecessary . the outer plates 232 , 234 may be secured along their height to the frame 198 . alternatively , all the plates may be replaced by similarly connected vertical rods , as shown in the embodiment of fig1 . in any cylindrical diaphragm system such as those disclosed above , as well as those of the prior art , it is necessary to control the flexibility and resonances of the diaphragms . in the bipolar cylindrical transducer 10 illustrated in fig1 as well as in many of the other transducers disclosed herein , a wide frequency range is achievable . however , this range is limited at the high and low ends by contrary factors . for theoretically ideal , efficient high frequency response , the central expanse 18 should approach infinitely low mass and high rigidity so that it may move crisply and responsively to an input signal of a limited power . the distance between the central expanse 18 and the diaphragm ends attached to the frame 12 is sufficiently long compared to the wavelength of high frequency vibrations that such waves are damped within the diaphragm well before they reach the diaphragm outer edges and have an opportunity to reflect back and interfere with subsequently generated waves . also , because the diaphragm moves only a very small amount to generate high frequencies , flexibility is not critical . at low frequencies , on the other hand , the diaphragm moves an appreciable amount , requiring flexibility . furthermore , the long wavelengths involved may propagate within the diaphragm to the frame and reflect back to interfere with subsequently generated waves , creating unacceptable resonances at various frequencies if left undamped . therefore , the ideal diaphragm for producing low frequencies is thick , non - resonant and flexible . in the prior art , these contrary objectives of high - and low - frequency production have been reconciled with reasonable success because rigidity for high frequency production is essential only near the central expanse , while flexibility and wave damping is necessary only in the diaphragm regions remote from the central expanse . fig2 shows a contoured diaphragm 240 in &# 34 ; numeral - three &# 34 ; configuration for a monopole transducer , to provide rigidity near the central expanse 18 and flexibility near the remote end 244 , each lobe of the diaphragm 240 is molded from a single sheet of thermoformable plastic with a set of raised ridges 246 . these ridges are broad and gently contoured near the remote end 244 to permit flexibility , and are narrow and more sharply contoured near the central expanse 18 to provide rigidity , even with a thin , otherwise flexible material . the ridges also have a taller profile near the central expanse and a lower profile near the remote end 244 . additional rigidity enhancing narrow ridges 248 may be positioned adjacent the central expanse for additional rigidity . the contoured diaphragm 240 is preferably vacuum - formed onto a cylindrical form ( not shown ) shaped like the desired resulting diaphragm . this provides a diaphragm that is stress - free when at rest . if the diaphragm were formed in a generally planar position , it would become stressed as it was curved into the final cylindrical form . when so formed , it would have an outer surface in tension and inner surface in compression , resulting in different wave propagation rates . each ridge 246 , 248 has a tapered end 252 adjacent the central expanse 18 so that waves propagating from the central expanse through the diaphragm do not appreciably reflect off the leading edge of the ridge . the ridges provide for controllability of the diaphragm &# 39 ; s flexibility without the time - consuming and efficiency - impairing addition of mass , such as the damping strips shown in the prior art . the ridges need not have a regular or symmetrical appearance . in fact , a designer may analyze a prototype diaphragm for undesirable resonances and selectively place ridges to eliminate the resonances . for instance , a region showing excessive flexibility may be provided with narrower , taller , more rigid ridges . other contemplated variations are illustrated in fig2 - 26 . fig2 shows a diaphragm 256 having a plurality of parallel linear ridges 258 molded therein . each ridge 258 spans nearly the entire distance between the central expanse 18 and one of the remote ends 244 . each ridge is gently tapered at its ends to avoid reflections of propagating waves caused by abrupt transitions . fig2 shows a diaphragm 260 having parallel ridges 264 in an alternating arrangement , with full length ridges as shown in fig2 being interspersed with shorter ridges to provide a wider transitional zone between the ridge - free areas and the ridge areas . fig2 shows a diaphragm 270 providing a similar effect , but with intermediate length ridges 272 of the same length being positioned alternately proximate to and distal from the central expanse 18 . any or all of the above features and improvements may be employed in embodiments also including features of the prior transducers . for instance , the diaphragm may include support or suspension members such as elastic cords or tab cut - outs folded from the diaphragm and adhered to the magnet or frame structure . also , the diaphragm may be formed of either single or multiple layers of different materials and may also include adhesive damping strips applied to selected regions of the diaphragm inner surface . it should also be noted that the narrow magnet spacing of the prior systems is preferred ; the schematic drawings in this application show a wider magnet gap to facilitate illustration . having illustrated and described the principles of my invention by what is presently a preferred embodiment , it should be apparent to those persons skilled in the art that the illustrated embodiment may be modified without departing from such principles . for instance , while the contoured diaphragms of fig2 - 26 are illustrated in the context of monopole transducers , the contours may similarly be applied in asymmetrical , s - shaped , or dipolar transducers . the various features and improvements disclosed herein may be combined in many combinations , such as a preferred embodiment having an electrostatic drive with an s - shaped diaphragm having a small radius semi - circular front lobe and a large radius quarter - circle rear lobe , and having contours molded into the diaphragm to provide added rigidity to the rear lobe . innumerable other permutations of the features disclosed herein are contemplated to provide alternative embodiments . i claim as my invention not only the illustrated embodiment , but all such modifications , variations and equivalents thereof as come within the true spirit and scope of the following claims .	7
referring to fig1 - 3 , the numeral 11 designates generally the cup and numeral 12 designates generally the lid for the cup . for exemplary purposes only , described hereinbelow is a preferred embodiment wherein the cups described are of a nestable variety . however , this is not a limitation on the present invention . it will be understood that the cup / lid combinations taught herein can by used with any type of cup or vessel that includes a lid . other uses for the cup / lid combinations described herein will be readily apparent to those skilled in the relevant art . it will be appreciated that terms such as “ top ,” “ bottom ,” “ side ,” “ upwardly ” and other such descriptive terms used hereinbelow are merely for ease of description and refer to the orientation of the components as shown in the figures . it should be understood that any orientation of the cup / lid combinations described herein is within the scope of the present invention . cup 11 is a nestable variety , meaning that it can be stacked with a cup nesting inside a cup therebeneath in a stack . to this end cup 11 has a frustroconical wall 13 with a closed bottom 14 and an open top 15 . the cup preferably has a thickened or rolled lip 16 at the open top 15 . the wall 13 of cup 11 has a circular recess 17 therein for receiving the lid 12 . in the view of the recess 17 there are provided one or more pairs of oppositely disposed nubs 18 which are adapted to overlie and retain the periphery 19 of the lid 12 when it is positioned within recess 17 . ( only one such nub 18 is shown in the drawings at fig2 and in enlarged section in fig3 .) both the cup 11 and the lid 12 are preferably formed of thin wall flexible plastic materials thus enabling the lid 12 to be bent and flexed in placing it in recess 17 beneath cup nubs 18 and to likewise flex when the lid 12 is snapped out of the recess 17 for use in covering the open top 15 of the cup . if desired a tab 20 may be affixed to or be integral with the lid 12 to facilitate removing the lid from the cup wall recess 17 . also , if desired the combination may include a flexible tether 21 providing a connection between the lid and the cup . the tether 21 prevents the lid from flying free when it is pulled from the recess 17 in the cup wall 13 . from the foregoing it should be apparent that with the cup lid 12 nestled within the recess 17 of the cup wall 13 the cup and lid can be nested within another like cup / lid combination for stacked storage and dispensing . in another embodiment , the recess 17 can include a lip , similar to lip 16 for retaining the lid 12 . in this embodiment , instead of being nestled within recess 17 , the lid 12 is snap fit onto the lip within recess 17 , just as it is typically snap fit onto lip 16 when in use . in this embodiment , the cups are still nestable because the lip is located within recess 17 . in use , the lid 12 is removed from the lip in recess 17 and is then placed on lip 16 . in yet another embodiment , recess 17 can be omitted , and a lip for retaining lid 12 can be formed on the side wall 13 of cup 11 . referring to fig4 - 6 , a second embodiment of a cup / lid combination is shown . cup 40 is similar to cup 11 , but has recess 17 omitted . cup 40 is preferably a nestable variety . to this end cup 40 has a frustroconical wall 13 with a closed bottom 14 and an open top 15 . the cup preferably has a thickened or rolled lip 16 at the open top 15 . in a preferred embodiment , cup 40 includes flexible tether 42 and band 44 . the band 44 extends around the cup 40 preferably just under lip 16 . the band 44 , tether 42 and lid 12 together form a top for the cup 40 . as shown in fig4 and 5 , the tether 42 is connected at one end to the band 44 and at its opposite end to the lid 12 . in an alternative embodiment , the tether 42 can be attached to or formed with the cup 40 itself , thus eliminating the need for band 44 . in an alternative embodiment , the band 44 is seated in a shallow channel that is formed in the side wall 13 of the cup 40 . in a preferred embodiment , the channel can be omitted . as is best shown in fig4 , in a preferred embodiment , the top 15 of cup 40 has a convex / concave shape . in other words , when viewed from one side ( as shown in fig6 ), the top 15 has a concave shape . when the cup 40 is turned 90 degrees from the position shown in fig6 the top 15 has a convex shape . this configuration is referred to herein as a convex / concave shape and will be readily understood by those skilled in the art . after being stored for a period of time , lid 12 takes on a shape similar to that shown in fig4 and 5 . this is because in storage , lid 12 points upwardly , as shown in fig6 . when the stack of cups 40 is placed in a sleeve , the lid 12 of a lower cup 40 typically contacts some of the cups 40 above it in the stack . because the cups 40 are round and the cups 40 and lids 12 are secured in a sleeve , the lids 12 tend to mirror the shape of the cups , thus giving the lids 12 a convex / concave shape . this convex / concave shape substantially corresponds to that of top 15 of cup 40 therefore , the top 15 of cup 40 and lip 16 are preferably shaped in a non - flat or convex / concave shaped manner to accommodate the shape of lid 12 after storage . in an alternative embodiment , the lid 12 can have a convex / concave shape when manufactured . in this embodiment , the lid 12 and top 15 of cup 40 are both shaped so as to fit one another before the lid 12 is placed in the storage position ( as described below ). in use , lid 12 is moved between a storage position 60 and a use position 62 . as shown in fig6 , the lid 12 starts in the storage position 60 . a user first removes the cup 40 from the stack . however , the tether 42 keeps the lid 12 attached to the lid 12 , so that it does not drop to the floor , counter , etc . the user then fills the cup 40 with a beverage and places the lid 12 on the cup , which is referred to herein as the use position 62 . in a preferred embodiment , the band 44 is disposable . in this embodiment , after removing cup 40 from the stack , the user tears the tether 42 , thereby separating the band 44 from the lid 12 and then places the lid 12 on the cup 40 in the use position 62 . after the lid 12 is separated from the band 44 , the band 44 can then be disposed of . in yet another embodiment , the lid 12 can be stored inside cup 40 . in use , the lid 12 is moved between a storage position , a filling position and a use position . it will be understood that the filling position is any position where the lid 12 is out of the cup 40 and not in the way when the cup 40 is being filled . preferably , the lid 12 , band 44 and tether 42 are formed of a unitary piece of material . in an alternative embodiment , the lid 12 , band 44 and tether 42 are formed of separate pieces that are attached to one another . furthermore , the lid 12 , band 44 and the tether 42 are preferably formed of thin wall flexible plastic materials thus enabling the lid 12 and tether to be bent and flexed when the lid is moved from the storage position to the use position . also , the thin wall flexible plastic material allows for easy tearing of the tether in the embodiment where the band 44 is disposable . in another embodiment , where the band 44 is omitted , the lid 12 , tether 42 and cup 40 are formed of a unitary piece of material . a third preferred embodiment of the present invention is shown in fig7 - 8 . in this embodiment , a top 70 includes a band 44 that is fitted around the lip 16 , and a lid 12 that is connected to the band 44 by a tether 42 . the band 44 includes a channel 72 for receiving the lip 16 of the cup 40 . as can be seen in fig8 , the lip 16 of the cup 40 is received in the channel 72 . the top 70 is preferably made of an elastomeric material , such as plastic or the like . accordingly , the top 70 can be snap fit on the top 15 of the cup 40 by mating the channel 72 and the lip 16 of the cup 40 . preferably , the band 44 also includes a lip 74 . in use , the lid 12 , which is secured to the bottom portion 44 a of the band 44 is snap fit onto the lip 74 of the band . as can be seen in fig8 , the channel 72 is defined in the bottom portion 44 a of the band 44 and extends upwardly into the lip 74 . in an alternative embodiment , the channel 72 can be defined only in the bottom portion 44 a of the band 44 . in this embodiment , the top 70 can be used on a cup without a lip and can therefore provide a lip for the cup and the capability of securing a lid thereon . as can be seen in fig7 , in a preferred embodiment , the top 70 has a non - flat or convex / concave shape similar to that described above with respect to the second embodiment of the present invention . however , the top 70 can also have a flat configuration , as is shown in fig8 . it will be understood by those skilled in the art , that in this embodiment , the cup 40 can simply a prior art cup that has the top 70 secured thereon . in this embodiment , the tether 42 can be tearable or not . however , in the event that the tether 42 is torn , because the band 44 is secured around the lip 16 , the tether 42 is not disposable as it is in the embodiment described above . in use , the cups 40 come in a stack with the top 70 secured to the lip 16 of the cup . the lid 12 is in the open or storage position , so that the cups 40 can all fit in one another . a user pulls a cup 40 from the stack , fills the cup 40 and closes the lid 12 , thus placing the lid 12 in the use position . this method is advantageous for both the user and the establishment selling the cup and / or drink . the user does not have to take a cup from one stack and a lid from a separate stack . moreover , because the lid is already attached to the cup , there is little chance of lids being wasted . in other words , the user will not pull two lids accidentally from a stack and drop one on the floor . the user saves time and the establishment saves money and inventory . the embodiments described above are exemplary embodiments of the present invention . those skilled in the art may now make numerous uses of , and departures from , the above - described embodiments without departing from the inventive concepts disclosed herein . accordingly , the present invention is to be defined solely by the scope of the following claims .	1
cascading style sheets (“ css ”) is a style language that is utilized by publishers of online content such as web pages to define the layout of content written in html ( hypertext markup language ) or a similar markup language . for example , css covers fonts , colors , margins , lines , height , width , background images , alignment and positioning , and other presentation considerations and thereby enables page content to be separated from page presentation . such separation often enables more precise and sophisticated control over presentation , control of presentation of many mark up pages from a single style sheet , application of different presentation to different media types ( e . g ., on - screen display , print etc .) and can improve ease of site maintenance in many instances . specifications for css are maintained by the world wide web consortium (“ w3c ”). turning now to the drawings , fig1 shows an illustrative mobile communications environment 100 in which the present page and / or device - optimized css may be implemented . in environment 100 , a variety of mobile ( i . e ., wireless ) communications devices 105 - 1 . . . n are coupled to a network 112 . mobile devices 105 are representative of the various devices that are currently available with mobile web browsing capabilities and may include , for example , mobile phones , pocket pcs , handheld pcs , smart phones , pdas ( personal digital assistants ), game devices , media content players , ultra - mobile pcs , and the like . such devices are typically designed to be lightweight and portable and are generally equipped with relatively small display screens with lower resolution and greater memory constrictions as compared with their static desktop pc counterparts . mobile devices 105 can vary considerably in their configuration and capabilities . for example , they can host a variety of user agents ( i . e ., software applications used to render downloaded mobile content ). these user agents may include browsers , for example , microsoft internet explorer ® mobile , palm blazer ®, opera mobile ®, opera mini ®, openwave ® mobile browser , and motorola ® mobile internet browser (“ mib ”). processors , memory , screen size and resolution , color depth , page size capable of being displayed , and other characteristics can also vary significantly among mobile devices . as a result , there can be many thousands of different types and combinations of mobile devices that operate in the mobile communications environment 100 . network 112 couples the mobile devices 105 to an online content publishing system 116 . network 112 typically comprises both wireless infrastructure and wired infrastructure and may include portions of publicly accessible or shared networks such as the internet . in most applications , the network bandwidth provided to the mobile devices 105 is more limited than that available to wired desktop pcs . online content publishing system 116 enables mobile content to be published to users of the mobile devices 105 . as shown in fig1 , online content publishing system 116 is arranged using a mobile web portal 125 ( e . g ., a server located in the online content publishing system 116 ) that provides pages of markup code to the mobile devices 105 which then render the content . mobile web portal 125 is operatively coupled to a mobile css service 132 which dynamically provides css that is tailored to a specific scenario which is defined by the characteristics of a particular page being rendered as well as the capabilities of the specific mobile device that is consuming the content on the page . fig2 shows details of the online content publishing system 116 . the mobile web portal 125 is configured with a group of templates 202 which further includes a wrapper template 205 . the templates 202 and the wrapper template 205 are initially set up by a site designer or developer to set up the content ( e . g ., one or more web pages ) that is published by the online content publishing system 116 . the templates have code associated with them which , when run , fetches the appropriate content which is transformed by the templates to thereby produce a given page . the wrapper template 205 is accordingly utilized to wrap the page . in addition to setting up the templates to generate a page , the site designer or developer also sets up page - level metadata that is globally available to all other templates . the metadata includes parameters which identify the location of the xml files . a user agent sniffer service 211 is arranged to run on the mobile web portal 125 . in alternative implementations , the user agent sniffer service 211 runs as a service that is external to the mobile web portal 125 . in this illustrative example , when a mobile device 105 ( fig1 ) hits the mobile web portal 125 to access a site , the user agent sniffer service 211 retrieves a user agent string ( not shown ) from that mobile device . such user agent strings typically vary by mobile device . the user agent sniffer service 211 mines the user agent string by performing a lookup in a data store or database to identify , in this illustrative example , the browser type , mobile device type ( e . g ., the mobile phone model ), and markup type used by the mobile device ( e . g ., html , xhtml ( extensible html ), chtml ( compact html ), wml ( wireless markup language , etc .). the user agent sniffer service 211 inserts the mined information into a set of aggregate parameters 215 that can be used by other services or applications running on the mobile web portal 125 . in alternative arrangements , the user agent sniffer service 211 is arranged to mine information from other data types , for example , header parameters such as “ user_os .” a plurality of xml ( extensible markup language ) files ( collectively identified by reference numeral 217 ) is stored in a data store or database 219 . defining specifications for xml are maintained by the w3c organization . xml files 217 are considered static as they are typically defined in advance of the page &# 39 ; s rendering time and generally change infrequently . in this illustrative example , xml files 217 are arranged to include blocks of css that are accessed via an http get request 220 and consumed by the mobile css service 132 . however , it is emphasized that the http get request is merely illustrative , as other conventional retrieval mechanisms may also be utilized as required by a particular scenario . for example , the xml files 217 could be read directly from an underlying file system . the css blocks in the xml files 217 are defined by attributes which specify which css blocks are applicable to a particular scenario . referring to fig3 , the xml files 217 shown in fig2 are arranged in accordance with an illustrative schema 300 against which xml files used by the mobile css service 132 ( fig1 ) must be validated . that is , when a user or developer wants to define a new css block in the xml , they need to determine to which mobile device types ( e . g ., mobile phone model or type ), or browser , or markup type ( or combination of two or three of these characteristics ) a particular css block is applicable , so that the appropriate attributes may be set . as indicated by reference numeral 305 , xml schema 300 defines an attribute named “ apply - to - model ” which uses a multiplicity of facets ( i . e ., constraints ) to restrict the css blocks to named mobile devices among a set of models or types . in the illustrative schema 300 , the set includes nine popular mobile device models as indicated by reference numeral 308 in fig3 . similarly , an attribute named “ apply - to - browser ” is indicated by reference numeral 311 in fig3 . here , the illustrative browsers include internet explorer mobile , openwave , and mib version 2 . 2 , as indicated by reference numeral 314 . an attribute named “ apply - to - markup ” is indicated by reference numeral 316 , where the markup languages illustratively include html , and xhtml , as indicated by reference numeral 319 . it is emphasized that the particular model types , browser types and markup languages shown in xml schema 300 are merely illustrative as the present schema is intended to be extensible to other models , browsers and markup languages according to the requirements of a specific application . fig4 shows an illustrative xml file 400 that validates against the css xml schema 300 shown in fig3 . as indicated by reference numeral 407 , a block of css code in xml file 400 is expressed to be globally applicable to all templates , devices , browsers , and markups through use of a “ wildcard ” block as indicated by reference numeral 410 . alternatively , empty attributes ( e . g ., as expressed by & lt ; style & gt ; . . . & lt ;/ style & gt ;) may simply be excluded . as indicated by reference numeral 415 , another block of css code in an xml file 400 is applicable to pages using a template named “ msnmobile_linklist ” and mobile devices that are capable of utilizing the xhtml markup language . reference numeral 420 shows a block of css code that is applicable to a motorola razr model mobile phone equipped with an openwave browser . the examples shown in fig4 illustrate the application of “ inclusion ” logic whereby a particular block of css is expressed by the xml file to be specifically or globally applicable to a device , browser , or markup . however , it is emphasized that “ exclusion ” logic may also be applied in some applications of the present arrangement . in this case , the xml file will include markup to reflect that a block of css is applicable to all devices , browsers , and markups except for the ones that are specifically excluded . returning back to fig2 , the wrapper template 205 utilizes the mobile css service 132 via a remote call 222 . in this illustrative example , the remote call is embedded in the & lt ; head & gt ; element for the page . the mobile css service 132 , as shown in fig2 , includes a plurality of functional components that are arranged to dynamically generate css at the time the page is rendered so that the css is tailored to be minimally sized and correct for a specific scenario . the functional components include a functional component 224 to load certain xml files identified by the remote call 222 , a functional component 227 to extract the appropriate css from the xml files , a functional component 230 to crunch the css to perform various optimizations on the css code , and a functional component 233 to output the dynamically processed css 236 back to the calling wrapper template 205 . fig5 shows details of an illustrative mobile device 105 operating in the mobile communications environment 100 shown in fig1 . mobile device 105 supports a user agent or browser 506 which may include , for example , one of the browsers discussed above in the text accompanying fig1 . browser 506 renders published content 512 ( e . g ., in the form of html , xhtml , chmtl , wml etc .) received over the network 112 from online content publishing system 116 ( fig1 ). browser 506 renders the published content 512 onto a display screen 515 that is typically integrated with the mobile device 105 . an illustrative screen shot 521 of the rendered content 512 is shown in fig5 . as shown , the rendered page in this example includes a number of modules or sections having links to various content including mail , messaging ( such as instant messaging services ), local information , maps , movies , news , sports , and weather . accordingly , a given site is typically composed of a number of linked pages each containing varying individual modules or service calls . without the benefit of the present arrangement for page and / or device - optimized css , the css would be ordinarily arranged to be common to all of the pages and modules . thus , for a typical site which may have 10 , 20 , or more linked pages , each with various modules , the css might ordinarily consume as much as 4½ to 5 kilobytes (“ kb ”) of a page . as some mobile devices are memory limited to page sizes as low as 10 to 20 kb , such css presentation overhead could significantly limit the amount of content that can be put on a given page . by contrast , the present arrangement , in this illustrative example , specifically tailors the css to the particular modules on the page to thereby keep the css as small as possible . identification of modules on a given page is provided to the mobile css service 132 via the remote call 222 from the wrapper template 205 , as shown in fig2 . in combination with the device - specific css optimization described above , the css presentation overhead can commonly be reduced to less than 2 kb which can substantially enrich the experience of a user of the mobile device since more content is enabled to be put on a page . in addition , smaller pages use less bandwidth on the typically resource - constrained mobile communication networks and minimize the potential of pages overflowing the capabilities of a mobile device . fig6 is a flowchart of an illustrative method 600 for facilitating the dynamic creation of page and device - optimized css . method 600 is described referring to the elements shown in fig2 and described in the accompanying text . the illustrative method starts at block 603 when a mobile device 105 ( fig1 ) hits the mobile web portal 125 requesting access to a page of online mobile content . at block 603 , the user agent sniffer service 211 mines the user agent string from the mobile device 105 in order to extract the browser type , the specific model of the mobile device 105 , and the markup that is supported by the mobile device . the user agent sniffer service 211 populates this information into the aggregate parameters 215 which are made available to the wrapper template 205 and other services running on the mobile web portal 125 . at block 605 , the wrapper template 205 makes a remote call 222 to the mobile css service 132 . as noted above , the remote call 222 is preferably contained within a style element to ensure that the css output is properly displayed by the browser . at block 608 , the wrapper template 205 defines the page level metadata , as described above , to locate the xml files 217 that will be used to generate the css output for the requested page . the remote call 222 is further arranged to pass the aggregate parameters 215 from the user agent sniffer service 211 , as indicated at block 611 . in addition , at block 615 , the mobile css service 132 receives a list of modules that are incorporated on the requested page . at block 618 , the “ load ” functional module 224 of the mobile css service 132 fetches and loads the located xml files 217 using an http get request . at block 621 , the “ extract ” functional module 227 in the mobile css service 132 operates to extract the appropriate style elements and css code from the xml file 217 . a query mechanism , such as an xpath query , is then constructed . it is emphasized , however , that the xpath query is merely illustrative and other conventional query types may also be utilized as required by a particular scenario . the xpath query is utilized to locate all nodes in an xml file 217 that match aggregate parameters and / or list of modules on the page . for example , if a razr model of motorola branded mobile phone having an opera browser with xhtml rendering capability is the device requesting access to the page on the mobile web portal 125 , the xpath query constructed by functional module 227 would consist of : this xpath query would match all elements in the xml file 217 with “ apply - to ” attributes that are globally applicable to all devices , as well as to the particular razr ® model making the access request . however , style elements in the xml file 217 applicable to slvr ® model motorola mobile phones , for example , would not be matched . at block 625 , the xpath query constructed in the previous step is run to retrieve applicable style elements containing css code from the xml file 217 . the css code ( i . e ., the innertext in the style element in the xml ) is retrieved at block 629 . at block 632 , all the retrieved css code is concatenated into a single css code string . at block 635 , the concatenated css code string is subjected to various optimizations by the “ crunch ” module 230 in css mobile service 132 . such optimizations may include , for example , removal of white space , tabulations , and comments in the concatenated css code string in order to make it as small as possible . at block 638 , the dynamically processed css code is output by the “ output ” functional module 233 to the calling wrapper template 205 as a css block . at block 640 , the wrapper template 205 receives the css block and inserts it into the & lt ; style & gt ; element of the html page to thereby implement style sheet rendering inline with the markup . the illustrative method 600 ends at block 650 . while one particular illustrative method is shown in fig6 and described above , variations in the described approach may be implemented as required to meet the requirements of a particular application . for example , in some implementations it might be sufficient to optimize the css to only device parameters but not the page modules . or , utilization of various combinations of two or more of the characteristics ( i . e ., device type , browser type , markup , and page modules ) may be sufficient to optimize the css to enhance a particular user experience or scenario . although the subject matter has been described in language specific to structural features and / or methodological acts , it is to be understood that the subject matter defined in the appended claims is not necessarily limited to the specific features or acts described above . rather , the specific features and acts described above are disclosed as example forms of implementing the claims .	6
the illustrative embodiments are described using a touchscreen as a non - limiting example of an interface device only for the clarity of the description and not to imply any limitations on the illustrative embodiments . from this disclosure , those of ordinary skill in the art will be able to adapt an embodiment to many other types of interface devices , including but not limited to braille boards , and the same are contemplated within the scope of the illustrative embodiments . furthermore , hereinafter , any reference to a “ screen ” is a reference to a touchscreen unless expressly distinguished where used . a diminished sensitivity of a screen or a portion thereof to touch gestures is also referred to as screen rot . users are all too familiar with reduced sensitivity of touchscreens today . it is frustrating when certain parts of a touchscreen do not respond to a touch input as readily as other parts . often , the touch gesture becomes a forceful pressing action on those less sensitive portions of the touchscreen . at the very least , the forceful pressing is a cause of frustration to the user , but often the result of the reduced sensitivity is much worse when those portions of the touchscreen fail to respond even to the forceful pressing gestures . the illustrative embodiments recognize that often , portions of a screen become progressively less responsive with use . in some cases , a portion of a screen can be accidentally damaged , such as due to dropping the device or a liquid spill on the device , when portions of a screen become suddenly less responsive due to the damage . in either case , the user is left with a partially functioning screen on which content is presented . the illustrative embodiments recognize that when a portion of a screen has reduced or no sensitivity , and is marginally responsive or non - responsive to touch gestures , the user cannot sufficiently interact with the content presented in that portion of the screen . the illustrative embodiments recognize that insufficient ability to interact with the content at such a portion of the screen can cause errors in a transaction , incomplete process with a server , timeout during a session , and many other problems . the illustrative embodiments used to describe the invention generally address and solve the above - described problems and other problems related to interface devices with reduced sensitivity . the illustrative embodiments provide a method for reconfiguring a user interface according to a deterioration of an interface device . an embodiment creates a map of a screen . for example , one embodiment overlays a virtual grid formed by virtual horizontal and vertical lines on the viewable or touch - sensitive screen area . each cell in the grid covers a portion of the screen within which an embodiment measures the screen &# 39 ; s sensitivity to touch gestures . for example , in a touchscreen that uses a resistive method of detecting a touch input , the embodiment measures the resistance change in the portion of the touchscreen corresponding to a grid cell . as another example , in a touchscreen that uses a capacitive method of detecting a touch input , the embodiment measures the change in capacitance resulting from a touch gesture in the portion of the touchscreen corresponding to a grid cell . the embodiment compares the measured sensitivity , such as a measured change in resistance or capacitance , with a baseline or threshold sensitivity , such as with a threshold amount of change in resistance or capacitance that should occur in response to a touch gesture if the portion of the touch screen has the designed level of touch sensitivity . the diminished sensitivity to touch gesture , or screen rot , can have several degrees . as a non - limiting example , suppose that the screen sensitivity can be classified into levels such as “ excellent ”, “ normal ”, “ average ”, and “ poor ”. accordingly , in this example , the portion that has “ excellent ” sensitivity has no screen rot ; the portion that has “ normal ” sensitivity has some screen rot that is undetectable or not perceivable by the user ; the portion that has “ average ” sensitivity has some screen rot that is detectable or perceivable by the user but the portion is usable with some extra effort and frustration on the part of the user ; and the portion that has “ poor ” sensitivity has screen rot that is detectable or perceivable by the user and the portion is unusable altogether or usable only with extraordinary effort and frustration on the part of the user . the various embodiments are described using these example levels of sensitivity levels and the corresponding screen rot levels only for the clarity of the description . these examples of sensitivity levels and the corresponding screen rot levels are not intended to be limiting . from this disclosure , those of ordinary skill in the art will be able to conceive many other ways of gauging the sensitivity levels and the corresponding screen rot levels and the same are contemplated within the scope of the illustrative embodiments . one embodiment regards the excellent level of sensitivity as a threshold amount of sensitivity , such as defined by a threshold amount of change in resistance or capacitance that should occur in response to a touch gesture if the portion of the touch screen has the level of touch sensitivity that the manufacturer has designed into the touchscreen . accordingly , the normal level of sensitivity of a portion may indicate , for example , up to twenty percent less than the threshold amount of sensitivity in that portion , and corresponding to , for example , up to twenty percent screen rot in that portion . similarly , the average level of sensitivity may be , for example , between eleven and thirty percent less than the threshold amount of sensitivity , and corresponding to , for example , between eleven and thirty percent screen rot . similarly , the average level of sensitivity may be , for example , between twenty one and fifty percent less than the threshold amount of sensitivity , and corresponding to , for example , between twenty one and fifty percent screen rot . similarly , the poor level of sensitivity may be , for example , fifty percent or more below the threshold amount of sensitivity , and corresponding to , for example , fifty one percent or more screen rot . once an embodiment measures the sensitivity ( screen rot ), the measured sensitivity information can be shared with the user via visual cues on the screen . for example , one embodiment visualizes the grid on the screen , i . e ., presents the grid visibly to the user . furthermore , the embodiment visibly presents the measured sensitivity information in the now - visible grids to the user . for example , one embodiment shades a grid cell according to the measured sensitivity in that cell . the darker the shade of a cell , the poorer the sensitivity and correspondingly higher the screen rot in that cell , and vice versa . another embodiment colors a grid cell differently according to the measured sensitivity in that cell . different colors of a cell correspond to different levels of sensitivity and corresponding levels of screen rot in that cell . any number of shades or colors can be used to indicate any number of levels of sensitivity and screen rot in this manner . these examples of ways to represent sensitivity information are not intended to be limiting . from this disclosure , those of ordinary skill in the art will be able to conceive many other ways for a similar purpose and the same are contemplated within the scope of the illustrative embodiments . for example , different audible tones , different animations or animation speeds , different combinations of these various methods can similarly be used to represent sensitivity information about the various portions of an interface device , and the same are contemplated within the scope of the illustrative embodiments . an embodiment is configured to avoid presenting content in those portions of a screen where the measured sensitivity is lower than a pre - determined threshold . this pre - determined threshold is different from the one or more thresholds used to measure the sensitivity levels . for example , the embodiment can be configured to not present any content , or not present that content which requires touch interaction , in a grid cell where the sensitivity is below sixty two percent , or below a normal level , or below a threshold specified in another manner . one embodiment may present content in such portions if such presentation does not elicit a touch input from the user in such portions . another embodiment may not present any type of content in such portions regardless of whether the content elicits a touch input from the user in such portions . either way , the illustrative embodiments have to modify a user interface ( ui ) layout of the content such that at least those ui elements in the ui layout , which require touch interaction , and which are positioned in a grid cell where the sensitivity is below the pre - determined threshold , are repositioned away from the cell with unacceptable sensitivity to a cell with acceptable sensitivity . unacceptable sensitivity is sensitivity below the pre - determined threshold . acceptable sensitivity is sensitivity at or above the pre - determined threshold . one embodiment analyzes a ui layout presented by a presenting application . a presenting application is any application that sends content arranged in a ui layout for presentation on the screen according to the ui layout . a ui element is a component of the ui layout . for example , a ui layout can be an arrangement of style - sheets on a webpage , and a ui element can be a button or a checkbox on a style - sheet . these examples of ui layout and ui elements are not intended to be limiting . from this disclosure , those of ordinary skill in the art will be able to conceive many other ui layouts and ui elements suitable for a particular type of interface device and the same are contemplated within the scope of the illustrative embodiments . upon analysis , the embodiment identifies that part of the ui layout which will lie in a grid cell with unacceptable sensitivity . the embodiment modifies the ui layout , to produce a modified ui layout , in which the embodiment repositions that part of the ui layout to another cell with acceptable sensitivity . in one embodiment , the part of the ui layout , which will lie in a grid cell with unacceptable sensitivity , includes a ui element with which a user may interact using a touch gesture . in such an embodiment the presenting application is not involved in the modification of the ui layout . in other words , the presenting application only sends , and continues to send , the ui layout without regard to screen sensitivities of a particular screen on which the ui layout is going to be presented . the embodiment modifies the ui layout as close as possible to the rendering buffer in the data processing system with which the concerned screen is coupled . such a manner of modifying the ui layout is particularly useful when the presenting application resides on a different data processing system , such as a server , and communicates over a data network with the data processing system , such as a client , where the embodiment is executing . it is possible that the presenting application is presenting the ui layout to several screens on several clients , and the ui layout should not be disturbed or modified for a particular issue with the sensitivity of a particular screen at a particular client . in another embodiment , after the embodiment modifies the ui layout , the embodiment sends the information about the acceptable and unacceptable areas of the screen to the presenting application . such sent the information is also interchangeably referred to herein as a feedback instruction . the presenting application updates the ui layout such that the future versions of the ui layout avoid presenting content or ui elements in the unacceptable areas of the screen . in one embodiment , the modified ui layout is also sent to the presenting application along with the information about the acceptable and unacceptable areas of the screen to the presenting application . the presenting application can update the ui layout using the modified ui layout as a guideline . in another embodiment , the embodiment does not generate a modified ui layout , but upon analysis of a ui layout received from a presenting application , provides the information about the acceptable and unacceptable areas of the screen to the presenting application . the presenting application updates the ui layout to avoid presenting content or ui elements in the unacceptable areas of the screen now and in the future , and resends the updated ui layout to the embodiment . such manners of modifying and updating the ui layout are particularly useful when the presenting application resides on the same data processing system , such as a mobile device , where the embodiment is executing . in such cases , the presenting application is generally presenting the ui layout to a single screen — the screen of the mobile device , and the ui layout can be modified or updated for a particular issue with the sensitivity of a particular screen at a particular client . an embodiment performs the sensitivity measurements from time to time or upon certain events . when the sensitivity information changes , causing a change in the acceptable and unacceptable areas of the screen , the ui layout can be modified , updated , or both , in response to such changes in the sensitivity information . when an embodiment communicates the sensitivity information to a presenting application , the embodiment can also send updated sensitivity information to the presenting application so that the presenting application may update the ui layout accordingly . one embodiment also collects screen usage data . screen usage data includes data about the ui elements that occupy a grid cell , and their frequency of occupying the grid cell . the embodiment stores this screen usage data in a repository , which can be shared by one or more users of one or more screens . over time , an analysis of the screen usage data can indicate whether certain ui elements , such as application launch icons to launch certain applications , are so heavily used or touched that the grid cell where they reside experiences screen rot as a result . a method of an embodiment described herein , when implemented to execute on a device or data processing system , comprises substantial advancement of the functionality of that device or data processing system in using interface devices with diminished touch sensitivity . for example , prior - art continues to present content and ui elements in areas of a screen that have unacceptable sensitivity measurements . an embodiment monitors the changing sensitivity information of the various portions of a screen . an embodiment adapts a ui layout or causes the ui layout to be adapted , to avoid presenting content to ui elements in those parts of a screen that have unacceptable sensitivity . such manner of dynamically adapting a ui layout for avoiding portions of a screen with unacceptable sensitivity without requiring touch interaction in those portions and still continuing to use the remaining portions of the screen is unavailable in presently available devices or data processing systems . thus , a substantial advancement of such devices or data processing systems by executing a method of an embodiment is achieved by allowing continued use of a screen with screen rot through ui layout modification . the illustrative embodiments are described with respect to certain ui layouts , ui elements , screens , interface devices , grid , cells , sensitivity levels , screen rot levels , presenting applications , modifications , feedback instructions , devices , data processing systems , environments , components , and applications only as examples . any specific manifestations of these and other similar artifacts are not intended to be limiting to the invention . any suitable manifestation of these and other similar artifacts can be selected within the scope of the illustrative embodiments . furthermore , the illustrative embodiments may be implemented with respect to any type of data , data source , or access to a data source over a data network . any type of data storage device may provide the data to an embodiment of the invention , either locally at a data processing system or over a data network , within the scope of the invention . where an embodiment is described using a mobile device , any type of data storage device suitable for use with the mobile device may provide the data to such embodiment , either locally at the mobile device or over a data network , within the scope of the illustrative embodiments . the illustrative embodiments are described using specific code , designs , architectures , protocols , layouts , schematics , and tools only as examples and are not limiting to the illustrative embodiments . furthermore , the illustrative embodiments are described in some instances using particular software , tools , and data processing environments only as an example for the clarity of the description . the illustrative embodiments may be used in conjunction with other comparable or similarly purposed structures , systems , applications , or architectures . for example , other comparable mobile devices , structures , systems , applications , or architectures therefor , may be used in conjunction with such embodiment of the invention within the scope of the invention . an illustrative embodiment may be implemented in hardware , software , or a combination thereof . the examples in this disclosure are used only for the clarity of the description and are not limiting to the illustrative embodiments . additional data , operations , actions , tasks , activities , and manipulations will be conceivable from this disclosure and the same are contemplated within the scope of the illustrative embodiments . any advantages listed herein are only examples and are not intended to be limiting to the illustrative embodiments . additional or different advantages may be realized by specific illustrative embodiments . furthermore , a particular illustrative embodiment may have some , all , or none of the advantages listed above . with reference to the figures and in particular with reference to fig1 and 2 , these figures are example diagrams of data processing environments in which illustrative embodiments may be implemented . fig1 and 2 are only examples and are not intended to assert or imply any limitation with regard to the environments in which different embodiments may be implemented . a particular implementation may make many modifications to the depicted environments based on the following description . fig1 depicts a block diagram of a network of data processing systems in which illustrative embodiments may be implemented . data processing environment 100 is a network of computers in which the illustrative embodiments may be implemented . data processing environment 100 includes network 102 . network 102 is the medium used to provide communications links between various devices and computers connected together within data processing environment 100 . network 102 may include connections , such as wire , wireless communication links , or fiber optic cables . clients or servers are only example roles of certain data processing systems connected to network 102 and are not intended to exclude other configurations or roles for these data processing systems . server 104 and server 106 couple to network 102 along with storage unit 108 . software applications may execute on any computer in data processing environment 100 . clients 110 , 112 , and 114 are also coupled to network 102 . a data processing system , such as server 104 or 106 , or client 110 , 112 , or 114 may contain data and may have software applications or software tools executing thereon . only as an example , and without implying any limitation to such architecture , fig1 depicts certain components that are usable in an example implementation of an embodiment . for example , servers 104 and 106 , and clients 110 , 112 , 114 , are depicted as servers and clients only as example and not to imply a limitation to a client - server architecture . as another example , an embodiment can be distributed across several data processing systems and a data network as shown , whereas another embodiment can be implemented on a single data processing system within the scope of the illustrative embodiments . data processing systems 104 , 106 , 110 , 112 , and 114 also represent example nodes in a cluster , partitions , and other configurations suitable for implementing an embodiment . device 132 is an example of a device described herein . for example , device 132 can take the form of a smartphone , a tablet computer , a laptop computer , client 110 in a stationary or a portable form , a wearable computing device , or any other suitable device . any software application described as executing in another data processing system in fig1 can be configured to execute in device 132 in a similar manner . any data or information stored or produced in another data processing system in fig1 can be configured to be stored or produced in device 132 in a similar manner . screen 133 in device 132 is an example of an interface device contemplated herein , such as a touchscreen . application 134 implements an embodiment described herein . presenting application 136 executes in device 132 and provides a ui layout for rendering on screen 133 . application 134 modifies such ui layout , or causes presenting application 136 to update the ui layout in a manner described herein . presenting application 105 provides a ui layout over network 102 for rendering on screen 133 . application 134 modifies such ui layout , or causes presenting application 105 to update the ui layout in a manner described herein . application 134 stores screen usage data 109 in repository 108 . servers 104 and 106 , storage unit 108 , and clients 110 , 112 , and 114 may couple to network 102 using wired connections , wireless communication protocols , or other suitable data connectivity . clients 110 , 112 , and 114 may be , for example , personal computers or network computers . in the depicted example , server 104 may provide data , such as boot files , operating system images , and applications to clients 110 , 112 , and 114 . clients 110 , 112 , and 114 may be clients to server 104 in this example . clients 110 , 112 , 114 , or some combination thereof , may include their own data , boot files , operating system images , and applications . data processing environment 100 may include additional servers , clients , and other devices that are not shown . in the depicted example , data processing environment 100 may be the internet . network 102 may represent a collection of networks and gateways that use the transmission control protocol / internet protocol ( tcp / ip ) and other protocols to communicate with one another . at the heart of the internet is a backbone of data communication links between major nodes or host computers , including thousands of commercial , governmental , educational , and other computer systems that route data and messages . of course , data processing environment 100 also may be implemented as a number of different types of networks , such as for example , an intranet , a local area network ( lan ), or a wide area network ( wan ). fig1 is intended as an example , and not as an architectural limitation for the different illustrative embodiments . among other uses , data processing environment 100 may be used for implementing a client - server environment in which the illustrative embodiments may be implemented . a client - server environment enables software applications and data to be distributed across a network such that an application functions by using the interactivity between a client data processing system and a server data processing system . data processing environment 100 may also employ a service oriented architecture where interoperable software components distributed across a network may be packaged together as coherent business applications . with reference to fig2 , this figure depicts a block diagram of a data processing system in which illustrative embodiments may be implemented . data processing system 200 is an example of a computer , such as servers 104 and 106 , or clients 110 , 112 , and 114 in fig1 , or another type of device in which computer usable program code or instructions implementing the processes may be located for the illustrative embodiments . data processing system 200 is also representative of a data processing system or a configuration therein , such as data processing system 132 in fig1 in which computer usable program code or instructions implementing the processes of the illustrative embodiments may be located . data processing system 200 is described as a computer only as an example , without being limited thereto . implementations in the form of other devices , such as device 132 in fig1 , may modify data processing system 200 , such as by adding a touch interface , and even eliminate certain depicted components from data processing system 200 without departing from the general description of the operations and functions of data processing system 200 described herein . in the depicted example , data processing system 200 employs a hub architecture including north bridge and memory controller hub ( nb / mch ) 202 and south bridge and input / output ( i / o ) controller hub ( sb / ich ) 204 . processing unit 206 , main memory 208 , and graphics processor 210 are coupled to north bridge and memory controller hub ( nb / mch ) 202 . processing unit 206 may contain one or more processors and may be implemented using one or more heterogeneous processor systems . processing unit 206 may be a multi - core processor . graphics processor 210 may be coupled to nb / mch 202 through an accelerated graphics port ( agp ) in certain implementations . in the depicted example , local area network ( lan ) adapter 212 is coupled to south bridge and i / o controller hub ( sb / ich ) 204 . audio adapter 216 , keyboard and mouse adapter 220 , modem 222 , read only memory ( rom ) 224 , universal serial bus ( usb ) and other ports 232 , and pci / pcie devices 234 are coupled to south bridge and i / o controller hub 204 through bus 238 . hard disk drive ( hdd ) or solid - state drive ( ssd ) 226 and cd - rom 230 are coupled to south bridge and i / o controller hub 204 through bus 240 . pci / pcie devices 234 may include , for example , ethernet adapters , add - in cards , and pc cards for notebook computers . pci uses a card bus controller , while pcie does not . rom 224 may be , for example , a flash binary input / output system ( bios ). hard disk drive 226 and cd - rom 230 may use , for example , an integrated drive electronics ( ide ), serial advanced technology attachment ( sata ) interface , or variants such as external - sata ( esata ) and micro - sata ( msata ). a super i / o ( sio ) device 236 may be coupled to south bridge and i / o controller hub ( sb / ich ) 204 through bus 238 . memories , such as main memory 208 , rom 224 , or flash memory ( not shown ), are some examples of computer usable storage devices . hard disk drive or solid state drive 226 , cd - rom 230 , and other similarly usable devices are some examples of computer usable storage devices including a computer usable storage medium . an operating system runs on processing unit 206 . the operating system coordinates and provides control of various components within data processing system 200 in fig2 . the operating system may be a commercially available operating system such as aix ® ( aix is a trademark of international business machines corporation in the united states and other countries ), microsoft ® windows ® ( microsoft and windows are trademarks of microsoft corporation in the united states and other countries ), linux ® ( linux is a trademark of linus torvalds in the united states and other countries ), ios ™ ( ios is a trademark of cisco systems , inc . licensed to apple inc . in the united states and in other countries ), or android ™ ( android is a trademark of google inc ., in the united states and in other countries ). an object oriented programming system , such as the java ™ programming system , may run in conjunction with the operating system and provide calls to the operating system from java ™ programs or applications executing on data processing system 200 ( java and all java - based trademarks and logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of oracle corporation and / or its affiliates ). instructions for the operating system , the object - oriented programming system , and applications or programs , such as application 134 in fig1 , are located on storage devices , such as hard disk drive 226 , and may be loaded into at least one of one or more memories , such as main memory 208 , for execution by processing unit 206 . the processes of the illustrative embodiments may be performed by processing unit 206 using computer implemented instructions , which may be located in a memory , such as , for example , main memory 208 , read only memory 224 , or in one or more peripheral devices . the hardware in fig1 - 2 may vary depending on the implementation . other internal hardware or peripheral devices , such as flash memory , equivalent non - volatile memory , or optical disk drives and the like , may be used in addition to or in place of the hardware depicted in fig1 - 2 . in addition , the processes of the illustrative embodiments may be applied to a multiprocessor data processing system . in some illustrative examples , data processing system 200 may be a personal digital assistant ( pda ), which is generally configured with flash memory to provide non - volatile memory for storing operating system files and / or user - generated data . a bus system may comprise one or more buses , such as a system bus , an i / o bus , and a pci bus . of course , the bus system may be implemented using any type of communications fabric or architecture that provides for a transfer of data between different components or devices attached to the fabric or architecture . a communications unit may include one or more devices used to transmit and receive data , such as a modem or a network adapter . a memory may be , for example , main memory 208 or a cache , such as the cache found in north bridge and memory controller hub 202 . a processing unit may include one or more processors or cpus . the depicted examples in fig1 - 2 and above - described examples are not meant to imply architectural limitations . for example , data processing system 200 also may be a tablet computer , laptop computer , or telephone device in addition to taking the form of a mobile or wearable device . with reference to fig3 , this figure depicts a block diagram of an example configuration for measuring and presenting screen sensitivity in accordance with an illustrative embodiment . device 302 is an example of device 132 in fig1 . screen 304 is an example of screen 133 in fig1 . grid lines form grid 306 as shown . grid 306 may be invisible or virtual in one embodiment and visible in another embodiment . cells 308 , 310 , 312 , 314 , 316 , and 318 are example cells selected from grid 306 to describe the operations of an embodiment . the embodiment measures the sensitivity in some or all of the cells in grid 306 . only as an example , suppose that according the sensitivity measurements in the various grid cells , the sensitivity in cell 308 is poor , the sensitivity in cell 310 is average , the sensitivity in cell 312 is normal , and the sensitivity in cell 314 is excellent . similarly , the sensitivity in cell 316 is normal , and the sensitivity in cell 318 is poor . legend 320 describes the example sensitivities depicted in fig3 . an embodiment perceptibly represents the measured sensitivities on screen 304 to a user . for example , according to such an embodiment , grid 306 is visible on screen 304 , and cells 308 , 310 , 312 , 314 , 316 , and 318 are shaded or colored as shown . legend 320 may be shown on screen 304 depending on the implementation . when presented with such a perceptible representation of the sensitivities of the various regions of the screen , the user becomes informed about the diminishing capabilities of the screen , which the user might not otherwise comprehend . furthermore , if the user has a choice and an ability to rearrange the ui elements on the screen , such a perceptible representation allows the user to rearrange the ui elements with the knowledge of acceptable and unacceptable screen rot regions . note that the drawings of this disclosure are limited to black and white drawings only to meet the drawings requirements of the united states patent and trademark office and not to imply any limitation thereto . when implemented in a color supporting device and screen , the depicted shading can be replaced with different colors , as described in this disclosure . similarly , the shading or the colors can be replaced or augmented with animations , sounds , and other features as also described herein , within the scope of the illustrative embodiments . with reference to fig4 , this figure depicts a block diagram of a configuration for representing screen usage data in accordance with an illustrative embodiment . device 402 is an example of device 302 in fig3 . screen 404 is an example of screen 304 in fig3 . cells 408 ( labeled cell “ a ”), 410 ( labeled cell “ b ”), 412 ( labeled cell “ c ”), and 414 ( labeled cell “ d ”) correspond to cells 308 , 310 , 312 , and 314 , respectively , in fig3 . as described with respect to fig3 , the measured sensitivities of cells 408 , 410 , 412 , and 414 are represented using shading of corresponding weights . in this figure , an embodiment is shown to present to the user statistical information about the usage of the various cells . legend 420 and grid 406 are perceptibly presented on screen 404 to the user . for example , legend 420 shows that cell a has poor sensitivity , and that area of the screen is most frequently occupied by an ui element to launch a video chat application approximately 40 times per week . similarly , legend 420 shows that cell b has average sensitivity , and that area of the screen is most frequently occupied by an ui element to launch a calendar application approximately 20 times per week . likewise , legend 420 shows that cell c has normal sensitivity , and that area of the screen is most frequently occupied by an ui element to launch a photo album application approximately 7 times per week . legend 420 shows that cell d has excellent sensitivity , and that area of the screen is most frequently occupied by an ui element to launch a camera application approximately 2 times per week . when presented with this information , the user is enabled to reposition the video chat launching ui element from cell a to another cell with better sensitivity . for example , the user can move the video chat application launching ui element from cell a to cell 422 ( labeled “ e ”), which has excellent sensitivity according to the weight of the shading ( or absence thereof ) in cell e . an embodiment modifies a ui layout in a similar manner . of example , suppose that a presenting application were presenting the ui layout with the video chat application launch ui element in cell a . an embodiment analyzes the ui layout , determines that cell a has unacceptable sensitivity , determines that the ui element in cell a elicits or requires a touch interaction from the user , and repositions the video chat application launch ui element to cell e . with reference to fig5 , this figure depicts a block diagram of an example configuration for reconfiguring a user interface according to a deterioration of an interface device in accordance with an illustrative embodiment . device 502 is an example of device 302 or 402 in fig3 or 4 , respectively . presenting application 504 is an example of presenting application 136 in fig1 . presenting application 505 is an example of presenting application 105 in fig1 . application 506 is an example of application 134 in fig1 . presenting application 504 sends ui layout 508 to application 506 . ui layout 508 includes a set of ui elements . alternatively , presenting application 505 sends ui layout 509 to application 506 . ui layout 509 includes a set of ui elements . in some cases , presenting application 504 and presenting application 505 may both send parts of a complete ui layout in this manner . application 506 modifies the ui layout received from presenting application 504 , presenting application 505 , or both . application 506 creates and outputs modified ui layout 510 to rendering buffer 512 in a manner described herein . modified layout 510 includes one or more repositioned ui elements as described elsewhere in this disclosure . modified ui layout with repositioned ui elements 510 is loaded in rendering buffer 512 . in case of a touchscreen type interface device , rendering buffer 512 is a memory that drives the display of content on touchscreen 516 . when other types of interface devices are used in place of screen 516 , a structure corresponding to rendering buffer 512 that is suitable for that type of interface device can be used in a similar manner within the scope of the illustrative embodiments . with reference to fig6 , this figure depicts a block diagram of an example application for reconfiguring a user interface according to a deterioration of an interface device in accordance with an illustrative embodiment . application 602 is an example of application 506 in fig5 . component 604 measures the sensitivity or screen rot in various portions of a given screen , such as described with respect to fig3 and elsewhere in this disclosure . component 604 also measures the screen usage , such as described with respect to fig4 and elsewhere in this disclosure . component 604 also saves the screen usage data into a repository as described earlier . component 606 generates the presentations of the sensitivities and screen usage , such as the depictions in fig3 and 4 . the presentations are perceptible to a user , such as visible on a touchscreen or tactically perceptible on a braille board . component 608 computes or determines the acceptable and unacceptable areas on the screen using the sensitivity measurements from component 604 . component 610 optionally provides feedback instructions to a presenting application based on the determinations of component 608 . component 612 analyzes a ui layout sent from a presenting application . component 612 repositions a ui element from an unacceptable region of the screen to an acceptable region of the screen . component 612 produces a modified ui layout with the repositioned ui elements . in one embodiment , application 602 outputs the modified ui layout to a rendering buffer or a graphics driver . optionally , component 610 also provides the modified ui layout to a presenting application . with reference to fig7 , this figure depicts a flowchart of an example process for reconfiguring a user interface according to a deterioration of an interface device in accordance with an illustrative embodiment . process 700 can be implemented in application 602 in fig6 . the application creates a map of the screen of a device ( block 702 ). the application measures the sensitivity or screen rot in an area defined by the map ( block 704 ). the application analyzes the usage statics , to wit , screen usage , of the area ( block 706 ). the application repeats blocks 704 and 706 for as many areas of the screen that may have to be analyzed in this manner . the application presents a visual notification , to wit , perceptible presentation , of the screen sensitivities or screen rot , the screen usage data , or both , on the screen ( block 708 ). the application ends process 700 thereafter . with reference to fig8 , this figure depicts a flowchart of another example process for reconfiguring a user interface according to a deterioration of an interface device in accordance with an illustrative embodiment . process 800 can be implemented in application 602 in fig6 . the application receives a ui layout with a set of one or more ui elements positioned therein from a presenting application ( block 802 ). the application analyzes the ui layout relative to screen sensitivity measurement data collected previously , such as by executing process 700 of fig7 ( block 804 ). for a ui element , the application determines whether the ui element is positioned in a screen area of unacceptable sensitivity , to wit , less than a pre - determined threshold of sensitivity ( block 806 ). if the ui element is not positioned in a screen area of unacceptable sensitivity (“ no ” path of block 806 ), the application proceeds to block 812 . if the ui element is positioned in a screen area of unacceptable sensitivity (“ yes ” path of block 806 ), the application modifies the ui layout received from the presenting application , to reposition the ui element from the area of unacceptable sensitivity to another area on the screen that has acceptable sensitivity and screen space to accommodate the ui element ( block 808 ). the application optionally provides a feedback instruction to the presenting application , to cause a change in a ui layout that will be received from the presenting application later ( block 810 ). the feedback instruction can include the sensitivity measurements of various areas of the screen , a repositioned placement of the ui element on the modified ui layout , or both . the application determines if more ui elements in the received ui layout are to be analyzed and / or manipulated in a similar manner ( block 812 ). if more ui elements are to be analyzed and / or manipulated (“ yes ” path of block 812 ), the application returns process 800 to block 806 . if no more ui elements are to be analyzed and / or manipulated (“ no ” path of block 812 ), the application sends the modified ui layout for rendering on the screen ( block 814 ). the application ends process 800 thereafter . thus , a computer implemented method is provided in the illustrative embodiments for reconfiguring a user interface according to a deterioration of an interface device . where an embodiment or a portion thereof is described with respect to a type of device , the computer implemented method or a portion thereof , are adapted or configured for use with a suitable and comparable manifestation of that type of device . the present invention may be a system , a method , and / or a computer program product . the computer program product may include a computer readable storage medium ( or media ) having computer readable program instructions thereon for causing a processor to carry out aspects of the present invention . the computer readable storage medium can be a tangible device that can retain and store instructions for use by an instruction execution device . the computer readable storage medium may be , for example , but is not limited to , an electronic storage device , a magnetic storage device , an optical storage device , an electromagnetic storage device , a semiconductor storage device , or any suitable combination of the foregoing . a non - exhaustive list of more specific examples of the computer readable storage medium includes the following : a portable computer diskette , a hard disk , a random access memory ( ram ), a read - only memory ( rom ), an erasable programmable read - only memory ( eprom or flash memory ), a static random access memory ( sram ), a portable compact disc read - only memory ( cd - rom ), a digital versatile disk ( dvd ), a memory stick , a floppy disk , a mechanically encoded device such as punch - cards or raised structures in a groove having instructions recorded thereon , and any suitable combination of the foregoing . a computer readable storage medium , as used herein , is not to be construed as being transitory signals per se , such as radio waves or other freely propagating electromagnetic waves , electromagnetic waves propagating through a waveguide or other transmission media ( e . g ., light pulses passing through a fiber - optic cable ), or electrical signals transmitted through a wire . computer readable program instructions described herein can be downloaded to respective computing / processing devices from a computer readable storage medium or to an external computer or external storage device via a network , for example , the internet , a local area network , a wide area network and / or a wireless network . the network may comprise copper transmission cables , optical transmission fibers , wireless transmission , routers , firewalls , switches , gateway computers and / or edge servers . a network adapter card or network interface in each computing / processing device receives computer readable program instructions from the network and forwards the computer readable program instructions for storage in a computer readable storage medium within the respective computing / processing device . computer readable program instructions for carrying out operations of the present invention may be assembler instructions , instruction - set - architecture ( isa ) instructions , machine instructions , machine dependent instructions , microcode , firmware instructions , state - setting data , or either source code or object code written in any combination of one or more programming languages , including an object oriented programming language such as smalltalk , c ++ or the like , and conventional procedural programming languages , such as the “ c ” programming language or similar programming languages . the computer readable program instructions may execute entirely on the user &# 39 ; s computer , partly on the user &# 39 ; s computer , as a stand - alone software package , partly on the user &# 39 ; s computer and partly on a remote computer or entirely on the remote computer or server . in the latter scenario , the remote computer may be connected to the user &# 39 ; s computer through any type of network , including a local area network ( lan ) or a wide area network ( wan ), or the connection may be made to an external computer ( for example , through the internet using an internet service provider ). in some embodiments , electronic circuitry including , for example , programmable logic circuitry , field - programmable gate arrays ( fpga ), or programmable logic arrays ( pla ) may execute the computer readable program instructions by utilizing state information of the computer readable program instructions to personalize the electronic circuitry , in order to perform aspects of the present invention . aspects of the present invention are described herein with reference to flowchart illustrations and / or block diagrams of methods , apparatus ( systems ), and computer program products according to embodiments of the invention . it will be understood that each block of the flowchart illustrations and / or block diagrams , and combinations of blocks in the flowchart illustrations and / or block diagrams , can be implemented by computer readable program instructions . these computer readable program instructions may be provided to a processor of a general purpose computer , special purpose computer , or other programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine , such that the instructions , which execute via the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing apparatus , create means for implementing the functions / acts specified in the flowchart and / or block diagram block or blocks . these computer readable program instructions may also be stored in a computer readable storage medium that can direct a computer , a programmable data processing apparatus , and / or other devices to function in a particular manner , such that the computer readable storage medium having instructions stored therein comprises an article of manufacture including instructions which implement aspects of the function / act specified in the flowchart and / or block diagram block or blocks . the computer readable program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer , other programmable data processing apparatus , or other device to cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer , other programmable apparatus or other device to produce a computer implemented process , such that the instructions which execute on the computer , other programmable apparatus , or other device implement the functions / acts specified in the flowchart and / or block diagram block or blocks . the flowchart and block diagrams in the figures illustrate the architecture , functionality , and operation of possible implementations of systems , methods , and computer program products according to various embodiments of the present invention . in this regard , each block in the flowchart or block diagrams may represent a module , segment , or portion of instructions , which comprises one or more executable instructions for implementing the specified logical function ( s ). in some alternative implementations , the functions noted in the block may occur out of the order noted in the figures . for example , two blocks shown in succession may , in fact , be executed substantially concurrently , or the blocks may sometimes be executed in the reverse order , depending upon the functionality involved . it will also be noted that each block of the block diagrams and / or flowchart illustration , and combinations of blocks in the block diagrams and / or flowchart illustration , can be implemented by special purpose hardware - based systems that perform the specified functions or acts or carry out combinations of special purpose hardware and computer instructions .	6
herein , the ink jet system described is of the sweet type disclosed in the above named u . s . pat . no . 3 , 596 , 275 and that disclosure is hereby expressly incorporated by reference . briefly , a transducer modulates or stimulates ink in a chamber or tube coupled to a nozzle . the ink is subjected to pressures of from about 20 to 150 psi . the modulation of the ink causes a stream of discrete droplets of like velocity , mass , shape and trajectory to be emitted from the nozzle . the modulating apparatus and circuitry is not shown to simplify and thereby clarify the present discussion . for details on that apparatus , the reader is referred to the above sweet patent . fig1 and 2 are a side view and plan view of a multiple nozzle ink jet printer . like elements in the various figures have the same reference numbers . the printer includes the nozzle 1 that emits a stream of droplets along a trajectory indicated by dashed line 2 . the droplets are charged at charging electrode 3 as indicated by the circle 4 having the minus sign indicating a net negative charge . for the polarities given , the negatively charged droplets are deflected upwardly along the path indicated by dashed line 5 by the deflection plates 6 and 7 . the deflected droplets head toward the target 8 and the uncharged , low charged , or oppositely charged droplets are collected by the gutter 9 . the cylindrical , electrostatic lens 10 focuses the charged droplets to a common focal line 12 on the target . the droplet 4 is diverted over the path indicated by the dashed line 13 by the lens . the dashed line 14 ( actually a plane ) is the centerline or axis of lines 10 . charged droplets that travel through the lens along the centerline do not have their trajectories altered . the lens 10 can also be located upstream of the deflection plates . specifically , lens 10 can be positioned between the charging electrode 3 and the deflection plates 6 and 7 . the printer of fig1 and 2 is a binary printer similar to that disclosed in the sweet and cumming pat . no . 3 , 373 , 437 mentioned at the outset . the disclosure of that patent is incorporated herein by reference . printing is achieved by moving the target 8 at generally right angles to the ink jet path or trajectory 2 . the target is moved at a constant velocity in the upward direction in fig1 as indicated by arrow 15 . four drive rollers 16a , b , c and d are coupled to an appropriate drive source ( not shown ) to advance the target . referring to fig2 a plurality of nozzles 1 through 1c are representative of the multiple nozzles of a printer . for good quality image reproduction , a printer should have about 100 nozzles per inch . this means that to cover an 8 . 5 inch standard paper width , 850 nozzles are deployed as illustrated in fig2 . the packing density is reduced if the nozzles are aligned in two or more rows with one row offset one nozzle or pixel position from the other . the lens 10 is appropriate for the multiple row arrangement of nozzles provided allowance is made for one row to be focused to a different line than the other . in addition , the offset between rows can be made large enough to accommodate a lens for each row . in fig2 each nozzle 1 - 1c has a separate charging electrode 3 - 3c that charges droplets traveling the generally parallel paths 2 - 2c . the object is to place a droplet -- when called for by a video signal -- at adjacent pixel positions 18 - 18c on the target . the scan line of 18 - 18c pixels should be straight . however , any misalignment of the nozzles or any error in the amount of charge placed on a droplet by the charging electrodes causes the droplet to miss the pixel location . the result is a distortion of an image constructed from a raster pattern of multiple pixel lines . heretofore , the alignment of the nozzles to the pixel locations has included electrical techniques . for example , should nozzle 1a tend to place its droplets slightly above pixel position 18a on the target , the video signal applied to electrode 3a is delayed relative to nozzles 1 , 1b and 1c , a short duration to allow the target to move the amount of the offset . alternately , the amount of change induced on the droplet is increased or decreased to vary the deflection an amount to correctly place a droplet at a given pixel position . the delay or magnitude change are applied to subsequent droplets . the present invention uses lens 10 for the alignment of droplets . in fig2 the lens 10 is seen in plan view as shared by all the nozzles . referring to fig3 and 4 , lens 10 is made up of an insulating member 20 having a rectangular tunnel or hole 21 for passage of droplets . the upstream face of the insulator 20 has rectangular electrodes 22 and 23 at the long sides of the rectangular entrance to the tunnel 21 . the upstream electrodes 22 and 23 are coupled to ground potential , by way of example . the downstream face of insulator 20 has rectangular electrodes 24 and 25 at the long sides of the rectangular exit to the tunnel 21 . the downstream electrodes are coupled to a high positive voltage indicated by the + a symbol . as an example , the insulator 20 is a phenolic insulator board of the type used for printed circuit boards and the electrodes 22 - 25 are copper strips formed by conventional evaporation and chemical etching techniques . the + a voltage is preferably about 1500 volts for a 60 mil thick board 20 . the length of the tunnel 21 is about 61 mils , i . e . the conductors are about 0 . 5 mils in thickness . briefly referring to fig1 the lens 10 establishes a field that focuses droplets to a line 12 that corresponds to the scan line of pixels 18 - 18c . the focusing field is better described in connection with fig4 . the focusing electric field is represented by the dashed lines 27 and 28 emanating from the edges of the upstream and downstream electrodes 22 - 25 and confined substantially within the region defined by the semi - circles 27a and 28a along the length of the electrodes . the envelope of the field lines is analogous to two half - cylinders abutting at a tangent plane parallel to their bases . the abutting tangent plane is normal to the drawing and is conveniently defined by centerline 14 . the plane defined by centerline 14 is a path through the focusing field comprising fields 27 and 28 over which a charged droplet remains unaffected . however , a droplet such as the negatively charged droplet 29 that is on a trajectory 31 offset from the centerline is focused to the focal line 12 by the focusing field . likewise , the droplet 30 below the centerline 14 is focused to the focal line 12 . all other droplets traveling trajectories lying above , below or between the paths 31 and 32 are also focused to line 12 . the focusing fields 27 and 28 extend in the direction of droplet travel from the upstream electrodes 22 and 23 to the downstream electrodes 24 and 25 . at the entrance to the tunnel 21 , the focusing fields include a high density flux region that has vertical force components of significant magnitude . these forces are represented by the vectors 34 and 35 . in the center region of the fields 27 and 28 , the field and force vectors are parallel to the centerline 14 and have the same direction as the droplet for the polarities shown . these parallel forces accelerate the charged droplets shown . as a result , the charged droplets are under the influence of the focusing forces 34 and 35 longer than they are corresponding defocusing forces at the tunnel exit represented by vectors 37 and 38 . when the + a potential is coupled to the upstream electrodes 22 and 23 and the ground potential is coupled to the downstream electrodes 24 and 25 , the charged droplets are decelerated as they enter the tunnel 21 . in this case , the charged droplets once again are under the influence of the focusing forces for a longer time than the defocusing forces . with this reversed polarity , the defocusing forces are at the entrance to the lens 10 and the focusing forces are at the exit to the lens . similarly , a positively charged droplet will be focused by the field shown in fig4 by first being decelerated and then accelerated . the focusing forces always predominate over the defocusing forces regardless of the relative polarities . experimentation shows that the focusing forces represented by the vectors 34 and 35 are not offset by the effects of the defocusing forces represented by the vectors 37 and 38 . in otherwords , despite what appears to be equal and opposite forces , the focusing forces represented by vector 34 prevail over forces represented by vector 37 and bend the trajectory 31 of a droplet 29 so as to intersect the centerline 14 at the focal line 12 . this is because the time spent in the region of the focusing fields is greater than the time spent in the regions of the defocusing fields . similarly , the trajectory 32 of a droplet 30 below the centerline 14 , is bent by the focusing forces represented by vector 35 to intersect the focus point despite the defocusing forces represented by vector 38 . the symbol f in fig4 is representative of the focal length of the lens . for convenience it is measured from the entrance to tunnel 21 to the empirically determinable focus line 12 . as mentioned earlier , the focus f varies for a change in the focusing field potential . when + a is decreased , f is increased and when + a is increased , f is decreased . also , when the amount of charge on droplets 29 and 30 are increased , f is decreased and when the amount of charge on the droplets is decreased , f is increased . fig3 shows the lens 10 looking from the target upstream toward the nozzles 1 - 1c . the insulator board 20 is shown with the conductive copper everywhere but along the narrow rectangular sides of the exit to tunnel 21 . since electrodes 24 and 25 ( as well as electrodes 22 and 23 ) are coupled to the same potential , the two electrodes could be electrically coupled by copper deposited on the vertical , exposed areas of the board 20 . the vertical , conductive edges should be spaced a significant distance from the end nozzles 1 and 1c so the distortion to the cylindrically shaped fields 27 and 18 are minimized . fig5 illustrates another embodiment of the instant invention employing multiple , cylindrical focusing fields . the lens 40 is similar in construction to lens 10 but includes an intermediate electrode 41 between upstream electrodes 42 and 43 and downstream electrodes 44 and 45 . electrode 41 is a metal plate having a rectangular hole or tunnel 46 in it that matches the rectangular tunnels 47 and 48 in insulators 49 and 50 abutted against member 41 . the intermediate electrode 41 is fabricated from 63 mil thick aluminum sheet and the insulators 49 and 50 from 60 mil phenolic board . the upstream and downstream electrodes 42 - 45 are on the parallel , long edges of the tunnel orifices as in the case of the electrodes 22 - 25 on lens 10 . the height of the tunnels 46 - 48 is about 50 mils for droplets of about 1 to 10 mils in diameter . upstream and downstream electrodes 42 - 45 are all coupled to a high voltage ( represented by the symbol + a ) of about 1500 volts , for example , and the intermediate electrode is grounded . alternately , the intermediate electrode 41 can be coupled to + 1500 volts , for example , and the upstream and downstream electrodes 42 - 45 to ground . there are two focusing fields associated with lens 40 including the upstream field made up of the upper and lower cylindrical fields 55 and 56 and the downstream field made up of the upper and lower cylindrical fields 57 and 58 . the centerline 60 defines the path over which the trajectory of a charged droplet is not bent . for the polarities shown , the upstream field extends in a direction opposite to the flight of the droplet , and the downstream field extends in the same direction of the flight of the droplet . the defocusing forces represented by vectors 61 and 62 at the entrance to lens 40 and vectors 67 and 68 at the exit to the lens are found not to prevent the focusing of offset charged droplets 52 and 53 at the focal line 70 . the focusing forces represented by the vectors 63 - 66 are predominant because of the greater time spent in the focusing region . that is , the acceleration and deceleration of the droplets always act to favor focusing rather than defocusing . the opposing polarity of the fields of lens 40 are selected so that no net accelerating or decelerating energy is given to the droplets passing through it . in contrast , the single field lens , e . g . lens 10 , imparts a very small amount of accelerating or decelerating energy to a charged droplet . the amount of net energy change is negligible yet , surprisingly , the focusing effect is realized . the focal distance f is measured , for convenience , from the edge of the upstream edge of the intermediate electrode 41 to the focal line 70 . the function of lens 40 was tested by directing a stream of droplets through the lens and charging every third droplet . the uncharged droplets , by definition , are not effected by an electric field but they establish a base line for measurements . a lens was constructed like lens 40 above . about + 1500 volts was coupled to the intermediate electrode 41 . a ground potential was coupled to the upstream and downstream electrodes 42 - 45 . every third droplet emitted by a nozzle 1 was charged negatively by synchronously coupling about + 650 volts to a charging tunnel 3 . the uncharged droplet trajectory was about 10 mils offset from the centerline of the lens . the charged droplets were focused at about 1 . 2 inches downstream from the lens . the foregoing described lenses are novel components for ink jet applications . the focusing fields associated with lenses 10 and 40 operate on charged droplets analogously to a half - cylinder , glass lens that focuses light rays entering its flat base to a line in space parallel to the base . other focusing field shapes including portions parallel to the droplet trajectories can be devised that are analogous to sperical and other optical lenses . modifications of that type are within the scope of this invention .	1
the present invention relies on the use of a volume of material which is translucent to light and under at least certain conditions contains light - scattering centers which fully scatter light entering the material . a prior art pressure sensor which relies on this principle is illustrated in fig1 and 2 . a sensor of this type is characterized by a scattering medium 5 , formed from a deformable compressible material having evenly dispersed therein a plurality of scattering centers . for example , the material may comprise a translucent cellular foam material . a light emitter 4 and detector 6 are positioned within the interior of the material . conveniently , the light source and detector may comprise fiber optic cables , the free end of which terminates within the interior of the material . the emitter / detector pair are conveniently adjacent to each other or spaced apart by a spacing in the order of several millimeters . the light source 4 illuminates a region 7 within the material , by illumination having a characteristic intensity level . the size of region 7 is determined by the nature of the scattering material , as well as the intensity of light emitted by the light emitter 4 . it will be further seen that any convenient source of wave energy may be transmitted into the scattering medium , including electro magnetic radiation within the non - visible spectrum . the nature of the scattering medium will be determined according to the nature of the wave energy . the light emitter / detector pair communicates via fiber optic cables 1 and 2 , with a light source 9 and photoreceptor 11 , respectively . the light source 9 may comprise an led or any other convenient light source . the photoreceptor 11 comprises any conventional light detection means which emits electronic signals responsive to light levels . the light source and photoreceptor respectively both communicate with a signal processing unit 10 , which powers the light source , and also translates and resolves the information received from the photoreceptor 11 , into a measure of the pressure bearing on the detector . the cpu 10 communicates electronically in turn via a power and data connection line 12 , with a downstream receiver such as a display means or the like ( not shown ). the scattering medium 3 conventionally forms a thin sheetlike member , bounded on its upper and lower surfaces by a protective layer 14 , such as fabric . upon compression of the scattering medium as seen in fig2 the scattering centers within the medium become more densely packed together . as a result , the region 7 effectively illuminated by the light source contracts by virtue of the increased density of the scattering centers . in consequence , the integrated light intensity within the region 7 will increase , and this increase is detected by the detector 6 . the processing unit 10 in turn translates this information as an increase in pressure experience by the detector . the increase in light intensity is proportional to the deformation of the deformable material . providing that the coefficient of the deformation of the material is known , the processing unit 10 is thus capable of providing a reading of the pressure experienced by the deformable material . while the illustrated prior art version shows a single emitter / detector pair , it is feasible to provide multiple , spaced apart emitter / detector pairs to provide a measure of localized pressure bearing on the detector . the effectively illuminated region 7 within the scattering medium is referred to herein as an “ optical cavity ”. the optical cavity is characterized by a region within which light emitted by the emitter 9 is fully scattered and diffused . within the optical cavity , the scattered and diffused light increases in intensity as the medium is compressed and the scattering centers are correspondingly concentrated . light received by the detector is substantially fully scattered and is not received directly from the emitter . the size of the zone of effective illumination , i . e . the virtual optical cavity , will depend on the nature of the scattering medium e . g . primarily the scattering centre density within the medium . the cavity will decrease in volume as the medium is compressed and the scattering center density correspondingly increases . it will be further seen that compression of the scattering medium , which results in a contraction of the size of the optical cavity and a corresponding increase in light intensity therein , also results in a corresponding decrease in light intensity within a region outside the optical cavity . a first embodiment of the present invention is illustrated schematically in fig3 . in this version , the phenomenon whereby light intensity increases within the optical cavity upon an increase in concentration of the scattering centers , and correspondingly decreases outside the cavity , is harnessed to provide a pressure sensor having enhanced sensitivity . in this version , a deformable and compressible scattering medium 20 is provided , of the general type as comprised above . a relatively closely spaced apart emitter / detector pair 22 ( a ) and ( b ) communicates with the scattering medium , for example , by means of paired fiber optic cables implanted within the medium . a second detector 24 is provided within the medium 20 , at some remove from the emitter / detector pair . the spacing between the second detector and the light emitter will depend in part on the sensitivity of the detector , the intensity of the light emitted by the emitter , and the scattering properties of the medium , e . g ., the concentration of light scattering centers . the second detector 24 is positioned outside the optical cavity 26 formed by the light emanating from the emitter 22 ( a ). upon compression of the scattering medium , the integrated light intensity within the optical cavity 26 increases . a corresponding decrease occurs in the region immediately outside the optical cavity , within which the second detector 24 is positioned . fig4 illustrates a first signal ( line “ a ”) received by the first detector in response to increasing compression of the sensor 22 ( b ), and a second signal ( line “ b ”) received by the second detector 24 , in response to the compression . it will be seen that with increasing pressure , the first detector detects an increasing integrated light intensity , while the second detector detects a decrease of light intensity . secondary lines a ′ and b ′ represent a proportionate decrease in signal strength lost to light absorption within the scattering medium . the processing unit receives the light intensity information from both detectors 22 ( b ) and 24 , and resolves same into a measure of the pressure bearing on the sensor . the dual detectors of the first embodiment permit enhanced sensitivity of the detector , and a reduction in the interference that would otherwise be experienced . typically , interference results from a change in the light absorption characteristics of the transmission medium or of the scattering centers . for example , this might occur because of degradation over time of a polymeric scattering medium . a change in absorption characteristics would affect light intensity within the optical cavity and could be mistaken for a deformation effect . the enhanced resolution provided within this version enhances the ability of the detector to differentiate this form of “ noise ” from “ signal ”. a further embodiment of the invention provides an example of the variance in signal ( i . e ., increasing vs . decreasing scattered light level ) received by the detector depending on the spacing of the detector from the emitter , as illustrated within fig5 and 6 . fig5 and 6 illustrate a generally conventional pressure sensor 30 of the type characterized above , comprising a compressible medium 32 such as an open cell urethane foam , laminated to a silicon substrate 34 . a light emitting source such as a diode 36 mounted on the substrate directs light into the compressible medium , thereby forming an optical cavity within the region around the light source . a photoreceptor 38 on the substrate is positioned at some remove from the light source . in one version , the spacing is within approximately 2 mm , and in a second version , the spacing between the source 36 and detector 38 is greater then approximately 2 mm . in other versions , the actual spacing will depend on the nature of the compressible medium and the light intensity emitted by the source . the emitter and detector mounted on the silicon type circuit board 34 both “ look ” in the same direction , with an overlapping field of illumination and field of view . within the first positioning mode , the sensor is positioned within a “ characteristic scattering length ” of the emitter , this being a distance within which light intensity increases in response to compression of the medium . in the second mode described above , the sensor is mounted at a distance greater than the characteristic scattering length . the resulting signal received by the respective receiver positions is illustrated within fig6 . integrated light intensity detected by the detector 38 positioned within the field of illumination increases in response to compression of the medium ( line “ c ”), while in the second more removed position , signal strength decreases in response to compression ( line “ d ”). in a further aspect , a sensor for detecting changes in physical , chemical or molecular biological conditions described below may be provided based on the above principles . the detector of this type is illustrated schematically within fig7 and comprises a solid or gel scattering medium 40 , having associated therewith an emitter / detector pair 42 ( a ) and ( b ), of the type described above . the relatively closely spaced - apart emitter / detector pair 42 is associated with processing means 44 , of the type described above . for detection of temperature , the scattering medium comprises a solid or liquid translucent material , and preferably comprises a solid material such as opal glass , polyethylene , or a transparent polymer such as pmma with an embedded scattering agent such as titanium dioxide particles generally evenly disbursed throughout . the translucent material expands in response to increasing temperature , thereby reducing the concentration of the scattering centers dispersed with the material . a thermal coefficient cubic expansion of such materials is in the order of 10 − 3 to 10 − 5 per ° c ., resulting in a corresponding change in the concentration of the scattering centers . the - resulting perturbation will result in a corresponding change in the integrated intensity of scattered light within the optical cavity formed in the region around the light emitter . as the coefficients of expansion are relatively small , this type of sensor is advantages for wide temperature ranges , for example , a device fabricated through the use of silica optical fibers embedded in opal glass can be used to measure temperature over a range from about 0 ° c . to 500 ° c . in order to achieve a greater degree of sensitivity , for use within a narrower temperature range , the scattering medium may comprise a material which undergoes a polycrystalline phase transition within the temperature range of interest . there exists a large class of hydrocarbon polymers which can be engineered to undergo polycrystalline phase transition over a specified temperature range . within this type of material , crystallization increases the light scattering properties of the material . within the transition temperature zone , the characteristic scattering length of the material and therefor the dimensions of the effective optical cavity , will be relatively sensitive to temperature change . an increase in temperature , will cause a decrease in scattering crystal concentration , thereby decreasing the integrated light intensity within the optical cavity . a sensor constructed using a suitable such material may have a transition temperature range of 5 ° c . to 10 ° c ., and will therefor will produce a relatively large signal in response to a small temperature change . fig8 illustrates the signal vs . temperature achieved by the two versions described above . line “ e ” represents the signal decreasing in inverse relation to temperature . line “ e ′” represents the inverse relation between the density of the scattering medium and increases temperature whereby increasing temperature acts to effectively decrease the density of the scattering centers . in a further aspect , a sensor detects changes in the acidity level within a medium . in this version the configuration is the same as that shown in fig7 . however , the scattering matrix differs . in this version , the emitter / receiver pair 42 is embedded within a hydrated polymer gel matrix 40 , having light scattering particulates such as titanium dioxide particles homogeneously dispersed and trapped within the gel . functional groups on the gel are treated to respond to a ph range of interest . as the gel deforms in response to changes in ph , the scattering centre concentration changes , thereby changing the intensity of light within the optical cavity formed around the light emitter . fig9 represents the decreasing signal in response to increasing ph ( line “ f ”) and the corresponding decrease in density of the medium ( line “ f ”). in a further version of this embodiment , the functional groups within the gel matrix may comprise groups sensitive to levels of a specific ion within a medium . fig1 represents the increase in signal strength in response to increasing ion concentration ( line “ g ”) and the corresponding increase in density in the scattering medium ( line “ g ′”). in a further version of the same embodiment , the functional groups within the gel may be sensitive to molecular biological molecules or materials within a medium . for example , the functional groups embedded in the gel may comprise a particular immune reagent , which binds to a particular antigen in a biological antibody / antigen binding process . exposure of the gel to the specific antigen results in an antigen / antibody binding reaction . the antibody / antigen complexes form the scattering centers within the gel . as the antibody / antigen complexes form , the scattering coefficient of the gel increases , thereby increasing the integrated light intensity within the optical cavity surrounding the light emitter . fig1 illustrates the signal increase corresponding with increasing antigen concentration ( line “ h ”) and increasing scattering center concentration ( line “ h ′”). within a further embodiment , electromagnetic radiation or an electric field may be detected . in this embodiment , illustrated within fig1 , a light scattering medium 50 is encased within a housing 52 which is transparent to radiation having the range of wavelengths of interest , but which is substantially opaque to wave energy within the range of the emitter / detector pair ( for example , visible light ). scattering centers dispersed homogeneously within the medium comprise radiation sensitive particles such as 4 , 4 ′- bis ( 4 ″, 4 ″-( n , n - diethylamino ) styryl )- 2 , 2 ′ bipyridine , which change the optical scattering parameters within the optical cavity surrounding the emitter / detector 54 ( a ) and ( b ) upon exposure to radiation . in a further version , the medium 50 is characterized such that ionizing radiation may be detected within a medium such as glass or pmma which does not have specific scattering centers dispersed therein . in this case , a specific reactant may be unnecessary as the radiation itself may be sufficiently energetic to damage the medium , causing fissures , dislocations and defects therein , which themselves form scattering centers within the optical cavity . the resulting integrated light intensity within the optical cavity detected by the detector 54 ( b ), in response to increasing radiation intensity , is further illustrated . fig1 illustrates the signal increase proportionate to the radiation level ( line “ i ”) and the proportionate increase in scattering center density within the medium ( line “ i ′”). in another aspect of the embodiment of fig1 , the detector having the same general configuration as shown in fig1 is intended to detect intensity of an electric field . in this version , the scattering medium 50 comprises a hydrated gel such as elastic poly ( dimethylsiloxane ) combined with an electroheological fluid , a suspension of cross - linked poly ( ethylene oxide ) particles in silicone oil containing salt and other additives . such gels are sensitive to the presence of an electric field . field sensitivity causes the gel to shrink or swell . scattering centers such as titanium dioxide particles are homogeneously dispersed with the gel . the resulting expansion or contraction of the gel results in a corresponding increase or decrease of light intensity within the optical cavity . in this version , the housing enclosing the gel is transparent to electric fields , but opaque to wave energy within the range of light emitted by the emitter . fig1 illustrates within this version the inverse relation between electric field and signal strength ( line “ j ”) and the decreasing concentration of scattering centers in the medium ( line j ′). in a further embodiment a sensor may detect both temperature and pressure bearing on the detector . in this version , shown schematically in fig1 , first and second detectors 60 ( a ) and ( b ) are embedded within a scattering medium 62 . the first detector 60 ( a ) forms a part of a relatively closely spaced emitter / detector pair and is positioned within the optical cavity . the second detector 60 ( b ) is positioned outside the optical cavity , at some remove from the emitter 64 . the first detector 60 ( a ) reacts positively to compression of the medium 62 , in the conventional manner described above . the second detector 60 ( b ) is positioned sufficiently distant from the optical cavity , to be independent of light intensity changes resulting from pressure bearing on the material . for this type of sensor , the scattering centers comprise particles coated with a thermochromic substance of the type described above , which change their optical absorption characteristics in response to temperature changes . this results in a proportionate change in the integrated light intensity within the optical cavity , and a further corresponding change in the region immediately outside the optical cavity detected by the second receiver . in one version , the scattering medium 62 may comprise an open cell polyurethane foam , compressible by about 50 % in the pressure range of 100 pa to 10 , 000 pa , coated with a thermal chromic paint sensitive in the temperature range from 35 ° c . to 40 ° c . this version would have a pressure / thermal sensitivity quite similar to human skin . fig1 illustrates at line “ k ”, the integrated light intensity received by the first detector 60 ( a ) in response to pressure bearing on the scattering medium . line i ′ represents signal detected by the second detector 60 ( b ). lines k ′ and i ′ corresponds to the change in the respective signals in response to a decrease in temperature .	6
referring first to fig1 through 4 , there is illustrated the improved fence construction or fencing material of the invention and its method of manufacture . the construction includes a strip or sheet of plastic 10 which has a longitudinal dimension l or an elongated dimesnion and a width or lateral dimesnsion w . the width or lateral dimension w is depicted in fig2 . the length or longitudinal dimension , depicted in fig1 is variable depending upon the desired lenght of the run of fencing material that is being manufactured . the plastic material which forms the strip 10 may have a wide variety of colors and patterns . the gauge of the plastic should be sufficient to fold over and retain wires as will be disscused below . the strip 10 is typically non - conductive , although it is possible to laminate layers of conductive material or patterns of conductive material on the strip 10 . additionally , the strip 10 may have printing designs , embossings , cut - out patterns and the like to create a particular visual or aesthetic impression . the strip 10 includes a first elongated side at l2 and second elongated side at 14 parallel to the first side 12 . a series of embossed or cut openings 16 and 18 are defined in each side 12 , 14 respectively . a first conductive wires 20 , for example , an aluminum , copper or an alloy wires , is arranged along side 12 . a second conductive wires 22 is arranged along side 14 . the first wire 20 is enfolded by the side 12 so that the openings 16 fold over the wires and expose , at least , a portion of the wires 20 . the side 12 is adhered to the strip 10 by an adhesive or heat sealing or by any convenient means . in similar fashion , the second wires 22 is retained by folding the side 14 and adhering it to strip 10 so as to expose the wires 22 through the openings 18 . thus , as depicted in fig1 the wires 20 and 22 are enfolded in the strip 10 and retained in parallel array with the wires 20 , 22 each being exposed through the embossment of cutout portions 16 and 18 . in practice , an elongated assembly of the wires 20 and 22 and strip 10 are wound on a roll or coil for ease of transport and ultimate use in a fence . fig2 sets forth schematically the method of manufacture of the construction of fig1 . the leading edge of 24 of the strip 10 is retained by a clamp 26 which pulls the strip 10 and wires 20 and 22 in the direction of the arrow in fig2 so as to wrap the assembled product around a reel or mandrel ( not shown ). the wires 20 and 22 are appropriately aligned so that the sides 12 and 14 may be folded over the wires 20 , 22 as the entire assembly moves to the right in fig2 . as the strip 10 and wires 20 , 22 move to the right in fig2 a first and second folding guide bar or horn 28 and 30 arranged respectively adjacent each side of the strip 10 will fold over the sides 12 , 14 to cover the respective wires 20 , 22 . a heated block 32 and 34 seals the separate sides 12 , 14 to the strip 10 . alternatively , glues or other adhesives may be utilized for this sealing or attachment step . the entire assembly may be manufactured in a continuous operation . unit lengths can be cut at the appropriate time during the manufacturing process as the product is wound on a wheel or mandrel . fig5 illustrates a manner of usage of the construction of the invention . the assembled panel or strip 40 can be stapled to separate fence posts 42 ans 44 in a string of posts . thus , staples 46 are used to attach the wires 20 and 22 to posts 42 , 44 . as depicted in fig5 one or more strips of the fence construction may be utilized to create the appearance of a rail fence . one or more of the wires 20 may also be attached to a battery 46 in an electrical circuit to thereby electrify the fence . since the wires 20 is exposed through the cut out sections embossments 16 , contact therewith will result in an electric shock . the fence thus provides an aesthetically pleasing construction because of the multiplicity of patterns that may be placed on the strip 40 . additionally , because of the lateral dimension w associated with the strip 40 , it is visually apparent . it is possible , for example , to indicate that the fence is electrified by embossing a notice or warning on the fence . additionally , it is possible to electrify any one or more of the wires which are attached through the fence and which comprise the strip construction . the construction of the invention is easy to handle and has a wide variety of uses both as an electrified and non - electrified fence construction . thus , there are various alternatives associated with the invention . therefore , the invention is to be limited only by the following claims and their equivalents .	7
to facilitate an understanding of the preferred process and apparatus utilizing the submerged fixed film and immobile matrix treatment system of this invention , reference is made to fig1 and 2 . a sealed housing 4 having an inlet 6 for introduction of wastewater or water borne chemicals , an effluent line 8 for removal of biologically treated effluent . a drain 10 is located near the bottom of housing 4 , and may be used for periodically cleaning exceptionally heavy grit from the housing . a plurality of vertically extending chambers a and b ( identified as chambers a , b , c , d , e , f , g , and h in fig2 are disposed about a central chamber j . the chambers a - h are arranged such that they form a ring around chamber j , with each chamber being in fluid communications at the top and at the bottom with central chamber j and with every other chamber . within chambers a - h are contained corrugated packing or other high surface - area packing materials 12 supported on a structural grid 14 . each vertically extending chamber designated a - h and including j , is separate and independent from the others at all points except at the bottom and top of the column so that there is no fluid flow in a horizontal direction between the chambers . this prevents horizontal short circuiting and encourages uniform upward vertical fluid and gas flow through the packing . the annular independent - vertical chambers a - h should also be of equivalent size to encourage equal distribution of upward vertical flow through the plurality of chambers . many configurations are possible e . g . rectangular or combined as a single chamber or unit . an example of a rectangular system would be a combination of chambers f , g and h and a , c , and d . for efficient arrangement the chambers defining the annular ring are square and there are eight in number . central chamber j also is equal in size to the chambers a - h . however , other configurations may be used . waste influent is added to the reactor to a waste level 16 filling all of the chambers . a top freeboard 26 establishes a gaseous area within the housing which serves as a source of gas if aerobic conditions are required or inert gas source if anaerobic conditions are required . the packing used in the annular independent - vertical chambers a - h which is thusly immersed in wastewater , may be of the rigid matrix type or may be random packing materials , e . g ., raschig rings , pall rings etc . matrix blocks are preferred and usually are formed from thin sheets of corrugated polyvinyl chloride or polypropylene . the individual diagonally - corrugated sheets are typically glued in stacks with flutes or alternate sheets at opposing angles and oriented 30 ° to the direction of the flow of gases and liquid through the matrix module . the matrix blocks should have surface to volume ratios varying from 20 - 70 square feet per cubic foot and behave as static mixers and gas dispersion devices , as well as providing biological growth surface , when they are employed in the manner of this invention . the matrix blocks are typically from one to two feet high , from one to two feet wide and from one to twelve feet long . as indicated the matrix blocks are stacked in layers within each vertical chamber a - h . each layer is angularly offset from the layer above or below it usually by 90 ° which is the most efficient angular offset . the offset angle could range typically from 45 °- 90 ° however depending on the particular matrix block configuration . the preferred matrix block orientation provides more effective dispersion of gas and liquid as it moves rapidly upward through the stack of matrix blocks in each annular independent - vertical chamber . each of the annular independent - vertical chambers a - h should be packed indentically so that the resistance to fluid flow in each will be the same . the waste fluid received by chambers a - h from the central chamber j will thus be more uniformly distributed to each of the vertically extending annular chambers a - h . the latter is an important feature of the invention , helping to maintain uniform growth on the packing surfaces . examples of packing materials and stacking arrangements are shown in u . s . pat . no . 4 , 599 , 174 as well as packings in u . s . pat . nos . 4 , 599 , 174 , 3 , 785 , 620 ; 4 , 296 , 050 ; 3 , 947 , 532 ; 3 , 450 , 393 ; 3 , 415 , 502 ; and 4 , 303 , 600 , which are incorporated herein by reference . by alternating the orientation of the first layer of blocks in each independent - vertical chamber a - h as shown in fig2 the matrix blocks in each layer of a given annular independent vertical chamber interact with those in the adjacent vertical chamber to create an impervious vertical wall between all vertical chambers a - h . thus , the requirement for specific baffles to form separate horizontally independent vertical chambers e . g ., chambers a - h from each other is eliminated . perforations are sometimes introduced into the individual corrugated plastic sheets making up commercially available matrix blocks . this is to improve distribution and mixing between the gas and liquid flowing through the matrix blocks . the lamellas in the preferred matrix module , for use in the fixed film biological system of this invention , have no perforations in order to prevent horizontal flow between chambers a - h . vertical chamber j is isolated from chambers a - h by draft tube 18 which is fitted to the square opening of chamber j by square - horizontal baffles fitted to the top and bottom of the open ended , top and bottom , draft tube 18 . this tube 18 also serves as a housing for an axial flow downward pumping system comprising motor 20 , shaft 22 and impeller 20 . the effectiveness of the pumping system and as an aerator is greatly enhanced by draft tube 18 in chamber j although the system can be operated without the draft tube . the axial flow pump may be designed to induce air flow down shaft 22 , e . g ., via a concentric hollow shaft . the gases are introduced to the fluid below impeller 24 and the gases thus induced are finely dispersed as bubbles into the liquid and entrained therein . high levels of turbulence and the pressure head below the impeller serve to promote extremely rapid transfer of soluble gases into the liquid waste . this first gas transfer capability in the submerged film biological system is important in an aerobic reactor . a second gas transfer mechanism , i . e ., the corrugated packing further extends the treatment capacity of this reaction . the pumping capacity of the pump - impeller 24 , and the size of the draft tube 18 in which the pump operates establishes the downward vertical velocity for carrying the bubbles to the floor of the reactor . the preferred downward velocity is 2 . 5 to 3 . 5 feet per second but the system can be operated between 1 . 5 and 4 . 0 feet per second or more . it is also well known that the larger the impeller diameter relative to the effective diameter of the tank the more rapidly the tank can be mixed at a given horsepower . in the preferred embodiment of this invention the ratio of impeller diameter ( d imp ) to effective tank diameter ( d tank ) is 0 . 25 and preferably between 0 . 10 to 0 . 29 . this minimizes energy consumption per treatment capacity . the overall pumping capacity of the pumping device , e . g ., an axial flow pump required in the central - vertical chamber is also a function of the desired upward vertical velocity through the packing in the annular independent - vertical chambers a - h . the preferred velocity upward through the packing is 0 . 22 to 0 . 32 but can range from 0 . 13 to 0 . 36 feet / second . not only is the downward velocity in central chamber j and upward velocity in chambers a - h , important , but the horizontal velocity of fluid and gas mixtures sweeping the floor of the vessel is also important . as the fluid passes out of the bottom of the central chamber j and into the bottom freeboard space 28 the velocity of the liquid must accelerate to velocities that will carry the gas bubbles nearly to the outer edges of the annular and independent vertical chambers a - h . it is estimated based on experimental observations that the velocities required to disperse the gas to the outer edges of the annular vertical chambers is proportional to the breadth of the annular chambers x . the design criteria established is that the horizontal velocity in ft / sec . at the bottom of chamber j and has a velocity value v , equal to x ÷ 0 . 66 ± 0 . 3 and preferably not more than 10 %. once the pumping capacity of the axial - flow pump in central chamber j has been established the horizontal velocity v can be established by setting the height of the support grid 14 the proper distance above the reactor floor . gases entrained in the fluid entering the bottom of the packing in chambers a - h rise through the packing material contained therein . the bubbles frequently encounter mixing and dispersion points in the matrix blocks or packing material and are broken into smaller bubbles or prevented from coalescing . the relatively slow progression of the bubbles through the packing , the continual dispersion of the gas bubbles as they rise through the packing , and the relatively turbulent flow created within the packing by the specified upward fluid flow velocities in the packing combine a second aeration means . the combined gas dissolution efficiency of the two aeration means provides for enhanced treatment capacity . both gas transfer processes are powered by the same motive force and thus the efficiency of the reactor is high . to summarize , the internal mixing patterns of the submerged film biological system of this invention are as follows . influent from inlet 6 first mixes with liquid rising up through the packing 12 and flows to the center chamber j where it is mixed with fluid contained in the fixed film biological system . the mixture is pumped to the bottom of the reactor housing 4 with or without entrained gases where the high horizontal velocity fluid sweeps the floor clear of solids and the fluid and gases , if present , then rise through the packing in the independent vertical chambers to the waters surface where entrained gases may be released to the top freeboard chamber 26 above the water . the fluid then below top freeboard chamber 26 entrains new influent waters , flows radially inward to central chamber j and repeats the flow pattern . water borne chemicals entering the housing 4 are thus repeatedly exposed to the biological slimes which grow and / or are fixed in place on the surface of the high surface - area packing 12 contained in the vertical chambers a - h . water leaves the sealed housing 4 via displacement through an internal or external flooded over - flow weir 28 which maintains a liquid seal against escape of the gases in top freeboard chamber 26 . the overall pattern of mixing in the fixed film biological system of this invention is that of a torus . the toroidal flow pattern of this invention results in a completely mixed submerged film biological system . the latter is unique in that most other fixed film biological reactor systems have strong plug flow characteristics and thus a decreasing concentration gradient as the waste proceeds through the unit . the latter is due to the use of two dimensional mixing patterns or a lack of provision for proper and sufficient turnover of fluid in the reactor . the apparatus is uniquely versatile and can be operated in an anaerobic mode , a facultatively anaerobic mode or in an aerobic biological treatment mode depending on the nature of the wastewater or water - borne chemicals to be treated . this versatility is exercised by controlling the composition of the gases in top freeboard chamber 26 of the submerged film biological system . for example , in one application of the invention wherein a dissolved oxygen free environment , i . e ., an anaerobic environment , is required during contact of biological populations with wastewater or liquid borne chemicals ; the top - freeboard chamber 26 of the reactor is isolated from the atmosphere by closing off air inlet 30 , and is thus starved of gaseous oxygen . the bacteria consume any oxygen present in the gaseous freeboard space , the incoming influent and the fluid within the sealed housing 4 . the oxidation reduction potential ( orp ) of the process drops to - 470 ± 30 mv . and the bacteria begin to operate anaerobically . methane which may be produced under these conditions is vented from sealed housing 4 through vent 32 and a water trap ( not shown ) to prevent entrance of oxygen . the methane may be used as fuel or flared . when operating anaerobically the pumping device in central chamber j may or may not be operated in a gas induction mode . although gas recirculation is not required for anaerobic operation it may be desirable in cases for example where hydrogen sulfide can be scrubbed from the gases into freeboard chamber 26 using a separate scrubbing tower in a side loop process , to reduce the sulfur content of the wastewater being treated . in an aerobic biological process application , wherein an oxygen rich environment is desired for aerobic biological processing of water borne chemicals or wastewater , the top freeboard 36 of the fixed film biological reactor may be purged with air or pure oxygen at controlled rates and the pumping device in central chamber j used to induce a large flow of oxygen - rich gases into the down - flowing fluid in the central chamber j . the combined effects of the gas induction with high shear and high fluid velocities , toroidal dispersion of liquid and gases , maintenance of high liquid velocities through the packing and across the reactor floor , and gassing of the entire high surface - area packing provides unusually high oxygen - dissolution efficiency , reactor efficiency and reactor capacity in this invention . the application of the fixed film biological system of this invention in extended biological processing of wastewaters or water borne chemicals permits new achievements in biological processing . by simply placing a sequence of the systems and apparatus of this invention in series , one can complete sequential anaerobic , aerobic and facultative anaerobic processing of wastewaters is a simple to operate process train . to facilitate understanding of a waste treatment process benefiting from this invention , reference is made to fig3 . fig3 is a schematic of a process train of submerged film biological reactors of this invention and illustrates a six stage treatment process , comprising anaerobic , aerobic and facultative anaerobic ( anoxic ) treatment of wastewater or water borne chemicals . more specifically , the waste treatment system comprises sections 50 , 70 and 90 , each section having two stages , with each stage designed in accordance with the embodiment described in fig1 . each stage has an inlet 52 , 72 , and 92 , the inlet 72 constituting the outlet from section 50 and the inlet 92 constituting the outlet from section 70 . each stage has vertical extending chambers a - h filled with high surface - area rigid polyvinyl chloride matrix blocks for support of the microorganisms and enhanced gas transfer to and from the fluid , placed in the preferred layered orientation for good fluid distribution between the chambers , as shown in fig2 . in the embodiment shown , waste is taken from an aerated lagoon 40 , through line 42 to influent pump 44 , for introduction into stage 1 of section 50 . this is pumped through line 52 into stage 1 which in conjunction with stage 2 is operated under anaerobic conditions . stage 1 and stage two are in fluid communication through the top and bottom freeboard cross sectional areas or through restricted opening at the top freeboard water level . air is prohibited from entering the gaseous freeboard above the matrix blocks of section 50 and anaerobic microorganism growth is facilitated by virtue of the effective contacting of the oxygen free fluids of the reactor with the biomass fixed to the high surface - area matrix contained therein . the toroidal mixing pattern embodied in this invention is maintained in the reactors with the fluid flowing downward in chamber j and then rising through the independent - vertical chamber a - h . uniformity of flow and maintenance of toroidal flow patterns lead to enhanced digestion rates . off gases from the anaerobic treatment of the wastewater or waterborne chemicals , including methane , carbon dioxide and hydrogen , are vented from the sealed housing of section 50 through line 60 . appropriate ph control in fluids of section 50 can be maintained through addition of acid 62 or base 64 to the mixed fluids of stage 1 and / or 2 . after anaerobic treatment in section 50 , the effluent containing residual chemicals not treated anaerobically , is removed through line 72 to section 70 . like section 50 , section 70 comprises two stages , i . e ., stages 3 and 4 each stage embodying elements as described in fig1 . in contrast to section 50 , section 70 is operated under aerobic conditions by introducing fresh air under very low pressure ; e . g . between 1 &# 34 ; to 10 &# 34 ; of water column , into the gaseous freeboard of section 70 at a rate such that the oxygen content of the gas in the top freeboard chamber does not become significantly depleted of oxygen . the gases in the top freeboard chamber , including oxygen , are induced into the axial flow pump in chamber j of both stage 3 and 4 . the transfer of oxygen to the recirculating fluid from the gas bubbles thus entrained in the draft tube and matrix block packing of chambers a - h permits the bacteria to complete aerobic degradation of residual chemicals in the effluent of section 50 , at a high rate . the final section , 90 embodies a two stage system , i . e ., stage 5 and stage 6 , with stage 5 operating anoxically ( nitrate is used by the microorganisms as a source of oxygen and no elemental dissolved oxygen or gaseous oxygen is available in stage 5 ) and stage 6 operating aerobically . the top freeboard chambers of stage 5 and stage 6 are necessarily separate in section 90 as opposed to section 50 and 70 wherein they communicate through restricted openings or over the entire cross section of the top freeboard chamber . the effluent from section 70 is introduced to section 90 through line 92 and anoxic conditions are maintained in stage 5 by excluding oxygen from the top freeboard chamber of stage 5 . a water - trap vent 54 is required on stage 5 to vent gaseous nitrogen and carbon dioxide from stage 5 of section 90 . to promote the use of nitrate as a source of oxygen by the bacteria , a secondary source of food is introduced to stage 5 when necessary . the secondary source of food may be methanol , corn syrup or other readily degradable non hazardous chemicals . in some cases a slip of stream of raw influent wastewater may be used . as shown this is piped through line 46 to pump 48 then line 50 to stage 5 . treated fluid flows from stage 5 to stage 6 through a flooded gas seal wire which minimizes back mixing of gases and liquid between the anoxic stage 5 and aerobic stage 6 . in stage 6 aerobic treatment similar to that described for stages 3 and 4 is accomplished to complete the sequential biological treatment process . air is again introduced to the top freeboard chamber of stage 6 at a low pressure and at controlled rates to achieve desired aerobic treatment conditions . spent air is discharged through vent 56 to the atmosphere . effluent from stage 6 is withdrawn through line 58 and discharged into a clarifier 66 wherein biological solids are removed . the clean treated water can then be discharged to the sewer through line 68 or to a clean receiving stream .	2
referring first to fig1 - 4 , the gauge body 12 and cover 11 are conventional components of a standard pressure gauge utilizing a conventional gauge mechanism having a rotary shaft 17 which rotates to a degree proportional to the magnitude of gas pressure supplied to a gas pressure inlet 24 . the mechanism of the gauge body is not illustrated herein since it may be conventional so long as it rotates the shaft 17 proportional to the magnitude of the gas pressure being monitored . the gas pressure of the particular unit to be described herein is the gas pressure of a blood pressure testing unit . part of the mechanism of the gauge body is contained in the housing extension 19 . wiring for the electrical circuitry of the digital display system of the invention extends through a cable 13 to a digital display which includes three display units 97 , 98 and 99 shown in fig4 . the display units may be associated directly with the gauge body 11 , 12 or they may be located remotely from the gauge body if desired . located within the gauge 11 , 12 is a rotary encoder disc 15 which is attached to the rotary shaft 17 as with a screw 18 . just below the rotary encoder disc 15 , there is a stationary circuit board ( stator board ) 16 . the rotary encoder disc 15 carries a plurality of light sources 20 - 23 and 31 - 60 as shown in fig3 . these light sources may be fiber optic lenses which receive light from a bulb 25 having a reflector 14 attached to the cover 11 of the gauge . the stationary circuit board 16 carries photosensors which are preferably phototransistors 1 - 0 , 70 - 73 , and 80 - 81 . the photosensors may be mounted in corresponding openings in the board 16 , either under the board or on top of the board . the wiring from the photosensors extends through the cable 13 to the display units 97 , 98 and 99 as previously mentioned . the rotary encoder 15 and the stator board 16 may be added to a conventional gauge body with a conventional gauge mechanism . the rotary encoder 15 replaces the arrow or needle of the gauge body and the stator board 16 is mounted under the rotary encoder as shown in fig2 . the section in fig2 is taken when lens 20 is over sensor 1 , and the section in fig5 is taken when lens 21a is over sensor 1a . fig3 and 6 shown the discs in a rest position . sufficient light to activate a particular photosensor of the stator board 16 will pass through a lens of the rotary encoder 15 only when the particular lens in question is directly under the lamp reflector 14 . lenses 20 - 22 are radially aligned with sensors 1 - 0 . lens 23 is radially aligned with sensors 70 - 73 . lenses 31 - 60 are alternately radially aligned with sensors 80 and 81 respectively . the rotary encoder rotates clockwise as viewed from the top . the three lenses 20 , 21 and 22 are spaced about 120 degrees from each other about the periphery of the rotary encoder disc 15 . the lenses 20 - 22 serve the purpose of encoding information for providing the second significant digit of the readout display ; that , is , the display unit 98 . the lens 23 is located radially inward from lens 21 and provides coded information for the first significant digit of the readout display , that is , display unit 97 . the display unit 99 displays numbers 0 and 5 alternately when the unit is in operation in this particular embodiment . the display unit 98 displays numerals 1 - 0 sequentially , and the display unit 97 displays numerals 1 and 2 sequentially as the rotary encoder disc rotates through about 320 degrees . a rotation of 320 degrees is sufficient for blood pressure testing purposes . the photosensors 1 - 0 on stator board 16 cooperate with the lenses 20 - 22 to provide the second significant digit on the display unit 98 . these photosensors are spaced at about 10 degree intervals . the photosensors 70 , 71 , 72 and 73 cooperate with the lens 23 to provide the first significant digit on the display unit 97 . the photosensors 80 and 81 cooperate with the lenses 31 - 60 inclusive to provide the third significant digit on the display unit 99 . the electrical circuit of fig4 includes an up - and - down decade static switch unit 90 having ten inputs 1 &# 39 ;- 0 &# 39 ;. signals are sent from the unit 90 to a diode matrix 92 which in turn operates a 7 segment integrated circuit 95 for operating the 7 individual segments of the display unit 98 . a triple static switch unit 91 is connected through a diode matrix 94 to the display unit 97 . a double static switch unit 93 connects through a diode matrix 96 to the display unit 99 . the 7 segment integrated circuit 95 converts binary coded decimal information into 7 segment displays . the static switches 90 , 91 and 93 are conventional as are the diode matrixes 92 , 94 and 96 . lines 111 and 112 connect phototransistors 70 and 71 respectively to the static switches 90 and 91 . line 113 connects phototransistor 1 to the 1 &# 39 ; static switch input of the static switch 90 . line 114 connects the phototransistor 9 to the 9 &# 39 ; input of the static switch 90 . line 117 connects the 0 transistor to the 0 &# 39 ; input of the static switch unit 90 . lines 118 and 119 connect the phototransistors 80 and 81 to the double static switch 93 . lines 115 and 116 connect the phototransistors 72 and 73 to the triple static switch unit 91 . as lens 20 of the rotary encoder disc 15 passes over phototransistor 1 of stator board 16 , light from lamp 25 of fig1 turns phototransistor 1 on . this places voltage on lead 113 which turns on and latches static switch 1 &# 39 ; of static switch unit 90 . the output voltage from static switch 1 &# 39 ; of static switch unit 90 connects voltage to the digit 1 diode combination of diode matrix 92 , which selects the proper a , b , c , d inputs of the binary coded decimal to 7 segment integrated circuit 95 . this connects voltage to the proper segments of digital display unit 98 illuminating the numeral 1 . by similar circuitry the numerals 2 - 0 are displayed on the display unit 98 as lens 20 rotates past phototransistors 2 - 0 allowing those transistors to be turned on sequentially . the outputs of the 10 individual static switches 1 &# 39 ;- 0 &# 39 ; of the static switch unit 90 are capacity coupled so that as static switch 2 &# 39 ; of switch unit 90 is turned on , static switch 1 &# 39 ; is turned off . turning on static switch 3 &# 39 ; turns off static switch 2 &# 39 ;, and so on . when rotary encoder disc 15 rotates to a position wherein lens 20 turns on phototransistor 0 on the stator board 16 all other phototransistors 1 - 9 of stator board 16 have sequentially been turned on and off registering digital display readout numerals on display unit 98 from 1 through 0 . as rotary encoder disc 15 continues to rotate , light lens 20 passes beyond the bank of 10 phototransistors 1 - 0 , and light lens 21 approaches and passes over phototransistors 1 - 0 again , thus for the second time sequentially illuminating the numerals 1 - 0 on digital display unit 98 . as rotary encoder disc 15 continues to rotate , light lens 21 passes beyond the bank of 10 phototransistors 1 - 0 , and light lens 22 approaches and passes over phototransistors 1 - 0 , again for the third time sequentially illuminating the numerals 1 - 0 on the display unit 98 . for most gauges 320 degrees of shaft rotation is the normal maximum extent of rotation . the positions of the phototransistors 1 - 0 on the stator board 16 and the corresponding lenses 20 - 22 on the rotary encoder disc may be selected to match the calibrated locations for the gauge to be used . in this particular gauge illustration , the rotation matches gauge calibration in steps of five units , and a total rotation of 295 units . when rotary encoder disc 15 has rotated to the position wherein lens 20 has turned on phototransistor 0 of the stator board 16 , lens 23 is over phototransistor 71 . this turns on phototransistor 71 and applies a voltage to lead 112 which latches in the numeral 1 section of the triple switch 91 . the now latched in and turned on numeral 1 section of the triple static switch 91 supplies a signal to a diode matrix 94 which causes the numeral 1 to be illuminated on the display unit 97 . the total reading on all three display units at this time would be 100 . the rotary encoder disc 15 continues to rotate until the lens 21 is over the phototransistor 0 of the stator board 16 , and the numeral 0 of display unit 98 is illuminated . at this position , lens 23 is over phototransistor 73 of the stator board 16 , turning on transistor 73 and applying a voltage to lead 116 which turns on and latches in the numeral 2 section and turns off the numeral 1 section of the triple static switch 91 . the now latched in and turned on numeral 2 section of the triple static switch 91 supplies an output through the diode matrix 94 which illuminates the numeral 2 of display unit 97 . the total reading on the three display units 97 , 98 and 99 is 200 at this time . lead 114 from phototransistor 9 and lead 117 from phototransistor 0 illustrates that a plurality of similar circuitry is provided for phototransistors 1 - 0 inclusive . when rotary encoder disc 15 has rotated to the position where lens 23 is over phototransistor 70 , phototransistor 70 is turned on and voltage is applied to the lead 111 which turns on and latches in the 1 numeral off section of the triple static switch unit 91 . this circuit operates only if the numeral 1 section of the triple static switch 91 has first been turned on . this same phototransistor lead 111 connects through a diode to the numeral 9 &# 39 ; input of the decade static switch unit 90 , illuminating numeral 9 of digital readout display unit 98 . phototransistor 70 of stator plate 16 performs a double function . it also turns off the numeral 1 of the digital display unit 97 and turns on the numeral 9 of the digital display unit 98 . when the rotary encoder disc 15 rotates to a position wherein the lens 23 is over the phototransistor 72 of the stator plate 16 , phototransistor 72 is turned on and voltage is applied to lead 115 which turns on and latches in the numeral 1 section of the triple static switch unit 91 . this in turn applies voltage to the diode matrix 94 which illuminates the numeral 1 section of display unit 97 . phototransistor 72 performs a triple duty function . it also turns off numeral 2 of the display unit 97 if the numeral 2 has previously been illuminated by phototransistor 73 . also , it turns on numeral 9 of display unit 98 . the rotary encoder disc 15 contains thirty lenses 31 - 60 . the even numbered lenses in this series pass over a phototransistor 80 which applies a voltage over line 118 to a double static switch unit 93 which works diode circuitry 96 to illuminate the numeral 5 of the display unit 99 . the odd numbered lenses in this series pass over a phototransistor 81 which applies a voltage over line 119 to the double static switch 93 which works through diode circuitry 96 to illuminate the numeral 0 of the display unit 99 . double static switch 93 changes back and forth between the numeral 0 and the numeral 5 . this circuit enables the digital readout display unit 99 to alternately register the numeral 0 and the numeral 5 for the last significant digit of the display . without this system , 30 phototransistors would be required to accomplish the alternation of 0 &# 39 ; s and 5 &# 39 ; s in a digital readout of three decade logic . when the rotary encoder disc 15 has rotated to a position wherein lens 56 is over the phototransistor 80 , phototransistor is turned on and voltage is applied to lead 118 which latches in and turns on the numeral 5 section of the double static switch 93 . this supplies voltage to the diode matrix 96 which causes the numeral 5 to be illuminated on the display unit 99 . if the numeral 0 had been illuminated previously , it will now be turned off . when the rotary encoder disc 15 has rotated to a position whereby lens 55 is over phototransistor 81 , phototransistor 81 is turned on and applies voltage to line 119 which latches in and turns on the numeral 0 section of the double static switch 93 . this supplies voltage to the diode matrix 96 which causes the numeral 0 to be illuminated on the display unit 99 . since double static switch 93 is of the flip - flop type , numeral 5 will be turned off it it had been in the on condition . the above circuit design and mechanical design economically converts gauges of the mechanical dial and scale type to the electronic digital readout type . as an example , dial readings may be in steps of five from 0 through 300 . by connecting a safety pressure switch , flow switch , temperature switch or the like , in series with the lamp 25 , the lamp 25 will be extinguished in the event of a system failure . since the lamp 25 has been turned off , the digit display will remain on even though the pressure is removed . with this system it is possible to obtain gauge readings in 60 accurate up and down steps utilizing only 16 phototransistors and one light source . in the alternate embodiment illustrated in fig5 - 7 , the same reference numerals are used for like elements in fig1 - 4 with the suffix &# 34 ; a &# 34 ; added in order to distinguish the two embodiments from each other . only the differences in fig5 - 7 as compared to fig1 - 4 will be described . in fig5 - 7 , the lamp 25 is located at the center of the gauge unit , and there are fiber optic arms which turn down and project through the rotary encoding disc 15a to provide the lenses . note that there are no lenses corresponding to the lenses 31 - 60 in fig3 . thus , the third significant digit of the readout display remains the same for all readings . the diode matrix 96a is grounded at 110a illustrating this fact . the fiber optic arms 20a , 21a , 22a and 23a correspond to lenses 20 , 21 22 and 23 in fig3 and the description of how these lenses function in cooperation with phototransistors 1a - 0a and phototransistors 70a - 73a will not be repeated . the dial readings for this embodiment is in steps of 10 &# 39 ; s . note that lamp 25a is within a hub 26a through which the inner ends of the optic arms 20a - 23a project .	6
fig1 shows a power tool 2 that is formed as a hand - held hammer drill or chisel hammer . the power tool 2 is equipped with a working tool 4 in form of a drill or chisel , respectively . a suction head 6 of a suction device , which is generally designated with a reference numeral 8 , is held adjacent to the working tool 4 . the suction device 8 includes a coarse separator 10 which is connected with the suction head 6 by a connection conduit 12 . instead of a hammer drill or chisel hammer , the coarse separator 10 can be conveniently used with hand - held saw , cutting or grinding tool . the coarse separator 10 is connected with a fine separator 16 which is provided with a filter 14 . the fine separator 16 is connected at its side remote from the coarse separator 10 with ventilation slots 20 formed in the housing 22 of the power tool 2 . a ventilation conduit 18 connects the fine separator 16 with the ventilation slots 20 . in the tool housing 22 , there is arranged a ventilator 26 driven by a motor 24 . upon actuation of the motor 24 , the ventilator 26 generates an air flow shown with arrow l . the air flow l enters the suction device 8 at the suction head 6 and flows to the ventilator 26 through the connection conduit 12 , coarse separator 10 , fine separator 16 , and the ventilation slots 20 . the ventilator 26 then directs the air flow l past the motor 24 and to outlet recesses 28 formed in the housing 22 . on one hand , the air flow l provides for suction of material particles m which are released upon operation of the working tool 4 from a treated material . on the other hand , the air flow l serves for cooling of the motor 24 . the coarse separator 10 has a substantially cuboid - shaped housing 30 secured on the housing 22 of the power tool 2 . alternatively , the coarse separator 10 can be formed as a part of a suction device that is formed separately from the power tool 2 and is connected with the suction head 6 by a hose . as shown in fig2 , the separator housing 30 has an inner chamber 32 that is completely closed at one of its sides with a removable cover 34 of the housing 30 . a nozzle 36 , which is formed as a slotted nozzle and is connected to the connection conduit 12 , opens into the inner chamber 32 . the nozzle 36 faces in a direction of an inlet path 38 which is partially limited in the inner chamber 32 in a direction of an outlet opening 40 by a lamella separator generally designated with a reference numeral 42 . the lamella separator 42 has a plurality of extending parallel to each other lamellas 44 which are held one behind the other on a center web 46 in a direction e of entry of the air flow l , as particularly shown in fig2 . the lamellas 44 , as also shown in fig2 , extend with their ends adjacent to the outlet opening 40 in a direction of the outlet opening 40 and substantially transverse to the entry direction e . the lamellas 44 bend toward their ends adjacent to the inlet path 38 in the entry direction e . as shown in fig4 , the nozzle 36 forms an inlet opening 48 that defines a first end of the inlet path 38 . at a second end of the inlet path 38 remote from the first end , there is located an opening 50 of a catch chamber 52 . the catch chamber 52 is open , with the cover 34 being attached , at the opening 50 . trap means in form of catch walls 54 , which project from the housing 30 , extend into the catch chamber 52 . the catch walls 54 tilt away from the opening 50 toward their free end . the coarse separator 10 is so held on the power tool 2 that the entry direction e somewhat coincides with the direction s of the gravity force when the power tool 2 extends in a horizontal direction which forms a main direction of the power tool , and with a wall - to - wall mounting , of the coarse separator 10 . during an operation , the working tool 4 is driven by the motor 24 in a manner not shown in detail . simultaneously , the motor 24 drives the ventilator 26 that produces , as it has been described above , the air flow l from the suction head 6 toward the outlet recesses 28 . with the air flow l , the material particles m are aspirated at the suction head 6 and are transmitted by the connection conduit 12 and through the nozzle 36 to the coarse separator 10 . in the coarse separator 10 , the material particles m enter through the inlet opening 48 and move along the inlet path 38 in the entry direction e , as particularly shown in fig2 and 4 . the air flow l meanwhile bottles up in the catch chamber 52 which is open only at one side , so that a following air flow l or at least a major portion of it is deflected in the inlet path 38 and flows past the ends of lamellas 44 adjacent to the inlet path 38 in a direction of the outlet opening 40 . the material particles m , which are carried by the air flow l , are displace due to their inertia and , at the main direction of the power tool 2 , due to the gravity force s , further in the direction of opening 50 through which they enter the catch chamber 52 . in this way , the material particles m , which are separated by the lamella separator 42 form the air flow l , accumulate in the catch chamber 52 . the catch walls 54 block an undesired reemergence of the material particles m from the catch chamber 52 . in order to empty the catch chamber 52 , the cover 34 is taken off the coarse separator housing 30 . in the mounted condition of the cover 34 , the cover 34 lies , as shown in fig3 , with its inner surface 56 on the cover - side end surfaces 58 of the lamellas 44 and on the cover - side inner end surface 60 of the coarse separator housing 30 . thus , with the cover 34 being removed , both the catch chamber 52 and the lamella separator 42 are accessible for cleaning . though the present invention was shown and described with references to the preferred embodiment , such is merely illustrative of the present invention and is not to be construed as a limitation thereof and various modifications of the present invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art . it is therefore not intended that the present invention be limited to the disclosed embodiment or details thereof , and the present invention includes all variations and / or alternative embodiments within the spirit and scope of the present invention as defined by the appended claims .	1
in each of the first and second embodiments of the invention , the essential ingredients in the inventive acrylic rubber composition include the component ( a ) or ( a1 ), component ( b ) and component ( c ), of which the most characteristic ingredient is the component ( c ) which is a very specific organopolysiloxane represented by the general formula ( 2 ). in the first embodiment of the invention , the component ( a ) is an acrylic rubbery polymer which is a homopolymer of one kind or copolymer of two kinds or more of ( meth ) acrylic acid esters represented by the general formula in which r 1 is a hydrogen atom or a methyl group and r 2 is an alkyl group optionally substituted by halogen atoms or cyano groups or an alkoxy - substituted alkyl group . examples of suitable ( meth ) acrylic acid esters include methyl acrylate , ethyl acrylate , tert - butyl acrylate , methyl methacrylate and ethyl methacrylate . such an acrylic rubbery polymer is available as a commercial product including those sold under the trade names of noxtites a - 1075 and pa - 212 ( each a product by nippon oil seal kogyo co . ), toaacron ar - 801 ( a product by toa paint co .) and the like . on the other hand , the component ( al ) used in the second embodiment of the invention is an acrylic rubbery polymer modified with an organosilicon group . such a modified acrylic rubbery polymer can be prepared by the copolymerization of , preferably , from 90 . 0 to 99 . 9 % by moles or , more preferably , from 98 to 99 . 5 % by moles of a ( meth ) acrylic acid ester of the general formula ( 1 ) with , preferably , from 10 . 0 to 0 . 1 % by moles or , more preferably , from 2 to 0 . 5 % by moles of an organosilicon - modified acrylic monomer represented by the general formula in which r 1 is a hydrogen atom or a methyl group and r 5 is a monovalent hydrocarbon group or an alkyl group substituted by an organosilyl group having at least one silicon - bonded vinyl group in a molecule . examples of the organosilyl group having at least one silicon - bonded vinyl group include those expressed by the following formulae , in which me is a methyl group and vi is a vinyl group : ## str1 ## japanese patent publication no . 62 - 40380 discloses such an acrylic rubbery polymer modified with a vinylsilyl - containing organic group . further , modified acrylic rubbery polymers suitable as the component ( al ) in the invention are available as a commercial product including those sold under the trade names of rv - 2520 , rv - 2540 and rv - 2560 ( each a product by nissin chemical industry co .). alternatively , organosilyl - modified acrylic rubbery polymer suitable as the component ( a1 ) can be obtained by the copolymerization of a ( meth ) acrylic acid ester of the general formula ( 1 ), a polyenic copolymerizable monomer having at least two ethylenically unsaturated linkages in a molecule and an ethylenically unsaturated monomeric compound having at least one organosilyl group having no silicon - bonded vinyl group . the component ( b ) in the inventive rubber composition is a reinforcing filler . it is essential that the specific surface area of the filler is at least 10 m 2 / g in order that a good reinforcing effect can be obtained although effects other than reinforcement can be obtained thereby such as thickening , workability improvement and volume extension . examples of suitable reinforcing fillers include carbon black , fumed silica filler , precipitated silica filler , quartz powder , diatomaceous earth and the like . the amount of the reinforcing filler as the component ( b ) in the inventive rubber composition is in the range from 3 to 100 parts by weight or , preferably , from 10 to 60 parts by weight per 100 parts by weight of the acrylic rubbery polymer as the component ( a ) or ( a1 ). when the amount of the reinforcing filler is too small , no full reinforcing effect of the composition can be obtained along with the disadvantage of poor workability . when the amount of the reinforcing filler is too large , on the other hand , a great decrease is caused in the processability and moldability of the acrylic rubber composition . the component ( c ), which is the most characteristic ingredient in the inventive rubber composition , is a diorganopolysiloxane represented by the above given general formula ( 2 ) and serves to plasticize the acrylic rubbery polymer as the component ( a ) or ( a1 ). in addition , the diorganopolysiloxane has an effect of preventing sticking of the molded and vulcanized rubber article to the surface of a metallic body with which the article is kept in contact at an elevated temperature because the diorganopolysiloxane can bleed at an adequate rate on to the surface of the molded and vulcanized rubber article . in the general formula ( 2 ), it is essential that from 5 . 0 to 50 % in number of the groups denoted by r 4 in a molecule are phenyl groups . when the content of phenyl groups is too low , the diorganopolysiloxane cannot exhibit the full effect of sticking prevention . the upper limit of 50 % in the content of phenyl groups in the diorganopolysiloxane is given by the fact that a diorganopolysiloxane of which the content of the phenyl groups exceeds 50 % can be synthesized only with great difficulties in a conventional process . further , the subscript n in the general formula ( 2 ) is a positive integer of 2 or larger so that the diorganopolysiloxane has at least three silicon atoms in a molecule . this is because a disiloxane compound , of which the subscript n in the general formula ( 2 ) is equal to 1 , or a silane compound , of which the subscript n in the general formula ( 2 ) is equal to 0 , has high vaporizability so that a large portion thereof would be lost from the composition during the molding and vulcanization process . preferably , the subscript n in the general formula ( 2 ) is a positive integer in the range from 2 to 100 or , more preferably , from 3 to 20 since , when the value of n is too large , for example , in excess of 100 , the diorganopolysiloxane as the component ( c ) is poorly bleedable on the surface of the molded and vulcanized rubber article and thus will not exhibit good sticking - preventing effect . although it is desirable that the diorganopolysiloxane as the component ( c ) has a linear molecular structure , a small amount of branched chains may have no particularly adverse influences . examples of the diorganopolysiloxane suitable as the component ( c ) include those expressed by the following formulae , in which me is a methyl group and ph is a phenyl group : the amount of the component ( c ) in the inventive rubber composition is in the range from 0 . 5 to 15 parts by weight or , preferably , from 3 . 0 to 7 . 0 parts by weight per 100 parts by weight of the acrylic rubbery polymer as the component ( a ) or ( a1 ). when the amount of the component ( c ) is too small , no full effect of sticking prevention can be obtained of the molded and vulcanized rubber article due to insufficient bleeding of the diorganopolysiloxane on the surface while , when the amount thereof is too large , adverse influences are caused in the rubbery properties of the molded and vulcanized rubber article of the composition . besides the above described essential ingredients , i . e . components ( a ) or ( a1 ), ( b ) and ( c ), it is of course possible that the inventive rubber composition can be admixed according to need with various kinds of known additives conventionally used in rubber compositions including processability improvers in roll milling such as higher fatty acids , e . g ., stearic acid , dispersion aids for the fillers such as low molecular - weight dimethylpolysiloxanes having 100 or less of silicon atoms in a molecule and terminated at each molecular chain end with a silanol group , silanol compounds and alkoxy silane compounds , plasticizers to control the plasticity of the rubber composition , aging retarders and the like each in a limited amount . further , it is essential that a means for the vulcanization or curing of the rubber composition is provided in order for the rubber composition to be converted into a vulcanized rubber article . although the inventive rubber composition can be vulcanized by irradiation with actinic rays , it is more convenient in most cases that the rubber composition is compounded with a vulcanizing agent . for example , sulfur can be a vulcanizing agent in the rubber composition according to the first embodiment of the invention while the rubber composition according to the second embodiment of the invention comprising the component ( al ) which is a copolymer of monomers including the acrylic monomer represented by the general formula ( 3 ) can be compounded either with sulfur or with an organic peroxide compound as the vulcanizing agent . when vulcanization of the rubber composition with sulfur is desired , although any vulcanizing agent conventionally used for the vulcanization of acrylic rubber compositions can be used here , the sulfurous vulcanizing agent can be a combination of sulfur or a sulfur - donating compound and an alkali carboxylate , di - or tri - thiol - s - triazine compound , ammonium carboxylate , polyamine and the like when the vulcanizing agent is a combination of sulfur or a sulfur - donating compound and an alkali carboxylate , further improved vulcanization behavior and stability of processing can be ensured by compounding the composition with an n - substituted mono - or dimaleimide compound , urea or a urea derivative , thiourea or a thiourea derivative , imidazoline compound , amino acid and the like . further , similar improvements can be obtained when the vulcanizing agent is a di - or trithiol - s - triazine compound by compounding the composition with a dithiocarbamate compound , 2 , 2 - dithiobisbenzothiazole , alkali or alkaline earth carboxylate and the like according to a known procedure . the amount of the sulfurous vulcanizing agent in the inventive rubber composition is in the range from 0 . 5 to 10 parts by weight or , preferably , from 1 to 5 parts by weight per 100 parts by weight of the rubbery polymer as the component ( a ) or ( a1 ). the organic peroxide as a vulcanizing agent for the inventive rubber composition according to the second embodiment is not particularly limitative and can be any of conventional organic peroxides used as a vulcanizing agent of rubber compositions . examples of suitable organic peroxides include dibenzoyl peroxide , bis ( 2 , 4 - dichlorobenzoyl ) peroxide , di - tert - butyl peroxide , 2 , 5 - dimethyl - di - tert - butylperoxy hexane , tert - butyl perbenzoate , tert - butylperoxy isopropyl carbonate , dicumyl peroxide and the like . these organic peroxides can be used either singly or as a combination of two kinds or more according to need . the amount of the organic peroxide as a vulcanizing agent in the inventive rubber composition is in the range from 0 . 01 to 3 parts by weight or , preferably , from 0 . 05 to 1 part by weight per 100 parts by weight of the acrylic rubbery polymer as the component ( a1 ). when adequately compounded with an organic peroxide , the inventive rubber composition can be fully vulcanized by heating for 1 minute to 5 hours at a temperature in the range from 100 ° to 400 ° c . to be converted into a cured or vulcanized rubber article . in the following , the inventive acrylic rubber composition is illustrated in more detail by way of examples which , however , never limit the scope of the invention in any way . in the examples and comparative examples given below , the term of &# 34 ; parts &# 34 ; always refers to &# 34 ; parts by weight &# 34 ;. each 50 parts of two kinds of acrylic rubbery polymers modified with vinylsilyl group - containing organic groups and having mooney viscosities of 35 and 25 , respectively , ( rv - 2540 and rv2560 supra ) in combination were uniformly compounded with 65 parts of a reinforcing carbon black ( haf # 70 , a product by asahi carbon co . ), 10 parts of a process oil ( rs 700 , a product by adeka argus chemical co . ), 2 parts of an amine - based aging retarder ( nocrack 445 , a product by uniroyal co . ), 2 parts of a dispersion aid ( lunac s - 20 , a product by kao co . ), 1 part of surfinol 440 ( a product by nissin chemical industry co .) and 0 . 05 part of n - nitroso diphenyl amine followed by further admixture of 6 parts of a phenyl group - containing diorganopolysiloxane having a structure expressed by the general formula ( 2 ) given above , in which r 3 was a methyl group , 25 % in number of the groups denoted by r 4 were phenyl groups , the remainder of r 4 being methyl groups , and the subscript n was 15 , and 1 . 3 parts of an organic peroxide ( perhexa 3m , a product by nippon oil & amp ; fat co .). the workability in roll milling of the composition was excellent . the thus prepared acrylic rubber composition was first presscured at 155 ° c . for 10 minutes under compression followed by post - curing in a hot - air oven at 180 ° c . for 4 hours to give a vulcanized rubber sheet . the moldability of the composition was excellent . the vulcanized rubber sheets were subjected to the measurements of the mechanical properties to give the results shown in table 1 below . the surface of the vulcanized rubber sheets was examined by a finger - touch test after 24 hours from vulcanization to find , though very slight , bleeding of an oily matter on the surface . the mechanical properties of the rubber sheets were measured also after aging for 120 hours at 180 ° c . or after immersion in a no . 3 oil for 70 hours at 150 ° c . and the increments (+) or decrements (-) in % in the values of the respective properties are also shown in table 1 . the increment and decrement in the hardness values are shown by the difference of the hardness values . the vulcanized rubber sheet as vulcanized having a thickness of 2 mm was sandwiched between two plates of cast iron having a well polished surface and kept at 180 ° c . for 136 hours as sandwiched with 25 % compression by clamping of the cast iron plates . after cooling to room temperature , the cast iron plates were removed from the rubber sheet and the state of sticking therebetween was examined to find absolutely no sticking on all over the surface . the experimental procedure was substantially the same as in example 1 excepting an increase of the amount of the phenyl group - containing diorganopolysiloxane from 6 parts to 12 parts . the workability was excellent in roll milling and in vulcanization . the mechanical properties of the vulcanized rubber sheets either as vulcanized or after the aging or oil - immersion test are shown in table 1 . slight bleeding of an oily matter was detected by the finger - touch test on the surface of the rubber sheet after 24 hours from vulcanization . absolutely no sticking was found to the surface of cast iron plates in the sticking test . one hundred parts of an acrylic rubbery polymer ( toaacron ar - 80 , supra ) were uniformly blended with 65 parts of the same reinforcing carbon black as used in example 1 , 1 part of a dispersion aid ( lunac s - 20 , supra ), 2 parts of an aging retarder ( nouguard 445 , supra ), 0 . 3 part of a processing aid ( nonsaal sk - 1 , a product by nippon oil & amp ; fat co .) and 3 parts of another processing aid ( nonsaal sn - 1 , a product by nippon oil & amp ; fat co .) followed by further admixture of 6 parts of the same phenyl group - containing diorganopolysiloxane as used in example 1 and 0 . 3 part of a fine powder of sulfur as a vulcanizing agent . the workability in roll milling was excellent . the thus prepared acrylic rubber composition was subjected to the vulcanization and evaluation tests in just the same manner as in example 1 to give the results shown in table 1 . the workability in vulcanization was excellent . bleeding of an oily matter , though very slight , was detected on the surface of the vulcanized rubber sheet after 24 hours from vulcanization . no sticking of the rubber surface to the cast iron plates was found on all over the surface by the sticking test . the experimental procedure was substantially the same as in example 1 excepting for the omission of the phenyl group - containing diorganopolysiloxane . the results obtained in the measurements of the mechanical properties are shown in table 1 . the workability in roller milling and vulcanization was somewhat inferior as compared with example 1 . absolutely no bleeding of an oily matter was detected on the surface of the vulcanized rubber sheet after 24 hours from vulcanization . sticking of the rubber surface to the cast iron plates was found spot - wise on the surface . the experimental procedure was substantially the same as in example 3 excepting for the omission of the phenyl group - containing diorganopolysiloxane . the results obtained in the measurements of the mechanical properties are shown in table 1 . the workability in roller milling and vulcanization was somewhat inferior as compared with example 3 . absolutely no bleeding of an oily matter was detected on the surface of the vulcanized rubber sheet after 24 hours from vulcanization . sticking of the rubber surface to the cast iron plates was found spot - wise on the surface in the sticking test . table 1__________________________________________________________________________ comparative example example 1 2 3 1 2__________________________________________________________________________as vulcanizedsp . gravity 1 . 27 1 . 256 1 . 27 1 . 28 1 . 28hardness , jis a 57 48 60 62 68tensile strength , kg · cm . sup . 2 69 56 110 90 150ultimate elongation , % 210 230 300 220 380tear strength , kg / cm 17 18 35 25 44permanent compression set , %, after 22 hours at 150 ° c . 20 18 18 15 17after 70 hours at 150 ° c . 32 33 36 31 35increment after aginghardness + 16 + 18 + 15tensile strength , % - 18 - 23 - 16ultimate elongation , % - 14 - 14 - 22weight , % - 5 . 01 - 4 . 98 - 5 . 15increment after oil immersionhardness - 10 - 5 - 14tensile strength , % - 16 - 18 - 19ultimate elongation , % ± 0 - 8 + 4weight , % + 16 . 0 + 10 . 9 + 19 . 6volume , % + 20 . 1 + 17 . 4 + 27 . 3__________________________________________________________________________	2
referring to fig1 there is shown a plane view of one transducer arrangement that can be utilized to practice the present invention . in particular , a plurality of transducers 11a - 11k are equally spaced around the circumference of the borehole 10 . the transducers may be similar to those described in u . s . pat . no . 4 , 130 , 816 and may be similarly mounted . in particular , the transducers should be mounted so that they are pressed or biased into contact with the borehole wall , for example , conventional bow strings may be utilized to firmly press the transducers into contact with the borehole wall . to eliminate or minimize the acoustic energy that is produced in the borehole fluid molded acoustic sound absorbers are positioned around the back side of the transducers . for example , three molded acoustic absorbers 12 may be positioned around each transducer to effectively reduce the acoustical energy entering the formation fluid . while various materials may be used , it is preferred to use the sintered bronze acoustic absorbers described in copending application ser . no . 382 , 535 filed may 27 , 1982 , now u . s . pat . no . 4 , 439 , 497 . the transducers are preferably energized in sequence to produce acoustic pulses which travel or are projected into the formation and reflected back to the transducer and converted to a corresponding electrical signal . circuits for doing this are well known in the art and will not be described further . for example , the transducer and circuit arrangement of the above referenced patent may be used while . while the patent shows and describes the use of four transducers , the system can be easily expanded to eight or more transducers . the electrical signals can be partially processed downhole and then transmitted to the surface . for example , it may be desirable to incorporate gain ranging amplifiers and analog - to - digital conversion equipment downhole so that a digital signal can be transmitted to the surface thereby preserving the character of the received signals . in addition to the acoustic transducers it is preferable to provide some means for knowing the orientation of the transducers in the borehole , for example , conventional magnetic means may be utilized to determine the orientation of the transducers with respect to geographical north . signals reflecting the location of the geographical north can also be transmitted to the surface so that they can be recorded in correlation with the transducer signals . referring to fig2 there is shown three positions of a fracture 20 in a borehole in relation to depth . in fig2 a , the transducer 11 is located approximately in a horizontal position and detects a smaller frequency difference ( between the maxima and minima of its returned signal &# 39 ; s power spectrum ) than any other transducer in the array because the path 21 of the acoustic energy is substantially normal to the plane of the fracture . in fig2 b , the tool is located at some other depth in the borehole . since the orientation of the fracture has changed , a different transducer in the array is now aligned normal to it and it is the one which detects the smallest frequency difference in its returned signal &# 39 ; s power spectrum . similarly , for fig2 c , with the tool located at a different depth and the fracture orientation changed , a third transducer produces the smallest frequency difference . in this example , notice that fracture 20 has widened in going from fig2 a to fig2 c . comparing the frequency differences in the power spectrums of those transducers normal to the fracture at each depth , it is clear that the frequency difference will be greatest in fig2 a and least in fig2 c . the transducers are highly damped to produce a short acoustic wave train , for example , from one to three cycles . this will produce an acoustic pulse having a broad band of frequencies , i . e ., from a fraction of a megacycle to several megacycles which will permit determination of the fracture width as described below . in contrast , most of the previous tools used to detect fractures used very narrow band width acoustic pulses at a relatively high frequency , for example 120 kh . when the broad band pulse is reflected from a fracture the frequency spectrum will undergo a change depending primarily on the width of the fracture . this frequency change will produce a repeating pattern of maxima and minima which is a result of the constructive and destructive interference of the waves which are reflected from opposite faces of the fracture . it is well known from bragg &# 39 ; s law that the frequency difference δf between adjacent maxima or minima in a signal can be expressed by the formula θ = the angle between the incident beam and a plane containing the probed region of the fracture . from an inspection of the above expression it can be seen that the minimum δf occurs when θ equals 90 degrees . thus , it is clear that the transducer that detects the minima δf is the one that is closest to a line normal to the plane of the fracture . the position of this transducer in the array and the orientation of the transducer relative to the magnetic north can be used to determine the direction of the fracture . it is also obvious that the distance between the transducer detecting the minima δf and the fracture is the product of the speed of sound in the formation times the round trip time of the acoustic pulse . thus , one is able to measure both the fracture width , its direction and distance from the borehole wall . from this information a three - dimensional view of the fracture , similar to that shown in fig2 can be produced . as explained above , in order to detect the returning signal in the presence of the noise generated by pressing the transducers against the borehole wall , it is necessary to use correlation techniques . these techniques are well known where the cross - correlation function is the measure of how much one signal resembles a time delayed copy of another . thus , the pulse and the echo can be considered the two signals and have a maximum value at a time equal to the round trip travel time of the pulse . this will provide a simple method for determining the distance between the borehole and the fracture . similarly , the autocorrelation function is a measure of how much a signal resembles a time delayed copy of itself . the autocorrelation function has all of the frequency components of the original signal and the fourier transform of the autocorrelation function is a power spectrum of the signal . thus , the fourier transform of the autocorrelation function of the echo will have maxima and minima and one can derive the δf and hence the width of the fracture from it . the use of signal processing equipment to obtain the cross - correlation and autocorrelation functions of a signal are well known and no detailed description of these systems are believed necessary . the correlators offered by langley ford instruments , 29 cottage street , amherst , mass ., may be used for the signal processing . these correlators can handle multiple inputs and produce visual records . a person can examine the records and locate the fractures and determine their width or the output of the correlator can be further processed in a personal computer to calculate the width of the fracture and its depth using the above expressions . if desired , a special purpose stem may be used to process the signals and provide outputs representing the fracture width and depth . these measurements could be displayed on conventional chart recorders or a cathode ray tube could be used to provide a visual display .	6
generally , the present invention provides , in one form , a method for preparing a semiconductor wafer for deposition of a diffusion barrier after the wafer has been planarized using a cmp process . in one embodiment , the method includes applying a surface preparation solution comprising an organic acid , a surfactant , and an oxidant to a semiconductor wafer after the cmp process . the surface preparation solution may be applied to the wafer as one solution , or may be applied to the wafer as two solutions that are applied separately in a two step process . in a first step of the two step process , a solution comprising an organic acid and a surfactant is applied to the wafer . in a second step , a solution comprising an organic acid and an oxidant is applied to the wafer . the surface preparation solution , when applied to a semiconductor wafer after cmp , will remove , or reduce , azole - based corrosion inhibitors such as triazole , surface oxide , and copper particles without removing an excessive amount of copper . also , the copper that is removed is removed nearly uniformly independent of metal feature size and metal feature density . fig1 illustrates a cross - sectional view of a portion of a semiconductor wafer 10 . the semiconductor wafer is processed to produce semiconductor devices having integrated circuits implemented thereon . semiconductor wafer 10 includes a substrate 12 having an active region . an insulating layer 22 is formed on a surface of the substrate 12 . in the illustrated embodiment , the insulating layer 22 is a gate dielectric layer for implementing a plurality of transistors . a polysilicon layer 14 is formed on the insulating layer 22 and patterned to be , for example , a gate electrode of a complementary metal - oxide semiconductor ( cmos ) transistor . an insulating layer 20 is formed over the polysilicon layer 14 and removed in areas where electrical contact to polysilicon layer 14 is needed . one or more interconnect layers comprising metal will be formed over the active circuitry to serve as wiring layers for the integrated circuits . a contact 16 is formed through insulating layer 20 and makes electrical contact with the polysilicon layer 14 . the contact 16 will connect the polysilicon layer to one or more metal layers that will be formed above the polysilicon layer 14 . the contact 16 may be formed from tungsten ( w ) or some other suitable conductive material . a barrier layer 24 is then formed over the insulating layer 20 and lines the sides and bottom of a trench 18 in the insulating layer 20 . the barrier layer functions as a barrier to electro - migration or diffusion . a metal layer 19 is formed over the barrier layer 24 and fills the trench 18 . in the illustrated embodiment , the metal layer 19 is formed from copper . however , in other embodiments , the metal layer 19 may be formed from another metal such as aluminum . also in other embodiments , the metal layer 19 may be one of many metal interconnect layers . fig2 illustrates a cross - sectional view of the semiconductor device 10 of fig1 after a portion of the metal layer 19 has been removed using a conventional chemical mechanical polishing ( cmp ) process . as illustrated in fig2 , all of metal layer 19 is removed except for the metal filling the trench 18 . there may be additives in the cmp solution for inhibiting corrosion such as an azole - based corrosion inhibitor . after the cmp process is complete , the surface of the semiconductor wafer is cleaned using a method illustrated in fig5 , which will be discussed later . fig3 illustrates a cross - sectional view of the portion of the semiconductor wafer 10 of fig2 after formation of a diffusion barrier 26 . in the illustrated embodiment the diffusion barrier 26 includes a cobalt ( co ) film doped with tungsten ( w ) and boron ( b ). also , the diffusion barrier 26 may include nickel ( ni ). also , the diffusion barrier 26 may be doped with elements like molybdenum ( mo ), rhenium ( re ), and phosphorus ( p ). thus , for example , the diffusion barrier 26 may comprise one or more of cowp , cowb , cowpb , corep , coreb , corepb , comop , comob , comopb , niwp , niwb , niwpb , nirep , nireb , nirepb , nimop , nimob , nimopb , and the like the diffusion barrier functions to prevent copper from diffusing into the upper insulating layer 28 ( fig4 ). also , the diffusion barrier may function to reduce electro - migration . fig4 illustrates a cross - sectional view of the portion of the semiconductor wafer 10 of fig3 after an insulating layer 28 is formed . following the formation of the insulating layer 28 , one or more additional metal interconnect layers may be formed over the insulating layer 28 . the insulating layer 28 may be patterned to form one or more copper vias for subsequent metal layers if additional metal layers are needed . the metal layers , including metal layer 19 for providing conductors for electrically connecting the circuits in the active layers on the semiconductor device . fig5 illustrates a flow chart 50 of a method for forming the semiconductor device 10 of fig4 in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention . at step 52 , a metal , such as for example copper is formed in a surface of the semiconductor wafer . preferably , the metal layer is electroplated . after electroplating the copper on a semiconductor device such as a wafer including an integrated circuit , the copper is annealed , and then the surface of the metal is smoothed and polished during a planarizing step 54 . for example , the metal may be planarized using a chemical mechanical polishing ( cmp ) technique . after planarization , the surface may need to be “ pre - cleaned ” to remove impurities introduced during the cmp process . at step 56 of fig5 , a “ one - step ” surface preparation solution for pre - cleaning the surface of the wafer is applied to the semiconductor wafer . the solution may also be applied in two steps as illustrated in fig6 and discussed later . generally , the solution comprises organic acids that function as copper - chelating agents , surfactants , and an oxidant . in one embodiment , the organic acids may be carboxylic and the oxidant is a persulfate such as for example ammonium persulfate . in another embodiment , the oxidant may be hydrogen peroxide . more specifically , the surface preparation solution includes 20 - 60 grams / liter malic acid , 20 - 60 grams / liter citric acid , 20 - 60 parts - per - million ( ppm ) of an anionic surfactant such as zonyl ® fsj or zonyl ® fsp , 20 - 60 ppm of a nonionic surfactant such as zonyl ® fs300 , and 20 - 60 grams / liter of ammonium persulfate . zonyl ® fsj , zonyl ® fsp , and zonyl ® fs300 are available from the dupont corporation and zonyl ® is a registered trademark of dupont corporation . in the one - step method , surfactant zonyl ® fsp is preferred over zonyl ® fsj because it has been shown to be more stable when mixed with the oxidant ammonium persulfate . the solution is applied by spraying the wafer for about 30 seconds to 300 seconds or more preferably around 120 seconds at temperatures ranging from 20 to 45 degrees celsius or more preferably around 25 degrees celsius . the solution may be sprayed on the wafer or the wafer may be immersed in the solution . note that in other embodiments , the malic or citric acids may be substituted by other water soluble acids such as carboxylic acids , such as tartaric , oxalic acid , etc . also , in other embodiments , only one surfactant may be used . at step 58 , after applying the solution at step 56 , a heated rinse operation may be optionally performed . the wafer is sprayed with de - ionized water that has been heated to about 30 to 70 degrees celsius for about 30 to 120 seconds . at step 60 , a diffusion barrier is formed on the metal layer after step 58 . the diffusion barrier , such as the diffusion barrier 26 of fig4 , is formed on the metal layer using a conventional electroless plating technique . in another embodiment , a conductive material may be formed on the metal layer instead of the diffusion barrier . the conductive material is formed to improve electro - migration resistance . alternately , the conductive material may be formed with a diffusion barrier . then , at step 62 , an insulating layer , such as insulating layer 28 in fig4 is formed over the metal layer . at decision step 64 , it is determined if more metal layers are to be formed . if more layers are needed , the flow returns to step 52 and the method is repeated until all of the metal layers , including interconnects between the layers , are formed . when all of the metal layers have been formed on the semiconductor wafer , the flow ends . fig6 illustrates a flow chart of a step 56 ′ for applying the surface preparation solution of fig5 in accordance with another embodiment of the present invention . in fig6 , the surface preparation solution is applied in two steps after step 54 in fig5 and instead of step 56 . in the first step , step 72 , a solution comprising organic acids and surfactants are sprayed on the wafer at temperatures ranging from 20 to 45 degrees celsius or more preferably 25 degrees celsius for 30 to 180 seconds or more preferably 90 seconds . the organic acids include malic acid and citric acid in the same quantities as described above for fig5 . preferably , the surfactant comprises either zonyl ® fsj or zonyl ® fsp . note that in the embodiment of fig5 , zonyl ® fsp is preferred because it is more stable when combined with the ammonium persulfate . in the second step , step 74 , a solution comprising organic acids and an oxidant is sprayed on the wafer at temperatures ranging from 20 to 45 degrees celsius or more preferably 25 degrees celsius for 30 to 120 seconds or more preferably 60 seconds . the organic acids include malic acid and citric acid in the same quantities as described above for fig5 . the oxidant is preferably ammonium persulfate in the quantities described in fig5 . after step 74 , the flow continues with step 58 in fig5 . the surface preparation solution as described above has been determined to remove the azole - based corrosion inhibitors that are applied as part of a cmp process . also , surface oxide and copper particles are removed while only removing a small amount of copper . further , the amount of copper removed is removed nearly uniformly , independent of metal feature size and metal feature density . while the invention has been described in the context of a preferred embodiment , it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the present invention may be modified in numerous ways and may assume many embodiments other than that specifically set out and described above . accordingly , it is intended by the appended claims to cover all modifications of the invention which fall within the true scope of the invention . benefits , other advantages , and solutions to problems have been described above with regard to specific embodiments . however , the benefits , advantages , solutions to problems , and any element ( s ) that may cause any benefit , advantage , or solution to occur or become more pronounced are not to be construed as a critical , required , or essential feature or element of any or all the claims . as used herein , the terms “ comprises ,” “ comprising ,” or any other variation thereof , are intended to cover a non - exclusive inclusion , such that a process , method , article , or apparatus that comprises a list of elements does not include only those elements but may include other elements not expressly listed or inherent to such process , method , article , or apparatus .	2
[ 0018 ] fig1 is an overall flowchart of a method embodying g the principle s of the invention . shown is a product 10 made by the process of establishing 12 a product personality for a product ; correlating 14 the product personality with a visual characteristic ; and designing 16 a product based on the correlation . by this , the invention is capable of determining a particular product &# 39 ; s appearance by understanding the evolution and goals of the various brands &# 39 ; positioning ; establishing a desired brand personality for the various brands ; defining a visual characteristic to current , desired and competitive brands , and identifying opportunities for creating a visual brand differentiation . [ 0019 ] fig2 is a further illustration of the step of establishing 12 a product personality . the step of establishing 12 the product personality further includes the step of establishing 18 at least one personality characteristic of the product . furthermore , the step of establishing 18 at least one personality characteristic further includes the step of assigning 20 at least one adjective to the personality characteristic . as shown in fig2 the step of establishing 12 a product personality may further include the step of creating 22 a perceptual map . thus in one embodiment , the product personality may comprise a sum total of the plots on the map , or some other representation thereof . the step of creating 22 a perceptual map may further be a refinement of the step of assigning 20 at least one adjective to the personality characteristic . the perceptual map may also include creating the map with a plurality of axes that are exclusive and differentiated . perceptual mapping is a tool or process used in marketing research for charting the way individuals selected from the target market perceive different companies , products or brands . perceptual mapping is also called position mapping . there are several characteristics associated with mapping perceptions . one characteristic is to use geometry to create a graphic representation of the map . the map may also include attribute - based maps or maps of brands relative to each other . the products measured can almost be anything identifiable , such household goods , automotive , industrial , people , or activities . perceptual maps , when done properly , can show how the products are viewed in the consumer &# 39 ; s minds and thus suggest how they can be positioned to maximize sales or preferences . maps may also identify a product weakness and can be used to point out flaws in the product development stage . maps may also be used to identify differences among groups ( e . g ., how men versus women , adults versus children , etc .) may perceive a product . other maps include joint perception & amp ; preference maps , vector models , and ideal - point models ( unfolding model ). as with most maps of this sort , the map is characterized by one or more axes . for example , in evaluating a regular household medicine , the axes may include and be labeled as an ease - of - use axis ; effect - on - digestion axis ; price axis , effectiveness axis ; and lasting - duration axis . in preparing the map , the axes chosen will normally be associated with the underlying product ( s ) studied . to generate the plotting points or coordinates , raw data is accumulated and plotted . a first step could be to poll the proper audience and solicit answers , such as asking “ rating ” questions by a likert scale question . this type of question asks the responder to rate ( usually from 1 to 5 , with 1 being a strong agreement and 5 being a strong disagreement ) the products . the likert questions could be tailored for all the attributes of the product and tied to the labels associated with the axes . another method of obtaining attribute ratings is to use a semantic differential scale in which the responder is asked to place an x ( or other mark ) along a sliding scale , in which the poles of the scale are opposites ( e . g ., effective versus non - effective ). each scale may be coordinated with the proposed axes of the map . to plot these results , there are several mathematical and statistical methodologies , including using a multiple discriminant analysis , multidimensional scaling or factor analysis . [ 0023 ] fig3 is a further illustration of the step of correlating 14 the product personality . additionally , this step may further include the step of selecting 26 a configuration for at least a component of the product . product configurations may vary but may include , but are not limited to , selecting 28 a texture or selecting 30 an architecture of at least a component of the product . the step of selecting 26 the product configuration may further include the step of selecting 32 a brand identifier of the product , such as a logo 34 . the step of selecting 32 the brand identifier may further comprise the step of establishing 18 at least one personality characteristic of the product . as shown in fig2 the step of establishing 18 at least one personality characteristic further includes the step of assigning 20 at least one adjective to the personal characteristic . similarly , the step of correlating 14 the product personality with the visual characteristic may further include the step of correlating the product personality with a perceptual map . [ 0024 ] fig4 is a further illustration of the step of designing 16 a product . the step of designing 16 a product based on the correlation may further comprise the step of selecting 32 a brand to create a brand identifier . the step of selecting 32 to creating a brand identifier further includes the step of correlating 42 the brand identifier with a predetermined appearance of at least a component of the product . [ 0025 ] fig5 illustrates another embodiment of the invention . the invention may also comprise the steps of : establishing 50 desired brand personalities for a product line ; mapping 52 customer perceptions of the brand personalities ; correlating 54 visual characteristics of the brand personalities to a desired brand ; determining 56 visual characteristics of the desired brand ; and designing 58 the product appearance in response to the visual characteristics of the desired brand . [ 0026 ] fig6 illustrates another embodiment of the invention . shown is a method of creating brand equity in a product line , comprising the steps of : assigning 60 desired personality adjectives to a current brand ; associating 62 a plurality of images with a plurality of dominant personality traits to generate an association between the plurality of images with the plurality dominant personality traits ; correlating 64 the association of the images and traits with the adjectives to generate an image adjective profile ; creating 66 a brand visual characteristic by plotting the association on a perceptual map ; and abstracting 68 a design from the plot and the image adjective profile to create a brand visual identifier . as shown in fig7 as with any embodiment herein , the products may be a first 70 or second 71 , or series of products within a product line , or across product lines . the process of the invention creates a series of products that have similar visual characteristics 72 correlated to product personalities 74 . for example , in the home appliance industry , these include at least one of a washer , dryer , refrigerator , freezer , oven , stove , range , counter top appliance , cooktop , grill , hood , dishwasher , and microwave oven , or the like . other equipment or appliances may also include fabric refreshers , humidifiers , de - humidifiers , air purifiers , ice makers , water dispensers , or the like . in effect , one non - exclusive result is that the appliances may have a similar appearance and design methodology . this similar design appearance may manifest as part of or as a component of the product . for example , this component may include at least one of a panel , frame , top , bottom , rollers , stand , contour , dispenser , plating , pan , icon , graphic , color , texture , display , led display , lever , tray , shelf , bar , lighting , switch , door , handle , knob , button , dial , siding , backing , interior , facade , and shape , among other components . returning to fig1 to 6 , and fig8 one application of the methodology above is related to the household appliance industry . for example , a company may manufacture various products under different brands , either for sale under the company name or for private branding . as shown in fig8 to create a perceptual map , the axes may be defined . although shown in fig8 as a map with 4 quadrants , it should be appreciated that any number of axes may be used thus resulting in any number of intermediate bounded areas . in this example , though , shown is a 2 axis map creating 4 quadrants . the ends of the axes may be labeled with axis labels . these axis labels can correspond to any number of personality characteristics , such as adjectives . thus , as shown in fig8 the labels a , b , c , and d may correspond to various adjectives . the mapping also creates quadrants ab , bc , cd , and ad . the selection of adjectives or other personality characteristics largely depends on the nature of the underlying activity or product and what is desired . for example , the personality characteristics or adjectives may include , but of course are not limited to , words such as charismatic , dynamic , outgoing , friendly , outward , sociable , approachable , accessible , rational , logical , reasonable , sensible , practical , reliable , intelligent , analytical , modest , subtle , inward , reserved , elegant , classic , humble , pure , passionate , emotional , compassionate , intuitive , sensory , tactile , affectionate , extroverted , thinking , introverted , feelings , creative , responsible , pragmatic , practical , useful , inexpensive , expensive , thoughtless , silly , status conscious , immodest , pretentious , grandiose , flamboyant , and etc . the list of adjectives or personality characteristics is not fixed and is intended to include synonyms , antonyms , similar functional words , other related words , etc . [ 0029 ] fig9 shows an embodiment of the perceptual map . once a number of adjectives or personality characteristics are determined , however many , these may be put onto the end points of the map axes as axes labels . one method of doing so is to create opposite characteristics at each end point of the same axis . for example , one end of an axis could be identified as “ happy ” while the other end is “ unhappy ”. by doing so will help , but is not necessarily required , to plot the map later . in fig9 the same axis is labeled with “ introverted ” and “ extroverted ” as opposites and with “ feeling ” and “ thinking ” as somewhat distinct and unique . by keeping the axes different , a perceptual map can be created . with respect to appliances , other axes labels that are opposites include “ modem ” vs . “ antique ” or “ flashy ” vs . “ subdued ”, etc . the group of adjectives can be further grouped and classified with a more generic word ; and this word can become the axis label . next , to facilitate design associated with the map , once the axis labels are determined , the rest of the selected adjectives ( as appropriate ) may be listed in the form of a table under those axis labels that correspond best to the axis label . for example , table 1 demonstrates an adjective / personal characteristic table when the axes are labeled with “ extroverted ” “ introverted ” “ feeling ” and “ thinking ”. next , various product configuration or appearance characteristics can be coordinated with the map . since the range of configurations is nearly limitless , by way of example only , some configurations are described herein . an appliance , such as a refrigerator has a variety of underlying components related to the configuration . for example , the “ look ” of a refrigerator can be attributed to the handle , the door , the wheels / casters , the shelves , the side panels , the grillwork , etc . any or all of these components may be so designed to create the product of the invention . for example , selecting various configurations for the door handle and predetermining various “ looks ” of the handle can create the unified look desired for all handles across all products in the product line . the door handle may have architectural based characteristics to it such as being transparent , opaque , rounded edges , wooden looking , cylindrical , thick , thin , vertical , horizontal , etc . the door handle may also have texture - based characteristics , such as shiny , dull , smooth , rough , finger gripped , grainy ( such as a wood grain ), patterned ( with a preselected or random pattern ), metallic , or etc . the door handle may also have a brand - identifier based characteristic to it , such as the logo . returning to the coordination of these configurations with the map , the user may then place visual characteristics , such as image cards ( cards that have the image or configuration on it ) into the table under one or more of the axis label headings which more associates the relationship between the image and the axis label heading . for example , an image of rounded door handles could be placed under the “ introverted ” and “ feeling ” headings . assuming a shiny or glossy black and white checkerboard image is associated with a modern intellectual characteristic , this image card could be placed under “ extroverted ” and “ thinking ” headings to associate this modern theme with a consumer who is more sociable ( and hence extroverted ) and intellectual ( and hence “ thinks ” about things ). assuming that an image of a cobalt jet black handle is also associated with extroverted thinkers , this image can also be placed . by placing the plurality of image cards into the axis label headings , various adjectives and product configurations can be mapped . as shown in fig9 for example , by placing the checkerboard into the extroverted and thinking columns would correlate this image into the ad quadrant . as more images are placed into the quadrants , it will become apparent that certain images are correlated to various adjectives and also correlated to other images within the quadrant . accordingly , designing a product that incorporates all the images in quadrant ad would tend to result in a product that appeals to the modem consumer . therefore , all the products across the product line designed in view of the ad quadrant may each have a unique shiny or glossy checkerboard patterns with any handle being a cobalt jet black handle . on the other hand , other quadrant designs may yield products that appeal to the more traditional or antique consumer . for example , assuming that a square edged product image and a wooden texture is placed in the introverted and feeling quadrant , then this resulting product may appeal to the traditional consumer and product lines could be developed that all have wooden square handles . [ 0035 ] fig1 illustrates another embodiment of the invention in which the invention may be applied to a company &# 39 ; s currently existing brands and correlated to competitor &# 39 ; s brands . for example , company a is a competitor to companies b , c , and d . in this embodiment , the list of adjectives would be given to a participant , such as a focus group or marketing personnel , etc ., with that participant putting the adjectives in the table under the certain brands , and repeating the same adjective , if necessary , across many brands . by way of example in fig1 , three adjectives were placed under each brand with the “ classic ” and “ reliable ” and “ practical ” adjective being used multiple times across brands . by reference to table 1 above , knowing that the participant placed a particular adjective , that adjective is correlated to the axis label identifier at the top of the appropriate column of table 1 . for example , if the participant placed “ reliable ” in the fig1 table under a and c , this adjective “ reliable ” correlates to the axis label “ thinking ”. by repeating this , each brand of fig1 will yield plot points on the perceptual map . repeating this for many adjectives ( for example , at least more than 3 adjectives per fig1 brand ), an area plot will evolve . [ 0036 ] fig1 demonstrates the next step in which the image cards as described above that describe various product configurations are then placed by the participant in a table . as shown in fig1 , for example , an image card # 4 of rounded door handles could be placed under the “ introverted ” and “ feeling ” headings . assuming a shiny or glossy black and white checkerboard image ( such as image card # 2 ) is associated with a modern intellectual characteristic , this image card could be placed under “ extroverted ” and “ thinking ” headings to associate this modem theme with the a consumer who is more sociable ( and hence extroverted ) and intellectual ( and hence “ thinks ” about things ). assuming that an image of a cobalt jet black handle is also associated with extroverted thinkers , this image can also be placed . by placing the plurality of image cards into the axis label headings , various adjectives and product configurations can be mapped . accordingly , now that the perceptual map associates adjectives with the perceptual map and the perceptual map also associates with product configurations , designing a product based on the product configurations for the brand and designing multiple products within a line under the same brand is obtainable . thus , for example , a cobalt jet black handle could be used for all products in the line that are geared towards extroverted thinkers . the individual component or the combination of a plurality of components , or the overall product itself may be the visual characteristics or visual identifiers contemplated . since the products are designed based on a plurality of adjectives and / or product configurations , the products or the line take on or portray a certain personality . it should be understood that the foregoing relates only to a limited number of embodiments that have been provided for illustration purposes only . it is intended that the scope of invention is defined by the appended claims and that modifications to the embodiments above may be made that do not depart from the scope of the claims .	6
reference will now be made in detail to the preferred embodiments of the present invention , examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings . a first embodiment of the camera according to this invention will be described with reference to fig1 . fig1 is an external view of a communication camera illustrating an outside of an embodiment according to the present invention . referring to fig1 , a communication camera 1 comprises an optical lens 2 , a loudspeaker 3 , a monitor 4 , a start button 5 , an “ yes ” button 6 , a “ no ” button 7 , a dial button group 8 , a mode switching button group 9 , a microphone 10 , and an antenna 11 . the optical lens 2 forms an object image on an imaging element 201 , which will be described later , which is capable of rotating 180 degrees . the loudspeaker 3 converts an electronic signal to sound . the monitor 4 is formed of a device such as a lcd , and displays image information , textual information and other various information . the start button 5 starts recording various information by setting the mode switch button group 9 . the “ yes ” button 6 and the “ no button ” 7 are buttons for operator to instruct the communication camera 1 responsive to an announcement from the communication camera 1 . the dial button group 8 is for inputting a telephone number . the mode switch button group 9 sets power source , communication mode , still video mode , moving video mode and sound record mode . the microphone 10 converts a sound to an electric signal . the antenna 11 transmits and receives radio waves . fig2 is a block diagram of the communication camera 1 illustrating the construction of the invention . referring to fig2 the communication camera 1 comprises an imaging element 201 , an imaging processing circuit 202 , a frame memory 203 , a compressing expanding circuit 204 , a flash memory 205 , a microphone circuit 206 , a sound processing circuit 207 , a loudspeaker circuit 208 , a cpu 209 , a display circuit 210 , a switch circuit 211 , a vibration circuit 212 , and a telephone circuit 213 . the imaging element 201 , which is a photoelectric conversion element such as a ccd , outputs an object image signal as image data . the image processing circuit 202 performs various image processing for the image data output from the imaging element 201 . the frame memory 203 is a volatile semiconductor memory that stores , temporarily , image data processed by image processing , and sound data . the compressing expanding circuit 204 compresses and expands image data and sound data . the flash memory 205 is a nonvolatile memory that stores image data and sound data . the sound processing circuit 207 performs various processing for sound data input into microphone 10 . the loudspeaker circuit 208 drives the loudspeaker 3 . the cpu 209 is electrically connected to circuits of the communication camera 1 and performs all controls of the communication camera 1 . the cpu 209 comprises the timer , and the memory in which various guides , which are announced to the user , are stored in advance . the display circuit 210 drives the monitor 4 . the switch circuit 211 transmits the data of operational states of switches and buttons to the cpu 209 . the vibration circuit 212 announces an incoming call to the user by vibrating the communication camera 1 . the telephone circuits 213 perform telephone functions that are transmitting and receiving information . the controls performed by the cpu 209 of the communication camera 1 will be explained in details referring to fig3 and fig4 in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention . fig3 is a flow chart that shows controls performed by the cpu 209 of communication camera 1 in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention . the present flowchart starts when the user receives an incoming call sent from a caller . in step s 1 , it is determined whether or not the mode chosen by the mode switch group 9 is a still image shooting mode . if it is determined that the mode chosen by the mode switch button group 9 is the still image shooting mode , then the process advances to step s 2 . if the mode chosen by the mode switch button 9 is not the still image shooting mode , then the process advances to step s 11 . in step s 2 , announcing the incoming call by vibration or displaying is prohibited , and the announcement of the incoming call by a sound is performed , announcing to the caller with voice . since composition of a picture is important in a still picture , the announcement by displaying the message is prohibited to avoid causing the picture displayed on the monitor 4 , to be hidden partly behind the displayed message . however , if it is allowed that the picture is hidden , the announcement by displaying the message is usable . in step s 3 , the voice message of whether to interrupt shooting or not , or the voice message of whether to interrupt recording or not , is read out from the memory in the cpu 209 and is output through the loudspeaker 3 . in step s 4 , it is determined whether or not the “ yes ” 6 button is pressed . if it is determined that the “ yes ” button 6 is pressed , then the process advances to step s 5 , if the “ yes ” button 6 is not pressed , the process advances to step s 8 . in step s 5 , the current mode is switched from the shooting mode or the sound record mode to the communication mode , resulting in the communication with the caller . in step s 6 , it is determined whether or not the communication is completed . if it is determined that the communication is completed , than the process advances to step s 7 . if the communication is not completed , step s 6 is repeated until the completion of the communication is determined . in step s 7 , the mode is returned to the shooting mode or the sound record mode . in step s 8 , subsequent to step s 4 in which it is determined that the “ yes ” button 6 is not pressed , it is determined whether or not the “ no ” button 7 is pressed . if it is determined that the “ no ” button 7 is pressed , then the process advances to step s 10 . if the “ no ” button 7 is not pressed , the process advances to step s 9 . in step s 9 , it is determined whether or not the timer of the cpu 209 measures 10 seconds after the incoming call is received . if it is determined that the timer measures 10 seconds after the incoming call is received , then the process advances to step s 10 . if the timer does not measure 10 seconds , then the process returns to step s 3 . in step s 10 , the flow shown in fig4 is performed . in step s 11 , subsequent to step s 1 in which it is determined that the mode is not the shooting mode , it is determined whether or not the mode is one of the moving video mode and sound record mode . if it is determined that the mode is one of the moving video mode and sound record mode , then the process advances to step s 12 . if the mode is not one of the moving video mode and sound record mode , the process advances to step s 19 . in step s 12 , it is determined whether or not shooting or sound recording is performed in the moving video mode or the sound record mode . if it is determined that shooting or sound recording is performed in the moving video mode or the sound record mode , then the process advances to step s 13 . if shooting or sound recording is not performed , the process returns to step s 2 . in step s 13 , the announcement by vibration or voice is prohibited , and the incoming call is indicated on the monitor 4 , and then the caller &# 39 ; s name or information specifying the caller is indicated on the monitor 4 . in step s 14 the indication whether to communicate with the caller by interrupting shooting or recording , is read out from the memory of the cpu 209 and displayed on the monitor 4 . in step s 15 , it is determined whether or not the start button 5 is pressed . if it is determined that the start button 5 is pressed , then the process advances to step s 5 . if the start button 5 is not pressed , the process advances to step s 16 . in step s 16 , it is determined whether or not the “ no ” button 7 is pressed . if it is determined that the “ no ” button 7 is pressed , then the process advances to step , s 18 . if the “ no ” button 7 is not pressed , the process advances to step s 17 . in step s 17 , it is determined whether or not the timer of the cpu 209 measures 10 seconds after the incoming call is received . if it is determined that the timer of the cpu 209 measures 10 seconds after the incoming call is generated , then the process advances to step s 18 . if the timer of the cpu 209 does not measure 10 seconds , the process returns to step s 14 . in step s 18 , the flow shown in fig4 is performed . in step s 19 , the announcement of the incoming call is performed by vibration , sound , or indication , and the caller &# 39 ; s name or information identifying the caller is announced , because it is determined that the mode chosen by the mode switch button 9 is not the still video mode in step s 1 , and it is determined that the mode is not one of the moving video mode and the sound record mode in step s 11 . in step s 20 , the communication starts . in step s 21 , it is determined whether or not the communication is finished . if it is determined that the communication is finished , then the present flow is completed . if the communication is not completed , the process returns to step s 20 , and the communication continues . fig4 is a flow chart that shows controls performed in step s 10 and step s 18 in fig3 . in step s 201 , it is transmitted to the caller that the user is not able to communicate with the caller and waiting for the caller &# 39 ; s message . in step s 202 , when the caller sends the message to the user , the caller &# 39 ; s telephone number and the caller &# 39 ; s message are recorded . the message can be stored in the memory of the communication camera 1 , or in the predetermined memory at the telephone company . in step s 203 , it is determined whether or not the mode is switched to the communication mode from the shooting mode . if it is determined that the mode is switched to the communication mode , then the process advances to step s 204 . if the mode is not switched to the communication mode , determination that the mode is switched to the communication mode from the shooting mode is repeated . in step s 204 , it is determined whether or not the caller &# 39 ; s message is recorded . if it is determined that the caller &# 39 ; s message is recorded , then the process advances to step s 205 . if the caller &# 39 ; s message is not recorded , the process advances to step s 210 . in step s 205 , it is asked whether or not to listen to the message by voice or displayed indication . in step s 206 , it is determined whether or not the “ yes ” button 6 not pressed . if it is determined that the “ yes ” button 6 is pressed , then the process advances to step s 207 . if the “ yes ” button 6 is not pressed , the process advances to step s 208 . in step s 207 , the recorded message is reproduced and the process is completed . in step s 208 , subsequent to step s 206 in which it is determined that the “ yes ” button 6 is not pressed , it is determined whether or not the “ no ” button 7 is pressed . if it is determined that the “ no ” button 7 is pressed , then the present flow is completed . if the “ no ” button 7 is not pressed the process advances to step s 209 . in step s 209 , it is determined whether or not the timer measures 10 seconds after the message is listened or transmitted to the caller . if , it is determined that the timer measures 10 seconds after the message is listened or announced , then the present flow is completed . if the timer does not measure 10 seconds , the process returns to step s 206 . in step s 210 , it is announced , by the voice or the displayed indication , whether or not to telephone the caller . in step s 211 , it is determined whether or not the “ yes ” button 6 is pressed . if it is determined that the “ yes ” button 6 is pressed , then the process advances to step s 212 . if the “ yes ” button 6 is not pressed , the process advances to step s 214 . in step s 212 , the recorded telephone number is dialed . in step s 214 , it is determined whether or not the communication is completed . if it is determined that the communication is completed , then the present flow is completed . if communication is not completed , the process returns to step s 213 , and the communication continues . in step s 215 , subsequent to step s 211 , in which it is determined that the “ yes ” button 6 is not pressed , it is determined whether or not the “ no ” button 7 is pressed . if it is determined that the “ no ” button 7 is pressed then the present flow is completed . if the “ no ” button 7 is not pressed , the process advances to step s 216 . in step s 216 , it is determined whether or not the timer measures 10 seconds after the user telephones the caller or transmits the message to the caller . if it is determined that the timer measures 10 seconds after the user telephones the caller or transmits the message to the caller , then the present flow is completed . if the timer does not measure 10 seconds , the process returns to step 211 . thus , in accordance with the present invention , the exposed picture does not become blurred by camera - shake because the announcement of the incoming call by vibration is prohibited during the shooting time of the still picture , the standby time for the still picture and the standby time for the moving picture . furthermore , in the case of moving picture , the exposed picture does not become blurred due camera - shake , and the communication camera does not record the sound of the incoming call , because the announcement of the incoming call by vibration or sound , is prohibited during shooting . furthermore , in accordance with the present the invention , the user can start shooting at once after completion of communication , because the mode is switched to the shooting mode immediately responsive to the completion of the communication while the mode is the communication mode . furthermore , in accordance with the present invention , when the incoming call is announced during shooting , by stopping shooting , the user can switches the mode to the communication mode , thereby starting communication immediately . furthermore , when the communication camera receives the message during shooting , by sending the caller the message automatically that the user can not correspond to the caller , the user can send the user &# 39 ; s state to the caller without interrupting shooting . furthermore , when the communication camera receives the message during shooting , by storing caller &# 39 ; s telephone number automatically , the user can telephone the caller immediately after the completion of the shooting . furthermore , when the communication camera receives the message during shooting , by storing the caller &# 39 ; s message , the user can learn the callers message without interrupting the shooting . furthermore , the user can shoot as soon as he finishes the communication because the mode is switched to the shooting mode responsive to the completion of communication . therefore , user does not lose a shooting chance . furthermore , by storing a signal from another communication device during shooting , the signal from another communication device can be stored in the memory of the communication camera without interrupting shooting . as described above , according to the first embodiment of the present invention , by changing the announcing method of the incoming call according to a state of the communication camera , exposed image data does not receive bad influences from the incoming call announcement . a second embodiment of the camera according to this invention will be described with reference to fig5 . fig5 is a flow chart showing the operation of cpu 209 in the second embodiment . the explanation of the camera construction is omitted here because the camera construction in the second embodiment is the same as that in the first embodiment . the flowchart shown in fig5 starts when the camera 1 receives a signal sent from other communication device in the case where the incoming call announcement by vibration is set in the camera 1 . in step s 301 , by detecting an operation state of the start button 5 and the imaging element 201 , it is determined whether or not the camera 1 is in the shooting state . if the start button 5 is fully depressed to subject the imaging element 201 to light or imaging element 201 is subjected to light responsive to fully depressing of the start button 5 , then it is determined that the camera 1 is in the shooting state , and the process advances to step s 302 . if the start button 5 is not fully depressed and the imaging element 201 is not subjected to light , then it is determined that the camera 1 is not in the shooting state , and the process advances to step s 308 . in step s 302 , the incoming call announcement by vibration is prevented by stopping the vibration circuit 212 . the process advances to step s 303 after completion of the process in step s 302 . in step s 303 , after it is detected which announcing means is set to the camera 1 , either the announcing means except vibration or the default announcing means is performed . for example , if the announcing means set to the camera 1 is sound or vibration , then the incoming call announcement only by sounds is started . if the announcing means set to the camera 1 is only vibration , then the incoming call announcement by the default announcing means except vibration is started . if the default announcing means is sound or voice , the incoming call announcement by sound or voice is started , and if the default announcing means is the display on the monitor 4 , the incoming call announcement by the display is started . then , the process advances to step s 304 . in step s 304 , by detecting an operation state of the start button 5 and the imaging element 201 , it is determined whether or not the camera 1 has shot the picture . if the start button 5 is not fully depressed and the imaging element 201 is not subjected to light , then it is determined that the camera 1 has shot the picture , and the process advances to step s 305 . if the start button 5 is fully depressed or the imaging element 201 is subjected to light , then it is determined that the camera 1 is in the shooting state , and the process waits completion of shooting in step s 304 . in step s 305 , by permitting the vibration circuit 212 to be driven , the incoming call announcement by vibration is allowed . then , the process advances to step s 306 after completion of the process in step s 305 . in step s 306 , it is determined whether or not the incoming call announcement , which has been started in step s 303 , continues after completion of shooting . if the incoming call announcement continues , then the process advances to step s 307 . if the incoming call announcement has already completed , then the present flow finishes . in step s 307 , the vibration circuit 212 is driven , and the incoming call announcement by vibration is started . regarding the incoming call announcement by means except vibration , started in step s 303 , it is acceptable to finish the incoming call announcement by means except vibration when the incoming call announcement by vibration starts , or it is also acceptable to continue the incoming call by means except vibration . when the process in step s 307 is completed , the present flow ends . if it is determined that the camera 1 is not in the shooting state in step s 301 , then the process advances to step s 308 . in step s 308 , the vibration circuit 212 is driven , and the incoming call announcement by vibration is started . furthermore , it is detected which announcing means is set to the camera 1 . if the incoming call announcement by means except vibration is set , the incoming call announcement by means except vibration is also started . after completion of the process in step s 308 , the process advances to step s 309 . in step s 309 , the operation of the start button 5 is made ineffective . if the start button 5 is turned on , the imaging means does not record . the process advances to step s 310 after completion of the process in step s 309 . in step s 310 , it is determined whether or not the incoming call announcement by vibration , which is started in step s 308 , is finished . if the incoming call announcement is finished , then the process advances to step s 311 . if the incoming call announcement is not finished , then the process waits in step s 310 . in step s 311 , the start button 5 is made effective , and by turning the start button 5 on , it becomes possible to shoot . the present flow ends when the process in step s 311 has finished . as described above , according to the second embodiment of the present invention , it is determined whether or not the camera 1 is in the shooting state upon receiving an incoming call . if the camera 1 is in the shooting state , then the incoming call announcement by vibration is prevented . therefore , camera - shake does not occur . if the camera 1 is not in the shooting state , then it is possible to perform the incoming call announcement every time , even in the standby state of shooting . furthermore , since operation of the start button 5 is made ineffective while incoming call announcement by vibration continues , it is possible to avoid camera - shake by the vibration . furthermore , in the second embodiment , since it is determined whether or not the camera 1 is in the shooting state upon receiving the incoming call , the present invention is applicable to a type of camera that can communicate or shoot without changing the operation mode as for determination of the state of the shooting operation , in the second embodiment , it is determined whether or not the start button 5 is fully depressed so that the imaging element 201 is subjected to light . however , the present invention is not limited to the determination as described in the second embodiment . it is possible to determine the state of the shooting operation by determining whether or not the start button 5 is lightly pressed . in this case , the light press of the start button 5 performs focusing and metering operations , which are preliminary operations of shooting . furthermore , in the second embodiment of the present invention , by making the operation of the start button 5 ineffective during the incoming call announcement by vibration , the camera 1 controls the shooting using the imaging element 201 to be prevented . however , the present invention is not limited to the control , during the incoming call announcement by vibration , as described in the second embodiment . while the incoming call announcement by vibration is performed , it is possible to control the shooting such that an imaging signal is not output from the imaging element 201 , or is not input into the flash memory 205 . furthermore , in the second embodiment of the present invention , the camera 1 controls the shooting using the imaging element 201 to be prevented during the incoming call announcement by vibration . however , it is desirable that the shooting using the imaging element 201 is possible when an event or accident that must be recorded at once occurs even during the incoming call announcement by vibration . accordingly , in the case where the start button 5 is turned on during the incoming call announcement by vibration , it is possible to allow the camera 1 to shoot after announcing a warning that an exposed image become blur because of camera - shake . furthermore , it is possible to allow the camera 1 to shoot only when the combined operation of the start button 5 and other specific operating member is performed , even during the incoming call announcement by vibration . furthermore , it is also possible to have a mode wherein the start button 5 is set effective even during the incoming call announcement by vibration . furthermore , it is also possible to have an operation member such that the incoming call announcement is removed when the user wants to stop the shooting during the incoming call announcement by vibration . furthermore , in the second embodiment of the present invention , the incoming call announcement is prevented during the shooting operation , assuming that shooting is performed without recording sound . however , in the case of the apparatus able to shoot and record sound at the same time , such as a camcorder , it is possible to prevent not only the incoming call announce by vibration but also the incoming call announce by sound or voice . as described above , according to the second embodiment of the present invention , by changing the control of the imaging means , it is possible for the user to avoid receiving bad influence to the imaging data . although the present embodiment is explained on a digital camera capable of shooting both of a still picture and a moving picture , it is also applicable to a digital camera only for a still picture . and also , it is applicable to a silver - halide camera .	7
preferred embodiments of the invention are shown in fig1 - 16 to which reference will be made in the following discussion . where similar parts of the apparatus to be described are used throughout the drawings , these will be referred to with identical reference numbers . with reference to fig1 , this illustrates an electrical cable extrusion line comprising a payoff 1 extruding a metallic conductor 2 made of copper , aluminium or steel into an extruder 3 . rubber or plastic material is introduced into a hopper 4 in the cold state , heated in the extruder 3 which extrudes resulting hot plastics onto the metallic conductor 2 through a forming die - head 5 . the insulated cable is thereafter hauled through a water cooling section 6 and wound on take - up 7 . a non - metallic pipe or tube extrusion line is similar in many respects to a cable line but in which a payoff 1 is not required as the tube or pipe will be formed inside the extruder 3 . measurement of cable parameters such as diameter / wall thickness and / or eccentricity will take place at positions either before or after the water cooling section 6 . in fig2 there is shown a double or triple extruder line 3 . 1 , 3 . 2 in which two or three extrusions take place in series and at the same time . these extrusion lines manufacture electric cables for special applications , such as for use in under sea water communications or high voltage transmission cables . in the latter case , the cable is extruded in a catenary tube 8 in which the cable installation is heat cured in a steam or nitrogen atmosphere , before it exits into the water cooling section 6 and take - up 7 . measurements of cable parameters in these lines will take place through a specially constructed ‘ see through window box 9 ’. to illustrate the employment of the invention in more detail , reference is made to fig3 in which a circular product 10 , such as a tube , pipe or electric cable , is shown being extruded in a linear direction along the axis of the product as shown by arrow 11 . a terahertz ( thz ) radiating unit 12 provides a ray 13 directed onto a reflecting surface 14 . the reflecting surface 14 is either a single - sided mirror , or one facet of a polygonal mirror drum 15 driven in a rotating manner by means of an electric motor 16 . this rotation in effect scans the ray 13 across the diameter of a lens 17 which produces a curtain of parallel scans of rays across the product 10 . a lens 18 , is positioned on the opposite side of the product 10 to receive the thz rays from the lens 17 . a thz sensor 19 and an imaging analysis unit ( not shown ) analyses the oncoming beams in a manner which will be familiar to one skilled in the arts . fig4 is a cross - sectional view through the travelling object 10 of fig3 , to better illustrate the passage of the thz radiation from the unit 12 to rotating mirror 14 , 15 the lens &# 39 ; 17 , 18 and the thz sensor 19 . as will be evident from fig4 it is possible using the system described , to ascertain the diameter , wall thickness and / or eccentricity of the product 10 in a horizontal plain . it is also possible as will be readily appreciated to provide a similar arrangement in which measurements may be taken in a vertical plane . an important reason in accordance with the invention for scanning parallel thz radiation across the product 10 in its path of travel in free space , is that a measurement may take place irrespective of the position of the product 10 within the curtain of parallel rays of thz radiation , see for example position 10 . 1 of the product shown in fig4 . as alluded to , this method is useful as firstly the product does not have to be guided by contact rollers and secondly , it is important in an application where the object is in a hot state , rendering the same , difficult to guide in any manner or form . fig5 shows the product 10 in a position between a transmitter 20 of thz radiation and a receiver 21 , mounted on a cradle base 22 . the transmitter 20 houses a thz radiation unit , the motor - driven scanning mirror drum device , 14 , 15 and lens 17 shown in previous figs ., thereby to produce a parallel curtain of thz rays across the space between transmitter 20 and receiver 21 . the receiver 21 houses the lens 18 , thz sensor 19 and the thz imaging analysis unit circuit , determining the “ transit time ” of each successive thz ray through the insulating part of the product 10 under test and outputs the values on a processing unit 23 ( shown in fig1 ) which is connected to receiver 21 , either by wire or wireless connection . the processing unit 23 computes the imaging analysis information and produces matrix images and values of overall diameter ( d ) inner diameter ( d ) and eccentricity ( e ) of the product under test , as shown in fig1 . in fig6 the results of measurement of the cross - section of a tube under test is shown in which ( d ) is the overall diameter ( d ) is the inner diameter . the horizontal x axis of the graph , displays the “ transit times ” of the thz radiation t 1 , t 2 , t 3 and the y axis of the graph represents the scanning time t . the wall thickness of the tube is denoted by w 1 and w 2 in the vertical axis and the average thickness may be computed from the formula ( w 1 + w 2 )/ 2 = average thickness fig7 shows similar results to those shown in fig6 but wherein the cross - section is of a cable in which t 1 and t 2 are the “ transit times ” along the axis x of the graphical representation shown and the scanning rate t in the vertical axis y . ( d ) represents the overall diameter of the cable and ( d ) represents the electrical conductor diameter ( core ) of the cable under test . fig8 illustrates how the cable eccentricity may be calculated , wherein cable eccentricity may be defined by the equation : e = s /( d / 2 − d / 2 )× 100 %. where ( e ) is eccentricity , ( d ) overall diameter , ( d ) is core diameter and ( s ) is distance between the centres of ( d ) and ( d ). in fig8 . 1 s = 0 therefore e = 0 which means that the cable is concentric . in fig8 . 2 s = d / 2 − d / 2 therefore e = 1 × 100 = 100 % which means that the cable has 100 % eccentricity and in practice is unusable . in a practical example let , d = 56 mm , d = 6 mm and s = 1 mm . using the eccentricity equation given above , then e = 1 / 25 × 100 %, i . e . 4 % which would be an acceptable result . the measurements of ( d ), ( d ) and ( e ) are displayed on the processing unit 23 as referred to above with reference to fig5 . correction of cable eccentricity may be achieved by adjustments to the extrusion forming die - head 5 according to embodiments of the present invention . fig9 shows an arrangement wherein the transmitter 20 of thz radiation and the receiver 21 for the radiation after passing through product 10 may be mounted on a rotatable cradle base 22 , which is able to perform the following functions . thus cradle base 22 is able to oscillate about the centre of the travelling product 10 in a “ to and fro ” rotation and also in a continuous circular mode , illustrated by the arrows 24 , 25 . non - contact transmission from a controller ( not shown ) to the imaging analysis circuit provided in the receiver 21 , permits communication of all functions that are being operated in the receiver 21 as well as the transmitter 20 . the invention as described in the preceding embodiments is able to apply control functions to extrusion lines , whereby by measuring the diameter deviations , feedback can be applied to make adjustments to the extrusion line production speed , in order to maintain the diameter of the cable or tube within required specifications . in specific cases , the extruder output may also be used for the same purpose . the cable eccentricity may be corrected as referred to already by adjustments to the forming die - head 5 , of the extruder 3 . further preferred embodiments of the invention are shown in fig1 - 16 . fig1 , shows a side view of a plastic extruder 26 similar in operation to the extruder 3 in fig1 but having a modified forming die - head 27 , designed to extrude flat sheets of rubber or plastic materials including , polyethylene , nylon , pvc , acrylic and the like , in varying thicknesses and widths . the hot material exiting from forming die - head 27 enters a cooling zone 28 , comprising a number of cooling rolls or calendars , which also determine the thickness of the sheet . the width of the sheet is determined by “ side slitters ” not shown . the sheet progresses to the take - up 29 and measurements of thickness and width , as well as quality control , may take place in position 30 . fig1 shows a “ paper sheet producing line ” whereby , paper exits from the pulping machine ( not shown ) and enters a drying zone 31 made up from heated drums . next , the paper moves on to a coating zone 32 thereby it may be coated with various chemicals or plastic materials , depending on application requirements . at this point , the paper is “ thickness size ” by pressure rollers and the width is determined by “ edge slitters ” ( not shown ). the finished paper sheet is wound on to a drum 33 and measurements of thickness and width and quality control , may take place in position 34 . fig1 a , shows an “ installation ” of 20 / 21 transmitter / receiver , fig5 mounted on a c - frame 35 , whereby the curtain of parallel rays of said thz radiation ( page 3 lines 9 - 11 ) thereof , is scanning continuously the complete surface area of a flat product 37 , in its path of travel 38 . in this case , the span of the curtain of parallel rays of said thz radiation , is adequately wide , thereby to cope with the full width of product 37 . in applications of exceptionally wide products 37 , fig1 b , it is possible to mount additional said “ installations ” 20 - 21 ( fig5 ) on the c - frame ( not shown ), thereby , to provide , said complete scanning coverage , to the full width of the said product 37 under manufacture , on a continuous basis . in practice a more economical option may be considered , thereby to provide a single “ installation ” 20 - 21 ( fig5 ) on the c - frame , as it may be adequate , particularly when , the majority of production requirements , are for product widths , which fall within the span of the curtain of parallel rays of said thz radiation . in some applications processing wide products 37 , fig1 b , it is possible that intermittent , or random checks of dimensional parameters and or of quality control , are sufficient to ensure minimum acceptable standards for these products . in these cases , a single “ installation ” 20 - 21 ( fig5 ) on the c - frame may be employed , whereby , the said c - frame is set , in a “ transverse reciprocating ” motion 36 , across the width of the product 37 , thereby , to facilitate intermittent , or randomized measuring coverage of said product . single or multiple “ installations ” 20 - 21 ( fig5 ), are connected to the processing unit 23 ( fig1 ), either by wire or preferably by wireless communication , thereby measurements of said product thickness and width , as well as quality control inspection results , are determined by imaging analysis and displayed in a matrix . the processing unit 23 ( fig1 ), can provide complete data logging of several lengths of products , as may be required in cases where high quality is necessary , in the performance and application of said product . fig1 , shows a cross section of product 39 under test , together with the associated matrix in a graph format , whereby the thickness is represented by ( t ) in the x - axis and the width is represented by ( w ) in the y - axis , in a similar manner to the matrix shown in fig6 . fig1 shows a product 40 with defects . the resulting analysis of the time related signals are displayed in the associated matrix thereof , the x - axis shows ridges as ( t 2 ), fissures as ( t 3 ) and ( t 1 ) as the product thickness . fig1 , shows contaminants in the product , including iron filings or sand particles and the like , displayed as dots in the associated matrix . the foregoing description of the embodiments of the invention has been presented for the purposes of illustration and description . it is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise form disclosed . many modifications and variations are possible in light of this disclosure . it is intended that the scope of the invention be limited not by this detailed description , but rather by the claims appended hereto .	1
as shown in fig1 - 4 , filter strip 100 can be configured in the shape of a rectangular strip having a length 160 and width 200 . fig1 is a top view of a filter rolling strip 100 which is punched in an encasing form 102 . fig2 is a top view of the filter rolling strip 100 after it has been removed from the encasing form 102 . filter strip 100 can have sides 110 , 120 , 130 , and 140 , and can include a removable portion 400 . a plurality of perforation , etched , or fold lines 310 can be included . filter strip 100 can be formed from a pliable and deformable material , such as paper , plastic , metal and the like , that is capable of retaining a folded and / or spiral shape when rolled upon itself from one end . in a preferred embodiment , the filter strip 100 can be formed from a material is relatively less flammable than sheet 600 ( shown in fig1 and 12 ) and / or the tobacco filler 1150 so that when all of the tobacco filler material has been consumed the cigar or cigarette becomes extinguished . filter strip 100 can be formed from paper , having a thickness greater than the thickness of sheet 600 ( shown in fig1 and 12 ). the ratio of the thickness of strip 100 to the thickness of sheet 600 can be about 1 . 1 , 1 . 2 , 1 . 25 , 1 . 3 , 1 . 4 , 1 . 5 , 1 . 6 , 1 . 75 , 1 . 8 , 1 . 9 , 2 . 0 , 2 . 25 , 2 . 5 , 2 . 75 , 3 . 0 , 3 . 5 , 4 . 0 , 4 . 5 , 5 . 0 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , and 10 . in various embodiments the ratio can be a range between any two of the above referenced ratios . filter strip 100 can be of a rectangular or square shape as shown in fig1 - 4 . alternatively filter strip 100 can be curved as shown in fig5 - 8 . side 110 can have a height 200 , which height can be broken into heights 220 and 240 . height 240 can be greater than height 220 . in various embodiments the ratio of the heights can be about 1 . 1 , 1 . 2 , 1 . 25 , 1 . 3 , 1 . 4 , 1 . 5 , 1 . 6 , 1 . 75 , 1 . 8 , 1 . 9 , 2 . 0 , 2 . 25 , 2 . 5 , 2 . 75 , 3 . 0 , 3 . 5 , 4 . 0 , 4 . 5 , 5 . 0 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , and 10 . in various embodiments the ratio can be a range between any two of the above referenced ratios . side 130 can have a length 160 , which length can be broken into lengths 170 and 180 . length 180 can be greater than length 170 . in various embodiments the ratio of the lengths can be about 1 . 1 , 1 . 2 , 1 . 25 , 1 . 3 , 1 . 4 , 1 . 5 , 1 . 6 , 1 . 75 , 1 . 8 , 1 . 9 , 2 . 0 , 2 . 25 , 2 . 5 , 2 . 75 , 3 . 0 , 3 . 5 , 4 . 0 , 4 . 5 , 5 . 0 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , and 10 . in various embodiments the ratio can be a range between any two of the above referenced ratios . fig3 shows strip 100 of fig2 schematically indicating ( arrow 402 ) that removable portion 400 is being removed from strip 100 . as shown in fig4 and 7 , the rolling strip 100 can have removable portion 400 . fig4 shows strip 100 with removable portion 400 removed and leaving the remaining portion of strip 100 . fig7 shows strip 100 with the removable portion 400 removed ( schematically indicated by arrow 402 ) and leaving the remaining portion . in one embodiment filter section 550 of cylindrical filter tip 500 can be folded similar to a hand fan as shown in fig9 . in one embodiment filter section 550 can be spirally rolled as shown in fig1 . in forming filter tip 500 , as schematically indicating in fig4 , length 170 of filter strip 100 can be folded upon itself ( such as by using perforation or fold lines 310 to assist in the folding and schematically indicated by zig zag arrow 312 ). length 170 can be placed between a users thumbs and forefingers and is folded alternatively ( or in an undulating manner ) toward length 180 . the number of times that length 170 of filter strip 100 can be folded upon itself depends both on length 170 , and the size of the folds ( e . g ., the distance between fold lines 310 ). after the folding of length 170 , length 170 and length 180 are then rolled upon themselves ( schematically indicated by arrow 106 ) until filter tip 500 is formed as shown formed in fig9 . fig9 shows a substantially cylindrical finished filter tip 500 which can include first end 510 , second end 520 and have a height 200 . filter tip 500 can include filter section 550 having a height 220 and open section 570 having a height 240 . height 220 and height 240 correspond to the same numbered heights in filter strip 100 shown in fig1 - 4 . finished filter tip 500 can be either cylindrical or conical . if filter tip 500 is to be conical it is preferred that semicircular filter strip 100 shown in fig5 - 8 be used to form filter strip 100 . fig5 is a top view of semicircular filter strip 100 which is punched in an encasing form 102 having a removable portion 400 . fig6 is a top view of semicircular filter strip 100 which is punched in an encasing form 102 having a narrowed portion 240 removed . fig7 shows semicircular filter strip 100 fig6 with a removable portion 400 being removed from the remaining portion ( removal schematically indicated by arrow 402 ). fig8 shows semicircular filter strip 100 with the removable portion 400 now removed . in one embodiment filter section 550 of conical filter tip 500 can be folded similar to a hand fan as shown in fig1 . in one embodiment filter section 550 of semicircular filter strip 100 can be spirally rolled as shown in fig1 . in forming conical filter tip 500 , as schematically indicating in fig8 , radial length 170 of filter strip 100 can be folded upon itself ( such as by using perforation or fold lines 310 to assist in the folding and schematically indicated by zig zag arrow 312 ). arc length 170 can be determined by the radius from radius of curvature of semicircular filter strip 100 to the middle of height 220 multiplied by the angle measurement in radians of radial length 170 . arc length 180 can be determined by the radius from radius of curvature of semicircular filter strip 100 to the middle of height 220 multiplied by the angle measurement in radians of radial length 180 . such arc lengths will give an average arc length between the bottom of height 220 to the top of height 220 . radial length 170 can be placed between a users thumbs and forefingers and is folded alternatively ( or in an undulating manner ) toward radial length 180 . the number of times that radial length 170 of filter strip 100 can be folded upon itself depends both on radial length 170 , and the size of the folds ( e . g ., the distance between fold lines 310 ). after the folding of radial length 170 , radial length 170 and radial length 180 are then rolled upon themselves ( schematically indicated by arrow 106 ) until filter tip 500 is formed as shown formed in fig1 . fig1 and 12 show sheets or papers that can be used with filter tip 500 to make finished cigars or cigarettes . fig1 shows a carton 1300 of cigarette papers 600 , 600 ′, 600 ″, etc . which can be used with one or more of the filter tips 500 to form a finished cigar or cigarette . fig1 is a perspective view of a stack of smokable sheets which can be used with one or more of the filter tips . cigarette rolling papers can be stored and packaged in a cigarette rolling paper carton 1300 having a rectangular box - shaped base 1305 and dispensing opening 1320 . sheet 600 can have a length consistent with conventional cigarette paper sheets , e . g ., in the range of from about one to four inches . in a preferred embodiment sheet 600 can be about 2 . 75 inches by 1 . 5 inches , and 3 inches by 2 inches . it is , however , to be understood that these dimensions are provided for purposes of reference and illustration , and can be other than that specifically described . sheet 600 can include a section or strip 645 of adhesive , glue or moisture - activated gum disposed on a frontside sheet surface at a position adjacent a edge 640 . adhesive section 645 extends a distance from edge 640 towards edge 620 . in a preferred embodiment , the adhesive section 645 has a width of approximately 3 / 16 inches , ( e . g ., extends away from the edge 640 approximately 3 / 16 inches ), and is formed from a moisture - activated gum . moisture and flavors may be added ( by methods known to one skilled in the art such as spraying a mist , brushing or dipping the sheets of flammable material into a vat of hydrant or flavor mixture , etc .) to sheets 600 etc . in an example embodiment , sheet 600 has a length 620 of approximately 2 . 75 inches and a width 610 of approximately 1 . 5 inches , rolling strip 100 is approximately 0 . 75 inches wide 200 by 1 . 25 inches long 160 . in another example embodiment , sheet 600 has a length 620 of approximately 3 inches and a width 610 of approximately 2 inches , rolling strip 100 is approximately 0 . 75 inches wide 200 by 1 . 75 inches long 160 . fig1 - 15 schematically indicate the steps of preparing a cigarette or cigar with filter tip 500 . it is desired that the height 200 of filter tip 500 be sufficient so that , when rolled to assist in forming the rolled cigarette or cigar , filter tip 500 provides a sufficient distance between a tip of the cigarette or cigar and the smoking material to prevent ones fingers or lips from being burned during holding or smoking the cigarette . in one embodiment filter tip 500 has a sufficient height 200 to assist or guide the user in rolling sheet 600 upon itself into a cylinder or cone . as shown in fig1 - 15 , sheet 600 can be rolled over filter tip 500 . sheet 600 can be a rectangular sheet of conventional cigarette paper , homogenized tobacco , and / or natural leaf tobacco . filter tip 500 ( with a spiral filter section 550 ′ compared to a folded filter section 550 ) should be placed close to the longitudinal centerline of sheet 600 ( fig1 ) and sheet 600 is rolled or bent around an outside surface of filter tip 500 to form a u - shaped or v - shaped pouch extending longitudinally from side 630 to side 610 . during this step , filter tip 500 can act as a guide to assist the user in forming a generally u - shaped pouch not only along the section of sheet 600 that is placed into direct contact with the outside surface of filter tip 500 . the ability to form a generally u - shaped pouch is desired as it increases the user &# 39 ; s ability to form a cigarette having a substantially cylindrical or conical configuration . tobacco filler material 1150 ′ is placed within the formed pouch 625 between first end 510 of filter tip 500 and side 610 of sheet 600 . once the desired amount of tobacco filter material 1150 ′ is placed into pouch 625 , the user uses filter tip 500 as a guide to roll side 620 of sheet 600 around both filter tip 500 and the volume of tobacco filler material 1150 ′. continuing in this manner , filter tip 500 assists the user in rolling sheet 600 in substantially cylindrical or conical form , by allowing user to roll side 640 over side 620 and use adhesive strip 645 to form a seal for the rolled cigarette or cigar . the step of rolling side 640 of sheet 600 around filter tip 500 and tobacco filler material 1150 ′ is continued so that the side 620 becomes tucked between the front 612 of sheet 600 , on one side , and filter tip 500 and tobacco filler material 1150 ′, on an opposite side . a rear surface 614 of sheet 600 interfaces with and is rolled against the front 612 about filter tip 500 and tobacco filler material 1150 ′, and toward side 640 until only the adhesive section 645 remains exposed . during the hand rolling process of rolling sheet 600 , filter tip 500 acts as a guide that is used between the fingers of a user to assist in the formation of a finished cigarette or cigar . optional adhesive strip 645 on sheet 600 can be activated by conventional means , e . g ., if the adhesive section is a moisture - activated gum it is activated by licking , and rolling of the cigarette rolling paper is continued so that the adhesive section is sealed against an adjacent rear 614 to form a cigar or cigarette 1200 as shown in fig1 . using the above steps for the cylindrical filter tip 500 , conical filter tip 500 can be used to make a cone 1100 . fig1 is a perspective view a cone 1100 for the consumption of smokable substances having sheet 600 of material comprised of tobacco , homogenized tobacco and / or natural leaf material such as plant leaves ( e . g ., banana , palm leaves , etc .) and the like rolled around conical filter tip 500 . sheet 600 forming cone 1100 . in various embodiments cone 1100 can be comprised of multiple sheets 600 , 602 , 604 , 606 , etc . cone 1100 can be made to any desired length 650 , and can have first end 1110 , a second end 1120 , an inner volume 1140 . first end 1110 can have a width 1112 , and second end 1120 can have a width 112 . width 1112 can be greater than width 1122 . in various embodiments the ratio of the widths can be about 1 . 1 , 1 . 2 , 1 . 25 , 1 . 3 , 1 . 4 , 1 . 5 , 1 . 6 , 1 . 75 , 1 . 8 , 1 . 9 , 2 . 0 , 2 . 25 , 2 . 5 , 2 . 75 , 3 . 0 , 3 . 5 , 4 . 0 , 4 . 5 , 5 . 0 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , and 10 . in various embodiments the ratio can be a range between any two of the above referenced ratios . a conical filter tip 500 may be disposed within the first second end 1120 of cone 1100 . filter tip 500 can include filter section 550 and open section 570 . finished cylindrical tubes or cones 1100 can be packaged for sale in various embodiments of commercial packaging . fig1 is a perspective view showing a cone 1100 used with one or more of the filter tips 500 disclosed herein and stored in a cylindrical storage tube 1000 having a base 1005 , storage volume 1020 , removable cap 1010 , and a tamping / packing rod or straw 1180 . multiple nested cones 1100 , 1100 ′, 1100 ″, etc . can be stored in storage tube 1000 . when desired , the user can remove a cone 1100 and prepare a finished cigar or cigarette as will be described below . container 1000 can include a base 1005 and cap 1010 . base 1005 can have a shoulder 1007 for securing cap 1010 . base 1005 can also include an interior volume for storing one or more nested cones 1000 , 1000 ′, etc . container 1000 can itself be packaged such as by shrink wrapping or other packaging cylindrical storage tube 1000 will prevent the crushing ( and drying out ) of cones 1100 , 1100 ′, 1100 ″, etc . until ready to use . in an alternative embodiment multiple nested cylindrical tubes with filter tips 500 can be stored in storage container 1000 . however , the individual multiple cylindrical tubes should have decreasing diameters to allow them to each be nested in the next larger diameter cylindrical tube . fig1 is a perspective view showing a plurality of nested cones 1100 , 1100 ′, 1100 ″, etc . used with one or more of the filter tips 500 disclosed herein and stored in a frusto - conical storage tube 1000 ′ with a removable cap 1010 , and a tamping / packing rod or straw 1182 which also is frusto - conical in shape . fig1 is a perspective view showing a plurality of nested cones 1100 , 1100 ′, 1100 ″, etc . used with one or more of the filter tips 500 disclosed herein and stored in a pouch 1400 , and a tamping / packing rod or straw 1182 , which also is frustoconical in shape , and which also provides support to the nested cones 1100 , 1100 ′, 1100 ″ until used . preparing a cigar or cigarette from a cone or tube with filter tip fig2 - 24 schematically indicate the steps of preparing a finished cigarette or cigar 1600 with filter tip 500 . fig2 is a side view of a cone 1100 having filter tip 500 and inner volume 1140 . fig2 shows the step of adding tobacco filler material to the inner volume 1140 of cone 1100 . the inner volume 1140 is the space between first end 510 of filter tip 500 and first end 1110 of cone 1100 . filter section 550 of filter tip 500 will prevent tobacco filler material from passing through to open space 570 of filter tip 500 . fig2 shows the step of compacting the tobacco filler material 1150 ′ added to inner volume 1140 of cone 1100 . arrows 1182 schematically indicate the use of tamper 1180 to pushed down tobacco filler 1150 . filter section 550 of filter tip 500 will prevent tobacco filler material from passing into open space 570 and second end 1120 of cone 1100 . arrows 1184 schematically indicate the use tapping second end 1120 of cone 1100 on a hard surface to compact tobacco filler 1150 . during tapping filter section 550 of filter tip 500 will prevent tobacco filler material from passing into open space 570 and second end 1120 of cone 1100 . various embodiments of tamping rod or straw 1180 can be used to pack or compact tobacco filler material 1550 ′ into inner volume 1140 of cone 1100 . rod or straw 1180 may be a straw or stick , and may have different shaped ends to facilitate the tobacco filler compacting process — such as the frusto - conical shape of rod or straw 1180 in fig1 . fig2 continues the step of filling inner volume 1140 of cone 1100 , after that compaction step of fig2 . fig2 shows the final step of twisting first end 1110 of cone 1100 ( schematically indicated by arrows 1118 ) to close open volume 1140 and keep tobacco filler material 1150 compacted . the cigar or cigarette is now ready to smoke with a filter tip 500 at its second end 1120 . the following is a list of reference numerals used in this application . all measurements disclosed herein are at standard temperature and pressure , at sea level on earth , unless indicated otherwise . all materials used or intended to be used in a human being are biocompatible , unless indicated otherwise . the foregoing description of presently preferred and other aspects of this invention has been presented by way of illustration and example . it does not present , nor is it intended to present , an exhaustive catalog of all structural and procedural forms by which the invention can be embodied . variations upon and alterations of the described structures and procedures can be pursued without departing from the fair substance and scope of the invention consistent with the foregoing descriptions , and the following claims which are to be read and interpreted liberally in the context of the state of the art from which this invention has advanced .	0
fig1 shows the invention in elevation view connected to a trailer frame 10 which is shown in partial cut - away view . trailer frame 10 has a forwardly - extending tongue 12 with a ball receiver 22 at its forwardmost end . a trailer jack 14 is affixed proximate the front of tongue 12 . the jack 14 has a motor drive or crank mechanism 16 which movably positions a jack shaft 18 upwardly or downwardly . jack shaft 18 has a foot pad 20 which can be extended to contact the ground surface . trailer frame 10 has a cross - frame member 11 and a cross - frame member 13 for strengthening the frame assembly . referring to fig1 - 4 , a wheel assembly 24 is pivotally and adjustably connected to trailer frame 10 . a pair of u - brackets 26 , 28 are affixed to cross - frame member 11 by bolts or weldments . each u - bracket 26 , 28 has a pair of aligned holes through the respective brackets , the holes being sized to accept hinge pins 32 , 34 . a wishbone frame 30 has a pair of downwardly depending frame sections 36 , 38 having aligned holes through their respective ends ; hinge pins 32 , 34 respectively pivotally connect frame sections 36 , 38 to brackets 26 , 28 . these connections permit wheel assembly 24 to pivot about the axis of alignment of hinge pins 32 and 34 . the front end of wishbone frame 30 is formed into a downwardly directed frame section 40 having a plurality of aligned holes 42 at spaced apart intervals along its length . the lower end of frame section 40 has a forwardly projecting tab 44 which will be hereinafter described . a vertical cylinder 50 is affixed to wishbone frame 30 proximate its center and cylinder 50 has a pair of aligned slots 52 passing therethrough . a linch pin 54 is sized to insert through the slots 52 . a front bracket 46 is affixed to cross frame member 13 by bolts or weldment . front bracket 46 has a pair of elongate slots 48 through its respective side walls in aligned relationship . a bolt 45 is sized to fit through elongate slots 48 and also to fit through holes 42 in frame section 40 . a compression spring 60 is fitted over the exterior of cylinder 50 and a spindle 62 is fitted into the interior of cylinder 50 . spindle 62 has a pair of elongate slots 63 proximate its upper end and elongate slots 63 are sized to accept linch pin 54 . spindle 62 has a curved lower end 64 with an axle connection 65 proximate its lower extremity . axle connection 65 is adapted to receive an axle which passes through the wheel hubs for wheels 66 . a turning arm 56 is affixed to spindle 62 , and turning arm 56 is rotatable with spindle 62 about the vertical axis of spindle 62 . a pair of l - brackets 33 , 35 are each respectively connected to an inner end of hinge pin 32 , 34 . a pair of steering dampers 72 , 74 each have respective ends 73 , 75 connected to l - brackets 33 , 35 by means of threaded fasteners 76 , 78 . the respective other ends 83 , 85 of steering dampers 72 , 74 are connected to turning arm 56 by similar threaded fasteners , 86 , 88 . steering dampers 72 , 74 are conventional dashpot - type cylinders typically having air as the damping medium . each of the steering dampener ends 73 , 75 , 83 , 85 have a rubber grommet for receiving the respective threaded fasteners . these rubber grommets permit a certain degree of lateral movement of the steering dampers relative to the brackets to which they are connected . a small amount of lateral movement is to be expected , as the wheel assembly 24 will move upwardly and downwardly as it encounters different types of road surfaces . of course , an alternative and equivalent embodiment of this invention could utilize a single steering dampener connected as described instead of the two steering dampeners which are described with reference to the preferred embodiment . fig4 shows a top view of the apparatus in partial breakaway to illustrate the turning mechanism associated with the wheels 66 . in this example , the wheels as shown turn sharply to the left with turning arm 56 correspondingly turned to the left . steering damper 74 is compressed as a result of its connection to turning arm 56 and steering damper 72 is extended as a result of this connection to turning arm 56 . since both steering damper 72 and steering damper 74 comprise cylinders and pistons having air in the cylinders , both steering dampers will resist sudden extension or retraction and will thereby dampen or slow the turning motion of wheels 66 . this prevents any rapid oscillation or turning motions from taking place with respect to wheels 66 and controls the rate of turning under operating conditions . in operation , the trailer jack 14 is extended to permit foot pad 20 to contact the ground ; and the trailer jack is further extended to raise the ball receiver sufficiently to permit a vehicle trailer ball to be positioned beneath the ball receiver 22 . trailer jack 14 is then retracted until it disengages from contact with the ground , and the degree of loading of the trailer on the trailer hitch mechanism is assessed . ideally , the trailer tongue should be positioned so as to have approximately a 17 - inch clearance from the ground ; and the trailer frame and vehicle frame should be relatively horizontal with respect to the ground . if the trailer hitch is overloaded , the trailer frame and vehicle frame will be relatively lowered and the trailer ball receiver will be less than 17 inches above the ground . in this case , the jack 14 is again activated to raise the trailer tongue and bolt 45 is inserted through one of the plurality of openings 42 through front section 40 . to share a greater portion of the trailer load , front section 40 is raised to permit bolt 45 to pass through one of the lower holes in front section 40 . after bolt 45 has been secured in the proper position , the trailer jack is again retracted to lower the entire assembly into contact with the ground so that the relative horizontal positions of the trailer frame and vehicle can be reassessed . this process is continued until the trailer frame is relatively horizontal to the ground and the trailer ball receiver 22 is approximately 17 inches above the surface of the ground . for stowing the wheel assembly during periods of inoperation , the linch pin 54 may be inserted through slot 52 of cylinder 50 and slot 63 of spindle 62 . this will lock the spindle and wheels into a fixed raised position relative to the wishbone frame 30 . the forwardly projecting tab 44 on the front section 40 of wishbone frame 30 provides a safety mechanism in the event bolt 45 becomes disconnected or broken . in this situation , the front section 40 of wishbone frame 30 will tend to move upwardly in unconstrained fashion will tab 44 contacts the underside of cross frame member 13 . this engagement will permit no further dropping of the trailer frame front end and will protect against a catastrophic failure . the respective ends 73 , 83 of damper 72 and 75 , 85 of damper 74 will typically include a rubber grommet for facilitating the connection with the fasteners . the respective rubber grommets permit some lateral and longitudinal motion of the respective ends of the steering damper 72 , 74 in a manner which is typically associated with the connection of shock absorbers and the like . fig5 shows an alternative embodiment of the invention in elevation view and connected to a trailer frame 10 , which is shown in partial cutaway view . a wheel assembly 24 a is pivotally attached to a cross - frame member 11 at two points , as described earlier . a pair of u - brackets 26 , 28 are affixed to cross - frame member 11 as described , and each u - bracket has a pair of aligned holes through the respective brackets which are sized to accept hinge pins 32 , 34 . the front portion of wheel assembly 24 a has a downwardly - directed frame section 40 having a plurality of aligned holes 42 , wherein each of the holes 42 may be selectively aligned with a slot in front bracket 46 . a vertical cylinder 50 a is affixed to the wishbone frame 30 , and a piston 51 is slidably movable within the inside of cylinder 50 a . piston 51 has at least a closed top surface , and cylinder 50 a has an open bottom end for permitting piston 51 to be accepted into cylinder 50 a . an air bag 55 is placed in the space between the top surface of piston 51 and the undersurface of the top wall of cylinder 50 a . an air valve 57 is attached to air bag 55 and projects through the top wall of cylinder 50 a via sealable grommet 53 . the air pressure into air bag 55 may , therefore , be selectively controlled by adding or removing air from the air bag via air valve 57 . in operation , the compressible air bag serves as a resilient suspension means for controlling the loading effects on the wheel assembly 24 a . the air bag is also able to absorb the shock of relative movement between 50 and 51 and cylinder 50 a , as might be caused by operating the vehicle over a road surface . in all other respects , the apparatus disclosed in fig5 is similar to the apparatus previously disclosed herein . of course , other alternative embodiments may be devised to provide a similar operation to that described herein . for example , a torsion bar suspension assembly might be adapted to serve the functions described herein , or a combination of air and hydraulics might be used in connection with a piston / cylinder operation to achieve the same purpose . the present invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or essential attributes thereof ; and it is , therefore , desired that the present embodiment be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive , reference being made to the appended claims rather than to the foregoing description to indicate the scope of the invention .	1
the present invention involves an improved bucket assembly for use with heavy equipment such as backhoes or excavators . the present invention comprises an improvement and modification over the grapple assembly of above referenced u . s . pat . no . 5 , 975 , 604 ( shown in fig1 ) and each utilizes a double pin attachment structure for removably attaching to a boom or dipper stick of the equipment or machine on which it is to be utilized . the improved bucket assembly is attached to and controlled by a single actuator / linkage assembly mounted to the boom or dipper stick . by the use of the single actuator / linkage assembly , the improved bucket assembly has wider movement or rotation capabilities compared to buckets attached by dual boom / tool connector assemblies commonly utilized in the prior art . the grapple - like tine assembly of the improved bucket assembly is constructed and coupled to the bucket to enable full closure and nearly full opening relative to the bucket . the tine assembly is mounted and controlled via a pair of hydraulic actuators and a bell crank which is free floating about its axis mounted to the bucket , but two pair of hydraulic actuators and two bell cranks may be utilized . the control circuits for a pair and two pair of hydraulic actuators are illustrated in fig7 and 8 . referring now to the drawings , fig1 illustrates an embodiment of a grapple assembly disclosed in above referenced u . s . pat . no . 5 , 975 , 604 of which the present invention , an embodiment of which is shown in fig2 and which comprises an improved bucket assembly , includes a grapple - like tine assembly with hydraulic actuators similar to a tine assembly and actuators of fig1 basically , it may be considered that the improved bucket assembly of fig2 is a modification of the grapple assembly of fig1 wherein a bucket replaces one set of tines . as in the grapple assembly of fig1 the improved bucket assembly of fig2 utilizes a double pin mounting structure . thus , the improved bucket assembly is universal in application in that it is compatible for attachment with substantially all of the different double pin mounting systems in the industry and / or other types of mounting devices in the industry . the main and linkage pins of the bucket assembly can be easily changed at the job site using small hand tools . the bucket assembly of this invention can either be directly attached to the opening on the machine &# 39 ; s boom or dipper stick , or it can be attached to a two pin quick coupler device available in the industry that may be in use on the boom . the invention also enables the operator to have a greater degree of flexibility and more complete control over movement of the bucket assembly . the same control lever in the operator &# 39 ; s compartment that would be used for rotating the excavating bucket through its range of movement is used to control the forward and reverse pitch of the grapple - like tine assembly through the same range of movement . because the mounting configuration of the invention is the same as the standard excavating bucket , the improved bucket assembly of the present invention can be used for light or heavy excavation work . because the actuators for the bucket and tine assemblies may be located within a housing , the hydraulic lines from those actuators only need to be connected to the accessory control circuit of the machine . the location of the actuators , when not located within a housing , also protect the hydraulic cylinders and bell crank from damage . as shown in fig1 the grapple assembly , broadly described hereinafter and generally indicated at 10 , includes a double pin mounting structure ( generally indicated at 11 ) and two sets of grapple tines or members 12 and 13 , the sets 12 and 13 in this embodiment having five and four tines indicated at 14 , with tips 14 ′ and separators 14 ″. two pair of actuator assemblies for the sets of tines are mounted within two housings 15 - 16 at each end of the sets of tines ( only one housing 16 being shown ), the double pin mounting structure 11 being located intermediate housings 15 , with a wall 17 forming a common wall and in which pins 18 and 19 are mounted . the actuator assemblies mounted in housings 15 - 16 at each end of the sets of tines 12 and 13 ( only one actuator assembly shown ) basically includes a pin 20 , a bell crank 21 , and a pair of hydraulic actuators 22 and 23 . pin 20 is operatively mounted to bucket 32 and is pivotably connected to one segment or arm of bell crank 21 , with hydraulic actuator 22 mounted intermediate pin 20 and a connector 24 mounted to grapple tine set 12 . a central segment of bell crank 21 is pivotably mounted to grapple tine set 12 via a pin 25 , and another segment or arm of bell crank 21 is pivotably mounted by pin 26 to hydraulic actuator 23 which is mounted to grapple tine set 13 via a connector 27 . for further details of the fig1 grapple assembly , reference is made to the above referenced u . s . pat . no . 5 , 975 , 604 . [ 0029 ] fig2 illustrates an embodiment of the improved bucket assembly of the present invention and , which when compared to fig1 basically involves replacement of one of the sets of tines with a bucket and a change in the construction of the double pin mounting structure . as shown , the fig2 embodiment ( generally indicated at 30 ) basically comprises a double pin mounting structure 31 , a bucket 32 and a grapple - like tine assembly 33 having four tines 34 with tips 35 and spacer members 36 , and constructed similar to the embodiment of tine set 13 in fig1 . bucket 32 is provided with a plurality of tips 37 ( only one shown in fig2 but with five shown in fig6 ). a pair of housings 38 are mounted to the bucket on each side of mounting structure 31 and include a common face or side plate 39 . a pair of housings 40 are mounted to the tine assembly 33 ( only one of which is shown ) and within each set of housings 38 and 40 are mounted to hydraulic actuators 41 and 42 ( only one set being shown ). housings 38 each include a removable top plate 43 retained by bolts or screws 44 which are secured to a member ( not shown ) adjacent support members 45 of mounting structure 31 which supports removable pins 46 and 47 . hydraulic actuators 41 and 42 are each pivotably mounted at one end to pins 48 and 49 which are mounted in legs of a bell crank assembly 50 , with actuator 41 being pivotably mounted at the opposite end to bucket 32 by a connector assembly 51 and actuator 42 pivotably mounted at the opposite end to tine assembly 33 via a connector assembly 52 . bell crank assembly 50 is pivotably mounted on a pin 53 which is mounted to bucket 32 ( as seen more clearly in fig6 ). while not shown in fig2 a corresponding hydraulic actuator / bell crank arrangement is mounted at the other end of bucket 32 and tine assembly 33 . also , if desired , only one hydraulic actuator / bell crank arrangement may be utilized . in operation , with hydraulic actuator 41 being mounted to bucket 32 , actuation thereof changes the position of bell crank assembly 50 , which in turn changes the position of hydraulic actuator 42 and tine assembly 33 , whereby actuation of hydraulic actuator 42 enables the tine assembly 33 to open to a near full position relative to bucket 32 ( as shown in fig3 a - 3 b and 4 a - 4 b ) as described in greater detail hereinafter . fig3 a - 3 b and 4 a - 4 b illustrate an embodiment of the improved bucket assembly generally similar to that of fig2 and the mounting thereof to a boom of a machine such as a backhoe of excavator , with fig4 a - 4 b illustrating the hydraulic actuators for the bucket / tine assembly . fig3 a and 4a show the tine assembly in an open position relative to the bucket . as shown , the improved bucket assembly ( generally indicated at 60 ) includes a bucket 61 , a grapple - like tine assembly 62 and a double pin mounting structure 63 having removable pins 64 and 65 , with pin 65 being pivotably mounted to a boom or dipper stick 66 and pin 64 pivotably mounted to an actuator / linkage assembly 67 . as discussed above , the use of a single actuator / linkage assembly instead of dual assemblies commonly used in the prior art enables a wider movement or rotation of the bucket assembly 60 than can be had with a dual actuator / linkage assembly . actuator / linkage assembly 67 comprises a hydraulic actuator 68 pivotably mounted at one end via a connector member 69 and pin 69 ′ to boom 66 and pivotably mounted at the opposite end to ends of a pair of links or members 70 and 71 via a pin 681 with link 70 pivotably mounted at an opposite end via a pin 72 to boom 66 , and with link 71 pivotably connected at the opposite end to pin 64 of mounting structure 63 . thus , activation of actuator 68 causes pivotable movement of bucket assembly 60 about pin 65 and boom 66 . grapple - like tine assembly 62 includes a plurality of tines 73 ( four in this embodiment as seen in fig5 and 6 ) which are pivotably mounted to bucket 61 via a connector 74 and pin 75 . each of tines 73 of tine assembly 62 includes a tip 76 which , when in a closed position ( as shown in fig3 b ), is located intermediate a pair of tips 77 on bucket 61 , with bucket 61 including five tips 77 in this embodiment ( as seen in fig6 ). tines 73 are each provided with a pin 78 to which a hydraulic actuator is pivotably mounted ( as shown in fig4 a - 4 b ). also , tines 73 of tine assembly 62 is provided with spacers or members 81 , 82 and 83 ( as seen in fig5 and 6 ). fig4 a - 4 b illustrate the improved bucket assembly of fig3 a - 3 b with hydraulic actuators for the grapple - like tine assembly 62 , and thus corresponding components are given like reference numerals . as seen in fig4 a and 4b , a pair of hydraulic actuators 84 and 85 are interconnected via a bell crank 86 to bucket 61 and tine assembly 62 . actuator 84 is pivotably mounted at one end via a connector 87 and pin 88 to bucket 61 and mounted pivotably at the opposite end to a leg or segment of bell crank 86 via pin 89 . actuator 85 is pivotably mounted at one end via pin 90 to a leg or segment of bell crank 86 and pivotably mounted at the opposite end to tine assembly 62 via pin 78 . bell crank 86 is pivotably mounted to bucket &# 39 ; 61 via connector 74 and pin 75 . thus , actuation of hydraulic actuators 84 and 85 via the bell crank 86 enables positioning of the tine assembly 62 relative to bucket 61 at any position from a fully open position ( seen in fig4 a ) to a fully closed position ( seen in fig4 b ). [ 0033 ] fig5 is a partial , exploded view of the embodiment of the improved bucket assembly of fig3 a - 3 b and 4 a - 4 b illustrating the mounting of the free floating bell crank assemblies and the mounting of the tines of the grapple - like tine assembly to the bucket . corresponding components of fig5 to those of fig4 a - 4 b are given corresponding reference numerals . bucket 61 attaches to the double pin mounting structure ( generally indicated at 63 ) composed of a pair of spaced plates 91 and 92 which are welded or otherwise secured to bucket 61 and in which are pairs of spaced openings 93 and 94 through which mounting pins 64 and 65 are removably located . bell crank assemblies 86 are pivotably mounted via pins 75 intermediate adjacent pairs of connectors 74 mounted on bucket 61 . hydraulic actuators 84 are pivotably mounted at one end to bell crank assemblies 86 via pins 89 and to a connector 87 ( only one shown ) composed of members 95 and 96 via pin 88 . hydraulic actuators 85 are pivotably mounted at one end to bell crank assemblies 86 via pins 90 and intermediate a pair of tines 73 via pins 78 ( only one shown ). each of the four tines 73 include a bushing or bearing 97 in openings 98 at the ends thereof for connection to the connectors 74 by pins 75 and bushings or bearing 99 ( only 2 shown ) in openings 100 in tines 73 for mounting of hydraulic actuators 85 to the tines via pins 78 . members 95 and 96 of connector 87 are provided with bushings or bearings in openings 101 there ( only one shown ) into which pins 88 extend . each of connectors 74 include openings 102 and bushings or bearings 103 ( only one shown ) through which pins 75 extend . bell cranks 86 include bearings or bushings 104 in openings 105 . in fig5 a lower portion of the two center tines 73 have been omitted for clarity to illustrate spaces or members 81 , 82 and 83 positioned intermediate adjacent pairs of tines 73 . for certain applications , the lower portions of the two central tines 73 may be omitted ( as shown in fig6 ) to enable use of only the two outer tines 73 . [ 0034 ] fig6 illustrates the improved bucket assembly of fig5 in assembled form and with the lower portions of the two central tines of the grapple - like tine assembly omitted . in the embodiment of fig6 compared to the embodiment of fig2 the housings covering the hydraulic actuators have been omitted and the configuration of the double pin mounting structure changed along with the configuration of the tines . however , the operation of the fig2 and 6 embodiments are the same . in addition , as set forth above , in fig6 one set of hydraulic actuators and one bell crank assembly may be omitted . since the components of fig6 are the same as in fig5 like reference numerals are utilized with the only principal difference therebetween being that the bucket and the grapple - like tine assembly are shown in their fully closed position and the multiple spacers or members 81 and 82 of fig5 are shown in fig6 as being single spacers 81 ′ and 82 ′. [ 0035 ] fig7 and 8 illustrate a hydraulic control system for the embodiments of fig2 and 6 , with fig7 being directed to a single pair of hydraulic actuators ( as discussed above ), and fig8 directed to the two sets or pairs of actuators ( as shown in fig6 ). components in fig7 and 8 corresponding to components in fig6 are given corresponding reference numerals . the hydraulic systems of fig7 and 8 enable control of the grapple - like tine assembly by a single control lever in the operator &# 39 ; s compartment independent of the controls for the boom or the bucket . the control system of each of fig7 and 8 ( generally indicated at 108 and 108 ′) include a source of fluid pressure comprising a fluid reservoir 110 connected by a conduit 111 to a hydraulic pump 112 . fluid pressurized by the pump is directed by conduit 113 into a flow control valve 114 having a spool 115 which is moved axially between positions by a control 116 . a first conduit 118 leading from the control valve 114 is coupled with conduits 119 and 120 which are connected to rod ends 121 of hydraulic actuators 84 and 85 . in fig8 the first conduit 118 is also connected via conduits 122 , 123 and 124 to the rod ends 121 of the second pair of hydraulic actuators 84 and 85 . a second conduit 125 leading from the control valve 114 is connected to conduits 126 and 127 to the head ends 128 of hydraulic actuators 84 and 85 . in fig8 the conduit 125 is additionally connected via conduits 129 , 130 and 131 to the head ends 128 of the second pair of hydraulic actuators 84 and 85 . the control 116 can be operated by a push button , for example , on a control stick ( not shown ) in the operator &# 39 ; s compartment used to control the hydraulic actuator 68 on the boom or dipper stick 66 of figures 4 a - 4 b . to close the grapple - like tine assembly ( as shown in fig4 b and 6 ), the control 116 is operated to move spool sector 132 into alignment with conduits 118 and 125 so that fluid is directed via conduit 125 , etc . into the cylinder head ends 128 of the actuators 84 and 85 for extending the rods thereof ( as seen in fig4 b and 6 ). return fluid from the rod ends 121 is directed back to the reservoir through conduit 118 . when the control 116 is actuated to bring spool sector 133 into alignment with conduits 118 and 125 , pressurized fluid is directed via line 118 , etc . to the rod ends 121 of the actuators 84 and 85 for retracting the rods of the actuators , where return fluid from the head ends 128 of the actuators is directed back to the reservoir 110 via conduit 125 . the neutral position is when the control 116 moves spool sector 134 into alignment with conduits 118 and 125 so that pressurized fluid from pump 112 is recycled ( as indicated by arrow 135 ) back to reservoir 110 . the grasping force of the bucket / grapple is activated by the accessory control valve in the equipment operator &# 39 ; s compartment , which is separate from the bucket attitude single actuator control . the grasping force of the bucket / grapple , once applied , is not interrupted or lessened by movement of the bucket position . the bucket / grapple assembly mounting structure enables the dipper stick or boom to be clean and unobstructed while other tools are mounted on the equipment . if the equipment is equipped with a quick coupling device ( available in the industry ), the bucket / grapple assembly can be dismounted without removal of any pins , just disconnect hydraulic conduits which supply fluid to the actuators of the bucket / grapple assembly . it has thus been shown that the present invention provides an improved bucket assembly which includes a grapple - like tine assembly mounted to the bucket assembly and controlled by one or two pairs of hydraulic actuators whereby the tine assembly may be controlled to position same in various locations relative to the bucket from a full open position to a fully closed position . the bucket assembly is attached to the boom of a machine via a single actuator / linkage assembly whereby the bucket assembly has a greater movement or swing compared to equipment utilizing two actuator / linkage assemblies on the boom . while particular embodiments have been illustrated and described , such are not intended to be limiting . modifications and changes may become apparent to those skilled in the art , and it is intended that the invention be limited only by the scope of the appended claims .	1
layers are grown epitaxially on a semiconductor substrate . the substrate can be sn doped gaas with a carrier concentration , n d . n d can be 10 18 cm - 3 . the epitaxial layers can be gaas l - x sb x where x equals the mole fraction of gasb . in order to prevent cross - talk between quadrants , the depth of the volume of semi - insulating material separating the quadrants must be greater than the penetration depth of the light . the semi - insulating materials produced by proton bombardment usually do not exceed 10 μm in depth . since the penetration depth of 1 . 06 μm light in gaas l - x sb x is 1 - 5 μm , while the corresponding value for si is 200 μm , cross - talk between quadrants in si detectors can not be prevented using proton bombardment . the sample is first dipped in photoresist to coat both sides . it is then pulled from the photoresist . a pulling rate of approximately 1 . 75 cm / min is acceptable for a positive photoresist such as shipley az1350j photoresist . kodak 747 may also be used at this rate . the sample is air dried for at least ten minutes . the sample is then baked in a circulating air oven at 100 ° c . for an additional ten minutes . alternative drying and baking procedures can be used . the listed ones are exemplary . the photoresist covering the epitaxial layer side of the sample is exposed through a mask b , fig1 . the exposing light has a preselected wavelength λ and a preselected exposure time , t , for example 30 seconds . mask b is shown divided into four quadrants . any number of segments can be used . the circular shape is an arbitrary choice . as shown in fig1 mask b has radius r b , identified by quadrant areas 26 , and the quadrants are separated by width d as shown in fig3 . the exposed photoresist is then developed . developing for 60 seconds in a 5 : 1 mixture of water and shipley az 351 is one method of developing the photoresist . the developed photoresist is then post - baked for thirty minutes at 100 ° c . the sample is then etched . this can be done with a 1 : 1 solution of hcl : h 2 o . the sample can be dipped in the solution for one to two minutes and then rinsed with deionized water . the sample is now mounted on an electroplating apparatus . a conductive surface , such as palladium , is plated on the exposed gaas l - x sb x . the area that was exposed through mask b is now covered with palladium , area 26 in fig1 . after electroplating , the sample is rinsed in h 2 o . the unexposed photoresist is removed with acetone , followed by alcohol and deionized water rinses . a layer of photoresist is now applied to the entire wafer . this layer can also be formed by dipping the sample in shipley az 1350j photoresist and then withdrawing it at approximately 15 . 7 cm / min . a thick layer of photoresist , at least 4 μm thick , is obtained . the layer is dried and baked in a manner similar to that previously described . the layer is now exposed through mask a . once again , a preselected wavelength and a preselected time period are used . as shown in fig1 mask a is not identical to mask b . for this particular example , mask a is the negative of mask b and the radius , r a , is less than r b . fig3 shows the detail of the center of masks a and b . the exposed photoresist layer is then developed as previously described . the development stage is again followed by baking for thirty minutes at 100 ° c . after these steps , quadrants of photoresist cover nearly all the area covered by palladium . the wafer is now bombarded with 400 kev protons to produce semi - insulating material beneath all the area not covered by photoresist , and leaving palladium schottky barriers 22 . after bombardment the photoresist is removed . the sample is again dipped into and pulled from the photoresist . shipley az1350j or kodak 747 photoresist can be used at a pulling rate of 2 . 5 cm / min . this layer is air - dried and baked as described previously . if kodak 747 photoresist is used , the baking step is changed to 70 ° c . for twenty minutes . different photoresists have different developing parameters . the layer is then exposed through a mask c to yield segments 20 of fig1 . there is one segment for each quadrant . exposure at a selected wavelength for 20 seconds is usually adequate . the exposed layer is then developed and baked as previously described . the exposed segments are then etched to allow for better electrical contact to the sample . etching in 1 : 1 , hcl : h 2 o for one minute is sufficient . electrical contacts are then electroplated on the etched areas . thick gold pads are electroplated at 55 °- 60 ° c . after electroplating , the sample is throughly rinsed with deionized water . the undeveloped photoresist is then removed by plasma etching in o 2 at 1 . 5 torr for twenty minutes . substrate 16 , fig2 is sputter etched , and ohmic contacts 24 are sputtered onto substrate 16 through a metal mask , not shown . satisfactory ohmic contacts 24 are obtained using a 12 % ge - 88 % au target . the edges of the sample are then removed to reduce leakage current . they are removed by cleaving . the finished sample is then mounted substrate side down in a standard to can , not shown , which has a hole in the center . the epoxy mounting provides electrical contact to ohmic contacts 24 . gold wires are then bonded to the gold segments 20 of fig2 . either thermal or compression bonding can be used . incident light 10 passes through an opening in the to can and strikes substrate 16 . light 10 is filtered by substrate 16 and lattice matching layers 19a and 19b . as many lattice matching layers as desired can be used . lattice matching layers 19a and 19b have a wider energy gap than epitaxial layer 18 , which is the active region absorbing the specific monochromatic wavelength . upon absorption of light 10 in the active layer 18 , photo carriers are generated . the carriers are collected by the palladium electrode . layers 18 and 19 are not drawn to scale . substrate 16 is thicker than the entire epitaxial stack , layers 18 and 19 . a photocurrent is induced in the circuit comprised of the heterostructure , the palladium schottky barrier 22 , the ohmic contacts 24 , and a current amplifier not shown . dashed lines 28 define the proton bombarded volumes . a photocarrier generated in section 30 can not cross volumes 28 and appear in an other quadrant section 32 . fig4 shows a modification of the device for polychromatic light . if polychromatic light is incident on the device , then absorption in lattice matching layers 19a and 19b may occur . as shown in fig2 photocarriers in lattice matching layers 19a and 19b can drift laterally , this can result in cross - talk . to prevent this , proton bombarded volumes delineated by lines 28 must reach into substrate 16 . photocarriers generated by absorption in substrate 16 occur near the surface . the thickness of substrate 16 keeps them from reaching the epitaxial layers .	8
asphalt offers outstanding binding and waterproofing characteristics . these physical attributes of asphalt have led to its widespread utilization in paving , roofing , and waterproofing applications . for instance , asphalt is used in manufacturing roofing shingles because it has the ability to bind sand , aggregate , and fillers to the roofing shingle while simultaneously providing excellent water barrier characteristics . the ability of asphalt to bind aggregate to produce paving surfaces that can be relatively easily applied and which have good durability is also well known . in all of these applications humans and the environment are potentially exposed to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons that migrate from the asphalt . this problem is of particular concern in applications where the asphalt is manufactured into articles , such as roofing shingles , in a closed environment , such as in a factory building . however , it can also be of concern in outdoor applications , such as in paving roadways , where workers may be exposed to hot asphalt over extended periods of time . another concern is the exposure of children to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons which migrate from playground surfaces which are paved with asphalt . the method of this invention is applicable to virtually any asphalt that contains free polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons . for instance , it is applicable to naturally occurring asphalts that have been used in various applications for hundreds of years . it can also be used in treating asphalt recovered from the refining of petroleum which is used in most industrial applications around the world today . in any case , such asphalt , or asphalt flux , is essentially the residue that remains after gasoline , kerosene , diesel fuel , jet fuel , and other hydrocarbon fractions have been removed during the refining of crude oil . in other words , asphalt , or asphalt flux , or asphalt pitch , is the last cut from the crude oil refining process . to meet performance standards and product specifications , asphalt that is recovered from refining operations is normally treated or processed to attain desired physical characteristics and to attain uniformity . for instance , asphalt that is employed in manufacturing roofing products has to be treated to meet the special requirements demanded in roofing applications . more specifically , in the roofing industry it is important to prevent asphaltic materials from flowing under conditions of high temperature such as those encountered during hot summers . in other words , the asphaltic materials used in roofing products should maintain a certain level of stiffness ( hardness ) at high temperatures . this increased level of stiffness is characterized by a reduced penetration , an increased viscosity , and an increased softening point . to attain the required level of stiffness and increased softening point that is demanded in roofing applications the asphalt is typically treated by an air blowing process . in such air blowing techniques , air is blown through the asphalt for a period of about 2 to about 8 hours while it is maintained at an elevated temperature which is typically within the range of 400 ° f . ( 204 ° c .) to 550 ° f . ( 288 ° c .). the air blowing process results in the stiffness and softening point of the asphalt being significantly increased . this is highly desirable because astm d 3462 - 96 ( standard specification for asphalt shingles made from glass felt and surfaced with mineral granules ) requires roofing asphalt to have a softening point which is within the range of 190 ° f . ( 88 ° c .) to 235 ° f . ( 113 ° c .) and for the asphalt to exhibit a penetration at 77 ° f . ( 25 ° c .) of above 15 dmm ( 1 dmm = 0 . 1 mm ). in fact , it is typically desirable for asphalt used in roofing applications to have a penetration which is within the range of 15 dmm to 35 dmm in addition to a softening point which is within the range of 185 ° f . ( 85 ° c .) to 235 ° f . ( 113 ° c .). penetration values can be determined at room temperature or at an elevated temperature . unless stated otherwise , penetration values are determined at room temperature . for purposes of this invention , asphalt softening points are measured following astm d 36 - 95 “ standard test method for softening point of bitumen ( ring - and ball apparatus )” and asphalt penetrations are measured following astm d 5 - 97 “ standard test method for penetration of bituminous materials ”. air blowing has been used to increase the softening point and stiffness of asphalt since the early part of the twentieth century . for example , u . s . pat . no . 2 , 179 , 208 describes a process wherein asphalt is air blown at a temperature of 300 ° f . ( 149 ° c .) to 500 ° f . ( 260 ° c .) in the absence of a catalyst for a period of 1 to 30 hours after which time a polymerization catalyst is added for an additional treatment period of 20 to 300 minutes at a temperature of 225 ° f . ( 107 ° c .) to 450 ° f . ( 232 ° c .). over the years a wide variety of chemical agents have been used as air blowing catalysts . for instance , ferric chloride ( fecl . 3 ) as described in u . s . pat . no . 1 , 782 , 186 , phosphorous pentoxide ( p 2 o 5 ) as described in u . s . pat . no . 2 , 450 , 756 , aluminum chloride ( alcl 3 ) as described in u . s . pat . no . 2 , 200 , 914 , boric acid as described in u . s . pat . no . 2 , 375 , 117 , ferrous chloride ( fecl 2 ), phosphoric acid ( h 3 po 4 ) as described in u . s . pat . no . 4 , 338 , 137 , copper sulfate ( cuso 4 ), zinc chloride ( zncl 2 ), phosphorous sesquesulfide ( p 453 ), phosphorous pentasulfide ( p 2 s 5 ), and phytic acid ( c 6 h 6 o 6 ( h 2 po 3 ) 6 ) as described in u . s . pat . no . 4 , 584 , 023 have all been identified as being useful as air blowing catalysts . the technique of this invention for sequestering free polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in asphalt compositions can be practiced by simply dispersing activated carbon throughout the asphalt composition . to attain good mixing the asphalt composition will typically be heated to a temperature which is above its softening point . normally , the asphalt will be heated to a temperature of at least about 40 ° c . to facilitate mixing and to attain a homogeneous dispersion of the activated carbon throughout the asphalt composition . however , the temperature utilized for the mixing will normally be no more than about 315 ° c . to minimize thermal degradation . the elevated temperature at which the activated carbon is mixed into the asphalt will typically be within the range of about 50 ° c . to about 280 ° c . and will more typically be within the range of 80 ° c . to 250 ° c . the activated carbon can be dispersed into the asphalt utilizing any type of equipment that will provide the requisite degree of mixing to attain a relatively homogeneous mixture of the activated carbon throughout the asphalt . for instance , this mixing can be carried out in a mechanical blade mixer , a rotating drum mixer , or by passing it through an in - line static mixer . in one embodiment of this invention , the activated carbon can be added to the asphalt in the blow still utilized in air blowing industrial asphalt to the desired softening points and penetration values . in any case , the activated carbon can be added to and mixed throughout the asphalt continuously , semi - continuously , or in individual batches , depending upon the equipment available . normally , the asphalt will be maintained at the desired elevated temperature throughout the mixing procedure and for a period of time which is adequate for the activated carbon to sequester the free polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons present in the asphalt being treated . during this time period the asphalt will typically be maintained at the elevated temperature which is within the range of about 40 ° c . to 315 ° c . to allow for the free polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons present in the asphalt composition to be sequestered by the activated carbon . normally this will be accomplished over a period of about 2 hours to about 12 hours and is commonly done over a period of about 4 hours to about 8 hours . in one embodiment of this invention the activated carbon is added to the asphalt prior to or during the air blowing process utilized to modify the asphalt to a desired softening point and penetration value . the amount of activated carbon added to the asphalt composition will typically be within the range of about 0 . 2 weight percent to about 20 weight percent , based upon the weight of the asphalt . in most cases the activated carbon will be mixed throughout the asphalt composition at a level which is within the range of about 0 . 5 weight percent to about 15 weight percent . preferably , the activated carbon is mixed throughout the asphalt composition at a level which is within the range of 1 . 0 weight percent to about 5 weight percent . the activated carbon that can be utilized in the practice of this invention is also sometimes referred to as activated charcoal , activated coal or carbo activatus . in any case , it is a form of carbon that has been processed to make it extremely porous which allows for it to have a very large surface area available for adsorption or chemical reactions . by virtue of its high degree of microporosity , just 1 gram of activated carbon has a surface area in excess of 500 m 2 , as determined by nitrogen gas adsorption . the activated carbon used to sequester free polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons is typically in the form of a powder , granules , extruded cylinders , or beads . powdered activated carbon ( pac ) typically has a particle size of less than 1 . 0 mm with an average diameter between 0 . 15 mm and 0 . 25 mm . it accordingly presents a large surface to volume ratio . powdered activated carbon is generally comprised of crushed or ground carbon particles , 95 - 100 % of which will pass through a designated mesh sieve or sieve . granular activated carbon is defined as the activated carbon being retained on a 50 - mesh sieve ( 0 . 297 mm ) and pac material as finer material , while astm classifies particle sizes corresponding to an 80 - mesh sieve ( 0 . 177 mm ) and smaller as powdered activated carbon . granular activated carbon ( gac ) has a relatively larger particle size compared to powdered activated carbon and consequently , presents a smaller external surface . granulated carbons are widely used for water treatment , deodorization and separation of components of flow systems . granular activated carbon can be either in granular form or extruded . granular activated carbon is designated by sizes such as 8 × 20 , 20 × 40 , or 8 × 30 for liquid phase applications and 4 × 6 , 4 × 8 or 4 × 10 for vapor phase applications . a 20 × 40 carbon is made of particles that will pass through a u . s . standard mesh size no . 20 sieve ( 0 . 84 mm ), generally specified as 85 % passing , but be retained on a u . s . standard mesh size no . 40 sieve ( 0 . 42 mm ), generally specified as 95 % retained . awwa ( 1992 ) b604 uses the 50 - mesh sieve ( 0 . 297 mm ) as the minimum granular activated carbon size . extruded activated carbon ( eac ) combines powdered activated carbon with a binder , which are fused together and extruded into a cylindrical shaped activated carbon block with diameters from 0 . 8 mm to 130 mm . extruded activated carbon is widely used for gas phase applications because of their low pressure drop , high mechanical strength , and low dust content . bead activated carbon ( bac ) is made from petroleum pitch and supplied in diameters from approximately 0 . 35 mm to 0 . 80 mm . it is similar to extruded activated carbon in that it provides low pressure drop , high mechanical strength and low dust content , but with a smaller grain size . its spherical shape makes it preferred for fluidized bed applications such as water filtration . the activated carbon can also be encapsulated in a polymeric binder , wherein the polymeric binder is permeable to the polycylic aromatic hydrocarbons . in such cases the polymeric binder should maintains its structural integrity throughout said process . in one embodiment of this invention , polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons are removed from the asphalt being treated . this is accomplished by first sequestering the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons on activated carbon as described heretofore and then removing the activated carbon having the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons sequestered on its surface from the asphalt . this is typically done by filtering the activated carbon from the asphalt after it has absorbed the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in the asphalt composition . this filtration step is normally conducted at a temperature which is above the softening point of the asphalt . it is generally convenient to conduct this filtration step at the elevated temperature at which the asphalt is held while the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons are being sequestered . it is also conceived to perform the filtration step after first dispersing the asphalt composition containing the activated carbon with polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons sequestered thereon into an oil or solvent in cases where an asphalt modified oil or solvent - cut asphalt is desired . in cases where the activated carbon having the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons sequestered thereon is removed from the asphalt it is normally preferable for the activated carbon to be granular activated carbon , extruded activated carbon , bead activated carbon , or for the activated carbon to be encapsulated in a polymeric binder to facilitate its removal from the asphalt . the asphalt composition made by practicing the method of this invention typically has a low level of free polycylic aromatic hydrocarbons with the level of free benzo ( a ) pyrene being less than 1 ppm . in cases of industrial asphalt the asphalt composition will have a softening point which is within the range of 50 ° c . to 200 ° c . and a penetration value of less than 15 dmm . such asphalt compositions will normally have a level of free benzo ( a ) pyrene which is less than 0 . 5 ppm and which is preferably less than 0 . 2 ppm . activated carbon was added to industrial oxidized asphalt having a ring and ball ( r & amp ; b ) softening point of 100 ° c . the asphalt was heated to a temperature of 450 ° f .- 470 ° f . ( 232 ° c .- 243 ° c .) with continuous stifling under a nitrogen purge . activated carbon was added and the blend was stirred for 240 minutes at 450 - 470 ° f . ( 232 ° c .- 243 ° c .) under a continuing nitrogen purge . during the stirring , samples were taken at time intervals of 0 minutes , 5 minutes , 30 minutes , 60 minutes , 120 minutes , and 240 minutes and tested for free benzo ( a ) pyrene . activated carbon was added at various levels to industrial o - pen asphalt having a r & amp ; b softening point of 95 ° c . the asphalt was heated to a temperature of 450 - 470 ° f . ( 232 ° c .- 243 ° c .) with continuous stifling under nitrogen purge . activated carbon was added and the blend was stirred for four hours at 450 - 470 ° f . ( 232 ° c .- 243 ° c .) under a continuing nitrogen purge . after four hours the mixture was cooled and tested for free benzo ( a ) pyrene . activated carbon was added to industrial o - pen asphalt having a r & amp ; b softening point of 74 ° c . the asphalt was heated to a temperature of 450 - 470 ° f . ( 232 ° c .- 243 ° c .) with continuous stirring under nitrogen purge . activated carbon was added and the blend was stirred for four hours at 450 - 470 ° f . ( 232 ° c .- 243 ° c .) under nitrogen purge . after four hours the mixture was filtered to remove the residual activated carbon , cooled and tested for free benzo ( a ) pyrene . free benzo ( a ) pyrene was determined in examples 1 - 3 by southwest research institute ( swri ) using a gc / ms ( gas chromatograph / mass spectrometer ) with isotope dilution . the method was presented at irc ( international rubber conference ) 2008 , in kuala lumpur , malaysia , irc 2012 on jeju island , korea , and german rubber conference 2012 , in nurnberg , germany . the method calls for spiking of deuterated pah internal standard mixture ( is , 25 ul at 10 ng / ul each ) at the beginning of the sample preparation / cleanup process . in this procedure , an aliquot amount of sample ( between 200 mg and 220 mg ) was weighed , dissolved in 5 ml of a polar solvent in a 1 - dram vial , and then transferred into a 50 ml volumetric flask . the volumetric flask was then filled to the 50 ml mark with a non - polar solvent and mixed well . one 5 . 0 ml aliquot of the sample solution was taken out of 50 ml flask , then put into a 6 - dram vials . the solution was spiked with 25 ul of pah is mix with each of the eighteen deuterated pah is at 10 ng / ul . each sample was then treated with swri &# 39 ; s proprietary oil sample extraction / cleanup procedures which include two liquid - liquid partitions and one adsorption chromatography . these proprietary sample extraction / cleanup procedures effectively eliminate most saturated hydrocarbons and at the same time preserve most pahs . the final sample extract was concentrated down to 1 . 0 ml and analyzed by a gc / ms in selected ion monitoring ( sim ) mode . while certain representative embodiments and details have been shown for the purpose of illustrating the subject invention , it will be apparent to those skilled in this art that various changes and modifications can be made therein without departing from the scope of the subject invention .	2
referring to fig2 , the electronic device 40 according to the invention includes a first body 50 , a second body 60 and a hinge 70 . as shown in fig3 , the hinge 70 includes a first hinge piece 71 and a second hinge piece 73 coupling with each other . when subject to a force , the second hinge piece 73 turns about a rotation axis 75 relative to the first hinge piece 71 . the first hinge piece 71 further has a first fastening portion 711 and an extension portion 713 . the first fastening portion 711 is a protusion with the axial direction 77 normal to the rotation axis 75 . the first fastening portion 711 has at least a first hole 717 . the protution of the first fastening portion 711 may be designed according the space or designer &# 39 ; s preference , and may be a cylindrical body , a square body or a triangular body . in this and another embodiment below the first fastening portion 711 is a square body . the extension portion 713 is extended from the first fastening portion 711 to another area in a direction parallel with the rotation axis 75 . the extension portion 713 has at least a sixth hole 716 . the second hinge piece 73 includes a second fastening portion 730 having at least a second hole 731 . in a preferred embodiment , the first hinge piece 71 further includes a second connector 715 and a connection plate 720 . the connection plate 720 has at least a fifth hole 722 to receive a fifth screw 724 to engage with the sixth hole 716 to fasten the connection plate 720 to the extension portion 713 . the second body 60 has a wire set 61 ( including signal cable and power cord ) passing around the hinge 70 and fastened to the connection plate 720 by soldering . refer to fig4 for another preferred embodiment . the first hinge piece 71 further includes a second connector 715 which has at least an eighth hole 718 to receive a sixth screw 719 to engage with sixth hole 716 to fasten the second connector 715 to the extension portion 713 . the second body 60 has a wire set 61 ( including signal cable and power cord ) passing around the hinge 70 and fastened to the second connector 715 . as shown in fig5 , the second body 60 has at least a fourth hole 601 to receive at least a second screw 735 to engage with the second and fourth holes 731 and 601 to fasten the second hinge piece 73 to the second body 60 . referring to fig6 and 7 , the first body 50 includes a recess 52 , a third hole 53 and a first connector 51 located in the recess 52 . the recess 52 also houses the extension portion 713 of the first hinge piece 71 and the first fastening portion 711 . as shown in fig7 , at least one first fixing screw 55 is provided to engage with the first and third holes 717 and 53 to fasten the first fastening portion 711 to the first body 50 . meanwhile , the second connector 715 of the extension portion 713 is electrically coupled with the first connector 51 to transmit communication signals and electric power between the first body 50 and the second body 60 . by means of the construction set for the above , the hinge 70 enables the first body 50 turning relative to the second body 60 . in addition , through electrical connection between the second connector 715 and the first connector 51 , the first body 50 and the second body 60 may establish electric connection . referring to fig8 , for disassembling the electronic device , unfasten at least one first fixing screw 55 , the second body 60 and the hinge 70 may be separated from the first body 50 , and the first connector 51 is separated from the second connector 715 to become non - conductive . in summary , the electronic device according to the invention has the following advantages : with the second connector 715 mounted on the hinge 70 , by unfastening at least one first fixing screw 55 the first body 50 may be separated from the second body 60 . thus disassembly time may be reduced to facilitate repairs and inspection for the technicians or users . for assembling the electronic device 40 , the wire set 61 ( including signal cable and power cord ) of the second body 60 does not have to pass around the hinge and the recess 52 of the first body 50 to connect to the first connector 51 as the conventional device does . according to the invention , the wire set 61 ( including signal cable and power cord ) of the second body 60 may be connected to the second connector 715 of the extension portion 713 . thus tending of the wire set 61 is easier and assembly time may be reduced . while the preferred embodiments of the invention have been set forth for the purpose of disclosure , modifications of the disclosed embodiments of the invention as well as other embodiments thereof may occur to those skilled in the art . accordingly , the appended claims are intended to cover all embodiments which do not depart from the spirit and scope of the invention .	6
according to the invention , a component to be hardened is formed and cut in the cold state . in the cold state , i . e . before the hardening , the component has an inherent hardness that is standard for sheet steel . in this state , the plate has a reasonably good capacity for being cut , formed , and in particular deep - drawn ( fig1 ). in all three spatial axes , the component is formed to be approximately 0 . 8 % smaller than the intended final geometry . in order to then harden the component , the component is heated to the austenitizing temperature , in particular to more than 900 ° c . the heating of the component here occurs in such a way that the length change of the material that is brought on by the structural change , which in turn takes place due to the austenitization , is finished ( fig1 ). it is clear from fig1 that in sample components , at approximately 750 ° c ., the initially linear thermal expansion turns downward as the temperature rises to approximately 820 ° c . and then begins to rise again . this irregularity in the linear expansion should be finished before the work piece is inserted into the die . in the die , the component ( fig5 , 6 ) is clamped at least in the region of the cut edges ( margins ). due to the cooling , the component then attempts to shrink , but is essentially hindered by the clamping and the shape of the die . this generates significant tensile stresses , resulting in the occurrence of plastic deformations in the component . the positive radii ( fig1 ) “ support ” the component , as a result of which the component rests against the forming dies in the corresponding regions . due to the shrinkage , the component assumes this form ; here , too , imprecisions in the formation of the cold , soft component are corrected . the component is left in the form at least until the austenite / martensite conversion is complete ( fig2 , 3 ). this is definitely the case at approximately 250 ° c . then , a linear shrinkage takes place . if the component is removed from the die at approximately 250 ° c ., then it can freely shrink by approximately 0 . 2 % more . if the component is left in the die , then it contracts by approximately 0 . 2 % when removed from the die , which has , however , been taken into account in the initial forming . in practice ( fig1 through 14 ), the production occurs in such a way that first , so - called forming blanks are cut from a sheet . the forming blanks are then formed , in particular deep - drawn ( fig1 ), and then the excess is cut away . usually , the cutting occurs sequentially so that the entire excess is not cut away in a single step but in two or three steps since otherwise , the trimmed excess cannot be easily removed from the die . in addition , tabs are left on the part ( fig1 ) to permit placement of the part onto so - called part lifters and also to permit the part to be removed from the die by means of these tabs . according to the invention , with simple components , only a single cutting step occurs ; in this one cutting step , the tabs are left in place because they are subsequently needed for the insertion into the die ( fig1 , 16 ), then the part is inserted into the die with the tabs ( fig7 , 8 ); in the regions in which the tabs are inserted into the die , notches are produced and then the tabs are hardened along with the entire work piece . upon removal of the component from the die , pressure elements break off the tabs in the vicinity of the notches so that once removed from the die , the component is completely finished . a forming die for the method according to the invention will be explained in detail below . for example , the forming die 1 ( fig5 ) has a forming die top half 2 and a forming die bottom half 3 . in the example , the component 4 to be hardened is roughly cup - shaped or hat - shaped in cross - section , with a bottom surface 5 , two side walls 6 , 7 , and two longitudinal flange regions 8 , 9 . the bottom surface 5 transitions into the side walls 6 , 7 at two curves 10 , 11 . the side walls 6 , 7 transition into the flanges 8 , 9 at two curves 12 , 13 . in the vicinity of the curves 10 , 11 , the die top half 2 constitutes positive radii in relation to the formed part 4 ; in the vicinity of the curves 12 , 13 , the die bottom half 3 constitutes positive radii in relation to the work piece 4 . in the region of the positive radii , the work piece 4 rests against the respective forming die halves . opposite from these positive radii , air gaps 14 are provided , which extend into the bottom surface 5 and into the side walls 6 , 7 . in the region of the middle of the side walls , the air gaps 14 can overlap so that in some regions of the side wall and possibly over almost the entire side wall , the component can have no contact with the die halves . in the region of the cut edges 15 , the forming die top half or the forming die bottom half adjacent to the air gaps 14 can be provided with projections or raised areas 16 so that the corresponding regions of the work piece 4 are clamped there . the air gaps 14 have a width of at least 0 . 02 mm and preferably from 0 . 1 to 2 . 5 mm or greater . in very simple dies , it can be sufficient in the extreme case to provide a support of the positive radii only , and , exclusively in the region of the curves 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , to provide it in the form of circular segment - like projections and not to support the rest of the work piece , but only to clamp it in the region of the cut edges 15 . in order to achieve a reliable clamping in the region of the side walls or in the region of inflection points or saddle points with narrow radii ( approximately 0 . 5 - 30 mm ) ( fig6 ) without the insertion of the work piece into the form being hindered or having the work piece prematurely come into contact with certain areas of the form , one or more sliding tools 17 , 18 can be provided in one of the forming die halves or on opposite sides in both of the forming die halves 2 , 3 , which sliding tools , preferably during the closing of the die , are moved toward the opposite forming die half or toward each other and , for example , clamp onto holes in the region of the side wall . during the form hardening and shrinkage , this assures a reliable hold even in the region of holes in the sidewalls . in order to clamp the work piece over its area and length , in particular with linear , rhomboid , or grid - like patterns , the die contains a corresponding pattern in the form of corresponding lines , rhomboids , or grids embodied as a corresponding linear , rhomboid , or grid - like raised area . these lines and these clamping struts are matched to one another so that a reliable clamping can occur . it can be advantageous in this connection to provide such clamping struts on only one side of the work piece , i . e . on one die half , and to assure a full surface contact with the other die half . the high forming pressure by means of the clamping strips makes this easier to achieve than when the goal is a 100 % marking image on both die halves . it is also possible , however , to use clamping struts on opposite sides of the work piece from each other . the clamping struts can either be mounted in the die or can be provided in the form of insert elements . according to the invention , such clamping struts are in particular provided at locations in which the work piece must be securely held in order , particularly in components that have a very large surface area or are very long , to avoid a twisting due to thermal stresses or cooling stresses and to avoid distortion . the clamping struts preferably have a width of 5 to 20 mm . in the vicinity of saddle points , a two - sided , full surface clamping of these relatively small regions is advantageously carried out . saddle points are defined as points or regions in which two positive radii of two spatial axes of the die coincide and the two positive radii each have a relatively narrow radius of 0 . 5 to 30 mm . in the simplest case , however , the component is pressed only in the region of the cut edges and is supported by the respective forming die halves only in the region of the positive radii and does not contact the forming die halves in the remaining regions . in these remaining regions , the component is spaced apart from the forming die halves at least by a small air gap ; the width of the air gap can be set as a function of the desired cooling action . in this context , very small air gaps of for example 0 . 02 to 0 . 05 mm have hardly any influence on the cooling , whereas very large air gaps of for example 1 . 00 to 2 . 5 mm and greater have a considerable influence on the cooling capacity and therefore on the hardness of the material . in order to break off the above - described tabs , in the vicinity of the longitudinal edge 15 , at the location from which a tab 20 protrudes , a notching tool 21 can be provided ( fig7 , 8 ); for example , this notching tool 21 is a protrusion in the region of the die . opposite from the notching tool , a spring - loaded hold - down device 22 is provided ; the spring - loaded hold - down device 22 has a bearing surface 23 that is inclined toward the outside . opposite from the hold - down device 22 ( fig7 ), the part lifter 24 is provided ; the part lifter 24 is equipped with a support projection 25 on which the tab 20 rests . after the hardening is complete , the tab 20 can be lifted by the projection 25 so that with the support of the notching tool 21 , it is lifted at an angle against the longitudinal edge in the vicinity of the notching tool 21 ; in the moment at which the tab 20 comes to rest against the inclined surface 23 , the hold - down device 22 can be lifted up counter to the force of the spring . as a result of the high degree of hardness and brittleness , the tab breaks off in the region of the notching tool 21 . in another advantageous embodiment ( fig8 ), the part lifter 24 is situated on the same side of the work piece as the hold - down device 22 ; the part lifter 24 is likewise supported in a spring - loaded fashion . the notching tool 21 is situated opposite the part lifter 24 and the hold - down device 22 . on the opposite side of the work piece from the part lifter 24 , a breaking tool 26 that can move back and forth in relation to the part lifter 24 is provided , which can be placed with a lateral protrusion 27 against the tab , bends the tab in relation to the notching tool 21 , and breaks it off ; the tool 26 rests against the part lifter 24 , while the protrusion 25 of the part lifter and the protrusion 27 of the die embrace the tab 20 and with a further movement of the tool 26 , the part lifter moves counter to the spring force of a spring 28 until the tab 20 breaks off in the region of the notching tool 21 . this process can be controlled so that the breaking - off occurs at the most advantageous temperature for this to occur . this measure makes it possible to sharply reduce the total equipment cost . it is thus possible , in particular , to eliminate a cutting step . in the regions in which the work piece is clamped , however , a cutting operation — for example the production of a hole or recess or the cutting - off of a part of the outside cutting edge in the hot state — can also occur within the clamped region . to this end , the die halves are provided with corresponding recesses in the clamping regions . the hot cutting preferably occurs at component temperatures of between 380 ° c . and 800 ° c . in another advantageous embodiment of the method according to the invention ( fig1 , 18 ), during the forming in the cold state , i . e . during the deep - drawing , for example , a flange 31 is produced in an intrinsically known fashion adjacent to the cold - preformed component 29 and in the vicinity of the cut edge 30 . after the formation of the flange 31 , the outer trimming is carried out in the region of the flange 31 . this has the advantage that this cut is produced parallel to the opening and closing direction of the press die . even in components in which a flange is not actually desired , it can nevertheless be advantageous to produce this flange in the cold state for purposes of the above - mentioned cutting . the flange is then subsequently removed in the course of the form hardening process , as will be described further below . in this embodiment of the method , an additional hot forming can take place , particularly in the vicinity of the cut edges 30 or the outer contour . as described above , during the final cold forming of the component 29 , it can be advantageous to provide the region of the cut edge 30 with a flange 31 whose only purpose is to be cut off and is actually not intended to be part of the finished component 29 . the formation of such a flange 31 in the deep - drawing process permits the cut to be produced perpendicular to the opening and closing direction of the die , thus making it possible to execute a particularly exact , precise , and simple cut . during the form hardening process , on the hot component 29 , which has been inserted into the die 1 , this formed flange is correspondingly reshaped or laid against the die 1 when the die 1 is closed ( arrow 32 ). to this end , in the region occupied by the flange 31 , a slider 33 is correspondingly provided ; the die 1 for the form hardening process is first closed until the component 29 , for example in a particular region 34 , is held by the top part 2 of the die and then the sliders 33 are moved inward ( arrow 35 ) and press the flange 31 with correspondingly protruding regions or raised areas 36 against the die 1 or the bottom part 3 of the die on which the component 29 rests . since the component 29 is clamped anyway in the region of the cut edges 30 , the sliders 33 and the areas 36 perform this clamping function in this region ; the clamping and the subsequent forced shrinkage surprisingly succeed in achieving this so well that the previously existing bending edge of the flange 31 is practically invisible or undetectable in the finished component . in an intrinsically equivalent fashion , a flange or deflection can also be produced in the hot state in the vicinity of the cut edges or the outer contour . to this end , a slider exerts a corresponding action on a protruding region of the plate , bends it to the desired degree , and then clamps the flange , the cut edge of the flange , or the bent region , while the remaining region is optionally not clamped , in contradiction to the principal of the forced shrinkage . as a result , for example , outside the actual regions of the component that are critical with regard to the shape complexity , for example the top of the b column of a vehicle , an additional hot forming can be performed before the forced shrinkage in order , for example , to produce a top flange . the entire method ( fig1 , 17 ) can occur as follows : 1 . cutting of the blanks , 2 . cold forming , for example by means of deep - drawing , then a mechanical cutting step , followed by the heating , form hardening , and then possible cleaning , e . g . an ultrasonic cleaning , and then storage . since the form hardening dictates the cycle times and there is only one cutting step , it is also possible to forgo the use of the existing , often quite expensive presses and cutting lines equipped with four or five large presses and a slower press can be used , which is set up , for example , on flat ground . presses of this kind do not have the high clock rates or fast cycle times of large press lines , but these are not needed with the present method . the achievable forming pressures are similar , but the investment costs are significantly lower . in addition , a system for executing the method ( fig1 ) can be constructed in modular form . this means that the system can be rearranged or reconfigured in accordance with a desired production . since press lines are generally equipped with six presses in a line , but the form hardening process requires a smaller number of presses , a modular design is only possible to a limited degree and furthermore , the unneeded presses cannot be removed . the present invention has the advantage that the events in a form hardening according to the invention are significantly easier to simulate since the forming does not cause the occurrence of large net expansions over the thickness of the plate . the expansions that occur as a result of forced shrinkage are small . it is also advantageous that without long break - in times and without the expensive production of prototypes , the invention succeeds in taking relatively imprecise deep - drawn components or components that are easily distorted during forming and , by means of the form hardening , turns them into dimensionally accurate components with a definite hardness and without distortion or twisting . it is also advantageous that relatively inexpensive press lines can be used for the method according to the invention . as a result , the method is significantly less expensive than known press hardening methods . in an advantageous embodiment , the clamping elements of the forming die halves can be comprised of resiliently supported clamping inserts or clamping strips , which are pressed into the forming dies when the clamping pressure is exerted so that the air gaps are reduced from an initial width and optionally shrink to infinitesimal size .	2
the present invention is intended for use on mixing vehicles 100 . these vehicles 100 are frequently configured and utilized for mixing concrete . for exemplary purposes and ease of description , the following description describes the invention in association with a concrete mixing truck as the vehicle 100 . vehicles 100 typically include a mixing drum 110 rotatably mounted to the vehicle 100 . the drum 110 includes a discharge opening . the discharge opening typically faces frontward or rearward with respect to the front and rear of the vehicle 100 . a hopper 112 is typically positioned adjacent to the discharge opening . a discharge chute 114 is typically positioned below the hopper 112 for receiving the concrete discharged from the discharge opening . the discharge chute 114 is typically mounted to the vehicle 100 to pivot about a vertical axis . the discharge chute 114 is also typically extendable to one or more elongated positions . accordingly , the discharge chute 114 may direct concrete to a desired position remote from drum 110 . fig1 and 2 illustrate a couple of exemplary configurations for vehicles 100 and locking apparatus 10 in which the present inventions may be utilized . as illustrated , vehicle 100 is a rear discharge transit mixer . the vehicle 100 is depicted discharging concrete to one side of the vehicle 100 using a chute 114 having a semicircular configuration . the semicircular shape of discharge chute 114 in part permits the discharge chute 114 to contain and guide the concrete as it is directed to a target location . the vehicle 100 is supported by wheels 116 connected by an axle assembly 118 mounted to the frame of the vehicle 100 through an air suspension system 120 . in addition , vehicles 100 may also include air braking systems . a locking apparatus 10 in accordance with the present invention is secured to the rear of vehicle 100 , for exemplary purposes . the locking apparatus 10 is selectively operable to lock the discharge chute 114 at a selected angular position about the vertical axis 200 . vertical axis 200 is generally defined relative to vehicle 100 and is used for descriptive purposes only . locking apparatus 10 is generally configured to grip pressure plate 12 which is connected to discharge chute 114 . the pressure plate 12 and discharge chute 114 are connected such that the pressure plate 12 rotates with the discharge chute 114 as the discharge chute is pivoted about its vertical axis of rotation . in certain embodiments , pressure plate 12 may also be rotatably secured to the vehicle 100 . in operation , when locking apparatus 10 is secured to pressure plate 12 , the discharge chute 114 is secured in a position for rotation around the vertical axis 200 . when locking apparatus 10 is released from the pressure plate , the discharge chute 114 may be rotated around the vertical axis 200 . as generally illustrated for exemplary purposes , pressure plate 12 and discharge chute 114 are configured to rotate in planes substantially perpendicular to vertical axis 200 . the connection of pressure plate 12 and discharge chute 114 may be direct or remote . in some remote variations , pressure plate 12 may be connected to discharge chute 114 by arms , pressure plates , shafts , gears or otherwise as will be recognized by those skilled in the art . thus , in certain embodiments , pressure plate 12 may be configured to rotate in a plane distinct from that of the discharge chute 114 . fig1 illustrates a pressure plate 12 remotely secured to discharge chute 114 by an arm 14 for exemplary purposes . fig2 illustrates a pressure plate 12 secured directly to a discharge chute 114 . locking apparatus 10 may be connected to air suspension system 120 and / or air brake system to receive compressed air to lock or unlock locking apparatus 10 from pressure plate 12 . fig2 illustrates a partial view of another embodiment vehicle 100 . as illustrated , pressure plate 12 is secured directly to discharge chute 114 . as illustrated , the discharge chute 114 rotatably secured to vehicle 100 by a ring bearing 122 for exemplary purposes . the illustrated pressure plate 12 is oriented on the discharge chute 114 such that the discharge chute 114 and the pressure plate 12 rotate about the same vertical axis 200 . in one aspect , the discharge chute 114 may be secured to an arm or platform 124 secured to the vehicle 100 . the discharge chute 114 is positioned below the hopper 112 . as illustrated , locking apparatus 10 is secured to the arm / platform 124 to position portions of the locking apparatus 10 operably about pressure plate 12 . fig3 illustrates a more detailed partial view of an embodiment of the present invention similar to that illustrated in fig1 secured to a vehicle 100 . as illustrated , discharge chute 114 includes an arm 14 connecting discharge chute 114 to pressure plate 12 . pressure plate 12 is rotatably secured to a platform 124 . locking apparatus 10 is also secured to platform 124 and is positioned adjacent to substantially planar rim 20 of pressure plate 12 . rim 20 includes an arcuate edge 22 . for exemplary purposes , the entire pressure plate 12 has been illustrated as planar . however , those skilled in the art will recognize that only a rim 20 of the pressure plate can be planar to facilitate interaction with certain embodiments of locking apparatus 10 . as illustrated , locking apparatus 10 includes a first arm 24 and a second arm 26 pivotally connected to a base 28 . in certain embodiments , the shape of arcuate edge 22 of pressure plate 12 permits a portion of the rim 20 of pressure plate 12 to remain positioned between first arm 24 and second arm 26 of locking apparatus 10 for the full range of motion of discharge chute 114 about the vertical axis 200 . in other embodiments , the shape of arcuate edge 22 of pressure plate 12 permits a portion of the rim 20 of pressure plate 12 to remain positioned between first arm 24 and second arm 26 of locking apparatus 10 for the partial range of motion of discharge chute 114 about the vertical axis 200 . in one aspect , the arcuate edge 22 may define a portion of a circle . the center of the circle may be positioned at the point of rotation of plate 12 about the vertical axis 200 . apparatus 10 further includes an airbag 30 positioned between first arm 24 and second arm 26 . depending on the particular configuration of locking apparatus 10 , the inflation of airbag 30 may either release or secure locking apparatus 10 to the pressure plate 12 . for inflation , airbag 30 is in communication with a source of compressed air . in one aspect , an air hose 132 in communication with a source of compressed air may communicate the compressed air from its source to the airbag 30 . the source of compressed air may be a compressor , an air tank , or other source for compressed air as will be recognized by those skilled in the art . as mentioned above , one exemplary source of compressed air may the communicated from the air brake or air suspension systems 120 of the vehicle 100 . a system of controllable valves may also be provided to permit the inflation and deflation of the airbag by an operator dependent and / or independent of the function of the source of compressed air . fig4 to 10 illustrate embodiments of locking apparatus 10 in accordance with the present invention . these embodiments of locking apparatus 10 generally include a base 28 , a first arm 24 , a second arm 26 , and an airbag 30 . the embodiments of fig4 to 6 further include a resilient member 34 . the locking apparatus 10 is generally configured to exert a gripping force to a rim 20 of pressure plate 12 between the clamping portions 74 , 76 of the first arm 24 and the second arm 26 to securely hold the pressure plate 12 in a desired position . as illustrated in fig4 to 6 , apparatus 10 releases from pressure plate 12 when the airbag 30 is pressurized sufficiently to overcome the locking force exerted by resilient member 34 . as illustrated in fig7 to 10 , apparatus 10 grips the pressure plate 12 when the airbag 30 is pressurized . base 28 is configured to secure locking apparatus 10 to vehicle 100 and to withstand the forces typically conferred upon locking apparatus 10 to maintain the position of discharge chute 114 during operation of mixing vehicle 100 . as illustrated for exemplary purposes , base 28 may define a flat lower surface 29 to be received on a surface of a vehicle 100 or may be otherwise configured as will be understood by those skilled in the art upon review of the present disclosure . to secure locking apparatus 10 to vehicle 100 , base 28 may define mounting holes 44 for mounting the base 28 to vehicle 100 . base 28 may be particularly configured to pivotally secure first arm 24 and second arm 26 . typically , first arm 24 and second arm 26 will movably attached to base 28 to pivot about one or more axes . as illustrated , first arm 24 and second arm 26 are secured to base 28 by a shaft 36 . base 28 may define a first passage 46 and a second passage 48 concentrically positioned about the intended axis of rotation the first arm 24 and second arm 26 . shaft 36 may extend through first passage 46 and second passage 48 defined by base 28 to pivotally secure the first arm 24 and the second arm 26 to base 28 . the first passage 46 may be defined on a first extension 56 and second passage 48 may be defined on a second extension 58 extending from base 28 . in one aspect , first extension 56 and second extension 58 may function to position the first arm 24 and the second arm 26 relative to arcuate edge 22 of pressure plate 12 . first extension 56 and second extension 58 may define an intermediate cavity 60 between the extensions 56 , 58 to receive portions of first arm 24 and second arm 26 . first extension 56 and second extension 58 may be secured to or integral with base 28 . in other aspects , distinct pivot points may be provided for both the first arm 24 and second arm 26 in accordance with the present invention by having a first shaft to which the first arm 24 is mounted and a second shaft to which the second arm 26 is mounted . those skilled in the art will recognize additional configurations for pivotally mounting first arm 24 and second arm 26 upon review of the present disclosure that are intended to remain within the scope of the present invention . as illustrated , shaft 36 is configured as a bolt for exemplary purposes . alternatively , the shaft 36 may be integrally formed as part of one of the arms 24 , 26 or extensions 56 , 58 or may take any number of other forms as will be recognized by those skilled in the art upon review of the present disclosure . the head 33 of the illustrated shaft 36 may abut an outer surface 57 of first extension 56 and the nut 37 may abut a surface 59 of second extension 58 to secure the bolt in the first passage and the second passage between the first extension 56 and second extension 58 . upon review of the present disclosure , those skilled in the art will recognize other pivoting linkages that may be utilized to secure the first arm 24 and second arm 26 to base 28 which do not depart from the scope of the present invention . first arm 24 and second arm 26 are elongated members having a first end and a second end . the first ends and the second ends are positioned at opposite ends of the first arm 24 and the second arm 26 . the first ends include a first clamping portion 74 and a second clamping portion 76 on the first arm 24 and second arm 26 , respectively , for engaging the pressure plate 12 . the second ends include a first airbag receiving portion 84 and a second airbag receiving portion 86 on the first arm 24 and second arm 26 , respectively . each of the first airbag receiving portion 84 and second airbag receiving portion 86 are configured to engage airbag 30 to increase the distance between first airbag receiving portion 84 and second airbag receiving portion 86 upon inflation of airbag 30 . the first arm 24 and the second arm 26 are pivotally secured to base 28 . as illustrated , first arm 24 includes a first mounting passage 64 configured to receive a shaft 36 and second arm 26 includes a second mounting passage 66 to receive a shaft 36 . when shaft 36 is secured to base 28 as illustrated in fig4 and 10 , first arm 24 and second arm 26 having received the shaft 36 through the first mounting passage 64 and second mounting passage 66 may also be pivotally secured to base 28 . any number of washers or spacers 43 may be positioned over shaft 36 as is dictated by the particular configurations of various components . the first mounting passage 64 and the second mounting passage 66 are positioned between the respective clamping portions 74 , 76 and airbag receiving portions 84 , 86 of first arm 24 and second arm 26 . the first clamping portion 74 and the second clamping portion 76 may include a first pad 94 and a second pad 96 , respectively . in one aspect , the first pad 94 and the second pad 96 may be designed to optimize the friction generated by contact between the first clamping portion 74 and the second clamping portion 76 and the pressure plate 12 and , accordingly , represent friction pads . pads 94 , 95 may be secured to their respective gripping regions 74 , 76 by screws 95 or may be otherwise secured to their respective gripping regions 74 , 76 . in another aspect , the first pad 94 and the second pad 96 may be designed to reduce wear and tear on their respective clamping portions and , accordingly , represent wear pads . in yet another aspect , the first pad 94 and the second pad 96 may be designed to dampen vibration or movement of the pressure plate 12 and , accordingly , represent damping pads . the pads 94 , 96 may be formed from a variety of rubbers , synthetic polymers , metals and other materials and combinations of materials that will be recognized by those skilled in the art . the second arm 24 may include a brace 97 which may be received within a brace cavity 99 to further stabilize at least the second arm 26 when subject to forces conferred from securing discharge chute 114 . brace 97 will typically be secured to the vehicle 100 directly or to the base 28 . airbag 30 defines an expansion chamber 32 and includes a first end 40 and a second end 50 . airbag 30 may be made as a unitary inflatable sack or may be made in a variety of configurations such as the exemplary plates 31 , mounting rings 33 , and membrane 39 illustrated in fig8 . airbag 30 is secured between the first airbag receiving portion 84 of the first arm 24 and the second airbag receiving portion 86 of the second arm 26 . as illustrated , airbag 30 may be secured to the first airbag receiving portion 84 and the second airbag receiving portion 86 by bolts 41 . bolts 41 may include lock washers 45 to further secure bolts 41 to arms 24 , 26 and / or airbag 30 . as will be understood in the art , airbag 30 may be configured to otherwise be mechanically secured to airbag receiving portions 84 , 86 , may be adhesively secured , or may be otherwise secured to the airbag receiving portions 84 , 86 . an air port 38 is in fluid communication with the expansion chamber 32 defined by the airbag 30 . the air port 38 may be integral with an arm 24 , 26 or may be a independent component secured to an arm 24 , 26 or directly to airbag 30 . the air port 38 may communicate with the air chamber 32 through an air passage 88 defined in one of arms 24 , 26 . a gasket 42 may be provided between the opening to air passage 88 and the airbag 30 . the air port 38 functions to at least allow the introduction of air into the expansion chamber 32 from a source of compressed air . typically , the air port 38 is in fluid communication with an air hose 132 to communicate air from the source of compressed air to the expansion chamber 32 . in one aspect , the airbag 30 is generally configured to increase the distance and / or produce an expanding force between the first end 40 and second end 50 of the airbag 30 upon addition of air into the expansion chamber 32 . a pressure relief valve 78 may also be fluid communication with expansion chamber 32 . pressure relief valve 78 may be provided to allow a user to release pressure from the expansion chamber 32 and / or may provide for release of pressure when the pressure within the expansion chamber 32 exceeds a set threshold . the embodiments of fig4 to 6 include portions of the first arm 24 and second arm 26 that cross within an intersection point or region 92 between the respective clamping portions and airbag receiving portions . in the exemplary illustrated embodiments , intersection 92 is generally positioned at or about the pivot point for the arms 24 , 26 for exemplary purposes . in other words ascribing upper and lower terminology relative to the base 28 for descriptive purposes , the first arm 24 includes the first upper airbag receiving portion 84 and the first lower clamping portion 74 and the second arm 26 includes the second lower airbag receiving portion 86 the second upper clamping portion 76 . in operation , the distance between the first clamping portion 74 and the second clamping portion 76 increases as the distance between the first mounting portion 84 and second mounting portion 86 increases . to secure the pressure plate 12 between the first clamping portion 74 and the second clamping portion 76 , the resilient member 34 is provided between the first arm 24 and the second arm 26 . the resilient member 34 biases the first clamping portion 74 toward the second clamping portion 76 . the resilient member 34 may be provided on the same side of the pivot point as the first airbag receiving portion 84 and the second airbag receiving portion 86 . typically , the resilient member 34 will be provided at a sufficient distance from the pivot point to permit the resilient member 34 to exert sufficient force to lock pressure plate 12 and associated discharge chute 114 at a desired position . in this embodiment , inflation of airbag 30 releases the clamping force between the first clamping portion 74 and the second clamping portion 76 as the compressive force of the resilient member 34 is overcome . as illustrated in fig4 to 6 for exemplary purposes , resilient member 34 includes a spring 52 disposed over a spring shaft 54 slidably passing through a shaft passage 53 in second arm 26 . a first end of the spring shaft 54 is secured to the second end of the first arm 24 . as illustrated , the first end of the spring shaft 54 is pivotally secured to the second end of second arm 26 . for exemplary purposes , spring shaft 54 is secured by an eyelet shaft 63 secured to second arm 26 and positioned through an eyelet 61 an end of spring shaft 54 . the eyelet shaft 63 may be positioned within a retention lumen 67 defined by the end of second arm 26 . further , the eyelet 61 may be secured within a retention cavity 65 also defined by the end of second arm 26 and intersecting with retention lumen 67 . the second end of the spring shaft 54 includes a detent 62 configured to retain the spring 52 on the spring shaft 54 . the detent 62 is illustrated for exemplary purposed as a circular stop 72 secured over the end of spring shaft 54 by a threaded cap 70 secured to the end of the spring shaft 54 . the spring 52 is positioned between an upper surface of the second arm 26 and the detent 62 . as illustrated , the spring 52 is biased between the upper surface of the second arm 26 within a spring cavity 53 defined in the top surface of first arm 24 . as such , the first clamping portion 74 of the first arm 24 and the second clamping portion 76 of the second arm 26 are biased toward one another as the spring 52 tends to force the first airbag receiving portion 84 of the first arm 24 toward and second airbag receiving portion 86 of the second arm 26 . in such a configuration , the spring 52 is typically selected to have a spring constant sufficient to maintain the pressure plate 12 in a desired position during operation of vehicle 100 . in other embodiments , the resilient member may be an elastic material , springs or other resilient material operatively connected between the locking apparatus 10 to bias the first airbag receiving portion 84 toward the second airbag receiving portion 86 . to release the first clamping portion 74 and second clamping portion 76 from the pressure plate 12 , compressed air is provided into the expansion chamber 32 through air port 38 . the pressure within the expansion chamber 32 is increased at least until the clamping force exerted by the spring 52 is sufficiently overcome to permit the desired freedom of movement of the discharge chute 114 . the embodiments of first arm 24 and second arm 26 illustrated in fig7 to 10 do not cross as do the embodiments of fig4 and 6 . in other words , again ascribing upper and lower terminology relative to the base 28 for descriptive purposes , the first arm 24 includes the first upper airbag receiving portion 84 and the first upper clamping portion 74 and the second arm 26 includes the second lower airbag receiving portion 86 the second lower clamping portion 76 . in operation of this embodiment , the distance between the first clamping portion 74 and the second clamping portion 76 decreases as the distance between the first mounting portion 84 and second mounting portion 86 increases . accordingly , inflation of airbag 30 provides the clamping force between the first clamping portion 74 and the second clamping portion 76 . to release the first clamping portion 74 and second clamping portions 76 from the pressure plate 12 , compressed air may be released from the expansion chamber 32 . typically , the air is released through pressure relief valve 78 or through air port 38 . the pressure within the expansion chamber 32 is decreased at least until the clamping force exerted by the airbag 30 is sufficiently reduced to permit the desired freedom of movement of the discharge chute 114 . although illustrated and described herein with reference to certain specific embodiments , the present invention is nevertheless not intended to be limited to the details provided in the foregoing description . rather , various modifications may be made in the details within the scope and range of equivalents of the claims and without departing from the spirit of the invention . these modifications may become apparent to those skilled in the art upon review of the present disclosure .	1
it will be readily understood that the components of various embodiments of the present invention , as generally described and illustrated in the figures herein , may be arranged and designed in a wide variety of different configurations . thus , the following more detailed description of the embodiments of the systems , apparatuses and methods of the present invention , as represented in the attached figures , is not intended to limit the scope of the invention as claimed , but is merely representative of selected embodiments of the invention . the features , structures , or characteristics of the invention described throughout this specification may be combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments . for example , reference throughout this specification to “ certain embodiments ,” “ some embodiments ,” or similar language means that a particular feature , structure , or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment of the present invention . thus , appearances of the phrases “ in certain embodiments ,” “ in some embodiment ,” “ in other embodiments ,” or similar language throughout this specification do not necessarily all refer to the same group of embodiments and the described features , structures , or characteristics may be combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments . some embodiments of the present invention pertain to a hydraulic energy redirection and release system for blast and ballistic protection . embodiments may be used to develop advanced body armor , helmets , combat boots , and other gear that greatly reduce the threat of serious blast and ballistic injuries . for personal armor , some embodiments of the present invention include an outer layer of heat - resistant clothing material , a layer of liquid - filled tubes that are inserted into semi - circular troughs or grooves in a lightweight metal alloy plate ( the outer alloy plate ), a layer of packing foam , a lightweight metal alloy plate ( the inner alloy plate ), springs that pass through the packing foam layer and are mounted between the outer and inner alloy plates , a kevlar ® panel , and an inner layer of common clothing material . however , in some embodiments , projectile - resistant woven material other than kevlar ®, or any other projectile - resistant material or substance may be used . the u - shaped liquid - filled tubes that are installed vertically in the semi - circular troughs or grooves of the outer alloy plate in some embodiments are employed as a blast or ballistic pressure transformer that redirect and release blast or ballistic kinetic energy from the outer surface of the protected objects , thus effectively attenuating blast or ballistic overpressures acting on the objects . the liquid tubes may be made of softer materials , such as rubber , plastic ( e . g ., polyurethane , a polymer , polyvinyl chloride lining , etc . ), canvas , etc . the liquid may be an aqueous solution such as water or alcohol . the outer and inner metal alloy plates are made of a strong but lightweight metal or alloy material , such as a titanium alloy or an aluminum alloy . both the springs and the packing foam layer can help reduce pressure on the inner alloy plate , thus attenuating behind armor blunt trauma ( babt ) resulting from the rapid deformation of armor covering the body . the kevlar ® panel may be a bullet resistant panel that is currently used for personal armor such as ballistic vests , combat helmets , and ballistic face masks . the outer layer of heat resistant clothing material may be made from a fire - retardant material in some embodiments . the fire - retardant material may be twaron ®, taramid ®, nomex ®, arselon ®, coated nylon , or any other suitable fire - retardant material . liquid is essentially incompressible and does not absorb blast energy to an appreciable extent . at the same time , liquid is an important transmission medium that is capable of moving high pressure loads and transferring kinetic energy to other objects due to its incompressibility . when a blast overpressure wave acts on a liquid , kinetic energy can not only be transformed into liquid pressure to cause a rapid physical movement , or displacement , of the liquid , but the kinetic energy can also be quickly released if the liquid is able to flow . hence , blast overpressure wave mitigation by hydraulic energy redirection and release at an outer surface of personal body armor is an innovative approach to protect against life - threatening internal injuries caused by a blast overpressure wave . embodiments of the present invention may also be used for blast and ballistic protection of military systems including , but not limited to , armored vehicles , tanks , fighter aircraft , unmanned aerial vehicles ( uavs ), bomber aircraft , transport aircraft , ships , and submarines . for military systems , some embodiments of the present invention include an outer metal plate , a layer of pipes filled with liquid , and an inner metal plate . the advantages of some embodiments of the present invention include , without limitation , highly effective blast or ballistic wave migration , ballistic protection , heat resistance , low weight , good overall design and durability , armor that is easy to wear and carry , and low hindrance to the mobility and movement of the human body ( such as walking , running , jumping , climbing , crawling , sitting , lying , falling to the prone position , etc .). some embodiments of the present invention are able to effectively mitigate against the effects of blast or ballistic pressure waves on the protected objects or body by using a hydraulic energy redirection and release system and can successfully prevent penetrating and blunt impact injuries caused by ballistic projectiles such as bullets , bomb fragments and other objects propelled by explosions or fired from weapons . further , the blast and ballistic protection system can reduce babt without compromising penetration protection or increasing the areal density , as opposed to currently fielded ballistic armor designs . further , the innovative overall design of some embodiments allows the system to have a relatively low weight , to be easily worn and carried , and to be used for extreme temperature environments ( e . g ., − 20 ° c . to 60 ° c .). further , the system does not significantly influence the mobility and movement of the human body , and allows war fighters and systems to maintain mission capability . fig1 illustrates a perspective view of body armor 100 , a helmet 110 , and a combat boot 120 , according to an embodiment of the present invention . body armor 100 , helmet 110 , and combat boot 120 have a series of liquid - filled tubes 102 , 112 , and 122 , respectively . in this embodiment , liquid - filled tubes 102 , 112 , and 122 are installed vertically , but the direction and arrangement of the tubes is a matter of design choice and may differ in other embodiments . openings 104 , 114 , and 124 are located at the lower or upper ends of liquid - filled tubes 102 , 112 , and 122 , respectively . openings 104 , 114 , and 124 permit the flow of liquid in liquid - filled tubes 102 , 112 , and 122 , respectively , when a force acts on the liquid , such as blast pressure from an explosion . fig2 illustrates a side view of a blast and ballistic protection system 200 , according to an embodiment of the present invention . in this embodiment , blast and ballistic protection system 200 is designed to protect a human body 202 . system 200 has an outer layer of heat - resistant clothing material 204 , a layer of tubes 206 filled with liquid 208 , a lightweight metal alloy plate ( the outer alloy plate ) 210 , a layer of packing foam 212 , a lightweight metal alloy plate ( the inner alloy plate ) 214 , springs 216 in packing foam 212 that are mounted between outer alloy plate 210 and inner alloy plate 214 , a kevlar ® panel 218 , and an inner layer of common clothing material 220 . a tube valve 222 is installed at an end opening 224 of the layer of liquid - filled tubes 206 . outer layer of heat resistant clothing material 202 may be made from any suitable fire - retardant material . u - shaped liquid - filled tubes 206 are installed vertically in semi - circular troughs , or grooves , of outer alloy plate 210 , but the direction and shape are a matter of design choice . liquid - filled tubes 206 act as a pressure transformer to convert the kinetic energy of a blast or ballistic pressure wave into hydraulic fluid pressure in liquid - filled tubes 206 . the pressure is redirected via hydraulic fluid flow through the end of liquid - filled tubes 206 , and then the liquid is released due to the hydraulic pressure via end opening 224 . liquid - filled tubes 206 and tube valve 222 may be made from a softer material , such as rubber , plastic ( e . g ., polyurethane , a polymer , polyvinyl chloride lining , etc . ), canvas , etc . liquid 208 can be water , ethanol , or any other suitable aqueous solution . outer alloy plate 210 and inner alloy plate 214 may be made of aluminium alloy , titanium alloy , or any other suitable strong but lightweight metal alloy material that not only provides effective protection against projectiles and fragments , but also works as a rigid framework that provides structure and support for the layer of liquid - filled tubes 206 . however , if weight is not a factor and / or cost is an issue , heavier materials may be used . springs 216 may be made from spring steel or any other suitable material . springs 216 are elastic and store mechanical energy . packing foam 212 may be made from expanded plastic materials such extruded high density polyethylene ( xps ) and expandable polystyrene ( eps ), which are able to resist the dynamic forces of a blast or ballistic pressure wave . both springs 216 and packing foam layer 212 can help reduce blast or ballistic pressure on inner alloy plate 214 , thus attenuating babt resulting from the rapid deformation of armor covering the body . kevlar ® panel 218 is a bullet - resistant panel that is used for personal armor , such as ballistic vests , combat helmets , and ballistic face masks inner layer of common clothing material 220 may be made from natural material ( such as cloth , denim , down for down - filled parkas , fur , leather , etc .) or a synthetic fiber ( such as nylon , polyester , spandex , etc .). fig3 illustrates a top view of the blast and ballistic protection system 200 , according to an embodiment of the present invention . in this view , the circular shape of liquid - filled tubes 206 and the grooves in outer alloy plate 210 are apparent . fig4 illustrates a front view of the blast and ballistic protection system 200 that shows liquid - filled tubes 206 , according to an embodiment of the present invention . as can be seen in the figure , liquid filled tubes 206 are u - shaped , and a pair of tube valves 222 are present for each tube . however , other shapes and configurations , such as only a single valve per tube , w - shaped tubes , or any other configuration and number of valves are possible in other embodiments . fig5 illustrates a top view of an end opening 226 of a liquid - filled tube of blast and ballistic protection system 200 , according to an embodiment of the present invention . this view shows flaps ( of a valve ) 228 of end opening 226 in both a closed state ( left ) and an open state ( right ). while there are three flaps in this embodiment , other embodiments may have a different number of flaps , or may use any other suitable valve mechanism to release fluid that is subjected to pressure . fig6 illustrates a side view of blast and ballistic protection system 200 with blast energy redirection and release after a blast or ballistic pressure wave 230 impacts the system , according to an embodiment of the present invention . the rapid impact ( compression ) effects of blast or ballistic pressure wave 230 on system 200 create an action force 232 that compresses liquid - filled tubes 206 and presses the tubes against outer alloy plate 210 , packing foam layer 212 , springs 216 , and inner alloy plate 214 . while tubes are discussed here , any other liquid storage mechanism , such as a bag , bladder , fluid reservoir , etc . may be used in addition to , or in lieu of , the tubes in other embodiments , for both vehicle protection and personnel protection versions . because outer alloy plate 210 and inner alloy plate 214 are rigid , the plates exert a reaction force 234 against liquid - filled tubes 206 . action force 232 and reaction force 234 push liquid 208 inside liquid - filled tubes 206 towards tube valve ( or flaps ) 224 . since liquid 208 is incompressible , increased liquid pressure on the end of liquid - filled tubes 206 forces tube valve ( or flaps ) 224 to open and make liquid 208 to spray out through end opening 222 , thus rapidly decreasing the liquid pressure inside of liquid - filled tubes 206 . the force required to open tube valve ( or flaps ) 224 is a matter of design choice , and any suitable valve or fluid release mechanism may be used . further , the pressure threshold required to open the valve ( or flaps ) is a matter of design choice . both springs 216 and packing foam layer 212 can help reduce the impact of action force 232 on inner alloy plate 214 and kevlar ® panel 218 , thus mitigating babt caused by the impact of action force 232 . fig7 illustrates a side view of a blast and ballistic protection system 700 configured for military systems such as vehicles , according to an embodiment of the present invention . the system may be installed on the outside 702 of system 700 . system 700 has an outer metal plate 704 , a layer of liquid - filled pipes 706 filled with liquid 708 , and an inner metal plate 710 . a pipe valve 712 is installed at an end opening 714 of liquid - filled pipes 706 . both outer metal plate 704 and inner metal plate 710 may be titanium alloy , stainless steel , or any other strong material . in some embodiments , the plates may not be metal , but rather carbon fiber composites , ceramics , or any other suitably strong material . u - shaped liquid - filled pipes 706 are installed vertically in semi - circular troughs or grooves of outer metal plate 704 and work as a pressure transformer to convert kinetic energy of a blast overpressure wave into hydraulic fluid pressure in liquid - filled pipes 706 in order to redirect the pressure via hydraulic fluid flow to the end of liquid - filled pipes 706 , and then to release hydraulic pressure via end opening 714 . liquid - filled pipes 706 may be made from a softer material than outer and inner metal plates 704 and 710 . liquid 708 can be water or any other aqueous solution . fig8 illustrates a side view of blast and ballistic protection system 700 for military weapon systems , according to an embodiment of the present invention . in this view , the circular shape of liquid - filled tubes 706 is apparent . fig9 illustrates a side view of blast and ballistic protection system 700 for military weapon systems with blast energy redirection and release after a blast overpressure wave 716 impacts system 700 , according to an embodiment of the present invention . the rapid impact ( compression ) effects of blast or ballistic pressure wave 716 on outer metal plate 704 create an action force 718 that compresses liquid - filled pipes 706 and moves the pipes against inner metal plate 710 . inner metal plate 710 exerts a reaction force 720 against liquid - filled pipes 706 . action force 718 and reaction force 720 push liquid 708 inside liquid - filled pipes 706 flowing to the end of the pipes . increased liquid pressure on the end of liquid - filled pipes 706 forces pipe valve ( or flaps ) 712 to open and allows liquid 708 to spray out through end opening 714 , thus rapidly decreasing liquid pressure inside liquid - filled pipes 706 . some embodiments of the present invention utilize fluid to transfer energy from a blast or impact from a ballistic projectile into kinetic energy . the fluid is allowed to move within the armor system in order to release the energy , such as via a valve mechanism . in this manner , overpressure from a blast or ballistic projectile is not directed towards the person or machine that is being protected by the armor system , but rather is redirected via the fluid away from the person or machine . in this manner , energy from blasts and projectile strikes may be largely transferred to the fluid and the survivability of the war fighter or machine having the armor system is increased . while liquids are discussed herein , it is understood that the definition of “ liquid ” also encompasses suspensions , gels , or any other substance capable of redirecting energy from a blast or projectile impact . it should be noted that reference throughout this specification to features , advantages , or similar language does not imply that all of the features and advantages that may be realized with the present invention should be or are in any single embodiment of the invention . rather , language referring to the features and advantages is understood to mean that a specific feature , advantage , or characteristic described in connection with an embodiment is included in at least one embodiment of the present invention . thus , discussion of the features and advantages , and similar language , throughout this specification may , but do not necessarily , refer to the same embodiment . furthermore , the described features , advantages , and characteristics of the invention may be combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments . one skilled in the relevant art will recognize that the invention can be practiced without one or more of the specific features or advantages of a particular embodiment . in other instances , additional features and advantages may be recognized in certain embodiments that may not be present in all embodiments of the invention . one having ordinary skill in the art will readily understand that the invention as discussed above may be practiced with steps in a different order , and / or with hardware elements in configurations which are different than those which are disclosed . therefore , although the invention has been described based upon these preferred embodiments , it would be apparent to those of skill in the art that certain modifications , variations , and alternative constructions would be apparent , while remaining within the spirit and scope of the invention . in order to determine the metes and bounds of the invention , therefore , reference should be made to the appended claims .	5
with reference to the drawings , shown in fig1 and 4 , is an anhydrous ammonia applicator 10 having a pulling vehicle 12 and a tool bar 14 . in the preferred embodiment , the pulling vehicle 12 is a field floater chassis such as that distributed by ag - chem under the name terra - gator ®, 2505 , which has a payload capacity of over ten thousand kilograms and preferably a payload capacity of eighteen thousand nine hundred and fifteen kilograms . while the pulling vehicle 12 may be any vehicle capable of carrying an anhydrous ammonia tank and pulling a tool bar , the large payload capacity , large towing capacity , and maneuverability of the field floater chassis make it particularly well - suited for the present application . the engine 16 is a caterpillar ® 3176b turbocharged / air to air aftercooled in - line six cylinder diesel with four hundred sae horsepower at 2100 rpm and a peak torque of 1 , 282 foot pounds at 1500 rpm . the transmission 18 is an eaton fuller ® rtlo - 14718 - a , close ratio , manual having eighteen speeds forward , four in reverse and a torque capacity of 1 , 650 foot pounds . the tandem rear axles 20 are preferably rockwell - international outboard planetary final reduction type . the tandem axle configuration has full time 4 - wheel drive , and cab - controlled lockable interaxle differential ( not shown ) which may be shifted from the locked position for maximum traction to the unlocked position for minimum tire wear . the rear suspension system 22 is a tandem walking beam type with rigid saddles 24 which allows the axles to oscillate independently over rough ground . the pulling vehicle 12 is provided with dual air brake system ( not shown ) which activates wedge - type drums . the pulling vehicle 12 is provided with a frame 28 having main frame rails 30 constructed of stress - relieved rectangular wall steel tubing . the pulling vehicle 12 is provided with a hydrostatic steering system 32 directing a single front wheel 34 . provided around the front wheel 34 is a front tire 36 similar in construction to four rear tires 38 . all five tires 36 and 38 are 66 × 43 . 00 - 25 flotation tires , with a 10 - ply rating . all tires are provided with a locking ring ( not shown ) and an o - ring ( not shown ) on the inside of the wheel 34 . the pulling vehicle 12 is provided with a twelve - volt electrical system 40 with three 650 cold cranking amp batteries ( not shown ) and a one hundred and twenty amp alternator ( not shown ). the pulling vehicle 12 is also provided with an air system 42 having a 428 . 9 liter per minute compressor ( not shown ) governed at 8 . 28 bar . the air system 42 is also provided with dual 19 , 680 cubic centimeter reservoirs ( not shown ) and an air dryer ( not shown ). secured onto the frame 28 of the pulling vehicle 12 is an anhydrous ammonia tank 44 . the anhydrous ammonia tank 44 is constructed of steel with a capacity of 13 , 960 liters of anhydrous ammonia . the anhydrous ammonia tank 44 may be of any desired capacity from 5 , 700 liters to 32 , 000 liters . the anhydrous ammonia tank 44 is coupled to the frame 28 with a plurality of bolts 46 . the bolts 46 are coupled to the tank 44 by a plurality of hinges 48 . the ends of the bolts 46 are threaded and provided with nuts 50 . the two forward - most bolts 46 are provided with springs 52 to prevent torsion of the frame 28 from being transmitted to the tank 44 . for each bolt 46 , the frame 28 is fitted with a v - shaped retainer 53 which guides the bolts 46 and secures them to the frame 28 . as shown in fig1 and 3 , secured to the rear of the frame 28 is a corrosion resistant liquid container 54 . in the preferred embodiment , the container 54 is constructed of crosslink polyolefin , but may be constructed of stainless steel or any material which is substantially chemically inert . the container 54 has a four hundred and sixteen liter capacity , but may have a capacity in the range of fifty liters to one thousand liters , or may have any desired capacity . the container 54 is approximately one meter high , one meter long and one meter deep . the container 54 is preferably attached to the frame 28 by straps 56 or similar releasable securement system to allow the container 54 to be removed from the pulling vehicle 12 when only anhydrous ammonia is being applied . the container 54 is also provided with a fluid inlet 58 and a fluid outlet 60 . in the preferred embodiment , the container 54 is filled with a nitrogen stabilizing material such as a nitrapyrin / pyridine / xylene mixture . while the container 54 is filled with n - serve nitrogen stabilizer manufactured by dow elanco ® of indianapolis , ind . in the preferred embodiment , the container may , of course , be filled with any agricultural product including , but not limited to , fertilizers such as potash and phosphate , pesticides and / or herbicides . secured to the frame 28 , next to the container 54 , is a fluid meter 62 . in the preferred embodiment , the meter 62 is a liquid controls corporation ® ma - 5 positive displacement meter or similar type meter such as those known in the art . the meter 62 is provided with a metering assembly 64 , a digital display counter 66 , and a printer 68 . a fluid intake 70 is provided below and forward of the metering assembly 64 and a differential valve 72 is secured to an outlet 74 of the meter 62 . in the preferred embodiment , the meter 62 has a maximum capacity of two hundred twenty seven liters per minute , a maximum working pressure of 25 bar and weighs approximately ten kilograms . the meter 62 is preferably provided within a housing 76 secured to the frame 28 . the housing 76 is constructed of steel and is provided with a door 78 to allow access to the meter 62 , while preventing the meter 62 from being damaged by the elements or by materials being applied by the applicator 10 . as shown in fig1 a pump 80 is secured to the frame 28 to pump anhydrous ammonia from the tank 44 . in the preferred embodiment , the pump is a corken ® z2000 coro - vane ® vane pump . the pump 80 is provided with an inlet 82 , a blade housing 84 and an outlet 86 . coupled between an outlet 88 of the tank 44 and the inlet 82 of the pump 80 is an excess flow valve 90 . the excess flow valve 90 may be of any type known in the art and is provided to shut off the flow of anhydrous ammonia from the tank if the rate of flow exceeds a predetermined rate . secured to the rear of the frame 28 is a hitch 92 . due to the large pulling capacity of the pulling vehicle 12 , the hitch 92 is preferably a large capacity hitch having a capacity of forty - five metric tons . as shown in fig4 the tool bar 14 is secured to the pulling vehicle by the hitch 92 . although the tool bar 14 may be of any type known in the art , in the preferred embodiment the tool bar 14 is a nutri - plac &# 39 ; r ® 5300 pull - type applicator which is 16 meters wide . the tool bar 14 is provided with a hitch assembly 94 and a main frame 96 as shown in fig4 . secured to the main frame 96 are three raven industries , inc . super - coolers 98 or similar refrigeration devices electrically powered by the pulling vehicle 12 . the super - coolers 98 use expansion of anhydrous ammonia to cool the anhydrous ammonia to a temperature sufficient to maintain the anhydrous ammonia in a liquified state until the anhydrous ammonia is pumped into the soil . as shown in fig4 the main frame 96 comprises a front support bar 100 and a pair of lateral support bars 102 and a rear support bar 104 . these support bars 100 , 102 , and 104 are connected to one another by a plurality of longitudinal supports 106 . secured to the tool bar 14 between the front support bar 100 and the rear support bar 104 are a pair of main wheels 108 . with tires , the wheels 108 are about 1 . 5 meters in diameter and approximately 27 centimeters wide . secured to the rear support bar 104 near the outer edges of the rear support bar 104 are a pair of outrigger wheels 110 . as shown in fig4 the tool bar 14 is preferably provided with twenty - one injection assemblies 112 spaced slightly less than one meter apart . as shown in fig7 each injection assembly 112 comprises an opener 114 , a knife 116 , and a pair of closers 118 . the opener 114 comprises a metal disk 120 having a sharp beveled edge 122 . an arbor 124 secures the disk 120 to a pivot arm 126 . the pivot arm 126 , in turn , is hingably coupled to a support arm 128 . secured between the arbor 124 and the support arm 128 is a compression spring assembly 130 . the compression spring assembly 130 allows the pivot arm 126 to pivot upward when the metal disk 120 encounters a rock or is otherwise placed under an extreme load . this pivoting action limits damage to the metal disk 120 and extends the life of the opener 114 . the support arm 128 is secured to a mounting bracket 132 . the mounting bracket 132 is coupled to a stationary plate 134 by a hinge 135 . the stationary plate 134 is wider than the mounting bracket 132 to allow the stationary plate 134 to be secured to the main frame 96 by a pair of u - bolts 136 and nuts 138 which straddle the mounting bracket 132 . the mounting bracket 132 is also secured to the stationary plate 134 by a compression spring assembly 140 which allows the mounting bracket 132 to pivot relative to the stationary plate 134 when the injection assembly 112 encounters a rock or is otherwise placed under an extreme load . depending from the mounting bracket 132 , rearwardly from the opener 114 , is a knife support bar 142 . the knife 116 is secured to the knife support bar 142 by bolts or similar securement means known in the art . the knife 116 is preferably beveled to allow the knife 116 to pass easily through soil . extending from the mounting bracket 132 , behind the knife 116 , is a closer support bar 144 . the closer support bar 144 is secured to a closer bracket 146 . the closer support bar 144 extends laterally to either side of the closer bracket 146 to accommodate a pair of depending closer arms 148 . the closer arms 148 are secured to the closers 118 by a pair of arbors 150 . each closer in each pair of closers 118 is preferably convex , relative to the closer 118 with which it is paired , to aid in pushing soil together after material has been injected into the soil at the knife 116 . since the pump 80 is located below the tank 44 , gravity draws anhydrous ammonia out of the tank 44 through the outlet 88 of the tank 44 ( fig1 ). the anhydrous ammonia moves through the excess flow valve 90 and into the inlet 82 of the pump 80 . the pump 80 , which is hydraulically driven by the engine 16 of the pulling vehicle 12 , moves the anhydrous ammonia through the outlet 86 and through a hose 113 to the fluid meter 62 ( fig1 and 3 ). coupled to the fluid meter 62 is a pulse generator 154 . as the anhydrous ammonia moves through the meter 62 , the pulse generator 154 generates an electronic pulse which wires ( not shown ) transfer from the meter 62 to a receiver 156 coupled to a central processing unit ( cpu ) 158 located in a cab 160 of the pulling vehicle 12 . in the preferred embodiment , the cpu 158 is a notebook - type personal computer with a pentium ® processor and a liquid crystal display . the cpu 158 translates pulses received from the pulse generator 154 into information regarding the flow of anhydrous ammonia and the cpu 158 displays this information on the liquid crystal display of the cpu 158 . from the fluid meter 62 , the anhydrous ammonia moves through a hose 162 which is connected via a quick - disconnect type coupling 164 to a hose 166 provided on the tool bar 14 ( fig3 - 4 ). the hose 166 is , in turn , connected to the super - coolers 98 provided on the tool bar 14 ( fig3 ). the super - coolers 98 are coupled to the injection assemblies 112 via a series of smaller hoses 168 . as shown in fig7 each of the smaller hoses 168 is secured to a knife 116 and terminates in an opening 170 at the tip of the knife 116 . in a similar fashion , a hose 172 is secured to the fluid outlet 60 of the liquid container 54 ( fig3 ). the hose 172 is connected to another hose 176 via a quick - disconnect type connector 174 ( fig4 ) as shown in fig4 the hose 176 is connected to a pump and meter assembly 178 located on the tool bar 14 . the pump and meter assembly may be of any type known in the art for pumping and metering liquid . smaller hoses 180 are coupled between the pump and metering assembly 178 and the smaller hoses 168 which move the n - serve . accordingly , material located within the liquid container 54 can be transferred from the liquid container 54 , through the smaller hoses 180 , to be distributed in confluence with the anhydrous ammonia through each , the smaller hoses 168 to the opening 170 at the tip of each knife 116 ( fig3 and 7 ). to monitor the tool bar 14 , the frame 28 of the pulling vehicle 12 is fitted with a camera assembly 182 as shown in fig3 . a detailed view of this assembly 182 is shown in fig8 . as shown in fig3 and 8 , the camera assembly 182 comprises a hollow support cylinder 184 secured to a pan / tilt assembly 186 . the pan / tilt assembly may be of any type known in the art , but is preferably of a weather resistant type . the pan / tilt assembly 186 is secured to a protective housing 188 . the support cylinder 184 is secured to the frame 28 of the pulling vehicle 12 by bolts or any similar securement means . in the preferred embodiment , the pan / tilt assembly 186 is powered by alternating current . since the pulling vehicle 12 only generates direct current , the pulling vehicle 12 , as shown in fig1 is provided with a direct - current - to - alternating - current convertor 190 secured within a protective housing 192 . the convertor 190 is wired directly to the pan / tilt assembly 186 ( fig1 and 8 ). the protective housing 188 is preferably constructed of sheet steel , but may , of course , be constructed of any suitable material ( fig8 ). secured within the protective housing 188 is a video camera 194 . provided at the front of the protective housing 188 is a window 196 constructed of transparent plastic or other similarly suitable material . the protective housing 188 is also provided with an awning 198 to protect the window 196 from rain and other damage from the environment . positioned below the window 196 is a blower 200 which moves a constant stream of filtered air across the window 196 to keep the window 196 free of debris . filtered air is supplied to the blower 200 via a hydraulically driven air pump system 202 such as those well - known in the art . the video camera 194 is powered by alternating current from the direct - current - to - alternating - current converter 190 ( fig1 and 8 ). the video camera 194 is preferably provided with zoom capabilities to allow the video camera 194 to take close - up shots of various aspects of the tool bar 14 . the video camera 194 and pan / tilt assembly 186 are wired to a control unit 204 and video monitor 206 located in the cab 160 of the pulling vehicle 12 ( fig1 and 8 ). using the control unit 204 , an operator ( not shown ) can manipulate the camera assembly 182 to display different portions of the toolbar 14 on the video monitor 206 . to begin the application process , the anhydrous ammonia tank 44 is filled with anhydrous ammonia and the tool bar 14 is connected to the pulling vehicle 12 by the hitch assembly 92 ( fig1 ). the hoses 162 and 172 are connected via the quick - disconnect type couplers 164 and 174 to the hoses 166 and 176 of the tool bar 14 ( fig4 ). additional electrical systems such as brake lights ( not shown ) provided on the tool bar may be coupled to the pulling vehicle via a quick - disconnect type electrical connector ( not shown ) so that all of the couplings to the tool bar 14 are of the quick - disconnect type . the quick - disconnect couplings prevent damage to the hoses 162 , 166 , 172 and 176 , if the tool bar 14 were to become unintentionally disconnected from the pulling vehicle 12 ( fig3 - 4 ). as shown in fig5 and 6 , the tool bar 14 can be folded in on itself for transport or storage . once the tool bar 14 is coupled to the pulling vehicle 12 , an operator ( not shown ), located within the cab 160 of the pulling vehicle 12 , can actuate the pump 80 and pump and metering assembly 178 which are preferably wired to the cpu 158 ( fig1 and 4 ). as the pulling vehicle 12 moves forward , the operator can monitor the tool bar 14 by manipulating the camera assembly 182 with the control unit 204 ( fig1 and 8 ). additionally , the operator can monitor the amount of anhydrous ammonia or other material being applied via the monitor of the cpu 158 . as anhydrous ammonia is pumped from the tank 44 and into the soil through each knife 116 , each metal disk 120 of each opener 114 cuts a shallow trench ( not shown ) into which anhydrous ammonia and any other desired material is deposited by each knife 116 ( fig1 and 7 ). after the anhydrous ammonia and other material has been deposited , the closers 118 move the soil back over the trench created by the metal disk 120 of the opener 114 . the large surface area of the tires 36 and 38 of the pulling vehicle 12 prevent undesirable compaction of the soil , and since there is no tank or other heavy object being pulled behind the tool bar 14 , there is no post - injection compaction of the soil . once an operator has delivered a sufficient amount of anhydrous ammonia or other material , the operator shuts down the pumps 80 and 178 with the central processing unit 158 and stops the pulling vehicle 12 ( fig1 and 4 ). once application has stopped , the operator can open the housing 76 for the fluid meter 62 and remove a printed receipt ( not shown ) from the printer 68 showing the quantity of anhydrous ammonia delivered ( fig3 ). if it is desired to refill the tank 44 with anhydrous ammonia , the anhydrous ammonia can be delivered directly into the tank 44 through an inlet 208 provided on the tank 44 ( fig1 ). if it is desired to use the pulling vehicle 12 for another use , the quick - disconnect type couplings 164 and 174 may be disconnected , along with any other electrical systems or other couplings , including the tool bar hitch 92 between the pulling vehicle 12 and tool bar 14 ( fig1 and 4 ). the pulling vehicle 12 can then be pulled forward and all of the connections between the pulling vehicle 12 and the tank 44 , such as the excess flow valve 90 to the pump 80 and the bolts 46 , can be disconnected . to release the bolts 46 , the nuts 50 of the bolts 46 are loosened and the bolts 46 are pivoted upward and out of the v - shaped retainers 54 . a crane ( not shown ) or other device may then be used to lift the tank 44 from the pulling vehicle 12 so that the pulling vehicle 12 may be used for other purposes . although the invention has been described with respect to a preferred embodiment thereof , it is to be understood that it is not to be so limited , since changes and modifications can be made therein which are within in the full intended scope of this invention as defined by the appended claims . for example , it is anticipated that various materials may be applied with the present invention and that additional liquid containers may be secured to the pulling vehicle 12 so that application of a plurality of materials may be controlled with the cpu 158 of the applicator 10 . it is additionally anticipated that tool bars of various dimensions and row widths may be utilized with the applicator 10 of the present invention .	0
referring to the drawings in which like elements are identified with like reference characters : it may be observed in fig1 and 9 that a completed hinge 10 is comprised of a pair of like hinge members 11 , each disposed on the ends of microphone boom portions 12 and 13 and operable to provide articulation therefor about a transverse axis of rotation , 14 . microphone boom section 13 may depend from a headband or an earcup on a communications headset and microphone boom portion 12 may have a communications microphone mounted at its other end ( not shown ). each hinge member 11 is comprised of a longitudinally elongated body having a tapered end portion 16 adapted to be positioned over the end of a microphone boom and an interior aperture 17 dimensioned to slidably receive the end of a microphone boom . each hinge member 11 has a pair of opposed first and third side surfaces 18 and 20 and a further pair of opposed side surfaces 19 and 21 . depending from and extending longitudinally of side 19 of hinge member 11 is a generally semi - circular first ear 22 having an aperture 23 disposed about axis of rotation , 14 . the outer surface of first ear 22 is disposed to be co - planar with the outer surface of side 19 . a second ear 24 extends longitudinally of side 21 from the same end of hinge member 11 is of semi - circular cross section and includes an outwardly extending pivot pin portion 25 and an inwardly extending locking pin 26 . the outer surface of ear 24 is disposed inwardly of side 21 and a circular recess 27 , adapted to receive circular ear 22 is provided in the surface of side 21 . pivot pin 25 has an outer end surface that is disposed in the plane of surface 21 and the height of pin 25 extending outwardly from the outer surface of ear 24 is dimensioned to be the same as the thickness of ear 22 . pivot pin 25 and locking pin 26 are shown disposed coaxially of axis 14 . a pair of ramp - like stop members 28 and 29 are disposed and extending longitudinally of sides 20 and 18 respectively and adjacent to portions 30 and 31 extending on the inside walls toward aperture 17 . a locking spring 33 is shown having a downwardly depending ear 34 , an offset portion 35 , a ramp portion 36 and an aperture 37 . hinge members 11 may be comprised of suitable rigid material such as hard plastic and locking spring members 33 may be formed of spring - type metallic material such as beryllium and the like . microphone boom members 12 and 13 are typically comprised of metallic material although suitable plastic may be utilized as long as a rigidity commensurate with the application is obtained . microphone boom members 12 and 13 are shown having a hollow square cross section and each is provided with an aperture 38 and 39 respectively . it may be noted that the cross - sectional dimensions of apertures 17 in hinge members 11 are such that , when used with a microphone boom of square cross - section , aperture 17 is rectangular in cross - section to provide clearance and to permit locking springs 33 to be disposed in position as shown , for example , in fig5 and 9 . referring specifically to fig1 and 9 , my hinge assembly 10 is shown in perspective and cross - sectional , side elevation outline and hinge 10 is assembled from using a pair of hinge members 11 , a pair of locking springs 33 and microphone boom sections 12 and 13 . assembly is accomplished by placing a locking spring 33 with ear 34 extending into , for example , aperture 39 in microphone boom section 13 and the assembly is slidably disposed in aperture 17 on a hinge member 11 oriented as shown in fig2 a and 9 . similarly , a locking spring 33 is disposed with ear 34 extending into aperture 38 on a microphone boom section 12 and the assembly is slidably disposed in aperture 17 in a hinge member 11 in the orientation illustrated in fig2 b and 9 . the assembly is completed by moving the ends of hinge members 11 longitudinally together , as oriented in fig2 a and 2b , until the apertures 23 and pivot pins 25 are in axial alignment and completing the assembly by moving one or the other up or down so that the apertures 23 in ears 22 receive pivot pins 25 on ears 24 and apertures 37 on locking springs 33 are in engagement with locking pins 26 on ears 24 and thereafter hinge members may be pivoted relative one another about axis 14 to provide the articulation of a microphone boom comprised of microphone boom sections 12 and 13 to a limit determined by stop members 28 and 29 disposed intermediate ears 22 and 24 . the material of ears 22 and 24 and the spring characteristics of locking springs 33 acting along axis 14 will determine the frictional inter - engagement of ears 22 and 24 . it may also be appreciated by those skilled in the art to which my invention pertains that the elements of my hinge cooperate to provide an adjustable articulating means on an intermediate portion of a microphone boom that may be fabricated as by choice of materials , dimensions or the like so that the frictional characteristics thereof are more or less than a common mounting disposed on an earcup for adjustably supporting an entire microphone boom assembly . in one operative example , the hinge was fabricated to exhibit a lower frictional characteristics than the boom mounting on an earcup . this relationship resulted in operational characteristics wherein the microphone at the end of the boom was positioned in proper relationship to the mouth of a user and permitted , through articulation of my hinge on the intermediate portion of the boom , movement of the microphone away from and toward the mouth of the user without disturbing the adjustment performed on the earcup mounting to allow , for example , the microphone to be disposed to one side when donning or removing the headset .	8
the starting material for use in this invention may be any zea mays variety of edible corn kernels . dent corn , waxy corn , and sweet corn are generally preferred , though others such as indian corn , high amylose corn , and high lysine corn would also be operative . it is necessary that the kernels be dehulled ; that is , that they have the outer skin removed . the specific process of dehulling is not critical , and this step does not in itself constitute novelty within the instant invention . any of the procedures as well known in the prior art may be used provided that it leaves the corn kernel substantially intact and does not degrade the kernel by rendering it toxic or otherwise inedible . alkali , or lye , dehulling procedures , such as those taught in u . s . pat . no . 2 , 219 , 777 , supra , and in marden et al ., j . ind . eng . chem . 7 ( 10 ): 850 - 853 , october 1915 , are generally suitable . it is preferred to use a relatively strong solution ( 1 . 5 - 5 %) of sodium or potassium hydroxide preheated to temperatures near 100 ° c . in order to minimize the contact time of the kernel with the alkali , and thereby minimize degradation . under these conditions , the hulls are sufficiently loosened in about 3 - 5 minutes such that they may be readily removed by agitation in water . it is understood that mechanical dehullers may be used to expedite the process . after dehulling , it is preferred to wash the kernels with water to remove any remaining hulls and residual lye . the excess water is drained off , and the moisture content of the grain is then adjusted to 15 - 30 % by dry weight of the corn , though 20 - 25 % is preferred . above 30 % moisture , alcohol absorption in the subsequent step is unduly retarded . below 15 %, alcohol absorption is excessive , and the product tends to be hard . as mentioned above , the relatively soft snack food of this invention is obtained by treating the dehulled corn kernels with alcohol prior to deep frying . it is preferred to use ethanol since it is nonpoisonous and residual amounts in the food product are acceptable by the fda . however , it is understood that other lower alcohols , such as methanol , n - propanol , and isopropanol will produce the same results . the conditions of alcohol treatment are somewhat variable depending upon the desired flavor and texture of the final product . the amount of alcohol to be absorbed by the corn is in the range of 3 - 25 %, and preferably about 3 - 6 % by dry weight of the corn . the alcohol may be admixed with the kernels by any conventional means such as in a rotatable drum - type sprayer , and then allowed to come to equilibrium . to obtain uniform absorption at these levels , it is preferred to first reduce the moisture content of the corn by an amount of about 2 - 10 % below the level desired for the subsequent cooking step . the alcohol is then diluted with sufficient water to raise the moisture content back to the desired level , and the alcohol - water mixture is applied to the corn . the contact time required for absorption generally ranges from 1 - 2 hours at room temperature , though longer periods may be allowed . the rate of absorption varies proportionally with temperature , and temperatures in the range of about 0 °- 75 ° c . may be employed . above 75 ° c ., the starch begins to gelatinize , and at the upper end of the range , the lower alcohols either boil or are highly volatile and should be contained in a closed vessel . alternatively , the kernels can be soaked in excess alcohol approximating 25 - 200 % or more by weight of the corn . the contact time under these conditions should be limited to about 5 - 120 minutes . longer soaking periods effect the leaching of solubles from the kernels , resulting in a bland - tasting product . for each variety of corn , the properties of the final product can be varied by altering the moisture content and the amount of absorbed alcohol . the alcohol - treated kernels are cooked by deep frying in fat or oil . it is generally preferred to use a vegetable oil such as corn oil or other commercially available cooking oil . suitable cooking temperatures are within the range of about 130 °- 190 ° c . above 190 ° c ., the kernels develop an over - cooked and undesirable flavor . if a yellow product is desired , the temperature should be kept below about 140 ° c ., above which the corn begins to discolor . for brown kernels , the temperature is preferably held within the range of 140 °- 180 ° c . it is recommended that the oil be preheated to at least about 100 ° c . prior to adding the alcohol - containing corn kernels . the temperature is then slowly raised to the desired level at which it is maintained until the kernels rise to the surface . they are then removed , drained of excess oil , and allowed to cool . during cooking , the alcohol and water are vaporized and released with entrapped air into the oil in the form of bubbles . when the temperature is gradually raised from the preheated level to the point where bubbles almost cease to appear ( about 175 ° c . ), the product will be substantially free of all traces of alcohol . if it is desirable to cook at lower temperatures in order to avoid browning as discussed above , then residual alcohol may be removed from the product by means of a vacuum oven at less than 140 ° c . the resultant snack food is characterized by a friable texture considerably softer than parched corn . test results indicate an average crush resistance of 45 - 60 % less than parched corn prepared by a similar process without the alcohol treatment , such as that of u . s . pat . no . 2 , 219 , 777 , supra . the kernels are expanded to 50 - 200 % greater than the original size , depending upon the variety , the initial moisture and alcohol contents , and the cooking conditions . the outer appearance is smooth and glossy , and roughly the same shape as the raw corn . the snack food itself is tasty , and of course , it may be seasoned with salt , cheese , or other condiments as known in the art . flavorants and coloring agents may also be applied to the inner and outer kernel structures by entrainment with alcohol during the alcohol treatment step . the shelf life of the corn is a function of the stability of the cooking oil . antioxidants and other stabilizers can be added to the oil in order to inhibit rancidity . corn cooked in commercial oils containing antioxidants retain their fresh flavor up to about 11 weeks . the following examples are intended only to further illustrate the invention and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention which is defined by the claims . naoh ( 30 g .) was dissolved in 1 liter water and brought to boiling in a 1 - gallon capacity stainless - steel boiler equipped with an inner basket perforated with 1 / 4 - inch holes . waxy corn ( 400 g .) ( no . 325 , moews seed co .) was added while keeping the temperature at or near boiling . after 3 minutes , the basket of corn was removed , drenched with cool water , and washed with running water for about 1 hour to remove the pericarp and wash out the alkali . excess water was drained off . the dehulled corn was submerged in 95 % ethyl alcohol in a covered jar and allowed to soak for 18 hours , after which it was removed from the alcohol and allowed to drain . the moisture content was reduced further by drying for 5 minutes in a hot air stream produced by an electric blow drier . the kernels were then immersed in vegetable cooking oil preheated to 150 ° c . in a kitchen - type electric french fryer of about 2 - quart capacity . the temperature was increased to 172 ° c . in 10 minutes , after which the corn was removed , drained , and surface blotted with paper towels . the resultant kernels were soft , easily masticated , and had a good flavor . the procedure of example 1 was repeated except that dent corn was substituted for the waxy corn . the resultant product was slightly harder , but otherwise similar to that prepared in example 1 . dent corn ( 400 g .) was dehulled by the procedure of example 1 . the wet sample after draining weighed 560 g . and was divided into four 140 - g . portions which were treated for 18 hours in a covered jar with various amounts of 95 % ethyl alcohol and water according to the following schedule : ______________________________________ 75 % ethyl water alcohol ( cc .) ( cc . ) ______________________________________a 100 50b 75 75c 50 100d 25 125______________________________________ each portion was then deep fried according to the procedure of example 1 . all four products had an acceptable texture and flavor , though sample d was perceptably harder than the others . naoh ( 60 g .) was dissolved in 1200 g . water and brought to boiling in the apparatus used in example 1 . sweet corn ( 500 g .) was added while keeping the temperature at or near boiling . after 6 minutes , the corn was removed , washed with cool water , and drained . the dehulled corn was divided into two equal portions , each of which was placed in a covered jar with 20 cc . ethyl alcohol . the jars were allowed to sit for 18 hours during which they were stirred occasionally by rotation . the alcohol - treated portions were recombined and immersed in vegetable cooking oil (&# 34 ; wesson &# 34 ;) preheated to 100 ° c . when the kernels floated to the surface of the oil and evolution of gas substantially ceased , the corn was removed , drained , and allowed to cool . the product had an excellent , sweet flavor , and excellent mouth feel . naoh ( 72 g .) was dissolved in 1200 cc . water and brought to boiling in the apparatus used in example 1 . &# 34 ; iochief &# 34 ; sweet corn ( 400 g .) was added while keeping the temperature at or near boiling . after 6 minutes , the corn was removed , drained , washed with running water to remove the lye , and drained again . the tip caps and loosened hulls were removed by abrasion against the basket of the dehulling apparatus . the dehulled and washed sweet corn was partially dried , placed in a lidded jar , and 20 cc . ethyl alcohol and 20 cc . water were added . after 18 hours , the corn was deep fried according to the procedure of example 1 , except that evolution of bubbles ceased at 170 ° c ., and the corn was removed . the corn was drained in a colander and patted dry with paper towels . it had a soft friable texture and excellent flavor . the purpose of this example was to demonstrate the criticality of the alcohol treatment . yellow dent corn ( 870 g .) was gleaned from a 940 - g . lot identified as yellow dent ed 96 . this was divided into two parts and dehulled by immersing each part in 2 . 5 % aqueous naoh preheated to boiling . after 6 minutes , the corn was removed from the alkali , drained , washed with water , and cooled . the corn was rubbed against the basket of the dehulling apparatus to remove the loosened hulls . dehulled corn ( 990 g .) having a moisture content of 17 % was obtained . a . the dehulled corn ( 260 g .) was immersed in &# 34 ; wesson &# 34 ; oil preheated to 100 ° c . the temperature of the oil was raised to 175 ° c . at which time the evolution of bubbles ceased , and the corn was removed and patted with paper towels to remove excess oil . this corn was labeled &# 34 ; sample a &# 34 ;. b . the dehulled corn ( 730 g .) was treated with 10 % ethyl alcohol based on the original weight of the corn . the corn was allowed to come to equilibrium with the alcohol and immersed in &# 34 ; wesson &# 34 ; oil preheated to 100 ° c . the temperature of the oil was raised to 175 ° c . at which time the evolution of bubbles substantially ceased , and the corn was removed and patted with paper towels to remove excess oil . this corn was labeled &# 34 ; sample b &# 34 ;. the crush resistance of samples a and b was tested in a device constructed to simulate the action of molars on corn kernels . the device comprised a metal base above which was mounted a metal plunger supported in a guide tube and affixed to the underside of a pan . in testing , a corn kernel was placed between the base and plunger , and the pan was gradually loaded with weights in 100 - g . increments until the kernel was abruptly crushed . ten randomly selected kernels from each of samples a and b were tested , and the results are reported in the table below . the reported values include the weights of the plunger and pan . ______________________________________ crush load ( g .) kernel sample a sample bnumber ( no etoh ) ( etoh - treated ) ______________________________________1 4954 11832 6954 46833 5504 57674 13004 20465 7654 34466 2935 45467 5535 55468 8835 41469 11835 484610 8235 4046average 7545 4026______________________________________ it is understood that the foregoing detailed description is given merely by way of illustration and that modification and variations may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention .	0
the present invention will now be described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings , in which certain embodiments of the invention are shown . this invention may , however , be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein ; rather , these embodiments are provided by way of example so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete , and will fully convey the scope of the invention to those skilled in the art . like numbers refer to like elements throughout the description . fig1 is a schematic diagram of a motor drive device 1 circuit according to an embodiment of the present invention . a three - phase electric motor 50 , such as an asynchronous motor or a permanent magnet synchronous motor , is powered through three ac ( alternating current ) inputs 32 u , 32 v , 32 w . the motor 50 can be used for any suitable purpose , where one example is to drive a vehicle . in such a context the vehicle could be provided with two or more systems as shown in fig1 to drive two or more wheels of the vehicle , respectively . another application can be a motor 50 that is mounted onto a diesel motor output shaft and used as a generator . to allow control of frequency and power supplied to the motor 50 , the motor drive device 1 comprises bridge leg where the outputs 2 u , 2 v , 2 w are switched between a positive dc voltage 30 and a negative dc voltage 31 . the difference in voltage between the positive and the negative dc voltages 30 , 31 typically ranges between 24 and 80 volts or even up to 900 volts . the positive and negative dc voltages can be symmetrical or asymmetrical on either side of zero volts , or either one of the dc voltages 30 , 31 could be zero . the dc voltages 30 and 31 can in turn be created from a rectified ac source or from another dc source such as a battery or fuel cell . the motor drive device 1 comprises two dc power input terminals 20 , 21 for receiving the dc power . the switching is performed in main drive switch assemblies 21 u and 22 u for a u - phase , in main drive switch assemblies 21 v and 22 v for a v - phase and in main drive switch assemblies 21 w and 22 w for a w - phase . each switch assembly comprises one or more switch groups , as is explained in more detail below . the ac power is output from the motor / generator drive device 1 using three respective ac power output terminals 2 u , 2 v , 2 w . to achieve desired capacity of the motor drive device 1 , the function of each switch assemblies 21 u , 21 v , 21 w , 22 u , 22 v , 22 w is performed by a desired number of actual switches , arranged in parallel as is explained in more detail with reference to fig6 and 7 below . the power switches of the main drive switch assemblies 21 u , 21 v , 21 w , 22 u , 22 v , 22 w can be mosfet transistors or insulated - gate bipolar transistors ( igbt ) or any other suitable switches . during operation of the motor 50 , each switch of the switch assemblies 21 u , 21 v , 21 w , 22 u , 22 v , 22 w is controlled from an output of a controller 40 to effect pulse width modulation ( pwm ). the controller 40 can thus control the frequency and power supplied to / from the motor / generator 50 . fig2 is a schematic top view of an ims board 7 of the motor drive device of fig1 and components fastened thereto . switch assemblies 21 u , 21 v , 21 w , 22 u , 22 v , 22 w are mounted on the ims board 7 . each of the switch assemblies 21 u , 21 v , 21 w , 22 u , 22 v , 22 w comprises a plurality of switches . in this example , there are sixteen switches in each switch assemblies 21 u , 21 v , 21 w , 22 u , 22 v , 22 w . within each switch assembly 21 u , 21 v , 21 w , 22 u , 22 v , 22 w , all switches perform the same function and are controlled in parallel by the controller 40 ( fig1 ). the controller is implemented on a separate logic board and the signals from the controller can , for example , be communicated via a parallel interface ( not shown ) to the ims board 7 . four dc distribution busbars 24 a , 24 b , 23 a , 23 b are positioned on top of the ims board 7 . two of these dc distribution busbars 24 a , 24 b distribute a positive dc voltage while the other two dc distribution busbars 23 a , 23 b distribute a negative dc voltage . the dc distribution busbars are supplied with dc voltage from the pcb 3 shown in fig3 when the motor drive device is assembled . in analogy with fig1 , switch assemblies 21 u and 22 u are used for one of the phases , phase u , of the motor 50 . the drains of switches of switch assembly 22 u are connected to the positive dc voltage via traces on the ims 7 and via the dc distribution busbar 24 a . analogously , the sources of switches of switch assembly 21 u are connected to the negative dc voltage via traces on the ims 7 and via the dc distribution busbar 23 a . furthermore , the sources of the switches of the switch assembly 22 u and the drains of the switches of the switch assembly 21 u are connected to traces on the ims 7 and mounting means 8 u for mounting of an ac power output terminal . in use , all mounting means 8 u , 8 v , 8 w have a respective ac power output terminal 2 u , 2 v , 2 w mounted to supply ac power to the motor 50 . the gate of all switches of the switch assemblies 22 u , 21 u are connected to the controller 40 . the other two phases , v and w , are arranged analogously , but each switch assembly is controlled independently by the controller 40 . all of the switches of the switch assemblies 21 u , 21 v , 21 w , 22 u , 22 v , 22 w are thus mounted in straight lines along in the same direction x . the x direction can also be called a first direction . furthermore , the dc distribution busbars 23 a , 23 b , 24 a , 24 b are mounted along the same direction x . since the dc input and the ac output of the power switches is distributed along the x direction , there is no significant disadvantage to extend along the x direction by installing more power switches . this allows for easy dimensioning of the motor drive device 1 during design . if higher capacity is required , one or more switch groups are simply added , which results in longer dc distribution busbars 23 a , 23 b , 24 a , 24 b . lower capacity is easily accommodated by reducing the number of switch groups and shortening the dc distribution busbars 23 a , 23 b , 24 a , 24 b , resulting in a more compact design . optionally , lower capacity can be achieved by omitting to install some of the switches in each groups while maintaining the size of the ims board 7 , allowing for flexible capacity by only mounting more or fewer power switches . fig3 is a schematic top view of a pcb 3 of the motor drive device of fig1 and components fastened thereto . the pcb is mounted to the dc distribution busbars 23 a , 23 b , 24 a , 24 b of the ims board 7 . two dc power input terminals 20 , 21 are mounted on the pcb 3 and are connected through the pcb to the dc distribution busbars 23 a , 23 b , 24 a , 24 b . the positive dc power input terminal 20 is connected to the positive dc busbars 24 a , 24 b while the negative dc power input terminal 21 is connected to the negative dc busbars 23 a , 23 b . furthermore , three ac power output terminals 2 u , 2 v , 2 w are provided , but without galvanic contact with the pcb 3 . the ac power output terminals 2 u , 2 v , 2 w are mounted to the respective mounting means 8 u , 8 v , 8 w of the ims board 7 , through holes in the pcb 3 . the ac power output terminals 2 u , 2 v , 2 w have an elongated ac busbar which has a cross section of significant size , e . g . 75 mm 2 or greater , which reduces the resistance along the x direction to negligible amounts . analogously , the dc power input terminals 20 , 21 have an input dc busbar which has a significant cross section , which also reduces the resistance along the x direction . a plurality of dc bus capacitors 5 are mounted on the pcb in parallel with the input dc terminals . the capacitors 5 smooth the input voltage to supply a more stable power and filter any dc ripple current . furthermore , any inductance , e . g . due to long connecting cables , is reduced by the capacitors 5 . the slits in the pcb are made in the y direction . the dc ripple current will also in this design flow in the y direction . therefore , the slits will not affect the distribution of dc ripple current . furthermore , the dc bus bars 23 a , 23 b , 24 a , 24 b and the ims 7 are designed such that the voltage drop in the x direction is greatly reduced . the pcb 3 is divided up by the slits so each switch group of switches is primarily connected to the dc bus capacitors 5 connected to the corresponding pcb area within slits . thereby the switches of the switch assemblies 21 u , 21 v , 21 w , 22 u , 22 v , 22 w dynamically and statically share the current equally with a minimum of variation . the ac busbars are designed to have a large cross sectional area to reduce resistance while at the same time avoiding being in physical contact with the capacitors 5 . this results in a somewhat wavy appearance which corresponds to the capacitors 5 . while this is particularly applicable to the upper part of ac power output terminal 2 u and the lower part of ac power output terminal 2 w , the same design can be applied to all three ac power output terminals 2 u , 2 v , 2 w . since the ims board 7 can be mounted to a heat sink which can be made of metal and the power terminals 20 , 21 , 2 u , 2 v , 2 w are made of metal , the metal parts can physically expand or contract more or less than the pcb when the temperature varies . to allow for expansion of the pcb without significant tension , a number of through slits 9 are provided in the pcb 3 . both the dc busbars and the ac busbars have varying cross - sectional area to achieve a substantially constant voltage drop per unit of distance . fig6 is a schematic diagram showing electrical aspect of one switch phase of the embodiment of fig1 and fig7 illustrate one of the switch groups of fig6 . these will now be discussed together to explain the layout of transistors in embodiments of the present invention . in order to show the impedances that affect the distribution of current , switch groups 110 a - d together make up switch assembly 22 u and switch groups 110 e - h together make up switch assembly 21 u . each switch group 110 a - h , indicated in fig7 by the reference numeral 110 , consists of , in this example , four switches 130 a - 130 d for a total of sixteen switches for each of switch assemblies 22 u and 21 u . each switch group is connected to one connection point on the dc distribution busbar and one connection point on the ac busbar . each switch assembly is arranged such that static and dynamic distribution of current becomes very similar for all transistors . by dividing each switch assembly into switch groups , each group becomes small , i . e . occupying a small amount of space on the ims 7 , whereby parasitic impedances 122 - 129 become small . it is to be noted , that while four switch groups are shown for each switch assembly in this example , the number of groups can be varied , e . g . in correspondence with current requirements of a particular application . the voltage drop over impedances 100 - 102 and 103 - 105 correspond to each other to achieve an equal distribution of current between the switch groups 110 a - d . in other words , the voltage drop from point 140 to point 141 correspond to the voltage drop from point 145 to point 146 , etc . these voltage drops are due to the impedance of the dc distribution busbar 24 a and the ac busbar out ac output terminal 2 u . analogously , the voltage drop over impedances 106 - 108 and 103 - 105 correspond to each other to achieve equal current distribution . each set of switch groups connected to + dc 30 and − dc 31 making up a switch group chain , i . e . switch groups 110 a , 110 e , switch groups 110 b , 110 f , switch groups 110 c , 110 g , and switch groups 110 d , 110 h , are connected to its own set 118 - 121 of at least one dc bus capacitor each . all dc bus capacitors of the sets 118 - 121 are part of the dc bus capacitors 5 of fig3 . the capacitor sets 118 - 121 are isolated using natural stray impedances . in this way , a good and equal current distribution between all switches is achieved . since the dc bus capacitor sets 118 - 121 are connected to the switch groups 110 a - h directly , the impedances reduce effects of switching of neighbouring switch groups . consequently , this construction provides an improved current distribution in a static perspective ( milliseconds ) as well as in a dynamic perspective ( microseconds ). it is to be noted that the other two phases , with switch assemblies 22 v , 21 v , 22 w , 21 w have the same , but independent , configuration as the phase that has been described above comprising switch assemblies 22 u , 21 u with reference to fig6 and 7 . fig4 is a schematic side view of the motor drive device circuit according to fig1 . here the pcb 3 and the ims board 7 can be seen . a logic board 4 is also provided , upon which components are mounted which perform the function of the controller 40 . a heat sink 6 is thermally connected to the ims board 7 to dissipate heat , e . g . generated from the power switches . in order to further increase the thermal contact between the ims 7 and the heat sink 6 , thermal grease 10 may be applied . a functional explanation will now be provided for the phase u . positive dc power is provided on the dc power input terminal 20 , which is supplied through the pcb 3 to the two positive dc distribution busbars 24 a and 24 b . analogously , negative dc power is provided on the dc power input terminal 21 and supplied through the pcb 3 to the two negative dc distribution busbars 23 a and 23 b . under pwm control from the controller ( fig1 ), the switch assembly 22 u supplies positive dc voltage or not to the ac power output terminal 2 u , while the switch assembly 21 u supplies negative dc voltage or not to the ac power output terminal 2 u . the ac power output terminal 2 u is then connected to one phase of the motor ( fig1 ) while avoiding routing any ac output current through the pcb . the other phases v , w work the same way as phase u , but each phase is individually controlled by the controller . fig5 is a schematic perspective view of an ac power output terminal 2 of the motor drive device of fig1 . an ac busbar 11 collects ac power as supplied by connected power switches . the ac power output terminal 2 is mounted e . g . using screws ( not shown ) extending via through holes 14 a , 14 b , 14 c , 14 d and extending through the holes in corresponding mounting means ( 8 u , 8 v , 8 w of fig2 ) on the ims board 7 to the heat sink 6 . furthermore , the ac power output terminal 2 can be provided with mounting supports 13 a , 13 b for the logic board 4 , even though the logic board is powered from the dc power input terminals . the invention has mainly been described above with reference to a few embodiments . however , as is readily appreciated by a person skilled in the art , other embodiments than the ones disclosed above are equally possible within the scope of the invention , as defined by the appended patent claims .	7
fig1 illustrates selected components of a windshield wiper control system 10 . the wiper system operative components are illustrated as portion 12 of fig1 . the wiper system , per se , includes a dc motor 14 that preferably has a variable motor speed responsive to a motor control signal supplied to the motor . wiper blades 16 are coupled to and driven by motor 14 through conventional linkage 18 . linkage 18 preferably moves wiper blades 16 through the wiper pattern according to a motor control signal received in motor 14 . arm and blade position indicator 20 includes a position sensing device used to determine the position of the wiper blade on the windshield relative to the reversal points of the wipe pattern . the position sensing device preferably includes a switch operating from a cam or plate , for example , or an optical encoder or magnetic pick - up device that is coupled through suitable electronics for producing an electrical signal indicative of the position of the wiper blade . in the preferred embodiment , the voltage of the electrical signal from the position sensing device is the controlling or important characteristic of the signal . a position indicative voltage signal is produced by the signal level circuit illustrated by a block diagram box 24 . the position indicative voltage signal is processed at signal processing circuitry 26 such that the signal becomes proportional to a desired motor speed , dependent on the position of the wiper blade relative to the reversal point or end point of the wiper stroke . the determination of the desired motor speed depends on whether the position of the wiper is within a slow down portion or zone of the wiper blade pattern wherein it is desirable for the wiper blade to decelerate prior to reaching the reversal points . the angles defining the optimum surface area covered by the slow down portion of the wiper pattern can be determined on a vehicle - by - vehicle basis . the angles at which reduced speed will optimize system performance with respect to noise , angle growth and water expulsion is to be determined for a particular vehicle wiper system by system analysis and experimentation that would be understood by one skilled in the art and , therefore need not be further described . the signal processing that occurs at 26 preferably includes level shifting and filtering in order to smooth out the characteristics of the voltage signal received from the signal level circuit 24 . level shifting and filtering are used , for example to smooth out the effects of abrupt changes in motor speed that may occur as the wiper blade 16 moves through the wiper pattern . the control signal produced by signal processing circuitry 26 , which is preferably directly proportional to the desired motor speed , is processed by pulse width modulator 28 to thereby produce a signal having a constant frequency and a variable duty cycle . the duty cycle of the modulated signal produced by modulator 28 is preferably variable between 0 volts and a high state voltage that corresponds to maximum wiper speed operation . the high state voltage is preferably suitable for driving a power semiconductor device such as the gate of a mosfet . the pulse width modulated signal is then processed by dc -- dc converter circuit 30 . a conventional dc -- dc converter circuit such as a two transistor half bridge or a four transistor h - bridge circuit works suitably in the preferred embodiment of this invention . dc -- dc converter circuit 30 outputs a motor control signal that is preferably applied to the armature of a two brush dc motor . the armature voltage of motor 14 preferably tracks the motor speed control signal and , therefore , the motor speed tends to follow the armature voltage . fig2 illustrates , in diagrammatic form , wiper blade 16 in wiper pattern or stroke 34 . wiper pattern 34 includes a first end 36 and a second end 38 . ends 36 and 38 are the reversal points of the wiper pattern . the areas indicated at 40 and 42 are the slow down portions of the wiper pattern wherein the speed of wiper blade 16 is reduced prior to reaching a reversal point ( 36 or 38 ) of wiper pattern 34 . for example , the illustrated position of wiper blade 16 corresponds to a condition of maximum acceleration as wiper blade 16 moves through wiper pattern 34 an the direction of arrow 44 . once blade 16 reaches the point indicated by broken line 46 , the duty cycle of the motor speed control signal is varied such that the motor speed is reduced as blade 16 travels through slow down region 40 . investigations and experimentation reveal that a slow down zone corresponding to an arc angle of between 15 and 30 degrees is most preferable . an example of a typical wipe cycle follows . as illustrated in fig2 blade 16 , moving in the direction of arrow 44 , is at maximum speed in the illustrated position . position sensing element 20 and signal level circuit 24 communicate the location of wiper blade 16 to the remainder of system 10 . motor 14 preferably decelerates wiper blade 16 at approximately 15 degrees prior to the full out wipe position , reversal point 36 . the motor reaches minimum speed immediately adjacent reversal point 36 . after reaching reversal point 36 , wiper blade 16 begins to traverse through the wipe pattern according to direction arrow 48 . position sensing element 20 and signal level circuit 24 in combination with the other circuit elements illustrated in fig1 command motor 14 to accelerate wiper blade 16 once wiper blade 16 has moved approximately five degrees away from reversal point 36 ( i . e ., after reversing at reversal point 36 , and beginning the inwipe motion in the direction of arrow 44 ). the position of blade 16 illustrated in fig2 corresponds to the blade approaching maximum speed when moving in the direction of arrow 48 . a slow down process , similar to that described above , occurs once blade 16 enters slow down zone 42 approaching reversal point 38 . as can be seen by the above description , this invention provides a useful system and methodology for controlling the speed of a windshield wiper as a function of the position of the wiper relative to the reversal points of the wipe pattern . further modifications are possible such as changing the size of the slow down zones as a function of wiper speed . other possible embodiments include selectively varying the speed of the wiper throughout its stroke . the above description is exemplary rather than limiting in nature . the scope and purview of this invention shall be limited only by the appended claims .	8
the following describes currently preferred embodiments of an enhanced m2m architecture and associated mechanisms to allow a more flexible mobility management of m2m devices in different capillary networks , by dynamically binding said the m2m devices with different m2m media handlers connected with , or integrated in , existing m2m gateways , as well as to allow aggregation and consolidation of information streams generated by the m2m devices , by using a unique communication channel between one or more m2m servers and the different m2m media handlers , for traffic with origin or destination in the m2m devices , through the public network . in particular , these mechanisms in the enhanced m2m architecture include the new method of handling subscription data for m2m devices in a m2m system and the new method of handling operation data of m2m devices in a m2m system , both further described in the light of the illustrating drawings . different network scenarios , with different or same nature of capillary networks may be built up in accordance with the invention ; wherein a same m2m media handler , such as the second m2m media handler 2 b in fig2 , may be connected with more than one capillary network , such as third and fifth capillary networks 4 c and 4 e in fig2 , and with more than one m2m server , such as second and third m2m servers 3 b and 3 c ; wherein any particular capillary network , such as the fourth capillary network 4 d in fig1 , may be detached from one particular m2m media handler , such as the second m2m media handler 2 b in fig1 , and attached with a new m2m media handler , such as the third m2m media handler 2 c in fig1 ; wherein some m2m devices in a capillary network , such as the fifth capillary network 4 e in fig3 , may be controlled from a m2m server , such as the third m2m server 3 c in fig3 , some other m2m devices in the same capillary network may be controlled from another m2m server , such as the fourth m2m server 3 d in fig3 , and all the m2m devices communicating with respective m2m server through a same m2m media handler , such as the second m2m media handler 2 b in fig3 ; or wherein some m2m devices in a capillary network , such as m2m devices 4 a 6 , 4 a 7 , 4 a 8 of the first capillary network 4 a in fig4 , may communicate in aggregated mode with a m2m server , such as the first m2m server 3 a in fig4 , through a m2m media handler , such as the first m2m media handler 2 a in fig4 , and some other m2m devices in the capillary network , such as m2m devices 4 a 3 , 4 a - 4 , 4 a 9 of the first capillary network 4 a in fig4 , may communicate in private mode with the m2m server through the m2m media handler . particularly , the fig4 shows a scenario wherein a m2m device 4 a - 4 in the first capillary network 4 a behaves , in fact , as a m2m media handler and is adapted for receiving communications from the m2m media handler 2 a as if it were a m2m devices and for further distributing corresponding communications to other m2m devices , such as m2m devices 4 a 1 , 4 a 2 , 4 a 5 of the capillary network 4 a . different scenarios like the ones above , and many different combinations may appear in each scenario whereby some m2m devices may be communicated with the m2m server through the m2m media handler with private sessions , others with aggregate sessions and still others with consolidated sessions . prior to discussing different embodiments on the handling of private , aggregated and consolidated sessions , a possible embodiment of registration of m2m devices is worth to be discussed with reference to fig1 . as illustrated in fig1 , a m2m device 4 a 6 aware of the m2m media handler 2 a may submit an attach message during a step s - 255 to the m2m media handler including an identifier of the m2m device and , optionally , its own capabilities . the m2m media handler receiving the attach message may assign an ip address to the m2m device during a step s - 260 , and the m2m media handler submits a register message during a step s - 265 to a m2m registrar 1 in charge of subscription data for the m2m device . this register message includes the m2m device identifier and an own identifier identifying the m2m media handler currently handling the m2m device . besides , the register message may also include the ip address assigned by the m2m media handler to the m2m device for further identification purposes , as well as the m2m device capabilities , if provided by the m2m device . in an embodiment of the invention , as provisioning the m2m registrar with subscription data for a number of m2m devices , capabilities for one or more m2m device may also be provided , capabilities which may be selected from : one or more physical characteristic sensor , location , configuration parameters , and combinations thereof . where this embodiment is practised in the m2m registrar , queries about such m2m devices may additionally be answered with such capabilities provisioned in the m2m registrar . alternatively or complementary to the above embodiment , a similar achievement may be obtained where the step of registering one of more m2m device at the m2m registrar includes a step of indicating the capabilities for each m2m device , capabilities which , as above , may be selected from : one or more physical characteristic sensor , location , configuration parameters , and combinations thereof . moreover , the embodiment of provisioning m2m device capabilities at the m2m registrar and the embodiment of providing said capabilities from the m2m device itself during registration are not exclusive to each other since different versions or generations of m2m devices may coexist in the market so that some m2m devices may provide its own capabilities whereas others are not capable of doing it and need the provision of m2m device capabilities by provisioning means . once the m2m device 4 a 6 has been registered in the m2m registrar 1 , the latter confirms the registration back to the m2m media handler 2 a during a step s - 270 . this confirmation of having registered the m2m device may optionally include a first category indicator assigned to the m2m device at the m2m registrar , and also optionally a second category indicator assigned to the m2m media handler at the m2m registrar . these first and second category indicators may indicate whether private , aggregated or consolidated sessions are respectively supported by the m2m device and the m2m media handler . regarding different embodiments on the handling of private , aggregated and consolidated sessions depending on the different scenarios exemplary illustrated in fig1 to fig4 , the fig5 illustrates the sequence of actions to be followed where communication packets are sent from a number of m2m devices though a m2m media handler in a telecommunication network towards a m2m server . as exemplary illustrated in fig5 a first communication packet may be submitted from a first m2m device 4 a 3 in this drawing during a step s - 105 towards a m2m media handler 2 a wherein the m2m device had previously attached , and registered through in a m2m registrar 1 as exemplary illustrated in fig1 and explained above . the m2m media handler receiving the communication packet queries during a step s - 110 the m2m registrar 1 about the m2m device identified by an identifier included by the sender m2m device , which in particular might be an ip address assigned during the exemplary embodiment illustrated in fig4 . in parallel with this above sequence of actions , a second m2m device 4 a 9 in this drawing may submit a second communication packet to the m2m media handler 2 a during a step s - 115 , for which the m2m media handler also queries the m2m registrar 1 during a step s - 125 about the m2m device identified by an identifier included by the sender m2m device , which in particular might be an ip address assigned during the exemplary embodiment illustrated in fig4 , or an identifier of another nature as further commented in the light of other embodiments . during this process related to the second communication packet , or after having concluded the above actions , the m2m registrar 1 may answer the query about the first communication packet during a step s - 120 informing that the first m2m device is assigned a first category indicator indicating private communication session to be used for communications with the m2m server . further , the m2m media handler 2 a may further receive during a step s - 130 from the m2m registrar 1 as answer to the query a first category indicator for the second m2m device also indicating private communication session to be used for communications with the m2m server . then , taking into account the first category indicator received for each m2m device , as well as a second category indicator indicating its own capacity to handle private , aggregated or consolidated communication sessions , which may be configured in the m2m media handler or received from the m2m registrar , the m2m media handler submits during a step s - 135 a private or individual communication session for the first m2m device 4 a 3 , and another private or individual communication session during a step s - 140 for the second m2m device 4 a 9 towards the m2m server 3 a . fig6 illustrates another embodiment of the invention with a sequence of actions to be followed where communication packets are sent from a number of m2m devices though a m2m media handler in a telecommunication network towards a m2m server . as exemplary illustrated in fig6 a first communication packet may be submitted from a third m2m device 4 a 6 during a step s - 205 and a second communication packet may be submitted from a fourth m2m device 4 a 7 during a step s - 220 towards a m2m media handler 2 a wherein both m2m devices had previously registered through in the m2m registrar 1 . the m2m media handler , upon receiving the first and second communication packets , respectively queries during respective steps s - 210 and s - 225 the m2m registrar 1 about each m2m device identified by an identifier included by the sender m2m device , which in particular might be a host identifier ( hereinafter hip ). as for the previous embodiment explained with reference to fig5 , this embodiment shown in fig6 also provides for the m2m registrar respectively answering during steps s - 215 and s - 230 each respective query , each answer informing the first category indicator that each m2m device is assigned . thus , the m2m media handler is informed during the steps s - 215 and s - 230 that the third m2m device 4 a 6 and the fourth m2m device 4 a 7 require an aggregated communication session to be used for communications with the m2m server . then , taking into account the first category indicator received for each m2m device , as well as the second category indicator known to the m2m media handler and indicating its own capacity to handle private , aggregated or consolidated communication sessions , the m2m media handler submits during a step s - 235 an aggregated communication session for both third m2m device 4 a 6 and fourth m2m device 4 a 7 towards the m2m server 3 a . the category indicator assigned to any m2m device in the m2m registrar may be changed at any time by provisioning a different value than the one previously assigned . apart from this , a m2m registrar may be configured to always provide an individual answer for each individual query received from m2m media handler or from a m2m server , which is specially interesting where all individual category indicators of a number of m2m devices are set to ‘ private ’; or may be configured to delay each individual answer until a plurality of queries are received that can be answered with a unique response for the plurality of queries , which is specially advantageous where all individual category indicators of a number of m2m devices are set to ‘ aggregated ’ or ‘ consolidated ’. in this respect , fig7 shows a similar scenario as the one in fig6 , namely the third m2m device 4 a 6 and fourth m2m device 4 a 7 submitting communication packets to the m2m media handler 2 a , querying the m2m registrar 1 and eventually submitting a communication session to the m2m server . however , in this scenario the category indicator of both m2m devices had changed in respect of the scenario shown in fig6 . as exemplary illustrated in fig7 a first communication packet is submitted from the third m2m device 4 a 6 during a step s - 205 and a second communication packet is submitted from the fourth m2m device 4 a 7 during a step s - 220 towards the m2m media handler 2 a wherein both m2m devices had previously registered through in the m2m registrar 1 . the m2m media handler , upon receiving the first and second communication packets , respectively queries during respective steps s - 210 and s - 225 the m2m registrar 1 about each m2m device identified by the identifier included by the sender m2m device , which in particular might be a hip as for the scenario shown in fig6 . under the embodiment illustrated in fig7 , the m2m registrar 1 may answer these queries about first and second m2m devices 4 a 6 and 4 a 7 with a unique answer message during a step s - 240 indicating the respective first category indicator for each m2m device , which in this case is ‘ consolidated ’. the m2m media handler 2 a receiving such first category indicators applies during a step s - 245 consolidation policies previously obtained , and further described , to the communication packets and determines that a unique communication session will carry both communication packets towards the m2m server . eventually , the m2m media handler submits the consolidated communication session during a step s - 250 towards the m2m server 3 a . as already commented above , the consolidation policies allow consolidation of one or more type of information transmissible by the one or more m2m device by applying one or more function to said one or more type of information in order to determine whether the consolidated information is communicated by a unique communication session or by more than one communication session . in particular , the one or more function may be selected from : mathematical , statistical , thermo - dynamical , chemical , mechanical , positional , physiological , logical and social functions as well as combinations thereof . regarding the manner of obtaining consolidation policies in this method , different embodiments are provided for depending on the entity obtaining such consolidation policies . for instance , the step of obtaining consolidation policies at the m2m server may include at least one step selected from : configuring the consolidation policies at the m2m server , retrieving the consolidation policies from the m2m registrar and retrieving the consolidation policies from the m2m media handler ; whereas the step of obtaining consolidation policies at the m2m media handler may include at least one step selected from : configuring the consolidation policies at the m2m media handler , retrieving the consolidation policies from the m2m registrar and retrieving the consolidation policies from the m2m server . in this respect , exemplary embodiments illustrate in fig1 a to fig1 d how different entities may obtain consolidation policies . thus , in a first embodiment illustrated in fig1 a , the m2m registrar 1 may respectively provide consolidation policies to the m2m media handler 2 a and to the m2m server 3 a during respective steps s - 400 and s - 405 . the m2m registrar might have been configured with these consolidation policies or might have been further provisioned with them from a provisioning system , what is not illustrated in this drawing . a first alternative embodiment to the previous one is illustrated in fig1 b wherein the m2m registrar 1 may provide all consolidation policies to the m2m media handler 2 a during a step s - 410 , and wherein the latter may keep its own applicable consolidation policies and may provide to the m2m server 3 a during a step s - 415 those consolidation policies applicable to said m2m server . the m2m registrar might have been configured with these consolidation policies or might have been further provisioned with them from a provisioning system . a second alternative embodiment to the above one is illustrated in fig1 c wherein the m2m registrar 1 may provide all consolidation policies to the m2m server 3 a during a step s - 420 , and wherein the latter may keep its own applicable consolidation policies and may provide to the m2m media handler 2 a during a step s - 425 those consolidation policies applicable to said m2m media handler . the m2m registrar might have been configured with these consolidation policies or might have been further provisioned with them from a provisioning system . an exemplary fourth embodiment in respect of obtaining consolidation policies by m2m entities is illustrated in fig1 d , wherein a provisioning system 6 respectively provides consolidation policies to the m2m registrar 1 during a step s - 430 , to the m2m media handler 2 a during a step s - 435 , and to the m2m server 3 a during a step s - 440 . in view of these embodiments illustrated in fig1 a to 12d , one may conclude that other feasible embodiments not illustrated in any drawing may be derived thereof . for instance , the consolidation policies may be configured , or even provisioned by the provisioning system , on the m2m media handler or on the m2m server and then transferred from the latter towards the m2m registrar in order to be accessible therein for other entities . moreover , different consolidation policies may be obtained at the m2m media handler and m2m server , so that the m2m registrar may further compile them to offer final policies to the parties . back to the sequence of actions to exchange information between the m2m media handler and the m2m server , and apart from the above embodiments where the m2m media handler initiates the submission of communication sessions towards the m2m server , the exchange of information between the m2m media handler and the m2m server may be initiated by the m2m server as well . for instance , as illustrated in fig8 , a m2m server 3 a wanting to submit orders , commands or queries to m2m devices , such as the exemplary third and fourth m2m devices 4 a 6 and 4 a 7 might be , may first of all query the m2m registrar 1 during a step s - 150 about such m2m devices . where a unique query is received at the m2m registrar asking about more than one m2m device , a unique answer is preferably returned by the m2m registrar during a step s - 155 indicating the first category indicator for each m2m device in the query . as already commented above , the m2m registrar may be configured to preferably answer each query in the same mode as received , namely on individual basis or on a plurality basis ; although the m2m registrar may also be configured to group a number of queries received in a certain time gap with q unique answer . the m2m server 3 a receiving in this case first category indicators indicating that the third and fourth m2m devices require aggregated communication sessions , prepares and submits during a step s - 160 a unique aggregated communication session for said third and fourth m2m devices towards the m2m media handler 2 a . the m2m media handler 2 a receiving the aggregated communication session extracts the individual information per m2m device , prepares corresponding communication packets , and respectively submits the individual communication packets to the third and fourth m2m devices 4 a 6 and 4 a 7 during respective steps s - 165 and s - 170 . as already commented above in respect of the embodiments referring the exchange of information initiated from the m2m media handler , the category indicator assigned to any m2m device in the m2m registrar may be changed at any time by provisioning a different value as category indicator than the one previously assigned . thus , fig9 illustrates a similar scenario to the one shown in fig8 , but where the category indicator for the m2m devices has been previously changed to ‘ consolidated ’. as illustrated in fig9 , the query submitted during the step s - 150 from the m2m server 3 a towards the m2m registrar 1 , querying about the third and fourth m2m devices , may be answered from the m2m registrar with a unique answer message during a step s - 175 indicating that both m2m devices are assigned the value ‘ consolidated ’ as category indicator . the m2m server 3 a receiving said first category indicator per m2m device basis applies during a step s - 180 consolidation policies previously obtained , and already commented above in respect of embodiments shown in fig1 a to fig1 d , to the communication packets and determines that a unique communication session will carry both communication packets towards the m2m media handler 2 a . then , taking into account the first category indicator received for each m2m device and , optionally , a second category indicator indicating its own capacity to handle private , aggregated or consolidated communication sessions , which may be configured in the m2m server or received from the m2m registrar , the m2m server submits the consolidated communication session during a step s - 185 towards the m2m media handler 2 a . as in the previous embodiment shown in fig8 , also under this embodiment illustrated in fig9 the m2m media handler 2 a receiving the consolidated communication session extracts the individual information per m2m device , prepares corresponding communication packets , and respectively submits the individual communication packets to the third and fourth m2m devices 4 a 6 and 4 a 7 during respective steps s - 190 and s - 195 . in this respect , and not illustrated in any drawing , the m2m media handler might also apply consolidation policies to the individual m2m devices involved in this communication to determine whether other consolidation is required or whether pure private individual information should be submitted . in particular , one of the individual m2m devices involved in the consolidated communication received from the m2m server might have been the m2m device 4 a - 4 , which is adapted to act as a further m2m media handler for m2m devices 4 a 1 , 4 a 2 and 4 a 5 as illustrated in fig4 . if this were the case , the m2m media handler 2 a receiving the consolidated communication and extracting the individual information per m2m device , may further apply consolidation policies to all the individual m2m devices and may determine that individual communication packets should be submitted to m2m devices 4 a 6 and 4 a 7 during respective steps s - 190 and s - 195 , as illustrated in fig9 and commented above , whereas a further consolidated communication should be submitted for m2m devices 4 a 1 , 4 a 2 , 4 a - 4 and 4 a 5 towards the m2m device 4 a - 4 acting as a further m2m media handler in the first capillary network 4 a . also particularly useful in this case , the m2m device 4 a - 4 receiving such consolidated communication , whilst acting as a further m2m media handler for m2m devices 4 a 1 , 4 a 2 and 4 a 5 , may deconsolidate the consolidated communication to extract the individual information per m2m device , determine the portion of information applicable to itself as m2m device 4 a - 4 , and submit the individual communication packets to the m2m devices 4 a 1 , 4 a 2 and 4 a 5 . in another embodiment not illustrated in any drawing , the m2m server may send consolidated communication towards the m2m media handler without indicating any particular m2m device . the m2m media handler receiving such consolidated information may apply consolidation policies to determine what kind of information should be submitted to which m2m device . in particular , the consolidated communication might be a software application , configuration or adaptation applicable to one or more m2m devices as determined by the consolidation policies . fig1 illustrates another embodiment of the invention wherein a m2m server 3 a queries a m2m registrar 1 during a step s - 300 about more than one m2m devices , namely about a first m2m device 4 a 3 and about a second m2m device 4 a 9 , and wherein these m2m device are identified by respective ip addresses . the m2m registrar answers the query during a step s - 305 indicating for each m2m device the first category indicator , which in this exemplary embodiment is ‘ private ’ indicating that individual communication sessions are preferred . then , taking into account the first category indicator received for each m2m device and , optionally , a second category indicator indicating its own capacity to handle private , aggregated or consolidated communication sessions , which may be configured in the m2m server or received from the m2m registrar , the m2m server submits during a step s - 310 a private or individual communication session for the first m2m device 4 a 3 , and another private or individual communication session during a step s - 320 for the second m2m device 4 a 9 towards the m2m media handler 2 a . the m2m media handler receiving such private or individual communication sessions eventually forwards during respective steps s - 315 and s - 325 corresponding private or individual communication session towards the first m2m device 4 a 3 and the second m2m device 4 a 9 . the above sequence of actions is carried out by different m2m entities enhanced to this end with new features and capabilities . in this respect , a person skilled in the art may realize that the m2m media handler and the m2m server are provided with the means to perform quite similar actions and can be regarded as quite symmetrical structural elements located at edges of a telecommunication network . bearing this in mind , the present invention provides for a m2m operating entity 5 a - 5 b , which may act as a m2m media handler 2 a , 2 b , 2 c , 4 a - 4 in charge of handling one or more m2m devices 4 a 1 - 4 a 9 as well as a m2m server 3 a - 3 d in charge of handling one or more m2m media handlers in a m2m system . as already commented above , and as illustrated in fig1 , this m2m operating entity may include a consolidation module 60 for receiving consolidation policies , the consolidation policies to be applied per m2m media handler basis , where the operating entity acts as a m2m server , or the consolidation policies to be applied per m2m server basis , where the operating entity acts as a m2m media handler ; and a first storage for storing said consolidation policies . in this respect , this first storage may be an integral part of the consolidation module or a separate storage entity 10 combinable with other storage units in the m2m operating entity . the m2m operating entity 5 a may also include a processing unit 20 in cooperation with an output unit 40 for querying a m2m registrar 1 about one or more m2m device . besides , the processing unit 20 may also act in cooperation with an input unit 50 for receiving from the m2m registrar information about the one or more m2m device indicating for each m2m device the identifier of the m2m media handler handling the m2m device , and at least one of : a first category indicator which the m2m device is assigned and a second category indicator which the m2m media handler is assigned , wherein first and second category indicator values are selected from : private , aggregated and consolidated . in this respect , the input unit 50 and the output unit 40 may be provided as separate dedicated units , or as an integral input / output unit 30 connected with the processing unit 20 . additionally , the m2m operating entity 5 a may also include a second storage for storing said information received from the m2m registrar . in this respect , this second storage may be combined with the above first storage as a unique storage 10 , within or outside the consolidation module , or the second storage may be a separate storage entity in the m2m operating entity . in this m2m operating entity 5 a suitable for acting as a m2m media handler or as a m2m server , the processing unit 20 in cooperation with the input unit 50 , the output unit 40 , or with both , may be arranged for exchanging information with another m2m operating entity 5 b by using , depending on the first , the second , or both received category indicators : an individual communication session for each one of the one or more m2m device , where the received first category indicator , second category indicator , or both indicate private ; or a communication session for all m2m devices , where the received first category indicator , second category indicator , or both indicate aggregated ; or a communication session for all m2m devices , where the received first category indicator , second category indicator , or both indicate consolidated , the communication session including information consolidated according to applicable consolidation policies . generally speaking , where the m2m operating unit 5 a acts as a m2m media handler 2 a , the m2m operating unit 5 b is likely acting as a m2m server 3 a , or the m2m operating unit 5 b might as well be a m2m device 4 a - 4 acting as another m2m media handler , as illustrated in fig5 . in an embodiment , the processing unit 20 may be arranged for applying one or more function included in the consolidation policies to one or more type of information transmissible by the one or more m2m device 4 a 6 , 4 a 7 in order to determine whether the consolidated information is communicated by a unique communication session or by more than one communication session . in this respect , the one or more function may be selected from : mathematical , statistical , thermo - dynamical , chemical , mechanical , positional , physiological , logical and social functions as well as combinations thereof . in another , the consolidation module 60 may be arranged for receiving the consolidation policies either by configuration data provisioned by a provisioning system 6 , as illustrated in fig1 d , or by retrieving the consolidation policies , from the m2m registrar 1 or from another m2m operating entity , as illustrated in fig1 a - fig . 12 c , and in cooperation with the processing unit 20 and the input and output units 30 . in a further embodiment , where the m2m operating entity 5 a acts as a m2m media handler 2 a , the processing unit 20 and the input unit 50 of the m2m operating entity may be further arranged for collecting information from the m2m devices connected thereto . particularly useful in this case and aligned with corresponding advantageous features of the above method , the processing unit and the input unit may be further arranged for receiving an attach message from each m2m device 4 a 6 connected with the m2m media handler ; and , responsive to each attach message , the processing unit 20 and the output unit 40 may be further arranged for registering the corresponding m2m device 4 a 6 towards the m2m registrar 1 , as shown in fig1 , the registration of each m2m device including the m2m device identifier and an identifier of the m2m media handler . in a still further embodiment , where the m2m operating entity 5 a acts as a m2m media handler 2 a , and wherein the input unit 50 is further arranged for receiving one or more communication sessions from another m2m operating entity 5 b acting as a m2m server 3 a , the processing unit 20 may be further arranged for determining whether any of these communication sessions aggregates or consolidates information for more than one m2m device 4 a 6 , 4 a 7 , and for extracting from the aggregated , the consolidated , or both communication sessions individual information per m2m device basis ; and the output unit 40 may be further arranged for transmitting individual communication sessions corresponding to the one or more communication sessions received from the another m2m server 3 a , 5 b , towards the one or more m2m device . as also commented above , and as illustrated in fig1 , there is provided a m2m registrar 1 comprising : a configuration module 65 cooperating with a storage 15 for being provisioned with subscription for a number of m2m devices 4 a 1 ′ 4 a 9 , wherein each m2m device is assigned an m2m device identifier , a service profile with subscription data , and a first category indicator selected from : private , aggregated and consolidated ; and for being configured with identifiers of one or more m2m media handler 2 a , 2 b , 2 c , 4 a - 4 in charge of handling m2m devices , wherein each m2m media handler is assigned a second category indicator selected from : private , aggregated and consolidated . the m2m registrar 1 also comprises a processing unit 25 in cooperation with an input unit 55 for receiving a registration for one of more m2m devices 4 a 6 , the registration of each m2m device including the m2m device identifier and an identifier of the m2m media handler 2 a in charge of handling the m2m device ; and the processing unit in cooperation with the storage 15 and with an output unit 45 for answering a query about one or more m2m device , query received at the m2m registrar from at least one of : a m2m media handler 2 a and a m2m server 3 a in charge of handling one or more m2m media handler , with a response indicating the identifier of the m2m media handler handling the m2m device , and at least one of : the first category indicator which the m2m device is assigned and the second category indicator which the m2m media handler is assigned . in an embodiment of the invention for this m2m registrar , the processing unit 25 in cooperation with the storage 15 and with the output unit 45 may be arranged for answering a query received from at least one of a m2m server 3 a and a m2m media handler 2 a , wherein the query indicates a given m2m media handler identifier , with a response including at least one of : capabilities and second category indicator of a m2m media handler 2 a corresponding to the given m2m media handler identifier , and with identifiers of those m2m devices served by the m2m media handler corresponding to the given m2m media handler identifier . in another , the configuration module 65 cooperating with the storage 15 may be arranged for being provisioned with capabilities for each m2m device , capabilities selected from : one or more physical characteristic sensor , location , configuration parameters , and combinations thereof . in a still another embodiment , the processing unit 25 in cooperation with the input unit 55 may be arranged for receiving , along with the registration of each m2m device , capabilities for each m2m device , capabilities selected from : one or more physical characteristic sensor , location , configuration parameters , and combinations thereof , and wherein the processing unit in cooperation with the storage may be arranged for storing the capabilities per m2m device basis . in a still further embodiment , the processing unit 25 in cooperation with the output unit 45 , during the registration of each m2m device , may be arranged for downloading towards the m2m media handler the first category indicator assigned to the m2m device . the invention may also be practised by a computer program , loadable into an internal memory of a computer with input and output units as well as with a processing unit . this computer program comprises to this end executable code adapted to carry out the above method steps when running in the computer . in particular , the executable code may be recorded in a carrier readable means in a computer . the invention is described above in connection with various embodiments that are intended to be illustrative and non - restrictive . it is expected that those of ordinary skill in this art may modify these embodiments . the scope of the invention is defined by the claims in conjunction with the description and drawings , and all modifications that fall within the scope of the claims are intended to be included therein .	7
unless defined otherwise , all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art . methods and materials similar or equivalent to those described herein can be used in the practice or testing of the present disclosure . as used in the specification , and in the appended claims , the singular forms “ a ,” “ an ,” “ the ” include plural referents unless the context clearly dictates otherwise . the term “ comprising ” and variations thereof as used herein is used synonymously with the term “ including ” and variations thereof and are open , non - limiting terms . the terms “ optional ” or “ optionally ” used herein mean that the subsequently described feature , event or circumstance may or may not occur , and that the description includes instances where said feature , event or circumstance occurs and instances where it does not . while implementations will be described with respect to a mems load sensor device and method of manufacturing the same , it will become evident to those skilled in the art that the implementations are not limited thereto . described herein is an example mems load sensor device ( e . g ., load sensor device ) for measuring a force applied to a least a portion thereof . in one aspect , as depicted in fig1 - 6 , the load sensor device 10 includes a substrate 61 defining a deformable membrane 13 , a mesa 12 and an overload protection portion 15 . it should be understood that the overload protection portion as used herein can include a range of structures such as a ring , for example . the substrate 61 can optionally be a silicon substrate . as shown in fig1 and 2 , the substrate 61 can have a first surface 61 a and a second surface 61 b opposite the first surface 61 a , and the mesa 12 and the overload protection portion 15 can optionally be arranged in a central portion 61 c and a peripheral portion 61 d of the substrate 61 , respectively . as discussed in more detail below , the deformable membrane 13 , the mesa 12 and the overload protection portion 15 can be formed from the substrate 61 using an etching process . additionally , at least one load sensor element ( e . g ., piezoresistive elements 14 and 82 discussed below ) can be formed on the deformable membrane 13 . optionally the load sensor element can be a piezoresistive , piezoelectric or capacitive element . the load sensor element can be configured to change at least one electrical characteristic ( e . g ., resistance , charge , capacitance , etc .) based on an amount or magnitude of the applied force . optionally , the load sensor element can output a signal proportional to the amount or magnitude of the applied force . additionally , the mesa 12 can define a contact surface 11 , for example along the top surface of the mesa 12 , for receiving an applied force f and transmitting the force f to the deformable membrane 13 . it is contemplated that the contact surface 11 can have any shape , such as , for example and without limitation , a substantially square shape , a substantially round , circular or elliptical shape as depicted in fig1 - 3 , a substantially rectangular shape , and the like . additionally , this disclosure contemplates that the contact surface 11 can have shapes other than those described herein , and therefore , this disclosure should not be limited to the shapes described herein and / or shown in the figures . it is further contemplated , with reference to fig3 , that the contact surface 11 can be affixed below a touch surface 71 in order to receive the reaction force f transmitted through the touch surface 71 as depicted in fig7 . for example , as discussed below , at least a portion of the contact surface 11 can be bonded to at least a portion of the touch surface 71 using an adhesive . as the deformable membrane 13 deforms , a strain gradient forms within the substrate 61 . the concentration of stresses in the load sensor device 10 in response to the applied force f is illustrated in fig6 . the strain gradient imparts a localized strain on the piezoresistive elements 14 and 82 ( e . g ., the load sensor elements ). as the piezoresistive elements 14 and 82 experience strain , their respective resistivities change , such that a wheatstone bridge circuit , e . g ., the wheatstone bridge circuit 81 of fig8 , including two piezoresistive elements 14 and two oppositely arranged piezoresistive elements 82 ( or stationary resistors ) becomes unbalanced and produce a differential voltage across the positive signal terminal 83 and the negative signal terminal 84 . this differential voltage is directly proportional to the applied force f on the contact surface 11 . in addition , the load sensor device 10 can include one or more electromechanical connectors 75 for electrically and mechanically connecting the load sensor device 10 to a separate circuit substrate . as discussed above , the load sensor device 10 can include a touch surface ( e . g ., touch surface 71 ), for example , fixed to the contact surface 11 of the mesa 12 . in an additional aspect , the load sensor device 10 incorporates an upper air gap 73 between the overload protection portion 15 and the touch surface 71 . as shown in fig7 , the upper air gap 73 exists because the height of the mesa 12 is greater than the height of the overload protection portion 15 . the difference in height between the mesa 12 and the overload protection portion 15 can be selected or engineered to be less than the maximum vertical deflection of the deformable membrane 13 before it yields or fails due to an excessive applied force . as the force f is applied to the touch surface 71 , the deformable membrane 13 deforms , and when the force f reaches a threshold , the touch surface 71 comes into contact with the overload protection portion 15 . at this point , the deformable membrane 13 no longer deforms linearly with applied force f . in this way the upper air gap 73 and the overload protection portion 15 work together to prevent the load sensor device 10 ( e . g ., the deformable membrane 13 ) from mechanically failing under excessive applied force f . alternatively or additionally , the load sensor device 10 optionally incorporates a lower air gap 74 between a lower surface 16 of the load sensor device 10 and an upper surface of a separate circuit substrate 72 as shown in fig7 . as the force f is applied to the touch surface 71 , the deformable membrane 13 deforms , allowing the touch surface 71 to move closer to and , as the force f becomes sufficiently large , come in contact with the overload protection portion 15 . alternatively or additionally , as the force f becomes sufficiently larger and the deformable membrane 13 deforms lower , the lower surface 16 of the load sensor device 10 comes into contact with an upper surface 76 of the separate circuit substrate 72 . once force f reaches an upper threshold and the touch surface 71 is in contact with the overload protection portion 15 and the lower surface 16 of the load sensor device 10 comes into contact with the upper surface 76 of the separate circuit substrate 72 , the deformable membrane 13 no longer deforms linearly with applied force f . in this way the upper air gap 73 , the lower air gap 74 , and the overload protection portion 15 work together to prevent the load sensor device 10 ( e . g ., the deformable membrane 13 ) from mechanically failing under excessive applied force f . electromechanical connectors 75 , such as a solder joints or wire bonds , can be provided . the electromechanical connectors 75 are used to electrically and mechanically connect the load sensor device 10 to the separate circuit substrate 72 . referring now to fig8 , in an additional aspect , the load sensor device 10 includes and / or incorporates electrical circuitry 80 to activate the load sensor device 10 and electrically connect the load sensor device 10 to a separate circuit signal bus , for example , through electromechanical connectors such as electromechanical connectors 75 of fig2 , 4 , 5 and 7 . optionally , the electromechanical connectors are solder joints or wire bonds . as discussed above , the electrical circuitry 80 can include the wheatstone bridge circuit 81 . in one embodiment , the electrical circuitry 80 includes of an activation circuit 86 including an x row signal trace 90 and a y column signal trace 91 and a logical gate ( e . g ., and gate 89 ). the row and column signal traces 90 and 91 can be used to individually address the load sensor device 10 . for example , when both x and y signals are logic high , the and gate 89 is enabled , which closes a plurality of switches 87 . the electrical circuitry 80 can also include one or more voltage supply traces for electrically connecting the wheatstone bridge circuit 81 to an external voltage source 88 and one or more output signal traces for electrically connecting the positive and negative terminals 83 and 84 to the separate circuit signal bus . each of the switches , respectively , connects the external voltage source 88 to the wheatstone bridge circuit 81 or connects the positive signal terminal 83 and the negative signal terminal 84 , respectively , to the separate circuit signal bus . in this way , an array of load sensor devices 10 can be placed into an independently addressable array 90 , wherein the sensor value of each individual load sensor device 10 can be read independently , for example , by a microcontroller . an independently addressable array 90 including a plurality of load sensor device 10 is depicted in fig9 . referring now to fig1 , a method for manufacturing a mems load sensor device such as the load sensor device 10 discussed above is described herein . in the described method , step 110 involves growing or depositing a layer of silicon oxide 151 onto a surface of a bare silicon wafer 150 . optionally , the layer of silicon oxide is grown or deposited on a surface of a silicon wafer on which electrical circuitry ( e . g ., the electrical circuitry 80 discussed above ) for activating the load sensor device is already embedded through a separate cmos semiconductor fabrication process . it should be understood that the silicon wafer can have an upper surface ( or a first surface as used herein ) and a lower surface ( or a second surface as used herein ) opposite to the upper surface . the surface of the silicon wafer on which the layer of silicon oxide is grown or deposited in step 110 can be the upper surface of the silicon wafer . in step 111 , a layer of photoresist 152 is applied or deposited onto at least a portion of the upper surface of the silicon wafer , for example , over the layer of silicon oxide . thereafter , ultraviolet light is cast through a mask to weaken portions of the layer of photoresist . the layer of photoresist is then developed and at least a portion of the layer of silicon oxide 151 a is exposed , such that the exposed portion can be removed with an etchant as in step 112 . in step 113 , one or more piezoresistive elements 153 ( e . g ., load sensors elements ) are formed , for example , by a deposition , diffusion or ion implantation process . the piezoresistive elements 153 can be the piezoresistive elements 14 and 82 discussed above , for example . in step 114 , the layer of silicon oxide 151 is etched completely . in step 115 , the silicon wafer is annealed and an additional layer of silicon oxide 154 is formed , for example , on the upper surface of the silicon wafer over the piezoresistive elements 153 . additionally , a layer of silicon oxide 155 is also formed over on the opposite surface of the silicon wafer . it should be understood that the opposite surface of the silicon wafer as used herein can be the lower surface of the silicon wafer . in step 116 , an additional layer of photoresist 156 is applied onto at least a portion of the upper surface of the silicon wafer , for example , over the layer of silicon oxide 154 . thereafter , ultraviolet light is cast through a mask , which weakens portions of the layer of photoresist 156 . the layer of photoresist is then developed in order to expose at least a portion of the layer of silicon oxide 154 a covering the piezoresistive elements 153 . in step 117 , the exposed portion of the layer of silicon oxide is etched completely to expose the piezoresistive elements 153 , e . g ., an upper portion of the piezoresistive elements 153 . in step 118 , a conductive metal 157 ( e . g ., an electrical trace ), such as aluminum , is sputtered onto the upper surface of the silicon wafer , for example , over the exposed piezoresistive elements , to form electrical connections between the piezoresistive elements 153 and the electromechanical connectors ( discussed below ). in step 119 , an additional layer of photoresist 158 is applied onto at least a portion of the upper surface of the silicon wafer , for example , over the conductive metal . thereafter , ultraviolet light is cast through a mask , which weakens at least a portion of the layer of photoresist . the layer of photoresist is then developed in order to expose at least a portion of the conductive metal 157 a to be removed . in step 120 , the exposed portion of the conductive metal is etched completely to leave the remaining conductive metal forming one or more portions of the connecting circuitry ( e . g ., one or more portions of the electrical circuitry 80 discussed above ). in step 121 , a passivation layer 159 is deposited or applied to protect the piezoresistive elements 153 and conductive metal 157 . in step 122 , an additional layer of photoresist 160 is applied to the upper surface of the silicon wafer , for example , over the passivation layer . thereafter , ultraviolet light is cast through a mask to weaken at least a portion of the layer of photoresist . the layer of photoresist is then developed in order to expose at least a portion of the passivation layer 159 a to be removed . in step 123 , the exposed portion of the passivation layer is etched completely to leave a portion of the conductive metal 157 b underneath exposed for electrical contact . in step 124 , the silicon wafer is inverted to expose the lower surface of the silicon wafer . as discussed above with regard to step 115 , the lower surface of the silicon wafer has the layer of silicon oxide 155 formed thereon . in addition , an additional layer of photoresist 161 is applied to the lower surface of the silicon wafer , for example , over a portion of the layer of silicon oxide . thereafter , ultraviolet light is cast through a mask to weaken at least a portion of the layer of photoresist . the layer of photoresist is then developed in order to expose at least a portion of the layer of silicon oxide 155 a formed over the lower surface of the silicon wafer . in step 125 , the exposed portion of the layer of silicon oxide is etched completely to expose a portion of the lower surface of the silicon wafer 150 a . in step 126 , the exposed portion of silicon wafer is etched to form the height offset between a mesa and overload protection portion ( e . g ., the mesa 12 and overload protection portion 15 discussed above ) to provide overload protection . in step 127 , an additional layer of photoresist 162 is applied onto at least a portion of the lower surface of the silicon wafer . thereafter , ultraviolet light is cast through a mask to weaken at least a portion of the layer of photoresist . the layer of photoresist is then developed in order to expose at least a portion of the lower surface of the silicon wafer 150 b . in step 128 , the silicon on the lower surface of the silicon wafer is etched away using a deep reactive ion etching process to form an integrated mesa , contact surface , deformable membrane and overload protection portion ( e . g ., the mesa 12 , contact surface 11 , deformable membrane 13 and overload protection portion 15 ). in step 129 , the layer of silicon oxide on the upper surface of the mesa is etched completely to leave exposed bare silicon . the silicon wafer can then optionally be inverted and electromechanical connectors ( e . g ., electromechanical connectors 75 discussed above ) such as solder bumps , wire bonds , etc . are attached to the load sensor device , e . g ., to the same surface of the bare silicon wafer on which the piezoresistive elements were formed . the load sensor device is then ready for a separate manufacturing process to be attached to an electrical circuit . referring now to fig1 , the steps to attach a load sensor device ( e . g ., load sensor device 10 of fig1 - 7 ) to a separate circuit substrate ( e . g ., separate circuit substrate 72 of fig7 ) and complete a touch solution are illustrated . in this final manufacturing process , the load sensor devices are first bonded to the substrate , such as fr 4 , of a separate circuit . then , the electrical and mechanical connections are formed through a process such as reflow soldering or wire bonding . finally , a touch surface ( e . g ., touch surface 71 of fig7 ) is affixed to each load sensor device ( e . g ., to the contact surface 11 of the mesa 12 of each load sensor 10 of fig1 - 7 ) in the finished component using adhesive , and the entire assembly is cured to form a finished touch surface component . although the subject matter has been described in language specific to structural features and / or methodological acts , it is to be understood that the subject matter defined in the appended claims is not necessarily limited to the specific features or acts described above . rather , the specific features and acts described above are disclosed as example forms of implementing the claims .	6
preferred dibenzoylmethane derivative are selected from 4 - tert - butyl - 4 ′- methoxydibenzoylmethane , 2 - methyldibenzoylmethane , 4 - methyl - dibenzoyl - ethane , 4 - isopropyldibenzoyl - methane , 4 - tert - butyldibenzoylmethane , 2 , 4 - dimethyldibenzoylmethane , 2 , 5 - dimethyldibenzoylmethane , 4 , 4 ′- diisopropyl - dibenzoylmethane , 2 - methyl - 5 - isopropyl - 4 ′- methoxydibenzoylmethane , 2 - methyl - 5 - tert - butyl - 4 ′- methoxy - dibenzoylmethane , 2 , 4 - dimethyl - 4 ′- methoxydibenzoylmethane or 2 , 6 - dimethyl - 4 - tert - butyl - 4 ′- methoxy - dibenzoylmethane . the most preferred dibenzoylmethane derivative is 4 - tert .- butyl - 4 ′- methoxydibenzoylmethane . the preferred p - methoxycinnamic acid derivative are selected from 2 - ethylhexyl - p - methoxycinnamate , ammonium - p - methoxycinnamate , sodium - p - methoxycinnamate , potassium - p - methoxycinnamate , or salts of primary , secondary or tertiary amines of p - methoxycinnamic acid and more preferably it is 2 - ethylhexyl - p - methoxy cinnamate . fatty alcohol ethoxylates ( also known as ethoxylated fatty alcohols ) have the general formula : where r is a saturated or unsaturated , linear or branched hydrocarbon - based chain having from 10 to 24 carbon atoms , and n is an integer ranging from 8 to 50 . fatty alcohol ethoxylates are products of the addition of ethylene oxide onto primary alcohols . the ethoxylates are produced by known methods and are basically mixtures . depending on their production , they may have a conventional broad homolog distribution or a narrow homolog distribution . the degree of ethoxylation ( eo : number of ethylene oxide units added on ) represents a gauss distribution , the maximum of the gauss curve being referred to here as the average degree of ethoxylation “ n ”. preferred are products of the addition of ethylene oxide onto caproic alcohol , caprylic alcohol , 2 - ethylhexyl alcohol , capric alcohol , lauryl alcohol , isotridecyl alcohol , myristyl alcohol , cetyl alcohol , palmitoleyl alcohol , stearyl alcohol , isostearyl alcohol , oleyl alcohol , elaidyl alcohol , petroselinyl alcohol , linolyl alcohol , linolenyl alcohol , elaeostearyl alcohol , arachyl alcohol , gadoleyl alcohol , behenyl alcohol , erucyl alcohol and brassidyl alcohol and technical mixtures thereof . representative examples of ethoxylated fatty alcohols are the addition products of ethylene oxide with lauryl alcohol , in particular those containing from 9 to 50 oxyethylenated groups ( having ctfa names laureth - 9 to laureth - 50 ); the addition products of ethylene oxide with behenyl alcohol , in particular those containing from 9 to 50 oxyethylenated groups ( having ctfa names beheneth - 9 to beheneth - 50 ); the addition products of ethylene oxide with cetearyl alcohol ( mixture of cetyl alcohol and of stearyl alcohol ) in particular those containing from 9 to 30 oxyethylenated groups ( having ctfa names ceteareth - 9 to ceteareth - 30 ); the addition products of ethylene oxide with cetyl alcohol , in particular those containing from 9 to 30 oxyethylenated groups ( having ctfa names ceteth - 9 to ceteth - 30 ); the addition products of ethylene oxide with stearyl alcohol , in particular those containing from 9 to 30 oxyethylenated groups ( having ctfa names steareth - 9 to steareth - 30 ; the addition products of ethylene oxide with isostearyl alcohol , in particular those containing from 9 to 50 oxyethylenated groups ( having ctfa names lsosteareth - 9 to lsosteareth - 50 ); and mixtures thereof . the more preferred alcohol ethoxylates are addition products of ethylene oxide onto fatty alcohol having 8 to 18 carbon atoms , i . e . c8 - c18 fatty alcohol ethoxylates , and in a highly preferred aspect ; it is lauryl alcohol , which has 12 carbon atoms . it is marketed under the name brij ® 35 ( laureth - 35 , lauryl alcohol with 35 eo units ). several grades of brij are available , depending upon the degree of ethoxylation . a suitable polyalkyleneglycol is selected from polyethyleneglycol , polypropyleneglycol or polybutyleneglycol and preferably it is polyethyleneglycol . the present composition can include any cosmetic vehicle / carrier known in the art . suitable vehicles include , but are not limited to , one or more of the following : vegetable oils ; esters such as octyl palmitate , isopropyl myristate and isopropyl palmitate ; ethers such as dicapryl ether and dimethyl isosorbide ; alcohols such as ethanol and isopropanol ; fatty alcohols such as cetyl alcohol , stearyl alcohol and behenyl alcohol ; isoparaffins such as isooctane , isododecane and isohexadecane ; silicone oils such as dimethicones , cyclic silicones , and polysiloxanes ; hydrocarbon oils such as mineral oil , petrolatum , isoeicosane and polyisobutene ; polyols such as propylene glycol , ethoxydiglycol , glycerin , butylene glycol , pentylene glycol and hexylene glycol ; as well as water , or any combinations of the above . fatty acids having from 10 to 30 carbon atoms may also be included as cosmetically acceptable carriers for compositions of this invention . illustrative of this category are pelargonic , lauric , myristic , palmitic , stearic , isostearic , hydroxystearic , oleic , linoleic , ricinoleic , arachidic , behenic and erucic acids . humectants of the polyhydric alcohol - type may also be employed as cosmetically acceptable carriers in compositions of this invention . the humectant aids in increasing the effectiveness of the emollient , reduces skin dryness and improves skin feel . typical polyhydric alcohols include glycerol , polyalkylene glycols and more preferably alkylene polyols and their derivatives , including propylene glycol , dipropylene glycol , polypropylene glycol , polyethylene glycol and derivatives thereof , sorbitol , hydroxypropyl sorbitol , hexylene glycol , 1 , 3 - butylene glycol , 1 , 2 , 6 - hexanetriol , ethoxylated glycerol , propoxylated glycerol and mixtures thereof . the amount of humectant may range anywhere from 0 . 5 % to 30 %, preferably between 1 % and 15 % by weight of the composition . the amount of cosmetically acceptable vehicle in the present composition will vary considerably based upon product form , but typically will range from about 20 wt % to about 70 wt % and preferably from about 20 wt % to about 40 wt %, based upon the total weight of the composition . the cosmetically acceptable vehicle acts as a dilutant , dispersant or carrier for the in the composition , so as to facilitate the distribution of the sunscreens when the composition is applied to the skin . the present composition , when in emulsion form , could optionally have one or more additional emulsifiers , without deviating from the scope of the invention , which are preferably selected from sorbitan esters dimethicone copolyols ; polyglyceryl - 3 - diisostearate ; such as sorbitan monooleate and sorbitan monostearate ; glycerol esters such as glycerol monostearate and glycerol monooleate ; polyoxyethylene phenols such as polyoxyethylene octyl phenol and polyoxyethylene nonyl phenol ; polyoxyethylene ethers such as polyoxyethylene cetyl ether and polyoxyethylene stearyl ether ; polyoxyethylene glycol esters ; polyoxyethylene sorbitan esters ; dimethicone copolyols ; polyglyceryl - 3 - diisostearate ; or any combinations thereof . an oil or oily material may be present , together with an emulsifier to provide either a water - in - oil emulsion or an oil - in - water emulsion , depending largely on the average hydrophilic - lipophilic balance ( hlb ) of the emulsifier employed . preferred anionic surfactants include soap , alkyl ether sulfate and sulfonates , alkyl sulfates and sulfonates , alkylbenzene sulfonates , alkyl and dialkyl sulfosuccinates , c9 - c20 acyl isethionates , acyl glutamates , c8 - c20 alkyl ether phosphates and combinations thereof . typically , the additional emulsifier could be present from 1 wt % to about 12 wt %, based upon the total weight of the composition . water when present will be in amounts which could range from 5 % to 75 %, preferably from 20 % to 70 %, optimally between 40 % and 70 % by weight of said composition . besides water , relatively volatile solvents may also serve as carriers within compositions of the present invention . most preferred are monohydric c1 - c3 alkanols . these include ethyl alcohol and isopropyl alcohol . preferred cream bases are , for example , beeswax , cetyl alcohol , stearic acid , glycerine , propylene glycol , propylene glycol monostearate , polyoxyethylene cetyl ether and the like . preferred lotion bases include , for example , oleyl alcohol , ethanol , propylene glycol , glycerine , lauryl ether , sorbitan monolaurate and the like . when the composition of the present invention is in the form of film - forming skin packs or masks it could comprise film formers known in the art . these include acrylate copolymers , acrylates c12 - 22 alkyl methacrylate copolymer , acrylate / octylacrylamide copolymers , acrylate / va copolymer , amodimethicone , amp / acrylate copolymers , behenyl beeswax , behenyl / isostearyl , beeswax , butylated pvp , butyl ester of pvm / ma copolymers , calcium / sodium pvm / ma copolymers , dimethicone , dimethicone copolyol , dimethicone / mercaptopropyl methicone copolymer , dimethicone propylethylenediamine behenate , dimethicolnol ethylcellulose , ethylene / acrylic acid copolymer , ethylene / ma copolymer , ethylene / va copolymer , fluoro c2 - 8 alkyldimethicone , hexanediol beeswax , c30 - 38 olefin / isopropyl maleate / ma copolymer , hydrogenated styrene / butadiene copolymer , hydroxyethyl ethylcellulose , isobutylene / ma copolymer , laurylmethicone copolyol , methyl methacrylate crosspolymer , methylacryloyl ethyl betaine / acrylates copolymer , microcrystalline wax , nitrocellulose , octadecene / ma copolymer , octadecene / maleic anhydride copolymer , octylacrylamide / acrylate / butylaminoethyl methacrylate copolymer , oxidized polyethylene , perfluoropolymethylisopropyl ether , polyacrylic acid , polyethylene , polymethyl methacrylate , polypropylene , polyquatemium - 10 , polyquaternium - 11 , polyquaternium - 28 , polyquaternium - 4 , pvm / ma decadiene crosspolymer , pvm / ma copolymer , pvp , pvp / decene copolymer , pvp / eicosene copolymer , pvp / hexadecene copolymer , pvp / ma copolymer , pvp / va copolymer , silica , silica dimethyl silylate , sodium acrylate / vinyl alcohol copolymer , stearoxy dimethicone , stearoxytrimethylsilane , stearyl alcohol , stearylvinyl ether / ma copolymer , styrene / dvb copolymer , styrene / ma copolymer , tetramethyl tetraphenyl trisiloxane , tricontanyl trimethyl pentaphenyl trisiloxane , trimethylsiloxysilicate , va / crotonates copolymer , va / crotonates / vinyl proprionate copolymer , va / butyl maleate / isobornyl acrylate copolymer , vinyl caprolactam / pvp / dimethylaminoethyl methacrylate copolymer , and vinyldimethicone . the film former is preferably present in an amount from about 0 . 5 wt % to about 5 wt %, and more preferably from about 1 wt % to about 5 wt %. based upon the total weight of the composition . more preferably , the film former is present in an amount about 3 wt % of the total weight of the composition . optionally , the present composition may include one or more ingredients selected from chelating agents , botanical extracts , colorants , depigmenting agents , emollients , exfollients , fragrances , humectants , moisturizers , preservatives , skin protectants , skin penetration enhancers , stabilizers , thickeners , viscosity modifiers , vitamins , anti - aging , wrinkle - reducing , skin whitening , anti - acne , and sebum reduction agents or any combinations thereof . examples of these include alpha - hydroxy acids and esters , beta - hydroxy acids and ester , polyhydroxy acids and esters , kojic acid and esters , ferulic acid and ferulate derivatives , vanillic acid and esters , dioic acids ( such as sebacid and azoleic acids ) and esters , retinol , retinal , retinyl esters , hydroquinone , t - butyl hydroquinone , mulberry extract , licorice extract , and resorcinol derivatives such as 4 - substituted resorcinol derivatives , as well as additional sunscreens such uv diffusing agents , typical of which is finely divided titanium oxide and zinc oxide which generally arebetween 5 nm and 100 nm and preferably between 10 and 50 nm ) of coated or uncoated metal oxides , for instance nanopigments of titanium oxide ( amorphous or crystallized in rutile and / or anatase form ), of iron oxide , of zinc oxide , of zirconium oxide or of cerium oxide , which are all photoprotective agents that are well - known per se , acting by physically blocking out ( reflection and / or scattering ) uv radiation . standard coating agents are , moreover , alumina and / or aluminum stearate . the compositions according to the invention may also contain agents for artificially tanning and / or browning the skin ( self - tanning agents ), for instance dihydroxy - acetone ( dha ). thickeners may also be utilized as part of the cosmetically acceptable carrier of compositions according to the present invention , without deviating from the scope of the present invention . typical thickeners include crosslinked acrylates ( e . g . carbopol 982 ), hydrophobically - modified acrylates ( e . g . carbopol 1382 ), cellulosic derivatives and natural gums . among useful cellulosic derivatives are sodium carboxymethylcellulose , hydroxypropyl methylcellulose , hydroxypropyl cellulose , hydroxyethyl cellulose , ethyl cellulose and hydroxymethyl cellulose . natural gums suitable for the present invention include guar , xanthan , sclerotium , carrageenan , pectin and combinations of these gums . amounts of the thickener may range from 0 . 0001 % to 0 . 5 %, usually from 0 . 001 % to 1 %, optimally from 0 . 01 % to 0 . 5 % by weight . the inventive cosmetic composition could also optionally contain lathering surfactant . by “ lathering surfactant ” is meant a surfactant which , when combined with water and mechanically agitated , generates a foam or lather . preferably , the lathering surfactant should be mild , meaning that it must provide sufficient cleansing or detergent benefits but not overly dry the skin , and yet meet the lathering criteria described above . the cosmetic compositions of the present invention may contain a lathering surfactant in a concentration of about 0 . 01 % to about 50 %. this is typically needed , in wash - off products , such as face - washes . the cosmetic compositions according to the invention may also contain , besides the essential elements , one or more additional sunscreens that are different from the preceding sunscreens , which are water - soluble , liposoluble or insoluble in the cosmetic solvents commonly used . these screening agents may be suitably chosen from salicylic derivatives , benzylidenecamphor derivatives , triazine derivatives , benzophenone derivatives , [ β ], [ β ]′- diphenylacrylate derivatives , phenyl - benzimidazole derivatives , anthranilic derivatives , imidazoline derivatives , methylenebis ( hydroxyphenyl - benzotriazole ) derivatives , p - aminobenzoic acid derivatives , and screening hydrocarbon - based polymers and screening silicones derivatives . the preferred organic uv - screening agents are chosen from the following compounds : ethylhexyl salicylate , octocrylene , phenylbenzimidazolesulphonic acid , terephthalylidenedicamphorsulphonic acid , benzophenone - 3 , benzophenone - 4 , benzophenone - 5 , 4 - methylbenzylidene , benzimidazilate , anisotriazine , 2 , 4 , 6 - tris ( diisobutyl 4 ′- aminobenzalmalonate )- s - triazine , ethylhexyltriazone , diethyl hexylbutamidotriazone , methylenebis ( benzotriazolyl ) tetramethylbutyl - phenol , drometrizole trisiloxane , and mixtures thereof . specific preparations of the cosmetics to which the present invention is applicable include creams , ointments , emulsions , lotions , oils and face - packs , balm , gel , mousse , stick or hair - gels , hair - creams and the like . the emulsion could be , for example , anhydrous , water - in - oil , oil - in - water , water - in - silicone , or multiple emulsions . in case of protection of the hairs , the suitable formulations are shampoos , conditioners , lotions , gels , emulsions , dispersions , lacquers , and the like . the cosmetic composition of the invention can be formulated as a lotion having a viscosity of from 4 , 000 to 10 , 000mpas , a fluid cream having a viscosity of from 10 , 000 to 20 , 000 mpas or a cream having a viscosity of from 20 , 000 to 100 , 000 mpas or above , all measured at 25 ° c . the composition according to the invention is intended primarily as a personal care product for topical application to human skin , as well as to protect exposed skin from the harmful effects of excessive exposure to sunlight . in use , a small quantity of the composition , for example about 0 . 1 ml to about 5 ml , is applied to exposed areas of the skin , from a suitable container or applicator and , if necessary , it is then spread over and / or rubbed into the skin using the hand or fingers or a suitable device . in order to further illustrate the present invention and the advantages thereof , the following specific examples are given , it being understood that same are intended only as illustrative and in no way limitative . in said examples to follow , all parts and percentages are given by weight , unless otherwise indicated . demonstration of stabilization of dibenzoylmethane derivative using combination of fatty alcohol ethoxylate and polyethyleneglycol , according to the invention . various cosmetic cream compositions were prepared as per formulation details given in table 1 below . the following test method was used for determining the stability of dibenzoylmethane sunscreens in the compositions of the present invention as well as for all the comparative examples described below . 1 . a clean glass slide was taken and its weight was recorded ( a ). 2 . about 10 mg of cream was applied and spread on about 2 cm 2 . 3 . the weight of slide with cream was recorded as ( b ). 4 . subtraction of b from a gave the weight of cream applied ( c ). 5 . the above - mentioned process was repeated six times for each test formulation . 6 . these glass slides were exposed to sun simultaneously for various time intervals : 0 min , 15 min , 30 min and 60 min respectively . 7 . after exposure to sunlight the creams were extracted in methanol and the volume was made up to 25 ml . 8 . the uv - absorbance of each of the samples was recorded on a uv spectrophotometer . 9 . absorbance per unit weight of the sample was calculated by dividing the absorbance at a max ( i . e . 357 nm , which is a max of dibenzoylmethanes ) by weight of the cream ( c ). 10 . the percentage absorbance remaining which is an indicator of the stability of the sample was calculated as follows : percentage absorbance remaining =[ a n / a 0 × 100 ] where a 0 is “ absorbance per unit weight ” of 0 min sample , and a n , is “ absorbance per unit weight ” of nth min sample . the results of the experiment conducted in example 1 are summarized in table 2 below . it is to be noted that the intensity of sunlight was found to vary from 20 - 40 mw / cm 2 at the time of exposure of the slides to sun and the experiments were conducted on different days . therefore , the absolute values of % absorbance for the same / similar experiments conducted over the entire period , e . g . experiments using control samples are different across the tables . the above table indicates that in the formulation containing both peg 200 and brij - 35 , a significantly higher activity of dibenzoylmethane sunscreen is available after 1 hour of application , as evident from the absorbance value . to study the effect of combination of polyethyleneglycol with other surfactants on the stability of dibenzoylmethane sunscreen and its comparison with the combination of polyethyleneglycol with brij 35 according to the invention . thus it can be readily seen that a combination of polyethylene glycol and fatty alcohol ethoxylate gives better stability as compared to combination of polyethylene glycol and other surfactants / emulsifiers . the present inventors have also determined the effect of varying the molecular weight of polyethyleneglycol on the stability of dibenzoylmethane . the results of this experiment are summarized in table 4 below . the above table indicates that with various molecular weights of polyethylene glycol , greater than 70 % of the dibenzoylmethane derivative remains available , even after 1 hour from application . this demonstrates that any molecular weight of peg from 200 to 100000 can be used , without departing from the scope of the invention . in yet another set of experiments , the effect of 2 grades of fatty alcohol ethoxylates ( brij ) on the stability of dibenzoylmethane sunscreen was studied in cosmetic creams , the results of which are summarized in table 5 below . thus , it can be readily seen that different grades of fatty alcohol ethoxylates provide a high degree of stability to the dibenzoylmethane sunscreen in the composition . the stability of dibenzoylmethane derivative was also studied in the case of cosmetic lotions , to test the invention in a different carrier / vehicle . the details of the formulation are present in table 6 below . the processing details are also given below . the results are summarized in the table 7 below . 7 . this part d was then added to combined parts a , b and c . while the temperature was at 65 ° c ., the part e ingredients were added . 8 . the emulsion was mixed under moderate agitation until the temperature reached 40 ° c . it was later cooled to room temperature and was used as such for analysis . thus it can be readily seen that the inventive combination of polyethylene glycol and fatty alcohol ethoxylate stabilizes the dibenzoylmethane derivative , even in a lotion based cosmetic composition . thus it can be seen from the foregoing description and examples that the invention provides for a composition comprising stable sunscreens . the invention also provides for compositions comprising stabilized dibenzoylmethane sunscreens , wherein the stabilization is brought about by using ingredients , which are conventionally used in cosmetic compositions . while the invention has been described in terms of various specific and preferred embodiments , the skilled artisan will appreciate that various modifications , substitutions , omissions , and changes may be made without departing from the spirit thereof .	0

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